Pray

Paul and Susan Boothby minister among the Gende people of Papua New Guinea. “The final check on Revelation by a consultant, using John and Maria as the mother tongue speakers, went very well and much quicker than the previous checking a month previous. We completed it in just over two days. Both enjoyed hearing it all, and there was a lot of much [tsk-tsking in amazement] at times. As we dropped them off at the bus stop to start the long journey home, Maria said she was still thinking about the description of the New Jerusalem coming down from God like a bride adorned for her husband. While most of you reading this may have in mind a young woman dressed in white and lace, there are different looking ‘brides’ around the world. In PNG for one of the ceremonies here, the girl is all dressed up in traditional clothes and with lots of bright feathers in her head dress and red plant oil on her face and [then] is given to the husband’s family. Maria did not think the city would look like that. Of course, we do have lots of descriptions given of gold and crystal-like glass and precious stones and brightness and shining. We have now corrected the few things that became apparent during the check, and Revelation can be officially printed for distribution. Praise the Lord! And what a warning at the end of the book – not to take away or add.” Pray for the faithfulness of God’s Word to penetrate the lives of the Gende people.

Lourens and Marie Laureti minister with national church leaders from various churches in Papua New Guinea. Their team is focused on continued discipleship and equipping of the local churches planted by missionaries and on assisting the church to answer the Great Commission by sending their own to reach the unreached. “A core focus and responsibility we have as an organization is to assist the ministry of the local church to reach the unreached and then to establish mature, thriving, multiplying churches to God\'s honor and glory. This is not only the vision of our organization but also a biblical mandate. My co-workers and I are often challenged by this responsibility to present the church of Christ as a pure bride, and it compels us to depend more on Christ (2 Cor. 11:2). God also teaches us that reaching the unreached and establishing thriving, mature, multiplying churches is done as a body of believers. And so, our partnership with the church in PNG and with you … has helped us tremendously in this, and we are looking forward to seeing more of an interdependent model established. This has been our core focus in ministry these last years, and we are working towards more intentionally pursuing this interdependent partnership. Pray for us as we dialogue about a partnership strategy to interdependently reach the unreached and see the Church of Christ mature.”

Ralf and Elli Schlegel minister among the Dinangat people of Papua New Guinea (PNG). They wrote about a People Group Assessment that took place in another people group. “Kuyu, a people group here in PNG, had been asking for missionaries for many years. About two years ago a team of new missionaries went to see the Kuyu people to see if their interest for missionary work in their villages was still there and to collect different linguistic information to be able to plan a possible location for new missionaries. God has made it very clear during that visit that the door in Kuyu is wide open to bring the gospel to these remote villages. Then the time came to go see the Kuyus again in order to tell them that three missionary families are planning to move there, learn their language and culture, teach them to read and write in their own language and then finally translate and teach them God’s Word in their own language. Since I (Ralf) am part of the area leadership team here, I had the privilege for the first time to go along on this visit to Kuyu. Aaron, our area coordinator, and I went along with the three missionaries of the new Kuyu team (Michael, Jacob and Jonathan). We were able to visit almost every village where the Kuyu live and had a meeting with the people to tell them of the missionaries’ plan. The excitement was huge in every village when they heard that the missionaries are coming soon! Here is a short video of the visit in Kuyu:” Pray for this new work as it gets underway.

Janie Miles ministers in the Ministry Advancement department involved with Short-term Mission Trips. “For the [last] two weeks [of June], the students (and staff!) will be experiencing the realities of life on the field [of Brazil]. We will be teaching them the Foundational Bible Teaching that our missionaries use all over world when teaching the Bible to unreached people groups for the first time. They will be rubbing shoulders with Brazilian missionaries-in-training, visiting a village where culture and language acquisition is underway in preparation for teaching, as well as helping with a service project at the missionary campus.

