The Amazigh are struggling to retain their identity and language and are often more open to the gospel because of their history. As new Amazigh believers gather, there are those who want to only speak Tamazight… and others who grew up in a time it was forbidden to learn it… and know only Arabic and some basics. Pray that above any cultural identity will be their identity as those who love and follow Jesus. Pray for growing love and deeper community that extends grace and understanding. Ask that Tamazight not be an issue of division.
Final decision
We have shared about C before- he appreciates our prayers and he has experienced our prayers work! He wants us to keep praying for him. He has read the Bible verses that we send to him, he still remembers them.
Three days ago, we had an opportunity to share the gospel with him again.
This time he was more open to us and we told him that only Jesus is the way to God. We invited him to pray to Jesus and accept Him to be his saviour. He knew that Jesus is saviour although he hasn’t made the final decision!!
Please continue to pray for him especially this Ramadan, pray that Jesus speaks to him directly and he can make the final decision!
New Life!
Praise God that M and his wife and 3 kids have made a decision to receive God’s gift and follow Jesus! Pray for wise and intentional discipleship and enveloping them into the loving, though small, community of the body of Christ in their village. Pray for God’s protection – M’s father had threatened then relented from the decision to burn his son’s house.
May friendships grow
The Karana (Gujarati) are known as being astute business people. Not all Karana are mega-rich, though. Many of them are smaller business owners just making a living. The Karana started coming to Madagascar in the 17th Century, so have deep roots here and a tight community. Pray for friendships to develop among Christian colleagues. Pray for Malagasy believers to reach out and continue to build relationships with the Karana in their communities.
Kids listening too.
The intern kids arrive for afternoon Bible story & play time at our home each weekday. Slowly more neighborhood kids (of our new or secret believers) have begun to join the intern kids in listening to the Chronological Gospel story from creation to Christ. Please pray the Lord would keep sending them to hear the beautiful story of the Gospel and that they would have a firm foundation established in the truth for all their lives unto salvation. Pray for us as we prepare for the upcoming seminar on Chronological Bible Storying for the intern families as well.
Poor harvest
Please pray for the Sandawe people as most are anticipating a poor harvest this year. The rains were sporadic and not enough to produce well. Ask that provision will be made for their physical needs and that this will be an opportunity for them to see God at work, the One True God who is LORD over all things.
Hungry for Forgiveness
A S. Asian Hindu man seemed hungry for forgiveness of sins. He was told, “There is a Savior, who loves you very much. Seek Him! His name is Jesus.” Please pray that he will seek the Savior and come to faith in Him.
Gospel of Luke
Menja, our translator, finished the translation of the gospel of Luke into Tanala. Now we need to check chosen words for accuracy. There are 41 stories. We are still working on separate Bible verses to go along with the stories as memory verses. Please pray for this process.
Needing fellowship
Please pray for B, a Neem believer. Saved only 2yrs ago he has recently decided to move away from our big town where it is easier to find fellowship and encouragement to a rural area where he hopes to find work. Challenges in his life have included death threats from his family and pressure to keep away from Christians. Pray that he will find fellowship to help him grow in his faith and that he might be able to share his new-found love for JC with people whose hearts God has prepared.
Remain strong
Please pray for the small Digo church here as the team transitions out, that they would remain strong, and even thrive on their own. The Lord is building His Church! Pray many will be added to those who are being saved.
Meeting together
A family of believers going through their first Ramadan and an older believer are gathering for the first time to read, eat and pray this Sunday evening. May this increase their boldness, their longing for fellowship, their knowledge and love for the Lord Jesus.
Vision
Angelo, an educated Laarim youth who has assisted much in outreach among his own people, is regularly helping in the local clinic. He has a vision to study to become a clinical officer, and thus support himself in doing ministry. Pray for God’s direction in his life and blessing on his ministry.
