Update #5 South Asia

Hello family and friends! We have had some wonderfully full last few days in this city. This week we have been intentional to share the gospel each day, and we have been able to connect with so many incredible people. We are one of only a few short-term teams to explore this new part of the city so our days have been full of new sites, adventures of being in a new and unfamiliar place, and not a lot of structure (our team is being stretched in this area!) We have also been able to connect with some local believers here who are close with our fieldworkers and they so graciously invited us into their home for a time of worship, prayer, and a delicious, authentic South Asian meal. The hospitality in South Asia cannot be beat and we were so blessed by their warm welcome and their abundant confidence in Jesus. Their vision is for a church to start in one of the rooms of their house and we are praying in faith that it will happen! Please join us in praying for the sisters R, S, C, and their mother, that they would be encouraged by the Lord working through them in their community and that they would be able to plant a church in their home to be a light to their entire neighborhood. We have been blessed to go out sharing with them for several days and we’ve been able to reach more people because they know both English and the local language here. We hope to serve as an encouragement to them that we are partners with them in the gospel and that we will continue to pray for them even after we go back home. They have been an encouragement to us that there are believers here who are dedicated to sharing the good news and will continue this work in their daily lives even after we are gone.
-Kayla

Hey! It’s Joe here. Yesterday (our Wednesday) the three guys (Roenz, Israel, and myself) all went out to meet up with some local students who Israel met a few days before. They had lots of questions about Jesus and what it means to be a Christian. During this time, we were also able to dive into the book of John and go over the story of Nicodemus together. After our Bible study, we bought them lunch and continued to have a good conversations with them about music and life in South Asia. Later, we met some people at a pond and were able to share the Gospel and pray with them! There was also a birthday celebration going on that we were invited to join in for a few minutes while we were there too. A constant with the people of South Asia is their hospitality and great kindness to new people. While getting ready to meet up with the rest of our team, we saw some people playing a pick-up game of Cricket and we were able to play with them for a while! Though they didn’t speak English, we were able to figure out that they played together in a league and they were VERY good. At this point we met up with the team and shared the gospel at a nearby park for a few hours!

-Joe

Please continue to pray for this city, and for the ministry we are a part of to be strengthened even after we depart. Pray for the believers in this city (1.6% of the population) to be strengthened and encouraged. Pray for those who have heard the gospel and who still have more questions to be surrounded by local believers, and pray that they would make the decision to follow Jesus. Please also pray for those who have never heard the gospel or the name of Jesus here, that they would have an opportunity to hear it, to accept it, and to commit to following Jesus.