“Please be praying for the staff as this is the first time for all of us to travel to Brazil. We are all very familiar with the culture and language of Papua New Guinea, as well as what to expect when traveling there. This is a new location and an unknown culture and language, so we will be experiencing a lot of the uncertainty that our students experience each year. This is a great way to better understand our students when we return to Papua New Guinea, Lord willing, next year!

“Pray for the students as well, that they will see God in a new way through this experience and that God would use it to encourage them to join His work somewhere in the world where people have no chance to hear of Him unless they go. Just as importantly, if they don\'t go themselves, that they would use what they have learned here to become encouraging senders.” Watch an Interface video.

John and Rebecca Keefe minister among the river people of Paraguay. “It is exciting to see that God is building His church among the river people. After what seemed like so long without anything happening, we are now seeing a small church begin to emerge here among the river people. After much prayer and planning with the … team, we set up our first church meeting here with the new believers. So, for our first meeting we gathered in a little Paraguayan national church building that was offered free of charge for our use until we find something more permanent. On Wednesday, March 23, we had our first meeting with seven adults and two kids from the river community. We had a great time of testimonies and teaching from the Word. Since then, we have continued to meet weekly and have between eight and 13 attending. A friend who likes to come visit and talk for long lengths of time shared his testimony of salvation in the service. We also heard earlier how the Lord used an accident in [the] life [of another one] to cause him to seek the Lord, and later he and his wife accepted the Lord. Thank you for your faithful prayers. Pray for clear understanding of Truth, for the new believers in church and [for] growth. Pray also for wisdom in planning for the future of the new church (where and when to meet) and that the Lord would raise up church leadership from among [them].”

Katie Moore is part of the Nahuatl team and is ministering in Mexico. “Pray for progress in translation and Bible lessons and that the things that the Nahuatl church family are hearing would comfort them and anchor them to the truth. The group just finished studying Philippians for the first time: Timothy and Ephesians are up next. Pray for Rachel as she attends a translation workshop this summer, during which time she will draft Colossians. Pray for me as I stay and try to be an encouragement to the church. Our co-workers Pete and Liesl Hypki will be with me during some of this time, and the church is excited and grateful for their continued presence. Continue to pray that God will raise up godly men and women to help in the Nahuatl church and to reach their people. Pray for some of the believing youth who have the desire to get more biblical training after high school. Challenges abound financially, academically, culturally and linguistically, but we trust the Lord to make this possible.”

Katie Moore is part of the Nahuatl team and is ministering in Mexico. “Pray for the Nahuatl church as they discuss how to best reach the lost in their community. The believers are burdened for their unbelieving friends and family. Recently about six adults have expressed interest in studying the Word for the first time. Some of these individuals have been witnessed to personally by some of the believers. Others have had close interactions with our church and are curious. The believers have been prayerfully considering whether they should teach a group or individuals and who should take on different parts of that task. The fact that they are owning that responsibility as a body of believers is a joy to my heart and already an answer to prayer.

Agreement and commonality are key elements in the Nahuatl culture. How difficult it has been for the believers to be in disagreement with their community as they reject the worldview their ancestors held to for generations! While the believers find comfort in their new family in Christ, they are learning some especially challenging lessons. They are seeing that disagreements can occur even with their fellow believers and are finding the previous customs of ignoring problems and holding grudges incompatible with their new faith. Pray that their faith continues to put down deep roots and that they would continue to practice obedience in the truths they are learning.”

Benjamin and Missy Hatton minister among the Amdu people of Papua New Guinea. “Many of you have been praying for the Amdu people who had the opportunity to hear the Creation to Christ teaching leading up to Easter this year. Thank you so much for faithfully praying for them and for us, especially as we presented the final lessons making the gospel clear. Since then, we have had the joy of hearing several clear testimonies of faith in Jesus and have welcomed new believers into the Body of Christ in Amdu. It was great to hear how confident each person was of their need for a Savior and very sweet to hear each one explain why they were confident that Jesus was the One they were trusting in. Pray for these baby believers to continue to come and listen to the message of grace each week so that they will continue to grow.” Watch a video.

