Hi praying friends,
Language learning
Annika and I are four weeks into language study! Annika is trying to do up to 4 hrs of language per day as well as take care of the kids and the responsibilities of the house. Pray for her this is a huge task but our believing ladies need discipleship and so we are praying Annika can get the language before the kids start home-schooling. Annika is doing well with language but is finding fitting it all in very difficult. The kids have also been constantly sick it seems; Noah is running a fever today and this hinders our language learning – pray for health. Simon is doing 8+ hrs per day and is enjoying language and building relationships; Sat and Sundays are also very busy with many visitors / discipleship opportunities and church then on Sunday. Simon will be having a language check on the 24th Sept; which will run over 2 days and be in the village and with a language helper in the office. This is early to have a language check (normally the first check is after 16 weeks and not six) but Lourens is getting checked before they go home for furlough and so we will use the opportunity when our language consultants are here. We will let you know how it goes! Pray the Lord will help me to learn language quickly for the sake of His church.
Today we taught on the stoning of Steven from the book of Acts. It has been a particularly poignant lesson for the church as we could show clearly that even though the Devil and sinful men are doing their best to crush the church that God was triumphant in the life of Stephen. One of the enemies tactics is to spread fear; unbelievers in the village are spreading fear because of the growing change in our believers lives. Persecution is mainly coming from the Kevung cult who worship the spirits of dead ancestors.
MALIABA SPIRIT…
The Mengen people have always been directed by a Maliaba spirit; a spirit of the dead which indwells certain shaman. They believe this spirit is their connection to the eternal life, he can heal magically, determine the causes of death, holds the keys to heaven, and can mark and even cause death.
This spirit has so held our people in bondage that they can’t see that he speaks of things that continually happens, such as someone in our village will die. He doesn’t say who, when, why or how. Then when a child dies, he stands up and takes the credit for it saying that he’d marked it and our people believe him.
Just recently, one of these Maliaba spirits sent word to some of the believers that if they didn’t leave the teaching, that their children would die -and as a result some have fallen away. Another Maliaba spirit recently sent word that one of the believers is going to die or get terribly sick -but there has been nothing.
The key believers are being set free from the bondage of this spirit through the systematic teaching of God’s Word and are beginning to speak boldly about him -causing some conflicts with unbelievers. Please pray that they would speak the truth in love and not ridicule and that God would clearly show them how He is daily protecting them. Please also pray for wisdom for us and the believers in how to respond from God’s Word.
UNBELIEVERS HEARING PHASE 1…
There are a number of unbelievers who are hungry for God’s Word and continue to faithfully attend the teaching. They have heard most of our previous phase 1, but still can’t connect all the pieces. So we’ve begun to disciple different key believers in how to assess unbelievers understanding level and then help them to connect the pieces so they can put their faith in Christ alone. A couple of these are believing men with unbelieving wives. Please pray for these key believers as they are starting to feel the work load of the gospel, that God would give them grace to budget their time well to see this ministry met and others as well. Those hearing the gospel chron teaching just now are – Bobo and Monday; we are hoping that Jacqueline and Tokere will soon be going through the same teaching.
Women needing discipleship
We are starting to notice that the ladies of the church are falling behind the men in understanding and maturity levels. There are a few causes for this, they are often distracted in church because of their children and they have less one on one discipleship than the men. Pray we can tackle these issues and overcome them through Christ. This is one of the reasons we need Annika to get the language so she can disciple and work with the believing ladies.
Prayer points:
1) Pray for Annika to be able to fit in 4 hrs language per day and that the kids will be healthy. It’s hard to know what they are sick with, without a Dr to consult.
2) Pray for speed in learning the language for both Simon and Annika – Simon has a language check on the 24th Sept.
3) Pray for the persecution that our believers will be free from fear and will continue to walk with the Lord.
4) Pray for Bobo and Monday who are going through the gospel presentation just now. And pray that Jacqueline and Tokere will join that teaching soon.
5) Pray for our young believers who are being taught how to present the gospel one on one, that they will grasp these skills and concepts.
6) Pray for a way to be found to teach the believing ladies and bring them up to speed on their understanding.
7) Pray that Nya and Noah will be healthy for a long period of time and that we will remain healthy.
8) Pray for increased finances to help us better assist in the church planting effort amongst the Mengen people. It would also be a great help to have our house more sealed in from the elements and to have an office space.
9) Pray we will walk closely with the Lord and that our times with Him would be sweet. That we would be refreshed spiritually and physically in these days.
Thanks for standing with us in prayer,
Simon, Annika, Nya and Noah.