Praise! The Worship workshop has finished well and God has had His hand on it. Musicians from several churches have participated and many new worship songs have been written and recorded in the local dialect. A final concert took place where the community in Ambilobe was invited to hear the music and listen to testimony. New relationships are being built in the local churches. Pray the new worship songs will be used to sing praises to God in the local language and many will turn to Him!
Cast their cares
Praise God for the good discussions with Somali ladies in our weekly Bible studies. Pray that they would grow in the knowledge of the Lord. Pray also for perseverance in their different situations of life and that they would learn to cast their cares on Jesus who cares for them
Diaspora in Canada
Please pray for a Christian family trying to keep the Muslim father of their grandchildren, several of whom are disabled, from taking the kids back to a Somali region of Kenya. There will be very poor care available for them in Kenya. None of the five kids wish to accompany him. Please pray for wisdom regarding legal proceedings.
Radical
Pray for young Somali men. As they grow, they are susceptible to radical ideas that lead them to become hostile to Christians and the gospel. Please pray that those young men who are in their teens and early twenties right now will instead put their faith in Jesus the Messiah and become zealous for Him.
Diaspora in Minnesota
Praise for a new family that began tutoring this week and had a good connection with their Somali family. May the Lord do His work in this family! Please continue to pray for the rest of the tutors to be a light among the darkness and to have opportunities to boldly proclaim the gospel with clarity. Ask the Lord to go before them and open many hearts to hear and believe the Gospel.
Connecting with the Chaplain
Pray for a family of Somali refugees in Uganda, for an opportunity to connect more with our chaplain so they can hear and believe the gospel.
Jesus cares for them
Praise God for the good discussions with the Somali ladies in our weekly Bible studies. Pray that they would grow in the knowledge of the Lord. Pray also for perseverance in their different situations of life and that they would learn to cast their cares on Jesus who cares for them.
Pray for More Refugees to Come
Please pray for doors to be opened for more refugees to come for medical help. We’ve noticed that the flow of Somali refugees has decreased since the beginning of the year. We assume the cut in funding for medical expenses in the refugee camps means the patients cannot afford to come.
Connecting Again
Please pray for a Somali man named Ali. Pray for opportunities to connect more with the missionary he met and had friendly talks with. Pray for his salvation.
Sent one
Pray that God might raise up a “sent one” from this city to go to another people and so transform the hearts of all local followers to think first of others and of His Name among all nations.
Lord, do a new thing!
This week we focus our prayers on the Somali people. Pray the Lord would ‘bind the strong man and plunder the house of Islam’ particularly the room of Somali (Mark 3:27). O Lord, do a new thing among the Somali people. Have mercy on those who have committed acts of violence. May they repent and find forgiveness and shalom in Jesus. Have mercy on those who have suffered persecution, would you strengthen weak knees and give grace to stand firm in the faith. Have mercy on those who are weary of war and feel hopeless. May they find hope in Jesus.
He Hid Under a Blanket
Please pray for Abdulaha, a Somali patient. He got an infection after surgery. He was witnessed to and agreed to be given more literature, but at the next visit he hid under the blanket pretending to sleep. Pray that he will see the glory of God, that his infection stops, and that a door to his heart is opened.
Diaspora in USA
Let’s pray this week for the unreached Somali communities across the USA and beyond. There have been people working and persevering for years among them. Let’s pray boldly and expectantly for a movement of God’s Spirit among them. Pray that our Diaspora workers and their partners will be strengthened and renewed for the task. Pray for new Diaspora members and partnerships to work among the Somalis.
Harvest is ready!
There is a lot of interest in the village of Antsahabe. It is only in this past year that missionaries have gone there regularly to share the gospel, but already there are believers and several of them are interested in being baptized. Praise God for this! Also pray that these new believers would be grounded in their faith and excited to tell others of the hope they have found.
Holy Spirit work
Please pray that the Holy Spirit would work in all the hearts of those we are spending time with and sharing the Good News with, and that the Father would grant them faith in Jesus. Lift us up (the team) as we disciple believers- that they will be true disciples of Jesus.
