* Please pray for the faith of a Christian family from among our friends here to be restored, and for my efforts at contacting them to bear fruit. One of the family members is highly engaged with Christ and the Church and us- the rest are angry with God and are struggling.
* Please pray for the winter season of coffee shop, restaurant, and barber shop visits, as well as campfires, to be fruitful.
I have not been back to Ohilang since my father passed away last spring. Today Marlene and I are going back to the village to mourn with the people that my dad spent his final years of ministry with. While this will be hard, I also know it will be good to grieve together with the community that my parents and I have been part of for the last three years. Please pray that this is a time of healing, of growing deeper relationships within this Lopit community, and of sharing the gospel as we remember my dad’s witness and love for Jesus.
* Pray for the next African Friends Party, scheduled for October 30. Pray that many Africans will attend and that there will be strong friendships forged with members of the Africa prayer outreach fellowship.
* Pray for these Africans and Muslims to come to know Christ: Al., Am., Mi. and Hu. Pray also for E.’s salvation, he’s a leader and on the board of the local mosque.
* Pray that Na. will grow in her faith and that the Lord will open doors for meeting with her on a regular basis for discipleship.
Unfortunately, another fire has claimed the home and belongings of a local believer, leaving her with just the clothes on her back. The community has come together and built a small home for her. Pray that the local church would play an active role in loving and supporting her well through this difficult time, and that it may become an encouragement for her in her walk with Jesus.
Praise God we have found a great inroad into the Somali community with our driving lesson outreach, but we need wisdom as we move forward. Pray those wanting driving lessons will have soften hearts and will be receptive to the Gospel News.
One of our local doctor friends says a major contributor to the famine is Qat (an imported green leafy stimulant). Many of the men who used to be the nomadic herders and knew how to keep a herd/flock healthy through the dry season are addicted to chewing. The woman and in most cases children tend to be the ones in charge of the animals now. The understanding and foresight of those gone before has been lost and not handed down. Pray against the stranglehold this drug has in the horn.
Please pray for my friend Iddy, he has been my good friend and I have been sharing with him for a long time. Yesterday at around 8pm he came to our house to visit me, he didn’t want to come during day time so that he wouldn’t be seen. His heart is now wanting JESUS but the big problem is how he will be viewed by his wife, children, and his community. I know our LORD is bigger than what he sees, we need to pray for his soul.
During our last chapel many kids prayed to accept God’s offer of forgiveness through Jesus Christ and committed to following him.
Praise for last summer’s camps in Manitoba, Ottowa, Nova Scotia and Ontario. Pray for all the kids who heard the Gospel and those who made decisions for Christ. Pray for the Word to bear fruit in their hearts for a life of discipleship in Christ.
One of our continuing prayer requests has been for a husband in our community with four believing wives, who had been threatening divorce due to their faith. He has gone forward with the divorce of two of his wives, who have moved away and are now living in a temporary shelter under a tree. They have held strong to their faith, but face a mountain of hardship and struggles ahead, including separation from their children. The other two women have stayed, and it is not completely clear where they stand in their faith. Please continue to lift up this entire family, and pray that their husband may come to know Jesus as his Lord and Saviour. Pray for perseverance and strength as our two sisters seek to stand firm in Jesus despite all they have lost and may still lose. Pray for us as a local church, that we may support and lift them up as we should.
Please pray for weekly English classes that will begin this coming week. There will be 3 Saharawi ladies and 3 Spanish believers in the class. Pray for good relationships, laughter, learning, and for Jesus to be glorified!
The famine among the people in the countryside is dire. Though rains have started, it’s not in time to rescue those in the more desert areas. Children and animals are dying. Even in the cities food prices are soaring and everyone is feeling it. Pray for God’s mercy.
As we gather for fall get-togethers, pray we and our volunteers will be bold in proclamation! Please pray for contacts with receptive hearts to hear the Gospel Truths.
* Pray for our connection with West African Muslims in our Chinese classes. May they know Yahweh more and put their trust in Him only.
* Pray for my two Muslim converts to have the desire to follow His words and be transformed.
A young woman who does not yet follow Jesus has been gathering other women who are interested in Jesus and they come to study Scripture together! Pray for their salvation.
* We praise God for English classes running successfully for the first month at all three sites! Please pray for consistent attendance and deepening relationships between students and teachers. Pray students will ask good questions about truth and faith.
