Pray for fruit from the storying sessions and youth ministries in Nagishot. As the team continues to share stories from God’s Word, pray the Didinga would understand that “the law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. The statues of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes” (Psalm 19:7-8).
Working together to make salvation known
Pray about a partnership between AIM missionaries and lowland churches for teaming up to proclaim Christ further and higher up in the Didinga Hills. This could mean a change in location for the base of ministry, with greater emphasis on training and equipping the local church for ministry.
“Therefore let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will listen” (Acts 28:28). Pray that the people of the Didinga Hills will listen with their ears, see with their eyes, and believe in their hearts that Jesus is that salvation sent to them.
Break the power
Pray that Victor’s neighbours will continue to come to hear the stories on Sundays at his place, and that those who hear will not only be hearers, but doers also, telling their friends and neighbours the good news of Jesus Christ. We pray, Jesus, “Break the power of him who holds the power of death – that is, the devil – and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death” (Hebrews 2:14-15).
New storying group
Chris and Fiona recently had contact with an old Didinga man named Victor. He is a believer and has agreed to a storying group starting on his compound. Pray that neighbors and friends of Victor will come to hear the stories the team share from the Bible each week.
Needing Salvation
Pray for Joseph, that Jesus would save his soul and set him free from the bondage of alcohol. Pray that Jesus would heal him from the trauma in his life so that he would become a testimony in his community of the transforming power of the Holy Spirit.
Way Forward
Pray for wisdom for the way forward with the ministry that has started in Mahiria. Pray for Chris and Leno (a Didinga believer) as they look to discipling the five who gave their lives to Jesus. And pray for wisdom about the way forward to reach others in the community of Mahiria (which is several hours from where the team lives in Nagishot).
Pray for Unity
We are encouraged by recent conversations with Joshua, the AIC pastor in Chukudum (a village down the mountain from Nagishot), and Pastor Luka of the E-Free church in Torit. These men are starting to talk about partnership between the AIC church in Chukudum and the E-Free Church in Nagishot. Pray that God will strengthen the partnership between the AIM missionaries and the church in South Sudan in these Didinga Hills, so that together they can reach more of the Didinga with the gospel of Christ.
Messiah
In some of our storying groups we have just shared the story of the Messianic prophecies and the Virgin birth of our Saviour. Pray the Lord will increase the Didinga listeners’ understanding and stir their hearts to hunger for more spiritual food and fruit.
Working together
Please pray for growth in relationships between the Didinga team, the Evangelical Free Church, and the AIC church leaders in Nagishot. Pray that God would open doors for them to work closely together in the Didinga hills to reach more people with the gospel of Christ. Pray the believers will “stand firm in the one Spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel without being frightened in any way by those who oppose [them]” (Philippians 1:27-28). Pray also for more translators to help in the outreach.
Sunday story-telling
Please pray for the Sunday story-telling times in the compounds of several families in Nagishot. The team goes out two by two and shares stories from the Old and New Testaments that are related to the gospel narrative. Pray for those who sit and listen in Charles’, Julietta’s, Margareta’s and Lino’s compounds – pray for good listening, understanding and interaction to deepen their understanding. And pray that more families will want the team to share in their compounds.
Sharing in compounds
Please pray for our Sunday story- telling times in the compounds of several families in Nagishot.
Our team goes out two by two and share stories from the Old and New Testaments that are related to the gospel narrative.
Would you pray for those who sit and listen in Charles’, Julietta’s, Magareta’s and Lino’s compounds. Pray for good listening, understanding and interaction to deepen their understanding. Please also pray for more families to want us to come share in their compounds.
Courage to be obedient
Lodai is a young Didinga man who has been an active member of the church in Torit for years. This year he was in Uganda at a Bible college until all schools closed due to Covid19. He expresses a desire to share the gospel among his people in Nagishot but has not made any active steps towards that. Would you pray that God would put a clear calling upon his life, and that Lodai would have the faith and courage to be obedient to that calling?
