“My compound doesn’t have a treasure.” “I want to hear the word of God”. These are frequent requests since we’ve begun distributing our new batch of Treasures. Praise God for the 150 solar players speaking truth, and pray for their continued functioning and testimony to many Laarim, along with prayer for the wise distribution to compounds, as long as the supply lasts.
Pray especially for the women, who are now recipients of these treasures, to share and to understand more of the gospel and its implications! Last week I asked the young ladies in the Tuesday evening group, “Who will you tell this story to?” One said that her brother’s wife has asked that she tell the story to her because her husband will not allow her to come to the gathering anymore, and another said that a lady from another compound had asked her to come and share the story after she got it this week. So there is real interest!

Praise for Longele and Lokolong and other believers who are gaining confidence in retelling the Bible stories! Pray that they will not only share the gospel message by stories, but by their testimonies and the witness of their lives, which everyone is watching!

Praise for Maria’s baptism and leadership in the community. Pray as we disciple her to disciple the other young women who also are ready for baptism! Pray for a real breakthrough among the female Laarim population—these youth and also the adult women and the “abuba” (grandmas)!

We praise the Lord for the beginnings of an indigenous church among the Laarim! Last month was the first ever Laarim- led worship service in the village of Yei. It was a service complete with Laarim gospel songs accompanied by a drum, and the telling of a Bible story by a Laarim youth. This is one of numerous little churches sprouting up in different villages throughout Kimatong. Pray for these churches to grow and spread throughout this people group.

Praise God with us for seekers inquiring about unclear translations. It opens doors for great conversations. In the passage on prayer, the word for “knock” was used. Although a proper word, real entrance doors in Laarim are few and far between. So when a listener heard the phrase “knock and it shall be opened”, he immediately thought of the more frequent use of “knock” as “beating (people)”. He recognized this idea did not fit with the other parts of the story!

The elders of one community stated that they now know the stories of the Bible. A missionary wanting to help them understand it is not enough to just know the stories, gently asked why the big tree under which we were meeting was not cut down and used for firewood. The community group said it was a good tree and provided for them shade and fruit. Other trees which are not helpful or bearing fruit are cut for firewood, he was told. It was a natural lead in to share that God sees us as trees. He wants trees that are bearing fruit—the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, etc. Other trees will be cut down and thrown in the fire!

Marino, the now retired police chief, has been the welcoming host for a weekly Discipleship Bible Study in his compound; the group is predominately young males between the ages of 6 and 12 years. Recently he asked if he could come for regular Bible study with one of our team members, which he has faithfully been doing. Now he is inquiring about baptism, so a special teaching time has been arranged for him and some of the youth from this compound group. Pray for the Holy Spirit to baptize them also with His presence and power, so that the Spirit can teach them all that they need to know in applying the gospel to their lives in this culture, and remind them of what they have heard. Marino was the outspoken leader who said to the AIM surveying team ten years ago, “Come and teach us the Word of God. That is exactly what our young people need!”

Two female youth recently were baptized and are learning the ways of God. Culture here dictates which clans can marry. In their new awareness, they have started to pray for Christian male youth of eligible clans to choose to follow Jesus also, as many of those making decisions thus far have been from their same clan group. Pray with them. Ask for the strength of these believing youth to stand up against the common immoral sexual practices of this people group, and prepare for a Christian marriage.

Angelo walks weekly to his family village of Karamorok for a Discovery Bible Study. He comes back with encouraging reports of how eager the people are to receive him and the Word of God. Yesterday, he returned with 8 boys who have declared they want to follow Jesus. I quizzed them for their testimony. Once their shyness lightened a bit they gave some encouraging answers. One said, “Before I knew Jesus, I had a mean heart. I did not care about others’ misfortunes. Now my heart is soft toward them.” We did the discipleship lesson on baptism and all 8 of them said they are ready!

Recently Naremo, a young widow who had bilateral cataracts, has had her sight restored physically through surgery. She is listening to the Word of God on a digital solar device, and she is attending a local Bible study in a village compound. Pray that she will believe the truth of the Word and see the big picture of God’s plan for her and her family—transformation through faith in Jesus Christ.

Pray for those contacted through the medical ministry. Pray that their physical needs will be the gate to their spiritual needs. Little five year old Lokine and his family and his ward mates are listening to the Treasure recordings of Bible stories and songs much of the time, along with observing the lives of believers.

Pray for the new believers who are youth. Three young men were baptized this past week, and ten more youth will be studying the discipleship lesson on baptism this week. One who was recently baptized with his family members is an unschooled youth with definite spiritual insight. Pray for the believers’ boldness and courage to share their testimony and all that they are learning with others.

Nakai and Napir, two Laarim girls, were baptized this morning. Praise God for building His church among the Laarim! Pray for these two girls to grow strong in the Lord and share with others the good things God has done.

