By a Pioneer in Kurdistan

We moved to Kurdistan in May 2012. Many of our friends and family asked, “Why? Why leave your home, family and friends in America and head to the Middle East?”

As it turns out, moving here was the best decision we have ever made.

I am 62 years young and a retired businessman. Our life has been blessed by God. It was time for us to start returning those blessings.

We began reading about the Muslim World and began making trips to Central Asia and the Middle East. During that time we noticed something very different about the people in the region of Kurdistan. Over time, we developed a deep love and admiration for the Kurds. We concluded that Kurdistan was the place to start.

Kurdistan does have its problems, but among the men and women we find a spirit of community unlike any place we have ever lived. The people here are honest and loving. They care for family and friends. The young people respect their parents, grandparents and siblings.

In spite of being one of the most persecuted people groups on earth, Kurds continue to extend a helping hand to others who are in need. Even through progress and change, they maintain their integrity, pride and character.

On a recent trip to America I shared with friends that the Kurds are some of the most honest people I have ever met. I believe you could leave your car windows down, put a $100 bill on the front seat and come back two hours later and find it still there. My friends do not know whether to believe me, but my wife and I know the truth. It would be iba (shameful) for anything else to happen.

We intend to live out our lives as residents here. Sure, we do miss our grandkids, American football and the conveniences of America. But we wouldn’t trade this expericence. We have friends here who welcome us with open arms and open hearts. They treat us like family without seeking anything in return. We are proud to be here because we love Kurdistan.

Please pray for this Pioneer and his wife as they seek to make Christ known in Kurdistan by sharing the Good News and seeking to plant churches in this region.

By Amanda Lynn

Last week I had the privilege of sitting down with Peggy Fletcher, co-founder of Pioneers, to talk about her faith journey in missions.

She is someone whom I look up to, so I was a bit nervous about the interview. But she put me at ease with her humble faith, and she captured my attention with her stories of God’s leading and faithfulness.

I was really curious to hear her side of the story, to know more about the time when her family switched gears from the business world to full-time mission ministry. It sounds like it was a really risky move.

A lot of things happen when you get out of your comfort zone. I have observed that the areas of weakness you have in your life—if you open them up to the Lord—are the things that He can make into strengths. Through obedience it become a blessing. That’s just the way that God works.

We knew God was leading. But you never know how God is going to do it. That is where faith comes in. You have to trust that He is going to work it for good. They weren’t always sunny days. We put everything in a moving van and moved everything into a tiny house. We had given up all the things that come from being at the top of our game. People told us that we wouldn’t make it.

We had a nest egg. God used that nest egg. There is security in a bank account. When you have success you work your way up the ladder and get pats on the back. You work so that you can retire and live in plush surroundings. God had us get to ZERO bank account, and then had us throw together a mission board. But God got the victory and the riskiness was not an issue. We gave the Lord an opportunity, putting our faith in Him and not ourselves.

I asked her how it all began. How did they catch a vision for the Great Commission?

Getting a vision for unreached people groups was a cataclysmic event. We were hosting missionaries and God was developing our children’s interest in missions. It became a family mission, a whole family endeavor. I think that modern families have a fear that the kids will reject it, but a healthy family is one where each person has a part to play and space to be applauded.

Over the years, Peggy held many roles in Pioneers. She headed up the summer missions program, spearheaded hospitality for visiting missionaries and leaders, and organized fund-raising banquets. But she also learned how to pray specifically for missionaries.

So often, in the ministry of prayer, you cannot easily see the result. Knowing what to pray for is half the battle. As a mother and wife I have the daily awareness of the issues that go on in a family—of either success or struggle. You can transpose your own experience into prayer for missionaries.

I have also seen and experienced my own children being field missionaries. I saw the kinds of ways they were tested. For a mother that is really difficult. A mother would rather be tested herself than have it come to her children. It’s painful.

But it also helps that I have been involved with missionaries [by serving them lunch, giving money, or maintaining personal contact through e-mail and prayer letters]. In some cases I have been there.

Now, because of Pioneers’ growth, the difficulty is not being able to pray for everybody—it is my own physical limitation. I have had to give myself permission not to pray for each team and each missionary. God builds significant relationships with some more than others. Sometimes I have been to visit that certain place, or I identify with them in certain ways. I want a quality connection more than a connection with all because it has to be manageable.

There is so much more to this rich story of how God can use a family. As a special gift to our BottomLine Update readers, we are offering the audio book When God Comes Calling, the Fletcher’s story, as a free download for the month of May. Go to ChristianAudio.com and enter this promotion code: MAYBLU13. If you prefer reading the book, it is available at www.Pioneers.org in hard copy, Amazon Kindle, or iBooks (free).

By Matt Green, VP of Communications, Pioneers-USA

From learning language and culture to adjusting to life overseas, initiating a church-planting movement among the unreached can be a long process. Attempted alone, this process could lead to discouragement and isolation. To improve this learning process and increase the longevity of our newly-appointed missionaries, Pioneers has developed “Launch Teams” in strategic cities around the world.

Two Years of Mentoring

Launch Teams allow new cross-cultural missionaries to be mentored by long-term workers for a year or two while they learn the language and adjust to the culture. While this is happening, new missionaries survey the neighboring cities and regions to see where the Lord would lead them to initiate a church-planting movement.

Being in a community of experienced workers who know the language and have been living in the area greatly accelerates and enhances this process. Launch Teams also provide an opportunity for those looking to start a business or use their professional skill some time to understand the economic climate of their region.

Join a Launch Team!

Are you concerned about learning a new language or adjusting to a new culture? Is there a region where you feel the Lord leading you to be a cross-cultural missionary, but not a specific location? A Launch Team might be a great option for you!

Pioneers currently has seven Launch Teams in places like Japan, South Asia, East Asia, the Middle East, North Africa, Western Europe and the Amazon. For more information, contact Mobilization@Pioneers.org or call 1.800.755.7284.

By a Pioneer in Hungary

Pulling into their driveway for a Bible study meeting, we were greeted by the family. Babi apologized that her house wasn't very warm. Like most others in this area, her house is heated by a wood-burning stove and smells of smoke—even though windows are cracked open for ventilation.

A smaller group than usual gathered tonight: Babi and her husband and son, Gyüszi (Babi’s brother) and his wife Melinda. Tonight was Gyüszi’s first time to lead our study.

I use a Bible study method that is designed to train new believers to study the Scripture, understand what God is saying, and obey what they understand. It is a simple method. First we read the Bible passage and then take time to rephrase the passage in our own words. Then we consider three questions: 1) What does the passage reveal about God? 2) What does the passage reveal about man? and 3) How should I apply this passage to my life? I like this form of study because it allows God's Word to teach. The facilitator must simply direct the group's attention.

I have modeled this method with them for 9 weeks, and after prayer, I knew it was time to pass leadership of the group to Gyüszi. Now it is his responsibility to read the chosen passage to the group and lead them to rephrase what they hear and answer the guiding questions.

That night in our conversation together, it became clear that Babi still carried the weight of guilt about a specific sin in her past—even though she had already repented. God led me to tell her that we must not only believe that God forgives but also personally choose to receive that forgiveness.

"Maybe God is busy with more important matters than me,” Babi said at one point. “Maybe He's off somewhere else."

I was surprised when Gyüszi began to interject and correct his elder sister about her wrong understanding of God’s character. "God can hear all of us at the same time,” he said. “He is in all places, and He has resources that do not run out. He has been providing from the beginning of the world and He still provides."

He reminded her what they had learned a few weeks ago in our Bible study: "God knows your thoughts before you even speak them!" The irony is that Gyüszi didn't believe in God then. Babi was the one with faith. Now he is encouraging her and helping her to gain a greater understanding of God’s Word. He did an excellent job facilitating the group.

Gyüszi has gone through times of great discouragement. Because of their current living conditions due to lack of work, there is a possibility that social services will take his kids. But instead of feeling hopeless, it is clear he is turning to God and hoping in Him for deliverance.

Please pray for Gyüszi and his family to be able to remain together through God’s grace. Many in this region are also struggling financially because there is no work. Also, Babi has a problem with her eye. Will you ask for God to heal it? But most of all, please pray for God’s Word to take root in their minds, hearts and lives.

By Pioneers-USA

Do you have an old cell phone hiding in the back of your desk drawer? Is there a computer hibernating on a shelf in your closet? Maybe you have a rarely driven vehicle sitting in your driveway.

Consider that these items have value and can be used to further God’s kingdom among the unreached people groups of the world. The great news is that with only a few keystrokes and clicks you can donate them to Pioneers with a service called iDonate. It is hassle free.

• cars, trucks, boats & RVs
• computers
• cell phones
• iPods, mp3 players & tablets
• digital cameras, video cameras & video game consoles

Simply visit Pioneers.org/NonCash to learn more about how your tax-deductible, non-cash donation to Pioneers can make kingdom impact.

By Amanda Lynn

“I never knew a TCK’s life could be so challenging. So painful. So humbling. So stretching,” writes Taylor Murray, the 14-year-old author of the new book Hidden in My Heart. “But then again, I never knew what a TCK was until I became one.”

Third-culture kids, also known as TCKs, are described as having spent at least several of their developing years in a culture that is different than their parents’ culture. They often identify with their host culture and their passport culture, but they have a hard time feeling ownership of either one.

“Japan is truly my home now,” writes Taylor. “I realize, though, that I will never really fit in. I will never be fully bilingual. I will never truly understand their culture. But that’s not what God’s called me to strive for.”

When Pioneers move overseas to become church-planters in an unreached people group, the family walks through a lot of transition: new culture, new home, new weather, new language, new schools, new food, new work, etc. Saying goodbye to friends, family, schools, homes and their way of life in their own culture is terribly difficult for TCKs. And all of that is followed by transition to a new and uncomfortable culture.

Taylor was nine years old when she and her family moved to Japan. The transition was difficult, but she kept reminding herself “that this was an adventure, an adventure that God had called my family to take.”

Here at Pioneers, we understand that the health of the whole family, kids and all, is integral to a missionary family’s success overseas. That’s why we have a team of three specialists to help TCKs grow spiritually and adjust to life in their new host culture at their various stages of development (school-age, high school and college-age TCKs returning to America for their education).

One of those experts working with elementary age TCKs is Debi Sayer. She says, “It is a privilege and a huge responsibility to train TCKs to thrive in their new adopted country.”

One particular element that Debi helps kids work through is the pain of grief and loss that comes with moving away from their home culture. “We read a book called Tear Soup together. After reading and discussing the book, we fill a big soup pot with water. The kids write or draw the things they must say ‘good-bye’ to. Each one reads his or her loss to the group, drops it into the pot and stirs it with a big spoon—a solemn moment where we share the pain of their loss.”

“One day, a precious little girl with huge brown eyes shared that her mom asked her to choose only one stuffed animal from her beloved collection. ‘Oh, how can I pick just ONE?’ She wailed as tears rolled down her cheeks. Tragically, the night they arrived in their new country, a fire destroyed everything, including the family’s pet dog. The whole family experienced the bitter sting of grief firsthand.”

There is a richness that TCKs experience living in another culture and learning to speak other languages. They are exposed to new cultures and different ways of thinking. They also learn at a young age what it means to see a lost and dying world in need of relationship with Christ. Some may understand what it means to be ostracized for their faith and picked on because they are different. The rich life comes at a cost. They know what it means to fellowship in the sufferings of Christ.

Debi says, “We teach kids to understand that they will experience significant losses, but they aren’t alone in their grief. Jesus is with them, understanding how it feels.”

Please pray for Pioneers’ TCKs to have a vibrant relationship with Jesus, as they fulfill their unique calling in a Pioneers family working to plant churches among unreached people groups. Ask the Holy Spirit to remind them to cling to Him when they are faced with uncertainty, fear and loss.

By a Pioneer in Mexico

Water gives and sustains life. Clean water keeps people healthy and makes things grow. When water is available and abundant, it is easy to take it for granted. But for the people of Las Moras*, a village that is home to one of Mexico’s unreached people groups, water is scarce in this village that rests atop an arid plateau at 5,000 ft.

A while back, we met Chema* and Olaf* from an organization called Living Waters. We dreamed of a well-drilling project to help the people of Las Moras. Together we began to gather information about the best possible drilling sites, educating the people about what we wanted to do, the digging that they would be responsible for and arranging the proper equipment that we would need for the dig.

The dream is becoming real. In mid March we began the difficult trek to Las Moras with the drilling equipment. On the 18th we broke ground.

Today (March 24th) we have drilled down 72 feet. The last 30 feet of drilling has been through very hard rock, allowing us to average only four or five feet per day. According to the experts, there should be water under this layer of rock.

Since we did not have the luxury of getting a geo-hydraulic study of the site, we have no idea how soon we will break through, how deep the water may be, or if there is even water. But we are trusting God to prove Himself the faithful provider once again.

Yesterday, one of our local friends came from another village to help us as we continued to dig through the rock in hopes of hitting water quickly. He is bold and came to tell us what the entire community is thinking—but not saying—as we continue to work.

We did not get permission from the patron spirit that rules this community. He continued to tell us that we must merely leave a small offering of a few pesos on the top of the hill that overlooks the community, the high place, so that everything will go more quickly. This simple ritual, by his estimation, would ensure that people will not be hurt and equipment will not fail. It would guarantee our success.

What we have here is a conflict between the people’s allegiance to a territorial spirit who governs their lives and actions and the King of Kings. We are longing for a power encounter with the One True God.

We have come to realize that drilling a well among animists is more than just bringing a drilling rig and grinding through rock. This is a spiritual battle against beliefs that oppose God. This is a battle for the hearts of people who are thirsty for liberation.

The people of this community in Las Moras look on, expecting certain failure. Please pray for a breakthrough in rock and the hearts of the people of Las Moras so that God would be honored and glorified here. The people do need water from this well, but more importantly, they need Living Water that only comes from Jesus.

*For security purposes, names have been changed.

By a Pioneer in the Middle East

On Wednesday morning we hopped out of the car and began ascending the stairway with packages of food, diapers and a child’s car seat. As we climbed flight by flight, garbage was blowing down the steps and curious little faces were peeking from behind doors to watch us. We arrived at Um Ahmed’s (the mother of Ahmed) doorway and knocked. She greeted us and invited us in. We slipped off our shoes—as is the custom—and crossed the threshold.

Usually when we go out visiting, we load my van with 45 pounds of food packages and many bundles of diapers. My dear ministry partner, a new Christian from a Muslim background, sits beside me calling through a long list of newly arrived Syrian refugee families. She directs me through the maze of narrow streets in our “little town” of half a million people within a vast urban expanse.

Before going in to deliver our gifts, we park in front of the rundown apartment building and ask the Lord to strengthen and lead us to make Him known among this family. We long to see his healing break forth in their lives.

That Wednesday at Um Ahmed’s home, many children came and went from the tiny room. The walls were marked with cracks of disrepair. The carpet on the floor was actually an empty grain sack given by the UN in the refugee camps, a sure sign that this family escaped the border camp.

“Where is your home in Syria?” I asked her. This simple question broke the dam from behind her tired face. As she began her story, her mother-in-law rocked herself back and forth while weeping in the corner.

She escaped Syria with her children in the middle of the night after hiding them in an empty water tank on the roof of her building during the shooting and bombing. The stress continued to build, and at one point, the children reached a height of anxiety that even kept them from being able to cry.

Months before we met her, she watched the security forces drag her husband from their home in Syria. From that moment she had no doubt—she knew they had killed him. While mourning his death, she fled Syria with her children and mother-in-law. But months after he had been taken and she fled, her husband miraculously appeared at their door. He is alive, though he can hardly walk due to the pain in his back. He suffered severe beatings. He cannot sleep soundly because he relives the terrors he sees when he closes his eyes.

Her children weep at night, and their 4-year-old has stopped talking. They mourn the loss of their homes, their loved ones, and their dignity. Now, more than ever, they are asking if God really sees them in their suffering.

During each visit we listen and cry with them. We share stories of Jesus’ love, compassion and healing power. We pray with them and plead for Jesus to help us make sense of it all.

After drinking the strong coffee offered with shaking hands, we bless them and leave. We must visit the next family on our list, delivering food and diapers. In our community there are 5,000 families just like Um Ahmed’s. Each one has suffered more than I can fathom, and each one is precious to Jesus. Most are hungry, eager to hear of Jesus’ love, and to ready to receive prayer. Some are actively seeking Him. Others already put their trust in Him.

During our years in Syria, we—and many others—prayed for God to open a door of opportunity among Syrians. I never would have imaged that only a few years later we would have the unprecedented opportunity to minister openly to Syrian refugees in Jesus’ name. The burdens they carry are too heavy for our hearts to bear, so we leave them in the hands of our heavenly Father. My prayer is that they will also put their hearts in His mighty hands.

Click here to read more about the situation and current needs in Syria.

By a Pioneer in Asia

The four of us swayed our way over a hanging bridge suspended above the river. Winding through narrow partitions in the rice field, we came upon an extended family taking a break from their plowing under the hot midday sun. We chatted with these farmers, peppering the conversation with references to God, which is our custom as church-planters among an unreached people group. It is our belief that people will respond—if God is at work in them—when they hear we follow Him.

Somewhere in the conversation, the family pointed our attention to a school-aged boy named Sendi. We had seen him duck in and out of the rice hut since our arrival. Sendi is deaf and mute and has been since age three. We asked more questions and learned that his father died, and his mother works near the capital city. He lives near the rice fields with his grandparents.

We asked if they would like us to pray for Sendi in the name of Jesus. They said yes and summoned the grandfather who was plowing in the field with two yoked cows. He made his way up to the hut and stood before us, covered in mud. We explained that we are followers of Jesus and that we wanted to pray for his grandson. Without hesitation he agreed.

We laid hands on this boy and began to pray, asking God to heal cells, nerve connections, brain sections, ear bones, and tongue. Sendi remained calm. We continued to pray in a mix of English and two local languages. When we finally brought the prayer to a close, everyone looked at him. We asked him various questions. He just smiled, but said nothing. He did not seem to hear anything.

By then his grandmother had arrived. She retold the full story of how he had a bad fever when he was three years old, and that is when he lost his ability to hear and speak. Her love for her grandson was evident, and she was deeply grateful for our prayers—as were all the others in the hut.

They offered us food and we shared the food from our bag with them. While we ate, one of the women eagerly shared that there is another boy who is sick and in need of prayer.

We saw no evidence of discouragement from them, despite the fact that Sendi did not seem to be healed after our prayer. We believe God can heal, and we will continue to seek out those who welcome our prayers for them and who want to learn the way of peace.

By a Pioneer in Southeast Asia

Gospel ministry often brings unexpected and delightful moments. At least, that’s what we encounter as we minister here in Southeast Asia.

On a recent evangelistic excursion, we took a local partner with us. She is only 20 years old, but she is very aggressive in her witness. She attended an Islamic boarding school for seven years but gave her life to Christ. A few months ago she graduated from the missions school we partner with in our city.

When we arrived in the central province we stumbled onto a community of dancers—break-dancers no less! We quickly made a connection with their 21-year-old leader, an expert in a type of robotic, hip-hop dance and graffiti painting.

Because we are foreigners, there was a mob of people around us at the park, which kept us from sharing much at that moment. So, we took the opportunity to invite this leader to supper the following night, and our local partner presented the Gospel then. He was attentive and responded positively, but hesitant to fully embrace the message. The following night we invited him again. She continued her gospel presentation with the story of Cain and Abel, giving evidence of our need for a sin sacrifice.

We were grateful when he asked us to visit his family home to pray for his younger brother who is suffering from a serious toothache. He even gave us the contact information for his girlfriend who attends a university in our city. We are glad that he wants to keep contact.

Our interest in their hip-hop culture and art scene is genuine, giving us common ground for relationship. We anticipate an opportunity to follow up with him in the future. He even came to our hotel to see us off—an encouraging sign! He has influence in the lives at least 50 teenagers and young adults in his artistic community, and we hope to see him make the decision to follow Christ and lead his friends to the Lord. It would be so exciting to see them form a new church.

In the meantime, we are happy to follow-up with him and look for people like him who are interested in hearing about God. May we be conduits of His love as we share the Gospel with these people who have never had the chance to hear.

By Amanda Lynn

Imagine it. Dawn breaks. Today is the day that you will take your family across the border. Your own home is no longer a safe refuge.

You pack the most necessary of items in a few baskets and bags and place them in your car—a bit of food, a few family photos, some blankets and perhaps a change of clothes. The goal is to appear as if you are crossing the border for a day trip or a picnic so as not to alert the border patrol of your intent not to return to Syria.

Because of the fear of uprisings and riots, border guards are suspicious of men between the ages of 16 and 30. So you have gathered your children and parents, leaving your husband, brother and eldest son back home. Though your family is now fragmented, you pray that God will have mercy and allow you to pass intact.

The safety you hope for is darkened by the swarm of uncertainties buzzing in your head: Where will we live? Will there be work? Will our men who remain in Syria be safe? How can we survive without them to provide and care for us? How will my children be educated? Will someone help us in this new land?

This scenario, though extreme, is all too common as people are fleeing Syria as refugees to Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, North Africa and the Middle East. The Syrian crisis is heartbreaking but real.

The UN estimates that more than 70,000 Syrians have died in the nearly two-year civil war, and over two million are internally displaced within Syria. In these two years, more than 860,000 Syrians have fled their homes and jobs to find refuge in Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, North Africa or the Middle East. Worse still is that nearly half of the refugees who have fled are children.

Life in refugee camps is difficult. The nights are cold. Stomachs are empty. Fear and uncertainty prevail. They need blankets, clothing, shoes, food, fuel for cooking, medicines and access to medical care. They also need care for their souls.

But in the midst the chaos, Pioneers are taking this opportunity to demonstrate the love of Jesus through meeting immediate material needs by giving food, blankets, donated clothing, heaters and other essential goods. They pair this relief with media outreach and evangelism. As we see in scripture, Jesus did not neglect the physical needs of people—healing the sick, feeding the hungry. The power of that testimony often opened hearts so that He could meet the deepest needs of hearts. Pioneers and local churches in these regions are doing the same.

One Pioneer writes,

“As we’ve gotten to know some of them [Syrian refugees], we’ve become aware of their needs. The living situations of many are dismal. Often several families live together in a small room without electricity, running water, bathroom or kitchen space. For many of them, their kids aren’t able to attend school because they don’t have money. We’ve started handing out food boxes and shoeboxes from Operation Christmas Child. Please join us in praying for wisdom about where and how to best be involved in meeting both the physical and spiritual needs of our neighbors.”

In some cases, refugees are embracing the hope that comes through faith in Jesus alone. As God transforms their hearts, He is growing many of them into men and women who are bearing fruit among their own displaced countrymen. One Syrian refugee saw Christ heal his daughter while in the refugee camp. This event drew him to follow Jesus. Now he is reaching out by giving sacrificially and boldly proclaiming Christ.

“This winter he spent nights sleeping on his roof so that the women of another family could share a room with his wife and kids. He also housed another family whose belongings had been washed away in recent flooding. Praise God for these sacrificial acts of love from a new believer. Two others have recently made professions of faith. Pray that all of them would stand firm and continue to put themselves in contact with other believers so that they can be discipled.”

The vision these Pioneers and local Christians have is huge, despite the challenge. They hope many of the lost of Syria will find immediate comfort. They long to see Syrians meet the real Jesus for the first time. They desire to see the new believers share the gospel with other refugees and eventually take it back to their friends and family in Syria. This big vision is only possible as a work of God.

Find out more about how you can help by clicking here. Please share this information with friends who desire to see Syrian refugees know Jesus.

*Headline: New York Times, Photo credit: Daily Record, Cover from The Economist.

By a Pioneer in Ghana

The biggest lesson I am learning in Ghana
Is not perfecting the bucket shower
Or finding more energy to greet every single person who sees me.
It is not finding a solid church
Or figuring out how to sleep in hot, sticky, humid weather.
It is not learning how to work with children and foster parents
Or understanding this culture.

It is that Jesus is everything.

When relationships are broken, seek Him.
When I am tired, seek Him.
When I have no strength, seek Him.
When there seem to be no answers, seek Him.
When I want to give up, seek Him.
When I am lifted up by a conversation with a friend, seek Him.
In pain, seek Him.
In joy, seek Him.
In uncertainty about the future, seek Him.

Seek Jesus.

It is not about my plans, my desires, or my passions.

It is about Jesus and His plans, His desires, and His passions .

This is not new.
I have known this for a long time.
But the crazy thing about trials, reading scripture and just having Jesus is
From this position I know Him in ways I have never known Him before.
Life in Ghana is extremely hard.
I am experiencing what I have known in my head for so long.
If this life is all about Jesus, something must change.
This life is not about us.
It's not about what we want.

It is about Jesus and His dreams and desires.

For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and He died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for Him who for their sake died and was raised.
2 Corinthians 5:14-15

By Amanda Lynn

On February 19, Susanne Price—a Pioneer serving in Africa—was interviewed on Faith Radio. She told the story of her conversion, her missionary career and the medical challenges she is facing now. Through it all you can hear the joy of God spilling from her lips.

Susanne grew up in a nominally Christian home, attending church only on special religious holidays. Upon entering the eighth grade, she turned to a rebellious path, one that kept her wandering until she was 34 years old.

“It took me that long to finally give up,” she explains. “I was exhausted with the worldly life.”

As a result of a powerful meeting with Jesus, she was freed from her addictions and washed of her sin.

“It was really a full ‘Acts 2 conversion’,” Susanne recalls enthusiastically, “and I will never be the same.”

Her new faith gave her the desire to absorb anything she could learn about Christian life, and she began to grow because of the shepherding of a good pastor. Embracing involvement in church community and activities, she soon embarked on mission trips to Africa, where she encountered African women who were worn down, struggling with addiction, abused and sad. Susanne could relate to them because of her own past.

“My heart breaks for women who have been abused,” she relates passionately. “It has become my heart to share with women how valuable they are.”

After that experience she found it a natural transition to become a full-time missionary ministering to women in Africa. Upon beginning her work and hearing the real stories of these women, she became overwhelmed by their suffering and pain. But someone reminded her of an African proverb: “You cannot eat an elephant in one bite.” The problems are as big as an elephant, but everyone has a responsibility to take their bite.

“So I started a Bible study with these women, which was fantastic!” Susanne notes. “I was able to watch God crash into these women’s lives.”

The group exploded in size, and she had the privilege to watch God work in and through these women. But just as things began to become really exciting, Susanne’s world turned upside down when she found a lump in her breast. She came back to America for diagnosis and treatment. The doctors found stage IV breast cancer.

“It was a kick in the gut that I wouldn’t be going back to Africa right away,” Susanne says.

God dramatically changed her daily life and ministry, but he is opening up new doors in clinics and hospitals with patients and medical staff. She refocused by saying, “Ok, God. If you are having me walk this path then I’m all in.”

