Pray for the servants of God who work in hard places among the Rangi. May God give them strength and help them not get discouraged and give up. For example, pray for those who work in Kondoa, Kwamtoro, Busi, Kinyasi, Pahi, Gumbu, Moto, Magambua, and Kwamadebe. God bless you.

F and I continue on, and he loves what we study. I’ve recently started having him teach ME through a book we’ve already read… trying to prepare him to continue with self-study once my imminent departure time arrives. It’s a struggle. Pray for God to give this man supernatural understanding and assistance to “put the pieces together. ” Here is a specific prayer request for F. We had an extended conversation about God’s gift of Grace being cleansing in Jesus, and how Islam has no cleansing (and that, no, fasting does nothing to erase sins). He was really thoughtful and asked my advice. I showed him a video of a Muslim who came to Jesus after a series of dreams, and told him that my advice was to follow Jesus to be cleansed. Pray for him to continue think on this!

Plain old material poverty. Inability to feed your family well. No money for school fees. Fields producing little/nothing. No money to pay debts. Broken and hurting and sick bodies. Some of this is due to poor decision making, some to lack of education, some to environmental reasons, some to sickness… and it can be overwhelming. What is the solution to all of this? Some of these needs may have solutions, but nothing is for sure. The only thing for sure is this: “So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight, momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient but the things that are unseen are eternal.” (2 Corinthians 5:16-18) So pray that the Lord would meet their material needs, but even more, that he would meet their spiritual needs, and would fill them with joy, stamina, and faith even in poverty situations. Specifically, for A and for Mama J, who are both in somewhat dire straits.

A Rangi elder in the village of Mwi–was seeking to hear more of God’s word. Upon visiting his village this past Easter we found that he had passed away. His family was in its 40th day of his funeral. Mwi– is a village that is known for witchcraft. When people are in trouble, they travel far to this village seeking a witchdoctor. The local Catholic priests won’t go there because of fear. There is also a popular Islamic training school there, which influences all the surrounding villages. That elder was an open door, and now he’s passed away! Pray for other open doors and new workers to share about Christ there.

Plain old material poverty. Inability to feed your family well. No money for school fees. Fields producing little/nothing. No money to pay debts. Broken and hurting and sick bodies. Some of this is due to poor decision making, some to lack of education, some to environmental reasons, some to sickness… and it can be overwhelming. What is the solution to all of this? Some of these needs may have solutions, but nothing is for sure. The only thing for sure is this: “So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight, momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient but the things that are unseen are eternal.” (2 Corinthians 5:16-18) So pray that the Lord would meet their material needs, but even more, that he would meet their spiritual needs, and would fill them with joy, stamina, and faith even in poverty situations. Specifically, for A and for Mama J, who are both in somewhat dire straits.

A Rangi elder in the village of Mwi–was seeking to hear more of God’s word. Upon visiting his village this past Easter we found that he had passed away. His family was in its 40th day of his funeral. Mwi– is a village that is known for witchcraft. When people are in trouble, they travel far to this village seeking a witchdoctor. The local Catholic priests won’t go there because of fear. There is also a popular Islamic training school there, which influences all the surrounding villages. That elder was an open door, and now he’s passed away. ! Pray for other open doors and new workers to share about Christ there.

Mama S and Mama M love hearing the stories of God and Man. They totally get into it, really hearing and listening and interacting. Recently when we heard the story of promises made regarding a king who would come with a kingdom with no end, Mama S (somewhat quieter, but clearly absorbing everything) piped in, “That’s God. He’s the only one with an unending kingdom.” Yes! Pray that she would hold on to that truth, and yet would be able to absorb the truth of God being born as man, as we continue in the stories. Please pray for a supernatural touch for these sister-wives.

Pray that the missionaries and evangelical believers among the Rangi would have a witness that glorifies Christ and shows who He really is. Pray that no matter what mistakes the believers make, no matter how different they are, no matter how often they don’t get it right, the Lord would overrule all of that and bring people to faith in Christ. Praise the Lord for the Catholic-background believers who are eagerly sharing Christ. Pray that many more from both Catholic and Muslim backgrounds would put their faith in Christ alone as their Saviour and as their God.

“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty may become rich.” The Rangi are as materialistic as anyone else- having less does not mean that they have less of a desire for “more” than anyone else does. In fact, a lot of people really dream of how good life must be with “stuff” or with “much.” Pray for workers to have chances to share that one of the wonderful things about Christ is that he became poor for the sake of others. And pray for workers to have the chance to witness and be as Christ- to truly become poor so that the Rangi might be rich in him.

Pray for radical Rangi Muslims, completely devoted to their faith, to be given a radical encounter with our Lord. And pray that they would be like Paul, willing to sacrifice everything to be obedient to that call.

Pray for Rangi children to ask questions and be discontent with the Islamic answers they receive at the madrasa, religious school. Pray they would have a hunger for Gos and truth their religious education won’t fill. Pray for them to have courage to seek answers. Pray for them to seek answers from Christians as the observe their example and hear their witness.

