Neighbour Update:
Praise God that a neighbour lady and her husband are both eagerly listening to the
Alagwaisa Bible stories together. They have also asked for and are reading
gospels in Swahili and Rangi. They are also praying with us and are eager
to understand the Gospel. Please pray for them, that God will continue to
open their hearts and eyes as they work through what it means to follow
Jesus. Pray that they would continue to have the desire to know more of
God, and to experience relationship with Him. Please pray that this couple
would follow Jesus, and lead their whole family to do the same. (Praise God
that two of their sons and one of the son’s wives have been secretly seeking
Jesus for some time).

Men’s Retreat Update: many reasons to be thankful!
Praise God for the 12 men who went with the men from our team to study the
Bible and learn together. Praise God for the witness of the church that
hosted the retreat, that was commented on by many of the men that went.
Praise God for the many questions that the men felt free to ask, and for the
truth that they were able to hear. Praise God that many have arranged to
keep on meeting weekly. Please do continue to pray that God will by His
Spirit will continue to draw those among the men who have not yet decided
to follow Him. Please pray for strength and confidence for all of them as
they face questions from their families and communities. Pray that the many
seeds planted in hearts will bear much fruit.

Please pray for a Men’s Retreat, being organized for a few days in mid-April. It is for Alagwa men, and men from other people groups in the local community, who are following Jesus (either secretly or openly) or seeking Jesus. We are praying that these young men will be massively encouraged and find strength and boldness by being together. We are praying for God to meet these men in a powerful way over this time away together. Please also pray that God will help overcome any barriers to them actually attending, so that all of them go.

Please pray for one lady, who is a local witchdoctor. A few of her close family are secretly seeking Jesus, and she recently heard the gospel from some team members. She was very excited and wants both a Kiswahili Bible to read, and to hear the Bible stories in Alagwaisa. Please pray for her especially over the coming weeks as she reads and hears more about Jesus. As a team, we have been praying for her whole family for some time- please join us in praying that the Holy Spirit will continue to transform lives in that family, so that they can all follow Jesus together.

The biggest barrier to the gospel for the Alagwa is fear of family and community rejection. Please pray against the fear that binds up many Alagwa, particularly the deep fear of being rejected by family and community if they follow Jesus. May God’s Spirit bring freedom to the Alagwa!

Please pray for three ladies in one village who, having listened to the Alagwaisa Bible stories, want to follow Jesus. Two are concerned about their husband’s reactions, as culturally a wife should follow
her husband’s religion. They are starting to pray for their husbands. Please pray for these ladies that they will continue to pray and give their lives to Jesus wholeheartedly and continue to grow in their
understanding and in faith. Please pray for the husbands, that God, by his Spirit, will open of the hearts these three men to know His love and forgiveness.

(Posted 15-5-15: Pray for a woman in our village who is recovering from a brutal beating. Pray for her continued recovery, especially that she would start to eat with her mouth, and for improvement in her speaking. She is currently being fed by an NG tube. Pray that she and her wider family would believe the good news of Jesus. Many of her family are open to hear about Jesus. As a team we are praying with her regularly. People from the local church are going to pray with her tomorrow. Pray with us for her healing, that God will be glorified. Also pray with us against spiritual attack on her life and on that of her family.)
Here’s an update on the prayer request:
At the beginning of March, we had the chance to visit this lady, now living in town. She laughed as she greeted us, talked and ate with us. She is almost back to normal, bar some remaining pain in some areas. Physically, she has made a miraculous recovery. Please do continue to pray for her. She refuses to forgive the people who so badly assaulted her, which humanly is very understandable. Without Jesus in her life, such forgiveness is impossible. Please pray that she would submit her whole life to Jesus and so find true freedom, including the freedom to forgive.

Please pray for the team as we try to arrange for a good recording
of the Alagwa Chronological Bible Story set so that we can further
distribute the stories via memory card. Please pray for all the
practical arrangements to come together in the coming weeks.

From Feb 4 prayer request: Prayer Update: Praise God that the following Friday, a few ladies came, along with a different religious leader, who proceeded to encourage the women present to study the Bible. He also requested a time to come and study with the team members and also the team leaders. Please do continue to pray for these women to be consistent in coming, that they will not be distracted or prevented by busy farm work, sickness and daily chores.

Praise God for the story groups, using the Alagwaisa Chronological Bible Stories which are running in different communities. PLEASE URGENTLY PRAY for one ladies’ group, which has been running for two months. Two ladies on our team write:
“we have been meeting with our neighborhood ladies for about 2 months now, learning Bible stories together, laughing, singing, dancing, etc… We have been amazed to see God bringing them back to our home week after week. We know that it is only because of God’s grace and power that they have been coming and are excited to hear God’s Word. However, this past week no one showed up (except for one lady later on in the evening). We learned that the nearby mosque leader had called a meeting for the ladies the previous Friday and warned them against coming to our home…he told them that we are trying to entice, even force them to follow Christianity. We are reminded that we are in a spiritual battle and we must stand firm together.”
Please pray that God will be glorified in this situation. Please pray that the ladies will return to the group tomorrow and continue to learn about God’s great love for them.

