Disciples who make disciples.
Greetings from our home to yours!
The early part of the year was difficult as we were dealing with sickness and many feelings of loss and loneliness around friends and co-workers leaving. We had no one to work with or relate to and precious few to share deep fellowship with.
However, with our multiple moves last fall, we found ourselves close to two other believing families that we’re starting to get to know. We have been meeting with one family regularly for prayer and worship. Our relationship has quickly developed into ‘a team environment’ where we are planning outreach events, co-hosting short-term groups, and collaborating on bringing young believers together.
Since starting to meet together, we have been able to help plan and facilitate a camping trip with some local young adults who are new believers. This was a great time of encouragement for the young adults, as many of them feel alone and are new in their faith.
A is planning a hiking/backpacking trip into the mountains—going from village to village to meet locals and share the Gospel. This has been a dream of one of the local believers for a long time, and he is excited to see people willing to help him start this! Please pray for many opportunities along the trail, as well as wisdom, safety, and boldness as they share in an area that has probably not had any witness in generations. This is a trial run—we aim to plan future trips into areas that have no gathering of believers at all.
We have been blessed to watch year-long friendships/relationships open up more and more to the Gospel. S gifted a Bible to her tutor over Easter, and A has had many spiritual conversations with a good friend about God and what it means to be a disciple of Jesus, attending an Easter service in his heart language, which appears to have opened up even more curiosity and conversation. We also continue to witness to our old neighbours when we visit them.
Many new relationships have been opening up as a result of our multiple moves, and we’ve been invited into many homes, some of which have started talking about God within minutes of stepping through the door. This past week, we visited a sweet family in our new apartment building. Their 7-year-old has had a cancerous brain tumor removed. We were able to very openly share the story of the Gospel and pray over their son and their home. They have invited us to continue visiting.
We have been praying for greater unity amongst believers in this country, particularly amongst church leadership in our region. We are constantly aware of Jesus’ words to his disciples when he said, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” Please pray for us as we work with/build relationships with each pastor in our province—bringing believers together in love. We are currently talking with the local church leaders about bringing the youth/young adults together several times a year for fellowship and discipleship. This is a very real need as the churches are so small, and many youth don’t have many Christian peers.
Many of you were praying for our visa renewal. We were given another year-long visa! Praise God for continued favor to stay here.
Please pray that we would continue to have favour with and be able to boldly share with our neighbours (nearly 500 of them). Pray that the seeds planted—grow!
Please pray that we would be able to find enough people to bring together for weekly meetings to explore who Jesus is in the Scriptures.
Please pray that our friends and old neighbours continue to ask questions. And that the Lord would work it out so that they can seek Jesus and believe together, as a family unit.
Pray for wisdom and willing local believers to catch the vision and join in on reaching the completely untouched areas.
Please pray for L to have Christian friends his age that he can play with. Attending a local congregation has been really hard for him as he is the only child in his age group.
Once again, we are so grateful for your support. We consider each one of you as part of our team, and appreciate how you invest in reaching those who have never heard about Jesus.
Until All Know Him,