There was no way around it without surrender. And despite the difficulty, she exhorts, “He is over and above faithful in having people experience Jesus in a new way because of what I’m going through … It sounds really bizarre! I’m in chemo, but I am having so much fun. It’s just a great joy to share with people down at the clinic, to share with people here.” As she talks about her new role and this journey with God she says, “Onward we go together!”

Listen to the full story on Faith Radio.

You may also review Susanne’s blog about her current journey at CaringBridge.org. Her site name is susanneprice.

By a Pioneer in Southeast Asia

I arrived at the park that morning at our normal hour to meet up with my walking group here in this conservative Muslim city in Southeast Asia. When I arrived, Mr. Firm (as translated from Arabic) was there to greet me with a big smile and a “Welcome home!”

A while back, I was fasting and praying for more relationships with the Muslims in my area. I brought my family here to be part of a team of church planters. Our desire is to see new churches spring up among this unreached people group, ones who have little opportunity to hear and understand the gospel unless someone is willing to come here and tell them. One day on my morning walk, the Spirit answered my prayer by leading me to an Ustad, a religious teacher. I asked where he was going, and he replied, “I am on my way to the park for a walk.” In a moment of Spirit boldness I said, “Can I come along?”

That day he introduced me to a group of 20 men who walk together every morning. We are all trying to lose a few pounds, but I think that most of us really come back again and again because of the sense of community we have with one another. They teach me Arabic words and laugh at my pronunciation. We share our lives. I tell them the Good News. I am waiting on the Spirit to open doors, open my mouth and ultimately to open their hearts. It is a blessing to be received into this social group, especially since we live in a city known for its strict religious practice.

Lately, Mr. Firm and I have become good friends, talking about our families, our jobs, life’s mysteries and hope in the forgiveness of sins. He is not yet a believer, but I have shared the Good News with him 10 times in 10 different ways. He is unique in his desire to continue listening—and even delighting—as I talk about my hope in Jesus, though he cannot yet embrace the idea of the deity of Christ.

Please fast and pray along with me for my good friend, Mr. Firm. Pray for God to water the seeds of the gospel through dreams and visions. I need wisdom to share the punishment of the law so that Mr. Firm will understand he cannot be justified by it. Pray that he will run to Isa Al-Masih, who is Jesus the Messiah, Savior of all mankind.

By J. LaBombard, a Pioneer in Southeast Asia

I recently returned from the Isaan region of Eastern Thailand. I traveled there with my teammate to capture the story of fellow Pioneers, Phil and Jenny Malone.

The Malones long to see a church-planting movement begin among the 22 million unreached people of Isaan by the year 2020.
Visiting town after town without encountering a single believer was a testament to the pervasive darkness in a region some have called the spiritual black hole of Thailand.

When I first heard the Malones’ vision I thought to myself, "This is impossible for man,” and indeed it is. 
But by the Lord's sovereign hand, salvation will come to Isaan—that is my prayer. For we do not serve a god crafted by the hands of men. We are not saved by a spirit living in a wooden house. Our hope is not found in repetition of good deeds. Rather, we serve the God Most High, the Lord of Hosts and King of Glory! As He calls men unto Himself who in turn pour out their lives for His name’s sake, "Yea, all kings shall fall down before him; All nations shall serve him" (Psalm 72:11).

Though Isaan is very dark, the Malones have found that there is openness to the gospel message. Jenny writes,

We have nearly come to the end of our first 3 months here in Ubon, having dedicated this time to praying before getting involved in any ministry. As that time ends, it appears that God is revealing our next steps.

We have been going to the local park one evening a week to pray and be among people who gather to do exercise, feed the fish and hang out. Two weeks ago I met Aun, a 17-year-old who noticed I could speak Thai. Over the next hour we chatted about many things, including the Good News about Jesus.

Later we shared an evening meal with her warm and loving family. Aun’s father is even happy for her to learn about Jesus from us in order to increase her knowledge. He is of the very common opinion that all religions teach us to be good and so there is no reason for anyone to change. They believe "to be Thai is to be Buddhist."

Aun and I met again, to begin moving chronologically through Bible stories. I encouraged her to share what we read with her family and to talk with them about how we can learn and obey God’s Word. We prayed, thanking God for being our Creator and asking Him to help her with a problem she shared with me.

Will you join Phil and Jenny in praying for Pray for Aun and her family to develop a relationship with the Living God? Also, consider partnering with them to ignite the impossible among the Isaan of Eastern Thailand by asking God to send workers to join their team. Pray for Him prepare the hearts of the Isaan to receive the message of peace that comes only through His Son Jesus. Maybe God is even nudging you to think about becoming a beacon of light in that spiritual black hole.

For more information, please e-mail bottomline@pioneers.org.

By Pioneers-USA

New Novel Explores the Risks and Rewards of Missionary Work Among the Unreached.

Orlando, February 12, 2013: What if the very people you were trying to reach with the gospel killed your husband and abducted you and your son?

Dalaina May, a church planter serving with her husband and four sons among an isolated tribe in Peru, asked herself this very question—and wrote a novel describing such a scenario.

In Yielded Captive, Dalaina draws from her own experiences living in the jungle and unflinchingly explores the suffering and joy that come with taking the gospel to unreached areas. The novel traces the story of Allison Carter and her infant son Isaac as they are forcibly assimilated into a tribe that has no contact with the outside world.

Allison must cope with adjusting to a primitive lifestyle among the “Shampiri,” learning a new language and keeping her battered faith intact—all while attempting to raise her son without the care and encouragement of her husband and missionary colleagues.

“I think it is easy for believers to just sugarcoat what living for God looks like,” Dalaina notes. “When the unspeakable happens, we have the choice to either walk away from our faith, ignore the fact that our beliefs and reality are in opposition or re-examine our theology.”

Through a gripping narrative, Yielded Captive does just that, by exploring big questions of how God can use suffering and persecution to accomplish His purposes—particularly His purposes to bring the gospel to the most difficult places on earth.

Yielded Captive also recounts the high adventure and unusual discoveries that come with living in a different culture, as Allison adjusts to her new life, makes friends among the tribe and learns the extraordinary ways the Shampiri survive in the jungle.

Yielded Captive is available in paperback wherever books are sold and on Amazon Kindle and iBooks.

Pioneers is an evangelical mission movement with 2,600 international members serving on 250 church-planting teams in 100 countries among 180 people groups in 117 languages. For more information and to find out how you can get involved, visit www.pioneers.org.

By a Pioneer in the Balkans

I found the house that I was looking for in a remote area outside of my city here in the Balkans. I knocked. They ushered me into a room with about 35 Muslim men sitting on the floor in a half circle. I had come there in search of a zikr service, which is a meeting of mystical Muslims seeking closeness to God.
As part of my research, I try to attend various Muslim meetings. I am also always in search of "people of peace", a term that we use for non-believers who are receptive to the Gospel message and may be influencers in their own communities.

I expected to sit quietly in a corner somewhere to listen and observe, because that is usually what happens when I attend a Muslim meeting. But the man sitting across from me, the spiritual leader of the group, addressed me: “We were deciding which topic to discuss tonight when we heard your knock on the door. We believe Allah sent you to us. We would like to ask you what you want to say to the group.” I was uncomfortable—and somewhat fearful—as the entire group of men stared at me in absolute silence.

Regardless of my fears, I proceeded to engage the leader in a conversation that would last for two and a half hours. The other men sat watching in silence while smoking.

After we were halfway into our long discussion, we heard the loud call to prayer from the mosque, summoning all Muslims to come for prayer. Each person in the room, including me, looked to the leader to follow his cue. He paused and looked at me. After a moment he said, “Please continue.” In other words, he made a decision for the entire group that it was more important to continue our discussion than to perform the prescribed ritual prayers. It was a huge moment, as skipping prayers is serious. And so we continued for another hour.

Finally, I thanked him for his time and asked if I could come back another time. He told me that I was always welcome and that they would love to have me visit again. As I stood up, each man in the room rose to his feet and bowed before me. They showered me with books and other gifts when we parted.

As I reflect on this incredible meeting, I am encouraged because I felt the presence of the Lord radiating out of me into the room. I looked these men in the eyes, and I could see they were affected spiritually. God used me to speak to their hearts. The words I said to them were not nearly so important as what God was saying to them.

Pray that this sheikh, or leader, would have a miraculous experience with Jesus. It would be so easy for him to return to the group and say, “Today we will read from a different holy book, the Bible.” These 35 heads-of-household could share with their extended families, and we would have a new church!

Though that scenario is difficult to imagine, it is possible with God. Thank you for your joyful perseverance in prayer.

*Note: By mistake, this story was mistakenly reported to have happened in Southeast Asia in the BottomLine Update. We apologize for any confusion.

By a Pioneers-USA

With tax season just around the corner, you may need to view a complete summary of your giving in 2012. While a summary of your year-to-date giving is always available on your regular receipts (meaning you can refer to your last receipt for 2012), a great way of accessing your 2012 Annual Giving Statement is through Pioneers’ online Donor Portal.

Our new, easy-to-use web portal at Pioneers.org/MyAccount, offers many features and options. You can now:

• Create an online profile
• Update your current information with Pioneers
• Manage your giving to missionaries and/or projects
• Download, print, and/or review comprehensive annual giving reports
  

By a Pioneer in East Africa

Twenty minutes before the sun raises its head above the horizon, a rooster warns the world of its coming. The rhythms of life are set in motion. Each new day is slightly mysterious, balancing between mundane and unexpected. The village awakens around us. Women make fires for porridge, shepherd boys begin singing to their cows to rouse them for the day’s journey to graze, girls giggle as they sweep the compounds. Soon the air is filled with the chatter and squeaking as women pump water from over-used bore holes. Andrea, the guard, slashes grass outside our house to keep snakes and other pesky critters away. Birds sing happily, celebrating the new day.

By the time the sun reaches through the window in my round rock house, the villagers have been up for an hour. But I wait until then to get up with the sun, because we have no electricity. I pull on a skirt and shirt, slather on sunscreen, add some beads if I’m feeling fancy and head out the door. I have not looked in a mirror for over a week. Freedom!

The first order of the day is to make a charcoal fire. Once it flares, we fan it to be it red-hot for cooking. There is lots of smoke and the smell is seared into my clothing and hair. We keep the fire burning all morning to cook porridge, boil drinking water, make coffee and do other baking projects, as bread takes four hours on the coals.

We have devotions over a cup of coffee and porridge—the sweetest moment of the day—before the demands come, and language lessons begin. We rest in the life-giving words, allowing God to deal with our heart issues, as we cry out to Him for direction, wisdom and grace. These moments are never wasted. I would love to linger, but the day presses me forward.

We pray together and go over the day’s schedule, though we are free from the clock that governs the schedule of others. We will clean the compound, study the language, help with animal health, travel to the villages, share the Word of God through storying, cook food, and when the sun goes down we will entertain ourselves with conversation and worship. It is simple, but it is consuming.

At times I wonder, “What did I accomplish today?” I walked to the market. On the way I greeted the tailor, spoke with Mama Sarah, stopped by someone’s house, shook hands with 50 people, talked with beggars, chatted with the store clerk, amicably argued over prices, bought my goods, fought off two marriage proposals and came home. A trip to the market is not really about purchases, it is about community and relationships. If I get caught up in productivity and accomplishments, I rush over the people and miss the bigger scheme of relationships and participating in village life.

As evening comes, I make another fire to cook dinner. The crickets and frogs join in the last chorus of the day and the sun rests beyond the horizon. Bright stars splash against the dark sky with radiance. We hear the sounds of distant villages and pray that one day the sound rising from the villages will be that of worship and praise. But until that day comes, we continue to live here, asking God to fill our days with the work and relationships that He wants us to have and submitting our schedules to Him so He may be glorified in it all.

Please pray that God will guide us with His love and wisdom and that we would have the grace for each day He gives us here. Pray that the villagers we live among would recognize the presence of God in our lives.

By Amanda Lynn

“We feel like we are right back in the time of Acts, experiencing God’s amazing power and love covering us all,” writes a Pioneer in India. “We are desperate for your constant prayers!”

God is moving in surprising and miraculous ways as He reaches out through them to a community of hijra, or eunuchs, in their host community. As He pours Himself out they are being transformed.

Eunuchs in India are transgender men dressed as women. But it’s more than outward female adornment. These people identify themselves as women, talk and walk like women. Sometimes families are disappointed to have a son and raise their son as a daughter. Others become eunuchs because they have homosexual tendencies in a culture that does not accept that lifestyle. Almost all of them come from sexually abusive backgrounds. So they live together in homes as families—usually impoverished—begging and prostituting themselves to make money to give to the leader of their house. They are outcasts from their families and their culture, and most people are afraid of them. “When encountering eunuchs on the road, people have the tendency to look the other way or judge them immediately.” The eunuchs take advantage of that fear to make money by showing up at their parties or homes and threatening to embarrass, harass or curse the family if they do not pay.

For the last few years these Pioneers have been in fellowship with an Indian man who was formerly a cross-dresser and homosexual in a community of eunuchs. However, ten years ago he was saved and developed a heart to minister to other eunuchs by introducing them to the love of Jesus. And now there is a team of people, Pioneers and local Christians, who are able to help him make this vision a reality.

At Christmastime in 2011, the team initiated a relationship with one eunuch community by going to their home to sing Christmas carols, pray for them, share a meal with them and bring them some household gifts. Six months later the team invited them to share a meal in a team member’s home, and ten of them came.

They were shocked and grateful, because they had never been invited into a home for dinner. They had never received invitations of friendship. That night we prayed for them, and several of them were healed of sicknesses. That opened the door to telling them about the Jesus who healed them. Two weeks later we started meeting weekly for an Alpha Course (a Bible study over dinner designed for non-believers who are seeking Truth).

After 14 weeks of study and fellowship, the team gave them an opportunity to make a final commitment to follow Jesus. They had a full understanding of who He is, and each of them made the decision to accept Christ—13 so far. Four of them expressed an interest to be baptized. “God is doing it—rescuing and restoring in a seemingly impossible situation! I am blown away at His power and gentle compassion for these overlooked and unwanted people.”

The transformation in their lives is obvious. Two have returned to their homes to be reconciled with their families. Several have taken jobs doing manual labor instead of begging. They have all given up prostitution. Now they need other new opportunities for making money, such as tailoring or jewelry-making.

There are so many complexities that we had no idea about—including how their transformation seems threatening to the people in authority who are exploiting them! We are just trying to do the things Jesus would have done and continue to be his hands and feet. They are just people; grateful, respectful, shy, polite human beings who simply desire to know acceptance and love. It’s the easiest thing in the world to love them, eat with them and share our Savior with them.”

Who is in your neighborhood that seems difficult to love? Maybe it’s not as hard as you think.

By Pioneers-USA

Whether you are a current donor or would like to be one, Pioneers' new online Donor Portal is available for managing your giving to Pioneers missionaries and projects. With a few simple clicks and keystrokes you may easily begin, change and manage all of your giving. The site will help you to:

• Keep your contact information current
• View your history of gifts to Pioneers missionaries or projects
• Manage your preferences for what type of information you would like to receive from Pioneers
• Prepare for tax season by getting your year-end giving statements
• Make changes in automated giving by Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) for today and the future

Log onto www.Pioneers.org/MyAccount. All you need to get started is your e-mail address, a password that you create for the donor portal, and if you are a current giver, your donor number from one of your gift receipts.

Try it out. If you have problems, you may e-mail us at finance@orlandoteam.com or call us at 800.775.784 and ask for the finance department.

By Amanda Lynn

Today is the official release of Yielded Captive by Dalaina May, the newest title from BottomLine Media. Her novel is an exploration of suffering and hardship in the backdrop of ministry in the Peruvian jungle. As she weaves this story, she dives headlong into hope and pain, forgiveness and bitterness, joy and despair.

Recently I had the privilege to read her book. After reading the first page I was hooked—reading it straight through in a 24-hour period. I got entangled in the story and characters, and it prompted me to approach God with my own questions about how His sovereignty and goodness are at play while we live out sorrow and tragedy here on earth.

Though she is living and serving in Peru right now, I was able to interview her via an e-mail exchange.

Pioneers-USA:
Dalaina, in your own words, without giving away the plot, tell us about your book?

Dalaina:
Yielded Captive is a novel set in Peru in which a missionary and her infant son are captured by the uncontacted native tribe their team had been attempting to reach with the Gospel.

Pioneers-USA:
There are many gut-wrenching scenes in Yielded Captive. Suffering is a theme. What prompted you to write this story?

Dalaina:
As we were preparing to move to Peru, some friends and fellow missionaries were in a car accident that took the life of their eighteen-month-old son. That tragedy sent me into a bit of a tale-spin as I wondered how God could let something like that happen to a family who was actively serving Him and living in His will. Writing Yielded Captive was, in part, my way of examining how suffering and God's glory intersect.

Pioneers-USA:
In addition to being an author, you are also a wife, mother and missionary. Tell us a bit about your life and ministry.

Dalaina:
We work in a small tribe much like the one portrayed in my book. My days are filled with homeschooling my older boys (a 5-year-old and 4-year-old twins), looking after my baby (5 months), and simply living in a very primitive setting (think bathing in the river, doing laundry by hand, and functioning without refrigeration). Ministry really just looks like rubbing shoulders with my neighbors. I have friends around the village with whom I spend time doing chores or simply watching our kids play together. I also have the privilege of working as a midwife for many of the births in the village and providing basic medical care in our community.

Pioneers-USA:
What is your desire for this book and the audience who reads it? What do you want your readers to experience through it?

Dalaina:
I think it is easy for believers to just sugarcoat what living for God looks like. When the unspeakable happens, we have the choice to either walk away from our faith, ignore the fact that our beliefs and reality are in opposition, or re-examine our theology. Just as writing Yielded Captive made me take another look at what Scripture says about God and the Christian life, I hope that my readers are left with a more accurate view of who God is and that they stand in awe at the complexity and intricacy of His nature. Ultimately, I hope they walk away with the understanding that though God's ways are impossible to predict or understand, He is always, always, always good.

Pioneers-USA:
Did writing this book affect your relationship with God? Has it changed the way you think about or go about your ministry?

Dalaina:
The funny thing is that I started the writing process at a time of deep grieving with many deep questions in my heart. When I was finished, I hadn't really come up with any answers to those specific questions. What I did realize, though, was that I KNEW God better and the answers were actually not so important. I feel like I gained the ability to trust Him even in the middle of the worst of situations, even if the answers to "Why?" are never given.

I wholeheartedly recommend Yielded Captive to you. Get your own copy at www.Pioneers.org/Store. It is available in paperback, iBooks, and Kindle.

By Pioneers in South Asia

Throughout Africa, Asia and the Middle East, henna (a temporary plant-based dye) is used to dye hair and beards—giving it a reddish tint, or helping to hide the gray and white. Women use it on their fingernails and toenails to enhance femininity. But the most common use of henna is in decorative body art on the hands and feet, which is becoming increasingly popular in the West.

In these cultures, people often believe that the use of henna brings blessing or luck. It is an important part of holiday celebrations and cultural rites, like weddings. The designs can be quite elaborate. Local henna artists are respected for their craft, and many even earn a living with henna.

Read this excerpt from the letter of a Pioneer who is using henna to reach out with the gospel.

After hearing from a friend about the creative use of henna art to share the gospel, I was intrigued. I watched videos and read information. I wondered if there was a way to tell the whole story from Creation to Christ on the palm of a hand. After some practice, I found a way.

With henna, I can share the gospel without having constant eye contact that leaves me wondering, “What are they thinking? Am I saying it right? Do they understand me?” I can focus on the art and the story and let the Holy Spirit do His work. Finally, I draw a clock. I tell them that time is passing, and their death is certain. But I remind them that they have heard what I believe and that they have a choice to make about Jesus. Then I ask the person to retell the story back to me by using the henna cues to remember the details. It reinforces the story and helps me to clarify any misunderstandings. And they get to take the picture home with them to repeat it to others.

Recently, I was asked to teach this henna story-telling method to some national women who are partners in the gospel work. Four of the women they have shared with have made a decision to follow Jesus. Praise God! But they suffer from persecution as well. Pray that they will be courageous and that the Lord will be their protector.

May God continue to use Pioneers and national believers creatively so that He may be known. Ask God for many people to hear and understand from henna story-telling.

By a Pioneer in North Africa

I thought it might be fun to share some of the funny cultural mistakes we still make, despite having lived in the Middle East for eleven years. No amount of training—language, cultural or religious—is sufficient to help us avoid all of these blunders. It keeps us humble and smiling.

• I went to my daughter’s first grade class to read Green Eggs and Ham. “Miss,” asked one child, “what is ham?” I stopped for a shocked moment, realizing I was reading this book to Muslim kids in a country where pork products are seen as unclean and forbidden.
   
• I went to a nut shop to buy mixed nuts to serve to guests. I told the vendor in my best Arabic, “I want to buy illegal drugs from you.” He snickered and asked if I meant nuts instead of drugs. In my mind, the two words sound very similar in Arabic.
   
• My daughter was sick while we were traveling, so I ran into the closest little store to buy some juice. I didn’t realize it was a liquor store until I was at the counter with my juice. He put my juice in a black plastic bag, and I realized that the Muslims around me would assume that I was buying alcohol (a substance strictly forbidden for Muslims which is always bagged in black plastic). I left the store overtly pulling my juice out of the bag to prove that I hadn’t purchased something else.
   
• With the usual water shortages, I was so proud to tell my Muslim friend how I saved my kid’s bath water to flush toilets and clean the floor. She was horrified at what I had done. I made my floor unclean by using “dirty” water to clean it. She said she could never pray at my house because my floors were unclean, which may inhibit her visits.

The goal in coming here was never to build a name or reputation for ourselves, it was to make Jesus known. When our mistakes are grave, the Lord is able to protect our reputations. When they are small, they provide bridges of laughter with the local people. This is how we can ensure that God is doing the work and will receive the glory.

By a Pioneer in Southeast Asia

Shema is the Hebrew word meaning “hear and obey” used in the beginning of the Jewish confession of faith found in Deuteronomy 6: 4-9:

Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your heart. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

Now, the word shema refers to the Judaic creed. As Christians in Southeast Asia, we use shema statements to declare our faith in God. It establishes us as spiritual people, and provides an opportunity for us to share with those who are open to spiritual dialogue.

Jesus commands His followers to make disciples of all nations (Matt. 28:19). So sometimes we declare the truth of the gospel all at once, story by story or nugget of truth by nugget of truth. For us, shema statements are an important part of seizing opportunities. But we remember it is not our role to change people’s hearts. Only the Holy Spirit can do that.

Early in our new life here, we were searching for shema statements that would work in any circumstance. However, God led us in a different direction. Now the overflow of our quiet times allows us to speak with people about what God is teaching us. Here are two examples of how we have recently used shema statements in our gospel ministry.

One night our neighbors brought us a plate of local food to enjoy. This culture demands that you return the dish to the giver with more food. We used this as a chance to share Mexican food with them. Upon receiving the meal we prepared, the husband was concerned that the food might not be halal, the standard of Muslim food laws. He asked if we cook pork, a meat that is for forbidden food for Muslims. We told them we are free to eat such food, but we choose to limit our freedom to avoid creating stumbling blocks for our friends. It was a way for us to express the truth from 1 Corinthians 8.

Additionally, many people here ask us, “What religion do you practice?” Unfortunately, the word “Christianity” comes with a lot of unwanted baggage due to the influence of Western culture. Instead, we opt to tell people that we are followers of Isa, the Arabic name for Jesus. Many ask what we mean, giving us the opportunity to explain a relevant truth from God’s Word.

So our challenge for you is this: take some time to consider how you might use a shema statement about what God has been teaching you to open faith dialogue with the people you interact with throughout the day.

Fondly known to many as “Uncle Jack,” Dr. Edwin L. Frizen, Jr., 87, went to be with the Lord on Saturday, December 22, 2012 at 10:50 in the evening in Orlando, Florida, after a period of illness and declining health. He passed peacefully into the presence of his Lord.

At an all-team meeting with Pioneers staff in Orlando earlier in the year, Jack described himself as “an ordinary person with an extraordinary God.” He spoke of “being in the right place at the right time.” Throughout his life, Uncle Jack indeed found himself in God’s right place at God’s right time, and “when that takes place, great things can happen. That’s the story of my life”, he said.

Born March 9, 1925, he was named Edwin Leonard Frizen Jr. Jack’s parents dedicated him to missionary service when he was three. He responded to the gospel at age six during a tent meeting his father was holding for children and at age 12 dedicated his life for missionary service.

While serving in the U.S. Navy Seabees during World War II, Jack was heavily involved in the launch of an evangelistic program that was the beginning of SEND International. After several years of service in the Philippines, Jack and his wife, Grace, were placed on loan to the Interdenominational Foreign Mission Association (IFMA) of North America, where Jack served as executive director from 1963-1991 and consulting director from 1991-92.

Jack was the recipient in 1976 of the National Association of Evangelicals' Layman-of-the-Year Award. In 1992, he was named Distinguished Alumnus by Columbia International University. In 2002, the Pioneers Frizen Missionary Training Center was named in honor of Dr. and Mrs. Frizen. In 2009, “Uncle” Jack was presented with Pioneers’ Lifetime Ministry Achievement Award for his ministry service.

Throughout his life, Jack served in many different capacities. He was an honorary U.S. Board member of SEND International and served as an officer and board member of a number of Christian organizations, including: the Evangelical Missions Information Service, National Association of Evangelicals, World Evangelical Alliance and the WEA Missions Commission, the Tyndale House Foundation and the Henry Parsons Crowell & Susan Coleman Crowell Trust.

"Jack Frizen was a true mission statesman,” noted Steve Moore, president of Missio Nexus. “His passion for the Great Commission and unity in the body of Christ was evidenced by his involvement in the founding of SEND International, his 29 years of leadership with the Interdenominational Foreign Mission Association, and his public support of the merger that formed Missio Nexus. His life example inspires all of us to persevere and finish well."

He served as Acting U.S. Director for Pioneers-USA from November 1998 to August 1999. He served as a member of the U.S. and Canadian boards of Pioneers and Pioneers International Council.

Jack was an active member of Filipino International Christian Church in Orlando. He was preceded in death by his beloved sweetheart Grace Elizabeth Howell Frizen on December 27, 2005, after over 55 years of marriage.

A memorial service is planned for 10:30 a.m., January 11, at Wycliffe Bible Translators Volunteer Center, 10968 John Wycliffe Blvd., Orlando, FL. In lieu of flowers, the family welcomes contributions to the Edwin L. Frizen, Jr. Missionary Training Fund (Account #150670) at Pioneers. The purpose of the fund is to carry on Dr. Frizen's legacy of training and prayer for missionaries to the unreached peoples of the world.

Updated information on arrangements will be posted on this page.

By a Pioneer in North Africa

Tetanus, anemia and worms have a few things in common. They are each a topic of the health lessons I have been developing and teaching village women since I came to Africa more than 20 years ago. The more significant issue is that they are all preventable. A simple vaccination protects from tetanus, good nutrition with iron rich food prevents anemia and proper hygiene keeps the worms away.

