A new sister just asked if the Eid l-Adha (celebration where Muslims sacrifice a sheep to remember the ram provided for Abraham’s almost-sacrifice of ‘Ishmael’) was wrong to celebrate. Please pray for new believers as family members sacrifice. Ask that they know the beauty of Jesus’ final sacrifice and have opportunities to share the truth of Heb 10.
Training update
The two weeks of training for village church leaders went very well with 113 leaders attending the first week! We were particularly encouraged to see many of those who have been involved in the training for the last 7 years, bringing other potential leaders from their churches. 45 of the 113 attending have signed up for the next 6-year round of residential training due to start in October this year. Pray for these leaders as they return home and serve their churches.
God is moving many hearts
Praise God that He is moving in the hearts and lives of the Didinga around Nagishot, and that He is calling missionaries to serve there even as He is preparing people to hear the Gospel.
Engaging the Word
Please pray for Odilo and his wife as they lead listening group seminars in which they are training people to ask specific questions when they listen to the solar players with scripture. The idea is for people to engage with God’s word, not merely listen to it. It is essentially training people in inductive Bible Study but the interesting thing is that most of the people who have the players are not Christians. Please ask the Lord to keep Odilo and Mama Happy safe as they travel long distances on a motorcycle and for these seminars to have a far reaching impact for the Kingdom.
May ones and twos become 100s!
We have seen a scattered number of Nyamwezi come to Christ and are excited that God is doing something amongst them. Pray that these believers will meet together and encourage one another. Pray many more will be saved!
Pilgrimage
Pray for islanders making the pilgrimage to Mecca this week. Ask that they would see the underside of Islam there and would be filled with questions that Islam can’t answer. May they have courage to seek Truth, wherever it is found.
Worshiping God not man
In Sakalava culture, having a funeral or building a grave always involves ancestral worship. This weekend a Christian family, having finished the grave of their mum, will have a party, inviting all their families and friends to worship God. Please pray that it would have a great impact on the attendees, helping them to see who should be worshipped!
Pray against resistance
This week two O neighbor ladies listened eagerly to the Gospel and responded by praying to receive Jesus as their Savior. We arranged for them to meet for discipleship training. Before the follow up could happen, they both announced that they had gone home and eagerly shared with their families. Their husbands and extended families refused them to become followers of Jesus or to come for any more teaching. They told us they were sorry, but they would have to obey their families. Pray against this resistance and that people would choose to do what God wants rather than what man wants!
Soccer and friends
Praise God for the great soccer tournament outcome in Wisconsin. There were 5 teams that signed up with 3 of those being Somali teams. Pray that our Somali friends will respond to the love of Christ and will be open to friendship with us.
Harmony to create opportunity
Pray that the harmony between the Nyang’atom and many of their neighbouring tribes will be used to share the Gospel from one unreached people group to another.
Great Commission vision
Being a place held by racial/tribal/clan tensions, the increasing number of Arab refugees has not been welcomed by most of the local community. Yet it’s been beautiful to see some sweet opportunities for the brothers to tear down those walls and create bridges as they seek to serve and reach out to the Arab community, and in doing so, catching some of the vision of Matt 28 as well! Pray for a great harvest.
Strong church to offer growth
There are several Toposa boys who are in Torit for secondary school – pray they would grow in their faith while they have a strong church in Torit around them and that they would be able to share their faith with their classmates throughout the school year.
Bible!
Praise God with us, this coming Saturday the Rendille will receive their New Testament. We will also give out 500 audio Bibles for the majority of the people who do not know how to read and write. The Rendille will hear God speaking their desert heart language! Pray with us that the Word will transform the Rendille people.
Baby born to young believers
Praise the Lord for the safe arrival of Ihisa, daughter to young believers Ediofo and Apuke. Give thanks for God’s answer to prayer in providing a daughter, after 4 sons! Pray for the Lord’s protection over this child and her parents’ young faith. Pray that as they grown in faith they may lead their children in the ways of the Lord.
New outreach
Tana is a city where many islanders go for university studies or health care and then return to the islands. There is a group of believers in the city who meet regularly to pray for the islanders, and have arranged their lives to be able to meet islander students and share the good news with them. Pray for wisdom in meeting with islander patients. Ask the Lord to bless this group with wisdom, unity, and favor, and to open a door for fruitful ministry among students and patients.