* Please pray with us for the first Trauma Healing Group among our staff and volunteers that will begin this month. May God grow and stretch us closer to Him and provide healing for our heart wounds through Jesus and be equipped to help others.
TEE (Theological Education by Extension) is a practical training for village church leaders. When they finish after 3 years, they start a cell group in a new area. As a fruit of this, 7 cell groups have started in the Loharano community area. Pray for these leaders and cell members to grow strong and bear much fruit.
François and his wife, and Bertrand have just been sent to a seminary where they will study for 3 years, to be a pastor. Pray for them to mature and grow and be well prepared for ministry.
Pray for the new university study room A and W are opening in their home. Pray that God would bring in just the right students to participate. Pray that they would have wisdom and courage in knowing how best to reflect Christ to these African Students.
Pray for the African immigrants J and A are teaching Portuguese to. Pray for their salvation and that God would bring in other longer-lasting, stable students. Pray for courage and wisdom in sharing God’s love.
We’re looking forward to visiting with some of the local believers we have discipled who are in different biblical training schools. We intend to prepare them to think about helping the local church here and some adjacent areas once they finish. Ask the Lord to call them to this work.
* Please pray for our Impact Kids Fall program – that as families hear the gospel, God would grant them repentance and faith.
* Please pray for our men’ soccer night: Tuesdays at 9pm, we’ve rented a big gym and will have a bunch of people from church playing with a bunch of Muslim men to foster friendships and gospel sharing.
* We are launching a “homework club” in October one day a week to further develop our relationships with the Muslim families who go to Impact Kids- please pray as we invite families and determine how best to use this as a bridge to the gospel.
* Please pray that as many from our church connect with their Muslim friends/colleagues and even family members through our Bridges course- that seeds would be planted and that we would even see some come to faith.
The brother in jail is in his last stage of appeal, all previous ones have failed. We are asking that this final one would be heard with a favorable outcome. And if not that he would persevere under this trial and serve his sentence counting it fellowship with JC and as an opportunity to keep walking in The Way before a captive audience.
Pray that as more have access to Bibles there would be increased Scripture engagement through daily reading of the Word, memorizing passages, orally retelling the Scriptures to others, acting in skits that teach the Bible, singing the Scriptures, preaching, teaching and discussing the Word in small groups, in-depth Bible studies, seminars, or Bible courses. Pray believers would frequently share testimonies about how God’s Word is a lamp and a light to them. Psalm 119:105 “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”
* Pray for Jerez team in South NA1 to conduct a medical mission among two Berber UPGs. Pray for the follow up we will do from October 10-16th.
* Pray for D.S. as she begins a new work in Toulouse reaching international students.
* Pray of all the new international students that came to first events in Nantes, Strasbourg and La Rochelle during the first week of school. Pray for ongoing good Gospel connections.
Bobby and 4 other men attended a Farming God’s Way agriculture course. 3 of those men are Muslim. Each day they had devotions and time of worship. Pray these men will look at Jesus differently now and start seeking.
Update on older post:
Disappeared
by jennyio | Nov 21, 2021
A young believing girl has been trying to leave the country for a while… but from all we see, she has a loving family. She wants more freedom and says she is suffering. She disappeared yesterday and her mom has been frantically calling. (Over 15 times in 2 days.) We have talked to all our connections but can’t find her. Pray for her and her family.
Update:
She is back in contact with her mom and is in a neighboring country. Believers are helping her and actually her mom is sending her money and helping her from afar too. She has had a difficult time… and her mom now wants nothing to do with Christians bc they ‘took her daughter’. But she is being discipled and is being cared for.
Recently I did a home stay for 5 nights with Suzanna, the former witch doctor who has given her life to Christ. I was also invited by the head wife of chief Ramijio to do a Bible study on their compound. Pray that as I interact with these influential women in the community, they would be used by God to encourage other girls and women to “seek [God] and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us” (Acts 17:27).
Jake & Sadie are back here in O land, feeling great and so grateful for a clear diagnosis of Addison’s Disease, and medicine to improve symptoms so quickly. THANKS for praying!! Pray for wisdom for the long-term management and medications – and praise God for energy and returning health and strength to continue their vital outreach ministry among the O. May many O respond to the gospel message which is shared so often through our whole team and the few O believers (like Jake and Sadie).