I often wondered where my studies in public health would lead. Now I realize what a useful blessing it is—that college money was worth it! My degree has allowed me to help needy people. It opens doors to homes and relationships with families and gives me access to women in rural areas and villages.

There are many challenges to teaching health subjects in North Africa. The obvious issue is teaching in another language (or two … or three). The translation gives us insight into local concepts of health. Anemia translates to “poverty of the blood,” and there is no good translation in the dialect for malnutrition, so we say “weak from not eating enough.” In addition to translation, the information must be presented in a way that helps the ladies put the lessons into practice and share them with others. Developing this health manual is a never-ending project.

Other challenges are the misconception of the causes and rationales for treatment. People believe that worms are caused by eating too much candy—why else would kids get worms all the time? Their treatment is a dose of hot and spicy food. We can see the logic there, but we know of truly effective remedies. Some conditions are believed to have spiritual causes. For instance, tetanus is attributed to jinn, or evil spirits. Common folk treatments range from harmless to funny, from bizarre to potentially dangerous.

At the top of the list of the struggles is keeping the listeners’ attention and finding ways to make sure the lessons are really being understood—I have made many adjustments in content and methods. Women in this area are often illiterate, so PowerPoint presentations and printed explanations are not beneficial. They are oral learners who grasp an idea or concept better from a story, skit or simple demonstration. Westerners write things down so that we can refer to them later. People of oral-learning cultures prefer to watch or listen to something over and over. Repetition and practice helps them to remember it and do it on their own.

Please pray as we continue to develop and present these lessons. Pray for opportunities to share deep truths of Jesus, especially when we visit their homes.

By Pioneers in India and Orlando

Sometimes you may wonder, “Is business on the mission field a distraction from the real work of sharing the gospel?” That is a valid question. But business can be the very means of ministry. Pioneers in India, Central Asia, Kenya, West Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia are working creatively to develop income generation projects, allowing nationals to learn valuable local trade skills. Those skills translate into jobs making traditional artisanal treasures that can be sold in the local context and abroad. The relationships that develop provide these workers the opportunity to hear the gospel and interact with Christians who know and care for them.

A Pioneer in India writes,

“I have come to love this nation of spice and color, beauty and intrigue, smiles and monsoon rains. God has opened the door for me to journey with a handful of slum women who are part of our income generation program. They are ready to apply themselves and make the most of this chance.”

Jesus cares for these women as whole individuals. “Do we have the right to minister to the spirit if we do not care for the whole person?” To follow his example, Pioneers walk beside them and offer them a hand. “We bear the message and light of Jesus Christ, the only one who can bring complete transformation from the slums to a mansion in heaven.”

“The women’s income has increased, allowing them to continue their own education, to pay for their children’s tuition and to decrease family debt. Their jobs breathe life and give hope, allowing them to gain dignity and self-worth. And yet it is only a start.”

“I have come to love these Muslim and Hindu women, who, perhaps, would not have had the chance to hear and respond if we were not involved in their lives. They have changed me, too. Now I see this world with greater dimension. And so we continue so that these women and their community will be our inheritance. May His Kingdom come in this slum community as it is in heaven” (See a video from this project or get a copy of Threads—a book about a quilting project for income generation in Southeast Asia—in print or from Amazon Kindle or Apple iBooks).

28 Degrees is a ministry of Pioneers that partners with this project in India, and others like it throughout the developing world. They facilitate church-planting efforts by enabling access to unreached people groups through distribution and marketing of quality handcrafted products. Twenty-eight degrees north latitude is a geographical reference to our headquarters in central Florida, which also crosses through many nations in the Eastern world with the least access to the Good News.

Would you be interested in helping? Do you know others who might be interested? We are currently looking to find more like-minded partners who want to support these income generation projects by offering our product line in your own boutiques, coffee shops, hospital gift shops and church or Christian bookstores. Please contact Mark at mark@28degrees.org with ideas or inquiries.

Also, this month only, we are offering a 20% discount (off your entire order) to our BottomLine Update readers who buy from our online store. As you check out, enter the promotion code: BottomLine2012. We offer handmade jewelry, apparel, home décor, Christmas items, toys, journals, cards & stationary, quilts and purses. Order by December 18th to guarantee delivery before Christmas day! Please feel free to share this offer with your friends.

By a Pioneer in Kosovo

In the spring we started outreach in a neighboring town here in Kosovo. There is a special family opening hearts and doors to the Gospel. Over the past few months we have grown close to Edvin, his wife Adelina and their three children. Sleepovers, dinners, guitar lessons, camp, a leadership seminar and talks over coffee have been the threads weaving the fabric of our lives together. After many long talks, Edvin says the one thing holding him back from making a decision to follow Christ is the Trinity.

Our daughter Elizabeth has become friends with Donjeta, their 17-year-old. Just a few months ago, Donjeta began waking before dawn for the Muslim call to prayer. But now she is starting to read the Bible.

A couple of weeks ago during a visit, Adelina pulled out a card I gave her with Psalm 1 written on it. She wanted me to know that she had been keeping it by her bedside to memorize it. She recited the whole Psalm to me!

Please pray for this family. Pray that Edvin would come to know Jesus, the second person of the Trinity. Pray that the message of Psalm 1 would rest on their home so that they would be “… like a tree planted by streams of water, which gives its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither” (v. 3)

By Pioneers-USA

Imagine sitting at table with six non-believing Chinese students actively and openly studying the Bible. Not only are they studying the Bible, one of them, Chen, is facilitating the discussion!

The passage they are studying is John 3:1-15. They read the passage, ask if there are any words they didn't understand, then discuss observations from the text. Keep in mind these students aren't professing believers yet.

“No one has returned from heaven except the Son of Man,” Chen notes. “So the Son of Man must be different from all humans.”

“Then the question becomes, 'Who is the Son of Man?'” a Pioneer participating in the discussion asks.

“I think He is God,” Chen responds. “Humans can give birth to only humans and the Spirit can only give birth to the Spirit.”

You may ask, “How are these students not believers?” I asked the same thing to the leader of NYC Equip and we came to the same conclusion: “They're close.”

This is just one example of what participants in Pioneers’ NYC Equip program experience as they spend one year in New York City working alongside experienced church planters to gain practical ministry experience, mentoring and understanding of a biblical worldview of mission.

Wherever you’re coming from or going to, NYC Equip will prepare you for ministry in your neighborhood or a city in some far corner of the world. To find out more about NYC Equip, visit pioneers.org/equip.

By Pioneers-USA

Is God calling you overseas? Can your experience and skills be used to share to the gospel with people who have not heard?

God uses Venture—a Pioneers experience tailored to fit you—to help answer those important questions. This program provides a variety of opportunities working with a long-term church-planting team. Participants learn about their role in God’s mission while experiencing the joys and challenges of serving with a team in a cross-cultural setting. It’s an opportunity to work with seasoned missionaries on the field while contributing your own professional training to see people reached for Jesus.

That is exactly the way it happened for Ryan, a college graduate who spent eight months in the Czech Republic before starting graduate school. Ryan taught English to local children, organized camping trips for youth, facilitated an English conversation club at a university, helped local Christians refurbish a baseball field used for sports ministry, participated with the local church in that baseball ministry, traveled on public transport at night interceding for partying youth, served on a church-planting team with Pioneers, and shared the gospel with the people that came across his path every day.

After his return from the Czech Republic, Ryan wrote, “I was strengthened in my faith, I grew as a man and as a man of God and I was prepared for marriage. I have left with an experience that I will take with me all of my life. I hope that many there will never be the same because you sent me to Brno.”

Would you like eight months of living on the frontlines among an unreached people group and serving amongst church-planters like Ryan had? Visit www.pioneers.org/venture to explore how you can use what God has given you to make Him known in an unreached people group, or contact us at venture@orlandoteam.com.

From a Pioneer surveying in the Himalayas

"Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so that I can preach there also. That is why I came" (Mark 1:38). Together, we—a band of believers consisting of a summer team, a long-term Pioneers team and local believers—took Jesus' words to heart and traveled deep into a Himalayan area. And that visit is bearing fruit!

Deep in the valleys and hillside villages live people who are isolated from the influence of Bibles and the testimonies of Christians. As Hindus, the people devote themselves to many gods, though Buddhism overlaps their belief system. These villages have been visited yearly by a long-term Pioneers team for the last decade. All of the villages we visited had yet to embrace the Good News, but we brought it again this summer. And the harvest began.

After a short time in one village, an eleven year-old girl--who was among the first to embrace the gospel—writes (as translated by another person in the village):

I did not know Christ. First time when the team cam here I thought who are they? But when they loved us we liked it. They told us about God and we hated it. They gave us the Bible and we burnt them. They kept tell us about God and slowly we starting liking it. One day they took us to their home and there we gave our lives to Jesus.

Though the story is beautiful and miraculous, it gets better because it extends beyond her belief. She and her believing friend want to share Jesus with the people they love, and they are powerful little evangelists. Consistently they use their Bibles to share their faith by holding them in front of their friends and saying, "Read!" The conversations start with God's Word.

Your prayers are working. The Gospel is sweet to those who are thirsty for living water. God is moving among the mountain people of the Himalayas. Therefore, please continue to pray for the Lord of the Harvest to empower the sowing and reaping in this Himalayan village and region. Those who have found new life are sharing the message. Pray for their continued growth and boldness.

By Pioneers-USA

The Sawi were headhunters and cannibals when a young couple named Don and Carol Richardson arrived in their village carrying their seven-month-old boy Steve—and a message that would change the tribe forever. The year was 1962, and Steve—and later, three more children—spent their youth among the Sawi, learning the language and embracing the culture in ways that would shape the rest of their lives. Their story was immortalized in the best-selling book Peace Child and a feature film of the same name, inspiring a new generation to take the gospel to the remaining isolated tribes of the earth. Fifty years later, Steve, now president of Pioneers-USA, joins his father, Don, and two brothers, Shannon and Paul, to visit the Sawi village where they grew up. What is the state of the church they planted among the Sawi? Are the friends they played with still alive? Did anyone remember the mark their family left on the tribe? Journey with Steve as he travels to the swamps of Papua, Indonesia, to introduce you to the Sawi, and explore the impact of the gospel among a previously unreached people group.

We encourage you to share Never the Same with your friends and family via the Never the Same Facebook page (this page is public and does not require Facebook membership to view), and you can preorder Never the Same on DVD or Blue-ray at Pioneers' webstore.

By a Pioneer in Asia Pacific

We are certainly overcomers.

For the past five years we have been dealing with a big challenge ... sickness. As Pioneers, it’s not really something that we envision having to allocate time for when we strategize and plan our ministry. Nevertheless, it takes the time and energy of everyone involved.

Here in this Muslim area of Pacific Asia, we work as a cohesive team, a body of believers doing ministry together and ministering to one another. When one of us is seriously ill, it affects us all.

Miriam*, a local woman who is our co-laborer in the gospel ministry, fell ill with tuberculosis five years ago. We have lived an amazing saga of near death experiences, poor care from local doctors, a search for better care, drug resistance, multiple changes in drug therapy, the permanent loss of function in one of her lungs, a huge stack of medical bills, the assembly of a world-wide network of prayer warriors and huge donations for her care.

At one point during her illness, Miriam had an adverse psychological reaction. She lost touch with reality and began to say and do crazy things. Her parents kept careful watch, but one morning she escaped when her parents left the house to attend an Easter church service. She was missing for two days; we were frantic. We sent out search parties, made radio announcements and prayed like crazy. We prepared ourselves for the possibility of her never returning alive—as that is the reality for young attractive girls who go missing in this culture. But two days later she returned without memory of what had happened while she was gone.

The doctor changed her medicines and Miriam began to improve. A month later she began to remember. Unaware of what she was doing, she had begged on the streets. Later, a man picked her up and drove her fifty miles out of town in order to abuse her, but she fled to the local mosque and found protection from the imam. The next day a local fish-seller brought her back to the city, and she was able to find her way home. We count it a miracle that she survived! In this city of 4 million, the police find about 20 people dead on the streets every day.

We are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Though she is still taking medicines, Miriam’s health and energy level have improved so much that her doctor has cleared her for a moderate level of ministry again.

Throughout these five years, the evil one has attacked Miriam in serious ways, but God has provided for her and protected her every step of the way. All the while, the faith and character of the people in our Christian community grows because of God’s testimony before us. God has changed us, and our ministry has changed because of what we have experienced. Additionally, a Buddhist nurse in a neighboring country who has been part of Miriam’s care team seems close to believing as a result of the testimony from the doctor and me. Truly, what our adversary meant for evil, God used for good (Gen. 50:20).

Not a day goes by that I am not asked to give an update about her situation. God has done something truly amazing for and in us all over the course of the last five years.

Please pray for Miriam and her continued recovery.Pray that the testimony of her faithful God would be one that draws other Muslims from this community into the family of God.

*This name has been changed to protect the identity of this young woman.

By a Pioneer in North Africa

Tis the season when nomads are on the move north with their herds, seeking out green pastures for their camels and finding their way into local markets to buy and sell essentials. Opportunity for more interactions with the people God has put on our hearts excites us, even if we are not yet traveling with them. God has also been on the move in the heart of our language helper, a traditional nomad. The Lord has given us multiple opportunities to share with truth and dispel misconceptions about Jesus and life in Him.

Our language helper’s father and sister have just moved back to be with their nomadic family after living with us for the past four months. We had this opportunity because his father has a chronic illness. Their stay was God’s way of bringing nomads to us. Everyday they ate lunch and dinner with us, and we spent hours together on a mat in the shade. This was an incredible opportunity to demonstrate life in Christ, as it was the first time they had ever interacted with Christians on a daily basis. For Muslims, the practice of their faith is necessarily public; a private and secret faith is akin to no faith at all. For this reason we have made a habit of reading Scripture together and praying aloud on our front porch mat. This demonstration of our Christian faith produced inquiries from our guest family and provided us many opportunities to share about the joy of following and serving our Lord Jesus.

As the father’s chronic illness continued, his condition deteriorated. We were able to present to them from Scripture that Jesus, God’s Chosen Servant who died, was raised from the dead, and exalted to the right hand of God in heaven, not only has the power to heal diseases, but also the authority to forgive sins. We shared stories from Luke 8, Mark 5, and Acts 3, and laid hands on the father to pray for his healing. We didn’t immediately witness physical or spiritual healing, but we continue to pray towards that end with expectant hope.

We long to have more interactions like these with other nomads, but still lack the adequate language ability in Arabic. Pray that God will be watering the seeds that were planted and preparing more fertile soil, even as He gives us strength and perseverance in language learning.

By a Pioneer in North Africa

Almost immediately after we sat down for some tea, my North African friend grabbed my arm, and said with tears in his eyes, " It happens every night, and it doesn't stop." For the past five months he dreams of Jesus being beaten while tears stream down his face.

He and I met for the first time when our paths crossed in the street one day. We visited and walked for about fifteen minutes before parting ways, but he promised to come visit me—and he followed through. On his first visit to my house we talked about religious education, among other things. He asked if I had heard the people praying through the night over the mosque’s loud speakers. I replied affirmatively, as it is hard to miss!

Then he said something I have never heard a Muslim say: “All night they cry, ‘Oh, Mohammad, messenger of God, help the true believers of God by giving us the light we need to find the path to God.’” He paused and said in a lower voice, “But our people are ignorant. Mohammed can’t hear them … he’s dead.” I almost choked on the water I was drinking.

More discussion revealed that he had never heard the Good News about Jesus Christ, but he had heard many corrupted messages about Christianity. Upon meeting me he was curious about how I could believe such a preposterous message from what he called a “book of lies.”

That night we opened up the Word and began to read together from the book of Luke to discover who Jesus really is and what His followers really believe. Those discussions and readings became regular, and his interest grew.

I tend to think that movies, logical messages, persuasive speaking, and passionate appeals will win the lost for Christ. Perhaps it is because these methods have a powerful impact on us when backed by Holy Spirit influence. But surprisingly, my friend always reminds me of the testimony that has been the most powerful to him:

I am one of twenty-seven children. My father has three wives and I never met him until I was nine years old. Even now I am in my twenties and I have not spent more than three years with him. He does not care about me, and I have no relationship with him. But I have watched you from the first day I visited your home. Your kids smile all the time. You are always wrestling with them and giving them kisses. I can see that you love them, and they love you. I want that.

Seriously? Playing with my kids piqued an unbeliever’s interest in the Word of God? I do not say this to dissuade you or myself from proclaiming the Word to others, as sharing the gospel is an important component in Muslim evangelism. Rather, I encourage you to remember that the love of Christ flows through millions of channels in our lives—how we speak to our coworkers and spouses, how freely we give our time to the people in our lives, how we behave when driving in heavy traffic, how we spend our money and also how we welcome little ones.

For now my friend seems to be close to the Kingdom, but he had yet to profess faith in Christ when we last talked. He senses that the gospel is true, and he wants the fruits of the Spirit he sees. But he is unsure if he is willing to walk the road of persecution that following Christ will surely require in this Muslim culture.

Please join us in praying for him. Pray that he would see the benefit of discipleship outweighs the cost. Pray that he would look to Christ to help him forgive his own father and that my friend would become the kind of father who loves his children.

By a Pioneer in East Asia

While spending time with neighborhood kids, they took us to see a local spectacle. We were unsure of what we were seeing as we watched. Soon the children began to yell, “Satan is coming! Satan is coming!” In their fear, they insisted we leave. We realized later that they had taken us to watch a dance with the devil.

Dance traditions of a culture–its rhythms, movements, music and semantics–can be beautiful and moving. Though fascinating to watch, even dance can be insidious in nature. That is the case among this East Asian Muslim people group who engage Satan as a dance partner.

In preparation for these dance events, a few men paint their faces and don special attire. They use a costume horse head and a staff as props. After a time of dancing, the dance leader welcomes Satan to enter some of the dancers. Eyes rolling backward, the dancers enter a trance--essentially becoming demonic puppets. Sometimes while under this influence they engage in other dangerous behaviors like eating broken glass or live animals.

These dances are meant for an audience. Though they may stand alone as community entertainment, they also serve as spectacles for other events such as weddings and rites of passage.

As Pioneers serving in this region, what course of action do we take when encountering such a demonic event? How do we respond to our neighbors and their children who view this an important cultural rite? Pray for us as we navigate the darkness of this spiritual terrain and introduce these people to Christ. Pray for those seeking power or esteem from these satanic rituals to have a power encounter with the Living God.

By a Pioneer in Asia

We set out early that day with a clear purpose. The sun had peeked over the horizon less than an hour before the ferry left the dock. Thirty minutes later, the ferry’s large steel door was lowered and cars, motorcycles and trucks rumbled off the boat. It would be another hour traveling down the pothole-riddled road before we arrived in front of the windowless wooden house topped by a rusting corrugated tin roof. We had come to install a solar light made from a soda bottle.

In our Muslim area of Asia, darkness is a physical and spiritual reality. The rural poor have little or limited access to electricity in their homes, and the urban poor who have access are unable to afford it. But even more oppressive than a lack of electric light indoors is the lack of spiritual light in a heart—something that even fewer have access to. What if we could meet a practical need for light paired with a light-giving message?

Though a solar light sounds high-tech and expensive, this type is not. The materials needed—a piece of corrugated tin, sealant, an empty soda bottle, clean water and a spoonful of bleach—are inexpensive and readily available. The technology is also easily reproducible.

One of our core values as Pioneers is to see new believers united in fellowship with other believers, forming churches that plant churches—until all peoples are reached. We hope that installing these solar lights is a skill that can be used by local church-planters to meet a felt need of their countrymen. It is a means by which they can supplement their own humble salaries and legitimately gain access to remote villages in need of the gospel.

These solar lights, called “miraculous lights” by locals, have only been installed in a handful of homes. The local name brings to mind the miraculous light the book of John records, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (v. 8:12).

Pray that gospel light would shine into the hearts of those trapped in darkness.

To learn more about a similar solar light project in another part of Asia watch this YouTube Video.

By Pioneers

Worship leader Matt Papa had gone on mission trips in his early twenties, but he recalls how several factors in his life “collided with each other” to give him a greater passion for the unreached—one of which was his marriage to Lauren, who was serving with Pioneers when they met.

“And at the same time I also started realizing that much of my zeal for ministry up to that time was built on my desire to use God for my kingdom, not on His desire to use me for His,” Matt recalls. “I was busy doing stuff, but my vision was small. So I ‘pledged,’ for the rest of my life, to leverage my music and my ministry for the sake of something great—something lasting—the glory of God among all nations.”

That pledge has shaped Matt’s worship music, much of which centers on the themes of the glory of God and global needs. His most recent endeavor is to release a single titled “The Reward of His Suffering,” and donate all the proceeds from its sales to several missions organizations—one of which is Pioneers. The inspiration for the new song came when Matt heard the story of 18th century Moravian missionaries Johann Leonhard Dober and David Nitschmann der Bischof:

“When the men first heard about the island, they were at church on an ordinary Sunday morning and the pastor was speaking about a place in the West Indies where there had never been any gospel witness. He told of a man who lived on an island who was an atheist slave owner with about 3,000 slaves, all whom would live and die without a chance to ever hear about Jesus.

“Deeply disturbed by what they heard, these two men, in their early twenties, made the decision to go this place to reach these slaves with the gospel. Their plan? Sell themselves into slavery so that they could be among the slaves. These guys weren't heading out on a short-term mission trip. These men left to go and live and suffer as slaves and they had no idea if they would ever come back. Their families and friends in large part were against their decision, and yet John and David prepared to go.

“And so the story goes. The two young men arrived at the pier to board their ship, their families and friends who were there to say goodbye all sure they would never see them again.  The men boarded the ship and set out. As the gap between the shore and the ship widened, the two men linked arms, and one of them raised his hand and shouted across the gap their final words, ‘May the Lamb that was slain receive the reward of His suffering!’ ”

To watch Matt tell the story, and for links to purchase the song, visit thereward.org.

By a Pioneer in South Asia

In an attempt to finish the roof at our guesthouse, we recruited one of my friends, Sa, to come and work with us. Sa, who is a painter by trade, had previously helped me with language lessons. The more I hear of Sa’s story, the more interesting I find him.

He grew up in a tiny village on the edge of a huge inactive volcano. As his family was quite poor, he left school after fifth grade to start working. And for having such limited education he is quite a thinker—an avid reader who loves anything having to do with philosophy. When he was in his mid-twenties he had the opportunity to move to Belgium where he lived for a few years doing construction. While in Belgium he began to read his Quran much more intensely. But as he was reading and studying, a few questions arose in his mind about certain contradictions in its teaching. So, on moving back from Belgium to his village, he went to ask the local imam (religious teacher) about some of these issues that had been bothering him. The imam promptly called together all the men of the village and in front of them all, denounced Sa for questioning the Quran. Over the next few days after starting to receive threats against himself and his family, Sa fled his village and moved to the capital city, where he has been ever since.

After this experience he rejected Islam and began calling himself an atheist. He has since read most of the Bible and particularly loves Ecclesiastes, much of which he has memorized. I recently heard him say that he was “an atheist who is sympathetic to Christianity.” Please pray that the Lord would continue to draw Sa towards the Truth.

By a Pioneer in Central Asia

Recently, one of the single workers asked me and another worker to go and pray for her local friend Hailey at the hospital. Hailey has struggled with liver cirrhosis for a while and has received treatment every few months. This time though, the doctors told her that they have done everything for her and that there is nothing more that they can do to save her. They basically told her that she is dying. With heavy hearts we went to the hospital. From the moment we walked in, she was crying continuously. After she told us more detail of her condition, we asked her if we could pray for healing in Jesus’ name. We told her about Jesus healing many people while He walked on the earth. She said she knew this from seeing the Jesus film that our worker friend had given her.

We all laid our hands on her and cried out to God for her healing. Hailey was very grateful to us for praying for her. I felt so burdened for her possibly dying without knowing Jesus. I told her that her receiving healing would be great but that there is something even greater than healing. She opened her eyes big and asked me what that was. I began to tell her about the precious gift God had prepared for her through Jesus. That after this short life is over; we can live with God forever in heaven—that He has prepared that gift for her. I went on further to explain the Good News of His love for her. Hailey listened with sparkling eyes. When I was done explaining everything, I told her that Jesus was standing at the door of her heart knocking for her to welcome Him in. With wide-open eyes, she said, “Yes! Let Him come in, I will open it up wide!” I encouraged her to tell God all that.

With excitement, she asked God to forgive all her specific sins and invited Jesus to come into her heart and life. She also offered her life to Him and told Him that she wanted to live for Him now. I told her that God is celebrating her salvation in heaven right now, that even if she died tonight, she will be in heaven with Him. She got so overwhelmed with thankfulness and joy that she started crying. We were all so amazed and moved that we all shed tears with her. She said that she felt so light now. She started to smile and laugh. She even mentioned that maybe God put her in the hospital to tell others about this hope she has found. Before we left, we encouraged her in this and left her an Injil, the New Testament in her language, for her to read as she lay on her hospital bed.

The next day our worker friend went to visit her again and Hailey excitedly told her about the chapters she read about Jesus during the night. Then she went onto ask the worker for another Injil and Jesus film to give to a woman with whom she shared the Good News. Our worker friend brought another Injil and Jesus film to her the next day. Hailey shares her room at the hospital with five other local women and she has been telling them about Jesus as well. The worker noticed Hailey’s Injil sitting on another woman’s nightstand the next time she went. Hailey has been asking for more and more Injils and Jesus films to give to all the women she has been sharing with. God is using her to shine His light to many, amazingly to both ethnic groups here.

From a depressed, crying woman, Hailey is now changed into a joy- and hope-filled woman sharing that joy with anyone she sees. Yesterday, she got discharged from the hospital and is now at home. She is beginning to share with her family as well. Her mom’s heart has been quite hard towards Jesus before, but she is now showing a little sign of softening. Hailey says that even though she is in a lot of pain, she is filled with joy and peace.

I wanted to write to ask you to praise God for Hailey’s salvation and joy!

*Photo courtesy of Josh & Leona Stewart

By a Pioneer in India

Walking through repeated days the sights become routine.
I no longer look around in awe,
Seeing the sin and darkness, beauty and wonder
In the souls that wander across my path.
My mind filters out those around me as I think about my day
And I miss the glory next to me,
Which might penetrate my soul if I would only lift my eyes…

Stop. Look. Ponder what is nearest.
A brilliant red sari drying in the wind declares the glory of God.
A kite, struggling to free itself from the captivity of its string
Breaks away in flight, only to become prisoner in the arms of a tree
And reminds me of the futileness of human effort in redemption.

A young man bathing in the cold winter air,
Frantically scrubbing away yesterday’s sin.
Warm chai steaming in an old man’s face
As he huddles with his cronies to speak of things mundane and sublime.
Having lived life they’ve lost hope in their own righteousness
And come together for reassurance more than warmth and chai.