Larry and Sarah Richardson minister among the Puinave people of Colombia. “We have been working hard on [the] translation project and, would you believe, this past week those who were not traveling nor sick worked with Larry on drafting half of the last remaining New Testament book to be translated, II Peter! It is exciting to the translation team (and to me, Sarah!) to hear Scriptures come alive which they have read in Spanish but never understood very well – and then want to teach others of their people to read it! Again, thank you so much for praying. We are hoping they can get the draft of this last book done well enough in the next week or so that the guys can begin to read it to family and friends to see how understandable it is to them. Then they will make improvements to any parts which prove to be too hard to understand. … In August our consultant will be available to do the final check of James and I and II Peter. That, too, will be an exciting event!

“Many of you are probably thinking, ‘Wow, they are finally done with the New Testament!’ Yes and no. After that final consultant-directed check, we will still need to re-read the entire New Testament carefully, plus the 175 pages or so of key Old Testament portions we’d translated earlier, to make the spelling and vocabulary consistent, and then participate in the final formatting before it will all be ready for printing. However, that part can be done from off-site if necessary. [Keep praying] until the remainder of the work is done and the translation is printed.”

Ben and Tabea Kirk minister in Asia Pacific. “A language consultant was able to come and do a language evaluation for each family in our team. The results of this evaluation showed that our language ability is more or less where it needs to be, but we need to focus more on relationship building and cultural study. We know that relationship building is not a strong point for us naturally, [but] it is something we have been trying to work on. So, although it was good advice from the consultant, it wasn\'t easy for us to hear because it was pointing out our biggest weakness. It is also really hard for us to stay motivated to build relationships knowing that we will go on home assignment in about four months. [While we praise God] for progress in culture and language, we ask [prayer] for new relationships in the community and to learn more about culture.”

Jonathan and Rachel Willcock base out from the United Kingdom. Jonathan ministers as the consultant coordinator for the Latin America region. Rachel wrote, “The last few months have been busy for both [of us] but in different ways. Since the beginning of March, Jonathan has been at home for less than a week. He has been in five different countries in Latin America, doing a variety of things. It has been exciting to see all that God is doing throughout the region. Indigenous missionaries in Peru are taking the gospel to other ethnic groups in the region, going to places where foreigners and even national missionaries are unable to go. In Bolivia he visited a training center where Bolivians are training more indigenous people in foundational Bible teaching. The increasing bilingualism of indigenous people in many countries presents us with a challenge but also an opportunity to interact with them, discovering their worldview through Spanish or Portuguese and then walking with them as they compare their own worldview with the truth of the Bible. In Paraguay, Jonathan was able to visit a couple of different works. In one he worked with one of the missionaries on discourse analysis. This analysis helps the missionaries to communicate more clearly and helps the consultants to assess more accurately how well the missionary can communicate in the language.

“In the other work, they spent time discussing how to continue ministering in the face of increasing risk in the area. Risk has become a common theme throughout Latin America as many countries that have been considered ‘safe’ for many years are beginning to see more and more illegal activity which sometimes puts the missionaries’ well-being in jeopardy.

“The next couple of months will find both of us staying in the UK, but we will have plenty to do. Jonathan plans to continue working on the new Culture and Language Acquisition program, along with other virtual meetings related to the training programs in Latin America and continuing to meet with the Colombian field leadership team. Please pray for us as we begin to plan out the second half of the year. There will be some more trips coming up, that we hope to do together.”

Joe and Kandi Depue minister among a people group in northwest Brazil. “‘How far have you been upriver?’ They said they had only seen the next five villages. So, we asked them, ‘Will you guys go with us upriver on a long trip to visit the other villages?’ [Abraham and Lidia] had just become leaders in the church, and we wanted them to go with us. They are a couple that we have been faithfully praying for but had no idea how God would use them. Both of them have made very clear testimonies in the past, and we were eager to see them pass this on to their own people.

