December 2003
International Missions Emphasis Nov. 30-Dec. 7
"And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all man¬
kind together will see it. For the mouth of the Lord has
spoken " Isaiah 40:5, NIV.
1LINYI, CHINA (lin-YEE). One of the many threats
I to the believers in this country is cults, which prey on
believers who may not have a firm understanding of the
Word of God. Pray for believers to read and understand the
Bible clearly, so that if faced with this threat, they will be
able to stand firm in their faith. Pray that they will be able to
discern those who speak truth and those who do not.
WAYUU OF COLOMBIA AND VENEZ¬
UELA (why-YOO). The sun had set but left its
heat still radiating from the sand, rocks and even the mud
huts. People gathered from several rancherias (small family
villages) crowd onto the benches provided for the celebra¬
tion. Songs are sung, dramas are presented, and men and
vomen come forward and tell what changes have come
into their lives. During it all, faces show the excitement of
finally having Bible stories in Wayuunaiki. Praise God,
thank you for praying, and thank the Wayuu who worked
so hard during the recent recording of the chronological
Bible stories, the radio Bible teaching spots, and the new
songbook totally in Wayuunaiki. Please continue to pray
for the radio stations needed to run the teaching spots.
Government paperwork has slowed down the use of one of
the main radio stations used to cover this region.
sent, the land that is now Iran and those areas adjacent to it
have been controlled by a demon of Satan, referred to in
the Bible in the 10th chapter of Daniel as the prince of the
kingdom of Persia. Virtually all the people of the Persian¬
speaking world (PSW) who live in Iran, Turkey, Armenia,
Afghanistan and Tajikistan are Muslims, followers of the
religion of Islam. These people of the PSW live in darkness
in regard to the knowledge of Jesus Christ because the
Light has been kept from them by the "powers of this dark
world and by the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly
realms." There is probably no place on earth where the
spiritual struggle against these evil "spiritual rulers and
authorities" is more evident or more vigorously engaged
than in the PSW! God's design is for the eventual return of
this part of the world to the rule of Christ, the Prince of
peace. Pray that these peoples will know Jesus Christ as the
way to perfect peace with God. Pray that every person in
the PSW may soon know that Christ died for them.
RURAL HAITIANS OF HAITI (HAY-shuns).
The Rural Haiti team writes:"In April of this year, voo¬
doo was made an official religion in Haiti with all the rights
any other church would have, including performing mar¬
riages. Pray that our little churches meeting under mango
trees in rural Haiti would have a good reputation and be
like a magnet; that they would be able to draw some of the
curious seekers who would otherwise go to the voodoo serv¬
ices. Pray for God to be glorified and magnified."
3 BURYAT OF RUSSIA (BOO-ree-aht).
Among the Buryat of Russia, there is no radio or TV
programming that has been created to reach this people.
Most programs are created with Russians as their target
audience. Part of the work of the Buryat team is to create
programming so that many, many seeds can be planted.
Please pray for this project. Ask the Lord to provide all of
the necessary people and tools to create radio and TV pro¬
gramming. Pray for the Lord to open doors and provide all
the resources to make this possible.
4SILTI OF ETHIOPIA (SILT-tay). While in the
mountains recently, some trekkers and their translator
met a young Muslim man carrying a New Testament given
to him by his uncle. The translator explained some Scrip¬
ture to him, but he could not accept it at that time. Pray that
the Holy Spirit will continue to speak to him and give him
understanding.
THE PERSIAN-SPEAKING WORLD (cen¬
tral Asia). From ancient biblical times to the pre-
"But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small
among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one
who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old,
from ancient times" Micah 5:2, NIV.
1HAKKA OF TAIWAN (HAHK-uh). "We sat
/
around a tea table in the business of a friend that strug¬
gled to tell us just how ill his wife was," writes missionary
Danette Thrush. "Ignoring the customers walking in be¬
hind him, our Hakka friend leaned close to my husband
and slowly, painfully told us that his wife has cancer. She is
terrified. Late into the night he sits up with her, telling her
everything will be all right, until she falls asleep. Then he
steals off to a comer of the house to cry where the children
can't hear. He is broken, weak and hopeless. Please pray
for us as we love this family in Jesus' name."
8 SOFIA, BULGARIA (SOH-fee-uh). Recently,
a volunteer team did children's ministry and construc¬
tion. Team Bulgaria reports: "They had a very busy time.
The construction team helped replace the floor in an or¬
phanage in need of repair. After a full day of ripping out