Sewing project
There’s a wonderful mobilization among the ladies for community development. God has placed a beautiful sense of unity among them. A sewing project started in April. Please pray for the ladies who are volunteering to come and start the project, pray for the local Gabbra lady who learned to sew to assist the volunteers with language and culture. Pray that this ministry will be an amazing opportunity to share the Gospel through words, love and actions.
The Gospel at a Wedding
A young South Asian woman heard the gospel from two Christian women at a Muslim wedding brunch. Please pray for the Lord to put her in contact with other Christians who can keep sharing the Word of Life, and that she will put her faith in Christ.
Pray for seeds being sown
Please pray for a community in Karamoja called Langariama. Someone there just received an audio Bible this week. Please pray that hearts are prepared and softened to receive the seeds of the Word and produce much fruit!
Confusion
Many Arabs are in times of turmoil because of hatred or war. Fighting is forbidden during Ramadan. Several have voiced their confusion as they flee violence and try to find a place of peace to fast. Pray that this will tear down the white-washed wall (Ez 13) and expose the false prophets who say ‘Peace’ where there is no peace. Pray that the church in these lands would rise up with words of hope and truth and with practical help and compassion.
A new believer!
Praise the Lord for M.! He found some of our teammates the other day and said, “I need to be a Christian. Something deep in my heart moves when I hear Christian songs or speakers. I know that this is truth.” After confirming that this was truly his desire, we stood over him and prayed as he made Jesus the Lord of his life. Pray that he would be encouraged in his new faith and would tell others about life in Christ! Pray this would be the start of a move of God among the Zigua people.
Prayers for deepening relationships
Pray for Shad, a colleague of A’s, who is open to discussion and gladly accepted a copy of the Word. Ask for more opportunities to share and for the relationship to deepen.
Also pray for Ann. She says even thought she grew up in a muslim home, she always knew there was something different for her. When C started sharing with her, she realized Jesus was the One she had been seeking! Rejoice with us, and pray her new faith would grow deep roots.
Family under attack
Mama S is beginning to grow in her relationship with the Lord – gaining confidence of who she is in Christ and intimacy with God in her prayer life with Him. Her children have a growing heart for Jesus as well. Although neither she nor her children are allowed yet to worship openly with us, we have seen a softening in her husband toward the gospel. But please pray for the protection of their marriage! People, including her in-laws, have begun to spread vicious rumors about Mama S’s character in the village with the goal of inciting her husband to divorce her. On their porch one afternoon, God opened the door to talk frankly with Baba S about what we saw clearly as a satanic attack to divide and destroy their family. Praise God Baba S acknowledged that this was true and he would not give up on his family! We know satan still wants to devour their family. Please pray for the Lord’s protection and salvation over their whole family.
Drought opening doors
Keep praying for an end to the drought- people are still struggling to eat and animals are weak. Yet, thank God that some rain as fallen in a few places so some heads are starting to recover, but broad rains are needed. The drought has allowed greater openings for the gospel -more and more villages are asking for Bible study, almost weekly new villages send elders to us to ask for them to be taught. Word has gotten around that Jesus is real! As an example two villages have told me so far “we love you (our elders) coming because you know God! When you pray God answers. Please teach us more!”
Jesus film dubbing preparation
Pray for Mike and the team making final preparations on the Jesus film script/translation and that God will provide for all the details and the O speakers needed for the various roles. Pray that this will be a powerful tool for advancing God’s kingdom in O land.
Seeking recognition
There are 18 Malagasy tribes. The Karana (Gujarati) are calling to be recognised as the 19th tribe of Madagascar. Madagascar is the home of many Karana families who have lived there for generations, largely unreached with the gospel. God recognizes them! PLEASE PRAY THAT EVERY KARANA PERSON WILL HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO RESPOND TO THE GOOD NEWS OF JESUS CHRIST. And that the Malagasy church will have a burden to reach out to them.
Needing a teacher
The brothers here have a great need for a teacher. They know the best Teacher and the Great Shepherd, but need some men to come and walk alongside of them. Please ask for this provision.
Announcement
Recently the mosques made a city-wide announcement, that made local news as well, stating that they’re aware of Christian activity in the city. Activity from the young people! NOT the foreigners!