Pray for Charles, Margaretta…
Pray that God will open doors and hearts to the message of the gospel in Nagishot and the surrounding hills. Pray specifically for a number who have expressed interest in hearing more from God’s Word: May God draw Charles and his family, Margaretta and her family, Night, Mayo, Leno and Elly, Dominique and Gothil into the kingdom of light where there is love, peace, honour, life and freedom.
Suspicious and fearful
The Didinga people are suspicious by nature, and fears (and misunderstandings) surrounding Covid19 have led to a wariness of our team up on the mountain. Because of this, the team has opted NOT to have any planes land up there to bring them supplies. In a place with no market this is a very short-term solution. Please pray for the emotional impact this decision has on the team, as it makes them feel even more isolated and cut-off from the world. Pray that remaining in Nagishot will give them many opportunities to share hope in Jesus with a people who are “darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts” (Ephesians 4:18).
Gin and avocados
Margaret recently came across an elderly lady called Maria- she seemed to be under the influence of alcohol but was saying the name of Jesus. Margaret was able to share a little with her and was rewarded with three avocados. May Maria come to know the one who will give her the waters of life.
New Year requests!
Please pray for God’s blessing on our outreach and for many to embrace the Gospel this year! Specifically pray:
1. That God would continue to encourage us as a team.
2. For a storying workshop Chris will be running in early Jan. That those with a genuine heart to further the kingdom would come.
3. For Margaret & the ministry she is beginning as a midwife in the local clinic. Also for a ‘FAT’ (Faithful, Reliable & Teachable) Didinga person to help with the literacy program so that adults can learn to read the Bible in their own language.
4. For Elly as she starts a children’s & young peoples ministry.
5. For Fiona as she starts working with the women at a local centre & a sewing ministry with the young mothers in the church.
6. For a solution to Lokulang’s wife Lucy’s on going health issues & that she can return from Chukudum so the family can be together again.
7. For Martha who recently gave her life to Jesus- that she would fully understand the gospel and walk in a manner worthy of the Lord.
8. For the ministry that has begun in Mahiria & Ligilic- that Jesus would build His church there.
Bible Storying and literacy
Pray for the Spirit to give Didinga a hunger for the Word and for God’s Truth as plans are put together for a Bible Storying workshop and literacy classes next month (January).
Open doors and Strongholds
Please pray for the team to know the right time to reach a village named Makiria about 10 miles from Nagishot to encourage the only believer there named Lino and to train him for outreach there. Several attempts to do this have been thwarted.
2. Please pray for the Nagishot fellowship leader, Lokulang, who is travelling between Nagishot & Chukudum every week where his wife Nadodo has been sick for several months & hasn’t seen much improvement. Pray for her healing.
3. Please pray for more team members for Nagishot, a couple or two singles.
4. Pray against the stronghold that alcohol has over the people in these hills.
Lord, make a way
Pray for C& F trying to reach out to the village of Napep, about a 4 hour walk from where they live. They are planning to visit Lino, one of the very few Didinga believers, who lives there, and to share Bible stories with other people in that community. Their first attempt to go had to be cancelled due to heavy rains. Pray the Lord will go before them and make a way for His Word to be made known to the people of Napep. Pray for many open hearts to receive Him.
Spirit come
Pray for the little church in Nagishot with so few adults & so many children to grow in maturity & to learn to love the Word.
Ask the Lord to send His Holy Spirit to hover over the Didinga hills, as He hovered over the earth during creation, to form a desire in people’s hearts for truth & to draw them to Jesus (John 6:44).
But be filled with the Spirit
Pray for a thirst for righteousness rather than a longing for the alcohol they are all about to start brewing as they harvest their maize.
Young disciple
Pray for Lookalong, a young disciple in Nagishot, that his “love would abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that he may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:10-11).
Prepared hearts
As Chris and Fiona prepare to come and lead a team among the Didinga in Nagishot, pray for God to prepare the hearts of the Didinga to be good soil so that “the man who hears the word and understands it…produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown” (Matt. 13:23). Pray for a Christ-centered church with strong Didinga leadership to grow in Nagishot.
