Diaspora in Georgia:
Praise the Lord that Ma’ra, Na’eli, Ed’m, Sa’aka, Pao’a, Ver’nica, and Eri’a all gave testimony to personal faith in Christ after going through the gospel of John in our ESL classes this year. Pray for their protection and growth this summer, and that they will be ready to not only continue studying English but also will come to a home Bible study next fall. Pray for the Lord to be getting ready all those who would profit from a “home Bible study for internationals” next fall.
To the printer
We have finished translating the book of Acts into the Antanala language. Both the Gospel of Luke and Acts are with the printer now.
Pray for the distribution and that many would read the Word and believe it!
Exchanging books
Diaspora in England:
Pray for me and two co-workers to have a chance to visit M, a Sudanese woman from the conversation club who’s just had a baby. Pray for an opportunity to share our faith.
Pray for A, from my advanced English class. We’ve exchanged books – a Qu’ran and Luke’s gospel in S…ali. Pray that she’ll read Luke’s gospel. She’s offered to answer my questions about the Qu’ran, so pray for a fruitful first conversation about the Qu’ran (and hopefully Luke’s gospel too!).
Breakthrough
Pray for breakthrough of God’s Spirit drawing many O to become stronger disciples of Jesus who will make more disciples, so that a huge explosion of a disciple making movement will begin and powerfully advance God’s Kingdom. Pray for lasting fruit for all on our team!
Sharing in compounds
David and Tessa are starting to lead Discovery Bible Studies (DBS) at various compounds. They have decided to start sharing at two different compounds in their neighborhood, and as time moves on, potentially adding more. They are excited to be sharing God’s Word at these families where they have built strong relationships. They go out together at dusk (since people are out in the gardens most of the day) and sit together as people start to gather. Then there is a lot of singing Laarim worship songs. They spend time sharing praises and prayer requests, followed by a story from the Bible which they then interact with by asking questions. It is encouraging to see that there are people with an interest in learning these stories. Pray that as people hear the Word of God, it would become more than just a story to them. Pray that people would truly desire to walk in the freedom and newness of life found in Christ.
Trafficked women
Diaspora in Hong Kong:
We pray for the African women who engage in survival prostitution. Many of them were once human trafficked to Hong Kong. In the name of Jesus, we pray that God will mobilize churches to help these women who cannot help themselves to get out of this trafficking system. We hope to share the Gospel with them, so that they may find hope in Christ.
Shine His light
Our team is continuing with monthly disciple-making trainings for local be!ievers. The next training is coming up soon. Pray for local followers to remain excited about growing in their faith. Pray for a hunger and thirst for righteousness and a daily desire to spend time in God’s word and in prayer. Pray for boldness and courage for local followers to be sharing their faith with those around them rather than giving into the temptation to hide His light.
Abandoned but not abandoned
Pray for *Hannah and her cohort of medical students who qualified as Doctors graduating from their University in Khartoum in March this year. Before they were issued with their degrees or able to leave the country the civil war broke out and they were abandoned in Khartoum. Thankfully they managed to evacuate safely but without any documentation to verify their degrees. Pray for them that they might may know God’s GRACE freely given to us through the son when he delivers us, and God the Father who promises to be present with us.
Grow in faith
Please pray for solid foundations of strong relationships both between believers and between believers and Jesus.
One worker has been praying for two secret believers to commit to meeting regularly together to support one another. This morning, one of those secret Alagwa believers came, followed a bit later by a baptised Alagwa believer who just turned up. Next came a neighbour who is a seeker, and then the other secret believer originally prayed for. They were all listening to Luke 4 v 16-21 in Alagwaisa and studying it. The baptised believer gave a great testimony of how God has changed his heart and behaviour and this impacted the three women. They discussed together, asked questions, then all prayed together. Please pray for this excitement to continue and for these three women to have a desire to meet together again. Thank God for the witness of the baptised believer; may he grow in his faith and desire to share the gospel with others.
Complicated and beyond capacity
Diaspora in France:
Pray for “Carla”, a Brazilian single mom of 1 ½ yr old twins in a really difficult situation relationally with her ex, and legally. We’ve started studying the Bible, discussed the Gospel a few times, but she has a hard time understanding why Jesus had to die. Please pray for her salvation, and that God would work miracles in her life, with situations really complicated and beyond her capacity.
Grow in agape love
The enemy is always scheming seeking to kill, steal, and destroy; whispering lies that further disunity and suspicion. Ask that the Way, the Truth, and the Life would bring peace and power and freedom to brothers and sisters. May they grow in agape love so the body can be joined rightly to Christ and one another.
