Pray

Randy and Laurie Steel serve at Ethnos360 Bible Institute. As they interact with the 170+ students, Randy and Laurie are encouraged and excited to see “so much growth in so many of their lives.” Students are “desiring to share Christ and the message of hope to others in the community and around the world”; many are preparing to continue training at Ethnos360 Training Center. “Pray for wisdom for Laurie and me as we seek to be wise with our time with our various ministries and mentoring and discipling the students. Days are full, and there are lots of needs and opportunities.”

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Ben and Nikki Buckner minister among the Nakanai people of Papua New Guinea. Praise God for the “continued faithfulness” of church leaders Rodney, Alex, Chris, Bosco and Ronald. They recently taught a study on evangelism, and many believers were “encouraged and emboldened to share more truth” with unbelievers in their families and communities. “Please be praying for each of these believers to continue to be bold in their witness to the gospel of the Lord Jesus. And please be praying for those men as they move away from teaching about evangelism and into teaching through the book of Acts.”

Darcy Berglund serves as a Bible translator in Asia Pacific. She recently shared news from different churches in the region. Ester, a young woman from the Embaloh church, is holding a club that encourages children to read Scripture in their heart language. Pray that these children would grow up studying God’s Word. Pray for the team who is recording the Sekadau audio Bible. Pray for minimal interruptions and for team unity. Praise God that “the first half of the book of Acts has now been printed in the Kendawangan language and will soon be delivered to those villages.” Pray that the people would “enjoy reading and getting to know the Scriptures” and that the remainder of the book would be checked soon.

Joe and Kandi Depue minister among a people group in northwest Brazil. The Depues are traveling to a nearby village to teach Bible lessons to a group who have not yet heard the teaching. Pray as Joe brings along and disciples indigenous believers to teach in this new village. Pray that God would open the door for a children’s ministry during this trip too. Pray that God would work out all the details including the funds for food, supplies and transportation during the weeks of teaching. Pray too for “protection from Satan’s attacks so as not to put a stop to truth being passed on.”

TJ and Lily serve in West Africa. Pray for their team’s unity and health. “Pray for wisdom as we deal with so many cultural things on a daily basis. Pray that God would continue to prepare the hearts of [the people of the village where we live] for relationship with Jesus. Recently our host dad said, ‘We are trapped by these spirits, and we can’t get out. If we knew a way out, we would take it, but we don’t, so here we are stuck in it.’ We look forward to God’s timing when the harvest is ripe and [when] they are ready to hear.”

Colin and Megan Rogers minister among the Nʉkak people of Colombia. They were away for a month and are now back among the Nʉkak. “We continue looking for opportunities to promote literacy and encourage those who can read to continue practicing. Pray for us as we continue to learn their language, gain culture insights and seek to see the world through their eyes. … [Satan] is intent on the Nʉkak never hearing the gospel. ... Please pray for them. They have no hope!” Pray for the team as their “ability to visit remote Nʉkak communities is extremely limited” at this time.

Will and Kelly Tallman translated the Bible and biblical comics for the Kuman people of Papua New Guinea (PNG). After the dedication last December, the team now faces the challenge of getting the Bibles and Bible materials into the hands of the quarter million Kuman people “spread out all over the country.” A Kuman believer is advertising the Bibles and materials, local store owners are displaying the new materials, and Will might even have the opportunity to address PNG parliament to share about the Kuman ministry. “Pray that God would continue to provide ways to get His Word into as many hands as possible” and that He “would use His Word to draw many to Him.”

We have been praying that permission would be granted for an R66 helicopter to be imported into Asia Pacific. The helicopter sat in Arizona as the aviation team awaited the necessary permission. Praise God that Ethnos360 Aviation has finally received approval to import the helicopter! Pray that God will use this helicopter to aid in church planting in Asia Pacific. Pray as the helicopter makes the long journey to Asia Pacific. Pray for all the additional paperwork needed to transport it to the dock, load it on a ship and transfer it at various ports until it arrives in Asia Pacific.

Rick and Anji Zook, along with Mouk church elders, minister to the Lusi people of Papua New Guinea. “Rick is working with the team as they learn to write Bible lessons for 1 Corinthians. … Pray that God would encourage and sustain [Mouk Bible teachers and their families]” as they minister to the Lusi church. “Pray for the Lusi believers as they hear teaching on 1 Corinthians. [Pray] that they will learn what it means to relate to each other in love, building up each other. Pray that God would be preparing the guys he wants to be elders of the Lusi church.” Pray for unity.

Katie Moore ministers among the Nahuatl people of Las Moras, Mexico. The team is currently serving from outside Las Moras. “Please pray for the people of Las Moras. Right now the situation in the village seems dire, as competing forces are not allowing food to make its way up the mountain. … We have talked to several of the believers lately whose families are suffering from hunger. … Please pray that we would have creativity on how we might help from afar. Pray that we would be able to offer sincere comfort and encouragement to our suffering church family.”

