See deceptiveness

Pray for the Bara to have open hearts for true spiritual things. That they may see the deceptiveness of witchcraft and false hope of ancestor worship.
Pray for the 25 local partners that work alongside the Coworker Project in evangelism and discipleship. That God will give them a deep love for the lost and help them to keep up the hard work.

Flooding

Our area of Tanzania has received a lot of rain this year, and there has been flooding in our area that not only poses a problem for the local farmers and their crops, but can also be dangerous for those needing to cross the water to travel to their families and fields. The water has also restricted the movement and gathering together of the local church, which makes it difficult to enjoy fellowship together and encourage one another. Please pray for safety, God’s provision and that we would continue to persevere together, even if we are separated by water.

Needing prayer

The Suri Kachipo community needs prayer: alcohol issues and high death rate are serious problems.
The Bible translation is continuing on. We have 17 books drafted. Gospel of Mark is ready for recording. Jesus film is slated to be dubbed this year.
Please continue to pray for my health. I have chronic lung disease and I’ve been sick.

Bless the new pastor

The FJK church (Church Jesus Madagascar) in the area of our village just received a new pastor. Olive is his name, and he seems to have a very open attitude towards working with us. He gladly received our translated work. Let’s pray that he and his wife will be used by God in powerful ways to bless the church and the Tanala. Please pray for their wellbeing (spiritual and physically) as they settle.

Jesus Film

In December we gave a Jesus film backpack kit to Pastor John Kashu from our Dorobo church in Oloolbung’aiko. Since then he has shown the film weekly. They showed it at Olchorro as part of their Christmas Kesha (overnight) service. And later in the Mau Forest where 11 people accepted Christ. Pray for Pastor Kashu as he is using this film kit to expand his outreach. Pray for the viewers of the film to be touched by the visual images of what Jesus came to do here on earth. Pray for safety as Pastor Kashu rides on the back of motorcycle taxis called bodabodas over muddy roads to share the Gospel in this Dorobo area of the Mau Forest.

Gospel seeds

Thank the Lord for the seeds planted during the youth camp, pray that in His time those seeds will germinate into faith and salvation. Pray for the Youth program, that transformation may continue taking place.

Meet together

Pray for our believing friends here on Vanilla Island. Pray for great encouragement amongst them and a big effort for meeting together more regularly. Many desire to meet but location and distance pose a big problem.

Perseverance in faith

First we want to Praise the Lord, we are seeing young women and children coming to Christ!!! But the older and younger men not only are not showing any interest but are leaving their families to pursue their own lives. Please pray that the Ndau men would come to know Christ as their Savior! Present or not they still run everything. Please pray for the women to have perseverance in their newfound faith!

Living out their faith

We praise God for the recent step of faith a couple of young ladies in Chawa have taken, due to the discipleship of Natiote, a young Laarim believer! Thank the Lord for Laarim believers who are living out their faith, sharing the good news of the gospel, and drawing others from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. Pray that God would grow and strengthen His church among the Laarim!

Seeker

We have a young 17 yr old S** whose parents are both mature MBB’s. He is open and seeking to know the truth. Pray that we will join the efforts of his parents in pointing him to the Truth, Jesus.

Know Christ

“I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings…” Phil 3, 10
Please pray for the Alagwa seekers and believers; may this be the cry of their hearts! May they hunger to know Jesus more and be willing also to share in his sufferings. Praise God for the ways they are beginning in small ways to share scripture and testimony with others. May this increase!

Beacons of love

Diaspora in Canada: Pray for several of the Som brothers and sisters’ families who are struggling with kids leaving the faith. Pray for the families to be such beacons of love and grace of Jesus that the lost will return.
Most of our Som believing families are having serious issues with mental illness and physical disabilities. Pray for their healing and for us to be channels of God’s peace to them.

News

There have been more salvations and several new groups started in several villages. More M and Ndengereko discipleship leaders are being raised up. We have witnessed several miracles the Lord has done recently in some of these new believers that has reinforced their new faith. Though there are great challenges, especially fear of being ostracized. Pray for believers to grow deep roots of faith, gather together, and bear much fruit.

