* Afghan: Build your church God, among our Afghan brothers and sisters. Help us to listen and help connect our new friends well with your word in their language. Praise you God for the hands and hearts that have labored to translate it!
* Sudanese: We pray for growth in the number of Sudanese students we serve and an open dialogue about your truth God.
* Moroccan: We pray for the persecuted church and for those separated from loved ones because of that persecution.
* Uyghur: We pray for your protection for those who believe, and we pray for those here that they may be able to hear your word God in their heart language.
Evil plans thwarted
On “Clove Island,” there is a sister whose family had asked her to renounce her faith or face serious consequences. On the day a family member and an religious leader would be coming to see her, their plans were thwarted and they never came. Give thanks that so far there has been no new conflict/meetings; the sister’s faith remains strong and she has talked about having peace.
Diaspora in Minnesota
* Our UPG are Somalis. They need to have their eyes opened to the truth of the gospel. They need to be released from the fear they hold themselves in. Ask God to stretch out HIs hand and deliver them.
* We need to find innovative ways to encourage the local church to reach out among the Somalis.
Stalled
Pray for the stalled Toposa Bible translation. Ask God to remove obstacles that keep Toposa from hearing His word in their language.
Taxis
Pray every taxi ride we take provides us an opportunity for sharing good news. May He send drivers to us who are searching for Him.
Diaspora in France
* Praise for a recent reconnection with an island friend in Marseille. Pray for ‘salty’ conversations with B and others on the phone. Pray that their eyes would be open, and their hearts softened to the Gospel Truth. Pray that there will not be language barriers to understand the freedom of the Gospel versus Islam.
Diaspora in UK
* Refugees in the Croydon area are a mixture of UPG’s including people from Sudan, the Horn, Afghanistan, Turkey, Syria, Iran and Iraq. Meeting the needs of large numbers of recent arrivals needing food and clothing has led to less opportunities for relationship building. Please pray that the Christians involved in this work will find the right balance as they seek to meet peoples’ physical and Spiritual needs.
Medical clinic
Pray that plans for a much-needed medical clinic amongst the Makwe would continue to move forward. Praise God that needed documents are being processed and progress has been made. May the beautiful hands and feet serving in the clinic bring good news of great joy to many and transform hearts and lives among the Makwe. Pray that the newly assigned missionaries heading to Nacala will be blessed with all they need to make it to the front lines there.
Diaspora in Portland
* M.W. is spending time with a woman from Egypt who also recently became a mom, pray that relationship would grow, and she would continue to be curious about our faith.
* S.W. is having a lot of great conversations with a Persian man who now has a Bible in his language. Pray these conversations continue and that he will see that Jesus is the only way.
Celebrating Fellowships of New Believers!
Praise God for new church plants, now over 300 in the Tabora Region in the last ten years among the Africa Inland Church. Praise God for elders and lay leaders who faithfully lead and teach in individual local churches despite hardships. Praise God for the 51 itinerant circuit preachers who persevere, caring for and overseeing multiple local churches. Pray for three new churches launched in villages where there has never been a church. Pray that those planting churches and their families and those working with them will know the exhilarating joy and blessing to be a part of expanding the Kingdom of God. Pray the Nyamwezi Breakthrough Prayer: “Lord, remove the veil from the eyes of the Nyamwezi and give them a longing to know your truth, that they may have new life in Jesus.”
Diaspora in Hong Kong
* All students of the Chinese Teaching Course passed the exam. They have the passion to serve among the Diaspora ministries although they come from different churches and companies.
* Due to social distancing measures starting from Jan 5, all the tutorial classes and Chinese classes are canceled. There will be three Chinese classes starting from Feb 7 and run by zoom. Pray that the participants can understand through zoom learning.
* I started devotional sharing with African Muslims and hope that they are willing to listen to God’s words. Please pray for “F” who refused to receive the message. Pray God to open her heart for Jesus.
* Pray for me to have wisdom to prepare the gospel and Muslim Background Believers materials for African Muslims.
Praise!
Mama S has accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior! She comes from a Muslim family and is married to a Catholic man. After reading the Bible and watching the Jesus film with me and a few other neighbors, the blinders were taken off and the Truth was revealed to her heart through the Holy Spirit. Pray for the upcoming discipleship process that I will be leading her through. Pray that she will gain a new family with the believers in this town.
Diaspora in Europe
* Praise the Lord with us for a successful Winter Retreat with International students in Nantes. We had many wonderful conversations, worship, and time in the Word with the students.
* Praise the Lord for committed students who are coming to weekly international student meetings in La Rochelle. R. & N. are encouraged by the faithful commitment many students display in regular attendance, especially one student from Algeria, who is always the first to arrive.
* Pray for the ongoing great collaboration in the Paris Ensemble that K.K. coordinates. Pray for wisdom as the leadership team organizes an impactful year of collaborative activities such as prayer mobilization, training and disciple-making until all of Paris has a viable and fruit- bearing witness.