Praise the Lord!
Please praise the Lord with us! In the last two weeks 17 Ndau women have come to profess Jesus Christ as their Savior and 22 believers were baptized! Please pray for the Ndau men, that they too would come to Christ!
Please continue to pray for the maturity and discipleship of believers and churches.
Please pray for our youth and children, that they would come to Jesus and trust Him for their futures.
Far away town
Pray for M who has recently believed. However, she moved to a far town that is totally unengaged. Pray that I can disciple her through media and that she will eventually become a light to that village.
Sunday gathering
Praise more people are coming to the gathering on Sunday. Pray for the community to continue to be OK with this and for those that want to come to be brave and grow in faith.
Pray over Nine New Outreach Areas!
Praise God for nine Tabora area churches joining together to hold 3-day long evangelism outreaches this month in nine unreached villages outside of Tabora, Mpanda, and Nzega. Pray for the youth, women, and church leaders volunteering and using their own means to travel outside of the towns. Pray that villagers will listen well and embrace the Good News about Jesus and the salvation He offers to all people. In the mornings there will be teams sharing the Gospel from house to house, in the afternoons there will be open air meetings in the village centers. Pray that God will draw people, convict, change hearts, transform lives, and wash clean those accepting His grace. Pray that God’s truth will be integrated into the hearts and lives of new believers and their faith will be wholehearted. Pray for new churches to begin to meet together following Gospel outreaches in these nine new outreach areas.
Needing healing
Pray for the complete healing and restoration of T’ume’s finger- immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, and way beyond what the medical world predicts – by the grace, power and authority of Jesus -to bring glory and honor to Jesus, our Savior and Healer – and to return this valuable AICMD couple back to fruitful labor in O-land!
Leaders’ training
Pray for trainees who just finished up another 2 weeks of Indigenous Leader’s Training from the Sandawe, Datooga, Sonjo, and Nyaturu people groups. Pray for fruit from learning about abiding in Christ and servant leadership.
Stir one another up
Pray the Dorobo believers will consider how to stir one another up to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, but exhorting one another, and all the more as the Day draws near (Hebrews 10:24-25).
Goodness of God
Pray for the few believers to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord and give testimony of the goodness of God. Pray many others would believe and be saved.
Prisoners for Christ
Please continue to pray for the believers in jail for their faith. Pray they would know God’s presence and grace in a profound way and that they would be released soon.
United with Christ
Please pray for the translation teams as they tackle Philippians and Ephesians. Pray for the Muslim as well as Christian translators, that all may understand more deeply what it means to be united with Christ.
Love Your Neighbor
Pray for the Malagasy believers who have been through the Love Your Neighbor training to put into practice what they’ve learned and reach out to their Muslim neighbors and colleagues.
Interested but…
Please pray for Jay and Zina who have shared with an island friend in Madagascar. Pray for him as he is more and more interested in the good news but also really doesn’t want to give up his Muslim heritage, culture and values.
Translation check
We are now in Addis Ababa for the advisor check of the Gospel of Luke. We are preparing for the dubbing of the Jesus film and audio track of Luke.
Gospel of Mark is to be recorded in audio as well, but we need consultant to finish checking.
Pray for the plans of this year :
Jesus film and audio of Luke
Draft of the books of Titus, 1,2, and 3 John, and 1,2 Peter.
Pray for the team for the strength and wisdom from God.
Growth
Praise God He is at work building His church. Pray for continued growth in local fellowships and wisdom for the local leaders.
Busy
Pray for the ‘Come Follow Me’ discipleship class. The ladies have gotten busy lately during the week because they have to earn a living for their families. I am following them individually to disciple them in their small businesses. Pray that this will continue, and pray for growth and provision for these ladies.
Agreed to read
We have had several ladies recently agree to read the Book with us. Pray that they would actually come and read and understand the words. Ask that they would receive the Word into their hearts!
Pentecost celebration
This Sunday is Pentecost Sunday and there will be a gathering of believers and seekers from both the South and the North of Nosy Mitsio. It is being organized by the Malagasy Missionaries and local believers. Pray for all the preparation going into it and for the Lord’s blessing and presence the day of.
Ladies event May 27
Please pray for an upcoming event on Saturday May 27 for Saharawi ladies where we will discuss their true value as image bearers of the Creator God. Pray for many to come, for hearts to be touched and for the deepening of relationships.
Translation update
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.
