We praise the Lord for the success of the soccer tournament earlier in August. Our volunteers will have a picnic on the 16th with the families of those we are reaching with the Good News. Pray that the Lord would soften hearts for his Word and that seeds would be planted.

I praise God that I had the opportunity to talk at length with my friend “A” about Eid AND Jesus, the One who forgives once and for all! It was a great conversation and I’m asking for prayer that we will continue to share openly with each other about our beliefs and praying that God will open the eyes of her heart to hear the TRUTH.

Please pray for follow up on the good spiritual conversations with a group of diaspora friends that we took to Washington to visit the farm on Saturday, September 1. Pray that these conversations would not be forgotten and would continue.

38 campers joined us from 6 African nations plus Palestine and Syria. 5 came from Muslim families. Just awesome to see them all heartily singing, “He came from heaven to earth, to show the way, from the earth to the cross, my debt to pay”!
The parents of two little Muslim girls want to meet up with J. and me as soon as possible in September. Their Dad says is having dreams about Jesus.

Please pray for our first church-based workshop for teaching Portuguese  that will take place in Londrina for area churches. We do not have a program in Brazil to teach Portuguese as a second language to refugees, but a Pastor and teacher of one church is helping us to organize this workshop. This is just an introduction to show the opportunities we have here to reach the refugees and immigrants all around us. We are already teaching Portuguese to one Muslim from Senegal (Wolof people) but we are open for more.

Pray for the seminar “Awareness and Evangelism of Refugees” that we are doing in different churches. It is meant to educate and make churches aware of the “strangers” among them and to equip them to reach out to them.
Pray also that we could have a donation of 60 Bibles to give to refugees.

We are enjoying the International Student Ministries at Wales. The Friday night Globe Cafe offers a place for international university students to fellowship through games, discussions and refreshments. Two weeks ago one of the students asked us, “Do you believe that God controls everything or that people have a choice in what to believe?” What a great question! Please pray for deeper relationships with the international students.

Please pray for the opportunity to develop a relationship with a new local Imam with D. Pray that the Imam will be welcoming and willing to work with him. Pray also that the other relationships with other Imams will be fruitful with conversations concerning the Gospel.

Praise report: at the end of our last camp chapel, one 13-year-old lad asked Christ to be his Saviour, and another 15-year-old boy rededicated his life to the Lord.
On our last morning 2/3 of our campers accepted Bibles, donated by the Canadian Bible Society, and most of those asked us to send them follow-up discipleship booklets. So we believe there will be fruit from camp for a long time to come. Pray for the campers to share their decisions with their families and friends.

Pray that the Kids’ Camp that was focused on ESL for refugee kids this month met felt needs and will strenghten relationships for the future.
Praise for a good picnic where 200 came including 8 new families from the target neighborhood.

There are two new tutors starting this month with Somali families. These tutors have the unique opportunity to go into homes to teach English. It could be one or more family members being taught. Pray for good relationships and opportunities to plant seeds for the Gospel.

A homework club is being revamped and renamed to start up this Fall in Wisconsin. Please pray for a good turnout among the Somali youth and wisdom for the volunteers. Pray that the volunteers would be Christ-like and relational in all their dealings with the Somali community and that the Lord would open many Somali hearts.

Ask God to help us with wisdom and guidance and divine appointments during our 2 week (from 08/24 to 09/10) research trip. We have added information that African immigrants are living in South of Brazil. Pray also for a safe trip, good health, and stamina.

Pray for enough volunteers to share the load and cover the teaching needs: specifically pray for volunteers who are capable, Christ-like, and relational. Ask the Lord to bring us seeking Muslim students whose hearts the Lord has opened to hear and respond to the Gospel.

Please pray that we would be able to continue/increase our interactions with several Algerian believers we are connected with. We would love to find ways to encourage them in their faith.