People living on the streets—
Not much different from those living in temples of materialism and comfort.
They are in the end, people
Living without hope and an emptiness of soul that remains
Even if the gnawing hunger of their bellies is satisfied.

A beggar reaches out and calls my name.
Do I see the face of Christ?
But time is money. I’m late. What’s next today?
One more interruption and I am impatient.
Stop. Look. Listen to the Spirit.
I rush off to the tasks that help me feel important.
He bids me stay and engage this moment—
The least of these who is Christ to me.

In my city, Jesus wanders around in unlikely clothes,
And peers at me through unlikely eyes.
He speaks in unlikely places if I would only listen.
Where is He to be found?

I long to see Him and hear His voice.
Stop. Look. Ponder what is nearest.
He is all around me at every turn and has been all the time…

By a Pioneer on the Arabian Peninsula

Uncertainty. We all face it. Will I pass my exams? Will I be able to pay the mortgage? Will my marriage survive? Will I get married? Will the economy recover? Will I be able to quit smoking? Will I lose my job? Will I be able to get the weight off? Can the broken relationships in my family be fixed? Will the cancer come back? Will I be able to afford the tuition? Will my child be born with a disability? Will I give in to temptation? Will I be able to retire? Will I be able to get good medical care?

These days, my friends, neighbors and teachers here face uncertainty on a more basic level. Will there be gas to cook with? Will there be enough water to wash my clothes? My hair? Will this be the seventh straight day without electricity? Will I be able to find gas for my car? Find any transportation to work? Will my house get hit in the shelling tonight? Will I be able to sleep through it? Will my daughter get hit by a stray bullet in the street? Will there be any government at all? Will my husband take a second wife? Will he let me see my children if he divorces me? Will my good works outweigh my bad works when I stand before God on Judgment Day?

Perhaps it is this last uncertainty that puts the edge on all the others. As believers we face the same uncertainties as everyone else. But we face them with the certainty that God is love, that His love is unfailing, that He will love us to the end. We face them with the certainty that His love overcame all our sin and all our shame at the cross and that nothing will separate us from that love on Judgment Day. We face uncertainty with the certainty that we will not face it alone. So though we are certain that in this world we will have trouble, we take heart—He has overcome the world.

By a Pioneer in East Asia

“You’ve committed a sin! You’ve committed a very great sin!” The face of the older man next to me, wearing a distinguished short beard and crowned by a typical white hat, was not furious but certainly emphatic.

I had met this man only an hour before, on the bus that was now winding through a range of small mountains, partway through the weeklong vision trip our group took over the national holiday. He had noticed my black pocket Bible from across the aisle and asked what it was. I told him and offered to show him a partial version in his language. He took it and, before long, motioned me to switch seats with his son, who was next to him.

I was excited. This man seemed like a devout Muslim. He knew Arabic. And he lived in a place where he might not ever otherwise hear the gospel. I directed him to read the parable of the Prodigal Son. We discussed a variety of spiritual questions. But we spoke only in the local language and, between my limited language and his non-standard accent, it was a struggle to communicate.

The man turned to the first verses of Ecclesiastes and told me this book was only the words of “the preacher” and not of God. For me to attribute some man’s words to God was a great sin. He then began repeating the accusation with escalating fervor.

If I tried to respond it would only feed an argument, which would be fruitless. And anyway, I felt unable to do anything except wilt. I was already tired; to sit and absorb before an audience of bus passengers the man’s indignation toward my alleged betrayal of God—especially with such sincere indignation—broke me in a way I didn’t expect. I weakly insisted, “I don’t want to argue,” and then to both my embarrassment and relief (because it rescued me from our conversation) I began crying.

Here I’ve rarely come to the end of myself as completely as I did that morning. I was reminded of Matthew 5:11: “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.” I was reminded that the plight of people like this old man, living in a very real spiritual darkness, ought to tear at my heart far more than my own “light and momentary affliction” which precedes “an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” (2 Cor. 4:17). And I was reminded how weak I am, but therein is God’s power perfected, so I can “boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2 Cor. 12:9).

When we disembarked at the bus station, the man waved me back over to look at his Arabic books, seemingly a conciliatory gesture. I told him on parting that, as we had discussed earlier, we believed in two different ways to receive God’s forgiveness. There is only one way to have it, though; I hope that eventually we would both have it. How futile that hope is unless, as Paul told the Corinthians, “the weakness of God is stronger than men.”

*Photo courtesy of Josh & Leona Stewart

By a Pioneer in North Africa

It was 8:30 a.m. when we arrived at the house. We went inside to set down our things and get ready for the hard work we were in for that day. The Eid means work. No one dresses up, no one really even gets dressed. You just get messy...

Almost as soon as we had arrived, the head of the family gathered us together to witness the killing of the sheep. I had told my roommate that I didnʼt really want to see that part, so I was able to make a quick escape to the kitchen—dirty dishes are always a welcomed sight! Walking through the small house, I peered into the living room where religious music was playing as the TV showed live images from Mecca.

I washed dishes inside for the next twenty minutes as the sheep was laid down, prayed over, killed, pumped up (with a bicycle pump!) and its head and front two feet removed (so that it can drain all bodily fluids) outside. This was a little out of my comfort zone.

I returned to the porch to help with the other preparations as soon as I heard it was safe. My roommateʼs mom and I made pepper salad as the men began to cook the meat. Ten minutes later the family began eating. This is a very typical practice as the yearly sacrifice is made on behalf of families and individuals. I didnʼt really feel comfortable eating the meat, so I was thankful they respected me and allowed me simply to help them and observe.

The rest of the day was spent preparing the insides of the sheep as well as cleaning and doing housework. (I am seriously considering cleaning dishes as a ministry.) By 4:00 p.m., we were ready to go home. As we left the house, I couldnʼt help but think that once a year millions of people have done, and do, this sacrificial tradition. Blood flowed in the streets as we drove home and I couldnʼt help but think what a difference it would make if they only knew the True Lamb.

I got a little curious with this holiday and began asking those I know questions. Most of those I contact on a regular basis have a different version of the Eid. I asked my language teacher and several friends what the meaning of it was. My language teacher said it was strictly tradition and that nothing came of it, another friend said it took away the sins of their family for one year, and yet another few couldn’t tell me why they did it. They tried and came up with stories that were so far from the Muslim truth I even knew it! Please pray that individuals here will know the truth of Jesus Christ and that we, as a group, will have more opportunity to share the gospel in a clear way.

By Pioneers

Have you considered your role in missions? Have you wondered, What is my next step? How can I help see the nations embrace Christ? Consider attending The Journey Deepens October 19-21, 2012 at Pioneers’ campus in Orlando. This intensive three-day retreats is designed to provide sound biblical teaching and guidance in spiritual preparation for mission work. Seasoned missionaries partner with prospective missionaries to listen, pray, coach and affirm. Activities include worship, teaching, large and small group sessions, mission agency appointments and interactions, as well as scheduled quiet, reflective time. The $155 tuition fee covers your retreat materials, two nights lodging, and four meals. To register, click here.

Two Pioneers write, “Attending The Journey Deepens Retreat in Atlanta really showed us that at 42 years old with two kids, it is still possible to make that transition. God led the way as we kept taking one step at a time. Our business sold fast, our house sold, and now we are unencumbered and ready to go. While at The Journey Deepens someone told us that God can't steer a parked car; press the gas and see where He takes you. We did, and we are thrilled. Thank you for being the catalyst and giving us such great exposure to so many groups and opportunities.”

The Journey Deepens is sponsored by The Finishers Project and Perspectives on the World Christian Movement.

By a Pioneer in Thailand

Imagine that word is coming. Imagine the word is that soldiers are coming—they are coming to destroy your tribal village. So you run. You run for your life. You run to the border hoping to get across before they can catch up to you.

For most of us, this might be hard to imagine, but for a group of about 45 teenage refugees, this was a reality. These young people have been living in a refugee camp on the Thai-Burmese border. They cannot leave the camp into Thailand without special permission from the Thai government, and cannot go back to their homeland because it is not safe.

Grace International School staff and students have been taking trips up to this camp to minister to them through games, English camps and experiences in the arts, but what we have not been able to do up to this point was help with their schooling.

That is, until recently. The refugees were given special permission to leave the camp in a highly supervised trip to our school. Each refugee had a “buddy” to help them who was a student in the school. I had the privilege to work with two of the other science teachers to provide an experiment in a science classroom for the refugees. The refugees’ schooling is limited and the chance to use science equipment to look at cells was, to them, amazing.

The teenagers were amazingly polite, and so full of smiles. They got so excited when they spotted a cell and its control center, the nucleus, for the first time in their lives. They would peer through the microscope and squeal with glee or say something in their language. Their friends would then gather around trying to get a view at whatever it was in the scope. Then the next teenager would do the same, and the group would migrate over to that scope. Some took to using the microscopes as if they had used them all their lives. As they left the science lesson, many of them said “thank you” over and over again. They were so grateful for that opportunity.

But for the other science teachers and I, it was a chance to reveal God’s glorious creation in all the small details with those who had only heard about it through reading. It was a chance for us to show the love of Christ through kind words and simple actions. It was a chance to share with them the gifts God has given to us.

By a Pioneer in Africa

“This is Mikey, one of the sons of my friend. He has teeth like an alligator,” explained my co-worker. Then she burst out laughing! After rebuking her for her insensitivity to the nine-year-old boy, I asked him to open and found that he had five baby teeth that had not fallen out at their appointed time about three years ago. So the permanent teeth had already erupted behind the row of baby teeth, producing the alleged “alligator teeth.”

I told her that it would be an easy extraction case and that one of my apprentices could treat Mikey. She said quite strongly, “No! Dr. James you have to do it!” I assured her that it would be an easy case and that I have full confidence in my trainees, but she refused. I asked her why but she just insisted that I perform the extractions.

I reluctantly said OK and as I began to prepare the instruments we discovered the secret. The boy began to convulse in such a violent way that his chest fluttered up and down like a hummingbird. His head locked backwards, he was unable to speak and tears silently streamed from his panicked eyes. “OK! This is why you are so insistent!” I told her.

I asked for more history about Mikey’s condition and requested the presence of his mother. She soon appeared and told me how about 20 days ago the boy began to have these fits of possible epilepsy. They live in a neighboring country. They came across the border to seek treatment and saw a pediatrician in my town who prescribed antiepileptic drugs, but they didn’t cure Mikey. The convulsions would happen up to three times a day. While they would be walking the mother would notice that Mikey was no longer at her side. She’d look back to find that he had fallen and was writhing on the ground.

They had even taken Mikey to a witch doctor or traditional healer for treatment but to no avail. I told the mother that I was willing to treat her son but I would like to request permission to pray for him if the convulsing returned. She agreed. Sure enough, as I approached the child he began to writhe and be locked in a grip.

“In Jesus Christ’s name be healed,” I proclaimed and the boy immediately stopped convulsing. His body relaxed, his eyes returned a more natural, aware appearance and the tears ceased to flow. I removed all five teeth and not once did he shake; I think he almost fell asleep! I exclaimed to the mother, “You see! There is authority in the name of Jesus Christ and whatever his condition—epilepsy or demonic attack—it must submit to Him.” The next day my co-worker came to tell me that Mikey was doing well and that even until that day his convulsions had not returned.

Please pray that this power encounter would not become just another show of magic to Mikey’s family who comes from a people who regularly consult and depend on magic, evil spirits and charms. Intercede that they all would be freed from this trap and they would put their trust and faith in none other than Jesus Christ!

By BottomLine Media

What happens when a girl from a middle-class American family discovers the needs of people on the other side of the world? This is the story of a teenaged suburban cheerleader named Arlene. Soon after she married her husband, Steve, they traded in the American dream for a cross-cultural adventure in a Muslim-majority country of 230 million. Pioneers’ new release from Arlene Richardson, founder of HeartCraft and wife of Pioneers’ President Steve Richardson, explores their family’s journey in business, missions and church planting. Available in paperback, Kindle or iBooks.

By a Pioneer in Asia

Mongolian believers are beginning to learn about their unreached “relatives” in neighboring countries. They have a lot of enthusiasm and a strong desire to “go.” These Mongolian brothers and sisters have much less of a cultural gap to bridge than other missionaries, and they are also able to communicate with the Mongolian diaspora without learning a new language. Teams of short-term missionaries from Mongolia have been well received by other Mongols in East Asia.

After several days of traveling by train and bus, one such team arrived at a town with a large Mongol population. They didn’t have any contacts in that town, so when they arrived, they walked around town praying for God to show them a person of peace. Finally, they decided to ask where the Mongolian school was. After asking a couple of times, they got close to the school and ran into a Mongolian man. He led them the rest of the way to the school. As they entered the school gate, a teacher was going out and their guide introduced them to this teacher. The teacher then led them to the Mongolian director’s office, introduced them and left. They had no idea how this total stranger would receive them. But after a few minutes of explaining who they were and where they had come from, the director warmed up and offered to show them around his school. They got to go into classrooms and take pictures, and meet and talk to teachers. The director even helped them find a nearby hotel. Just as they got checked in, he announced that it was time for dinner.

At a moment’s notice the local Mongolian teachers had gathered for a banquet. More than 20 teachers showed up! The atmosphere was electric. They were so happy to have their Mongolian “relatives” visit them and to know that they weren’t forgotten. The toasts and songs and blessings went on and on. Towards the end of the time, the team gave each teacher a small gift from Mongolia. This got the teachers thinking about gifts. The director said they hadn’t had time to prepare a gift, but as soon as he mentioned it, the teachers joyfully pulled out their wallets and started throwing money at him. They gathered it all together and forced the team to take it. Their hearts were so sincere that there was no refusing! This is the kind of incredible reception that God prepared for this short-term Mongolian team among total strangers!

Pray that Mongolian believers would live among Mongols in other parts of Asia. Ask also that they would have wisdom and sensitivity in how they reach out to them.

By a Pioneer in Europe & Central Asia

Do you want to know one of the topics about which we most often get questions as missionaries?

Hands down…FOOD!

"So, what kind of food do you eat over there? Are there any strange foods? Any foods you miss when you are not living in America? What is the grossest thing you have ever had to eat? Which is the better way to eat a sheep’s eyeball—chew or swallow?"

And further, isn't it interesting that although only a rare individual has actually been to China, France, Italy and Belgium, almost all of us have had Chinese food, French food, Italian food and Belgian waffles. We really do see food as a way of exploring culture and associate certain foods—or types of food—with certain cultures.

Well, I have always said that America does fast food and junk food better than any other place on the planet! So this past summer while we were on our whirlwind trip visiting family, and churches we loved partaking in treats like peanut butter M&Ms and the almost unlimited flavors of ice cream!

But I think it is deeper than the food. When I think of those great American treats, I picture in my head some of your smiling faces and the rich food and fellowship we shared. Thanks for that! And for those of you with whom we didn't get to sit down and eat a burger, let's set something up for next time!

Along these same lines, if you ever mention steaming hot tandoor-nan just pulled off the sides of a Central Asian bread-makers clay oven, our family will talk of butter and honey and happy times around our table in our old home. Or when I think of black tea with sugar, I remember the afternoon teas I used to have with my friend in the studio where we would talk about music, and relationships, and God—about life.

I have been thinking about that more and more this week because I will be flying to Central Asia to spend 10 days primarily with my former colleague and his family, but also with other family and friends with whom we used to work. I will be doing some training with my colleague in a few different technical areas that I hope will enable him to better continue the music/worship/studio ministry. But more than that, with him and all of the other friends and family God will bring into my path, I hope to sit down and share some tea or food...

And share some life.

I hope to be the fragrance of God to these beloved brothers and sisters, and that all He wants will be accomplished. Until I return, you can ponder what you might do if you were given a sheep’s eyeball. And better yet, have a bag of peanut butter M&Ms as you are pondering and praying.

By a Pioneer in North Africa

We got into the taxi, and I immediately realized there was going to be trouble when the driver didn’t turn on the meter. This happens every so often, and it infuriates me as they just want to take advantage of us. Things got more complicated when he right away picked up another passenger, a pretty local girl, and said something about “the Americans.” I assumed he was going to overcharge us and was trying to impress the girl. To make matters worse, he could not keep his eyes off of her. As we approached our stop (which was next to a café I frequent), I got out what I thought was a fair rate. When we stopped he told me the fare was about twice what I thought it should be. I refused to pay, handed him my money and we got out of the taxi. He immediately pulled up and blocked traffic, got out and started yelling in Arabic. I’m still not sure what exactly he said, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t, “Have a nice day.”

Things began to escalate, a crowd started to gather and I became frustrated and started yelling back in French. It was getting pretty tense, and it looked like fisticuffs were going to ensue when out of nowhere my waiter friend from the café came running between us. Facing the taxi driver, he threw out his hands to shield me and started to mediate in my behalf. I was yelling over the top of him, the driver was yelling back and my friend was there with outstretched arms pushing me back with his body.

At this point it suddenly dawned on me that I may have miscalculated the fair and the driver was closer to being right than I was. Needless to say I started feeling guilty and was thinking of apologizing and giving him the money, but my friend just kept shielding me.

I might add that it is not uncommon to see altercations like this, and quite often the crowd or someone in the crowd intervenes before things get too serious.

But then something happened I have never seen. As things calmed down and the yelling stopped, my friend asked the taxi driver how much I owed. Then he himself reached into his pocket and paid the driver. At this point I was doubly embarrassed because not only did I make a mistake, but my friend was paying for it!

The driver was satisfied, so he left; and there was nothing more to see, so the crowd dispersed. That left my friend and me, so I thanked him profusely. I got some money to repay him intending to give him “a little extra” for his trouble. He refused. I persisted. He was adamant. The ugly American.

His name is Basel. We are the best of friends now, and the other day as we were talking I asked him if he would like a Bible. He said yes.

Pray for him that he would want to study it together. It appears he can already act out the redemption story.

By a Pioneer in East Asia

My husband and I had the opportunity to accompany some short-term workers as they hiked to remote villages several hours from our city. We split into two groups; my husband going with one and I with another. The plan was to spend five to six days visiting villages and sharing the Good News in a minority people’s language using audio players.

Hiking in this area is never easy. The high altitude, cold temperatures and steep terrain are difficult in itself. Spending time with our people requires sitting around a fire in unventilated cabins, sleeping on dirt floors, eating whatever is served and in general disregarding personal standards of hygiene. What this means is that everyone will be cold, tired, sore, sick and hungry—and still need to carry a heavy pack, climb several mountains a day, eat the chicken head when you’d rather skip even the rice and most importantly, show the Father’s love. It’s a high calling.

Both groups had a rough start. One of the women hiking with my husband was suffering from a combination of food poisoning and altitude sickness, and after the first day it was apparent that she would not be able to go on. My husband, though disappointed to end his trip so quickly, was able to help her back to our city where she could rest and recover. The remaining four members of his group, though they too had to deal with various illnesses and injuries, were able to hike a total of 45 miles in five days and handed out more than 20 audio units to unreached families.

My hiking trip began with similar frustrations. Three of us spent the first night throwing up or constantly running to the bathroom (the woods). Nevertheless, we pushed on and saw our Father do amazing things. In nearly every village we were enthusiastically welcomed and had wonderful times building new friendships. We shared the Good News and handed out more than 25 audio players during our trip!

One of the best stories comes from the morning of our third day on the trail. Because the sun had set before we could obtain an invitation to sleep in anyone’s house the night before, we had camped overnight in a field. The next morning we had breakfast in a nearby village before coming back to pack up. When we returned, several villagers had gathered—curious about our tents and gear. After talking and sharing some granola bars, we gave the oldest man an audio player. His expression was one of complete amazement as he recognized his own language.

“These are our words,” he said. After listening for a minute to the story of creation, he became even more excited and began talking over the player and gesturing wildly. He was speaking too fast for me to understand a single word, but the woman leading our trip turned to me and said, “He’s telling the story of Cain and Abel!”

Apparently, this 78-year-old man had heard the Good News before! Later he told us that when he was 19 he’d worked as a soldier. He’d traveled to a neighboring province where he’d heard the stories and believed! We were amazed to find a family member in such a remote place—especially one who had heard so long ago and remembered the stories so well! He was ecstatic to have the audio player as a gift and thanked us profusely. He said that now he’d be able to share the stories with the rest of his village.

Praise Him! We hope that many from the families we visited will listen, believe and turn to the Father. My husband and I are excited to return to these villages in the near future and followup. We know that the Father is moving mightily among this people, and we are so thankful to be a part of His work.

By a Pioneer in Central Asia

Back in the day, people went off to Africa, built buildings, hung a bell and called the curious to come. Usually, the person up front was a white man with a tie. Neighbors came to check it out. The white people ran public programs like kids clubs and schools where they taught the things most important to them. All that is forbidden us in Central Asia. Instead, we call people together surreptitiously, without schedule or plan. We sit under heavy blankets draped over a table with a bucket of coals underneath. We lean against pillows, drink tea and suck on candies. We tease children and try to keep their hands out of the candy dish. We pray with eyes open and hands lifted. Amid laughter and hauntingly painful news from the country and one another's life, we pull out scraps of paper and read. We talk. We pray some more. In the end we share fresh scraps of paper and go our separate ways.

By a Pioneer in West Africa

"Why haven't you been back to tell us about the stories?" asked a long-time friend.

“I am so glad you asked,” my husband replied. “Come by my house and let's talk about it.” A few days later our friend showed up.

Before my husband even began to talk, the man began to share, "You know, you have been sharing the stories of the Bible for many years. I have been listening and thinking about all that you have taught. I have also considered what you have shared when we talk about marriage and family and living. I have gotten a satellite dish for my TV, and one of the channels is from Cameroon, and it tells about Jesus Christ—just like what you have shared. I see that the issue is the problem of sin ... like a husband wanting a second wife, and then he wants a third wife, and then a fourth ... and even after the fourth, he starts sleeping around. It isn't an issue of religion; it is an issue of character—whether you will be happy with your one wife. All these things make sense to me. I am really scared, but I want to know how to become a Christian." Together they agreed for him to think seriously about the next step. Then they set a day when he would come and decide to follow the way of Jesus.

By a Pioneer in South Asia

John has been thinking of the redemption provided by Jesus. One day, while leaving the train station, a local young man named Shane followed John asking to “party.” Instantly the flashbacks of seeking satisfaction in that way of life crossed the screen of John's mind.

Without a thought the words rolled out, "You want to party, and it makes you happy for a short time. Would you like to know how you can have joy forever?"

The man's eyes got big, "Yes!"

John shared some of his testimony and walked him through the basics of the gospel from John 3. The young man prayed and asked Jesus to be his Lord. Since then he has been talking with his Muslim friends. He has been confused by the polemic debates. He would love to stay a Muslim, but admits that he is unable to save himself (as per the demands of the five pillars). Today John re-explained the substitution that takes place when Jesus takes our sin and lays on us His righteousness. It's a thrill to see the look on his face when he gets it.

By a Pioneer in the Middle East

“Oh man, we’re gonna die!” My young Middle Eastern friend exclaimed under his breath.

“Huh? What did you just say?” I asked knowing full well what he had said.

He repeated, “We’re gonna die!”

“Why are you saying that?” I asked in disbelief. “I’ve lived here three and a half years, experienced a lot and you tell me this day is the day. How do you know anyway? We’re just out shopping for paint and curtain rods.”

“Cause, we are going to a Shia neighborhood to shop,” he said.

Our other older companion, who is also our institute’s assistant manager, pummeled his chest and said, “You’re with me. Nothing going to happen!”

Both my companions are Sunni. I had to think, Hmm, you have an American with you and you’re more concerned with your sect differences. If you really stop to think about this, you may laugh as I did then. But underlying is something profound and somewhat debilitating for the majority of this country’s Sunni population.

Just by their name and their sect they are at increased risk for beatings, arrests and kidnappings. Even if they apply for jobs, they are not likely to get them due to their sect not being of the majority. That’s their reality, daily. Each person here must carry on their person at all times an identification card that specifies their sect. At checkpoints and on the streets, people may be stopped by the military or police and asked to show their identification.

We had traveled through checkpoint after checkpoint to arrive at the paint section of this neighborhood, only to be advised to travel to another neighborhood where there was a better selection of more reasonably priced paint. So, off we went to the Shia neighborhood. It took us over an hour to arrive. The checkpoints—sometimes every 200 feet—created many problems with traffic flow and the ability to travel in different directions. Once we arrived we found the city itself had a walk-through checkpoint. They did not allow cars to drive in. So we had to find a public parking area in the outskirts of the city. We then went on foot toward the shopping district.

Once we came to the walk-through checkpoint, the men and women had to enter through separate areas to be physically searched. I prayed they would not ask me for identification as our residency is still in process and the visa stamp is not in the passport yet which would raise many questions. Not to mention flashing an American passport would be a pretty dramatic thing given it’s probably not every day an American goes shopping in this area. So I separated from my friends and enter a tent where a local woman searched me then let me through. I thanked the Lord for His help.

We had a fun time shopping and found everything we needed right next to each other. I was ecstatic about this. But, unlike Wal-Mart, when you need different items they are usually spread out among different districts (neighborhoods) and not close to one another either.

That was a day shopping in the city. It took us seven hours to get a few cans of paint, window tint and curtain rods. All this would be used in the preparation of making our institute a welcoming place for women. We have been blessed abundantly, and the reactions thus far are amazement and excitement over the dramatic changes the house has undergone. Friends who saw it before can not believe it.

It is also amazing to them that we have been the ones painting it. This is unheard of here. We have opened our institute doors for registration. Please be praying for us. Ask for women students to come and register despite the serious security situation in this country.

Please pray and consider giving toward the items needed to complete the institute:

• Three camera security system- $1600
• Coffee tables with chairs (x5) - $173 each, totaling $865
• Upgraded Internet system- $1,000
• Xerox machine- $900
• Coffee counter- $500

Give now.

By Pioneers

You probably already know that you can give to your Pioneers missionary or project online—with a credit card or an electronic bank payment. But thanks to a recent upgrade to Pioneers' website, donors can now view their giving history, print receipts, set up recurring gifts and change their giving preferences—24 hours a day, 7 days a week—through an easy-to-use, secure web portal. This new feature at Pioneers.org/MyAccount will give you greater flexibility in managing your gifts, checking your year-to-date gifts and changing giving methods. You can even print out your year-to-date receipt for tax documentation at any time. If you are a current donor to Pioneers, you will be able to see the last two years of giving records. All you need to set up a donor account is an email address. Whether you’ve never given before, or you are a long-time friend of Pioneers, you can visit Pioneers.org/MyAccount today to get started setting up your own account.

By R.C. Stevens, a Pioneer in India

When my wife and I first arrived in India, we brought with us a number of large pieces of luggage filled with important things we were sure we could not do without. Toiletries and Tupperware, books and bed sheets—we didn’t stop to wonder how one billion people get by every day without these “essential” American products. We soon learned. It’s easier however, to change shampoo than it is to change assumptions. For, alongside our luggage, we also brought a fair-sized attaché case of dreams—with unwavering confidence in our ability to actually initiate church-planting movements, and anticipation of a life filled with adventure. Possible and extraordinary. Both filled me with expectancy for what lay ahead.

