Pray for Harvest- Physically and Spiritually! Thankful that the rains began mid-November, ushering in the one planting season of the year! Those who are living on farm land are engaged in tilling the land and planting, in need of providing their sustenance for the year. Pray for a good harvest, acknowledging the Father God Almighty’s role as the source of growth, and trusting His promises for seedtime and harvest. Pray for favorable weather, deep roots for plants, and blessings on the work of the farmer’s hands, surrendering the outcome to God.
Christmas party
Diaspora in Finland: Pray for our Christmas Party/celebration on December 7th.
Pray for all the preparations and plans come together and that many of the non-Christians we are around would come, and that the Holy Spirit would open their hearts.
We plan to share how many of the prophecies were fulfilled in Jesus.
Meet together
We filmed a new video on Saturday. Thank God, everything went well. Thanks to this filming, Christians from the island were able to meet for the first time. Let’s pray for them to want to meet regularly and that house groups may develop throughout the island. And from that fellowship the Christians of i4 may feel emboldened to share their faith.
Talking about Christmas
Diaspora in Scotland: Pray for the school English conversation club – last week the students asked me what my religion was. I’m hoping to build on that conversation in the next few weeks especially as we talk about Christmas.
Students
Pray for H, with whom we discussed the story of the woman at the well in detail. Pray for God to bring understanding and revelation.
The Character Class has wrapped up. Please continue praying for these students. Each week, they studied a new story or passage of Scripture that revealed God’s character and reminded them of their need for a Savior. Pray they would seek Him.
Clearly share
Diaspora in Calgary: There are many people, from the New Canadian Hub, from our church and from the community, that we have been connecting with recently. We are having our final small group of the year Dec 6. Please pray that God would bring those He wants to come, that the Gospel would be clearly shared as we discuss Christmas.
Protests planned Dec 9th
Pray for the upcoming Independence Day in Tanzania on December 9th. After the unrest that followed the presidential elections in October, there are more demonstrations and protests planned on December 9th. There will likely be internet blackouts, travel restrictions, and food shortages. Pray for the Rangi people and people all over Tanzania during this challenging time.
Christmas outreach
Diaspora in Germany: Pray for our Christmas Outreach Gathering Dec 6 from 3 to 6p, where we expect around 55–60 migrants from the city and church people. Pray that the atmosphere will be filled with peace, joy, and the presence of Christ. Pray for spirit-led conversations throughout the event, and that God will lead us to men and women of peace who are open to the Gospel and whom He is preparing to hear Good News.
Reaching deeper than ever before
Pray that the pastors of the more traditional churches wlll have the courage to work together with the ‘competing’ churches.
As we are reaching deeper in the area than ever before, the darkness in those areas is severe. Pray that the Lord will keep the witchdoctors and spiritual world away. Both are constantly interfering with evangelising attempts.
Pray that the logistical issues of spreading the translation, and with it the Gospel, will not be too difficult.
Open Her Eyes
Keep praying for the Saharawi woman who received a Bible from a worker. May she read it and have her eyes opened to the Truth.
Pray for efforts to mobilize the Spanish church so they can join in reaching out to Saharawi and other Muslims in their area.
MBB lady threatened
Daily interfaith debates in our city are always a men’s affair. These are organized by Somalis who are always the majority. Last week a Somali lady boldly joined and shared that she no longer belongs to the other side. She was called names and almost beaten up. We thank God she was escorted away to safety. Pray for her boldness to continue and that she will connect with other believers who will strengthen her through prayers, connections, love and fellowship.
Hunger and thirst
Praise God for more encouraging meetings with ‘Timothy’ and some of the other men – despite that the NB women continue to be hard to get together with and disciple. Pray for continued hunger and thirst for God‘s written word to be understood, and growth in their relationships with His Living Word.
Worse state
Pray for A, a believer who has returned to Islam and massive levels of demonization. She is currently non-communicative and in a worse state than she was even before coming to Jesus. Pray that this point of utter desolation and desperation would bring her decisively back to Jesus, never to leave him again.
Mrs. F
1. Pray for Mrs F’s family to receive Christ in their lives.
2. Pray for her spiritual walk and discipleship journey.
3. Pray that she will connect with another Karana believer and they will be able to encourage each
other.
New Outreach!
A Nyamwezi pastor overseeing seven churches asks prayer for an entire family of new believers at the main church he recently moved to, praise God! Also praise God for six people who are meeting for Bible study together at another church where he serves! Pray for more to be involved in regular Bible study groups. Pray for the completion of the parsonage house, and for outreach to a Nyamwezi village named “Godly”, yet has no church. Ask the Lord of the Harvest to draw those who desire to be godly to know The Way, The Truth, and The Life! Also pray for a new church plant at “Responsive” village, where believers have completed the walls, but need 25 pieces to roof it. Pray that the worshipers will not scatter as rainy season arrives. Pray for reliable and adequate fuel for transportation to the seven churches this pastor oversees.
