We’ve had some amazing opportunities already this past month or so. Our first local language teacher and close friend came and stayed with us for a few days and during that time we ventured into the mountains in hopes of finding some of the nomadic people local to this region called the “***”. After countless switchbacks and a stop or two to take in the views, we arrived to an open plain at the top of a mountain range. The view was breathtaking. We saw a few tents in the distance and a couple shepherds herding their flocks nearby, and we knew we’d found them. We handed them a small gift and after introducing ourselves they welcomed us into their tent and immediately started preparing tea and food for us. Not long after, we were seated in a circle on the tent floor sharing fresh cooked, free-range eggs, goat cheese from their flocks, handmade flatbread and tea. It quickly became evident that they live a very different life from most people – they are a family of four living atop a mountain in isolation. The men are shepherds, the women cook and look after the tents. We were able to pray with them briefly and I took the eldest son’s phone number and plan to stay in contact with him. The family owns a television that runs off of solar power and I hope to bring them a DVD player and a copy of the Jesus film sometime soon. We learned last year that there is nobody who is making an intentional effort to reach this specific people group. Please pray for more opportunities to minister to our friends, for more labourers to be sent, and for their hearts to be open and ready to receive the Gospel.
Recently I was also able to take a trip with our pastor friend and a young believer to a neighbouring province in order to meet with people who are interested in learning more about Jesus and the Bible. This was our first trip back in 5 months due to the virus, and our previous trips to this province were fraught with no-shows and cancelled meetings. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case this time around. One of the highlights was meeting with a group of 8 young adults over the course of two days. The first night we spent hours drinking tea, sharing the gospel with them, and doing our best to answer the many questions they had. The following day they invited us to their office (they all work for the same company) for more tea and to share with those who weren’t able to join us the previous night. As we were about to leave we asked if we could pray over them, and one of the women exclaimed, “I’m so excited!” and began to shout down the hallway for her co-workers to join us. We prayed and shared some words of encouragement with them. We felt like God was highlighting a couple people from the group and that He wanted to speak to them about the emptiness that they feel inside. When asked about it, the same woman who was so excited to receive prayer said, “I feel a huge emptiness inside”. We explained that Jesus is the only one who can fill that void, and that in Him and Him alone we find contentment, peace, belonging and fulfillment. A number of individuals from this group want to continue learning and are interested in starting a discovery Bible study together. Please pray for God to continue to work in the hearts of these young adults.