On team day, we dedicated 80 Treasures, loaded and ready to give away. This is a huge milestone that required many hours of Bible story crafting, translation and recording, editing, and choosing/adding memory verses for each one. In addition, almost 200 chapters of scripture were recorded by various Laarim readers. Also 21 original Laarim songs were carefully recorded and included. Despite its small size the Treasure has a speaker that is easy for a group of 20 people to hear well. We are pleased. Now we are planning and praying for the right people to give them to. We consider these to be 80 little digital missionaries to take the Word of God to the Laarim in ways we cannot. Please pray for many Laarim to hear the Word and respond in faith.

Yesterday Logue came by again. He is the blind man who became a believer about one year ago. We had asked him to come to record the new worship songs he has created. With him was Lokio a teenager who leads him around and Thomas another new believer. I took the opportunity to do a discipleship lesson with them. Using the story of the Baptism of Jesus we discussed baptism. I learned that Lokio had become a believer under Logue’s influence. I asked Logue how many others he had led to faith. He thought a bit before replying “Eighteen people.” He went on to say that he gathers together children and others in his village and gives his testimony, sings songs and shares in fellowship with them. He stated thanksgiving for his blindness as, “it keeps me from cattle raiding which has killed so many of my age mates.” Pray for Logue and his ministry.

Praise God for 8 family members who were baptised! They each shared a powerful testimony of leaving the darkness and walking in the light. Pray for them to continue to grow strong in the Lord and share their faith with others.

Please keep praying for the new believers among the Laarim. There continues to be new professions of faith, baptisms, and ongoing bible study and discipleship. Pray that their “love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so they 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, to the glory and praise of God.”

Praise God for the group of boys/young men and group of girls/young women who meet regularly to hear a Bible story, learn a symbol to represent the story, and memorize a verse. This week they learned about the sprit world and memorized John 10;10- The thief comes to steal the sheep and kill them. Praise God for the salvation of Bakita this week! Pray each one would grow in understanding and those who are saved would walk in a manner pleasing to the Lord.

Praise God for Napir’s baptism last Sunday! Pray that in her early steps of faith she would be protected from the enemy’s attack and we would continue to be able to teach and encourage her. Pray that this would be a great witness of personal faith and acceptance of Jesus to those around her.

On Friday morning, our DBS started with the usual small group from Paulo and Mary’s compound. However minutes later another mother came with 4 of her children and then a group of 4 women joined us. It turns out Mary has been taking our challenge and sharing the Bible Stories with them. These ladies from two nearby compounds wanted to come and see for themselves if what Mary is saying is true. Pray that these families would welcome a DBS in their compounds.

Rejoice that the children and youth and women are all singing the Laarim Bible songs, which have been created for and by them. This has been a powerful tool in these communities. Even those who have never attended a story session or gathering, have learned the songs and sing along with the children. A local believer is working on more songs, one for each of the 25 key stories in our story set for this people group.

Pray for all the listeners who heard the message to repent this weekend. They were told, ‘If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sins and will heal their land.’ You have a choice today to choose the blessing of obedience to God or the curse of obedience to Satan.” Pray they will be doers of the Word and not hearers only.

This week we will show the Jesus film at the cattle camp. Most of the population is there now. Pray for the Lord to open blind eyes to the truth of the gospel.

K keenly wanted the Jesus film brought to his home, which was done last week. Early this week K came to tell us he wants to follow Jesus. As we talked and prayed together, he reported a changed heart, away from quarreling and drinking alcohol (a common past-time) towards wanting to have a clear mind to hear and follow God’s word. He has asked that we bring God’s word to his compound for him and his family (one wife and multiple children). Praise God for a new life and light among the Laarim!

This week the portion of the Word shared in the discovery Bible studies, (DBS), was the story of Job, and what was happening behind the scenes.

Here are a few responses from the participants:
“Sometimes we speak out in anger and say things we shouldn’t say…then we should apologize like Job did.”
“When we are disciplining our children, they may get angry with us and even hit back at us, but we are disciplining them for their own good to train them.”
“When bad things happen, we should not accuse God for them. Rather we should do good and trust God.”

Please be praying that the DBS continue to be fruitful and those present would have clear understanding and changed hearts where needed.

Mary, now a six month-old new believer, meets for prayers with some ladies whom she has led to the Lord. The DBS story this week was Jesus raising Jarius’s daughter. When the group was asked what they learned from the story, they spoke of the life-bringing power of Jesus in a hopeless situation. Laguwe shared that her 3 year old had gotten very sick, and “since you were not here, I decided not to go to the witchdoctor, but to do what I had seen and heard you do. I prayed like you do to Jesus to heal…and HE DID IT, even for me!” Praise God for maturing faith in new believers!

When we helped to open the Cholera Treatment Ward at Kimatong Health Center last Sunday, I anticipated it being flooded with up to 50 or 60 cholera victims. However, our maximum number of cholera patients in the ward this week was six. One severely afflicted patient arrived during the night in our absence and it was so gratifying to hear the nurse exclaim with joy the next morning, “We followed the protocol and we saved him!” Indeed he and several other lives were saved by the implementation of the treatment ward. AIM is getting more credit in the community than we deserve for the ebbing of the cholera epidemic. We try to turn the credit back to God and indeed the prayers of many have had an unseen impact. Pray God’s mercy would be recognized by the Laarim.

