We have worked through the first story set (creation to new creation) with Ma Fae. She loves the stories, but still sees Jesus as just a prophet, given power for a time by God but not worthy of worship. She has asked God to show her the true way. Please pray that God would answer her prayer and show her the truth of who Jesus is, even that He would visit her in a dream or vision.

Pray for a large holiday gathering of local brothers and sisters and expats today. Pray that it would help strengthen the island body and encourage everyone who attends to share the story and good news of Jesus’s birth!

We are in the midst of our 9-month disciple-making trainings for local believers. Training day #3 is on December 15th. Pray for the Lord to clear the schedules of the believers so that they can attend. Pray for hearts that are ready and hungry to dive into His Word. Also, pray that they would make this training, as well as, regular fellowship with one another, a priority. We firmly believe that pray is the main ingredient in order for these trainings to have an impact on the local body. Thank you for standing with us and fighting for our island brothers and sisters!

Continue to pray with us for a growing desire among island brothers and sisters to meet regularly to study and grow together, and to make it a priority. One new brother has yet to find another islander willing to make the time to study with him, so he is only interacting regularly with expat workers. The i3 sisters weren’t been able to find a day and location to have their normal monthly gathering for November. Pray they meet in December!

Pray for scattered believers to gather together to form local churches.
I4: there are believers from different African countries here, a bunch from I3, but very very few from I4. Please pray that the Lord would add to their numbers.
I3: there are many believers here too, but relatively few meet regularly. The Church is here, but there are few churches. Ask that the believers would desire and act to meet together regularly.
I2: the leadership courses have started, attendance is inconsistent. Ask the Lord to give great hearts to the locals to come, and stop things from getting in the way of attending.
I1: pray for unity of the believers.

One of our team members is reading Scripture with some of the grandmothers in her neighborhood. One is a well-known local Islamic children’s teacher. Pray for open and receptive hearts. Pray too for regular opportunities for them to get together and read.

Pray for a local believing couple who have been struggling for a long time with issues in their marriage. Ask that God would remind them how much He has loved and forgiven them, and teach them how to love in the 1 Corinthians 13 way; that their love would bear all things, believe all things, hope all things and endure all things.

We hope to hold the 2nd meeting of the discple-making training this week. Please pray for the logistics to come together. Pray too for protection over both the presenters as well as the participants. May they be filled with joy as they look forward to this meeting and may the Lord stir in their hearts a deeper desire for prayer, which will be the focus of the 2nd meeting.

Pray for a newer brother in a village that just this past weekend has started facing a lot of pressure and threats. He is asking for prayer. Pray that he would be strengthened and encouraged in the Spirit and be a light to his persecutors.

We have begun having a Sunday meeting in the local language with some of the local believers. Our hope is to inspire the local believers to meet regularly for fellowship, singing, prayer, and study. But the believers struggle to come consistently. Pray for the Lord to encourage, inspire, and create excitement over regularly meeting together. Pray too for us to be willing to make changes to better adapt to our island setting.

Pray for ‘Uhaju’, a new brother who is desperate for fellowship with other islanders. Attempts to connect him with other island brothers have not led to him being able to study regularly with anyone yet, which is what he really wants and needs.

Things with the gangs are getting way worse. Someone was killed near our neighbourhood recently. We are waiting to hear what the prefecture will do about it. Things are escalating a lot quicker than people thought. Please pray for peace and for the government to be wise in knowing how to handle the situation and prevent any further increase in violence. Pray this crisis would lead people to call out to the Prince of Peace!

Pray for the many islanders who are currently applying for different university programs in Madagascar: for success and for opportunities to meet children of the light who will be testimonies to them. Pray particularly for JJ and Z who are focussed on reaching the Islander diaspora living in Madagascar.

Please pray for two local brothers Z and C who have had the police come looking for them at the house several times this week. Word got to the authorities that they (and others) are following Jesus, but each time they have come to the house a friend in the police has warned them. Pray that the Holy Spirit would enable these men to live free of fear and stay strong in their faith.

Pray for all those who are reading or have read God’s word in the past. In the last month many people downloaded a text and audio app of the book of Exodus, and just today a worker on another team told me about a student who (in the midst of the teacher’s explanation about baptism to an English class), quoted John the Baptist’s words about how the one who would come after him would baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire! He must be reading from the app.  Pray that as seekers and believers read God’s word they would meet the Living Word and be transformed!

Pray for the monthly women’s gathering set to happen this week. Pray for open hearts to learn and increasing growth in understanding of the Word.

We are hoping to start up a church leadership training program. Please pray for discernment for us as we move forward with this new adventure. Pray for our hearts to be in tune with the Holy Spirit and may He raise up godly, committed leaders who will inspire their fellow brothers and sisters to grow deeper in their faith. Pray that the Spirit would provide lots of opportunities for those involved with the training to be bold and put into practice what they are learning.

Pray for a local believer who is struggling with her two teenage daughters. Pray that God would give her patience, wisdom and ability to forgive. Pray that the Spirit would draw these girls back to him and protect them from those who might do them harm.

Pra!se God for the news shared by a local brother about how he keeps hearing about islanders who are coming to faith overseas – but are too afraid to share their faith with others. The other day he was in a taxi with someone who was back from their studies in a nearby country where they study at a Catholic college – he was quick to assure others in the taxi that he was still a Muslim. However, he ended up getting out of the car at the same time as D and told him that he was actually a believer! Pray for courage for these new believers to meet with others and share the good things God has done for them with their family and friends.

