She was in tears because she was afraid to tell her parents the truth. She lives with her extended family in the capital in order to go to university. She hadn’t told her father yet of her faith in Jesus, nor had she told her parents that she had quit going to university because of threats there. Yesterday, she texted to say that she wasn’t coming for our regular time to study the Word. Her parents were visiting her from their home village. She wrote, “I can’t come, but I will tell my mom what you taught me of Jesus.” Later she wrote to say that she had spoken to her mom and had prayed that she would know the truth. Pray that she would have courage to live in truth also regarding university, and ask for favor with her father. Pray for each of our brothers and sisters who live in unbelieving families that they would know who to speak with and when to speak and what to say. We continue to ask for Jesus to draw their families to Himself!
Pray for rain
Pray for good rains to arrive this month as the community looks to planting. Pray they would acknowledge the Lord has the provider of all good gifts and bow their knees to Him.
Pray for Jesus Film showing tonight!
We showed the Jesus Film on Sunday night in the Sango language. We had a crowd of about 250! Some of those in the crowd were Mbororo, some Zande. One of the Mbororo ladies cried when she saw Jesus on the cross. Several of the Mbororo kids sat at my feet and asked all sorts of questions. The Mbororo chief, Omar, has asked that we come show the film at their camp Thursday night! We are ecstatic! Pray for good weather, open hearts, and no technical breakdowns. Jean Baptist will be with us to introduce and close the film for us. He does a great job.
Schools for the Ik
Recently two schools were opened on the Ik ridge beginning with classes of P1 and P2. Most of the Ik are illiterate and there hasn’t been a school here for some time. We are so thankful for this opportunity for the Ik to receive an education in their heart language of Icetod, as well as begin to learn English. The teachers are all Ik men and have been involved in the local churches, even preaching on Sundays. Pray for the four teachers, that they can be a light for the students and community. Pray that the team here would know how best to support the teachers and students, and help the school to prosper. Pray that the children have a desire to learn and that any barriers to attendance are negated. And thank God for this blessing for the Ik!
Bibi Chai is Still Growing
Recently I had a sweet visit with Bibi Chai – a new believer. Loved the prayer & fellowship with her. Now her daughter stays to listen to our time together instead of leaving the house. So pray for her salvation too.
May Christ-Centered Churches Spring Up
Please pray for God’s continuing work among the Zaramo. Pray for those who are Christian and living among them to have a bold and fearless witness, coupled with love and compassion for the lost. Pray for Christ-centered churches to spring up. Pray for more missionaries to be raised up to go work among them.
English Classes for Three Women
Today we started our English class with 3 Somali women. It is a wonderful opportunity to be with these women and we pray that God will open up their hearts to hear the gospel. We pray for their salvation. We also pray that God will help them learn English in a fun way and see God glorified. Somali women often struggle to attend class consistently so let’s pray that they will come so that they can understand the gospel at some point. In Jesus’ name. While we are doing our English classes, we have a man teaching Arabic at the same time in the house. Let’s pray that evil forces will not prevail but instead all that would hinder God’s work would be kept far away.
Delivered and Discipled
A praise for how God is working among the Sandawe is for a young woman, E, who was delivered from demonic activity, who is actually from a different area of the country. She also comes from a Muslim background, but came to stay with relatives to seek help. She’s now being discipled and working through a Foundations Bible study book that two pastors translated years ago! Please continue to pray for our local church and for a mighty harvest of souls in Usandawe.
Breakthrough prayer
After so many years of sharing with little response as Is 6: 9-10 talks about, please pray this Breakthrough Prayer for the O: May their eyes be open to really SEE and truly PERCEIVE. May their ears be sharp to HEAR and RECEIVE Truth. May their HEARTS be soft and responsive to UNDERSTAND – and TURN and BE HEALED (physically, emotionally and most important SPIRITUALLY).
Three Dreams
M. grew up as a Muslim. He stopped going to the mosque a few years ago though. He started attending church a few weeks ago. He gave his testimony to me yesterday. He recalls three dreams. The first one: he was asleep and someone was trying to cut his head off with a knife. The second one: he was at the top of a coconut tree and then he fell. The third one: the man Jesus was standing before him and told him to come. That week, he was invited to come to church. He hasn’t missed a Sunday yet. Pray that M can understand who Jesus is and what Jesus is about. Pray that M can be a faithful witness to those around him.