Several people are sick with Cholera in a Laarim village. Pray for the medical personnel and team members treating the sick and educating the village about prevention. Pray the Lord would heal the sick and open hearts to spiritual healing as well.

Several weeks ago a group of young men gathered on our compound to watch the “Following Jesus” video which is a follow-up of the Jesus Film. Carlo was hanging out with his friends and stayed to watch. As the African actors were explaining to each other the way to breathe out your sins and breathe in the Holy Spirit, Carlo described a ‘shaking of my body” and an urge to know the Holy Spirit. As soon as the video ended, he shared this desire with the group. With a bit of instruction and guidance he prayed to accept Jesus into his heart and thus began his new life in Christ! Pray for God to renew Carlo’s mind and help him walk in newness of life.

The cattle raiding which had decreased a bit following prayer focus and the chiefs’ of our people group meeting with government leaders and the chiefs’ of the neighboring people group. However the young men are not at all involved in the peace efforts and they are off raiding with a vengeance…and dying! We had two deaths this last week in our village. This afternoon there has been a steady stream of young men with guns, knives,bows and arrows going past our compound to the river to prepare for a raid (they will gather and “seek the counsel” and “sacrifice” we’re told). Pray that the Lord will make Himself known to this group!

More Laarim are being added nearly daily to the Lamb’s Book of Life. Loboyi and Angelo (young believers discipled by Jacob previously) have been key players in this. Among these have been a couple of other young men, another woman (influence of new believer Mary Marko), one of the compound guards (drunkard and problematic in the past, now supportive and eager to grow and no drunkenness since his commitment over a week ago), an old chief dying in his village hut, and others! The lady who prayed to receive Jesus on her deathbed just before we evacuated, went to her Heavenly home just a few days later. Unfortunately the lady who was dying on a neighboring compound here when we returned did not have that opportunity; I failed to share the good news with her on my daily visits thinking I had more time.

Pray for the Holy Spirit to infill the small group of new believers in Laarim and that He will teach, guide, and empower these young believers with faith, courage and boldness!

“It used to be only the school children who learned about God, but now that the missionaries have come, even me who does not know a,b,c,d can learn to follow Jesus,” said Mary Marko a few days after her joyous new birth. The Jesus Film had deeply moved her and the Creation to Christ story by Noblesse translated by Angelo was the clencher for her coming to faith in Jesus. Praise God for this new believer. Pray for peace in Laarim land. Conflict has forced the missionaries to leave for at least several weeks until peace returns.

It is a joy to hear, during the day and even into the night hours, the sound of children singing enthusiastically, joyfully about JESUS. Singing is a part of the life of the Laarim people, and now there are songs created by Andrew, Angelo, and other Laarim speakers to express the gospel message. Pray with us for the completion of appropriate songs for the Easter week story, and that the message of Easter, relatively unknown here, will impact the lives of individuals and bring transformation to the communities.

Pray for the scripture recordings being made for audio Bible distribution. Pray for eager listeners and many to embrace the Truth.
Pray for the ‘old man chai and discovery Bible study time’ that the Lord would bring salvation to the households these men represent.

Initially last night there were encouraging signs of forgiveness and acquittal, but a few hours later, the accused was hanged to the shock and grief of his family and the team. Pray for the Light to penetrate this darkness, for the grieving to be comforted, and for the Lord to give wisdom and grace to the team to know how to minister in this setting. 2Cor 2:14-16.

A man is being tried for sorcery in the wake of the death of a chief’s son who was killed last week while raiding a neighboring tribe’s cattle. The chief has lost 4 sons in cattle raids.
If found guilty, the man will be hung today at 6pm.
Please pray for the team as they visit the accused and his family, as well as the chief. May the Lord shine His light into this very dark situation.

The Laarim villages where missionaries live and minister are all abuzz as the new missionary team return from ABO and resettle. Pray the excitement would continue and that people would be curious to know the reason for the hope they have and their motivation to leave home and live among them.The joy of a few new believers is such a great encouragement to them all, words are difficult to describe the wonder of the grace of our God we hold so dear. Please pray especially for the new believers; but also for the new team members as culture shock and sickness take their toll.

We praise the Lord for two boys and one girl who have expressed that they have made a commitment to follow Jesus and trust him as their Lord and Savior.  Two of these youth have gone to other locations for a season: one off to school and the other to the cattle camp.  Pray that we would make the most of each opportunity we have to disciple and mentor the youth and children and pray for these new believers wherever they go to continue growing in their trust, love, and obedience to Jesus.

Just as the new Laarim team houses are completed, so major conflict disrupts the teams arrival in the Boya Hills. These people ae eagerly awaiting the arrival of the new people who are coming to live among them. May the Laarim people be open to the good news that they bring, may they welcome the team into their lives as much as the team long to be welcomed. May many come to know salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ. Pray for team and their leaders as they prepare to come in soon.