Diaspora in Wales: Praise God for a good restart this term of the Women’s English and Sewing classes. Pray that God will continue to provide ladies to attend and volunteers to teach/help.
We are thankful for the opportunity that women have to discuss simplified chronological Bible stories in the Women’s conversation class. We pray for receptive hearts.
Come to faith
Pray for the people we have been sharing with to come to faith and salvation by the work of the Holy Spirit. One family in particular, brothers and a sister, have been listening. Pray for their salvation.
Also, pray for I. and I. We have been talking with them; pray they will accept the word and it will bear fruit.
Baptism
Last Sunday brother Jackson shared the story of Jesus’ baptism in one the communities outside of town. At the end, one of the ladies asked “Can’t we be baptised since we have also repented of our sins?” Praise God! Please pray that God will give wisdom for the next steps, and for His provision in the practical details. Pray these women will continue to grow and mature in their faith.
Know Jesus as their Rock
Pray for Saharawi teens who are living in Spain and navigating the influences of peers. May they come to know Jesus as their rock, their identity and their only hope.
Emptiness
Diaspora in Florida: Pray for one of our imams, “Bruce” leading a group on an Umrah. Pray that God would show him the superficiality and emptiness of it all.
Pray for continued open gospel discussions with our Muslim friends.
Price is high
A brother from the small community of Jesus’ disciples is having doubts. He feels it is not safe to continue in the faith. The pressures are very difficult for a follower of Jesus because all of life and traditions here are anchored in the fear of ancestors and Islam, thus, wanting to honor the God of the Bible, young believers are constantly confronted with choices, rejection, family and community isolation. Let’s pray for this brother, his family, and all those who would like to follow Jesus but are discouraged because the price to pay is very high!
Sunday school
Andrea P. is leading Sunday school during the Ohilang church service. As she takes the children through a chronological Bible story set, pray that they would understand the message of God’s love and salvation as revealed through God’s work throughout history. Please also pray for someone Andrea can disciple to help her lead the Sunday school.
Bible translation
Pray for Jiye Bible Translation in Kapoeta this week. Pray for no technical problems, for unity, and Spirit-led guidance to produce a good translation, which will bless many.
Celebrations and Challenges
As I write this, I am on my way to India for 10 days. Twenty-five years ago, God used us to start a work in India to reach the K people. K had only a handful of indigenous believers and no full-time field workers. God has used earthquakes, persecution, and passion stirred by His Holy Spirit to grow the beginnings of a movement of K people to following Him. So we are celebrating the accomplishments in K: the NT, the Jesus Film, gospel radio broadcasts, a K themed gospel movie, gospel music CDs, many field workers, new believers, and more.
But challenges continue – the authorities are persecuting believers even more this year, funding field workers is becoming more difficult, and some are tired and discouraged that things are not happening as fast as they’d like. Pray for God to bring joy, a new passion, and great excitement from this time with gospel workers.
Counting the cost
We finished up Character 1 at the end of January. Pray for these 23 students to come to Character 2, which starts today Feb. 19th, and for other students to join. This is a great opportunity to continue to share different stories from the bible and connect with students more as they continue to learn. A few of these students are seeking and counting the cost. Please pray for them.
Recording Mark
The team of Bible translation for Suri Kachipo community is preparing for recording the book of Mark tomorrow! Please pray for the whole process to run smoothly and for the recording to be a great blessing to the Suri people.
John.
Seeking Allah Finding Jesus
Diaspora in Florida: Pray for a young Muslim man, “Larry” reading “Seeking Allah Finding Jesus.” Pray that God will use it to expose the lack of proofs for Islam and to open his heart to Jesus.
Demon attack
Pray for A., a young man who is known in the whole village because he sits in the city center every evening and goes through a “demon attack,” as the locals tell us. Pray the Lord would deliver him from his spiritual oppression and use this as a wide open door for the name of Jesus to be known and glorified in the city.
Revive your people
Pray for revival in Toposa land. The fire seems to be going down and our team is getting discouraged. Pray that the Lord will raise them up again for deliverance of many TNJ (Toposa, Nyang’atom, and Jiye).