Needing help
Yesterday another strong wind devastated 44 houses in Hurri Hills! Please pray for all the families that will need to rebuild. May love and hospitality be shown to those in need and the name of Jesus be glorified!
Diaspora in Wisconsin
Pray that a family picnic, which took place on Sunday March 3, would have lasting effects. Pray for church partners and Somali families that attended. Pray that bridges of trust and relationship would continue to be built.
Leaning forward
As the final foreign workers pull back, the all-Mozambican outreach team leans forward, takes on leadership and moves with confidence, trusting that God, who has called them is faithful. Please pray for this team of Mozambican men and women that they would reach out boldly and with courage as they seek to see the unreached of Northern Mozambique come to Jesus.
Protect O Lord!
This morning some of our teammates found what appears to be witchcraft outside of their house as well as the houses of their neighbors. Pray for protection for our team and our neighbors from forces of evil. Pray for the people practicing the witchcraft to be convicted of sin and for Jesus to move powerfully in their lives.
May faith grow deep
Pray for F who recently heard the Good News. Pray that a true faith might replace the daily round of rituals and that she might find true peace in knowing our Lord despite difficult family circumstances.
Needing freedom
Pray for those who were once regular at Bible study but have not been coming these last couple of months. Pray for people to see that the god they worship through their traditional religion and sacrifices is not the God of the universe who is revealed in the Bible. Pray that they would be set free from the spirits that have deceived them and they would truly repent and put their faith in the true God and salvation through Jesus.
Godly leader needed +
Pray that the Spirit will raise up a leader among the brothers. A servant leader with a teachable spirit, who delights in the law of the Lord and who will lead with humility and love.
And pray against the schemes of the enemy that try to keep the sisters from meeting together to read and grow. Pray that they will be hungry for the Word and the Spirit.
Music seminar
This week the local church in Ambilobe is going to be trained in writing scriptural music in the Antakarana dialect. Pray that there will be open hearts and talents used to create worship music that can be a vehicle for sharing the gospel to the Antakarana living in Northern Madagascar.
Read the Word
Missionaries have been selling Bibles to local Believers at a reduced rate for the past couple of years and have had to restock time and time again. People are eager to have Bibles in their hands. But other than in school, picking up a book to read just because you want to read, is not a usual practice. There simply aren’t books available to read for leisure and many Tanzanians only have a 3rd grade education. In a recent church service, the preacher was encouraging the Believers to read their Bibles. Yes, they bring them to church and read them during the service but please ask the LORD to give His people such a hunger for His Word, that they will read daily and that they will teach their children to do the same. His Word is alive and active! This would be a major shift in the current culture and one that will have life changing impact.
6 children baptized!
Praise the Lord for Jacob’s recent outreach in a village called Kerenge, where six children who professed faith in Jesus asked to be baptized. Pray for many others in all the villages in Kimatong region where the gospel has been proclaimed to “repent and turn to God and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds” (Acts 26:20).
Pray Lord of the Harvest
Ask the Lord of the Harvest to send laborers into His harvest field among the Kanembu. They have been waiting a long time to hear the gospel and see it lived out among them. Please pray for team leaders and members.
Standing and kneeling
Pray for protection over new believers, that they might stand firm in the face of opposition.
And pray for fear to be broken among the many that know the truth, but are counting the cost. May they bow their knee to King Jesus.
How good and pleasant…
Pray for love to grow between the two main Ethne groups of followers in our country and for God to birth a vision for a ‘New Antioch’ church in the hearts of S and Y believers. Pray for hard hearts to soften and pride to be abolished so that brothers and sisters can dwell together in unity.
Brokenness
Pray for one village area where there is a lot of brokenness. Praise God that some people are beginning to recognize that brokenness and that they cannot fix themselves. May the Holy Spirit bring about godly repentance in hearts and a turning to Jesus. (2 Cor 7:10).
Please pray specifically for one man of peace in the community who is already taking steps to bring reconciliation and seek Jesus as the only one who can heal brokenness.
Being sent!