We rejoice that they made the claim themselves that S brothers do exist (no longer can they say “to be S is to be a Muslim”), the brothers that often feel isolated and alone now know that they’re not alone and that there’s many of them, and that it’s spreading from within.
And we ask for our brothers to be wise as serpents and innocent as doves as they wrestle with how to respond to this announcement, which also stated that the authorities will be doing what they can to prevent this. And that our brothers will stand firm and let this encouragement spur them on to keep expanding.
May this announcement also cause others to question and seek.
Post cyclone
Please continue to pray for the Ndau who have been affected by the cyclone Idai in our area. Many lost family, their homes and their fields. Pray for them as they rebuild their homes and for the World Food Program to continue bringing food until they can harvest again early next year. Pray for our team as we help them -for strength and wisdom in who to help. May we use every opportunity to spread the Good News and for the folks to see Jesus in us.
Diaspora in USA
Pray for the unreached Somali communities across the USA. There are an estimated 60,000 Somali people living in the Seattle – Tacoma, WA area. This is the second largest community in the US. There is a small group who are focused on outreach to the Somali people. Pray for continued conversations about partnership to reach the Somali’s of Seattle.
Walls Fall Down
A Muslim S. Asian family has been listening to their Christian friends share the gospel and Scripture for over three years, yet they still have not believed in Jesus. Their friends feel discouraged at the lack of responsiveness. Please pray that as the Lord made the walls of Jericho fall down as Israel faithfully walked around the city, He will also cause the walls of resistance to Jesus fall down in this family.
May God make a way
Please ask the Lord to pave the way for authorities to grant permission for an outreach to the village of Mangasta. The outreach is planned as part of a Global Disciples seminar. 10 days of outreach are planned for later this month. Also pray for Immanuel and his wife who are experiencing marriage difficulties. This is the couple who had expressed a desire to to serve the Lord by moving to Mangasta to be a witness in that village. Thirdly, the village leadership of Mangasta donated land to A.I.C.T. a few years ago for the purpose of building a church. But since nothing has been done with the land, there is now a problem as someone has encroached on some of the land. Please pray that this issue will be resolved. It seems this village is under attack as the Church makes an effort to have an impact on this Muslim stronghold.
Joyful and Praise-Filled Singing
This Easter, local churches from several denominations gathered in town to publicly celebrate the resurrection of Jesus together! We estimate that over 200 people were in attendance, both Christians and Muslims who came to watch. There was joyful and praise-filled singing by the choirs, children reciting verses they had learned in Sunday school, and money was even raised to help a regional school for children with disabilities. What a witness to our Muslim neighbors and friends to see Christians gathering and celebrating Jesus together despite differences of denomination! We are praising Jesus for what He was doing in our midst on Sunday and praying that He uses it to draw our Muslim neighbors closer to Himself so that they too might know the joy and hope of His resurrection that His people celebrated together on Sunday! Thank You, Jesus, for what You have done for us!
Diaspora in Florida
Pray for Muslim leaders to be willing to meet with us and for us to be able to speak spiritual truths into their lives.
Cyclone report
Volcano island was the hardest hit by the recent cyclone. There are many trees and power & phone lines down, lots of houses that lost roofs or collapsed in the storm, especially near the north of the island. Clean up started right away and the capital has been filled with the smoke of burning debris for the last several days. People are most concerned about the food –much of the staple cooking bananas and breadfruit – was destroyed. Please ask for workers to discern how best to help. We are thankful that there were few deaths or serious injuries and that the flooding that had been predicted did not happen. Our friend KC lost his belongings when his house collapsed, but he was unhurt and is in good spirits. Please ask that as people enter the fasting month after a year of extraordinary events, they will be asking deeper questions and will come to God with searching hearts.
The Word of God on Audio Players
Praise God for the many Alagwa who are excited to get the word of God on audio players. In one extended family now has the word of God playing in the 2 married sons’ houses as well as the parents. Praise God a believing wife is now listening with her husband who isn’t following Jesus yet.
