What we have done so far:
Draft of the four Gospels
The book of Acts
Philemon
James
Titus
Jude
We need to make these books available to the community. Pray for provision and open hearts and faith to believe the message.
Chose to follow!
PTL! We have a new brother in North Africa! He was met randomly on someone’s language route about a month ago and agreed to read the Word and learn more. The Father was clearly preparing this man, and on their 3rd meeting he chose to follow! Please pray for protection of this seed that has born fruit and that his wife and family would also choose to follow.
New believers!
Praise that in recent days and weeks, islanders have helped lead three new people to Jesus: two older men (including the father of an island believer) and a friend of a younger believer. Praise that the commitment and prayers to share and see new people come to Jesus are being answered. Pray for even more fruit and for these new decisions to be followed up with steady growth.
Team needs
Pray for continuing refreshment through the Holy Spirit for the AIC team and all O MBBs- that their witness may be strong and fruitful as they abide deeply in Jesus! One of the wives has a severe finger infection, turned osteomyelitis. Pray for complete healing and restoration as we pray and she seeks further treatment this coming week.
Natopojo church plant.
We have been doing Bible storytelling in this community for about two years. We have seen a few people come to faith. In the beginning of this year we started praying for God’s guidance to start a Sunday church gathering. Since most of the community members know only the Roman Catholic church, we hesitated to start something that would be seen as “another religion”. Last week the chairman, who is one of the believers and a committed Roman Catholic member, asked me whether it’s possible to do a formal church where community members can regularly attend! And those willing can be baptized! We thank God for this affirmation.
Pray that the spirit of God will convict many from this community to come to faith in Jesus.
Believers trained
Pastor Emanoel has trained more than 80 believers this month in 3 different villages and visited 8 new villages with the Jesus Film. Pray for him and the Bara believers.
Reactions to opposition
During Ramadan people were told not to meet with Christians. Thankfully many seem to be ignoring this instruction but those with whom I have had much contact have been accused of “working for/with the church”
‘Ruth’ had said she wanted to follow Jesus but admitted she was scared by what neighbours were saying. However she wanted to meet and said I could visit early in the morning so that people would not notice. Praise God that her desire to know more has persisted. Pray that she will listen to the memory card I gave her. Some is in Arabic and less easy for her to understand. There are only a few Christian materials in Neem .
In contrast, Jane is very afraid and doesn’t want to meet. When I visited her, she said she was going out. Pray that I can have some opportunity to remind her that Jesus Christ remains the same. She too had said she wanted to follow although her level of understanding is much lower than Ruth’s.
Worthiness of Christ
Please pray for family members of those in prison for Christ who are hurting and waiting. Some are ashamed. Some are angry. Most haven’t yet chosen to follow Jesus. Ask for each to see the light of Christ in each believer as they share in His suffering and may they recognize the worthiness of Christ.
More Baptisms!
God is doing something! 8 more were baptized today here on i1! Five with the local group, and then Ma A, her daughter A and their neighbour! Ma I had invited them so they could see what baptism actually involves, and then they decided that they were all ready to make the decision themselves!
Separated
Please continue to pray for a Christian couple who have been separated for over 5 months. Pray for grace to forgive each other.
Parenting course
Diaspora in UK:
Praise the Lord that the parenting course finished well and was very encouraging. Praise for the 7 S. women and 1 Nigerian woman who were very committed and engaged. At the end we had a “graduation ceremony” where each woman received a framed certificate and a big bouquet of flowers. The women each gave a speech and brought gifts for us too. Pray for ongoing relationships with these women and for the long-term impact of the course.
Draw them also
Please pray for S, F and N who were able to hear a testimony of someone leaving their faith and following Jesus. May the Lord draw them also to Himself.
Bow his knee
Diaspora in Minnesota:
Praise God a S friend joined us for church on Easter. Pray that he will understand the gospel and bow his knee to the Lord Jesus.
Follow-up visits
Diaspora in Florida:
Praise God for excellent mosque visits and conversations during Ramadan. Pray for powerful follow-up visits.
Pray for deepened relationships with Muslim friends, especially the imams.
Beautiful witness
Pray for K who is a beautiful MBB witness in her community. Her gentle and quiet spirit speak loudly – may her words also be bold and wise. Pray that her husband would receive God’s gift and they could be a family united in Christ to reach out together.