Children learning to read and write

Pray for the Bara children who are learning to read and write in the Be Fitia Project. More than 800 children come to listen to the Bible stories. We estimate that at least 25% are Bara.
Pray that God will save them from the bondages of witchcraft and use them to reach their own families.
Parents from the far way mountains have heard about the project and are bringing their children. (Bara Zafindravala – one of the most difficult sub-Ethiopia Bara to reach with the Gospel.) The Gospel is preached everyday to the children through stories and songs while they learn to read and write their own language and the government official language.

Breakthrough

Pray for a spiritual breakthrough in our village. Pray specifically for our language helpers… B, F, D, and Z. We spend a lot of time with them! Pray the Lord would remove the veil that covers their eyes from seeing the Saviour.

Trusting in God!

May the spirit of the living God draw many O in 2024 to trust in him with all their hearts, to realize the bondage of their darkness and come to Jesus as true freedom in the Light! May they truly see and hear, and understand God‘s grace through Jesus, grace in all of its truth – and turn and be healed in every way!

Followup

Diaspora in Wales: In spite of the reduced attendance due to illness, we are thankful for those who came to the December Women’s English and Sewing classes which explained how and why Jesus was born. Pray for the followup (before the start of Ramadan in March) further exploring why everyone needs Jesus.

Jesus is the only way

Perhaps the greatest challenge keeping people from believing in and following Jesus is their fear of rejection by their Muslim family and communities. Please pray that God would work powerfully through the lives of the believers and that their testimonies of real transformation would help others overcome their fear of rejection. Pray for bold witness and more demonstrations of the power of God, that more Ndengereko and M would know his love for them and that Jesus really is the only way.

Hard to reach

Pray for the Mahafaly people who are still an UPG. Last year we started working among them with the Jesus Film in partnership with local pastors. Pray for the Mahafaly People, that they open their villages for us to go and do evangelism. They are still hard to reach.

New Church!

Another Church is being formed in another village of Hurri Hills! We rejoice for what God is doing through the local evangelists.
• Pray for the Evangelists’ lives and witness among the Gabbra people.
• Pray for the Hurri Hills Church members to grow and mature.
• Pray for more workers for this harvest field.
• Thank God for all He has done and for all that is to come.
• Pray for the financial support of this project.

Revelation of the truth

Diaspora in Florida: Pray for our Muslim friend “Timothy” who invited us to his Christmas party where the story of Jesus’ birth was read from Matthew and Luke in front of about 30 of his Muslim friends. I hope to visit Timothy again soon. He seems very despondent. Pray he would cry out to God for revelation of the truth.

Meet together

The churches in three Lopit villages – Imuluha, Ohilang, and Ibonni – want to meet together once a month for worship and fellowship. This is possible because of peace between these three villages. Pray that these believers would commit themselves to meeting together monthly to “spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together…but encouraging one another” (Hebrews 10:24-25). Pray that the love and peace between the believers of these different villages would display the unity of the Spirit and attract many others to come and find out more about Jesus.

2024 Goal

Pray for our goal of reaching 200 new villages with the Jesus Film in 2024. The whole program is run by Malagasy partners and the head of it is a Bara Pastor. Pray that God will send funds and help us go alongside them. Pray for many in these villages to respond to the Gospel and be saved.

Promised to read

Diaspora in Florida: Pray for Imam “Barney” who has promised to read the New Testament with a local pastor. Pray the Lord will open his eyes to the truth as he reads.

Cookies and stories

Praise God that S came to decorate cookies with her daughters and I could share stories about the birth of our Savior. Please pray they have open hearts to receive Jesus as Savior.

Clear testimony

Diaspora in Georgia: Please pray that all the students in my ESL class will attend faithfully and each one will give a clear testimony of faith in Jesus by the end of the school year. Praise the Lord that several have already done so. Praise the Lord for Sayaka from Japan who meets weekly with me for further Bible study.
Also, please pray that Muslims and Africans will come to our ESL classes.