We give thanks for three Sandawe men who are being sent from one of the local congregations to give leadership to three other congregations. One of the recent prayer requests for the Sandawe was for leadership so this is an answer to that prayer! Praise the LORD. Funds are available for them to go to a short Bible school training course. Please pray that they will have an opportunity to attend this course which is divided into 2 three months sessions in a town on the other side of the country.
Captivate their Hearts
We were able to host a local friend, her little boy, and cousin over for dinner and watch the Jesus film. They had to leave early before finishing the movie, but we were able to finish the rest of the film with the friend at a later date. Please pray that the Holy Spirit would captivate these three locals hearts with this message of the Gospel truth and that the Father would draw them to His Son Jesus!
Broadminded
Pray for a S. Asian widow who clings to Islam but is broadminded enough to spend a lot of time with women of other cultures and religions. Pray that the Lord will cause her to have a deep spiritual hunger and thirst for righteousness, and that her hunger will be filled by Jesus Christ.
Press on
Please continue to pray for the church in Kwa Madebe, those who were trained in discipleship, and also for the more secret believers, that they would all continue to press on to know Christ (Phil 3: 10). May they share the good news of reconciliation with many in their communities.
Bold witness needs prayer
A woman known as Sally, who came to faith after fifteen years of faithful gospel witness, has been courageously and obediently proclaiming Christ amongst her people. She has suffered for following Christ- her husband divorced her, she’s been abandoned by family, beaten, locked up with her children, and refused food and water. However, she has had many opportunities to share the Gospel – before women’s groups at the mosque, before the local Islamic council, and in surrounding villages. She has prayed for healing and freedom from demonic possession in Jesus’ name and seen people healed and delivered – opening the doors to further proclaim Christ. Just several weeks ago, people from two surrounding villages who had heard of this woman decided to come together to hear for themselves what the message was that she was willing to suffer for. With the help of some workers, the J-Film was shown and Sally shared. We’ve heard over thirty people from those two villages have chosen to follow Christ!
In the midst of this, Sally’s case is being brought before the supreme Islamic Council of Chad in the capital city and they are to decide what to do with her. We need to pray for all that the Spirit is doing in Sally’s location as well as for God to intervene in her situation before the Islamic Council.
Measles
“This time of the year is the difficult one for people as the fields are still green and there’s no harvest. There’s been an outbreak of measles, which has caused much suffering as well. The situation is not yet under control. But vaccinations have been done in villages. Children have died in our village these last weeks and many others are sick. Please pray for God’s protection.”
Islanders in Europe
Pray for the distribution of both French and local language calendars. Ask that islanders would read them and that they would lead to fruitful conversations, discussions, and searching!
Training and outreach
From a Rangi evangelist: “Praise the Lord, and pray for me. I am attending a seminar (Global Disciples) this week starting Thursday through Sunday and also I’ll be doing door to door evangelism. Join with me to pray for this work of God. Be blessed.”
Pray for Kw
Please lift up D and Ab and Ar as they talk with Kw. Ask for light to shine in her heart, true repentance, truth and work of the Holy Spirit. She took a megavoice recorder and asked what we had read in the morning. We listened to the passage together and shared with her about what we had shared in our morning meeting. Despite many different things, she said she enjoyed it. I think she will continue to come and it is good to continue visiting and encouraging her.
Bless B
Pray for B, who was involved in translating the God Story film when he was a student in Madagascar. He is back home now and finding it hard to find regular fellowship. Pray he would be bold in seeking out other believers, and that he’d continue to read the Word. Ask Father that he would remember his first love and not fall into fear or distractions.
No Longer Afraid
We praise Jesus that S, a fearful neighbor we told you about in July, is continuing to visit with us in our home and has begun hosting us in his home as well. He is no longer fearful of visiting! Recently he was talking about Jesus and the prophet of Islam in our home with some other neighbors. He was accused of “haram” (sin) repeatedly by one of the neighbors. S continued to adamantly defend his beliefs of mixing the two religions, which includes Jesus as the Savior. We praise Jesus for the boldness of S and the deep hunger he has for God’s Word. We pray that he would choose Jesus completely and boldly proclaim that Jesus is the only Savior!
