Taposa attacks and cattle raids have been ongoing resulting in loss of livelihoods and lives here these past couple months. We are praying that the Taposa and the Laarim will surrender themselves to the Lord and take care of their own cattle and families without inflicting pain and suffering on each other.

The church has been growing in number and in depth of understanding God’s Word. With only a few people who are able to read, most of the Bible studies and Sunday morning prayers are led by our team. We are praying for the Lord to raise up leaders who are surrendered to Christ and willing and competent to lead others to know and follow God too.

Two new Believers want to get baptized! I’ve met with them a few times to ask about their faith in Jesus, explain what baptism means, and help them to prepare for this coming Sunday when they’ll get baptized. Please pray for these two ladies, Kiote and Kadong, that they will serve the Lord with their lives and that their faith will be a vibrant testimony to their families, friends and neighbors.

Local believer Logwe and his family have moved from their dilapidated home onto the team compound and have joined our team! Having our team days in the Laarim language will be a challenge, but it will be worth the effort! They both are a blessing and encouragement to work alongside. We are excited to see the Church grow in the Lord as Logwe steps into leading the Sunday gatherings and Nacici learns to share the Word and disciple others.

Please pray for the young Laarim Church as they face many hardships and cultural challenges. There is a lot of cultural pressure on the Believers to participate in cattle raids, alcohol production and consumption, and rituals associated with witchcraft (which are so intertwined into the Laarim’s culture and values). Please pray the believers would have wisdom to know how to live out the Kingdom of Light here despite the push and pull of cultural influences.

Praise God for the new church building that has recently gone up in Kimatong!  The believers have come together with some help from the missionary team to erect a simple structure for their worship services.  Pray that the church would grow in depth of love and knowledge, unity and commitment to peace.

We are asking for prayer for the young church here amongst the Laarim. Please pray for the believers to stand upon a firm foundation, that leaders would emerge, and that believers would grow in their giftings. Pray that the church would be unified and that it would grow amidst trials. May the believers depend on the Lord in all things!
We have seen several believers step up and take initiative in leading church gatherings. And even amidst the many challenges to life here, they are committed to learning and growing more and more. We are even working together with them to get a church building put up in the months ahead.

Pray that the believers will be a bright and shining light in the midst of such darkness! The team has experienced much in the way of spiritual warfare – we know the enemy wants to extinguish the light, but we also know the Word says, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it” (John 1:5). Pray many will come to the Light.

Local believers want to build a structure to meet under, but it has been difficult to secure the land. Pray the community will be willing to give the land to the believers, and that it will not be a cause of conflict for this young church.

One of the young men from our church lost his brother in a cattle raid. The tradition here is that the community usually looks for a “wizard” to hang for the suspected cursing of the one who died in sickness or in raids. The prayer request is that a hanging will not follow this funeral or any other funeral. Pray this evil practice will stop and the light of the Gospel will shine brightly in the church and will show another way to live.

Pray for the Laarim believers: Logwe and his wife Nacici, Lokai, Lokolong and his younger brother Lolimo, Paulo, Susanna, Nyao and his cousin Lokwam, Maria, and others who have come to faith over the last few years through the presence of the missionaries. Pray for their perseverance amidst opposition for following Jesus and refusing to take part in sinful practices. Pray that they resist the evil one and find daily victory in Christ.

Pray for peace over the coming season – Christmas and the dry season in the months after always brings more insecurity as people have more time on their hands and alcohol is more available.
Pray also for unity amongst the believers. Our prayer is that the believers here would learn what it means to be the Body of Christ, loving and serving one another.

Literacy – with the Bible translation more readily available, we are seeing more of a desire in people to learn how to read. Pray this would actually take root! And as people read the Word, they would believe it.

There is a Laarim believer in Torit who wants to be out here in the village as a missionary, but his church in Torit has not been able to get enough finances together to support him. (We desire to see the local church do the sending). Pray the Lord will provide for the church to send him.

