As many of you know, I was back in Canada for several months this year after my dad passed away in December.
When that time came to a close, on April 1st, my mom and I ended up flying back from Canada to the Middle East. I had invited her to come to visit and join me for as long as she wanted. So, she did!
The two of us scheduled a month of traveling around and visiting friends and ministry partners throughout the country and the region. In just a little over 4 weeks we got to visit 6 different cities in 2 countries. It was a very “full” time, but super good!
It was especially cool for me to see how those we spent time with (both westerners and locals) were able to connect with and be impacted by mom. There were some really cool times of prayer, encouragement, and testimony-sharing in the places we ended up. I think mom and I had both thought that this time of visiting was going to be largely one of recharging for both of us after an especially emotionally challenging few months; but, by the end of it, we were both blown away by how many amazing opportunities Holy Spirit put in front of us to encourage and share His Love.
Please pray for enduring fruit from these times of encouragement, and from the words spoken in those times. Also, please continue to pray for my family and me as we continue to navigate the challenges of grief.
Mom ended up flying back to Canada on the morning of May 2nd. Then, a mere 5 hours later, I ended up at the airport again to catch my own international flight!
There is a team of young Jesus-lovers from Canada who are all feeling Holy Spirit drawing them to move to the unreached world to live and share Jesus in places where there is no Church.
They’ve especially been praying about the possibility of moving to North Africa. So, in praying about that question, they decided to travel to North Africa to see a bit of what it would be like to move there. I had the honour and pleasure of getting to tag along with them for a good chunk of their trip, and to talk and pray with them through some of the questions I had asked and prayed through 8 years ago when I was first getting ready to move to the unreached/Muslim world.
It was a great time, though it included lots of time chewing on heavy and challenging questions together. The weight of what one gives up when they leave their homes to serve Jesus in another country is significant, and North Africa is not an easy place to live as a foreigner. But, through the inevitable challenges that were in front of them, it was still so cool to see the team seek God’s will over their own as they chewed through the questions they faced.
Please pray for these young men and women as they continue to pray through how they’ll be serving Jesus in the future, and also pray for God to continue to stir the hearts of more passionate young people like them to serve Jesus in the world’s least-reached places.
In my last update, I mentioned that I’d been working with a team to translate the Waha app into the language we live and work in here. After I sent out that update, the guy who was leading the translation team (and a good friend of ours) had a significant family emergency that required that he step away from leading the translation team.
I offered to step in and fill in his role so he could have the time with his family that they needed, but also so we could still get this resource launched and available for the local Church here as soon as possible, which he agreed to. So, we blitzed through some of the final steps of getting the translation done—and now, we are so excited that the translation is finally complete!
We were able to see it launched just a few days ago!
It’s been a long process, but we’re believing the fruit that it’ll bear in the Church here will be amazing!
Thanks for praying for us and the team as we worked through this process!
There’s a conference that happened this weekend where the newly translated app was given to dozens of local disciple-makers, many of whom will be starting to use it in their ministries.
Please continue to pray that this work would bear fruit and that more and more disciples will be made who will go and make more disciples.
In the next few months, I am starting to work towards launching a new project that I’ve prayed about for about 6 years now, and it seems like the Lord is nudging me towards finally starting and putting my focus and efforts towards it.
I’ll be able to explain more about the vision in a future update.
In the meantime, the next few months will include an increase in personal and ministry expenses as I start putting more of my time and resources into building and launching this new project. I’ve also had a few partners need to cut back on their financial support these last few months as they navigate the challenges of inflation.
All that to say, if you’re reading this and you’re not already a financial partner, would you be willing to consider joining me as a monthly ministry partner?
If you have any questions, feel free to send me an email. I’d love to get on a call, catch up, and talk through whatever you’re wondering about!
Thanks again for your continued prayer and partnership as we continue to pursue seeing peoples and places encounter the restorative and redemptive power of Christ!
Grace and peace,
~ Josh
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