Praise God too for an old man who has been quite firm in his Muslim beliefs. He heard the gospel recently and today came for an audio player. He said that he really wants to get back to God. When someone said they knew he would find God because the Bible says those who seek will find, he said wistfully if I could find God, that would be so good. Please pray for this man, that he would know the God who loves him and gave everything to save him.
So close
Pray for Baba J. Over the past few weeks he has brought up multiple conversations about Jesus. His questions are evidence that he is seeking truth. One of our teammates shared about the sweetness of Jesus and the look in his eyes was evidence that God is doing something in his heart. Pray that he will understand the Gospel clearly and that it would be personal for him. Pray against fear and that he would see the cost of following Jesus and know that He is worth it.
Diaspora in Portland
Another like-minded refugee ministry in Portland asked if I would story at their Easter celebration on Good Friday. So I again did the story of the “Thief on the Cross.” A group of maybe 60 refugees from Iran, Iraq, Palestine, Sudan, Jordan, Afghanistan, etc. listened in complete silence as I storied from Luke 23. Surprisingly, in the discussion time after, they did not seem to push back on the truth of Jesus’ crucifixion, but interacted well. I had several Luke/Acts Arabic-English booklets, and they all disappeared. A Palestinian man told me he would read the whole thing! The director of the ESL program said they would follow up the story with discussion in their classes the next week.
So we were thankful for the opportunities to sow the seed of God’s Word in cooperation with others who are modeling God’s love and truth to our immigrant friends! – RH
Its a battle
Continue to pray against the attack of Satan in attempting to divide and discourage Mama & Baba S. They have worked so hard & sacrificed so much to try to make a better life for their family. A giant python got into their chicken coup and ate 7 chickens before he was killed. For them, this is a huge discouraging loss. Pray they would see this as a sign that they are doing something honorable & Satan only wants to discourage & keep them trapped in the extreme poverty. Pray the Lord would use this to draw Mama S deeper into faith & prayer with Him & this would lead Baba S to seek the Savior! What Satan has meant for evil, may the Lord turn to good.
Hearing at last!
In Beono village the king has been waiting for more than 1.5 years to hear the Bible stories! I started going there last December and am already discussing the implication of accepting Jesus. The king, Iaban’i Velotia (father of Velotia), said last Thursday that he believes in Jesus now! He is accompanied almost every week by the president of the Fokontany (deputy mayor), Iaban’i Dimby. Both men constantly discuss the implications in between the stories. They see it as their responsibility to take note of the Bible and possibly forwarding the message to rest of the village.
Diaspora in Canada
• Pray for our Thursday evening barber shop and men’s club visits – warmly received most of the time, hotly occasionally. Pray for open hearts and souls.
• Please pray specifically for I who is a Som. Christian spiraling ever deeper into addictions, that God would grab him and deliver him.
• Pray for N who was close to confessing Jesus, but has since backed away. Pray for her to come to really know Jesus.
• Pray again for F family whose Som M dad wants to take his kids to Africa against their will. Their mother who died was a Christian, and the kids do not want to go back.
School Children, Church Plots, and Rain
From a Rangi evangelist: “I thank the Lord that in His mercy we were able to teach 57 school children this year. Please pray for those families that have a hard time paying school fees. Please also pray about this: there is a Methodist church that wants to give us property so we can use it for outreach ministry. Of course we’ll need funds to build a building. Lastly, please pray for rain. The farms here are very dry and people are hungry. Thank you for your prayers.”
50 watch JF!
Saturday night a group of about 50 people gathered to watch the Jesus film in the Antakarana dialect. For most of them this was their first time to listen to the complete story. Pray that the Gospel story will open their desire to hear more and to choose the freedom that comes in Christ Jesus.
More Workers Needed
Pray for more workers to come among the Toposa; one missionary said, “come quickly the time is now.” Pray that God would guide the right people, whether expats or nationals, to reach out to the lost Toposa.