Baptisms
As people are coming to accept Christ and desire to be baptized, our team continues to learn about how to prepare new believers well for their walk with the Lord and how to do baptisms in a Biblical and clear way. Please pray that we will have wisdom and diligence as we walk with these new brothers and sisters. Please pray for the Christians here, that they would stand firm against temptations and community strongholds that draw them away from what is true and godly.
Bible lesson
Diaspora in Finland: On Tuesdays at food giveaway program, I’ve started doing a short Bible lesson and Finnish lesson for those who come to help. Pray for the many Hindus, Buddhists, and a couple of Mslims participating with couple of Christians in the mix also.
Translation update
Praise God that boxes of the Gospel of Luke, the Book of Acts, and the story collection will be sent to Vohipeno, Ikongo and Irondro. Pray many will read these booklets and believe the message.
They are working on translation the Book of Genesis. It is a lot of work because the language used in Genesis is very different from that used in the New Testament books. He has done chapters 1 to 6, only 44 chapters to go! Please pray for strength and wisdom for him and the team.
Printing project
Please pray with us for the translation project and the big printing we are expecting to do. Pray for good communication among the people involved and the unit. Also praise God for everyone who is going to engage with the word in the local language, for all those who are going to learn about Jesus from the printing and for all the brothers and sisters who are going to grow in their relationship with the Father because of it.
Good progress
We continue to make good progress on the discipleship training center. Please pray for the remaining work to be completed well and in a good time. Also please pray for the M guys working on the project with us. It’s been an amazing opportunity to dive deep in daily Bible study with them. Pray the Lord would continue to work in their hearts and lives and draw them to Himself.
December camp
Pray for the final preparations and provision for the Annual Camp next month.
Pray that the Lord will prepare the hearts of the Campers to encounter Him in powerful ways.
Follow-ups
The disappointing news is that the big airport meeting was postponed again! Now they’re not even naming a new date. The county commissioner is due for a transfer, and we will soon be gone for a week for our annual spiritual life conference – so pray that God works out the timing to include all who are needed and again for His plans and purposes to be fulfilled.
Some good news: for the baby girl who was breech and her mom who had lost three prior breech delivery babies. Thankfully, the parents heeded our God provided wisdom to go early and stay near the county hospital where they could get a C-section if necessary. The baby was born safely, by C-section the day after they arrived there! We praise the Lord that all is well and they are so thankful, and Jesus gets all the glory for this NB family.
Sink holes!
Please pray for the AICT Lahoda church in Usandawe. They’ve had to relocate because of sink holes and geothermal activity near the original church building. Pray for opportunities to share Christ even while the Village deals with this change in the terrain.
Illnesses
Various illnesses are working their way through the Laarim community. Thankfully the cholera outbreak is over, however, there are still many cases of malaria, open skin sores, sinus and respiratory infections, and GI ailments. We would appreciate prayers for faith and peace in the Lord amid these physical afflictions, and that the Lord would bring healing.
The community has lost several people recently to drunken fights and suicide. Please pray for the families that are mourning the loss of loved ones, and for the Church to know how to approach the topic of alcohol and depression in a God honoring way.
Christmas planning
Pray that the men’s gathering in the capital would restart now that team member T is back. Pray as planning for Christmas starts: that the local believers could plan an event that encourages and unites them.
Spreading like fire in hay!
Praise Jesus for gospel videos in ShilHa from creation to the resurrection… prophet stories that teach of Jesus. According to one brother, they are ‘spreading like fire in hay’ throughout the countryside. People who have already seen the videos, come to him asking about Jesus. He keeps praying, ‘May the Word be planted in my heart so I can share clearly by the Spirit.’
Asking deeper questions
Pray for a young man named K. He has been asking deeper questions about God and has shown interest in learning more. Please pray for the Lord to draw him to His throne and His Truth.
Dedication of children
What a joy it was to have two children of an MBB being dedicated with other children on Sunday. For obvious reasons, the dedication of the two was performed in private.
Pray that the children will grow to know and love Jesus as Lord and Saviour. May they mature to serve Jesus all their lives.
Continue watering
We are relocating to another location due to security reasons. Pray for this transition. We praise the Lord for a wonderful relationship we have had with our local partners. Pray for the Evangelist who was brought in a few days ago to work with the local church members. Praise the Lord that they have a plan to continue watering the seeds we have planted in our two locations since we arrived here. Pray for those seeds to grow!
