Sister Theresa was able to mobilize the community to make 10,000 bricks for the school building. Seven teachers from Shuwaia just graduated from our Education Teach to Reach program April 19. Pray for the school building project and these newly trained teachers to be a blessing to the community and a light set on a hill.
Heartbroken
Diaspora in Ontario: Pray for our local Christian friends from the Horn. Particularly for H who has been attending church faithfully with us for a long time. Our church is disbanding due to declining membership, and H is heartbroken at losing that fellowship. Pray that we and he will find another church soon where he can grow and be blessed. Please pray for his siblings who were raised in a Christian home but have left their former love.
Pray also for one family whose daughter married a Muslim and who have refused all contact with her since. Pray that she’ll be restored to Jesus and her family.
Alpha course
We are doing a version of the Alpha course with some interested islanders. So far 8 islanders (both men and women) have been faithfully coming. Pray that this course would bear fruit in their lives and that they would share what they are learning with others.
Truth
Diaspora in Ontario: I met Omar, a Muslim high schooler originally from Pakistan/India, during street evangelism. Coincidentally we met twice at different street intersections over the last 3 months. Omar questions why we don’t believe Islam is the truth. Pray that Omar will be open to reading the true word of God, the Bible.
Translation team needed
We thank God for what’s happening in Jiye-land. Pray for Simon Amoni and Loumwa, the Jiye leaders, sharing the gospel in the community. Pray for an Oral Bible translation team that is needed to have the gospel in their heart language. Ask the Lord to call people to this task. Keep praying for the salvation of many in this community.
Summer study
Diaspora in Georgia: Pray for the Lord to keep bringing a Pakistani neighbor to study English (and Bible!) with me on Fridays this summer. Pray the Lord would grant her faith to believe.
Trial update
Thank you so much for praying for those who went to court yesterday. I know that God is so delighted to hear his children praying in unity, remembering those in prison, choosing to identify with those who are suffering. The court refused the lawyer’s request to release them and set a new court day for August 13. Pray for those in prison, for their families, for the believers outside of prison, to be still and wait on the Lord in hope. May He lift up their heads and give them peace.
Growth
Pray for growth in wisdom, knowledge and depth of personal intimate relationship with Jesus for the believers! Pray for husbands and wives to become strong disciples of Jesus together and wisely share the Light by word and deed with their loved ones!
Summer Day Camp
Diaspora in Quebec: Praise- We have a youth team helping us lead a week- long day camp this summer for North African kids ages 5-12, August 19-23. As we will be openly sharing Bible stories with the children throughout the week, Muslim families will, apart from God, be very wary of sending their kids. We are praying for 35 kids, from families that God is already at work in, to join us, majority being from North African families. Please pray along with us!
Pray for peace
Pray for peace between the Toposa and Murle. After a mass killing by some Murle, the Toposa have closed the road and no cars can go to Boma. Pray for peace.
Bible studies
Diaspora in Hong Kong: We will start weekly women’s Injil classes in two centres. Pray that God will prepare the hearts of the participants and lead them to Him.
Praise that L, an Ugandan Muslim lady, has found a church to attend for bible study regularly on Friday and weekend evenings. Meanwhile, we still meet with her on a weekly basis. Pray for God’s guidance in her life, and pray she has a pure heart to pursue Jesus.
Trial
Pray for the believers standing trial for their faith tomorrow. They have been in prison for over a year. Pray for the peace of God to overflow in their hearts and give them courage to honor Him and stand firm. Pray the Lord would cause the judge to have favor on them and release them. May the Lord’s presence be tangible in the courtroom so that the believers are comforted and the Muslims are afraid.
Kairos
Praise God for the Kairos course which recently ran in Moroto. Seven participants graduated and many people from different churches attended the graduation. We are hoping to have a gathering this coming month to draw together participants from this and the previous course. The purpose is to continue encouraging one another as we implement what we learnt into our every day lives. Please pray for this gathering, and for God’s desire for all nations to know him to grow in our hearts too.