From chaos to seeking
Please pray for the situation on the island: the island is paralyzed by blockades of demonstrators against different things (insecurity, illegal immigration, educational level, etc.). As a result, the hatred grows more and more. Young people can no longer go to school, and many young people are fighting in the street. Pray that in this chaos people will truly and sincerely seek God, and that they will discover the Christ who liberates.
Let’s pray for the demonstrators: That they may become aware of their even greater problem: the wrath of God and his coming judgment.
– Let’s pray that God reveals himself to people through dreams, through visions, and reveals to them the real Jesus. Let’s pray that all the barriers and lies that Islam has produced here will be destroyed, and that the truth will be revealed.
Water
Water is still a challenge among the Jiye people. Please pray for provision of water. Thank God that locals are begging this week to dig a dam- pray for 200 villagers and our leaders working on this that at least they will catch rain water. Pray for opportunities to speak of living water. May many come to the source of Living Water.
God who loves them
Pray for a Valentine’s event tomorrow Feb 17. Pray that Saharawi friends would see that they are loved by God and would have a desire to learn more about the God who loves them.
Reaching people
Pray for the Trauma counseling/Peace Building and DMM (Discipleship Making Movement) programs to reach many people.
Pray for Teachers Certificate & Diploma Training Program (Teach to Reach). For trained and sent out teachers to start schools among over 60 Unreached and Unengaged (UUPG) People Groups of Nuba Region.
Life-changing work
Diaspora in Hong Kong: Pray for the resettlement ministry, specifically aimed at helping Middle Eastern and African asylum seekers in Hong Kong who cannot return to their home countries due to ongoing war and violence. Praise God for the recent significant breakthrough, as we have established communications with churches in Canada who are willing to assist us in initiating a few resettlement cases. Pray for additional Canadian churches and Christians to join in supporting and partnering with our ministry in this life-changing work.
Deepest needs
Praise God for the rain we have had in Mandritsara! May the Tsimihety thank the God of the rain for His abundant provision.
With the rain comes malaria, and there is a shortage of malaria treatment at the moment. Please pray that each patient who comes in with malaria would be able to receive treatment, and that the people’s heart would be open to the God who heals them of their deepest needs.
Training
Please pray for our local sister “R” as she is traveling to Central Africa for a 40 day training by an African Christian group. Pray for her children that she is leaving behind with family and pray for the Lord to bless this training and prepare her for fruitful ministry.
Set free
Diaspora in Georgia: Pray that the Lord will bring Africans and Mslm’s to the ESL classes and the pregnancy center. Pray that the Lord will break open the two local mosques and set free the captives in them.
Pouring into
It is encouraging to hear about Aaron, a Lopit believer, who has been pouring into the church in Ohilang, taking leadership, and helping push forward the building of a structure for their services. He is leading choir practice with 25 kids every night, and Andrea P. has also been encouraging him to pray and read the Bible at his home to disciple his wife and children. Pray for this man to “be blameless, faithful to his wife, a man whose children believe…not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness…hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined…holds firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it” (Titus 1:6-9).
Glorious day!
This last week brought a remarkable event in the children’s ministry, it was truly amazing. On Wednesday, over 600 children came. During the gathering, one of our coworkers, a Malagasy partner, asked who among them wanted to accepted Christ and, to our surprise, many raised their hands. Subsequently, they were guided to a separate room for a detailed explanation of the Gospel, ensuring their understanding, and there they invited Christ into their hearts.
It was a glorious day, witnessing the power of the Gospel. May God continue to add daily to His kingdom among the Bara People.
Crisis response
Pray for the ongoing crisis response intervention in war torn Sudan, for provision of adequate resources, including Non-Food Items (NFI) and livelihood for the Displaced Communities.
Pray as we develop the crisis response strategy in responding to immediate needs of Sudanese believers and Muslim Internally Displaced communities.
Pray for the ability to send in the resources to where they are needed most.
Pray for the end of the war!
Street corner
Diaspora in Canada: Praise God for people being more receptive to receiving gospel tracts at street corners in the cold winter. Victor had good conversations with A (a Caucasian high schooler who had decided to become a Mslm) and M (a Canadian high schooler with parents from Chad and Nigeria). Pray for these young men’s salvation.