Faithful disciples
Thank God for the faithful disciples reaching their own people and neighboring communities.
Pray for all the missionaries to use the dry season well and reach out.
New believer!
Please pray for a young boy who is a new local believer. Now just a month ago he became a follower of Jesus Christ, may our Mighty Lord empower him to stand firm in Jesus Christ. Also pray for our brother Eric, the local believer whose wife left him. He is trusting Jesus Christ.
Janet
Pray for peace between all neighbours.
Thank God for sister Janet and as she graduates in February and joins her people to make disciples.
Pray for the Jiye Bible translation to be accepted.
Move towards Jesus
Amal* was one of our previous teammate’s language helpers who shortly after we got to know her had a horrendous physical attack by a local man who left her for dead. Our team members walked through this dark time of court appearances and physical healing with her and it has resulted in a deep relationship with her and her husband Aarat*. Aarat* interestingly is part of Elizabeth’s* family and the brother to Mama Eliphaz* who we also know well. Pray for an openness to Jesus Truth by whole families and that this family will move towards Jesus and know that with God everything is possible. MARK 10:27
House of Prayer
Pray for a pastor’s family who live next door to a medical clinic in a village. He and his wife offer water, porridge, and prayer for those who await medical care and for those who have accompanied the sick to the clinic. The ministry is growing and the neighbors are now recognizing their home as a “house of prayer”. He and his wife have found many receive the Gospel message and are thankful for prayer for their physical and spiritual condition. Pray that they would see God’s hand at work in their lives and that new believers would join in regular fellowship with other Christians.
Diaspora in Minnesota
• Many of our Somali connections have been fairly silent lately. Pray that we might reestablish those
connections or discern the cause.
• Praise God for a good connection with an Iraqi family. Pray that this might develop and become a good friendship.
Hope and Life
Pray for the healing & protection for our watchman who is ill. Ask for more times to share hope with him and that he would receive Hope and Life.
Pray for pastors
Pray for Pastors Mateus, Joaquim and Isaac and their churches: for grace, wisdom, discernment and endurance in every trial and situation that is ahead; that they’d be a united testimony among the Ndau people and that many would come to salvation.
Diaspora in Atlanta
* Please pray for clarity about which African UPGs we should reach out to in the Atlanta area. Pray also for local churches to participate, and also even US office staff. Pray for introductions to Africans in the area. Pray for many to come to faith in Christ and be discipled.
* Pray for enduring connections and friendships as a group of us visit a nearby mosque Feb 3 or 4.
Please pray for the Holy Spirit to guide our prayers and answer them, as we ask for the tools, seed and workers to be provided for this corner of our Father’s field. (John 15)
Diaspora in Washington
We praise Jesus! for a healthy in-person semester of over 100 English students this past fall. We pray that God would continue to bless us with continued health for the anticipated 150+ English students in-person in 3 locations this spring. Pray that our students will receive life from God’s Word. Psalm 119:25
• We praise Jesus! for wonderful Christmas celebrations, one of which led to a student asking for and
receiving a Bible. It appears this student has a sister who is a follower of Jesus. Please pray with us for the several scattered believers and seekers from these near-culture people groups and how God may use them as living stones. 1 Peter 2:5
• Please keep praying for “Anthony.” During December we explored “who is God?” in the book of Luke.
Praise Jesus! He even asked for another Bible in his language to share with someone. 1 Timothy 2:3-4
Survey
Pray for mission survey to be done from 4th Feb to the 11th. Pray for the survey participants to see the needs of the Jiye and know what the Lord would have them do.
Pray for Elijah and family as he starts his two year work amongst the Jiye in Lopyat, Kassengor.
Healings and Deliverances!
God is doing great things in this new village of Befotaka where Melias is based now. The village is full of spirit-possessed people and they know it is a power that controls them. They did not know that there is a more powerful name that can deliver them from this oppression. The gospel was made known to a very small circle of people and they were delivered from the oppression. They like studying the Bible, twice/ three times a week. God literally accompanied this ministry with miracles. A few got delivered and sick people got healed when they prayed to the Lord. People knocked on Melias’s door at night asking him to come to pray for their sick. They got healed. This is just God! Praise be to His name.
Security concerns
This week, at least 4 major foreign embassies issued alerts of possible terror attacks in Nairobi/Kenya. When this happens (and it has happened in the past), our students do not come to class. I suspect this could be due to expected heightened security checks, etc …
Most of them did not respond to our calls or messages.
Please pray that this whole issue may be resolved to bring confidence to our students so that they may return to class. May God who gives us peace that the world does not know, touch their hearts and show His Light to them. May His Light transform their hearts to see Him as the Saviour of the world.
Diaspora in UK
Thankful for high attendance and receptivity in our sewing group as we discussed the meaning of Christmas just prior to stricter Covid restrictions being reinstated.