“Bible speaks to me”
Diaspora in Quebec: Praise God for Dani’, an Egyptian (Muslim background) student who has been studying the Bible with me for several months. She has said now multiple times how the Bible seems to speak specifically to her, and to circumstances she is facing daily. Pray for her that she would fully understand the gospel, her sin and need to repent.
Summer ministry
Diaspora in California: Pray for summer activities with International students. We hope to have a bible study with some of the ladies. Pray the students come to know God’s grace and salvation. Specifically pray for salvation for Thomas and Chris.
Pray also for Sam, a student from India, who was baptized but then went through much persecution, including being cut off financially by his family. He has decided to continue to pursue reading his Bible and is being discipled by one of our volunteers. Pray for his faith to grow strong and his witness to be bold.
Chief ill
Our village chief is very ill. He recently had to have his leg amputated. I have taken him to the hospital several times for treatment. He is getting weaker and weaker. Pray for his physical and spiritual healing.
Parenting class
Diaspora in England: Praise that the latest parenting course went well. We had 6 Som’ women and 2 Sudanese women participate. And we had a chance to share our faith with them. Pray for continued contact with these women and that they would ponder the truth they heard.
Emerging church leaders!
Praise God for the training of 74 lay-pastors and church leaders in Tabora! We could not ask for a more motivated, engaged, and enthusiastic group of men and women. Praise God for the generosity of a US partner church that provided a Swahili African Study Bible to those who have been faithfully attending and participating. There was a lot of rejoicing as they received these Bibles! Pray for these disciples as they apply what they learn, teach others, and persevere to complete their Bible certificate program.
Walk in step
Pray for brothers to find and keep work. Pray they would be an example of the Way of JC and walk in step with the Holy Spirit.
Console and share
Diaspora in Brazil: Pray for discernment in the deeper faith conversations that are arising as a result of the death of one of the African students last month. Pray for wisdom in how to console as well as share the truth of our Savior in these moments.
The river is full
There is a community (Lokitelakapes village) we started sharing bible stories with. Since the heavy rain started, we haven’t been able to go because the river is full. Praise God for the constant rain. Pray that God will provide ways and times that we can still be able to share with them.
New mosque contact
Diaspora in Minnesota: Praise for a meeting at a new Somali mosque yesterday. It was a first at this mosque and we brought a group of Somalis and Christians together to meet. Pray for good connections and followup.
Imam friend
Diaspora in Florida: At my request, my imam friend recently presented me with his eight strongest evidences for Islam. Pray for wisdom to respond well.
We often meet for coffee and gospel conversations and now our wives are saying they ought to be allowed to come along. Pray this would happen.
New praise songs
On Saturday we are recording some new praise songs with new singers. Pray that it is a blessing to many people and that the message is understood and causes many to seek to know the God we sing about!
Avoiding
Please pray for Bo (a believer) who is currently in Madagascar but has not
connected with Jay and Zina who used to mentor him. He seems to be avoiding them. Pray he would seek fellowship and grow in his faith.
Children’s ministry
Pray for the children’s ministry. Our desire is that these children and the other 1.000 that are regular in the Be Fitia Evangelism Program, will know Christ, through the love shared with them.
We want to love them, interact with and teach them well, and wait for the fruits.
Some will see little children, we see future disciples of Christ, pastors, evangelists, professionals that will glorify Christ among their own people.
Getting help
Praise the Lord for moving on behalf of the single mom with a child with special needs. She will soon begin receiving much needed government support. May this be a testimony to her, and another step towards knowing the One True God.
Genesis!
Pioneer Bible Translators have just published Genesis in the Nyamwezi language, the book of Mbu’ki’ (Genesis)! Pray that in reading through the book of Genesis, the Nyamwezi will know that God is a personal God, not distant, and that God has a plan to redeem the brokenness of all mankind.
Theological training
We’ve started a basic theology curriculum to help our brothers and sisters in Christ who are pastoring and ministering without any formal training. One weekend every month for ten months, a professor from IBS in Beira or one of our colleagues come and teach. We have 18 students. All our pastors and one leader from each church he oversees attend these classes! We are so pleased by their interest, response, and growth! Pray for them.
10 believed and were baptized!