A Rangi man by the name of Kij– is influential in every part of the ministry. He is a SIL translator for the Bible, who gives Chronological Bible story seminars on his off time. He is the voice of Jesus in the Jesus Film. He has a passion for reaching his own people and is extremely gifted at evangelism. He is an entrepreneur. Satan has to hate what he is doing, please pray for his PROTECTION!!!! He has often gotten sick during final consultant checks on Rangi scripture.

The Rangi have a tradition that is super close to the sacrifice of redemption. If one person does some sort of major offense against another, they will kill a sheep to “heal the body/flesh.” Pray that the Rangi would understand in a deep way how this relates to our need to have OUR flesh healed with God because we have wronged him.

Pray “ahead” that for future Rangi believers, they would be like the apostles in Acts 5- not afraid of the threats or punishments of others, but that they would be prepared to be open and bold.

Please pray that the Rangi would understand that accepting Jesus as a prophet doesn’t mean that they have accepted Jesus for who He really is, and in fact they dishonor Him by seeing Him as less than He claimed to be. Pray for the few who have enough understanding to choose to trust Him as God and Savior to appreciate and take to heart the parable of the seeds that fell on different soils, that there is danger in being a type of soil that does not bear fruit. Pray that they would be the kind of people who bear thirty, sixty and a hundredfold.

Pray for A, who has some physical problems and really is struggling to provide for her family, that the Lord will heal her and provide for her needs in such a way that her trust in Him grows. Pray for Mama J, a believer of a different tribe, who is struggling with the same. Please also lift up J, her teenage son, who seems to be making poor life choices right now. Pray that he will become Jesus’ obedient disciple.

Please pray that Rangi leaders of the community begin to follow Jesus, and their decision will open the door for others who are, frankly, scared. Please pray that the Rangi will understand the seriousness of sin, and that sin cannot be erased by doing a lot of good deeds. This seems to be the biggest barrier to Christ-centered, reproducing churches among them.

Praise the Lord that a Rangi gentleman who has been studying the Bible with a local missionary is loving and understanding more and more as they study the Bible together. They have both been challenged by the Scripture. Pray for ongoing growth.

Family is a huge power here- fear of family, and fear of being pushed out of family. Family is your insurance, health care, stability, help in difficult times, etc. A friend of mine who has decided to follow Jesus told me recently that she could no longer follow Jesus… why? Because upon telling her father that Jesus’ power cast demons out of her, and that she now wants to follow Him, she was forbidden. And more than being forbidden, she was threatened with beating and is fearing witchcraft against her. Please pray for this friend- that she would find the courage to follow him anyway, and that Jesus would protect her. Please also pray for her father. He is a hard man and strong in his Islamic faith.

“Oh, it would never be possible for me to follow Jesus,” said a dear, elderly friend of mine. She loves hearing the words of God. She loves the story of Jesus, and frankly, I think she believes it. But you know what she is scared of? Dirtying her family line, people thinking she is deceived, being abandoned by those near to her… Please pray for Bebe to have a dream of revelation of the truth of Jesus, and understanding that the price she would pray would be worth it. Pray for her to have courage and trust that Jesus would care for her.

As we think ahead for what a body of believers would look like here, pray with us! Pray that God would be raising up leaders now, that he would be preparing people to be courageous, that he would already be breaking down in people this idea of religion as “law,” etc. A lot of leaps in understanding need to be made, but God did them in us who are already believers, and he can do it in the Rangi too. Please ask for wisdom and unity for those who are reaching the Rangi together.

Please lift up a local believer who will be giving a seminar to M’s starting this next week. Please ask for the attendees to have good understanding and to see the differences between what they’ve heard about J and what is true about J in the Book. Please ask for the believer giving the seminar to be blessed by the HS with wisdom to share and answer difficult questions!

Psalm 26: 8-9, 12-14 “Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in the way. He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way…Who is the man who fears the Lord? Him will he instruct in the way that he should choose. His soul shall abide in well-being, and his offspring shall inherit the land. The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant.” Please pray these verses for the Rangi and ask that the Lord would humble their hearts and would speak to those who truly fear him.

Please pray for three Rangi shop owners who have recently begun to be engaged by workers in their area. As is typical, one is mostly argumentative and is fierce in defending the things he has been taught, without giving much more examination to them. The other two are more open! Please pray for them to be really hearing and thinking. Also, please pray for the possibility of hosting a seminar on Islam and Chrstianity in Rangi land- there is a Christian expert that may be willing to come and give the seminar!

Ramadan Day 27
Pray for the local school, run by the Tanzanian church, as it struggles with serious debt left by a previous caretaker. Please ask that the school would be a light, and that girls would come to know Jesus through it!