“This month Abraham was made a deacon in the church. We couldn’t believe this quiet man would accept the position, but he did and with eagerness too. He has taken it very seriously and has engrossed himself with studying God’s Word. He told us, ‘In the evening when I read God’s Word, I can’t get enough! I read, and I read, and I don’t stop. It’s like having a really good conversation with a friend at night.’ Try imagining Abraham in his hammock in his little thatched roof house at night reading God’s Word with his little flashlight. This is the Holy Spirit that gives a desire and love for His Word. They responded ‘yes’ to going with us, and we were thrilled. It feels like we are finally seeing a disciple taking the next step to pass his knowledge to another. Please pray for this trip! We plan to leave in July. Abraham and Lidia desire to know the Lord more and to pass that on to others.”

Jack and Suzie Russell minister among the Simba Guaraní people of Bolivia. “Jack is back in Bolivia working on the next project for the Simba Guaraní. He is working with Simba ministers Felix and Arturo and their wives. They are translating and preparing the script for a wonderful, short movie about the rich man and Lazarus from Luke 16:19-31. We believe it will be an enormously powerful teaching tool for the ministers. Please pray that they will be able to get it all done and recorded this month. Simba minister, Felix, has been working to plant a church in ‘the uttermost village’ for years. It is the largest community of Simba people and is very isolated.

“The people recently chose a new chief. He is considering stopping Felix from doing outreach there. He seems to have had some influence from an outside group opposed to missionary work. Felix was there along with a group of medical professionals that our team is taking in to help the people of that community. We hope that the chief will recognize that we mean no harm to his people – only good. Please pray that the Lord will open the chief’s eyes and heart to the truth and that Felix, and the other ministers will have an open door to that community.”

Jason and Nisae Williamson minister among the Iski people of Papua New Guinea. “In order to see a sustainable church, the next generation of leaders have to be equipped and discipled. This is a huge need that the Iski Bible teachers have recently been seeing and trying to figure out a vision with how to accomplish this. They asked us to come down and give direction for a training program for new prospective Bible teachers. So, two Iski church leaders and I hiked down and spent three days helping them to look at biblical principles of discipleship and leadership training. We looked at the discipleship models of Christ with his disciples and Paul with Timothy. After the training course, one Bible teacher from [a] village church stood up and said, ‘Look here, we are like Paul, and we have so many ways to choose from! I\'m going to follow this way of making disciples and choose a Timothy, and if all of us men do this, the church will grow, and we will have many people who can take our place once we get old and die.’ Currently … there are 13 men, young and old, that have shown an interest in being discipled and trained by the first-generation Bible teachers. Please pray for God to protect, raise up, and equip these men for the work of ministry.”

Tim and Rebecca Ingles minister among the Wano people in Asia Pacific. “We had a long but very exciting day yesterday. We got into the Yajasi (JAARS) plane about 6:30 in the morning and didn’t get back … until almost 4:30, but the Lord gave us great weather, and our time passing out the newly printed Bible portions went very well. We passed out the Bibles in [one village] first, then in the outreach locations of [three others]. Each location is between 5–20-minute flights from each other so we certainly kept our pilot, Mark Hoving, busy. Everyone was excited to get the new Bibles, and we were excited to give them some more of God’s Word in their language. We enjoyed seeing the believers in all four locations. [One] was extra enjoyable because the population there has pretty much doubled as more and more people have moved there from the surrounding area in order to hear the Bible teaching that has been going on there. God certainly continues to do an amazing work among the Wano. Praise the Lord with us for the great weather, smooth flights and for the new Bible portions that are now in the Wano people’s hands.”