Needing freedom from fear
Pray for Al, he is from the community south of us. He has been meeting fairly regularly with the believers for almost a year now. Pray that he will not be afraid to follow Jesus. There are many others who have also expressed interest and even belief, but who have as yet had the boldness to identify themselves as followers of Jesus. Pray with us that God will continue to work in this community to break down Satan’s hold on people through fear.
battle for a soul
An Alagwa friend called to say she would be unable to visit our village, because she was sick. When we discussed rescheduling she told me, “tomorrow I have church.” Praise Jesus! This friend is fighting a hard battle right now against the evil of this world. Please pray for her to have continued encounters with Christ. Even if we are unable to meet face to face, may she be able to feel and experience the presence of Jesus daily.
Film Translation
The translation of the Jesus Film into the local language of Icetod is nearing completion. Please pray that this project can be completed soon and translated in a way that the Ik can fully understand the gospel. Pray that in the future, as the Ik watch this video, that they will desire to turn from their sin and turn to the Lord Jesus Christ who loves them so much.
Needing someone to go
Pray that the remoteness of the Kachipo’s homeland will not deter believers from going to live among them and proclaim the Gospel to those living in darkness.
Still needing to see
Recently Naremo, a young widow who had bilateral cataracts, has had her sight restored physically through surgery. She is listening to the Word of God on a digital solar device, and she is attending a local Bible study in a village compound. Pray that she will believe the truth of the Word and see the big picture of God’s plan for her and her family—transformation through faith in Jesus Christ.
Learning to trust
In the past, the local brothers have struggled with unity because of distrust. But many are coming together weekly now and learning to operate more and more as the body and wanting to grow together. And the sisters who were never meeting are now doing the same! We rejoice in this and ask for continued unity, trust, and growth among the body.
Hope across the country
Many are celebrating as South Sudan leaders signed an agreement over the weekend that promises to take steps to bring peace, unity, and stability to the country. Please pray that all leaders involved will do their part to uphold the agreement, and that peace will ultimately come via the Gospel spreading throughout South Sudan.
Love in supplies
Pray that the Mbororo who were given some of the relief supplies sent up to Obo, CAR, will see the love of Christ in those who gave them and be drawn to Him.
Needing to hear
Many of the Nyang’atom have never heard the Gospel; pray that as God is softening their hearts and drawing them to Him, someone will be sent to the Nyang’atom to share the Gospel with them.
How will they hear?
There is no Maba scripture published although two books were translated. Recently however, a set of 40 chronological stories was completed and is available on micro SD cards to put in phones. Twice there have been plans to go out into local Maba villages to let people listen to these stories accompanied by two of 3 Maba- speaking believers. On both occasions the trip was postponed. Pray that these stories will bear much fruit and that, when rainy season is finished, such a trip can be accomplished.
Believers needing strength
Please pray for the Ndau folks that have already converted. We are finding that they have difficulties in leaving the cultural issues that go against what the Bible says. Some of them, especially women get pressurised by the unbelieving family into brewing beer for the ancestors and to partake in the ceremonies. Please pray for them to stand strong and to realise that they have the Holy Spirit in them.
Pray for hearts to turn
Proverbs 1:23 “If you turn at my reproof, behold I will pour out my spirit to you; I will make my words known to you.”
Please pray that the Karimojong will turn their hearts to the voice of wisdom and learn from her! Pray that they will learn from the suffering that comes from being foolish and choose to fear the Lord and ultimately follow the One in whom is hidden all treasures of wisdom, our King Jesus.
They can kill my body but not my spirit!
On Sunday “Masi” went to the “Pg” village where he is discipling a small group of new believers. Someone attempted to take his life by putting rat poison in his food. He said that as he ate the food he could taste the poison so he stopped eating it and left for home. Soon after he left he started to feel very sick. He came to a place where there was water and started guzzling as fast as he could. He then cried out to God for help and started to throw up. After some time he started to feel a bit better and was able to make it back to his house. Praise God He was totally fine by the next morning! He shared that he is not afraid and though they can kill his body they cannot kill his spirit. He is determined to continue to go back to that village to disciple these new believers. Pray for the Lord’s protection and blessing on Masi, and for conviction of sin on whoever tried to poison him.