Gospel of Luke
Diaspora in UK:
Praise God for the opportunity to share the Easter message in my English classes. I’ve given one woman a copy of Luke’s gospel in her mother tongue based on our discussion after the lesson. Pray that she would read it and believe.
Converting to Islam
Ramadan greatly affected the Korr youth and there are several Christian families mourning over their child(ren) converting to Islam. Please pray for these youth to be able to see the Truth. And pray for their parents and siblings as it’s been difficult for the families to know how to respond.
Truly loved
Diaspora in Brazil:
Pray as I walk with my Egyptian friend facing court hearings and seeking help for her family after suffering domestic abuse. Pray this woman will turn her heart to Jesus and find that she is truly loved.
Grow in zeal and knowledge
On Tuesday evenings Jacob has a time in the Word and prayer together with a few of the believers from the area. It is a time where they read a passage in Laarim together and then talk about what it teaches them. Jacob often gives direction with the discussion, but loves how the others willingly participate and share their thoughts and questions that they then look to answer together. They also share their difficulties and pray for one another, along with other needs. Please pray for these Laarim youth to grow in zeal and knowledge!
Discuss God’s word
Diaspora in Washington DC:
Pray with us for students and volunteers to establish good relationships before summer so that they can stay in contact and continue to discuss God’s word over the break from English classes.
Tabernacling Among the Unreached
Pray for a pastor’s family who have resided in a Nyamwezi village for the last five years. They faithfully share the Gospel and there are new thriving churches they are responsible for in surrounding villages, but their village and neighbors remain hardened to the Gospel. Pray for their children in the local schools as they shine for Jesus. Pray for villagers to have a hunger and thirst for the truth, that eyes will be open to see the lies and false hopes in Islam. Pray that this family will not grow weary in doing good and will be refreshed and encouraged by fellow believers who see their efforts and will join with them in praying for people to come to faith. May the Lord gather and protect His flock from among the hard rocks and thorns.
Meeting
Praise for a meeting that was called last week, gathering representatives from all the different believer groups both expat and islander. There was sharing, discussion, and prayer. It was encouraging that areas of disunity were addressed. The hope is to start doing these meetings quarterly. Pray that these meetings might lead to greater unity and encouraging one another in the good news and work of the kingdom.
In Prison for Christ
Please ask God to give courage and peace to several believers who are in prison for choosing to follow Jesus and also to the foreigners who are also being held for teaching of Jesus. May the believers who are not imprisoned yet forgive those who revealed their names and be bold to identify with Jesus and their brethren as they pray for those in chains.
May fear not paralyze or cripple the children of God. May the church be strengthened (Phil 1) and may the lost recognize that no longer can they deny that there are Christians in this land. May each see that they are not born into any religion but that Jesus is calling them to recognize his call and take up the cross and follow him.
Open hearts
Diaspora in Wales:
Ask God to bring more international ladies who have never had the opportunity to go to school so they can participate in the literacy class in our Women’s English classes.
Pray for all our students and their families to have open hearts and minds to His salvation through Jesus Christ.
Men missing
Pray for the small village churches, pray for more men to come to faith and lead their families to the Lord. Currently many women lead and children are participating but the men are missing.
Double Dunking
We have a new brother! Praising the Father! ‘Asher’ was helped to get a copy of the Word at Christmas and has been reading it since. In the last week or so he expressed a desire to ‘enter’ the kingdom. He just met with a local brother who explained things in more depth and Asher wants to be baptized. AND a new media contact who turns out has actually been a follower for a few months also wants to be baptized… a double dunking is being planned! Father is amazing!
Impressive and encouraging
My colleague J, and two Fulani brothers from here, are still in East Africa sharing the gospel with other Fulani. The news we receive is impressive and encouraging. For the past two days they have been in a village where community had been waiting for them since morning because they heard that Fulani people from West Africa were coming to visit them. It’s interesting to hear that these Fulani have a similar culture to those here and share the same dialect! It is the first time in their lives that they are hearing the gospel. This evening the village chief and some religious leaders came to see them to hear more. Let’s continue to pray that the wind of the Spirit will blow mightily over this place.