Levi and Robyn Lenz minister among the North Wahgi people of Papua New Guinea. “When we are a world away from our family and the spiritual struggle around us is so evident — sometimes to the point where the lines of spiritual struggle and physical struggle cross over and become one — we rely heavily on our support team to uphold us in prayer. As missionaries we awkwardly talk about the need for our financial support team because it is just the reality that we must have the financial support to do what we do. But let us not neglect to talk about our spiritual/prayer support team. I remember the story of God waking Samuel from his sleep and speaking to him. It is such a blessing and a privilege to have partners on our support team who hold us up in prayer. We\'ve heard stories of some whom God stirs at night, and they lie awake praying for us until God gives them a peace to go back to sleep. Our day being night in the USA, their prayers were being lifted right when we needed them as we were encountering some kind of burden at that moment. It was such a blessing to our hearts to hear later how they were praying at just the right time! Over the last year we have lost three of those fervent prayer partners from our support team as God canceled their long-distance calling plan and relocated them to the same area code. This has left us wondering who will stand in the gap. Who will cover the holes in their prayer mats with their own knees and pray for our family and the North Wahgi people?”

Tanya Batueva ministers in Asia Pacific. “It’s been quite an uneventful, mundane month, but that’s the thing! It’s harder for me to go through the same routine in language learning over and over again. Currently, I am in stage three (out of four), which is the longest stage; the goal is still far ahead; and the progress doesn’t seem to be that visible. Please pray for [my] language study, [for] more opportunities to practice what I learn, and also for the joy of learning (I feel kind of low). I still need to make a vision trip to a different island (some time before September), make a decision where to move next (I have two options) and then move there. I was asked to move out of my house to a different house [soon]. It’s not very convenient with moving my belongings and getting used to a new place, neighbors, etc. I hope I will like the new house. Bu Reni is my walking partner and a very good friend here. So thankful for the gift of her friendship from God!” Pray for Tanya. Life on the mission field can be hard and even more so without a close relationship with the Lord and other believers. Pray for encouragement for Tanya.

Wayne and Patsy Gibson minister among the Piapoco people of Colombia. “The Piapoco team of five arrived back safely from an outreach across the border. [They were] encouraged with their time there in teaching, discipling and training other Piapocos. They did encounter some opposition from Spanish-speaking false teachers, but the Piapoco leaders kindly explained the foundational teaching that was according to God’s Word. The opposers then left, thankfully. Other hardships were lack of food and water since they were in an arid area and food wasn’t always available or affordable. Even so, they were happy to share how the Lord provided and the good news of how the new teachers taught and that 17 more Piapocos expressed faith in the Lord Jesus upon hearing the evangelism lessons. Then all 17, both men and women, wanted to be trained to teach the lessons and God’s Word. Undaunted by the obstacles and hardships, Dario shared with Wayne, ‘I thank the Lord for the opportunity to go there.’ Later the team discussed and prayed about continued discipleship possibilities with the Christian leaders from there. Your prayers for the Lord’s direction are appreciated.”

Paul and Bella Gervasi minister among the Sekadau people of Asia Pacific doing church planting and translation. “This last month has been a busy one for Bella and me. During Easter weekend we met together with the church here four times. After the meeting on Saturday morning, there was a baptism in the river here. Fifteen folks had come and asked to be baptized. This was the first time we have had a baptism where I had so little involvement. But that is what we are working towards. The church here increasingly is meeting their own needs. Two days after the baptism, Bella and I went out to town. There are roads now that come right to the village. However, they are not the best roads. We have to use a four-wheel drive vehicle, and even then, it can be dicey. While coming in to get us, our driver had a flat tire and lost control of the car. He ended up in a ditch on the side of the road. The men here pitched in and got the car out. Instead of leaving at 8 a.m., we left at noon. I am continuing to make and revise lessons. Both of us are continuing to work on translation. We are hoping we will have another translation check in August. Please do continue to pray that we will be able to finish what we have to do here.”

Yesterday, June 5th, 2022, was the International Day for the Unreached. Will you take a moment to ask the Lord to strengthen the hands of those already working towards this end? And will you ask the Heavenly Father to show you more clearly your own role in this great cause?