Life without fear
There are Bible stories available in the Didinga language. Pray the people would be keen to listen to the stories and would believe them! They are a people steeped in witchcraft traditions which keep them living in fear. Pray for them. Pray God would send them messengers who would bring the wonderful news of salvation through Jesus Christ, and for them to know a life without fear.
God is moving many hearts
Praise God that He is moving in the hearts and lives of the Didinga around Nagishot, and that He is calling missionaries to serve there even as He is preparing people to hear the Gospel.
Grow and share
Pray for Lokulung, the caretaker of the small church in the Didinga mountains. Pray that he would grow in his faith and have an overwhelming desire to share the Gospel with those in the Didinga mountains.
May they come to know the Shepherd
Pray the Didinga would know Him who “tends His flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart; He gently leads those that have young.” (Isaiah 40:11).
Rest and Peace in God
Pray that the believers among the Didinga would find their rest and peace in God and His love for them (Psalm 62).
Right people to come
Pray God will send the right people to go into the Didinga Hills and proclaim the Gospel to those who have not yet heard the good news of Jesus.
Strong and Courageous
Pray that the Didinga believers will be strong and courageous (Joshua 1:9), believing that God is always with them. Pray they will be bold in living out their faith and sharing it with their friends and family.
Peace for Eternity
As God has set eternity into the hearts of men (Ecclesiastes 3:11), pray that the Didinga will seek and turn to the only One who can bring them peace for eternity.
Praises for a great start to the new year
Praise God that the Lord is moving in the Didinga Hills! We had a good Christmas and New Years celebration and people are excited to see what the Lord will do in the new year. Eleven people who attend the Nagishot church want to be baptized. In another area where the Jesus film has been shown a few times, the people asked for someone to come and story the Bible. So we’ve been Bible storying each Wednesday morning to an eager group of listeners! Pray for these who will soon be baptized and this group who are hearing the Word of God. And pray for more workers to come join the harvest here.
Earthly and Heavenly Clothes
Pray that as people seek to buy new clothes for Christmas that they would look inside themselves and seek to know the Savior that can wash their sins away and clothe them in righteousness. Pray for hearts and lives to be changed as the Jesus film is shown out in communities each week.
Crops bring food and troubles
With a good crop of maize people have much to eat. They also have plenty of maize to brew and there is much drunkenness. Please pray that people would see the damage being done and cease brewing and selling their brew. Pray that they would seek fulfillment in their Savior and not the things of the earth.
His love to shine this season
Praise God that the wheat crop is growing well this year. Pray that hearts would be moved towards the Son this Christmas. Pray that the little church in Nagishot would show His love in a meaningful way this Christmas season. Pray for more workers to come to the Didinga Hills to share the Good News!
Hungry Hearts
Pray for the Lord to move in the hearts of many Didinga that they would take time out of their busy days to learn about Jesus. Pray as hearts hunger to know Jesus that a disciple making movement would take root and move swiftly through the hills. Pray for the few believers that they would remain faithful to the Lord. Pray for a strong man to come pastor the small church in Nagishot.
Praise for rain and language
Praise God for a great rainy season in the Didinga hills, people are enjoying an abundant maize crop, they will slowly harvest their maize during the coming months. Pray for open hearts for the gospel as the Jesus film is shown in communities, pray for small bible studies to form as a result. Praise God that the New Testament in the Didinga language has been found and added to the recorders!
Audio Bible recording needed
Pray that the Bible would be recorded in the Didinga language so it can be added to the audio ‘Bible story tellers’ players, that many may hear God’s Word and believe in Jesus.
Bible stories in Didinga
Please pray for many to hear the Word of God as audio players- ‘Bible Story Tellers’ are distributed in Didinga communities with Bible stories in the Didinga language and the Bible in English on them. Faith comes from hearing, pray many would hear and believe.
Blessing on outreach
Pray for the small Church here in Nagishot as it does outreach in the community after church most Sundays. Pray for open hearts to hear the Good News. And pray for desperately needed rain!