Bibi Chai, Mama Naa, and others are still growing in their understanding of who Jesus is as they visit with Christian neighbours. Please pray that in the new year there will be many opportunities for missionaries to regularly share Bible stories and the gospel message with Swahili people in a small village on the coast of the Indian Ocean.

Pray for the Lord to send laborers into the harvest field- specifically that He would send 70 missionary couples to proclaim the good news along the 700 kilometer Swahili coast.

Mama Naa brought a gift of sea salt – beautiful, white crystalized and fresh harvested from her salt flat. Before that it was chickens. Before that it was cashews & fresh coconut milk. Before that it was tomatoes. Mama Naa has struggled and sacrificed to put her daughters and sons through school by the toil of her hands and has succeeded in doing so. She is hungry to learn all that she can about farming better. She is a light in this community. E had a long visit with Mama Naa on Sunday with talk of the adoption of our children which led into E sharing about being adopted by our Father God and how she can call him Father and speak with him face to face because of her adoption as his daughter because of the Saviour-Son, Jesus. Mama Naa was stunned and intrigued. Pray for more talks. Pray we would be the salt of Christ making our neighbors thirsty for His salvation.

One day I saw a tiny little girl in my neighborhood who I had never seen before. She was about a year old, just the age that it would be totally normal for her to be terrified of me and my white skin. But when I sat down near to where she was standing with her brother, she looked right into my eyes and came running at me as fast as her legs would carry her and she fell into my lap and stared up into my eyes for the longest time, smiling. Ever since that day she’s had the same reaction each time she sees me. When she hears my front door opening or hears my voice, she comes running. These days she’s getting a little faster. She continues to stare into my eyes and giggle. I feel so confident that it’s not me she’s looking at, but the One who lives inside of me.

I have been told that based on things I said when I was a baby, I was able to see Jesus and knew Him. I can’t remember those days in my life and I wish I could, but I can look at this little girl and feel confident that whatever it was I saw all those years ago, she’s now able to see in me. Through all my flaws and persistent sin and inability to speak her language fluently, she’s seeing the Spirit that even this broken temple I walk around in can’t dim for a child’s untainted eyes and pure heart.

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” The children in our people group will be hindered from coming to Him in many ways, from false teaching and indoctrination, to growing up with a deep fear of even considering the thought of following Him. Pray that these chains would be broken and they would have the freedom to seek Him out. Pray He would break into their lives in creative ways and help them to recognize His Spirit in their own homes and neighborhoods. Pray that the things they are being taught would not settle into their hearts as truth, but instead that they would hear what is True from others who would be sent to them. Pray for those who are sent to be welcomed to speak stories from God’s Word.

On the way home from a prayer walk, E was invited in to pray for an elderly sick Bibi (grandmother) we know. Bibi Chai enthusiastically responded as E prayed in the Savior’s name for His healing comfort over her. But Bibi doesn’t know the Savior yet. E offered to come share the Story of God with Bibi as she rests in bed. Pray the family would agree to have her come and share.

Please pray for the believers who are living among the Swahili people to keep their conduct honorable as we are called to in 1 Peter 2:12 so that they would see our good deeds and glorify God. Pray that the local believers would be given a new hope and passion to see their neighbors come to know the Truth, and the courage to reach out with a grace-filled boldness.

After over 3 months of treatment for a heart valve defect, A has not seen much overall improvement and is unable to do the physical labor needed for her job. After parasite treatment her appetite has returned, but she is very weak. Please pray for healing for A! Her Muslim family has persecuted her for leaving Islam and now again because she has refused to see their witchdoctors. She is a beloved Believer and gifted agriculturalist with great potential for Kingdom impact here in spreading the gospel. Please pray for God’s healing mercy.

E had the pleasure of briefly sharing with a neighbor her personal relationship with Father God because of the restored relationship she has with Him through Jesus. Because of this relationship as God’s child, she can go right to the Father and speak with Him – something entirely unfathomable in Islam. E got the blessing of praying for healing and health for her neighbor’s toddler who was wrapped in charms to ward off evil spirits. Pray the Lord sets Mama F, little F and their entire family free spiritually and physically. Pray God would continue to enable us to build relationships as we live and work to share the hope we have in Christ with our lost Muslim neighbors.

A few weeks ago an elderly man from our village walked into our church service in the neighboring village. He was wearing a Muslim robe and prayer cap, and appeared obviously out of place, but was right where God wanted him. The preacher quickly modified his sermon to share the condensed version of the gospel story from creation to Christ. The man stayed and listened intently through the whole service. At the end of the service he stood up and announced that he is ill, needs healing, has tried to pray to his God, but his God does not hear him…But he heard from a Muslim background believer and some of the other believers that our God hears our prayers. Would we pray for him?  Of course we would! Will you pray for him too?  He stayed after the service for more prayer with the Tanzanian believers who poured prayer and witness over him. Please pray for this man’s salvation & healing!

