Mama Bird’s Son
Feb 26, 2018
Mama Bird was scared … her 5-year-old son had just thrown up a bowl full of blood when I walked by her home. Immediately I took the boy in my arms and asked if I could pray for him. She had seen effective prayers before in releasing our neighbor’s daughter from demonic bondage, witnessed her neighbor family’s salvation out of Islam, and had been hearing bits and pieces of God’s story. As I prayed, the boy became peaceful and rested in my arms as Mama Bird gathered their things for us to rush him to the hospital. The next day she came back with her recovering son to thank me for the prayer and emergency help. Please keep praying for opportunities to share with our beloved neighbors the hope of the gospel of Jesus Christ and pray that they would not only hear, but believe with a faith that endures the persecutions to come.
We Grieve Differently
Feb 19, 2018
Our elderly mother recently went home to Jesus. We thank God for her godly example. Her death, though sorrowful, also filled us with such peace and joy in knowing she is where her treasure was laid. The local body of Christ has surrounded us with loving compassion. And our neighbors are watching! We mourn radically different from them. We have assurance of salvation in Jesus Christ! They fear that Allah will not accept their good deeds. We praise God for the open doors He has given us to testify to the hope and salvation there is in Jesus Christ. We know our mom is rejoicing in heaven that the seeds of the gospel are being planted from her life and death in Jesus Christ. Now please pray these seeds would bear the fruit of salvation in Christ that endures!
Intensified Illness
Feb 14, 2018
There are seasons of intensified illness & death here on the coast and we are in one of them now. There have been many funerals & hospitalizations & we have faced cases of malaria, nasty infections, and painful flare ups of chronic illness. Pray we would not grow weary in doing good and that God would fortify our bodies and hearts as we comfort the sick and mourning even in our own weakness. Pray as we show the loving compassion of Christ and share the hope we have in Christ with our dear neighbors, they would lay hold of the Hope of Salvation!
Feeling Threatened
Feb 6, 2018
Praise God for the challenges the church is facing here: a new Mosque attempting to cross over the church property, and boarders trying to build as close to us as possible when they have plenty of space to build elsewhere. Satan is so obviously feeling threatened by God’s Kingdom growing here! Praise God! We are wrestling over how do we, the local church, best enfold & disciple all these new believers who have come out of Islam. Pray for the Lord to continue to build his Kingdom, and preserve & grow his local body here to be a bold, loving witness of the hope & redemption there is in Jesus Christ! May His Kingdom come, may His will be done!
Hungering for the Lost
Jan 27, 2018
Praise God for the new believers who are hungering for their lost neighbors to know Jesus as their Savior too. At Christmas Bibi C brought 2 of her granddaughters to celebrate a meal with us & hear the gospel. Mama F did the same in bringing Mama Bird. And today Mama A brought a young searching man to come hear the gospel after he had heard her testimony of God’s healing & salvation and witnessed how the body of Christ has loved her. He responded to the Gospel & wants to join us tomorrow in church to testify & worship with his new family!!! Praise be to Our Lord God! Please pray for the salvation of these precious people & pray for it to spread!
Jesus Film at Christmas
Jan 14, 2018
Thank you for praying for our Christmas Feast for our staff. It was a joyous time of thanking the Lord God for His enablement of all the hard work and results produced this past year. We had a great opportunity to share the reason we have such hope for the future on the coast through the gospel of Jesus Christ. We were thankful that many families stayed on to watch the Jesus film. Praise God! Pray that all the seeds of the Gospel planted that day would sprout and bear fruit that endures!
Traditional Christmas Feast
Dec 18, 2017
Our Christian nonprofit will be hosting a Christmas party to thank God for His awesome enablement and provision throughout this past year. We will have a traditional feast followed by the Jesus film. Some of our local crew have come to faith directly and indirectly in the past 2 years through the ministry of our nonprofit and others are searching. We see this party as another opportunity to openly celebrate and share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with all their families. Please pray the Lord will miraculously move to glorify Himself in and through this celebration. Before this, the only attempt to ever show the Jesus film in our village resulted in the stoning of the equipment and the missionaries being chased out of the village. Never before have Christians been able to serve long term in this village and we are thankful for the open door God has given us the past 3 years! Please pray!
Displaying Bold Unity and Confidence
Dec 15, 2017
Praise God that the body of Christ boldly displayed their generous unity in committing all the funds needed to send Ndugu S, a fairly new Swahili believer, to a carpentry & discipleship training school. He desires to grow in his faith and be trained in this skill so he can return to our village able to support himself and bear Christ’s witness to his neighbors through this vocation. Pray the Lord would continue to meet Ndugu S’ needs.
Another Chance to Share the Gospel of Grace
Dec 5, 2017
Praise God for opportunities to share Christ’s witness with Mama N. She is a strong local leader among the women of our village. She seems entirely content with her many good works which she believes bring her favor from Allah. The other day she came by for a visit and God opened wide the door to share the gospel of grace with her again. She asked about the road and reservoir project. I shared with her how I was praising God for answering our prayers to delay the rains, which were pouring down in all the areas around us so that we could complete the project in good time. She looked a bit startled and said, “Yes. Yes. Wow! Truly we all knew it would rain, but it hasn’t. Now I know why. God hears your prayers because you are a good person!” I said, “No! Mama N! I am a sinner! But my Savior Jesus is the Son of God who took away my sins, the sins of the world through His sacrifice of his body & blood on the cross! I am made Holy and now have a relationship with God Almighty because of Jesus! He is what makes me holy and good so that I can go to God for all my needs. God hears the prayers of all who trust in Jesus!” She listened thoughtfully. Pray for the Holy Spirit to draw her and her respected Swahili family to Christ!