Last year there was not enough rain for crops to grow. This year the rain was enough, but the birds were devastating. People are again at a loss of what to do about the lack of a harvest.
There has been progress in the last month in getting the local believers to have a plot of their own, off of the missionary compound, but there has been some resistance from the community. Pray for wisdom and courage for the believers as they move forward.

We are so thankful to have received the Laarim Bible several months ago, containing the entire New Testament and several Old Testament books. It has pointed to the great need for people, especially believers, to learn how to read. There is a very low literacy rate. Pray for those learning to read to persevere and for others to begin learning.

Noblesse is encouraged to see Khalifah eagerly wanting to read and share a biblical passage in their different weekly gatherings. We thank God that the dream Khalifah had for several years of learning to read so that he can read the Word of God for himself and for his people has truly come to pass! Now pray that the newly printed Laarim bibles that recently arrived in Juba will soon be delivered to those eager to know God’s message of love and salvation. Pray for Natiote, Loriang, and Yepote who are faithfully applying themselves to learning to read so that they can read the bible and share it with others.

Peter Lotao is settling well into life and ministry on the Laarim team. Pray for him as he plans to start a Discovery Bible Study (DBS) in Ngarahac, the village where he is from. Please pray that this DBS will bear much fruit for God’s Kingdom. “And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the one who hears the Word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty” (Matthew 13:23).

Please pray for Loriang, a young Laarim believer who is very clever at memorizing Bible stories, as well as making crafts and repairing broken objects. Recently Noblesse and Kalifa, one of the mature Laarim believers, were inspired by the value of literacy for him and have begun literacy training. Natiyote is a young Laarim woman who is a believer, zealous to proclaim the gospel. She is able to read very slowly and is eager to improve her skills. Pray for these bright young believers to enhance their leadership with the powerful skill of literacy!

Every Saturday a group of boys is eager to come for chai, games, and Bible stories. Last week I asked the question, ‘Who is ready to go to heaven if we die today?’ One boy said, ‘I will go to heaven…because of the grace of God.’ Yes! However, another boy answered, ‘I will go to hell because I am a sinner.’ I turned now to our memory verse from Romans 5:7: ‘But God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.’ With this focus on the gospel and our wonderful Savior, the second boy was able to joyfully declare, ‘I will go to heaven!’” Pray that these young boys will fully surrender their lives to Jesus and place their faith in Him alone.

Loriang and Natiyote, young believers, are sharing their faith with others! Loriang says, “Since I started sharing with Balin about Jesus, Balin has changed. I continue to encourage him to follow Jesus.” Natiyote says, “I told Nakiyo about the death of Jesus and His resurrection from the dead, and that we should live according to His word, and Nakiyo accepted.” Praise God! Pray these seeds will grow and produce Kingdom fruit, and that all the Laarim believers would be inspired to share their faith with others.

Pray for the Laarim believers to walk in a manner worthy of Lord, growing in faith, and sharing Truth with others.

Please pray for the Laarim believers to grow in their love for God and one another. Pray that they receive strength to stand against the pressure to partake in sinful peer group practices or temptations. Pray for courage in their hearts to trust the Lord in all hardships. And that when they fail, may they by the Spirit recognize and confess their sin and keep walking with Christ.

I praise the Lord for the Laarim believers. I also give thanks that conflict between neighboring people groups have lessened and people are moving around more freely without the constant concern of being attacked.
I was recently encouraged by Lokai, a young Laarim believer who is in his second year of secondary school. He spent Christmas with us before he returned to school. He eagerly joined me for every ministry activity and has expressed a desire to go into full-time ministry after his schooling. Please pray for Lokai and his future.

Dry season in Kimatong means village life has quieted down. Many have migrated with their cattle to a more viable source of water and grazeable land. Other Laarim have gone to the trading center of Loryok, a four-hour walk from the village. Due to the poor harvest, food is not always easy to find. Life is hard for these people! Please pray for the needs of the Laarim to be met. And pray that such need would awaken many to turn to God and recognize their deeper needs, so that they come to know what they were truly created for.