Prisioners

Pray for all those in prison because of their Savior, Jesus Christ. May they know His comfort, His freedom despite chains, and in the lonely times apart from family, may they know the companionship that only God can give. Remember their families, as they miss and long to be together. “Release them Lord!”

Conflict

Over the last months, conflict between the Toposa and the Laarim people has been worse than usual with multiple revenge killings and frequent cattle raids. Recently a chief in Loryok where Jacob had lived years ago was attacked and killed in his garden. Please pray for the Toposa and Laarim youth who carry out these acts to be struck with the fear of God in their hearts. Pray for the young believers to have the courage to stand against the peer pressure and represent righteousness, even when they are looked down upon and insulted for refusing to go on raids.

Accused

Pray for S., a friend of ours who was accused of stealing equipment from a school in the village. Pray for the truth to reign and a fair trial. Pray for open doors for the gospel through this hardship.

Ministry in Khartoum

The situation in Sudan continues to worsen, with no sign of peace or an end in sight. Despite this, many Christians have decided to stay in places like Khartoum to care for the believers who cannot leave. Please pray for Camilia, a woman we met at a conference in South Sudan in November, who had traveled from Khartoum to South Sudan and then returned to Khartoum to continue her ministry! Pray the Lord will equip her with the weapons that are “not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds” (2 Corinthians 10:4).

Encouraging times

David and Tessa have had some encouraging times the past several months with Logwe, Kalifah, Susanna, and several other believers in the community. One particular highlight was when they shared a meal together with Logwe and his wife Nacici (a recent believer), and Kalifah and his wife Naji (for whom we are still praying to give her life to Christ). They were so encouraged to meet together as married couples, reading from God’s Word and fellowshipping together. Pray for these couples to live as lights in their communities.

Prayer focus

In this new year, we are focusing prayers for i3 on the unity of the body (for patterns of healthy communication, repentance and forgiveness) and for there to be believing i3 families growing together in their faith, adults, youth and children! Please pray with us.

Women

One of us has been discipling two MMB ladies separately. They are always looking forward to the lessons and walking through life with one of our lady members. Pray for their maturity in faith.
Another Som** lady requested to learn the keyboard and improve on her vocals. She wants to get into singing. She is open to use gospel music as a means of learning to play the keyboard and to sing. Pray that God will speak to her heart through the words of the songs.

Shame

Diaspora in Wales: Illiteracy is something the women in our classes work hard at covering up. It remains a source of shame for each lady and their families. Pray for wisdom for how to provide additional assistance beyond Monday and Tuesday classes. Pray for a spiritual awakening that each one will embrace Christ who removes all shame.

Local church

Please pray for the local church as there are many transitions happening at the moment. Please pray especially for Petro and Mama Grace as they take on the leadership. Praise God for the passion God has given them both to minister amongst the Alagwa.

International Student night

Diaspora in Florida: Pray for the International Student night on Jan 13th- pray for good conversations and connections.
And pray for Hannah, a new contact from North Africa, for good conversations with her.

Difficult season

Pray for Pastor P., the pastor of a local church here, and the church leadership. The congregation is going through a difficult season, including a court case, and the leadership needs wisdom and guidance on how to lead the flock well and bring unity to the believers.

Only Jesus

Diaspora in Hong Kong: Please pray for the many Africans I meet in Hong Kong- for their resilience and mental well-being. Whether they are Christians or unbelievers, they are all waiting for relocation or deportation, and many of them are suffering greatly from mental illness or captivity. May they see that Jesus is the only one who can set them free.

Threats

Pray for Mama A and her daughter, both are MBBs. The husband is threatening the daughter that he will not pay for her education until she denounces Jesus Christ, and that he will reclaim back the house initially the Kadhi court had granted to the wife after they divorced when she became a believer. Pray for the safety of the young girl who is currently living with the father.