Years later, I find I have exchanged the attractive attaché case of dreams for a banged-up, simple but sturdy suitcase with a broken wheel. Our perspective has changed. We have come to realize that our task is not difficult, but impossible. The reality is we simply don’t have what it takes to change hearts and families and see a church-planting movement begin. But not only is our task impossible, we’re asked to do it with lives that turn out to be actually quite ordinary. We still have to take out the trash and parent our kids. Budgets, sickness, arguments, making meals, feeding the fish… These all blend together into a very ordinary life. Even the “extraordinary” of living in India fades with time. I came with a vision of the possible and the extraordinary. I find myself every day facing the impossible and the ordinary. The slick attaché case of expectations meets the battered suitcase of life.

And yet I have hope—hope that is stronger today than ever before. Why? Because my hope no longer rests on my own ability. It rests on Jesus. And as I look to Jesus, I see Him consistently accomplishing the impossible through the ordinary. Read Luke 9:1-17, the story of the feeding of the 5,000. A long day of ministry found the disciples weary and wanting to send the people away. The crowds were hungry. The disciples didn’t have any food. But Jesus simply said, “You give them something to eat.” Imagine yourself as one of the disciples: “Do you know how tired I am? This is impossible! We don’t have enough time or money. All we have is a little boy’s lunch. What good is that?” But Jesus took what they had, blessed it, broke it and then used his disciples to distribute the food in such a way that everyone left satisfied. In fact, not only did everyone have enough, there was an abundance.

More than was needed. More than was asked for. The impossible seen to be of no consequence in His hands. Bread and fish. The ordinary transformed by God and used to accomplish the impossible. This is my hope. It rests in my belief that God, in the same way, can and will intervene in my impossible situations with extraordinary grace—making it possible to live an ordinary, run-of-the-mill life for the glory of God in a place like North India. This is what I understand to be the “sacramental life.” A life so saturated with the presence of God that the ordinary becomes holy and the impossible happens. A simple, every-day life in the hands of God—blessed and broken and offered to others.

And what is the result of this sacramental life? What happens when the ordinary stuff of life gets into the hands of Jesus and is then offered to those around us? The meal of bread and fish caused the crowds to proclaim, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world” (John 6:14).

Every day we walk out our front gates and face a multitude of harassed, helpless and spiritually hungry people who have nothing to eat. We hear Jesus say, "You give them something to eat," and so we offer the few small loaves of bread and fish that we have. How many of the multitude can we really feed? I don't know. But if we are willing to pursue the sacramental life together, then I have every reason to hope that we may actually find ourselves feeding thousands, because we were first willing to be found in His hands. Soli Deo.

By a Pioneer in Central Asia

I enjoyed the demonstration of God's creation during a lunar eclipse that also served to generate discussion with local friends over the next few days. These conversations gave a new glimpse into the perspective of the people that I desire to serve. The call to prayer that night, sounding from a loudspeaker at the closest mosque, was longer than usual—and louder! Attributing this to the expected eclipse was easy, but pretty soon the voice from the mosque stopped, and one by one I began hearing the shouts of men from all over the neighborhood. Over and over, they called out in Arabic, "God is great!" I sat on my roof watching the moon gradually disappear to a tiny sliver and listened to the cries of my neighbors. They were also on their roofs, but walked back and forth wailing a highly distressed “Allah hu akbar.” The voices stopped at the darkest point of the eclipse.

Talking with my Muslim coworkers in the days that followed, I learned that many mullahs teach that an eclipse is evidence of God's anger at sin in the world. Scripted prayers and declarations of God's greatness are believed to appease his wrath. Other men and women I asked about the shouts brushed it off defensively as a part of their culture, with no other explanation, while others openly belittled the beliefs and practices of their own neighbors. Although answers varied afterward, the overwhelming impression I had that night was of hopelessness.

Natural phenomena, sickness and health are all intensely spiritual in this culture. In looking at how to best serve medically after language school, I am thankful for these vivid reminders of how life and death are understood and approached.

By a Pioneer in North Africa

One of the blessings I enjoy most here is my friend Beliz. She’s a believer, and we hit it off from the first day we met. She became a believer a few years ago when she attended a local church service with her already believing sister. She was very skeptical, but through several encounters with prayer on her behalf, she changed as she saw Jesus Christ appear to her throughout one night as her protector. Each room of her house she would go into, His shadow (the shadow of a King) would appear on the wall and she experienced His peace. Shortly after this, she attended a church service again and asked what she had seen. She trusted Him right then and there, and I’m so happy to call her my sister!

By a Pioneer in Southeast Asia

There are many great advantages that come with living in the tropics. One of these is the unlimited access to fresh tropical fruit at extremely cheap prices. Most people even have coconut, banana and mango trees growing in their yard. I absolutely love fruit, so when we moved into our home about three weeks ago, you can imagine my excitement when I saw a large banana tree in our backyard with a huge stock of green bananas growing on it! When people in our country ask me my favorite Southeast Asian food, I immediately answer with a smile—fried bananas. Just imagine a sweet, tender banana rolled in pancake batter and then deep-fried. Oh it is so delicious and a very common street food here.

So we (mostly I) have been watching our bananas very closely over the past few weeks. Coming from a small town in the US didn’t equip me with a lot of knowledge regarding when to actually pick bananas off a tree. So I asked a couple of my friends and they kept telling me, “When they start to turn yellow then they are ready! ” As I was cooking some breakfast the other morning, I noticed that a couple of the bananas were indeed yellow…How exciting, I thought. I had a plan to try out a new banana bread recipe with my bananas to give to our neighbors.

Yesterday afternoon as I was cleaning up around the house, I heard someone in our backyard. Sure enough our next door neighbor, whom we know very well, was holding a machete and hacking away at…yes, my banana tree! I could not believe me eyes. I was in such shock that I froze with horror as he kept cutting down my precious stock of bananas. And just to give you a clearer picture of this banana stock, I’m talking over 60 bananas about 8 inches in length. Enough to make some serious banana bread.

So many thoughts began to flood my mind: Well maybe he is helping us out by cutting them down or Maybe he just wants a few… to Surely he won’t take them all for himself?

Here’s some background regarding our neighbor: He lives next to us along with his wife and two children. They have helped us numerous times with things such as turning back on our electric after accidently blowing our breaker box because we were running the microwave at the same time as our toaster, to even helping us fix our fence around the house. We have even been in their home a few times and have exchanged food from time to time. I feel that we have definitely begun to develop good relationship with this family that we hope will lead deepen over time.

So back to the bananas. He did indeed take the bananas, and yes all 60 of them. So what does loving your neighbors have to do with bananas you may ask? Well to be honest I have really struggled with some feelings of bitterness and anger towards our neighbors, simply because they took our bananas. We are learning that in this culture personal property does not really exist. Also when someone helps you out, then most of the time that person is expecting something in return. This time it was my bananas…

But after spending some serious time in the Word and prayer, I have realized that even though I don’t understand the reasoning behind many things in this culture, I have been sent here to love my neighbors no matter what they do to me. Sometimes that can be really hard to do, especially when the people I was sent to love are broken and lost. But I was reminded this morning that I once was lost in my sin, which didn’t keep God for loving me and redeeming me. In fact, Christ continued to love the world even though the world hated him and even killed him.

So how do I love my neighbors even when they take “my property”? Well I have to remind myself that bananas mean nothing compared to eternity right? I can go down to the market and buy 1,000 bananas if I really want. It’s not worth ruining a relationship over a stock of bananas. This family is a part of unreached people group that is 99.9% Muslim. I think Christ would give up his bananas in order to build a relationship that would lead to a whole family accepting the truth of the gospel.

What do you think?

By a Pioneer in East Asia

I just returned this morning from a ten-day trip teaching English in small, unreached villages in Central Asia. After multiple instances where we thought we wouldn't even make it across the border, the Father opened the doors for us to enter and remain for longer than initially intended! We spent the mornings teaching and the remainder of the day enjoying milk tea and traditional meals with various families.

While this small, unreached people group (with zero known believers) is by far the friendliest culture I have ever met, the soil of their hearts is hard and rocky. This discouraged me throughout the time there. Why have I heard the gospel over and over, and they have never heard? What impact can we have in the few days we are here? He reminded me that, “It depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy” (Romans 9:16).

And God is working! A couple of trips ago, a young girl had a dream three nights in a row that Jesus was on a cross in her front yard. When her mother discovered that her daughter was talking to foreigners about this she beat her and forbade her to speak of the dreams again.

So let's pray for a long-term presence in these villages! It was a privilege to work alongside an East Asian sister who passionately taught and loved the children and families there. She would love to work there long-term. Pray that God would provide a partner to go with her.

By a Pioneer in West Africa

My daughter and I were coming back from our walk when a crowd of people were gathered on the road pointing to a person lying about four yards from them on the ground. As I came closer, I could see blood on the ground and then a huge two-inch deep cut in his head. No one would go near him for fear of the evil spirits. I ran to him and began to put pressure on the wound. As soon as I touched him, I was surrounded with everyone from the neighborhood talking at once. Since they said that it had come from being in a fight, a man drew an outline on the ground around the man's body. The man on the ground would move and fight against the compression, but then more blood would gush out. I was praying aloud when my friend came up and asked me about it. I told him I was praying in Jesus' name. After 15 minutes a dilapidated neighborhood taxi came up and took him to the bush clinic

About a week later we learned that Chidi is doing well, but still in the bush clinic. This news is by word of mouth (the telephone here in the bush).

“No one would go into the water to save the child drowning...”

My friend was explaining why no one would help Chidi because of evil spirits. He then told me the story of a child drowning at the river a few months ago where there were many, many people around. Everyone saw the child, but they immediately rushed as far as possible from the river so that the evil spirits would not be able to get them. When I touched Chidi, I drew the evil spirits, so everyone felt safe then to approach.

Please pray for Chidi, but most of all, that God's glory would be shown in His way!

By a Pioneer in India

Vinod, a high caste Hindu man, laid face down upon his bed in agony. The pain had been so intense these past three months that the only way that he could withstand it was to keep himself as still as possible. Why have I been afflicted with these terrible piles? he wondered. What have I done wrong to deserve this? What god have I offended? Vinod had tried everything that he could think of to get rid of the piles. The local Hindu priest had come and was little help. “You and your family are cursed,” he told Vinod. “You remember your brother who died last year? Someone has cursed this house and your only option is to sell.”

Vinod had already sold the other house where his brother had lived. He had been out of work the past few months and needed the money from the house to get by. The doctors were also of little help. The medicine that they had prescribed had done nothing to help his condition and the inflammation and pain continued to get worse. Vinod was at a loss as to what to do, and worst of all despair had begun to set in.

Ashok, a man my team and I have been discipling the past four years, has in turn been discipling a man named Prem. He and his family had been coming to the weekly house fellowship that was led by Ashok. Prem had gone down to the roadside to buy his morning vegetables. As he looked over the cauliflower, potatoes and green vegetables, Vinod’s wife saw him there. She was also at a loss as to what to do about her husband’s condition. She was looking for someone that she could borrow some money from since they hadn’t had any income for the past three months. When she saw Prem she remembered some things that she had heard about Prem—namely that he was a man of prayer who prayed for people to be healed.

When Prem heard of Vinod’s affliction he went at once to go and see him. Prem walked into the room and saw the man lying face down upon his bed. He sat down next to Vinod and listened to the man’s story of his condition and how the priests and the doctors were of no help. After hearing his story Prem asked Vinod, “Would you like me to ask Yeshu (Jesus) to heal you?” Vinod was very pleased at this this and urged him to pray for him. Perhaps this Yeshu can heal me, he thought.

The next day Vinod was out of bed and sought out Prem to tell him, “I am getting better.” By the third day Vinod’s piles were completely gone. He had no doubt that the God that Prem served had healed him. When he heard that Ashok was having a time of worship to Yeshu he was eager to go. There were more people there than he expected as he moved into the crowded room of some 70 men, women and children. He did not expect the welcome that he received, nor the hot chula mutter (rice and peas mixed with spices) and cake. He also was surprised that people were worshipping Yeshu in a Hindu song and style that made sense to his mind and spoke to his heart.

Ashok was overjoyed to see him and rejoiced at the healing that had taken place in Vinod. “Yeshu has healed me bhaiya (brother),” he said. Then Ashok asked something that took Vinod by surprise. “Would you like to share with everyone what Yeshu has done for you?” Then, in front of 70 people, comprised of both believers and Hindu families, Vinod shared what Yeshu had done and the people rejoiced.

Last week Vinod went to meet Ashok. He rushed up to Ashok and bowed down at his feet, touching his shoes. “Get up Vinod! I am just a man, not God.” Then, as Vinod listened to the story of Yeshu, he began to understand and was ready to receive him.

Vinod and his family are now a part of the growing house fellowship that our team has initiated through Ashok. Ashok initially began meeting with a few young men and now the group has grown to more than 30 in number including children. A couple of the families that are attending are still seekers so please pray for them as they continue to learn about Yeshu. Ashok is in the process of training leaders to initiate other house fellowships, one of whom is Prem. Some of those that attend walk or ride their bicycle more than 30 miles to worship Yeshu weekly.

By a Pioneer in North Africa

Mohammed, a North African, called us from Saudi Arabia after visiting the Maarifa website. He had been possessed by demons for a long time. He went to many Muslim scholars asking them to pray for him and cast out the demons, but they were no help at all.

Finally one of Mohammed’s Muslim friends advised him to see the Coptic priest and ask him to pray. God used that priest to cast out all his demons and he was healed. Another friend suggested he go on the pilgrimage to Mecca to prevent the demons from coming back in the future. While in Mecca, Mohammed dreamed every day about that Coptic priest, and he saw the cross everywhere he looked.

After a few months, he returned to Saudi Arabia for business. One day, his father phoned him and Mohammed told him he had become a Christian. His father became very angry. He told all Mohammed’s relatives in Saudi Arabia not to allow his son to leave Islam. When Mohammed’s relatives found out about his faith, they took his computer from him and tried to bring him back to Islam. His Saudi employer threatened to fire him and send him to prison, but Mohammed didn’t care. Miraculously, he left in peace and returned to North Africa.

When Mohammed arrived, a relative took him to see a sheikh. He determined that Mohammed was mentally ill and needed to see a psychiatrist. His family committed him to a mental hospital where he received electric shock therapy, but it failed to cure him of his new faith.

Mohammed asked us to meet him so he could learn more about the Bible. We gave him an appointment at the church, but when he arrived and found himself in a church, he was afraid and left immediately. For a long time we didn’t hear from him. Finally he called and asked to meet again. He said that he was afraid to enter a church as many Muslims told him that no Muslim could go in and come out alive. We told him he could survive this experience. Our first meeting lasted three hours. Mohammed came the next day to meet the pastor for another three hours. He was full of joy that he met people who would listen to him, encourage him, pray with him and not tell him he was mentally ill.

Mohammed now has a Bible and attends church. He is eager to learn more about Christ and His Word.

By a Pioneer in East Asia

Ten years ago my friend Mercy was riding her bicycle home from school. She was in sixth grade. She happened upon a very tragic scene that scarred her memory and her conscience. Despite her Muslim background, she began searching for answers in all the major religions. She would go to the library near her school and find books on religion. It became a curiosity to her. She was most intrigued by a book titled Stories of the Bible.

When Mercy arrived at college, she fueled her curiosity by taking several elective classes on religion. Her teacher provided a living example of the Christian life. She was struck by his kindness. Despite a few vivid and positive impressions of the Bible and the Christian life, she continued in a state of indecision, not knowing enough to discern who the true God is.

Shortly after sitting down across from Mercy at dinner, she asked why I decided to come to East Asia. I explained the reasons I was interested in East Asia and that I thought it was God’s plan for me to come.

“Oh ok, like fate?” she asked.

“No, not quite like fate. Do you believe in God?” She silently and awkwardly shifted her weight. “Uhh…do you believe in God?” I hesitantly asked again.

She blurted out, “Are you a Christian?”

“Yes, what about you?” I replied.

“It’s complicated. I’m interested in Christianity but I am Muslim…Well, my family is Muslim.”

We met again a few days later. After two and a half hours of being completely assaulted with questions about the Bible and Jesus, I practically danced the whole way home. She is now eagerly reading her Bible between our meetings.

Mercy is one of three of our friends with whom we just started a small group Bible study. All three of these friends are from a 12.6 million-person minority group here that is without a single church. These three friends are our most interested friends. They are engaging personally with the Bible and our discussions about the Christian faith. Please pray that Jesus will call them out of darkness into His marvelous light, that they might be His sheep who are called by name.

By a Pioneer in Asia

Drinking çay (hot tea) is a national pastime in Asia. We’ve never met a single local person who doesn’t drink çay. It’s an art form, a hobby, a habit, an essential, integral part of a their day and their relationships with one another. Drinking tea together is a part of sharing in friendship and showing respect for others. Here it is brewed in a double boiler teapot. The tealeaves are put in the top kettle to steep in hot water while more water is boiled in the bottom kettle. Thirty minutes later, the concentrated dark tea of the top kettle is poured into a tulip-shaped tea glass through a special tea strainer. Then the boiling water is added into the tea glass. Each tea drinker likes their tea different—some like it dark and some like it light. Some like it with two sugar cubes, some like it with no sugar. No two glasses of tea served from that same pot will turn out the same. Then tea drinkers must wait another 20 minutes while that tea cools enough to be able to drink. If any resident of this country in Asia wants to host visitors in their home, serving çay is an art form that every person must learn to master.

Our goal for learning to live among this people has been like the preparation and drinking of tea. We are like the tea leaves in that we must first steep in the culture, the language and the lifestyle here. It soaks into us and permeates us. We’ve felt that burning water scald us at times. Through a straining process, we’re finally poured out into that waiting glass. Then even more hot water is added! Our form is again changed—sometimes it’s a lot, and sometimes it’s a little. We’re finally served. Sometimes sweetness is added. In the end, we’re consumed. Was all that preparation worth it? Did we serve our purpose? Yes.

We live here for the end result that we are poured out and consumed. God causes the steeping, the boiling and does the pouring. He changes what we’re made of and what we end up tasting like when we’re served to others. And ultimately He’s prepared us as a drink for Himself—the preparation process is a reflection of a God who is a unique designer! He is a master at both the brewing of the tea, and at knowing the person for whom He is making the tea. He makes a gift of a Christian’s life to those they live among. He serves this specially prepared drink as a way to share Himself with others—for relationship. Thinking of drinking çay here makes us better understand what it says in Philippians 2:17: ”Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all.”

By a Pioneer in East Asia

The long-term goal of our work is to see a movement of new churches, multiplying throughout the unreached towns and villages of the East Asia. It is, to say the least, a very slow and tedious process at times.

Of course, a church is simply a group, or body, of individual believers who have come to faith in Christ as their Savior. It’s been exciting in the past year to see a number of new believers in these unreached areas. The ground that has been plowed up, and the seeds that have been faithfully planted over years are beginning to grow. In many cases, it is just an isolated one or two new believers, but we are also beginning to see a more steady flow of those coming to faith in Christ.

Among those that have come to faith is a 93-year-old imam, the “pastor” emeritus as such, of a local mosque. Over five years ago, one of our Chinese co-workers had befriended this man, who has embraced Islam his whole life. As their friendship grew, they would talk regularly about Scripture and God, and a deep sense of trust and respect also grew between them.

Last year, a new translation of the Bible came out that is much easier for East Asian Muslims to understand. After reading the Scripture and asking our co-worker many questions over several months, the imam gathered his family into the living room, three generations in all, not excluding the women and children, as would be their custom. He told them to sit and listen to what this man had to say. Then he declared, “I believe that the only way to God is through Isa (Jesus) the Messiah!”

By a Pioneer in Central Asia

Recently, I have been getting to know a woman from our beloved people group. She currently lives here in the city, but she is actually from the tribal territories across the border. Her mother died giving birth to her, so her father left her in the care of a hospital that happened to be run by Christian doctors and nurses. Over the years she grew, was educated, came to faith in Christ—having little contact with her family and tribe of origin. Suddenly last year, men from her tribe came to the hospital compound and demanded that she be returned to them. They wanted her returned to the fold of tribal life and Islam. In this culture, women are often used as tools to create allegiances or settle scores. They announced that she was to be married forthwith to a cousin so that honor and tribal unity could be restored. And so within the week she was married, and less than a month later she found herself in a new country, with a new husband and two new mothers-in-law (yes, her father-in-law has two wives).

Few of us can relate or even imagine such a set of circumstances befalling us. Her stress is compounded by the fact that she is a believer. Thankfully, her husband and father-in-law are sympathetic and kind and have not forced her to revert to Islam. Indeed it would be impossible for her to revert, since for all practical purposes she was raised in a completely Christian environment on the hospital compound. Her worldview, her interests, her habits have all been shaped by her unusual upbringing. And although the stresses of this past first year of marriage have been immense, her joy in the Lord continues unabated. Indeed, just last week she said to me, “I think I am like Queen Esther in the Bible, perhaps God has allowed this to happen to me so that my family can be saved.” Such faith is an encouragement to me and a light to her family. In a region where hope is easily lost and despair is around every corner, her testimony and strength shows that God is at work in this land.

By a Pioneer in Uganda

Karamojong is divided into eleven different tribal groups. All of the tribal groups are connected by ancestral descent, but are divided by language and some localized traditions of culture; though similar, they are considered distinct ethnic groups. One thing that they all have in common is their love for cattle. Cattle are prized possessions, showing wealth, family connections and the ability to marry. A man must have one hundred cows in order to purchase a bride. This is a very high price, showing the value that they have for the bride. The problem is that very few people own a hundred cows, so they must beg cows from their family members (a process which creates networks throughout the community). Despite family ties, it can still be difficult to get the cattle needed. Therefore, they will often resort to raiding neighboring tribes. A few years back the raids of Karamoja increased to such a degree that it was declared to be the most dangerous place in all of Uganda. In response to this, the government has been working hard at de-arming all of the men; they have also established safe kraals where the men must bring their livestock in at night to be protected by the Ugandan army.

These kraals are a complex network of pens for the livestock (dividing each man’s cattle, sheep, goats and donkeys with thorn bushes). The shepherds have small grass huts tucked into the midst of the animal pens so that they can stay near their animals throughout the night. Some of the shepherd boys have raised mats made out of sticks and grass to sleep under the open skies so that they can be alert in case of raids. Every day the shepherds take the livestock out to graze, and every night they bring them back to the kraal. This particular kraal stretched about a kilometer in every direction. It was an impressive sight when the livestock came in at night. We approximated 150,000 animals staying in this particular kraal at night. Most of the human occupants in the kraal were men and boys (age six and up). The women, children and elders stay in the villages (called eres) to do local, subsistence agricultural work.

My third week in Karamoja found me traveling from the township of Nabilituk, where we are stationed in the south to Dodoth Kaabong, which is in the north. On the way we traveled through the land of the Jie. We decided to stop and spend the night with them in the cattle kraal. Curious faces immediately surrounded us upon our arrival at the kraal. The question “why are you here?” hung heavy in the air, though no one spoke it directly (actually, they may have, but I had no idea what they were saying!). We were taken to the kraal leader, who was located several cattle pens to the center of the kraal, across from the goats. Thankfully, the kraal leader welcomed us to camp for the night, so we set up our tents just outside his grass hut. Evening settled on the kraal and all of the shepherd boys fell into their normal routines: checking the animals, milking the cows and goats and collecting blood for their nightly meal. Curious, I watched as two boys held the cow’s neck taunt while another boy made a small incision in the cow’s throat, puncturing an artery. They held a wooden bowl under the neck collecting blood that ran from the open wound. After collecting a bowl-full, one of the boys began to whisk the blood to form clots. They then removed the clots to roast and eat them later. Once the blood was collected, the boys then milked the cow. Some of this milk they drank directly, mixing it with the fresh blood; some of the milk they set aside for boiling and drinking later. Blood and milk are the two main staples in the diet of these men.

With the Milky Way painted across the night sky, a couple of elders gathered around our fire to sit and talk with us. They questioned us, why would rich mezungus (white people) choose to spend the night with them in the cattle kraal? My teammate was able to share our love for them and the love that we have for the Word of God. As we sat there surrounded by thousands of head of cattle, unknown numbers of men and boys and even more flies, Tom began to share the story of David and Goliath. This is a story that I have heard many times before, but on this night, the image of David as a shepherd boy took on a whole new meaning. As the Philistines taunted the Israelites, I could imagine the Karamojong warriors facing one another in tribal raids. The elders were also making cultural connections and often interrupted the story to identify with David as a shepherd boy who bravely cared for his sheep. At the end of the story, the elders declared that what was spoken was true and right. They asked us to come and share more stories with all of the people, rather than just the few elders that were gathered around the fire.

To honor us, the elders called for a large wooden bowl of blood and milk to be brought for us to drink. Since seeing the earlier procurement of the blood, I was really hoping I wouldn’t have to drink it myself…but no such luck was to be had. The first sip was the hardest: knowing what it was, smelling it, feeling the texture of the wooden bowl…but really, the taste wasn’t so bad. The milk softened the blood so it was palatable. But, I was grateful that I did not have to finish it all by myself! We passed the bowl around the circle, taking turns drinking its unusual contents. There’s nothing like dinner in a cattle kraal!

We woke up to a soggy world. It rained for the majority of the night, leaving a mixture of mud and manure behind. All of our clothes were a bit wet and very stinky, but at least we were in good company! Beyond the mud, the day was met with incredible amounts of flies! Swarms of flies hung like dark clouds around us, clinging to our every move. As the cattle moved out, we did too—with hopes that spending time in kraals sharing the Word of God will become a regular part of our ministry.

Please pray that God will continue to guide us in how to minister to the shepherd-warriors of Karamoja. Pray for the kraal leaders to continue to open the kraal to us, and for soft hearts to receive the Word of God. Pray for health and safety as we are exposed to many challenging physical conditions. Pray for grace to know how to be part of a culture that is so different than ours.

By a Pioneer in the United States

We are excited about new developments with a Central Asian church planter named Baz. It is a miracle how God connected us with him last month. A missionary who is working in Mongolia came to speak at our church a few months ago. This missionary happened to be working with Central Asians in Mongolia. We had him over to our home and we learned that he will be working with a Central Asian pastor who just moved to Mongolia to help start a Central Asian-speaking church there. We asked for Baz’s email and Skype addresses, and now we are regularly meeting with him via Skype and going through our church-planting training with him. What is exciting for us is we discovered that Baz was sent out from the IJ Church in Central Asia. The pastor and founder of the IJ Church is Mansoor who we worked with in a village 15 years ago!

We helped disciple Mansoor before he went to seminary. Afterwards he moved to a city in Central Asia and started the IJ Church (named after the Iman Church we were involved in starting). Now Mansoor’s church sent out Baz to reach the Central Asians of Mongolia, and I’m mentoring Baz via Skype in Mongolia. God is amazing! We are encouraged by the multiplying spiritual fruit of those early Central Asian believers that we had the privilege of seeing come to Christ in those villages.