Bible stories
The translation project continues on and always needs your prayers! This month pray that Bible stories would be shared far and wide, that those who hear stories would retell them and that believers would find themselves excited to share stories in the different situations they find themselves in.
Spirit Moving in Marovato
Many Antandroy people work hard to offer sacrifices and please their ancestors. This is the only spiritual direction they’ve known all their lives. Fortunately, Christ is being proclaimed by those who have found Him all around the region of Androy. For these who have been reached with the Gospel, many have accepted this new faith and are following whole heartedly, but not without hardships and struggles. At the moment, they are facing persecution from other religious organizations that believe they should be paying for baptism and partaking of the Lord’s Supper, among other false beliefs. Especially in the Marovato area, people are angry that some of these individuals used to attend their services and now are seeking to know Truth. To God be the glory, in the midst of this persecution, witch doctors and villagers are seeking Christ and yearning to follow after Him. Pray specifically for these new believers and villages surrounding Marovato.
Story telling in the evenings
Please be lifting in prayer the Datooga people of Tanzania. Traditionally at the end of the day Datooga families will gather in their homesteads and share the news of the day or tell stories before retiring for the night. Currently a small group of believers are working on a Chronological Bible Story set, crafting Bible stories in the Datooga language. This project aims to have the stories accessible to the Datooga in their heart language. Pray for those involved in the project – for those involved in crafting of the stories – that they reflect God’s message of Salvation in a way that engages with the Datooga people. Also pray for a desire in the hearts of the Datooga people to be willing to listen to the stories and to respond to the Gospel message. May it speak into their lives and may they know God’s love for them.
For the few believers
The few believers are struggling to read the Bible for themselves. Pray that they may know and understand the truth as they struggle to read the Bible.
Pray that they will overcome rejection from the society and their close family because of their new faith.
Open Sharing of the Gospel
Praise God for an opportunity to openly share the gospel with 20 Alagwa men and boys in one of the villages that the team is doing outreach in. Pray for many to believe and put their trust in Jesus.
Faithful but fearful
“Seraj” has been persecuted for his faith in the past and is unwilling to risk meeting with other believers. He has walked with Jesus for years, and is using his life in defense of the oppressed and abused. We are thankful for his faithfulness. Pray for him and others like him who know the truth, but live in fear.
He and His House Will Serve The Lord
A M man has chosen to become a Christian! He brings his son with him to learn the Bible from a missionary, and plans to tell his religiously influential father of his decision. Pray that his wife stands firm with him. Pray that this family can clearly understand salvation through Christ. Pray for their testimony in the community, and that others will follow their example.
Pray for HOPE to replace despair….
A man committed suicide and left behind a wife and 5 children. No evidence that the man knew Jesus as his Lord and Savior. He could not bear the news of his HIV positive status. The wife told mourners that she will follow in her husband’s footsteps. Please pray against that plan.
At the burial, Zeka was asked to share God’s word, and there was a positive response.
Pray for the late’s wife. We paid her a visit and she looked worried. She is unemployed and asked for prayers that God would provide for her family.
She will be going back to her village with 2 kids while the other 3 remain in Tsumkwe with grandparents.
Pray for more workers
Four Malagasy missionaries from Tanala area are in the capital for training. Esperance was so excited to read Matt 9v35-38 in her quiet time…exclaiming,”I have never heard such wonderful news about Jesus!” Please pray for more workers to be sent out into the harvest fields in the Tanala region.
Just Came To Christ
A young Rangi woman just accepted Christ as her Saviour! Here is the report from the evangelist: “I praise God for one young lady receiving Jesus as a Savior of her life. She is called Salmada please join us to pray for her. “
God’s Solution to Our Sinfulness
Two young Muslim women have an appointment to meet with a missionary to hear what God’s solution to our sinfulness is. This is the meeting where they will hear for the first time that the Messiah the Old Testament predicted, who would save His people from their sins, was Jesus. Please pray they keep the appointment and are ready to cast their burden of sin on the Saviour. Pray for their whole extended family to come to faith in Christ.