Testimony
Praise God for a wonderful visit to a Saharawi family where Jamal was able to share his testimony with them in Hassaniya – their heart language, in direct response to their question, “Are you a Muslim?”. Praise God that they were interested and receptive to all he said. Pray these seeds would not be snatched away, but would take root and grow into faith.
Sorcery and death
With the Laarim, if a person dies from a cause other than old age, it is often believed that a sorcerer caused the death, and this is sometimes followed with people then identifying, accusing, and killing another person whom they believe caused the death through sorcery. This has been a problem for many years and the team would hear of the occasional lynching of a person which had followed the death an individual, but it was only occasional. This year, though, there has been an extraordinary number of lynching related deaths in these past months following deaths from sickness or killing by neighboring people groups. Please pray for an end to this wicked practice that only adds death upon death. Pray for wisdom and courage for the believers over what their role should be in addressing this. “The way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble” (Proverbs 4:19).
Prayed together
Diaspora in Hong Kong:
Praise God that for the very first time we held hands and prayed together for the healing power of Jesus with Y who is married to a nearly blind Malian Muslim. Please pray for this Muslim family that they may experience more about Jesus‘ healing grace. As asylum seekers, they are not allowed to work but depend on the government’s limited support. With recent policy changes, they may face deportation anytime. Pray for Y that salvation would come to this family through her open heart to learn more about Jesus.
Repented
Please pray for N, a baptised believer who had stepped away from Jesus and gotten involved in some dodgy things. Pastor Edward and I had the joy of spending time with him and seeing him repent and recommit himself to Jesus on Wednesday. Please pray for him to continue to fix his eyes on Jesus and know His love and grace (Phil 1:6).
Good day
Praise God for a wonderful time breaking the fast with some local believers last week. We met in the morning with one group (at their invitation) to pray together – a first, and it was good! Then some of them came in the evening to eat together. Before we ate we dedicated & shared an app with 9 translated scripture books in it – this was also a first. Some newer believers sang a new song they had written (People of God, be not afraid). There was confession and testimonies shared, and a lot of food eaten! It was a good day! Pray for more!
Rural villages
Today marks the start of an exciting new ministry for the our team in reaching out to surrounding rural villages where, as far as we know, no outreach is being done. Each week two of them will visit a nearby village to initially pray over that area – walking through streets, and asking the HS to soften hearts and stir people’s interest in hearing the Truth. Then the second and third visits to that village they will be looking for opportunities to share the Word, hopefully get invited to people’s homes, etc.
Please ask for discernment from the HS, protection, courage, and especially that they’d be lead to people who are ready to hear about Jesus.
Progress
Diaspora in Georgia:
Praise the Lord for the spiritual progress I see in our ESL students. We have now reached John 18 in our daily devotions and they are engaged. Pray as we finish the gospel of John by the end of the school year and watch the movie together. Pray they will all accept the Lord as their Savior.
Reconnect
Pray that God may reconnect us with some MBB sisters and brothers that we met at a prayer retreat. They live in the outskirts of the city and we may have to be travelling weekly to meet them for building relationships, mentorship and discipleship. Pray for a safe place to meet and God’s wisdom.
Healing hand
A Fulani woman has seen the healing hand of God in her body and has been coming for over a month to listen to the stories of the Word. Pray for her so she doesn’t get discouraged in the face of people’s critical comments.
Gospels of Luke
We have received 100 gospels of Luke in the Antakarana dialect to distribute. Pray that these would bring 100 people to the knowledge of God and growth in Christ!
Remind them
Pray that the Holy Spirit reminds the people in Bara villages who have already watched the Jesus film about the Son of God and his unique sacrifice on the cross.
Pray that the Bara continue to open the doors of their villages so the gospel can enter and change their lives.
Mother’s day party
Diaspora in Michigan:
Pray for a Mother’s Day party, May 5, we are hosting. We are hoping for 20-30 moms and their kids to come. Pray for the Lord to open hearts as we communicate a clear Biblical message.
Key couple
Keep praying for ’Guyo and Mari’, a key MBB couple for sharing about the Kingdom of Light and discipling other herdsmen and wives. Pray they will stand firm in Christ amidst all the schemes of the enemy and the persecutions bound to come.