Riots and protests
Tanzania has experienced major rioting and protests with the recent election and many people were killed. There was complete lock down in most major cities, all transportation was stopped for days, and the internet was shut down country-wide for days. When there is major unrest, even for only a few days, all places begin to suffer. Though there was no protesting happening in the M area, many village shops began to run out of food and other supplies due to transportation being shutdown. We are hearing that there is more protesting scheduled to happen on Dec 9. Please pray these would be peaceful and that the gov. would choose a good way to listen and work with those protesting that would not result in more death and destruction. Please pray for God’s will to be done here in Tanzania and that whatever happens, His people would shine with His love ready to share the hope that they have in Christ.
Ramping up
Our teammates, Pastor G&E are again being threatened and persecuted in their village. They’ve had 4 come into God’s kingdom of light since they returned (after a year away due to severe persecutions) in March – the powers of darkness don’t like it! After R’s recent visit there and sharing the Gospel with a prior home guard on his deathbed, the I$lamic leaders started complaining, threatening and actually announced over the Friday mosque loudspeaker that the Christians should just be beheaded and finished once and for all. Pray for God‘s protection, peace, fruit to grow out of persecution, and wisdom to know how to move forward. Much of the village stands with Pastor G&E – but they fear that leadership, and many are very anti-Christ.
Nuba Mountain partnerships
We are at our GNAC conference in Yida, South Sudan. This year’s conference offers a unique opportunity to witness what God is doing through His Church in the Nuba Mountains and to foster deeper collaboration in both gospel action and proclamation. We are focused on seeing the transformation of the Nuba Mountains through the gospel, education, capacity building, and relief work. Mainly focused on reaching UPG’s.
Pray for local missionaries, laboring in hard places, to be refreshed and encouraged and to leave the gathering knowing that they are not alone. We have a lot of new partners this year, pray everyone leaves with a sense of how they fit into the overall vision and practical next steps.
On Saturday, a small group of us will travel up into the Nuba mountains visiting a Bible translation center, which is working on 30 unreached people group languages, and then on to Kauda to visit an agricultural project and a possible location for a leadership development course. Pray for God’s blessings on these projects.
Difficult times
Recently several believers and a couple of workers were arrested for promoting our faith. All have since been released. The workers were deported. Pray for the believers to remain steadfast, to be wise as serpents and innocent as doves as they navigate difficult times and persecution. Pray the Lord will strengthen and encourage them and continue to build His church.
Major accident!
Urgent: Please pray! We just heard that 27 students from the Heiben area of Nuba Mts on their way to take exams in another location (they have to travel far) were in a major accident and were injured. Please pray for help, healing, and ability to still make their exams.
Surgery tomorrow!
A Somali girl is in Kenya for a life saving vascular surgery. She will have the operation tomorrow. It’s a complicated surgery- pray for wisdom for the surgeons. And pray for the impact on her family- for them to really know the love of Christ. Christians have paid for her transport to Kenya, her stay the last couple of months, and for her surgery. Many “cousins” are following her story.
Peace in Troubled Times
Pray for peace and safety in Tanzania following the Oct 29 elections which were marked with protests, internet blockages, and underlying uncertainty. There seems to be mostly calm contentment within in the region of the Nyamwezi. Pray for Christian believers across the country, especially among youth, to seek God’s leading in all they do and say, and to trust that God’s hand is in control. Pray for those in the church who lead within the community and sit among the leaders of the land. Pray for boldness to preach truth and for God’s guidance in all conduct.
Giving thanks
We give thanks that:
- Our translation work is starting to spread. Many pastors want to use it to reach the people deeper in the forests.
- the Malagasy church among the Antanala is growing. In our area we see already three new local churches and many are joining the existing churches.
- Several groups from other regions have been welcomed in our area. Under guidance of local Christians, they have preached the Gospel even deeper in the area.
- We see the different denominations starting to work together. This is mostly on the deacon level (the pastors are still a little cautious).
Ask God to continue blessing this work and building His Church.
Bible study
Diaspora in England: Pray that many of our English students will stay after class for Bible study and that the Lord would speak to them in His word.
Neem project
Trying to bring church and local people into contact, we organised a training on how to make liquid soap with some instruction about treating and avoiding diarrhea (having had cholera locally). There was good attendance, and we could read some of Proverbs also. We hope to repeat this for others who couldn’t attend because of several funerals that day. Pray that this will truly encourage relationships between the southerners who attend church and the local muslim ladies and help them to understand that the Bible has good words in it. Pray for this pre-evangelism outreach.
airport meeting
The big important airstrip/airport meeting is scheduled for Wed, the 19th. Pray that the county commissioner and all those who should be here will come and everything would be resolved and formally minuted once and for all against an airport being built here (which would force us from our AIC homes, clinic, and all ministry property.) Pray against any schemes of our enemy the devil succeeding, and against any corruption or insecurity in the days leading up to the meeting. Also pray for protection in every way, and against further postponement (travel in the rainy season is always uncertain and these leaders schedules are always packed). May God‘s will be done!