By a Pioneer in East Asia

After finishing the translation of the Word into the minority language the next task was daunting: how do we get the Word to 12 million people in a closed country? After launching our first Web site that provides the Word to read online or to download, we began paying for Google banner ads that were focused into minority areas of the country. The results have been astonishing. In the last five months we have had over 1,000 visitors to our site each day with over 10,000 downloads of the Bible!

Its really been amazing to think that since we left our home in a minority area that over 1,000 people have downloaded the Word in that city alone!

We will soon be launching two new sites. One is an apologetic site dedicated to defeating the popular Islamic idea that the Bible, though originally from God, has been changed and lost. A second site will supply training resources for majority believers who are learning to share their faith with the minorities.

Photo Credit: Josh & Leona Stewart

By Allen Hamlin Jr., a Pioneer headed to Europe

I’ve been homeless for about seven months.

Now, I’m not entirely destitute, and I haven’t been sleeping on the asphalt, but I’ve been without a place of my own since returning from overseas. Various generous family members have taken in my wife and I, but we’re still without a place where we’re the only residents.

Home has long been an interesting question for me. What is home?

I would classify myself as a “home body,” by which I generally mean that I never succumb to cabin fever (my record is eight days in a row without ever leaving my apartment) and have a fairly low need for adventure. I’m content to stay at home, where I work, eat, do my hobbies, and share a couch with my best friend (my wife).

But otherwise, we’ve tried on several definitions of “home” in the past.

Home is where I’m from. Since birth, I’ve lived for a year or more at nine different addresses, in two different states, and three different countries. The question “where are you from?” tends to retrieve fairly little information for the asker. I usually respond with something like, “I was born in…, but I most recently lived in….”

Home is where my closet is. In addition to the nine different home addresses, I can’t even begin to number the vast array of hotel rooms that I’ve stayed in over the last six years or so. Despite (or perhaps because of) being a “home body,” I often find myself on a trip saying, “Let’s go home”…by which I really mean our hotel room.

My friends’ kids actually coined a phrase for just such an occasion: “some” (rhymes with home). It means “sorta home”–the place that you’re currently living in, even though it may not be for very long.

Home is wherever I’m sleeping tonight. This expansive definition goes far beyond hotel rooms to include buses, airports and even airplanes. Yes, this little fabric seat with my 6.75 inches of legroom is “home” while I try and sleep a bit during the next 14 hours of flight time.

Home is wherever we’re together. My wife and I often find ourselves resorting to this definition of home, vague though it may be. Sometimes we have little idea of where we’re headed, and even less idea of when we’ll actually arrive there, but in the meantime, the one thing we’re certain of is being together, and thus our little bubble of space defined by our crouched bodies on the airport terminal floor is home. Our limited breathing space on an insanely overcrowded Asian subway is home. Our makeshift windbreak at the outdoor bus stop in the midst of a chilling winter storm is home.

“Are you going home for the holidays?” As you might imagine, answering questions such as these tends to make me smile. Where is home?

We’re not in Kansas anymore. In fact, I’ve never even been to Kansas. So if Kansas isn’t it, then where is that place which, for me, is unlike any other? And when will I get there? And what if I don’t have any ruby slippers?

By a Pioneer in Japan

Reiko had been faithfully witnessing to her parents for years but with their comprehension capabilities waning with the onset of Alzheimer’s, her passion to see her parents believe in Christ became even more intensified as weeks passed. The circumstances surrounding her father Shoji’s salvation and baptism are truly amazing when you consider the ravages of this disease. We rejoiced that God gave Shoji a period of lucid thought where he was able to read Scripture with his daughter Reiko as well as pray to receive Christ. Even as Reiko rejoiced in the salvation of her father, she earnestly began praying for the salvation of her mother who is in the same nursing home as her dad and is also suffering from Alzheimer’s.

Reiko shared, “I thought that my mother’s mind was too far gone to understand what I was sharing with her. I prayed, ‘Lord, give me some sign that the truth I am sharing is reaching her heart.’” With these thoughts and prayers on her mind, Reiko fell asleep. At 3:26 a.m. the next morning, Reiko was startled awake by the recollection of a vivid dream. In the dream, her mother was bending over her trying to wake her up. At first in the dream, Reiko resisted, reasoning with her mother that she was tired and needed her rest. Then finally fully awake (still in the dream) her mother began hugging her. Reiko, with tears in her eyes, heartbrokenly said, “I’m sorry, Mom. I tried to tell you the Way.” Inexplicably, Reiko then realized that she was no longer hugging her mother, but a cross. She could see her mother in the far distance fading away. It was at this point that Reiko jerked awake and looked at the clock. “I thought that my mother had died in the night and this was Jesus trying to comfort me,” she later relayed. When the dreaded phone call never came early that morning, Reiko began to pray even more intently as she lay awake in bed. “It was like God was telling me, ‘Now is your chance. God talk to your mother again today.’”

Reiko called into work and asked for the day off, and then headed straight for the nursing home as soon as the doors of the facility opened. She asked the staff to provide a private room so she could visit with her mother, and shared with Asako (age 78) again how to go to heaven. Unlike previous times, with tears streaming down her cheeks, Asako answered, “Yes, I believe.” Asako said “amen” so loudly after Reiko prayed that people were peeking around the corner to see what had happened! Reiko then called me and had her mother talk to me for a while about her decision to accept Christ. Several days later she came to the church, and after reconfirming her faith in Christ, we baptized her! Hallelujah!

The following day, Emiko, upon hearing Asako’s testimony, felt that God was telling her not to delay sharing the salvation story with her 92-year-old mother any longer. Emiko was in the middle of her Bible study cell group, but she left before it was over to go to her mother’s nursing home. Emiko shared with her mother, Namie, about Jesus, the cross, heaven and hell and she prayed to accept Christ as Savior. “I wasn’t sure if I had done it just right, though,” Emiko shared later. “So I called my pastor to see if I could have some more verses to share with my mom. I took these verses as well as written profession of faith that Reiko wrote out for me and went and talked to my mom again the next day.” Emiko need not have been worried, because Namie reaffirmed her confession of Christ as Savior again the next day. I then had the privilege of baptizing 92-year-old Namie with several Japanese Christian ladies looking on. This never gets old!

By Dan, a Pioneer working in North Africa & the Middle East

Though we did not work directly with Mark (a colleague sent by an African partner mission), across the Arab World our African colleagues are among our strongest discipleship partners. We thank God for their cultural understanding and contribution to ministry.

Mark was part of a team of two families serving in a Muslim region. Late in August, the team received death threats. The families were evacuated, but Mark stayed for one last meeting with believers before joining them.

Saturday night after the meeting while at home preparing his dinner, Mark was shot. He was discovered the next morning in his home, but he had lost too much blood to survive. At his passing, Mark leaves a young wife and two infant twin daughters.

Romans 8 declares, “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”

Mark’s mission feared the possibility of legal action from Mark’s father, who was not a believer and who vocally opposed his son’s service among Muslims. But at Mark’s funeral, Mark’s father was among fifteen people who gave their lives to Christ. His wife plans to minister in the same region where her husband was killed.

Mark was in sub-Saharan Africa. The ministry in the Arab World is held together by missionary colleagues and national believers like Mark. These are people who stand firm in the conviction that they are fulfilling God’s call upon their lives, and who are not quick to abandon their posts.

Mark’s mission is building a small home for his children on Mark’s family’s farm. People wishing to contribute to this should send checks payable to "CAPRO USA" to: Moses Alade, 312 Marshall Ave, STE 1010, Laurel, MD 20707.

"How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" – Romans 10:15

Over a billion people are physically inaccessible or linguistically isolated from the gospel of Christ. Where are they and how will we get there? Discover how you can bring good news – explore opportunities to serve.

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By a Pioneer in South Asia

Our church here is in its tenth month and experiencing some tremendous growth! There are national leaders stepping up to lead small groups, to get the church ready for Sunday services, to lead Sunday school, to lead a Sunday afternoon service and to take initiative in outreach ministries.

The church is a very diverse group, having members from throughout the country as well as Canada, Congo, New Zealand and the U.S. It is a mix of rich and poor, highly educated and little education, students, teenagers, many kids under 12, broken vessels and mature Christians. We often have Muslim and Hindu have visitors as well.

A partner ministry recently sent leaders to train about 20 of our church members for Cross Current. It is a program to address emotional healing, specifically in sexual brokenness. One of our church members has had a heart to reach out to the transvestite and homosexual community, which is quite large here.

Many of them work on the streets as beggars and prostitutes. We already have a few men who have made the transition to wear men's clothing again, accepting Jesus and receiving healing. Two of our members who were former homosexuals were baptized two months ago. The program, which is designed for the sexually broken, has actually had a significantly positive affect on our church leadership. Since we have all been required to take the eight-week course ourselves, we have discovered our own personal issues that need healing. It has also helped to deepen friendships and build trust with other church leaders.

Our church hosts a growing Sunday school class for children, which recently divided into two different age groups. A youth group was formed for the teenagers and meets weekly. There is a night of worship and intercession weekly and also volunteers who visit a woman's shelter. The church collects food and cleaning supplies to donate each month to families in the community. Our pastors also run a spoken English school where they are building relationships. Two cell groups meet weekly for worship, Bible study and prayer. A core leadership team meets monthly for prayer, fellowship and leadership development. It's a privilege to be part of this growing community!

By a Pioneer in Southeast Asia

Daniel, a partner of a Pioneer, was out in an unreached district with a worker that he has trained in church-planting movements.As they walked through a village, they came across a group of people standing around a coconut tree. They eased into the crowd and began to chitchat about coconuts and God's creation, skillfully weaving spiritual statements into everyday life. One man responded positively to their overt spirituality and shared that his Mom has been sick in bed for months now, unable to get up. But he didn't know what was wrong with her. Daniel asked if they could stop by and see her.

As they entered the man's house, they were surprised to find that though this lady had been on the pilgrimage and was quite religious, they had also been taking her to the village witch doctor (which is prohibited by their faith). Apparently they had been to medical doctors but they could find nothing wrong so they concluded her sickness was spiritual, thus they took her to the shaman. However, the Mom confessed that after going there, her troubles had increased as she was now having dreams every night of a goat-man with red eyes, giving her night terrors.

Daniel and his partner told them they were followers of Jesus and would like to pray for her in Jesus' name. But before they did that, they wanted the family to see who Jesus is in the Quran. They opened to chapter three and read with the family where it is recorded that Jesus is the Word of God, a worker of miracles, able to raise the dead and most amazingly, the "greatest name in heaven and on earth" (3:45). As they discussed these things, one of the daughters and her husband left the room to discuss whether they should allow this discussion to continue. (These things about Jesus are so unsettling!) Eventually they decided since it was in their Holy Book it had to be ok, so they finally gave their consent. As a result, all the family as well as Daniel and his partner prayed together for the Mom, in the name of Jesus.

The following week Daniel and his partner returned and found the Mom up walking around! Apparently after their prayer, she immediately began to feel better and was soon up and walking. What's more, she had not had any more bad dreams!

Daniel took the opportunity to again open their book and show how the Word of God cannot be changed and that their book also says they should read "the other holy books, the Torah, Psalms and Gospels." Praise God, the following week they were reading Genesis 1 together with Daniel and his partner, in the living room of Mr.New's house! Most encouraging to me is that not only was the Mom healed, but they are now meeting together each week on Fridays as an extended family: the Mom, her two daughters and their two husbands! This is truly a household being evangelized together, right in the middle of their neighborhood.

Reaching the world's remaining unreached peoples requires creativity and a sensitivity to the unique calling, vision, and needs of each missionary.

To see the full-length version of this video, order the free Core Values DVD.

For more about how Pioneers partners with local churches, click here.

Pioneers partners with sending churches to plant new communities of Christians. We also work alongside local, indigenous fellowships wherever possible.

To see the full-length version of this video, order the free Core Values DVD.

For more about how Pioneers partners with local churches, click here.

Teams that are both task- and member-focused are the core of Pioneers. This is crucial since many of the world's remaining unreached peoples are in difficult and isolated pockets of the world.

To see the full-length version of this video, order the free Core Values DVD.

For opportunities to Go, click here.

by a Pioneer in India

We really appreciate the Christmas season and we celebrate it here in India. Indians love holidays and festivals. They celebrate almost everything from full moons, seasonal changes and the birthdays of their own gods (with 3,000,000 gods there or plenty of birthday parties happening). All this focus on festivals has caused us to really evaluate the way we celebrate Christmas and how we can make the most of the celebration of the birth of the Savior of the world. So…

IStep 1: De-Santa Claus Christmas. There is a lot of confusion here about what Christmas is. Most people call it “Xmas”—not realizing it has anything to do with Christ at all. Just as many people assume it’s Santa Claus’ birthday. The 12-year-old girl across the street told us that Santa Claus comes to our house first because we’re Christians. Wow, really? So while Santa Claus is, for the most part, a harmless part of the Christmas tradition as it’s celebrated in the West, he brings much confusion and distraction to celebrating Christ’s Mass where we are.

Step 2: Do Advent. The Hindu view of Christians is that we don’t know how to party or throw a good festival or holiday. This is somewhat true. We basically have two festivals a year that each, typically, only last one day. This is strange for a people who have a single festival that lasts up to ten days. One of the ways we can extend our Christmas season is by celebrating Advent. This turns a one-day event into a four-week time of preparation. We light diyas instead of candles and use marigolds instead of evergreen wreaths because these items are typically associated with the worship of God. But, the idea is the same. For the entire first week we light one diya every night and set it outside. The second week we light two, the third week we light three and the fourth week we have four diyas every night. This has done wonders in creating curiosity and anticipation in our community.

The reason I’m even writing is because two days ago a neighbor boy came over for some help with his computer. Before leaving he stopped, turned around and came back to where I was to ask about why we are lighting a diya every night. I was so pumped. I took him to our Advent wreath (tray of diyas) and was able to explain to him the four diyas (hope, peace, joy, love, Jesus). I was very purposeful in talking about why we have hope in the second coming and about how Jesus gives us peace. We believe it’s these types of seeds that will eventually bare fruit in this barren land.

by a Pioneer in Mongolia

This week we had the privilege to represent many of you here and distribute firewood to the very poor of our town from the funds that came together. We were able to significantly help 19 families with most of the heating they will need for this winter. These families have nothing but the felt tent they live in. Their lives are very difficult, and it was a blessing to us to be able to in a very tangible way show the compassion of Jesus to them. The money was wired in and we received the names of needy people from the mayor’s office. We were ready to go and visit each family to try to assess the real need when it started to snow.

After visiting the families, we rejected some because they obviously had other means. I was concerned because after it snows the price of wood always goes up—as it is harder to get to the trees in the mountains with the snow. An amazing thing happened: instead of the price of wood going up, it actually went down. We initially thought we would only be able to purchase a little over 12 loads, and we ended up being able to purchase 17.5 loads. We found ourselves needing to go back to the district leaders for more names, and this time they went with us and helped find some truly needy folks.

As much as people around us need the heat of a fire to live in the harsh winter months, so much more they need to have the Spirit of the Living God warm their hearts to understand the truth of Jesus. The darkness of shamanism and the fear within the Tibetan Buddhist system keeps people blind and confused. We have had good conversations lately with different people, yet there seems to be so much there that hinders them from really understanding. Please pray with us for the Spirit’s conviction of sin, righteousness and judgment to be known and understood in the hearts of those around us.

Pioneers has a decentralized leadership structure. We are principle- rather than policy-driven, applying an interactive approach to decision making that is based on trust.

To see the full-length version of this video, order the free Core Values DVD.

For opportunities to Go, click here.

by a Pioneer in Thailand

A small child pulled at his father’s sleeve, and pointing to a dead bird, asked him what happened to it. “God took him to heaven,” was the reply. After a moment, the child asked, “Why did God throw him back down?”

We recently saw the sky fill with fire-fed lanterns (Kome Loy) lifting up into the heavens. The Buddhist Thai believe that during this yearly lantern festival—Yi Peng, meaning ‘second month’—they can send away all of their troubles and sins in this offering to Buddha.

It is believed that by sending off these lanterns an individual can send one's sins and bad luck into the air. Usually before the lantern soars into the sky, an individual will pray that one's sin or bad luck will be transported on the lantern and floated away high into the sky.

This morning out in our neighborhood, I saw everywhere—caught in trees, laying in yards and fields—the blackened remains of these offerings that have fallen from “heaven” back to earth, visual reminders of their attempt to win divine favor through “works.” Is it a picture of God rejecting their offering?

Their lantern-releasing ritual is actually a declaration that they have chosen to reject God’s offering! His perfect sacrifice that forgives all of their sins, if they would receive His gift—Jesus: Light of the World. Each lantern echoes a “no” to God’s eternal gift of freedom, life and love. They continue to carry their heavy burdens and bring their yearly offerings that “can never make perfect those who draw near to worship” (Heb 10:1).

The lanterns are actually a wonderful picture of Jesus, who was our “Light-offering” that rose up to heaven, but wasn’t rejected! He remains there to intercede for us, and sent His Spirit back as a promise of His return to bring us home with Him.

Pray for the Thais who feel such a heavy weight of all they need to "do" in order to please God and not be stricken by Him. One girl with whom we shared told us that she has to do the various offerings or it would worry her mother too much. This mixture of fear and filial responsibility are like a suffocating blanket of darkness over them. Ask for the Lord to set them free through the life-changing gospel message of forgiveness of sins through Christ.

Related video: 

We want to see new believers united in fellowship with other believers, forming churches that plant churches—until all peoples are reached.

To see the full-length version of this video, order the free Core Values DVD.

For opportunities to Go, click here.

Understanding that each person bears the image of God, we endeavor to cultivate an atmosphere of mutual acceptance and respect in all our relationships, encouraging each one to attain his or her full potential in Christ.

To see the full-length version of this video, order the free Core Values DVD.

For opportunities to Go, click here.

by a Pioneer in South Asia

“Today is an auspicious day,” began my friend Dorie, “so we are going to see some relics.” She went on to explain that this day was Lhabab Duechen, the day that Buddha descended to earth from heaven to focus on helping “all sentient beings.” To mark the occasion she and her roommate had lit butter lamps during their morning puja (worship).

As she explained the significance of the day, Dorie commented that it must sound strange but is nonetheless what she believes as a Buddhist. Dorie remarked that I am probably not interested in hearing such things, but I assured her that I am interested in hearing her talk about what she believes.

Older than most of the other college students, Dorie and her roommate are government employees who have come to this city on a study leave. I was visiting Dorie because she had asked me to help her improve her English conversational skills. However, after just one such informal lesson, she has had to start taking tutoring for another class.

About a week after our meeting, Dorie called “to say hello” and gave me an open invitation to come to her house any time! I am thanking Dad for the offer of friendship she is extending and look forward to getting to know her better. Would you join me in asking Father to awaken within her a desire for spiritual conversation and an open heart to hear about the Son?

by a Pioneer in Central Asia

One evening this week I was driving outside of the city with another foreign coworker. We were off to visit a family and I was trying to prep her for the conversations we would have. She asked a question that surprised me, "Why do you think so many foreigners are so reticent to talk about God with locals?"

I smiled and wondered how I could answer. I talked about lack of language, but focused on fear. I said that most folks are either afraid of hurting a valued relationship or are afraid of getting into trouble. My companion agreed with all the inhibitions I identified.

She's new in country and is still unsure about what she can share. She was shocked that I shared so much and so openly and wondered how I could do that. Here's what I told her: “Look, I've been thrown out of three communities and yet never been dragged before the police or a governor. I've watched more than a few precious folks close doors and I'm still here.” Most folks are open and enjoy talking about things that matter. Eventually, as our conversation progresses, some folks feel the tension and shut it down. Others move ahead.

“I didn't come here to make friends,” I told my companion. “I came here to make disciples. I'd rather lose a relationship because the person doesn't want to walk with Jesus than keep one because I've grown to enjoy and love the person.” The truth is, I have lost relationships and even lost one this week because we reached a point of decision and my partner pushed away.

I have paid the price and tasted the sadness. I know the sense of disappointment and loss. And I've wondered, What did Jesus feel like when people walked away? When the rich young ruler walked away? This week, my driver walked away. We had covered so much ground. Finally, I challenged him to pray and ask God to lead him into truth. He completely refused. He would not ask. Instead, he said, "It would be better if we stopped talking about religion and church."

I have honored his decision and I'm limiting the time I spend with him. I had to do some soul searching, though. Did I push too hard, demand too much or offend unnecessarily? I thought over our conversations, so many over so many years. I realized I had delivered enough, more than enough, to challenge him to consider. I had not demanded a decision. Instead, I had asked him to seek God and consider what he'd heard. He had refused. Instead, in a very real sense, he had walked away.

Of course, "no" is hard to hear. I thought about the others, over the last six years who've reached “no.” People I enjoyed but withdrew from. People I've missed and who've missed me. And yet, this is how it should be. Some will walk with Jesus, some will walk away. I must be faithful to give them the choice.

by a Pioneer on the Arabian Peninsula

After the quiet of the past couple of weeks, the shelling of some areas of our city resumed. News reports indicate that a few of the anti-government protestors were killed during the protest march a couple of hours ago. We know that a lot of the shooting we hear is warning shots, but each time we hear another skirmish going on we wonder if someone is being killed at that moment. Of course, it's very sobering to experience this situation, but it can also be disturbing to think that we've almost grown accustomed to falling asleep at night to the sound of distant shelling, or not-distant-enough sniper fire.

In spite of these ugly scenes from the Arab Spring here, there have been some beautiful outcomes as well:

• An increase in the number of young men and women who are seeking answers to life's questions from Christian websites. We've been privileged to be involved in following up those who write to Christian media sites inquiring about the Christian faith.
• The return over the past few weeks of several mission partners who left in the earlier stages of hostilities. They have returned from a refreshing break in their home countries eager to serve with joy in this area of conflict.

The situation has impacted our family in several specific ways: Water is no longer being pumped to our house, though we can get large tanks trucked in and pumped into a tank in our yard. Needless to say, we've learned to really conserve water these days. Recently, we've been supplied with anywhere from zero to six hours of electrical power each day. Unfortunately, there is no predictable pattern to when the electricity will be on or off. That simply makes it difficult to plan when to do laundry, e-mail correspondence, etc. It also affects our daughter's on-line schooling program. Since there is sometimes shooting in different neighborhoods, we need to be wise about when to go out to meet people and which areas of town are safe from day to day. Since many of our colleagues have left the country, Sam has had to take on increased leadership responsibilities in our house-fellowship.

As disturbing as this all may sound, we have found a rhythm in our daily routine, and still are able to work, entertain and visit. We believe it has been in answer to your prayers that God has given us his peace in the midst of this current storm. A short while ago, Amy and Nora were invited to attend the ladies’ party for the wedding of a friend. Each of them eventually found themselves in a circle of ladies or girls chatting about the usual these days—politics, religion or something like the best way to make pita bread. Both circles of conversation eventually came around to discussions centered on our faith. Questions such as what we believe about heaven, the role of God's grace in our salvation and how we can know if we're going to heaven. Amy had shared about her faith with a lot of these women before, and steadfastly challenged them again to consider the meaning of the cross of Christ and his love for them in their life situation. Nora’s conversation with a group of school girls contained much of the same content as Amy’s, but Nora left with the thrill of having seen the look of wonder on many of the girls’ faces as they heard such claims for the first time. Please pray that God continues to grant us his peace in our souls, love for our neighbors and hearts eager to tell them the Good News of salvation!

by a Pioneer in Thailand

Many have heard of the flooding in Thailand. With the rainy season now over, the threats of more flooding are subsiding. The surrounding areas of Bangkok were hit hard with the flooding. Here in Chiang Mai there were also areas that received damage.

Recently, while I was at a women's Bible study, a fellow worker shared the following story. She and several others had gone into parts of Chiang Mai where there was the most flooding damage. They offered to help people clean up their houses. As they helped one woman, Ning, clean up her house, she began to tell them her story.

Ning feels like an outcast in her neighborhood, the Thai people around her think she is crazy. As the workers asked questions, the woman shared that a while ago her son had been very sick. She began to pray to the God of the foreigners and her son was healed. Since that time, she felt like God was telling her to take down all her Buddhist statues and any Buddhist religious symbols she had in her house, so she did.

She said she feels like she has a sixth sense, like something convicts her when she does wrong or gives her a certain sense about a situation. With excited eyes, the workers said, “We have that too! That is the Holy Spirit!”

The workers asked if they could come back the next day and bring their Thai pastor's wife. The next day the group went back to visit the woman. The pastor's wife explained the Bible and Jesus to Ning. Now she is involved in the Church and sharing about God's love!

What an exciting story of God pursuing this Thai mom, without any input from anyone. Just God pursuing her and her responding! Please continue to pray for Ning, as she grows in understanding and faith.

by a Pioneer in North Africa

I’ve been helping the media follow-up ministry by sending literature and DVDs to the people who requested them. The number of requests has grown by about five to six times since the revolution. This month, 16 people clicked a box to profess their faith in Christ. Praise the Lord!

However, yesterday we found out that one of the local newspapers has written about the work as if some foreign Christians are sending them out randomly to proselytize people to Christianity. There was a picture of the package and the contents that looked exactly like what we send. Today, I was given an instruction to be extra cautious but also to press on with the work. I will probably have to re-pack them and travel to different places to mail each one separately. Please pray for the protection and pray that the people who receive them will respond to God’s Word.

by a Pioneer in Central Asia

How do you know when the seeds are growing? How do you know when what you say is making a difference? Our brother Jesus said you look for the fruit.

This week, I engaged in a rather lengthy and gentle conversation with a husband and his wife about things important and eternal. We started out by talking about peace in this country and the challenges this nation faces. In time, I shifted the conversation away from the national picture to our more personal responsibilities.

We drifted onto a conversation about reconciliation and I explained that our brother came to reconcile us to the father. I talked about the pathway: repentance, confession, forgiveness and its outcome, reconciliation. We talked a lot about how reconciliation happens between people and why true reconciliation is better than just ignoring the bloody and painful history this country has experienced.

Somewhere in the conversation I talked about the mandate I've received to forgive when someone confesses and asks me to forgive them. That was only one small piece in a long night of ideas traded, literally, in the flickering light of a gas lamp.

The next morning, I sat with the wife over cups of tea, fresh bread and heavy cream. The children attracted most of our attention, but somewhere in the midst of it, the wife, a dear friend of mine, confessed that she had taken some things from me and that she felt guilty about it because she had never returned what she had only intended to borrow. She asked if it was true that I could forgive her.

I did not immediately make the connection between our morning's conversation and the night before, but it didn't matter. Of course I would forgive her and happily so. She explained that she had been carrying that guilt for a long time and was very grateful for the opportunity to have that silent wall between us washed away. Now, that wall is gone. I didn't know it was there, but now it's gone.