Pray for the family of new believers (Ma ‘Aisha’ and daughters) as they learn what it means to follow Jesus. We recently studied the story of Mary and Martha and they were taken with the idea of what it means to spend time ‘at the feet of Jesus’. Pray that they would experience a growing relationship with Jesus as they spend time in the word and prayer.

Pray for those who have believed this year and have been baptized. Ask that they would have a hunger for the Word and for spiritual growth, that they would mature and that their transformation would be a testimony to their community.

We have printed the book of Jonah in the local language in Arabic script. This makes Scripture accessible to those who have never learned to read an alphabet other than the Arabic alphabet. When I gave the book of Jonah to Mama Levi, she absolutely loved it and we read the whole book in one sitting. Then I was completely surprised when she asked if I had any books about Jesus. Pray for Mama Levi’s heart to be open as she reads and re-reads the book of Jonah. May the Holy Spirit reveal truth to her through this story. Pray for the opportunity to give Mama Levi the book of Mark and pray for her to have eyes to see and ears to hear. Pray for the many islanders who have read Arabic words this Ramadan, and not understood what they read, to hunger for truth. Pray for our team as we continue to distribute Jonah and for the translation team as they continue to get more books ready to be printed.

“O mwezi uoneha!” The cry goes up as people pass the word onto their family and neighbors: “The moon has been sighted!” Ramadan has begun. For Islanders not a drop of water or a crumb of food will pass their lips from sunrise to sunset for 30 days. They will even endeavor to spit out rather than swallow their own saliva. It’s a long and strenuous month as Muslims all over the world seek to please God and earn points with their efforts. Please pray for the 700,000 people who hail from these Islands. Pray that their tomorrow will be different from today through coming to faith in Christ our Lord. Lift up the small but growing number of Island believers across the nation, that they would be protected by the Lord of Hosts as they boldly and courageously proclaim Christ as their Lord and Savior and share how he has transformed their lives.

Pray for a family who was visited by a team member and a local believer and shared Truth with the family. The little 8 year old girl excitedly stated that she would share this story with her dad when he got home. Please keep praying for more and more opportunities to share with this family and for all of them to share in this little girl’s enthusiasm about sharing the Truth about Jesus.

Pray for a great movement among the Body here on Vanilla Island. Pray that the Lord will continue to strengthen the believers through His Word and presence. Many are being encouraged as they get access to more and more scripture in their language. Pray the Lord will use this to grow His small gathering here on the island.

Pray for a great harvest in Madagascar: for all those who are reaching out to islanders to see a great transformation in the hearts of the islanders they love. Pray for many islanders to come to know the Lord.

Pray for upcoming talks about how to move forward with leadership training and development with local islander believers, leaders and co-workers. Pray for wisdom in and guidance to know when to do these meetings, when to start and who to invite to be a part of this training process.

Praise God for the progress of the translation work- they’ve printed the first book in the local language of “Vanilla Island”. Prayer is needed for wisdom in how to distribute it without jeopardizing the work there.

On “Clove Island,” there is a sister whose family had asked her to renounce her faith or face serious consequences. On the day a family member and an religious leader would be coming to see her, their plans were thwarted and they never came. Give thanks that so far there has been no new conflict/meetings; the sister’s faith remains strong and she has talked about having peace.

Praise God for a new believer, who heard to gospel from other local believers! Pray for his protection, growth, and witness.

Pray for a family as they begin studying Bible stories about living in the Kingdom of Light. Ask the Lord to speak to them and grant them faith to believe.

Pray for our relationships with our English students as we have some fun classes going on right now. Pray for friendships to grow and for more than just English to be shared with our new friends.

Pray for the work among the islanders living in Madagascar. Pray for open doors into islanders’ lives and homes and for hearts to be transformed by the word of God.

One of the sisters wants to see the local believers grow in fasting and prayer. She wants everyone to gather for monthly corporate fasting. Ask God to guide them. Pray for unity amongst the body here and they would continue to make meeting together and encouraging one another a priority.

Pray for the healing of a long standing rift between 2 groups of believers here. Praise Father for a small group of sisters (2 families from different groups) who have recently started meeting to read and encourage one another. They live in the same village but neither knew of the others. May they grow in love and trust for one another and pave the way for reconciliation.

Economic woes have led “Mark,” a leader of the body, to leave the island and try to take a clandestine boat to I4. Pray for the Lord to lead, protect, and help Mark to trust Him. Pray for all Island believers who are driven to extreme measures by their poverty. “Donna”, a local believer is threatened by her family who is trying to force her to recant. Ask the Lord to strengthen Donna and all who are persecuted.

The kingdom is growing on the islands, the word is being translated and taught, and the gospel is being shared. Our teams are strong and determined. And yet, we long for breakthroughs, and for strong, stable churches to be planted and multiply.
Believers are plagued by false teaching and division. Ask the Lord to destroy false teaching and drive false teachers away. Ask for true repentance and truth!

Recently, we gave A something to read. It is a personal account and comparison of Jesus and Mohamed in our two books. Ask that he will be challenged by what he reads and that the Holy Spirit would open his heart to the Truth.

The riots and protests on the island have significantly increased this past month. So much so that a few neighborhoods have closed all businesses and schools. The mayor has said that there’s not much the police can do to stop the gangs. Please pray for peace, security and for change of hearts.

Pray for our friends, a believing couple whom we’ve prayed with and for many times. The wife’s mother passed away recently. The mother had once claimed Jesus as Lord in her life but then fell back into old ways afterwards. Before she passed, her daughter prayed with her many times. Pray for hearts in this difficult situation. Soon after this, the husband’s nephew that he cared for passed away as well which was a very hard blow. Pray for emotional healing in this sad time and for Jesus to be so close to this couple and their families right now.