Thankful that God has provided opportunity in midst of a pandemic to deepen relationships with the
ladies in our classes. Through these difficulties, there has been a new spiritual openness.
Targeted for Good News.
We have a meeting set up tonight with a young man and his family who God has led us to target to share good news with. Pray that they will not fear! Pray that the young man will invite several of his age mates to join him, as well as his family. Pray that the Holy Spirit would empower our words and our time to be the beginning of much lasting fruit!
Choose to follow
Alan* is now a senior government official in the town. He still identifies as a Muslim but in the past, through a Muslim Background Believer (MBB) who he worked with, has encountered Jesus and knows about his saving grace. He has helped believers in this town (including ourselves and our team) to maintain our presence and witness and has encouraged us by helping us navigate some difficult cultural issues. Pray that he might choose to follow Jesus unswervingly. There are several covert believers in the town in a similar position to Alan* and they are networked together even if in a very loose way. May they choose to follow Jesus and may they function as Christ’s body and bear witness to Him.
New believer
Praise God for a new believer, who heard to gospel from other local believers! Pray for his protection, growth, and witness.
Diaspora in Canada
• Please pray for my Somali friend; his mental health, protection for him against the devil’s wiles, and against clan and family pressure to revert. Please pray that he will speak and live out the truth of his hope in Christ with boldness, gentleness, and respect.
• Praise for good time of fellowship, encouragement and the Word with Christian friends and J, our “bicycle building buddy from this summer”, who is still running from Jesus.
• Pray for my friend I who calls me frequently, alternating between plans to evangelize his homeland
and to imprison me for sending out CIA contracts on his life. His relatives plan to take him back to the
homeland soon. Please pray that Jesus will heal his psychoses and that he will remember the
commitment he once made to Jesus and live accordingly.
Rainy season isolation
During the rainy season, it’s difficult for the workers of the Community Health Department to visit the small groups of Christians in the remote villages.
Please pray the believers would stand firm in their belief during the time that they’re isolated.
Thank God for technology like SD cards on which sermons, Bible studies, and songs can be registered and can be listened to in times of no visitors.
God so loved
Ask that Truth sets my friend free. Although she thinks God loves her, she has doubts.
She believes that God is harsh and able to change his mind at any moment.
As such, he cannot be ‘trustworthy’, so how can she know she really is loved?
Pray for a revelation for her and many others in this land, of the God who so loved the world he sent his son.
Tropical Storm Ana
Tropical Storm Ana is wreaking havoc in Madagascar and Mozambique. Nampula province has been hit by heavy rains and strong winds, which has affected 100,000 people in this province alone. These people are already reeling from previous natural disasters and conflict. Pray for the Lord’s mercy, for the church to minister to hurting people, and for many Mwani to turn to Christ in their suffering.
Diaspora in Australia
Tanya in Melbourne recently contacted the AIM Australia office:
“I’m getting to know my neighbour, who is from South Sudan. She’s a new Christian and she speaks Lopit (and some English). Do you know how I can receive a Bible in the Lopit language? Tanya had tried unsuccessfully to find the Lopit scriptures.
We inquired of Marlene from NZ working among the Lopit, and overnight received and passed on a written draft and audio copy of Genesis and Exodus from Marlene and her SIL colleagues.
A day later we heard from Tanya again: “Last night, I gave my neighbour, “J”, the Lopit book of Genesis and we listened to the first few stories that we’ve done in DBS. J was ecstatic to hear the Bible in Lopit!”
• Please pray for Tanya and “J” as they study the scriptures together.
• Pray the Lopit people in Australia and South Sudan to have a hunger for God’s word.
• Pray for the SIL team and Lopit committee currently working on the New Testament. Marlene said she hopes to have trial versions to pass on within the year.
Headed back
Pray for SLM team heading back to field. We thank God for good time he gave us during our home assignment. We will be traveling on Friday.
Pray for the Disciples in all villages as they engage in their second and third generation mentoring.
Pray for the March IDLF training in Kapoeta East
Pray for youth camp in Kapoeta South.
Thank God for loparinga as he graduates in February and joins his people to make disciples.
Diaspora in France
January will be the beginning of another semester. Pray for the Lord to send us new students that He is seeking.
• COVID cases are rising. We do not know how strict the measures will get. Pray for the Lord to give us creativity and adapt to the context around us.
• Pray also for a few students with whom we have started building really good friendships. Pray that they will be open to hearing the Lord’s voice
Local believers
Pray for local brothers and sisters who have a burden to share the good news with their families. Pray for wisdom and boldness to share the good things God has done for them.
Jesus Film
The Jesus Film is being recorded into the Kanembu language this month. Pray for good recording process. And pray many would watch the film with open minds and hearts.
Kingdom of Light
Pray for a family as they begin studying Bible stories about living in the Kingdom of Light. Ask the Lord to speak to them and grant them faith to believe.