Jacob was recently encouraged by a youth, Lokwan, who came to faith through the witness of Nyao, one of the young men he regularly spends time with in the Word and prayer. Praise God for Laarim who are coming to faith through the witness of other Laarim believers! Please pray for Lokwam to grow in his faith and to stand firm against the pulls of the world. And pray for Nyao to continue to grow in love and boldness for Jesus.

Love and Tessa were excited to host the first ever women’s fellowship on their compound last month! Four Laarim believers met with Love and Tessa for a time of singing, prayer, Bible discussion and fellowship! The hope is to meet like this with the Christian women from different villages once a month to help encourage and strengthen one another. Pray that through these times of fellowship, these women will “contemplate the Lord’s glory,” and be “transformed into His image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:18).

We praise God for the recent step of faith a couple of young ladies in Chawa have taken, due to the discipleship of Natiote, a young Laarim believer! Thank the Lord for Laarim believers who are living out their faith, sharing the good news of the gospel, and drawing others from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. Pray that God would grow and strengthen His church among the Laarim!

David and Tessa have had some encouraging times the past several months with Logwe, Kalifah, Susanna, and several other believers in the community. One particular highlight was when they shared a meal together with Logwe and his wife Nacici (a recent believer), and Kalifah and his wife Naji (for whom we are still praying to give her life to Christ). They were so encouraged to meet together as married couples, reading from God’s Word and fellowshipping together. Pray for these couples to live as lights in their communities.

Marino, one of the early Laarim converts, hosts a church service in his compound. Recently I visited and about 40 people, predominantly children, but also a group of youth, and a few adults came. All sang heartily and were attentive to my teaching. Marino’s son, Daniel, a primary 4 student, read “feeding the 5000” story from the Laarim New Testament. This reminded me of my recent reading from Acts: “When he arrived and saw the evidence of the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts” Acts 11:23. Please pray for the growing number of Laarim who have believed and turned to the Lord!

Pray for Love’s friend, Kiote. Her husband is physically abusive and is kicking her and their children out of their home. Pray that Love would be able to share the Gospel with both Kiote and her husband, and that the whole family would receive Christ. Pray that the peace of Christ would rule their home.

Pray for a young believer named Lokai. He is away at boarding school but came to visit for a few days and shared his faith boldly with his village and encouraged other believers to not be ashamed of the gospel.
Pray he will continue to grow in faith and walk with Jesus at boarding school.

SIL (Wycliffe) Global Publishing, in their final checks before sending the Laarim Scriptures to Korea for printing, found “bugs” in the final pdf produced by the typesetting program. The typesetting needs to be redone! Pray for patience and perseverance, and even excitement, as they come closer to finalizing these Scriptures. Pray for the Lord to prepare fertile soil in the hearts of the Laarim so that when the Scriptures come “they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and [God] would heal them” (Matthew 13:15).

After months of showing up each week in Tiringot to share Bible stories and pray with people, Love feels it is time to move her efforts elsewhere. The people in this village seem very hardened to the gospel, uninterested in anything Love has to offer since there isn’t any “physical benefit” to them. Pray that the Lord would “remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh” (Ezekial 11:19). Pray for Noblesse, who lives in the village closest to Tiringot, to have wisdom about how to reach this community and continue to water the seeds that have been planted.

Angelo (a Laarim believer who had been a part of the Laarim ministry for several years) is diligently studying in Kenya, planning to return to Kimatong once his nursing training is complete. Pray that he will do well in his studies, and so be able to use his training to serve his community’s physical needs. His real heart is for evangelism, so pray that he would also grow in the bold sharing of his faith, even among his teachers and fellow students, in preparation for declaring to the Laarim “that the Lord… is God; He is the faithful God, keeping His covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep His commandments. But those who hate Him He will repay to their face by destruction” (Deuteronomy 7:9-10).