Set Free in Jesus- a Sakalava testimony
It’s common and admired for Sakalava to be possessed by evil spirits. One Sakalava gentleman recently put his faith in Jesus and wants to be set free from the demons. He was in the capital but wanted to go to Nosy Be to retrieve his fetishes etc to be burned, however a huge cyclone is preventing him from going. Please pray for A and his wife, who is also a follower of Jesus. Pray for their families who are still bound by witchcraft and fear and don’t know yet about A’s decision. It may result in great shock and rejection. Please pray for God’s glory to be revealed in the community through this couple.
Today is the day of salvation
Pray for the Mbororo. The security situation is tenuous and the peacekeepers are planning to pull out soon. Pray in their fear and anxiety, they would call out to the One who sees. Pray for our team and the Zande church to boldly proclaim the way of salvation.
Praise and serious prayer needed
We praise the Lord that the ceasefire between the two parties has been extended indefinitely. With the peace, we were finally able to go out and visit the folks in the bush. We were shocked by the increase in dabbling with witchcraft. Please pray for a turning from traditional practices of witchcraft and false prophets- our people are dying in fear and darkness! There is plenty of “lip” worship in the churches but little “heart” worship… they are so lost.
Teachers’ seminar
Pray for the conference we will be holding for local English teachers this month. We expect over 100 teachers to come from all over the island, some of whom we will have known for years and some we will be meeting for the first time. Pray that we would not only bless them as teachers but that significant conversations would take place during breaks and we would find many who are spiritually hungry.
Cyclone coming!!
Pray for mercy for the people of Northern Madagascar as cyclone Enawo hits. Pray for God’s people to love their neighbors and honor Jesus in their response to this crisis.
Sharing Christ Among The Rangi
Praise God for the salvation work He is doing in people. I would ask prayer for the ministry in the village of Busi. First of all, there is a girl there I’ve begun discussing God’s Word with. There are also two girls who are Muslim secondary school students who come to my home. They love to sing gospel songs. Please also pray for their salvation. Thank you so much for your prayers, may God bless you! –From a village evangelist
A New Sister!
My worker came for medical help this morning which lead into me sharing the gospel of Christ. She had never heard of salvation through faith in the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ for her sins. She had no idea how God would ever receive her into heaven. Now she knows & says she believes. Praise God for a new sister in Christ …. Serena!
Dorobo prayer conference
Pray for our upcoming Dorobo prayer conference for pastors and elders of the Dorobo churches. We’ve had to reschedule the meeting one week later, so the new dates will be April 3-6. Pray that the men will be encouraged by the time to be together and pray for each other. Pray for the teaching that will be shared during this conference. At our last prayer conference a number of the men asked for prayer to break the stronghold of alcoholism among the older Dorobo. Their cultural view of drinking honey wine is to get drunk as fast as you can, and this has held many of the older men back from making a commitment to Christianity. Pray that God will break this stronghold and that the older generation of Dorobo will learn to follow Jesus and be filled with the Spirit of God.
Praising God in song
Praise God for the gathering of believers to learn new worship songs in the island language. Praise God for those that have written songs and those that came, sang and danced! Pray that God would be stirring their hearts to worship him in deeper ways and that new worship songs and dances would be pouring forth.
Malaso, Key people to reach the Bara
The amazing and glorious thing about the “Malasos’” conversions is that they are Bara. Hallelujah! They are the very “traditional” Bara people. The 2 Malasos I’ve mentioned in our last prayer request are from villages that didn’t have any Christians before. Hallelujah twice! Now a church is being born!
The Malasos consider themselves to be the original Bara people. They are deeply rooted in Bara worldview, culture and customs. The malasos are the ones who know the deepest, darkest parts of Bara culture. They practice witchcraft. Often they are demon possessed. They make pacts with demons for protection through cow’s blood. So, seeing a Malaso come to faith is a great miracle among Bara UPG.