The Women’s English classes at 2 churches needed helpers for their crèche (ages 0-3) in Cardiff. These classes are attended by 50-100 ladies from places like N. Sudan, the Horn of Africa, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Albania, Pakistan, Ghana, China, Japan, etc. We agreed to help knowing that crèche is an integral part of these ministries. In December, we were also asked to help in the crèche at a 3rd church location and at a Bible study for immigrant inquirers. Join us in praying that these women will not only learn English but will also come to know Jesus as Lord and Saviour.

Jibrill converted from Islam and is living with us now. We are doing discipleship with him and helping him to start his new life in Christ. He is a Brazilian who was taken by an Imam when he was 6 years old. When he was discovered with the bible, he was persecuted and ended up in a refugee shelter. Our team in São Paulo met him and did not know what to do, so when we saw the situation, we brought him to Londrina. Please pray for wisdom and guidance for this whole situation.

The Minnesota Vikings’ Stadium seats 65,000 people and the state’s imams were hoping to fill those seats with 50,000-plus Muslims chanting “Allahu Akbar!” yesterday, in celebration of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Ahda.
Dr Waleed Idris al-Maneese, who invited all the imams and Muslims, says it’s an effort to unite all the Muslims that live in Minnesota and the United States, and  is going to be an amazing outlet for dawah- an amazing way to spread the word of Allah in the United States.

Pray that God’s will be done and the church awaken to the opportunities around them!

Praise God for the great soccer tournament outcome in Wisconsin. There were 5 teams that signed up with 3 of those being Somali teams. Pray that our Somali friends will respond to the love of Christ and will be open to friendship with us.

We are using a seminar called ‘Awareness and Evangelism of Refugees and Immigrants’ as part of our plan to help the Brazilian church to reach out to African refugees and immigrants in South America. There are so many opportunities, particularly as the immigration policies are changing in North America and Europe, South America is becoming an alternative for a lot of refugees. Today we have in Brazil more than 1 million immigrants from 79 different nations and many of them come from Africa. Pray for the church to have a vision for this opportunity.

We are helping a young Brazilian who was a Muslim. Awhile ago, he started to search for the Christian version of Jesus’ death. He got a bible from his neighbor and as he was going through the Scripture, he had a powerful encounter with Jesus. There are many people like him in our nation as well. A few days ago in Sao Paulo, a refugee from Africa told me: “I was very interested in finding out the truth and I did some research online but I didn’t find anything. It was through a Christian here that I discovered I was seeking a God that I never met in my country.” Pray the Lord will help us find more Africans who are seeking Him.

Pray for GROW, an ESL outreach program the entire Philly team is involved in, as it goes through financial and structural changes. Please pray for increased finances, for student attrition to decrease, and for GROW to have a spiritual impact on those who attend classes. Pray for many seekers to enroll in classes.

Praise God for new volunteers. Pray the SALT (Somali Adult Literacy Training) training will be well attended and helpful to tutors. Pray that the right Somali families will be matched to each tutor and they will develop deeper relationships and be able to share Truth.

Church-based outreach teams in UK are yet to pick up despite some interest. Pray that UK churches will priorize outreach to diaspora peoples around their churches.

A couple from Canada will help with a 4-week research of Unreached People Groups in key UK cities from mid-July to mid-August. Pray for the necessary contacts to be made and some logistical hitches to be overcome.

Important conversations are happening… ESL strawberry-picking field trip; Eritrean Iftar meal; Somali graduation. Fellowship with believers has been rich… at our international prayer gathering, Eritrean Church, and an Ethiopian home. And there are ESL end-of-year celebrations and a field trip to a farm in Trout Lake, and a month of preaching, and more, just around the corner. Pray for God-ordained opportunities, and the right words from our mouths.

Pray for the Outreach to Somali people in Cardiff, UK. Outreach remains at a very initial stage and so we are praying for more openings to share the gospel.