We have felt the darts of Satan’s attack from every direction – he is crushed, but not going down without a fight. Please pray the Lord would protect His people physically, mentally, and spiritually. Pray Jesus would continue to glorify His name & expand His kingdom on the coast whatever the cost! We want to see Jesus break the bonds of enslavement to sin & hopeless extreme poverty. We want to see His salvation go out to the coastlands as He declared in Isaiah 51:5, “My righteousness draws near, my salvation has gone out, and my arms will judge the peoples; the coastlands hope for me, and for my arm they wait.”

Recently one of my dearest friends asked me about repentance. She said, “If you repent, but you keep doing the same sin, will God forgive you? Or do you believe that if you repent and continue doing the same thing He won’t forgive you?” She explained to me that in Islam, there were some who believed that if you asked God for forgiveness and kept doing the same thing, you wouldn’t be forgiven again. But that there were others who believed you could keep doing the same thing over and over and God would always forgive you.

I asked her, “What do you believe?” She thought about it and said, “Okay, I’m NOT saying that God is like a parent or a father. I’m not saying that. No. I’m not saying that. But, God knows me better than I know myself. He created me. He knows my motivations and why I do things. So because of that, I believe that He will continue to forgive me even when I make the same mistake over and over.”

To our friends here, one of the most offensive things that we believe is that God is our Father. Clearly, this friend was scared to seem to communicate that. Generally we avoid that reference when we share with people, knowing that most of the time it is a barrier and not a bridge. I had not talked with this particular friend about that image, yet God has so clearly put it on her heart anyway. She is trying to resist the idea, yet there’s something in her that longs to be able to call Him Father.

Please pray that our people would have their hearts opened to God being their true Father. A perfect Father who can be everything their own fathers were not. Pray they would cry out to Him and not be afraid to seek that relationship with Him. Pray for those of us working with these people, to have opportunities to speak that Truth into their lives in a way that is a blessing and a source of hope.

We are so thankful for how God has enabled our team and Tanzanian Christian staff to be a vivid witness here already and we feel many “doors” are open to us. Our Tanzanian Christian colleagues are actively involved in the young adult ministry of the church in the neighboring village, which is pastored by our Tanzanian farming partner. Recently, three local Muslim young men came forward in church to testify of coming to salvation in Christ through the outreach of this group. Praise God! Please pray for their spiritual growth & protection in Christ. Pray they will share with others what God has done for them.

One of the things that has been really on my heart for our people group is that they would truly SEEK God. These types of verses are so important to pray over our people…
Jeremiah 29:13 “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart…”
Isaiah 55: 6-7 “Seek the LORD while he may be found, call upon him while he is near…”
James 4:8 “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”
This people group will proclaim that God is so big and so unknowable and yet, in their minds and in the way they live, it’s as though they already know everything there is to know about them and they don’t seem to seek to know Him more. Many people here believe that it is a very high sin to question God, or to ask “why.” So when suffering comes, they are extremely quick to respond with, “God willed it,” and move on with their life. They do not seem to seek God as a comforter or counselor, such a crucial part of the character and nature of Christ. Because of this ingrained ability to shut down emotions and move forward, never seeking to know or understand life circumstances better, the Good News of God being able to be a comforter is often met with a nod of agreement, but never any kind of continued questioning or conversation about to experience that more. Please pray that our people would experience a deep longing in their hearts to know more of the character and nature of God than they already do. Pray they wouldn’t be satisfied with what they’ve been told but would SEEK to know Him more deeply and more fully.

We desperately need prayer that our people would come to realize that all of their legalism and rule following is meaningless; that it’s not helping them have any kind of righteousness before God. I’ve never had a conversation with anyone who seemed particularly concerned about that. Most of the women I’ve talked to here have told me that they are doing “enough” to please God. We need prayer that they would be shaken out of that fog.

My house helper, who is from a different people group but also a Muslim, is incredibly malnourished and sick. She told me the other day that during Ramadan this year she knew she was too sick to fast but she was scared not to do it. Her daughter told her God would forgive her because of her illness but she still walks around with the weight of that. That’s the kind of spiritual wrestling we actually hope to see in people from our people group. And not only the wrestling but the willingness to be honest about those things with us, so we have the opportunity to speak the Truth about the freedom Jesus offers them.

1. Pray for more workers for the harvest among the Swahili people. 2. Pray that efforts by many groups to share the gospel would bear fruit. 3. Pray that the Swahili people who have received copies of the Bible in their language would read and be led to Jesus as Savior. 4. Pray for Swahili believers to stand firm in their faith and share with others. 5. Pray for “Epaphrases” among the Swahili who will plant multiple churches among their people.

1. Pray for more workers for the harvest among the Swahili people. 2. Pray that efforts by many groups to share the gospel would bear fruit. 3. Pray that the Swahili people who have received copies of the Bible in their language would read and be led to Jesus as Savior. 4. Pray for Swahili believers to stand firm in their faith and share with others. 5. Pray for “Epaphrases” among the Swahili who will plant multiple churches among their people.