When one of these malasos, are changed by the Gospel and renounce his lifestyle, culture, and even “the richness and respect” that being a malaso brings, even sometimes being persecuted by the family, becoming very poor, to follow Jesus, indeed, it is the power of the Holy Spirit working in their hearts.
So keep praying for the Malasos. They are the ones who could be the next Pauls, Peters, Jim Elliots, or George Mullers to their own people.
Amulets, Charms, and Binding Cords
Many Nyamwezi believe that wearing amulets and charms will keep them safe. Some charms have bits of bone or powders in them, or small bits of paper with Koranic verses written on them. Many young children can be seen with lengths of black cord tied around their bellies or wrists, or wearing a necklace of black cord with a small pouch tied to it. Pray against the spiritual forces at work, for freedom from fears that bind hearts, and that those who are believers in Christ may boldly proclaim the Good News and introduce others to the One who made the materials in the charms and bracelets. He is more powerful than those materials or the powers ascribed to them. He is Almighty. He is the Victor over darkness. He sets the captives free.
Complicated Relationships Make the Way In Difficult
Our new brother ‘S’ is having trouble finding acceptance among the Christian churches here. Complicated relationships and fears of Muslim reprimand over his change in faith seem to be at the root of it. Please pray that as he weathers these storms his eyes will be fixed on Jesus and not on the failings of His followers.
Pasture for their animals
Fulani are pastoralists and they depend on pasture for their animals. Pasture is very scarce. Pray for enough rains in order to harvest sufficient animal feed during the short rains in the months of July- September.
They Overflow the Building
The Rendille live in scattered villages and these villages move several times a year. One village that is not far from us is Rungumo. It’s actually several villages and they range from 4 -8 miles away from ours. Not far if you have transport – but a long hot walk if you go by foot. These villagers are hungry for God’s word and requested that someone come teach them. A Rendille lady evangelist, Ndubayo, and Samuel, a mason who works with us, have begun holding Sunday services there. 200 come – including children! There is a little shelter with a tin roof where there used to be a kindergarten class, but it had to close down due to lack of funds. Samuel and others from the village have resurrected this school and hired a temporary teacher to continue the classes. This year there are 40+ students. And under this structure the villagers have met on Sunday. They overflow the building. Praise God for the interest in hearing God’s word. Pray for a person who can come teach them on a regular basis and give them a good foundation of the Christian life and walk. There is a battle going on for the Rendille hearts – Islam is making inroads all over northern Kenya. We need God’s power and we need people to help fight in this battle!
As a Couple Seeking Jesus
Pray for a young Alagwa couple who is seeking Jesus. The husband’s desire is to follow Jesus, but he wants to move together with his wife who is not yet ready. Pray that God will give them understanding of His word and courage to follow it.
New teachers, new students
There are 4 young Ik men who have stepped forward to teach the Ik children. Primary classes have now commenced on the Ik ridge. An answer to prayer! However, class sizes fluctuate daily and resources are limited which can make it a challenge to teach and to learn. Please pray for the Ik teachers to have endurance and perseverance in teaching. And for the Ik children to continue to be eager to learn as the rigor of the school days continue. It has been heartwarming to hear the children sing and laugh as they play school in the evenings.
Lord, help our brother
‘S’ who entered the Kingdom after seeing a vision, hearing an audible voice telling him that “Jesus loves him” and then listening to the Word in his own language and becoming convinced about The Way, The Truth and The Life, is in need of fellowship and employment. His village has rejected him. Please pray for his protection, growth, and powerful witness to his own people.
A Book About Heaven
A South Asian Muslim woman- educated, responsible, very entrenched in her family- has accepted a Christian book about heaven. Please pray that she reads it, understands who Christ is and the salvation He offers, and that at the right time she takes the initiative to discuss it with the Christian who gave it to her.
The Holy Spirit is moving
There is an excitement among the prisoners and wardens (guards) at the Moroto Regional Prison as they are grasping the truth that with Christ in them, they can live as He did on earth. Please pray that the seed that has been sown will find fertile soil and that nothing can snatch the truth of God’s Word away from their minds and hearts. Please join us in praying that this truth with spread through Karamoja.