Relationships
Please pray for our neighbors’ hearts to be good soil, and for the gospel seeds to take root. Pray our friend Ju will hear the gospel with open ears and a tender heart. Pray that “R” will want to know more about Jesus.
Grow and share
Pray for Lokulung, the caretaker of the small church in the Didinga mountains. Pray that he would grow in his faith and have an overwhelming desire to share the Gospel with those in the Didinga mountains.
Stand firm
Pray that the believers who know the Lord among the Toposa will not fear the reproach of men (Isaiah 51:7-8), but will stand firm on the Word of God and live out their faith boldly in their communities.
Diaspora in SA
We are using a seminar called ‘Awareness and Evangelism of Refugees and Immigrants’ as part of our plan to help the Brazilian church to reach out to African refugees and immigrants in South America. There are so many opportunities, particularly as the immigration policies are changing in North America and Europe, South America is becoming an alternative for a lot of refugees. Today we have in Brazil more than 1 million immigrants from 79 different nations and many of them come from Africa. Pray for the church to have a vision for this opportunity.
Gospel proclamation
Praise God for the opportunity to explain faith in a public setting tomorrow! Pray the truth will be clearly presented without compromise or ’embracing the good of all religions’. Ask for hearts to be sensitive to hear and challenged to consider what is shared.
Medical ministry
Pray for those contacted through the medical ministry. Pray that their physical needs will be the gate to their spiritual needs. Little five year old Lokine and his family and his ward mates are listening to the Treasure recordings of Bible stories and songs much of the time, along with observing the lives of believers.
Theological Education by Extension (TEE)
Praise the Lord for the three men who are working through the TEE program. Pray that Thomas, Clement and Aaron may be faithful in attending the program sessions and that the Lord will increase their knowledge and understanding of Him and His ways through this program. Pray that what they learn might be worked out in their lives each day and have a great Kingdom impact in their communities.
update
“In the last week there have been at least 4 more believers from the unity team in the “Nm” village that have gone out to different areas to find open people to share the gospel with. This team of over 70 has been praying weekly for the last few months asking the Holy Spirit to fill them and lead them where He wants them to go.
Please pray that the Holy Spirit will give them boldness and lead them to the people that He has prepared. Also please remember to be praying for protection for all the new believers and groups and that they would grow in their understanding of who Jesus is and what He has done for them.
Radio ministry is on the air!
The radio station is up and running! Many people are starting to tune in, but our hours are limited due to lack of power. This has been the chief complaint from our listeners. They would like to listen all day but we have only been able to broadcast from 4—9pm. Pray we can find a solution to getting power. Also pray for my meetings in the next few weeks with Sonset Solutions (HCJB) and another radio group about possible expansion of our radio ministry to reach into new and unreached areas via relay towers.
So much is happening! We rejoice that many people are now hearing God’s word for the first time!
Evangelistic outreach
Sometime in August, and evangelistic team from another area of Tanzania will be visiting the village of Mangasta. This village is 100% Sandawe and almost 100% Muslim. The visiting group is called Nuru which means light. This is the first evangelistic outreach to this village though missionaries have been praying for this village for several years. Please pray for the people of Mangasta that they will receive the Light!
Kids’ club
Just a quick note to ask for your prayers for all the details of our planned Kids’ Club – starting this afternoon, and hopefully finishing next Friday. Pray for lots of lasting fruit from all the seeds that are being planted, and pray that God will keep the clinic load down, and especially no ‘on-call’ stuff during those important afternoon hours. Pray with Jesus power and authority that God will speak powerfully through us all, and that those “rulers and authorities, and powers of this dark world” (Eph 6:12) will be prevented from keeping the kids and parents who help from hearing and understanding AND RECEIVING the Gospel truths!
Coming to church
Please pray for young people who have started coming to church with us. A mix of boys and girls aging from 10-15. Pray they will be changed by the Word that they hear. Pray that Jesus would be their Savior. Pray they would find truth.