So how do you know? How can you measure your effectiveness? We look for the fruit. That morning, I tasted a very sweet piece of fruit. It's not only that my friend's confession and subsequent forgiveness is important, although it certainly is. It's much more than that. It's that the conversation in her mind is hanging. Truth has taken hold and is growing and that's a profoundly beautiful thing.

by a Pioneer in Central Asia

For the past few months, God has been burdening my heart heavily with the fact that so many of the old people around us are dying without knowing Christ. Usually it is more difficult to bring old people into the Kingdom as they are so set in their ways of Islam to even want to listen. Nevertheless, I started to pray for my aged neighbors. One of them is Diana’s mother-in-law, I will call “Grandma Margaret.” (Diana is our neighbor who had come to faith a few months ago. I am discipling her.) Margaret has heard my testimonies and sharing of His Word with open heart before but since she started going to the old ladies’ Koran reading group, she seemed to have become more distant.

I was so burdened for her soul that I asked God for one more opportunity to share the Truth with her. Several weeks ago, God gave me that opportunity to share but as soon as I mentioned Jesus, she started quoting the usual defensive lines about Islam. It seemed like what I was sharing was falling on deaf ears. With my heart aching for her soul, I shared with her that it is because God loves her so much that He has put her on my heart to pray for and to share with her like this. I shared with her that we don’t know how much longer we will live on this earth but that I would like to and that God would like to see her by His side in Heaven. Somehow, the reality of God loving her seemed to melt that closed heart some to enable her to finally listen. Though she said that she cannot accept Him right now, I am praying that God will be merciful to Grandma Margaret and open wide her heart to receive God’s precious gift of Jesus. Pray that she and her whole household will get to know Jesus as their Savior and Lord.

A few days later, God gave another opportunity for my husband and I to share God’s love with a 75-year-old woman we will call “Grandma Sherry.” A few months before, she didn’t agree with the Good News and even was teaching us about Mohammed. We left her the movie about Jesus called Magdalena. Even though she didn’t seem interested, she decided to watch the movie. Then when we visited a few weeks ago, with childlike faith and tears rolling down her cheeks, she said that she believed in Jesus being the Savior and the way to God! During the visit, she also mentioned that her back really hurt. So we laid hands on her and claimed Jesus’ healing over Grandma Sherry’s back, and moments later she said it was feeling better. She stood up with no pain to see us off. Praise God!

Please join us in asking God for Grandma Sherry to understand and experience the abundant life that she has received in Christ. And may her whole household and the generations come to put their trust in Jesus and surrender their lives to Him.

Thank you for your continued prayers for this city!

"The 65/95 Window? Because the Gospel is for seniors too. Much is said about the 4/14 Window (religious decisions are mostly made by youth). But in a world that is aging, how do we reach out to seniors?" Read missions commentator Justin Long’s thoughts on the 65/95 Window.

by a Pioneer in Southeast Asia

The heavy monsoon rains pounded the pavement as Lila and Wan headed home from work late Friday evening on their motorcycle. On the north side of the city another family raced their grandmother to the hospital. Two roads converged in a dangerous curve and the sound of crunching metal rang through Lila’s ears for days. Her helmet flew off and her head smacked the pavement in a tangle of limbs and asphalt. The under-funded provincial hospital sent them home with some loose gauze and antibiotics for her traumatic head wound.

Two hours later, a knock on my door revealed a frantic Wan. “Lila fell,” he said. The desperation in his voice told me much more. I didn’t notice his leg covered in blood. I didn’t notice soaking rain as I raced across our shared yard, first aid kit in hand. I didn’t notice the family pacing the yard. All I saw was a Lila crumpled on the bed in a tiny room, holding her head in her hands, lifeless and limp.

“What happened my dear?” I called. “What happened to my sister friend?”

For the next few hours I held my dear friend as she lay limp and lifeless in my arms, muttering breathlessly, “I think I must be dead. Why am I not dead?”

“Because,” I said, “God has a plan for your life. Don’t be afraid. God loves you. May I pray for you?”

And so I spoke the sweet name of Jesus over her shaken soul. I prayed with the boldness and precision that only a life-or-death situation can invite. I believe that in those next few hours, God healed her. She became awake, alive. She began to eat. To talk. To laugh. Four hours later I was sure she would make it through the night.

The story doesn’t end there. The next morning Wan’s leg was looking worse and I was sure my tube of Neosporin wasn’t going to cut it. There was no Google answer for cleaning a motorbike wound when you live in an Asian slum and have no supplies! Then I remembered a sample health course some friends had sent me. It was an entire PowerPoint presentation, complete with pictures and instructions entitled “Wound Management.” A gift from God himself! I looked through the pictures and followed the steps to clean out the wounds, irrigate and bandage it. I then gave Wan some antibiotics we had on hand. This was an immediate and miraculous provision from God. His leg healed.

Later that day, Wan’s whole family thanked us. “Thank you for helping us. Your help is better than money, better than food. Your help is God’s love.”

This experience really deepened our relationship with Lila, Wan and their whole family. It was an opportunity to share God’s love in their time of great need.

A Letter from a Pioneer in Asia

Dear Prayer Partners,

Coming back overseas is always a challenge and a choice. Fifteen years in Asia was not a “one time decision to go” but a series of decisions to keep going.

But, we do it again and again because we really do believe there are things worth fighting for. And there are times when giving up or quitting isn’t the thing to do. But what makes this hard is that sometimes the exact same action that is right for one person can actually be wrong for another. Obviously, I’m not talking about moral or sin issues, but about life choices that can only be determined by walking in the light (Eph. 5:8-10) and listening to the still small voice (1 Kings 19:12).

It seems every time we visit the US the inertia to stay gets stronger. This time I was offered two jobs: both are in “my line of work,” both are things I’d enjoy. Perhaps I’d even enjoy them more than living in Asia—struggling with visa issues, living two doors down from a mosque, dealing with a lack of good medical care, living as a minority in the developing world, misunderstood by Americans and locals alike. Perhaps the family would enjoy living in the US more too?

But instead of pursuing a US job, we’re now 35,000 feet over the Atlantic en route 15 hours to our home. These flights are never fun—a kid is screaming two rows up; we’ve had a fitful, upright sleep in economy class chairs. Next is a six-hour layover, then another eight-hour flight.

Why?

Because there are things worth fighting for.

Things that the world may never understand that have nothing to do with promotions, popularity, security, career advancement or comfort. Things that even some Christians seem to fail to understand. These things include:

• The gospel
• The plight of the unreached without Christ
• The glory of Christ still to be revealed among peoples and in places where He’s never been known
• Years of experience that haven’t come easy

The big question many have been asking us is, “Well, then, how much longer?” My son will go off to college in a year’s time; finances are tight; the economy isn’t good—the dollar is losing against the local currency; visas continue to be a problem, there are other things we could do. But we can’t answer “how long” any more than we can predict our own deaths, or when our kids will get married.

So we keep going for now, believing it is not yet time to move back to America. And as we do, God keeps us dependent on Him. As Paul said, “This is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecution, in suffering—for when I am weak then I am strong.”

It’s been a good two months in the US. We enjoyed it very much! And we were able to accomplish most of our goals for those 60 days:

• To look at colleges for my son (We looked at 12; he’s applying to 3 for the fall of 2012.)
• To help my Dad move into a retirement center.
• To meet with our churches, family and supporters to catch-up, report and fellowship. (This was great fun, yet we feel sad about those who we were not able to meet—and wish we had more time with those we did!) By the way, did you know “furlough” is something Paul himself periodically did during his missionary journeys? See Acts 14:26-28; 21:17-19 for a couple of examples. We find joy in continuing his great tradition.

In a matter of days, we’ll be “back in the swing of things” in Asia. As we re-engage, would you re-commit to pray for us? We don’t live here because we prefer Asia to America! Or because we think we’re indispensable. But we do it because we believe HE would keep us here at this time. And we know it is only through dependence on His grace and the strengthening of your prayers that we can keep going.

In closing, can we ask for your help with these current prayer requests?

• For our visa. We’ve had two visas in these last two years in Asia. Please pray for us in this (1 Tim 2:1-6).
• For our family as we readjust. (Isaiah 40:11)
• For wisdom as we re-engage in ministry engagements—that we may know what to say “yes” to, following only His still small voice (James 1:5).
• For Muslims...Pray that God would soften hearts and draw many to the Savior as they see their inability to keep God’s law (Gal 3:10-11; 1 John 5:12)

With joy in serving our King,

A Pioneer in Asia

By a Pioneer in Southeast Asia

Recently I found my car stuck in a deep ditch with my two daughters in their car seats, tired, hungry and a little scared. I had wandered down the wrong back road and in impatiently backing up to get on the main road, half the car fell into a ditch. I quickly called my husband and told him where we were, but I knew the neighbors in that area would rush to help as well. There are no tow trucks or emergency services here. It’s the community who comes to the rescue. As the neighboring Muslim women scooped up the kids and provided us shade and drink, the men began discussing the best way to get the car out of the ditch. My husband arrived with a few of our ministry partners and the real opportunity began. While working with the neighborhood men, they were able to share the gospel with several of them. I was able to laugh with the women at my mistake of backing the car into a ditch and begin a friendship with the ladies there in hopes of sharing the love of Christ.

Even in taking wrong turns, when we’re impatient and want control of our life, God grants us opportunity and a way out of the mess. What we might think is a curse becomes a blessing. It’s in these types of situations that God in His faithfulness can plant the seeds of a movement of His love among an entire people group.

by an Australian Pioneer in East Asia

Hope arrived at the House of Love last September, a fragile newborn who’d been thrown out of a vehicle on a highway. She had anal atresia.

She must have just been released from a hospital, as she had just had a colostomy but had been discharged in an incredibly jaundiced condition. We bathed, dressed, fed and cuddled her, and prayed for wisdom to know what to do.

We had no medical equipment to treat this condition, so the best we could do for her was to put her in the sun for 15 minutes, three times a day.

The severe jaundice pointed to a serious disease and therefore she had many blood tests. We expected the worst. Every blood test came back negative! We couldn’t believe it!

The jaundice improved by the day, as Hope sun-baked and fed to her heart’s content. She has since had the first reconstructive surgery and is due to have her final surgery in the next couple of months. In the meantime she is growing like a little mushroom and is as happy and beautiful as can be.

God is the God of Hope.

This is just one of the many stories we could share about our work among babies with special needs. We run three units looking after 45-50 children and babies.

by a Pioneer in South Asia

Our trip to Africa inspired us and deepened our understanding of the challenges our African coworkers face as they seek to disciple and strengthen the church. The pressures from former religious practices and the demands of family are great; most Westerners can’t fully understand it.

We visited a village previously named Hell, one of 12 animistic villages that Sylvester, one of Pioneers’ African church planters is reaching. Though now changing because of Christ, the town has been deeply impacted by voodoo and satanic influences.

A woman whose home is in Hell lost her first two babies just after birth. Being close to the birth of her third child, she sought out Sylvester to pray for her. After prayer, he encouraged her to declare aloud, “This baby belongs to Jesus” as soon as she was born, and to name the baby “Home of Jesus.”

We met this sweet now three-year-old girl along with her baby sister. Hell is now named Refuge.

by a Pioneer in South Asia

Clang. Clang. Clang. Someone was at the gate. As I approached, the familiar wheezy cough was the give away…Old White Beard. White Beard has been coming to my house for the past six months or so. Lonely, living with one daughter, suffering from tuberculosis, and not able to work to have money for medicine or to eat, White Beard is always welcome at my house.

For quite a while, my heart went out to him. I would give him some money for his medicine but I never seemed to be able to have an opportunity to share about Christ’s love. “Lord please help me to share with him!” I would pray.

Well, this day turned out to be different. I helped him slowly to the porch and sat his fragile body down. “I have been looking for you for two weeks!” he explained. “I was so worried.” As I apologized for my absence he joyfully shouted, “I saw Jesus! I had a dream about him! I used to cry all through the night, but I saw Jesus!”

I was set back. I have heard about this happening and even prayed about it, but now, was it happening to me? How little faith I do have. It made me ecstatic as he shared through his raspy voice and toothless smile. “Jesus can heal me! He is God’s son! He feeds the people; He healed the sick; He raised the dead!” Here I was asking God to give me an opportunity to share and it was as if Jesus said, “Umm, no. How about I just tell him Myself?”

Praise Christ! Though we can’t see it, He is always working and always faithful. Since that day White Beard continues to come back, he continues to weep in my arms, and continues to cry out to Jesus. He knows Jesus is the only way to God. Please pray for White Beard and for God to continue to reveal Himself in dreams.

by a Pioneer in Central Asia

Allow me to introduce...

The bride, Dawn, is a 36-year-old Russian who grew up in an orphanage. She’s been a believer for five to six years and is passionate about sharing her faith. She is illiterate and has a 10-year-old son from previous relationship.

The groom, Nick, is also Russian. He’s been a believer for about six months and is growing daily in his faith. Nick’s a 50-year-old retired journalist who owns a home and a dairy farm in the village of “Little Water.”

This month, the two covenanted themselves before God and men to love, honor and cherish each other all their lives. It was a beautiful wedding. Nick invited eight of his journalist friends. None of them were believers, and yet they witnessed something rare and amazing in this part of the world. They had known Nick as a skilled and accomplished journalist who often got drunk. Now he was sober and committed to taking care of a woman (and her child) who had been scorned and rejected by the society. In the past, Nick had interviewed dignitaries and had written numerous articles about leaders in the political arena. Now he is teaching grammar and mathematics to his step-son whose grades have steadily improved from D’s and F’s to A’s and B’s. The gospel is changing lives.

by a Pioneers partner in East Asia

“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is...”

Psalm 133 says when we walk in unity with each other, it’s like precious oil being poured out, or like dew falling on the mountains. There, God “commands the blessing—life forevermore.” Last weekend several of my friends and I took a trip to my family’s town to pray over a specific property. This time we were sent to deal with issues of disunity from the present as well as the distant past. We prayed. He showed up. And I was undone...

Healing the Land

I’ve been on a journey into the history of workers who have previously labored in this field. Abba put me in touch with some amazing contacts and historians along the way who have helped to put together a more complete picture of what has happened here in the past and how it relates to what He is doing now. He is showing us that the promises He gave to those men and women long ago are ours to claim now.

Conversely, we’ve discovered that major fractures in relationship among workers and organizations also occurred here, which also impact us today. Conflicts between ethnic groups, religious persuasions and political parties over the centuries have been devastating and bloody, and have left deep wounds in this land that desperately need to be healed. As bearers of the Kingdom life that Jesus purchased for us, we are called to embody and impart that healing wherever we go. But if we ourselves are bound up in offense, pride, unforgiveness, comparison, gossip, entitlement and the like, God may still use us because He is so merciful and full of grace, but our witness and message are greatly crippled. We end up contributing to the same woundedness and strife we come to heal!

In view of that reality, Abba put together a team of us to go to my family’s property and repent for the ways we have broken God’s heart by walking in those same patterns of disunity. Our group had representatives of the two most divided groups as well as a minority brother and a majority “shepherd.” Collectively we had people from five nations, spanning ages six to sixty. What a beautiful picture of the Kingdom! We all sensed that something weighty and significant was happening as we gathered. We humbled ourselves before our King, blessed each other in His name, blessed the property and all He had planned for it, and then celebrated by sharing a big meal together. While we were praying, one of my friends had a vision of both people and angels coming in through my family’s gate. The angels were overjoyed that there was freedom for them to enter there again.

Sight for the Blind

Later in the day, it was on my heart for us to pray for my local grandma. She’s had chronic knee pain and eye problems, likely caused by diabetes. She was completely blind in her left eye and sight in her right eye was slowly worsening. We asked if we could touch her and pray, explaining that God has power to heal every kind of disease through Jesus. She agreed. We prayed seven or eight times, starting with her knees. They got a little better as she rose to stand with greater ease after each prayer.

Then one member of the group had a word for her about disappointment and heartache. God wanted her to know that He saw and understood the hurts she carried. She nodded slowly. So we began asking for healing of emotional as well as physical pain. Next we prayed over her eyes. At first her left eye saw only blackness. Then she could see shadows, then widening light. Eventually she could see color. “I can see your eyes Jenny,” she said.

As we prayed, I noticed my seven- and nine-year-old cousins watching from a distance. I called them over. “We’re asking God to heal grandma right now. He has power to do that and He really loves her so we’re asking Him to touch her body and take away her pain and blindness.” A few moments later, I nearly dissolved into tears as little Bali put his hands over his grandma’s eyes and repeated a prayer after me asking Abba to heal her in Jesus’ name. He stared in disbelief and awe as his grandma testified improvement after each prayer. After we were done, she kept saying, “I’m so happy! Praise God!” It was incredible.

Later, Bali nonchalantly pointed out that he had a scrape on his arm from a recent fall. It was mostly healed, but still a little sore. Abba healed that too. I think He just wanted to dazzle that little boy just a little more by showing him that even the smallest pain matters to Him. His love is great. And He loves to heal! Perhaps the best part of all was seeing Him touch my Muslim grandma, my cousin and all of us foreigners with His presence together. He’s amazing.

The Great Commandment is our motive for the Great Commission. We want to live our lives fully surrendered to Him so that all nations may know that He alone is God.

To see the full-length version of this video, order the free Core Values DVD.

For opportunities to Go, click here.

One of Pioneers' Core Values is a focus on Unreached Peoples. This video aims to help identify what that means.

For the full video and to learn more about other Pioneers Core Values, get this free DVD.

To learn more about Pioneers' 28 priority unreached people groups, click here.

by Ken Mauger, Pioneers-USA VP of Personnel

Few of us would deny that today's missionaries should strive to be like the Apostle Paul. Clear on the message, bold, willing to suffer, focused and tenacious. Luke's account in Acts shows us Paul was all these things and more. Some of that “more” is also communicated in the book of Acts, but in a more subtle, indirect way. Track with me a bit if you will as we take a fresh look at Paul's Roman adventure.

Cherishing a Vision

Following his significant victory in Ephesus with the burning of the magic books (worth as much as US $4 million in modern terms), Paul sets his sights on new destinations. “Paul decided to go to Jerusalem ... ‘after I have been there,’ he said, ‘I must visit Rome also’” (19:21).

This first mention of Rome represents a vision that had formed in Paul's mind - a vision which, importantly, is confirmed by God. That confirmation comes in Acts 23. After arriving in Jerusalem, the apostle is arrested and brought before the Jewish Sanhedrin. The Lord assures Paul, “As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome” (23:11). The mission to Rome clearly has God's stamp of approval.

At this stage of the story, Paul reminds me of many missionaries and prospective missionaries I know. They cherish a vision of what they are certain God wants them to do—a new people group to reach, a new area to enter with the gospel, an innovative means to make a difference among the nations.

Many of these new missionaries have also formed a picture of how the vision will become reality. At the risk of trying to pry between the lines of Scripture, I suspect that Paul may have envisioned himself marching into Rome as he marched into so many other cities. First there would be the visit to any gathering of Jews present in the city to present the claims of the Messiah. Then the broadening of the proclamation to the Gentile population. No doubt there could be opposition, but Paul likely would have expected to roam freely about the great city as God either opened new doors for him or moved him on to the next destination.

Responding with Resilience

The next few chapters of Acts recount for us Paul's circuitous and highly eventful journey from Jerusalem to Rome—as a prisoner. As we draw near the final curtain on the book of Acts, we find the great apostle unable to move about Rome at all, but living there in his own rented home (under house arrest). It doesn't seem to be the glorious climax he may have envisioned.

Haunted each day by the specter of judgment and execution, how “human” it would have been for Paul to allow frustration or anxiety to get the upper hand. I could easily see myself turning visitors away with a self-pitying excuse: “I'm just too stressed and preoccupied today. Could you please come back another time?”

Not Paul, though. According to Acts 28:30, he “welcomed all who came to see him.” Nor did he see in these visitors an opportunity to talk about his own predicament. Instead, he preached the kingdom of God, just as he had done in all the other cities, and “taught about the Lord Jesus Christ” (28:31).

So Paul's God-given vision to bring the gospel to Rome did in fact become reality! The form that reality took was far different than he likely expected. The point however is this: Paul was flexible. He adapted. He found a way to see this new reality as God's creative way of keeping a promise.

Moreover, the powerful little word “all” in Acts 28:30 suggests that Paul fully embraced his situation. No half-heartedness here; no one was turned away. Every seeker was entertained. Did Paul see his house arrest as a blessing in disguise, a situation to be fully exploited for the sake of the gospel?

God's Will for You

I find this attitude strangely predictive of Jim Elliot's exhortation, “Wherever you are, be all there; live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God for you.” Ironically, Jim Elliot's life and death actually become a 20th century illustration of how God sometimes takes his servants on a different route to a promised destination. The vision of Elliot and his four missionary companions to see the gospel brought to the savage Auca Indians of Ecuador was in fact realized. And God's way of reaching this reality involved the murder of all five men first.

Missionaries who make a mark in our unpredictable world will be those who learn best how to follow the sovereign, all-wise Christ through unexpected twists and turns and bone-jarring potholes, instead of becoming frustrated, disillusioned or sidetracked. Let's pray and look for that kind of missionary prospect. Let's design training programs that prepare that kind of overseas worker. And when we pray for the missionaries we've already sent out and supported, let's add to our prayers for safety, strength and souls, one more strategic request: a prayer for flexibility.

A Final Note

A last encouraging note from the text: Acts 28:31 describes Paul's captive ministry as being “without hindrance.” What a contrast to previous ministry forays where typically he was chased from pillar to post by those who opposed the gospel! Where did Paul ever before have the luxury of preaching the gospel “without hindrance”?

Perhaps the lesson is this: for those visionaries who fully embrace God's sovereignty and wisdom as Paul did, who allow God the freedom to reformat their plans, the result is often better than they could ever have dreamed.

Reprinted with permission from Missions Catalyst. To subscribe to this missions e-magazine, visit here.

by a Pioneer in the Middle East

One of the most difficult subcultures here to engage with the gospel is the orthodox Jews. They live isolated from society and refuse to read anything having to do with Jesus. My friend, Brian, however, has found picking up hitchhikers to be one great way to connect. Here is a recent conversation we had with Yakov.

“Hey bro,” said Brian. “What do you do? Work? Study?”

“I study in a yashiva (a Jewish seminary of sorts),” Yakov answered. “My emphasis is purification.”

“How can I be pure before God?”

Yakov then gave a long explanation of ritual purity in marriage.

“That makes us pure before God?” asked Brian.

“Yes.”

I added, “Isaiah 64:6 says that even our ‘righteous’ deeds are like a polluted garment. We are all sinners and not clean before a holy God. But God promises that he will cleanse our sin through Messiah.”

Over the next 45 minutes we opened up the Old Testament with Yakov, most of which he had never read, and told him about Jesus’ life and death for sinners. As he was getting out of the car, we offered him a New Testament. He refused. I explained that we do this because we love him. He replied, “You do not love me. You hate me.”

We do love Yakov—let us pray that one day he sees it.

by a Pioneer on the Arabian Peninsula

The political crisis here has affected us in various ways. Our neighborhood has been transformed over the past few months with barbed wire, army soldiers, walled-in streets and numerous tents that fill the demonstration areas. Every Friday, we expect some big demonstration that will end all other demonstrations, and each Saturday the political turmoil goes on.

Another way the crisis has affected this nation is that it has created shortages on water, electricity, petrol (gas for driving) and natural gas (gas used for cooking). Now this nation doesn't need a potential civil war to create shortages, but the shortage on cooking gas has gone on for about almost two months now. It got to the point that we needed to exchange our empty gas bottle for a full one. For several days, a truck had entered our neighborhood with only a few gas bottles for exchanging, leaving most people without gas.

One morning we heard that there would be another truck coming in a few hours, so while my husband was away at work, we were preparing! As soon as we heard neighbors rolling their gas bottles along the street, my daughter and I rushed outside to get in line. We watched the truck come down the road, already with 15 neighbors on the sides and top, clamoring to exchange their bottles. We knew we were going to be in for a real “cultural experience.”

My daughter grabbed our empty gas bottle and got into a line with a bunch of women. It was more like a huddle than a line. One of the neighbors told her where to stand. I stood at a distance, since it was already crowded enough. The truck backed into the gas bottle dealer and started to unload the full bottles. There was shouting and shoving and heavy gas bottles being tossed in every direction. In the end, the gas bottle owner said there were only 20 full bottles to be exchanged and, of course, there were at least 100 people with empty bottles.

The women, along with my daughter, huddled still closer to the entrance of the building. Men grabbed, shoved, squeezed past us trying to get into the building. The gas bottle owners yelled and screamed at everyone with bright, red faces and finally said they were shutting the doors until an army guard would come to help sort out the mess. As they tried to close the doors, some tried to keep the doors open. As one was trying to shut the last door, it slid off the hinges. Everyone laughed and clapped their approval!

Finally, one lone soldier came from around the corner where he had been guarding the demonstration zone with his Kalashnikov (AK-47) and guarded the entrance to the gas bottle exchange building. It was decided they would alternate the distribution of the bottles between men and women. One to a man, the next to a woman, and so on. The women tried their best to form some sort of line, with various women butting in front. The men didn't even bother forming a line, however some men formed a human chain to "protect" the women in their line, which was hilarious! Of course, the men were literally still fighting and arguing over who should get a bottle. The soldier got so frustrated with all the chaos, he pointed his gun straight in the air and shot it.

Well, that cleared some of the people. Everyone backed away while shouting at his stupidity! Fortunately, someone in the crowd encouraged this guy not to shoot again; otherwise, the whole place could have blown up. That's when I thought possibly getting a gas bottle right now wasn't such a good idea. However, my daughter didn't show any sign of turning away. So she waited and I prayed.

I was sure my daughter wasn't going to get a gas bottle. Everyone was crowding in and I thought by the time she made it to the front, there would be no more full bottles to exchange. However, she managed to keep moving up and before I knew it, she was handing the gasman the money and exchanging her gas bottle. I could hardly believe it. For us, the whole process took only 45 minutes. I felt so proud of her as we laughed our way back home with our treasure!

From a sociological viewpoint, the whole scene was fascinating. How do people react when they're desperate for a necessity like cooking gas and there are only a few bottles around to spare?

Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field” (Matthew 13:44).

What a concept: to surrender something that is empty and worthless in exchange for a valued treasure! Please pray that our friends and neighbors would surrender their empty lives for the full life of Christ, which he paid for with his blood—surely the greatest exchange we'll ever know.

• Help Muslims throughout the Arab World learn that this exchange is possible. Pray for or invest in Arab World Media. Learn more.

Dispatches from the Front opens up windows to the frontlines of the kingdom of Christ. Some believers are facing great persecution, some are surviving in war zones and areas of dire poverty. Watch the power of the gospel to save and to cross every barrier. Use this series to expand your vision, awaken comfortable Christians, mobilize laborers to the harvest, and magnify God's work in the world.