“Islamic cultures tend to establish people of high status as authorities, whereas the authority in Western culture is reason itself.” Nabeel Qureshi “Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus”

This is certainly true here, and it is played out every day in how the Rangi view religion. They are essentially indoctrinated into certain beliefs about their religion and other religions, and, simply put, often those beliefs are selective and/or untrue. But how to get a person to question his/her beliefs? It’s nearly impossible, considering that they simply take what they are taught as truth. With this as their background, and without significant resources to actually investigate what they’ve been taught even if they wanted to, few objectively question their faith. Yet another reason to pray for dreams and visions!
Also, please lift up M. and M.A, two Rangi who recently accepted an invitation to spend 4 days studying through the bible chronologically. This is HUGE!! Pray that the gospel they heard will cause them spiritual turmoil (in relation to what they believe) and will take root!!

Ramadan Day 11
Pray for Mr M., a teacher for the local religion, who has been meeting weekly with Patrick, a Tanzanian evangelist, to study the book of Acts. Also lift up Patrick as he guides M. through the book. May the Spirit speak powerfully through the word and give Mr M courage to believe!

The Rangi are like people of faith all over the world. Some are dedicated; some are nominal. The Lord knows our hearts, and if one is genuinely seeking Him, do you think he is limited in how He reaches them? I don’t think so. Muslims come to Jesus after a variety of experiences, but a common theme for many is that they were SERIOUSLY seeking truth. Pray for the Rangi to be serious seekers. Pray for a fervent spirit and a lack of peace with Islam. Pray for the Lord to reach them by whatever means He knows is best- through their own book, through the Bible, through dreams, through interactions with Christians, through interactions with Muslims… really, the sky is the limit!

“Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” (Romans 6:3-4)
As Christians, we walk in assurance that Jesus has cleansed us from our sins and, as our living intercessor (Heb 7:25), is still interceeding for us! Our sinful flesh is DEAD. We will stand before God with no sins to our account.
To Rangi Muslims, the issue isn’t THAT you sin, rather, it’s how MUCH you sin, or at least that your good deeds outweigh your bad deeds. But is that what God’s word says? No. ALL fall short of the glory of God and are redeemed as a gift (Romans 3:23-25). We know that no amount of “goodness” will bring us up to the PERFECT standard of our Lord.
The Rangi don’t understand that. Pray that their eyes would be opened, as so many of ours have, to the ugly fact of the depth of sinfulness that each person will be responsible to answer for, and to the fact that they CANNOT outwork their bad deeds. Pray first for understanding, then for a desire to seek a solution to that problem!

We are very thankful for the Resource Center the team living here built before they left. 17 people are regularly coming to visit and make use of the Resource center. The books in this Resource Center have great value in this ministry of outreach to the Rangi people. Some leaders are hearing the gospel message and although there have been no personal public confessions of faith yet, the center has been such a help for the Rangi communities. Pray for the community as they access this center, for truth and Jesus’ love for them to be seen.

Please pray for our Rangi friend. He asked us for a Bible a while back. He is a Muslim man, but has been coming to our home often to read the Bible together and ask questions. Our discussions have been deep and significant and he is open. Please pray for this man as he searches for the truth. Pray he would find the TRUTH in Jesus and he would turn to follow Him. Pray for courage for this man, as he is a respected teacher of his religion in our village.

Please pray for Saumu. She is a young lady studying nursing and is from our area. She accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior while at secondary school, but has been under many physical and spiritual attacks in nursing school. She told one of the pastors from that area, “I have decided to live as a Muslim again, although I have not denied Christ yet, for I know that He saved me.” Her family is pressuring her to return to the Muslim faith and she is very confused, as she knows the TRUTH of Jesus, yet is conflicted with what her family is telling her about the Bible and Christians. Please pray for Saumu, and for her to seek Jesus fully in this time of uncertainty and confusion in her life and that her heart would truly surrender to Him.

Ramadan Day 30: If the moon is seen tonight, Eid will be tomorrow. Eid is the feast of fast-breaking- the celebration of the end of Ramadan. People will wake up early, dress in their finest, and gather with many others outdoors at a stadium or at a mosque. They’ll come home to enjoy special foods. They’ll say Islam is a religion of peace. “They say, ‘Peace, peace’, but there is no peace” says the Lord (Jer. 6:14). There is no peace with God except through Jesus Christ. Ask God to remove the veil that covers Muslims’ hearts that they may know the true way to peace with God.

Ramadan Day 19: Pray for Muslim background believers to “be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what they have heard they will entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” (from 2 Tim. 2:2)

Ramadan Day 8: The second pillar of Islam is salat-ritual prayers done five times a day. As Muslims pray, ask God to have mercy on them, and to show them the Way, the Truth, and the Life. “I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give Muslims spiritual wisdom and revelation in their growing knowledge of Him-may the eyes of their heart be enlightened- so that they may know what is the hope of His calling, what is the wealth of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the incomparable greatness of His power toward us who believe.” (adapted from Eph 1:17-19)