Please pray for volunteers that will commit to helping with summer ESL classes to North Africans (starting June 25). Pray for God directed coversations between volunteers and students and that the hearts of the students will be open to hearing the Truth. “What must we do to be doing the works of God? Jesus answered them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom He has sent.'” (John 6:29)

Dream teams are starting next week- June 21. There are about 50 people going to Spain & Malta to proclaim the gospel, do sports camps, build a playground and a myriad of other things. Pray that we will find people of peace with whom we can share the good news. Ask God to go before us and prepare hearts to respond to the Gospel.

Praise God for great attendance and good conversations about fasting at the last potluck at Pamoja House. It is the first time they had a potluck during Ramadan. Please pray that God will use the seeds that were planted.

Please pray for the Somali community in Wisconsin. They are grieving the loss of one of their imams, who passed away on the first night of Ramadan. Pray that the Lord uses this sad situation to bring people to Himself. Pray He will send believers to grieve with them and shine the light of Christ into the darkness.

Pray for the Muslim community that prays at the Masjid Al-Hayy (“Ever Living Mosque”) in Sanford, Florida. Most of the 1,300 attendees come from East Africa’s Kutchi community. The 43,000 sq. ft. mosque is one of the most elaborate in North America and reflects the growth of the Muslim community in central Florida.

We want to see the Lord of the grain-fields send workers to join our Diaspora Ministry in South America. In last few days we started to get invitations from churches in two Brazilian states that are willing to work with Diaspora in their region. Praise God.

Please pray boldly for the opportunity to start a team in Passo Fundo by July of this year. Nothing is impossible with God.

Pray for wisdom for summer outreaches. Please pray for  provision of water  for a community garden in Detroit diaspora and for many seeds of the gospel to be planted as we garden together.

Pray that the Muslim friends who attended and accepted the invitation to the Easter Service will still be impacted by the Good News of the resurrection of Jesus that they heard. That the Holy Spirit bring those truths to mind.

Pray for the refugees that have resettled in São Paulo. We want to see God touch them as they seek to learn the language, get jobs, and adjust to a new culture. We pray that they will come to know Jesus. And pray for the two workers that are ministering among them there.

Please pray for a 2-day evangelism training forum we are hosting in April in partnership with Operation Mobilization, to train African -Canadian believers how to reach out to Muslim and other Canadians.

Please ask God to open the eyes of the Church in South America and to see the great opportunity they have to reach out to the refugees and migrants from African-UPG’s right on their doorstep.

We want to see God opening more doors for our Unit to minister to refugee groups all over South America. We want to be creative in reaching out to them. Please pray for us.

Somali people have been in Cardiff for over 150 years, having originally entered as Seamen & then settled & formed a community. On the whole, there hasn’t been much engagement with them over the years and so pray for wisdom on how best to engage with them and partner with likeminded organizations seeking to reach them. Pray that the local churches will be envisioned to intentionally engage with them & recognize the mission field right at their doorsteps. Pray for fruitful engagement efforts over the next 12 months.

In the middle of March, 50 believers will sit down with 50 Muslims for a meal in the mosque. The believers desire to build relationships with the Muslims they meet. Pray for God’s peace to conquer fear in the believers and wisdom in their approach to dialogue. Pray for open hearts and a willingness to pursue a relationships with the Muslims.

The enemy’s voice was definitely so clear: stop this Arabic-speaking community group- otherwise you will be hurt! But God’s sweet and soft voice encouraged us to keep trusting HIM and to keep doing it.
Things have gotten harder as we go on.
Our financial situation, being on the edge of depression, lack of sleep, things breaking, conflict, nightmares, threats-especially to our baby!
These have made us more on our knees and spiritually aware that the enemy is fighting and God is working for His glory. Still, sometimes, we have fear and thoughts that we just need to leave.
We know that in Islam I am an infidel and that by Islamic law I should be killed just because I am a convert and that my daughter is unclean.
I am not saying that this will happen and I am not afraid, but I also know that the mosque and its people aren’t happy with us. We definitely need more prayers. We feel discouraged and guilty that I am hurting the very people I love. Please pray for us.