Discipleship
Pray for 3 teenage boys who are growing in faith and actively serving in the church. Over December they spent time memorising different parts of God’s Word. Please pray that what they are storing up in their hearts may continue to speak to them and help them grow in their relationship with Christ.
Prayer this year
Diaspora all over the world: Our prayer this year is, “Lord, over 19 million Africans are living off the continent. Most of them are not part of your Kingdom. We want to see more disciples made and for that, we need more workers. In obedience to Luke 10:2, we pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into your harvest.”
Closed
Pray for openness in areas that are closed and do not welcome the gospel. Pray for the existing churches, evangelists, and apostolic team, that the Lord will give us breakthroughs in reaching out.
Growth and Provision
Pray for the women disciples, for growth and provision for their families.
Pray also for provision of school fees for many students who have not yet started school due to that challenge.
Bible translation ‘mistakes’
One of the challenges of Bible translation in South Sudan is that each village of any language group can have its own nuances, making the creation of one word bank for a particular language very difficult. The Lopit Bible translation has not been well-received in some villages for this very reason. However, the team is encouraged by the believers who are willing to look past the translation issues because they see the value of having God’s Word in their heart language (even with “mistakes”) to study for themselves. Pray that the Lopit will learn to live, not “by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4).
Bible study
On Sunday afternoon we were joined at Bible study by a group of young teenage boys. They listened attentively to our sister Nasur as she shared her testimony and encouraged them to look to the Lord and seek His wisdom. Please pray that what they heard will impact their lives and draw them closer to Christ.
Seeking asylum
Diaspora in Hong Kong: Please pray for refugee B and his family who fled from Y*men. Since their arrival, B has been volunteering with some Catholic nuns at a shelter in Hong Kong while seeking asylum for a few years. Recently, an opportunity to resettle in Canada has arisen. A church in Canada is now considering helping him and his family to resettle and continue the gospel work with this family. May this process leads this family to encounter Jesus. May God guide us in exploring creative ways to engage with M*slims through resettlement ministry.
New Believers
Pray for our Dorobo church on Mount Eburru called AIC Songoroi. We visited a few weeks ago. We were encouraged by the growth in the church. One older man named Joseph who had resisted the Gospel for years had made a profession of faith a few weeks before and stood up at church to give his testimony. Joseph’s son Luka has finished school and made a profession of faith last June when we had visited his school and shown the Jesus film and has been faithfully attending church. Pray as he prepares to take a driving course with hopes to get a job as a driver. Continue to pray for Pastor Josphat Musanga who drives 40 kilometers on his motorcycle once or twice a week to disciple and encourage the believers at AIC Songoroi.
Connections
Diaspora in Minnesota: Pray for a new English class started at an apartment complex Friday, Feb 2. Pray for the students who showed up for good connections being made.
Pray for a few S people who attended a Christ-centered Christian wedding this weekend with us. Pray that it will lead to good discussions about our faith.
Remove the blinders
Pray for our language helpers. DJ studies the Word a lot in lessons. He is growing in his understanding. We pray he would fully submit to Jesus. The ladies’ language helpers, however, have been rather resistant or uncomfortable with Bible stories and spiritual conversations. Pray that the Lord would open their hearts to desire the Truth, and pray that the blinders which are on their eyes would be removed and that they would see that the way of Jesus really is the Truth!
Seeds beginning to grow
Diaspora in France: Our team’s holiday camp outreach for international university students was a big hit, and many gospel seeds were planted. Some seeds have even begun to take root and grow! Please pray for them.
Audio Bible
Earlier this month we were able to take a Proclaimer (an audio recording of the New Testament which is loud enough for group gatherings) to one of the communities outside of town. Please pray that it will be well used and be a blessing to the community that enables many to grow in their relationship with Christ.
University break time
Diaspora in Brazil: Keep praying for the Lopes family during university break time, which means that the MANY African students have nowhere else to go. Opportunities are PLENTIFUL in the Lopes’ home, where they have many plans to host meals, watch movies, and even host events for these African students. Pray for good times of fellowship, discipleship, and sharing of God’s Word.
Oral translation
Pray for the Bible translation that is going on. It is taking longer than we planned. The desire is to record the Bible orally in the Bara language since 80% of the Bara can’t read their own language.
