This year has remarkably attained most of FITS objectives in the countries entered, thus fulfilling the goals of the seminary being recognized to have conducted sessions and classes of Bible indoctrinations on a higher level of study and research.
These are the nations which this year, 2018, we shall have attained our objectives of FITS global expansion:
The United States. Since 2010, I have gone around to finalize the legality of FITS Foundation, Inc. in the USA which we have already accomplished in 2014. Since becoming legalized, we have had four graduations already – in Omaha, Nebraska and Utica, New York in 2015; and in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Utica, New in 2017) and we look forward to another graduation next year, 2019. On June 6, I will fly to Chicago and this will be my schedule: June 7, Milwaukee WI; June 11, Omaha NE; June 18, Denver CO; June 23, Utica, NY; July 4, Nashville TN; July 23, Madison NE; July 30 Omaha (rest) NE; August 6, Kansas KS; August 13, World Changers, NE; August 17, Amarillo TX; September 1, Huron; September 8, Austin MN; September 15, Storm Lake IA; September 22, Kingston, ON, Canada.
Canada. In 2010, my daughter Marj immigrated to Kingston, ON, Canada. In April, 1999, she was responsible in organizing the first set of tambourine dancers of KING church and the formation of its first praise and worship group together with the guitarist Saw “Rocky” Khu. Dr. Rocky is now an ordained KCRC pastor located in Omaha and a trustee of FITS Foundation (together with my 1999 interpreter in Bangkok Saw Ner Clay). I am going to Canada on September 22 and be reunited with my daughter but at the same time I have already set tentative schedules for FITS teaching.
Prince Albert. Saskatchewan. In communication with pastor Lah Say of Ottawa since meeting with him at the World Changers in Omaha last year, he has taken charge of organizing the Saskatchewan team and I will be teaching the Karen group of students in this city October 1-12.
Ottawa. Along with the Karen group of students in this city which is only in the east two hours away from Kingston, there are also Burmese students which I met in Utica last year who are interested in learning more of the Bible though higher level studies and I will be on hand October 15-26.
Alberta. October 29-November 9. I will still communicate with Pastor Susan De Gracia. She graduated last May 2 in Baguio City and she has shared with me the existence of six Filipino churches in this area who might be interested on FITS curriculum.
I will be back to be with my daughter in Kingston and will stay with her until November 20 when I fly back to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and from there on November 29 I return to Manila and will stay in the Baguio, Philippines for three weeks. On December 19, I proceed to Perth, West Australia.
Australia, the nation which has been in the waiting period for the past 20 years, is now opened with the Lord working through Moe Moe Aung Kong, my daughter who adopted me as her dad when I also adopted her during our times of communication. Last year, she gave me the invitation to come and see the potential opportunities of FITS for graduate and undergraduate Bible studies. I submitted that invitation to the Australian embassy and applied for a visa so I can come and teach the Bible. Through her invitation, I came to Australia and even with a wrong name I was allowed to get in and come out. Praise the name of the Lord.
Perth. The city with the rural taste is the first to open up a seminary class that will start on December 20 at the Australian Burmese Christian Fellowship and will last till January 2, 2019. Two of the pioneers of KING (Karen Inter-National Gospel) Church has relocated from Thailand to this city. Hsa Per Kaw Saw and his family were one of those who supported the gospel work of KING church during its infancy. Brother Ralph Hodgson and his family were closely linked with KING church as he stayed in Nokorhin Condo in Bangkok during the first year of the church and attended all the Bible studies that I conducted there.
Sydney. Brother Mahn Chit Sein and his family came to this urban city from Thailand. He was also among those refugees that applied to the United Nations Asia to be immigrated to Australia and was also committed to the goal of KING Church to teach the Bible when the Karen people have already been settled there. He was also present every time the Bible studies were conducted in Nokorhin Condo. His daughter Paw Sha was one of the most rigid student of mine in Beginner’s English. Paw Sha’s daughter Ehkeela served as my inspiration during my visit to the family here.
Canberra. On December 12, 1999, I baptized Hsar Law Lah who was then working at the United Nations Asia in Kanchanaburi, a city located two hours away west of Bangkok. In his residence located west of Bangkok, his whole family sheltered the KING Church branch for 2000 until the early stages of 2001 Pastor Deeshall and I continued to minister to them and to other Karen people in the area. His family decided to come to Canberra and he joined much later in time. Hsar Law Lah will be included in the class that will be conducted in Sydney.
Melbourne. Two of my closest Karen friends in America are Samuel Htoo and Pastor K’lawbaw, whose legalized name now is Titus. The pastor’s sister in Melbourne, Mu K’Paw, and her church are waiting for the teaching of FITS level-up subjects since we were acquainted last year. Perth’s Ralph Hodgson and his wife have a son, also a resident of Melbourne, which made them decide to go to Melbourne and join the class that will open there on February 5, 2019. The Karen Christian Revival Church (KCRC) communicated with me that the start of FITS class will coincide with the ordination of KCRC pastors that will plant and nurture the revival churches in Australia on the same week. I join the international ordination council of the KCRC leadership that is residing in Omaha and am one of the signatories in the certificates of ordination awarded to all who are ordained. To make the matters more interesting, the KCRC pastors will join the class of FITS at Melbourne.
Brisbane. Perth’s Ralph Hodgson has a daughter, Meena, residing in Brisbane who has been a prayer partner ever since the Nokorhin Condo in Bangkok started the KING Church in 1998 and this opened the possibility of having FITS classes there. Dr. Saw Ner Clay has a brother who lives here and will also be a part of the FITS class that will be established, tentatively, on February 20, 2019. The finality of the ordination of KCRC pastors in Melbourne (which will be decided in Omaha, Nebraska on the third week of June, 2018 when I will be there) will make the FITS class in Brisbane (February 18-28, 2019) also final and executory.
New Zealand. My first friend in the Karen village Htee Hta has disappeared from my view ever since I came out of the village in April, 1996. His name is Eh Kaw Nyaw and I could no longer locate him during the times of organization and the attempts to legalize the existence of KING Church in Bangkok through the Evangelical Fellowship of Thailand. However, when I was in Sydney and fellowshipped with the family of Mahn Chit Sein, I was given the names of his brother and sister who had facebook accounts. Through the connections, I was able to get in touch with my friend who has utilized another name as his facebook account and he invited me to come to New Zealand and begin the task of FITS to establish Bible classes on a higher level in Auckland. Another friend of mine, Sister Jasmine, lives near the place Eh Kaw Nyaw lives today. (I baptized Jasmine during my December 1999 visit to Maneeloy, the safe camp where the Karen refugees were taken prior to their transfer to the nations they have opted to go). Seeing Jasmine again will also be an added bonus that will be included in my trip to New Zealand. On January 10 until 26, FITS have scheduled an introductory visit to this nation where FITS classes will later be conducted.
On March 1, I fly from Brisbane to Perth. And on March 2, 2019, I return to Philippines.
Other nations. FITS Executive Vice President Dr. Mike Gomez has intimated to me the potential of opening FITS branches in Dubai and Macau, while other graduates have shared the possibility of FITS instruction in Saudi Arabia. I have received invitations to come and set up classes in Nepal, India and in two African nations, Ghana and Uganda.
We praise God for all the good acts He has done and for His blessed desires for FITS global and universal expansion. Daniel 12:3.