Our region is suffering from 2 years of drought. There’s been no rain at all! Even the manioc is dead. For this reason, and also because of Ukrainian war and COVID, the price of food has gone very high making Madagascar the fourth poorest country in the world. Pray for rain, please. Lots of rain! So people can plant and have life normalized.
Because of this insecurity, we’ve started having assaults, break- ins, and thefts.
People are hungry, jobless, there’s no food, no crops; they come to steal. Very sad and frightening. However, Tthe gospel is being preached throughout Bara land, please
pray for the seeds to germinate.
Things with the gangs are getting way worse. Someone was killed near our neighbourhood recently. We are waiting to hear what the prefecture will do about it. Things are escalating a lot quicker than people thought. Please pray for peace and for the government to be wise in knowing how to handle the situation and prevent any further increase in violence. Pray this crisis would lead people to call out to the Prince of Peace!
Pray for the many islanders who are currently applying for different university programs in Madagascar: for success and for opportunities to meet children of the light who will be testimonies to them. Pray particularly for JJ and Z who are focussed on reaching the Islander diaspora living in Madagascar.
We continue to ask for prayer for a family within our church community – a husband with four believing wives. For now, the women have been allowed to return to church, but the threat of divorce and other consequences are still present. Please continue to pray that the husband would come to know the Lord. We praise God for some breakthrough and softening towards prayer and church.
In our country of North Africa, many of us have set the alarm on our phones to go off at 1:00 pm daily, for the purpose of stopping and praying for our dear cousins here. Would you consider doing the same? Please set your alarm for 1:00 pm. When the alarm goes off, pause for a moment and ask Father to transform the hearts of our cousins here and around the world and to open their minds and hearts to Jesus’ love for them. Pray John 15:7-8 “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” Based on this promise, ask that He would be glorified in bearing much and lasting fruit here!
Praise God that S and her daughters T and T have returned to Jerez from their visit to the refugee camp. Please pray they are ready and open for gospel conversations.
I had a guest, who is a Christian from a Muslim background, at my house last week to share her powerful testimony with many of my neighbors. There were 12 people who came. Afterwards some Muslims asked questions about her journey to find Christ. Pray their curiosity leads them to Jesus as Savior.
Two sisters are boldly sharing with another young woman. Today they each took turns sharing the gospel from Gen 22 and John1-3 with her and began the Jesus film. In two days we meet again. Pray for her salvation and that many other believers would also speak the gospel.
Maria, who had been injured in an attack some months ago, is back in Kimatong after taking a few months to heal and rest in Juba. (It was determined that she had suffered a concussion from the blow to her head and would not be able to rest properly unless she got away from her duties in the village.) Pray that the Lord’s care and provision for her throughout this ordeal will help to strengthen her faith and witness now that she is back in the village.
We have been praying for a long time that the spiritual bondage on the Island of Nosy Mitsio would be broken. Last month every week a different person came asking about the Bible and God’s word. There is interest! but it comes with fear that the elders in the area will be against worshiping Jesus. Pray for courage and pray that the stronghold would be broken down and pushed back like the rising sun brings light to a new day.
A retired chief and his wife spent 5 days staying in our home for his medical needs and follow up. We took many opportunities to share the Good News – pray that they will receive Jesus as Savior and lead their family and community into God’s grace in all of its truth.
A young man was condemned to death Sept 18, 2022 for leaving Islam. He has been imprisoned since 2019 for following Jesus and has refused to recant. The execution date passed but there has been no news of either his death or his release. Asking that he will stand firm and that believers will not be afraid but instead encouraged by his faith.
1. We praise God that 2 churches are being born among Bara!
The village of Matsinzo ( Bara Tevondro) received us and the evangelist we sponsor to be there. Pray for people to believe the message and be saved.
2. We visited the village of Bekisoly on Saturday 24/09 and preached the Gospel.
Sunday, 86 Bara Tevondro people came to the “house church” of the evangelist Zoromana that we sponsor and said that they wanted to learn how to pray to God-Jesus. Pray they grow strong in the Lord.
Blessed be the name of the Lord!
Pray that God will raise up a whole new wave of harvest laborers both locally and assigned to this region from other areas. Pray all serving in the church will have a heart and mind to be fishers of men among those yet needing to hear God’s Word. Pray they would not be discouraged to go into the harder to reach areas, including literally leaving the taste of fresh fish behind. Pray for God’s provision for those sent. Ask God to remove any fears and stereotypes which would cause stumbling blocks in sharing the Message of Truth.