Ramadan Day 17
Pray that the local Christians would be empowered by God’s Spirit to share their faith and hope boldly with their families and neighbours. Pray they would walk in the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Spirit.

Ramadan Day 1
Pray that the many Alagwa who have heard about God’s gift of salvation would accept it rather than rely on their own good works. Pray fasting today would feel spiritually dead and empty. Pray they would believe in Him whom God has sent.

Ramadan Day 0
Ramadan starts tomorrow. Millions of Mu$lims around the world will begin a month-long fast during daylight hours. Ramadan is one of the five pillars of I$lam and Mu$lims believe the month of fasting is a required work to please God. Pray this month many Mu$lims would have courage to ponder, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” And that they would hear Jesus’ answer, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.” (John 6:28-29)

Ramadan will start soon. Pray Africa will be posting daily prayer requests for our Muslim unreached people groups. Please encourage your friends to subscribe to Pray Africa at prayafrica.org to join us in praying. In other parts of the world, more Muslims are coming to Christ than ever before. We need to pray that God would move powerfully among our people groups as well. With God, nothing is impossible.

Please pray for man who we have been sharing Jesus with. He has just revealed that there was another issue holding him back from following Jesus. In conversations with some of our team, it came out that he was also “given” a kwaslarimo (witchdoctor) spirit from his ancestors. He said that this spirit that he has will not allow him to follow Jesus, and that he has to choose one or the other: Jesus or the witchdoctor spirit. It is frightening for him, as he believes this spirit will kill him if he follows Jesus. Please continue to pray for this dear man- we long for him to be free and to lead his clan to freedom in Christ.

Pray for a woman in our village who is recovering from a brutal beating. Pray for her continued recovery, especially that she would start to eat with her mouth, and for improvement in her speaking. She is currently being fed by an NG tube. Pray that she and her wider family would believe the good news of Jesus. Many of her family are open to hear about Jesus. As a team we are praying with her regularly. People from the local church are going to pray with her tomorrow. Pray with us for her healing, that God will be glorified. Also pray with us against spiritual attack on her life and on that of her family.

Thank God for the small church amongst the Alagwa who hosted both Good Friday and Easter Sunday services. 70 people were counted on Friday afternoon- many had never been at a church gathering before- everyone heard the good news of Jesus. On Sunday, the church and many visitors met under a tree so there would be enough room for all! Thank God for the new openness to come to church publically and hear about Jesus. Please pray for all those who heard the good news about Jesus for the first time. Please pray for those who have now heard and understood about God’s gift of eternal life through Jesus. Pray that God will move in their hearts so that they have the courage to make the decision to follow him.

Praise God actually 4 people were baptised on 27th March! Pray especially for one of the ladies- she is working through what it means to follow Jesus in a community when many still pressurise her to follow Islam. Pray for her husband to follow Jesus too.

So many Alagwa are held down by fear and spiritual oppression and social pressures- only Jesus can set them free. So please join us in praying for FREEDOM for the captives.

Please pray for the two Alagwa believers who are getting baptised in our local river this Sunday. One is the woman mentioned in the last update: she IS standing strong! You can see on her face the freedom she now enjoys in Jesus.

Please also pray that many friends and neighbours will gather with the church on Good Friday afternoon to hear the good news of Jesus. Pray that God will call many to himself.

“…but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” 1 Corinthians 1, v 23-4

Thank God for many people who are hearing God’s word in their own language, Alagwaisa, through the Bible stories. Praise God for the impact this is having on individuals and spreading out to family and friends. Pray that many hearts will be opened as they hear God’s word,

Thank God for the woman who has been released from demonic possession. She is clear that she wants to follow Jesus, despite pressure from others. Pray for her that she will have the strength to stand strong.

Pray for the Alagwa believer who is seeking to follow Jesus in difficult times, with all sorts of cultural pressures and questions. Up till now Islam has always mixed seamlessly with traditional ideas about healing and the spirit world. Pray that he will have God’s wisdom, and that he will be guided by a deep sense of the Father’s love, and drawn to obey Him.

Please pray Romans 1:16-17:
“I am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes…For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last…”
Pray:
That many Alagwa would open their hearts to the gospel and receive God’s grace by faith.
That the Alagwa who are following Jesus, or who are moving towards Jesus, will be courageous and unashamed of the gospel in their communities.

Ramadan Day 22: God sent His Servant Jesus “as a light to the Gentiles, to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the prison.” (Isa 42:6-7). Ask Jesus to open the eyes of Muslims blinded by the Evil One, and to set free those held captive by evil spirits.

Ramadan Day 11: The fifth pillar of Islam is the Hajj or pilgrimage to Mecca. Pray that Muslims would hear Jesus say what He said to the woman at the well, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know, we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship Him.” (John 4: 21-23)

Please pray for a new believer, who has been delivered from demonic possession. Pray for her as she mourns the death of her mother, but praise God she was bold enough to proclaim the name of Jesus at her mother’s funeral. This is a big deal culturally as funerals are steeped in folk Islamic traditions and rituals.

Ramadan starts tomorrow. Muslims around the world will be observing a month-long fast from dawn to sunset. This is a very important religious observance for them. They will try hard to please God through fasting and piety. Ask God to reveal to them that “without faith it is impossible to please God” (Heb 11:6)