Pray for a missionary couple ministering among a people group in Asia Pacific. The church has been growing in the Lord, seeing God’s Word as more important than the attitudes and traditions of their culture. Before partaking in communion, believers decided to meet together and resolve their disagreements in order to restore fellowship — a counter-cultural approach to conflict. After one believer (we will call her “M”) died, rather than trying to appease the spirits as they had done in the past, the church decided to use the time to share the gospel and rejoice that "M” is now with the Lord. “God is working; there is nothing impossible for Him!” Praise God for this growth in the church.

Pray for students going through LIFE Training, a Bible and missions training center in West Africa. The training team asks that we pray that students would learn more about God’s heart for the unreached, grow in their understanding of His Word and “be a blessing to their local churches.” Pray for more workers to join the team in training and equipping churches in West Africa. “Both for the short term and long term, we need help in teaching, administration, tech support and video editing as well as discipleship.”

Harold and Christine Hull serve in Papua New Guinea. Before they can plant a church, they need teammates, so while they wait in Goroka, Harold is serving as security supervisor and has taken on a newly created role in community relationships. Pray for Harold as he “sees firsthand the brokenness and need for Christ” through his security position. Pray that he can show God’s love as he “meets all the different leaders and people in the surrounding communities” through his new community work. Pray for potential outreach opportunities in the community. “There is still much to figure out, but we really want to be involved in reaching people here in Goroka town.” Pray for the Hulls as they find ways to communicate God’s love to those around them.

Serve as a church planter in Papua New Guinea.

Susie ministers among the “S” people of West Africa. “Thanks for your prayers for our literacy class! It was an intense six weeks, but for the first ever literacy class in [the ‘S’ language], it went pretty well.” The ten students learned quickly, and now “they can all read and write (more or less) in [the ‘S’ language]!” Praise God for a successful literacy class and for the three “S” men who taught the class. “[Pray] that the momentum from the literacy class wouldn’t die, but that those who took it would continue to read and write.” Pray for teammates for Susie. While she focuses on one aspect of ministry, such as literacy classes, her teammates could continue the work in other aspects of ministry.

Paul and Bella Gervasi minister among the Sekadau people of Asia Pacific. Praise God that the church is functioning independently and taking on new responsibilities. The church is working in three different villages, and, at the request of one of the villages, they will be sending teachers to teach on Saturday nights and Sunday mornings. They are also recording the Sekadau Bible for people to listen to on their cell phones. This project is going to be “fairly labor intensive,” so pray for endurance. Pray for wisdom for Paul and Bella as they work to revise over 300 Bible lessons.

Paul and Ellen Swenson minister among the Tanguat people of Papua New Guinea. “We look forward to working alongside the Chens and our church family in the village to reach out to our neighbors in ‘A’ and ‘M’ villages with the gospel. … [Pray] that they would have open hearts to receive the true message of hope from the gospel and not continue looking for the message they want to hear.” Pray that the Tanguat Bible teachers would resist temptations. Pray that as the team feels inadequate, they would be reminded to rely on the Lord.

Pray for a missionary couple ministering among a people group in Asia Pacific. Pray for a man (we will call him “K”) and his wife (we will call her “H”). “’K’ was asked to step out of the [Bible] teaching team when he married an unbeliever.” He has since lashed out in anger and acted uncharacteristically. “Please pray for repentance and healing of [his] mind, whatever is going on. Pray that the Holy Spirit would be working in both of them.” Pray that “H” would understand the gospel and put her faith in Christ. “[Pray] that they would walk in obedience to the Word of God as it has instructed us to live with our spouses.”

Paul and Marina minister among the “L” people of West Africa. “Praise the Lord with us that sufficient funds have been raised to print at least 3,000 copies of the ‘L’ New Testament. … Lord willing, we will be sending the finished draft to the typesetting team in Sanford [soon]. From there, the text will be sent to the printers. Thank you so much for your prayers over this long process. Please be praying for the numerous tasks that still need to be completed over the next weeks and months. Praise the Lord for another 70 ‘L’ believers who were baptized two weeks ago.”

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Colton and Tanja Twigg serve in Paraguay. With their local church, they are involved in a church plant. “Toward the end of the year, we were really stuck in a drought with kids not coming [to Bible classes] and with parents having no interest in hearing God’s Word.” Pray that as children’s classes and adult Bible studies resume, “the Lord would be working in the hearts of the kids and parents to come and to be faithful in coming. This is a community that needs the Lord, and we just want to be His instruments in sharing the gospel with them.”

Mark and Shelbi Fitzpatrick serve in Papua New Guinea. “This month, we surveyed the Gende people. … While some showed little interest in having us, one village welcomed us warmly. They expressed a deep desire to understand God’s Word. … They recognized that without it being in their language, they could not grasp its meaning. They earnestly asked for missionaries to come, not only to translate but also to teach them so they could truly know what God’s Word says.” Praise God for this hunger for Truth. Pray for the Fitzpatricks and their teammates, Ricky and Kati Sanford and Nate and Laura Clonch, as they prepare to move into Gende land. Pray that God would prepare the Gende people’s hearts.

Watch the video. Mark and his teammates visited Gende land to conduct a people group assessment. Hear the Gende people’s passionate appeal for missionaries (timestamp 7:35).

Help fund people group assessments.