Over 10 people received Christ today in Tulushi and got baptized. Praises be to God! Pray for these new believers to learn to walk with the Lord and share their faith with others.
We also had the first Christian marriage last week among the Tulushi in Western Jebel! Pray for God’s blessing on this couple.
Reading the Word
Pray for Belle and Amy as they regularly meet to read the Word with sisters. Many seeds are being sown. Pray that they will bear fruit. Pray against the schemes of the enemy to snatch away the seed.
Sacrifice
A couple of weeks ago we found ourselves walking into a situation where members of the community were offering an animal sacrifice to seek healing for someone who was sick. The pastor of the church in that community was able to share that Jesus is the one who heals, and that we don’t need to offer sacrifices any more because Jesus was the final sacrifice. Please pray that the community will find peace and freedom from fear in Christ alone, and for the man who is sick to find healing and life in Jesus.
Local high school
Please pray for a high school in the area that has just changed leadership and is now under a Catholic group. Pray that the students from the Rangi tribe and other tribes would hear the Good News of Jesus.
Going to trial
Please pray and fast with us on June 11. One of our imprisoned brothers is going to trial that day. We pray that he will have a settled heart knowing God is sovereign, God is powerful, and God loves each one. We are asking for families to be reunited and fear to be removed from the church.
If you would like to sign up for a slot to join the 24 hour prayer and fasting group, please click on the link:
https://imprisonedlibya.pray4movement.org/
Disturbed by spirits
Mama A’s daughter has been having trouble sleeping. It seems like she may be being disturbed by evil spirits. She believes in Jesus, but some in her family do not. Please pray for protection for her and salvation for her family.
Partners
Pray for the 10 Pastor Partners who are working among the Bara: Pr. Erik, Pr. Tomoeira, Pr. Fabrice, Pr. Haza, Pr. Taboly Joro, Pr. Mamdinby, Pr. Moisesy, Pr. Rakoto, Pr. Menza, Pr. Bartholomeo, Ev. Rema, Ev. Tahina ( FJKM), Pr. Mampitohy Abigael, Pr. Martin , Ev. Jean Belazaina, Ev, Joromana. All them are hard workers and need prayer for health, wisdom, provision and boldness to share Christ and live Christ.
Grace to stand
The spiritual battle continues in O-land! PTL for continuing RESPONSE! The chief local Shepherd continues being discipled and sharing with more and teaching others what he learns. Pray for protection, & that the new BMBs will not fear, will grow in knowledge, faith and understanding! Pray they will boldly declare God’s Grace to be saved and forgiven through Jesus’ work on the cross to their loved ones and neighbors. Pray that they become strong disciples, faithful in prayer and hiding God’s Word in their hearts, deep in relationship with the Lord, and in Jesus mighty power so they can stand against all the schemes and flaming arrows of our enemy the devil!
National missionaries
The National Missionary Training Center (NMTC) had a great first round. The training team came together marvelously well. Recruited from our partnership with the New Sudan Council of Churches, the first 17 national missionaries completed training in late February, and 15 were deployed by the end of March.
The first 5 out of 52 UUPGs have been engaged: Talodi Nuba, Borono, Shawabna, Talasa, and Kenen tribes.
These tribes have some contact with other people groups in this area, and the teams were able to have ‘spillover engagement’ with an additional six tribes!
Pray for blessing on these national missionaries and for many to respond to the Gospel.
Seeking
Pray that as our students study God’s word, they will see the difference between the words they study and what they know. Pray that they see God longing to have a right relationship with them and that there is nothing they can do but believe in Jesus to receive this grace.
Pray for courage and faith for Mo, who has been seeking for a while. Pray for Abdi, who has asked for a Bible, expressed frustration with his religion, and wants to know how to know God. Pray for God to open the spiritual eyes of Z and K, who are both reading scripture. Pray for Al to believe as he continues to ask deep-heart questions about who Jesus is and seeks to know more.
Scripture engagement
Diaspora in Georgia: Please pray for the salvation of some of my Muslim friends, specifically through regular Scripture engagement with me: Naya, Humor, Nama, Amy, Ali, Sue, Sara, Mia, and Anna (pseudonyms).