Get all 4 DVDs for $50!

by a Pioneer in Central Asia

Stifling a cough as wisps of acrid cigarette smoke stung my eyes and lungs, I peered anxiously around the dimly lit room. Talking and raucous laughter stopped and I felt alone and very uncomfortable in the silence. Piercing eyes glared at me from heavyset faces. Gold chains, expensive watches and empty vodka bottles glinted in the murky darkness. These were some of the wealthy and connected elite who were a law to themselves. I shuddered as I imagined how they had attained their status.

A roar erupted as one of the men recognized my guide and rising, the men bear hugged each other, liberally kissing the other’s cheeks consecutively as is the local custom. I hoped I would not have to oblige.

“How can we help you?” they asked my friend.

“This American…he needs help,” he said.

I wondered what kind of “help” these men could offer and judging by the hushed tones quickly decided by myself that whatever they might do would most likely not be legal. The next 15 minutes confirmed my fears as they laid out their artless plan. Their “help,” which was guaranteed to bring results, came at a steep price. Alarmed at their casual references to using the security bureau to solve the problem, I asked more detailed questions only to be told, “Don’t worry, this person will never trouble you again! Let us take care of everything.” Letting my guard down for a fleeting moment, I entertained myself with the notion of having these men make the necessary “arrangements” to make the problem go away. I quickly snapped out of it. Instead, I silently wished I had never told my friend about the corrupt government official that was trying to take away 125 acres of land from the agricultural project that facilitates our presence and ministry here in this country.

Later, I reflected on the often absurd, movie-like situations in which pioneering missionaries find themselves. Gaining long-term access to the hostile country to which God has called us requires navigating many legal and business minefields. Learning the language and culture, recruiting teammates to share the vision and work, ensuring the healthy establishment of the family and children’s education, keeping up with correspondence and ongoing training are only one small part of church-planting ministry in which a life of prayer and building deep relationships with nationals is at the heart. It is through these relationships that we pray the gospel may be proclaimed effectively and appropriately.

Sometimes these necessary but less central activities take up much of our energy but nevertheless provide us with rich opportunities for real-time discipleship and evangelism. This spring has been no exception. God gave me the privilege of working long hours with dozens of men in the fields during the last few months. We planted about 100,000 trees, installed two irrigation systems, grafted trees, weeded and made plans for the year. On one project that was scheduled to plant trees in 95-degree heat, I told the manager I would pray for cool weather. On the day we began planting trees, clouds rolled in, the temperature dropped to a comfortable 75 degrees and it began raining. We saw God answer prayer and the manager confessed later that God had “helped” us.

Please pray that the Lord would raise up the right laborers for this ripe but increasingly difficult harvest field. Ask also that many will come to trust Christ in this place.

by a Pioneer in Slovenia

Recently there was a big event here in Slovenia. Nick Vujicic, a man born without arms or legs came to Slovenia to speak. He came to share a message of hope, found in Jesus Christ! There were five events in five different cities across Slovenia. In Maribor he spoke to a packed sports hall with nearly 4,000 people in attendance! It was the same in other cities with approximately 15,000 people across Slovenia coming out to listen to this message of hope and truth! In addition nearly half of the people filled out questionnaires about the event. Of those, there were about 600 who said they would be very interested in knowing more about this hope. This led to the next step—distributing information and following up with those interested.

Lately we have been doing follow up from the Nick Vujicic event. We have offered a short four-week discussion entitled “Next Steps with Nick.” We contacted around 50-60 people inviting them to come out. Response, like with the whole “Nick event,” was positive and people seemed interested in the course. We even rented out a room in a local club where we would be able to meet. However, three of the four weeks/steps have come and gone and not one new person has come out. We have enjoyed working through the lessons ourselves each week and hope that it will bring encouragement for the future but the response has been a bit disappointing. In other words, people are very excited about a message of hope. They are amazed by what they seen in a man transformed by faith in Jesus. However, they are slow to take even one little step toward Jesus for themselves. It is great that so many seeds were scattered, but we continue to wait to see what will take root.

by a Pioneer in Hungary

Before we traveled to the city where the new church plant is, everyone met at our house for prayer. I read from 1 Corinthians 2:4-5: “My speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” I encouraged our team to pray for a demonstration of the Spirit and not to rely on worldly arguments, but to simply present the gospel of Jesus Christ with dependence on God.

On Sunday, we received an email from Marcsi. She wrote, “Last night touched me deeply in my spirit. My thoughts and feelings are being stirred within me through everything that you shared and it isn’t as if you are using big words, or some kind of new language, or saying new things…Thank you for the light you bring, the brighter it shines, the warmer my spirit.”

Praise God for the demonstration of the Spirit working in Marcsi’s life. We pray that the faith that is growing in her would not rest on us, but in the power of God.

by an Australian Pioneer in India

Our people come to India dreadlocked or bearded, robed or tie-dyed with bells on their ankles, musical instruments on their backs and philosophical books in their hands. They come to seek spiritual truth in Hindu temples and Buddhist monasteries, through meditation, silent retreats and gurus (spiritual teachers). They seek healing, enlightenment and direction for life. They reject organized religion, but embrace anything that feels like true spirituality.

Ashrams in India are places of retreat and quiet where people can reflect on the big questions of life. All ashrams have a guru. The guru of this ashram is Jesus. We have meditations on the Scriptures, gardening days, acoustic nights and movie nights. It doesn’t feel like church, but it’s all about Jesus.

Last week we sat in a circle at our weekly community lunch with 25 travelers and seekers from all over the world. They shared how welcomed and loved they felt in this place. We look forward to our community growing with people who love Jesus and feel a connection with travelers.

When we show our colorful friends around the property we say, “See, this is how much God loves hippies!”

by a Pioneer in Europe

“This is the cost,” she says to me with tears brimming. Sitting on my couch, with legs curled under her...coffee in hand, she says confidently, “...and this is part of the cost, isn't it?”

The cost-benefit ratio of following God's lead and moving overseas is complex and varied. Are there benefits? Absolutely! We can count abundant benefits to our family, our marriage, our kids and our spiritual lives. There are many, many benefits to living a life of service overseas.

But, are there costs? Of course. Yes, absolutely. There are painful, daily, humiliating and difficult costs on our lives.

I think, that said, there is a cost to any God-following obedience. ...taking up our cross, He calls it in Scripture. There is always a cost to following Christ.

The cross...although it brings innumerable benefits...is painful and heavy.

The costs of moving out of your home culture to serve alongside the Good Shepherd, though, are unique. And, these costs are heavy.

“This is the cost,” she says half smiling—half ready to cry.

My heart knows exactly what she is saying...I get it. And, I say, Yes! ...Yes, I say as my eyes now brim with tears, too.

...missing your sister's wedding.

...missing your niece’s birth.

...receiving an email (not a call) about your mother's health.

...having your young child ask you again, "Now, who is that person?... What is his name?" And, he is referring to your brother, his uncle.

...missing those in-between years when nephews grow from babies to boys...boys to men.

...missing that graduation, that 40th birthday party and the Thanksgiving dinner.

...being forgotten. Or instead, being so deeply missed that you are the source of someone's pain. Which is better?

...raising kids that are not “normal.” And, they know it.

...not having that youth group, that Grandma's mentoring, or that Christian soul friend for a young budding daughter.

...not having that booming, beautiful, vibrant worship service each week.

...having to choose which state-side family crisis is worth the price of an international flight...and having to go on your own, because tickets for the others are too expensive.

...not having a primary care doctor that knows you, has known your medical history or even your name.

...not helping with your dear friends wedding shower, or attending her dad's funeral.

... missing it. ...not being there. ...not having.

“This is the cost,” she says to me. And, I hear her heart. And, I can only agree. I nod. And, I smile with small tears brimming. “Yes, this is the cost.”

Is it worth it? ...What a crazy, silly question, we both know. Even with brimming tears we know—of course it is worth it! We hardly have to ask each other the question. We know what He has asked of us. And, we know His will is for His glory and our best. We know the benefits. We know our Good Father and His blessings. So, of course it is worth it!

Simon Peter answered him,  “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68).

The benefits most definitely outweigh the cost. Always. Where else are we to go?!

But, there is a cost. And, there is a cross.

And, we must carry it. And, yes, this is the cost.

by a Pioneer in Africa

As you may know we have ceased travel to the rural villages because of insecurity since the beginning of the year. There are some areas that are relatively safe but we are not allowed to travel to those areas for political reasons. However because of vaccination campaigns for children throughout the nation an exception was made. Since we are the only organization that can safely access these areas because of our good relationship with the community leaders, two weeks ago I went along with a team to help conduct the vaccination campaign in a village nestled between mountains. It had been over a year since I visited this village because of past fighting. Relative peace had long since returned but the clinic had remained closed. I was relieved to find familiar faces and reunite with old friends. The campaign for the most part went well. People from the village were trained on how to administer polio vaccinations, essential vitamins and the like, and to record findings such as number of children served, ages, location and cases of paralysis. Then these teams set off by donkey to deliver the vaccine to the surrounding region. The day before our departure, a man came to us asking if we would come look at his son who may have a type of paralysis.

Soon we left the village in a pick-up truck down a dirt road. Then we had to leave the road and just go across rugged terrain in search of this man’s hut. I began to wonder where in the world are they taking me! I whispered a prayer asking the Lord to show me what to do and how to partner with Him in His work that lay ahead. We went down and up from a sandy dried riverbed and as we came over the hill saw an opening with two to three huts. We parked in the shade of a tree, and entered the yard of our host through a fence of thorn bushes dragged and placed around the hut to protect the family and livestock from wild animals at night (mostly hyenas). This man lived in a furgan meaning that he and his family group were semi-nomadic sheepherders who wandered in the wilderness going where their livestock could best graze, bringing their belongings and homes with them. This type of lifestyle doesn’t provide much opportunity for education or exposure to the world beyond that valley and we had some trouble communicating with him because he spoke his tribal language but wasn’t strong in Arabic, the lingua franca. He called his 11-year-old son Abram and he came across the yard to us with a trembling gait.

When he sat down we could observe the trembling of his hands, feet and facial region. He was very dirty, malnourished and had sores on his body. His father said that one day in January Abram came home and complained that he couldn’t write anymore. The trembling progressively became worse and he could not control his hands well enough to feed himself and his speech was effected. They tried magical amulets and mahaya (writing Quranic scripture on a board, then washing the board with water, catching it in a cup and drinking it for healing). However the trembling remained. The day before he had sold one of his goats to buy injectable medicine because he was told it would cure Abram. It was merely an anti-inflammatory.

I told the father that there was nothing we could do in the village but that it was best to take him to the city for treatment. He immediately began to weep and lament that a few years ago he had a daughter with similar symptoms that died even though he sent her away for treatment. I felt his pain and fear of the unknown. Leaving that valley and traveling to the capital city was like me asking you to suddenly and blindly leave the USA and travel to Pakistan! We have referred many patients to the city before without event, but when the father and son arrived it was clear his situation was different. He had one sister in the refugee camp outside of the city but had no phone to contact her. He could not navigate the city. He could not read or write Arabic well enough to find the clinic or register. He panicked and would not leave our office!

At first we were confused but after understanding his situation we decided to take him to the clinic even though up until now most medical opinions were that the condition was non-treatable. However after seeing the specialist he said the opposite and prescribed medication for 15 days with follow up. On the day of follow up I went to get Abram and found him in a horrible state! He couldn’t speak or walk, his eyes were fixed, he had neck spasms, and his body was very thin and limp! We went to the clinic and carried him to the doctor who couldn’t mask his surprise and fear. He began to suggest that the boy be sent to the capital of the country for an MRI and further treatment. My heart sank because I knew the father had no way of surviving there.

As we waited for blood and urine analysis results (four hours), I tried to interact with Abram and found that his cognitive ability was as before but his body was just wrecked and preventing response. I called a colleague to check the adverse affects of the medicine prescribed and found that there was a strong possibility it was the cause. The analysis came back normal and I suggested to the doctor that the drug should be discontinued to see if Abram would improve before making any more decisions and he agreed. A believing brother who speaks their language agreed to let them stay with them and help the boy recover. We prayed that the adverse affects would go away and that the trembling would not return.

Two days later I found the boy up walking, talking and feeding himself with non-trembling hands! He is healed! I can’t express my happiness and just began to praise the Lord and so did the others in attendance and the father was weeping tears of joy! I explained to Abram’s father that God loves him and his son very much. It was no coincidence that we met out in the wilderness but that this was all just a part of His divine plan to show His marvelous love and compassion to Abram’s family and to introduce Himself as He truly is. Whether the cure was medicine or miracle or a combination is not important—we are just rejoicing and are glad! I wanted to demonstrate more of God’s love and told them about when Jesus Christ was teaching his disciples and washed their feet. We told the father that in the eyes of God he and Abram have the highest value and are precious despite labels, levels and socioeconomic castes of the world. I washed their feet and told them that they are loved. He was speechless that a foreign doctor would kneel down and wash the dust and grime from the feet of a poor and uneducated nomadic sheepherder and his little boy. Glory to God!

by a Pioneer in East Asia

Friday, Father revealed a bit of His glory—a taste, a moment and a reminder there is so much more He desires to show us. Thursday I received the news that Jimmy’s daddy had passed away from an aneurism. Jimmy is a four-year-old little boy in my preschool class. My heart was so sad. His daddy was 43 years old, a respected man in our community who also left a wife and a teenage daughter. Could it be? My first thoughts were…Pray for his resurrection. What? Resurrection? That is only a story in the Bible, not here, not now. How? Do we have enough faith? We don’t even know where the body is.

We were compelled to pray for Father’s glory to be revealed in our community. So my husband and I prayed, “Father, if you want to glorify yourself through Jimmy’s daddy’s resurrection, somehow have the mother invite us to their home where the body is.” Friday morning we continued to pray the same prayer with our downstairs neighbor, who is a passionate local sister, and she too didn’t question Father’s ability to answer.

After getting my oldest daughter off to school, my younger daughter and I set off to take a morning prayer jog around the neighborhood. As we got to the middle of the neighborhood we saw all the men in white hats lined up preparing for a funeral. It was then that I saw Jimmy’s older sister. In local custom, she recognized me and bowed with her head to the ground. I returned with a bow full of tears. I told her Father loved her and would comfort and help her. Then my daughter and I sat a distance from the funeral preparations. Two sheep were tied up ready to be slain. A cow had already been killed that morning and men and women were busy preparing beef stew and fried bread to give out as an atonement offering to all the guests as a symbol and payment for Jimmy’s dad’s sin. A friend of Jimmy’s dad saw me and came over to talk, then four of Jimmy’s aunties came over and urged me to come up to Jimmy’s apartment and grieve with his mom. I politely refused, but they continued to persuade me.

So I finally followed them up to the 18th floor of their new apartment building. All the halls and elevator were filled with men and women dressed in white with white caps and veils. As I entered the home more people were crowded into the tiny apartment.

Then I saw the body—wrapped in white clothes lying in a clear glass coffin. I immediately thought of the clothes Jesus was wrapped in. The women quickly ushered me into Jimmy’s mom who again bowed down to the floor. As I sat with her weeping on the floor I told her I was praying for her and that we would help her with Jimmy and his sister in any way we could. I was completely overwhelmed with emotion. It was like walking into a dream. Then the women escorted me back down the stairs, where my daughter and I again sat down processing what just happened.

Then I realized, “Wait, Father you answered our prayer. You gave me the chance to go into the home where the body was! But I didn’t pray.” I started to cry again, “Father I didn’t pray. Was I disobedient?” I then called my husband and asked him what I should do. He said ask Father for another chance. So I prayed some more, “Father send an angel, send someone to bring me back up again to the home.” As soon as I had spoken these words, another man came up to me and said, “Don’t cry out here in the wind. Come back inside.”

Shaking I followed him back up the elevator to the 18th floor. The whole way I was thinking, What is happening? What am I going to say? Okay, Father, I will be obedient. By this time there are hundreds more people in white hats crammed into the hallways and elevator and apartment. I looked again at the body and went directly to Jimmy’s mom and with boldness told her my story. I told her last night we prayed and that if they invited us into their home we would ask Father to bring her husband back to life. So I then asked her in front of all the relatives, “Do you believe Father can do this?” Immediately she said yes, then her mother-in-law said yes. So I proceeded to explain that I follow Jesus and that Father sent Jesus, and that only through Jesus can we have new life. I said if they agreed I would pray in Jesus’ name, but I would have to go see the body. Then a relative in the room said, “We need to wait for the ahong (religious leader).”

“When he comes I can ask him,” I answered. I stood back and continued praying silently. Then another relative suggested I step out of the bedroom, and she politely escorted me back out of the house. I realized that I was being asked to leave. I told her, “I’ll go out but if the ahong is willing I will pray.” I then went back down weaving my way through the people. I found my daughter who had been outside singing praise songs! We then stood waiting with hundreds of people for the funeral procession.

The ahong came. They took the body to the cemetery. And buried the body.

Still in my heart I knew I had been obedient. I knew Father had answered our prayer to glorify His name. I was able to speak Jesus’ name before all these lost lambs. I knew He could answer this request. But it wasn’t yet His time. Through the events of the day our faith grew. Our passion for the local people grew. Our need and dependence on our Holy Creator grew. The reminder of through Him anything is possible, but without Him nothing is possible.

by an Australian Pioneer in Fiji

As a people group, prisoners and ex-prisoners have unique needs. Not only are they defined by crime, incarceration and negative community attitudes, unique relational issues and varying degrees of dysfunction also define them.

Serving this people group is intensely demanding and incredibly exciting. We don’t use one particular program or approach, but rather what has worked for us is a mosaic of creative ideas that build on the central idea of “relationship.”

We begin by investing ourselves into relationship with the prisoner, to help them explore a relationship with Jesus. We gather families, villages and churches together to receive, reconcile and support the returning prodigal son or daughter from prison.

We then continue in relationship past the prison gate to illustrate to the community the value that we see in the relationship with this person. Each relationship that is built gives us the keys with which to listen, love and extend grace. The goal is that each prisoner, family and community would have their eyes opened to see beyond sin, dysfunction and prejudice and rather embrace their completeness in Christ.

The cost is wonderfully huge. But understanding that it cost God his Son and Christ his life to build relationship with us and our dysfunction—what else can any of us do?

by Deniz

My name is Deniz. I was born in 1980. I am a Meskhetian Turk. I was born in Uzbekistan. In 1944 our people were deported from our homeland in Georgia (near Turkey) to Central Asia. In 1989 ethnic conflict between Meskhetian Turks and Uzbeks forced us to flee and become refugees. My family settled in western Russia. I also have relatives in Azerbaijan and in the north of Russia. In 1996 I met a believer who shared with me about his faith in the Messiah. I am particularly fond of history so while reading the New Testament I noticed how biblical prophecies have been fulfilled through history and many of them fulfilled in the 20th century. I repented in 1998, and in 1999 I was baptized. I am now enrolled in a missions training program. Meskhetian people have been in my heart and I want to serve among them for the glory of the Lord. I do not know any other Meskhetian believers in Isa (Jesus). Please pray for me, that God will send me to work among my people. Please pray for the salvation of my mother, grandmother and relatives. Thank you for praying for Meskhetian Turks.

God Bless you,

Brother D.

by an Australian Pioneer in Southeast Asia

Every week our teams of local workers are going out to remote villages on our island to help with a very specific physical need—clean water. There are still many communities on our island that have little or no access to clean drinking water and it is still common practice for them to travel by motorbike with a jerry can to collect their daily water.

Our teams are working closely with the village leaders to identify how our foundations can help bring water access closer to their homes. Most often we develop a community water supply that is operated and owned by the village. Each family in the village is involved from day one in the development of their own community water supply! Clean water transforms villages in ways they have not experienced before, even more so, many people are hearing about Jesus, studying stories and some are making a commitment to follow Him. Being in the village is key to meeting those people whose hearts God is stirring, and our teams are meeting these people all the time. What an amazing opportunity to introduce these people to the living and eternal water.

Please pray for our teams as they seek to be obedient in following Jesus by showing compassion for the poor and making disciples!

by a Pioneer in Central Asia

The sweltering afternoon slowed down the city’s inhabitants. Most went inside to escape the heat, others rested in the shade of towering sycamore trees on carpet-draped platforms. Occasionally a voice, child’s cry, laughter or an annoying buzzing fly broke the sluggish atmosphere. It was not a particularly good time for a theological discussion but this didn’t dissuade Harry. He leaned forward aggressively, “What the Bible teaches is too simple, believe in Jesus and you will receive eternal life. I believe in the virgin birth,” Harry said, “but Jesus was only a man. He got tired like other men; he ate food like other men. He slept and eventually died. These are things men do. God isn’t like a man. We can have forgiveness if we do what God says and stop sinning. We don’t need to believe in Jesus.”

Harry has heard the gospel many times before but after several years of interacting with serious Muslims in prison, Harry thinks he has found the truth: Obey God and He will accept you into His heaven. Harry does not accept the Bible or what it teaches. He does not believe that all men have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Harry does not believe that the penalty of sin must be paid with death. He does not believe that God is so holy, pure and just that He cannot accept sinners without the penalty of sin being paid.

I shared the gospel with Harry. Clearly and carefully I answered his objections but Harry’s spiritual eyes are blinded to the truth. Only God’s Holy Spirit can open Harry’s eyes and heart. I will continue to share the gospel with Harry but we invite you to pray with us for him, too. Pray that by his Holy Spirit, God would use the truth Harry has heard to open his eyes to the gospel.

There are many more like Harry in this country. Some are more serious about Islam, some less. All together, men, women and children, there are more than 20 million who call themselves Muslims in this land. Many of them have been sensitive to questions about the afterlife and God. Please pray that they would hear God’s Word and respond in faith. Please pray for us as we continue to share the message of hope in Christ with our friends and neighbors.

by a Pioneer in Asia

This past year, national missionaries visited an imam (a Muslim “pastor”) who is 92. He hadn't been going to the mosque and was disenchanted with Islam. Two visits ago, he was given a contextualized Bible that has just been published for this nation’s Muslims. He was so taken by it that he had written careful notes and questions. When this couple went to go visit them last time, the imam gathered his family—three generations in all—and had them listen to some of the good teachings of the Bible. He then declared that surely the only way to God was through the Messiah Jesus.

Please pray for the imam's family to hunger for the Word and for Christ.

by a Pioneer in Africa

Yesterday a fellow asked me if white people can have evil spirits attack them. This question opened a door to talk about the believer's power over demons through God's Holy Spirit. I recounted to him the story of some American friends of ours in the capital. For days their neighbor had been possessed by a demon, crying out uncontrollably. Her relatives had tried beating it out of her, chanting Quranic verses over her, spitting in her face—nothing worked. Finally in desperation they asked our friends if they could help. They said yes. In Jesus' name they prayed over the possessed women, asking God to remove the demon from her. After they prayed, the lady calmed down and, for the first time since she had been oppressed by the demon, was in her right mind.

I then told him that I'm not afraid of demons (not because I don't think they exist, the Bible makes it clear that they do in fact exist). I’m not afraid of them because Jesus has authority over them. I then shared the story of Jesus casting out the legion of demons from the man who lived by the graves. My friend listened intently, and told me we needed to talk about this again some time. In a land where people's best defense against Satan is performing old rituals that are harmful to the body and utterly displeasing to God, it's no wonder that these stories of Jesus' power are a breath of fresh air to some folks.

Two weeks later, the fellow I talked with about evil spirits took me aside and told me, "Do you remember the story you told me about Jesus healing the demon-possessed guy?" I said yes. He then told me about his nieces in town, three girls. He said that they've been very sick, and that they see red demons on a weekly basis that torment them. They have tried everything and nothing has healed them; one of the sisters has already died because of it. He asked if I could come see them, and I said, "Of course!"

Shortly after we arrived, I said, “Yar, before I pray I need to ask you to remove the amulets from your daughters. The force from those amulets is from Satan, and not from God, and they dishonor the Lord.” Yar responded by saying that he thought they were good for his daughters. Then in a round about way he asked me if I was expecting his daughters to become Christians. I then told him that I only wanted the best for him and his whole family, and I wanted to share with them the freedom from sin and demons, which is only found through Jesus.

He thought about it for a moment, and then said, “I will bring the marabou (Islamic amulet maker) this week, and if he doesn't help my daughters then I'll give you a call.”

I think this is an excellent opportunity for the Lord to be glorified. Over these next days let's pray for the real demonic powers behind these amulets to show themselves. Let's also pray that Yar then has the belief enough to call me back.

by a Pioneer in South Asia

One day some local believing women and I spent extra time in prayer to hear the voice of God. We all were sitting on the floor, touching knee-to-knee, aware that a new seeker would be joining in the near future, and intimate prayer times would be rare.

Afterward, one of the ladies asked if I wouldn’t mind if she asked a question—and then she brought up the fact that after sleeping with her husband or during her monthly period, she is unable to pray or read the Scriptures. I told her that it was not bodily functions that made her unclean or shameful before God, but sin like anger, fear or lying. We talked about how us followers of Jesus do not have to clean our hands, feet and face before praying as Muslims do, but we confess our sin to Jesus and forgive our enemies. We told her that she as a woman was created by God, and she was beautiful, and that her body worked the way God had planned it too. She looked alternatively shocked, relieved and embarrassed, telling us that she was taught that women were up to their chest in hell and the source of evil.

As we were talking about this, we were leaving the room. I took a step out and saw the daughter-in-law of the believer man who allows us to meet at his place. This daughter-in-law has never shown any interest in the gospel, but she was standing there with her eyes and mouth wide open, obviously listening! This message of the gospel is so freeing for women (Luke 13:12), and it is an utter privilege to see how the gospel impacts lives.

by a Pioneer in Asia

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by a Pioneer in South Asia

The Trel’wa Project has connected with Tibetans on every level of society in a way nothing else has. The local refugee camp leader has denied greater than 80 percent of our community development efforts (even ‘felt needs’), but has engaged at a level of personal risk in the Trel’wa Project—an effort to use media to address issues in Tibetan family life.

“We don’t know what to do with our young people” is a resounding and consistent message among Tibetan refugees in South Asia. Yet the feedback to Trel’wa Project brochures has been consistently, “This is very useful for us.” One Tibetan father read the pilot brochure and said, “This really touched me, especially where it says, ‘Discipline communicates to a child, you belong here, we need you, we love you… that is very deep!’” The key points here are hidden in the language—“useful” (pentok chenbo) is the primary way of depicting something’s value in Tibetan, and “deep” (ting tsawo) is a term that is used for religious teaching worthy of entrusting oneself to.

We have also prayed that God would make our own family a light for Him, and a Tibetan friend recently told us, “God shines through you.” Praise the Lord! So, this is the day of small beginnings, but in light of an overwhelming cultural and religious situation, this is miraculous. Tibetan Buddhism consumes these people in a way difficult to understand in the USA’s individualist culture. A roughly similar situation might be the Amish community in Pennsylvania, or the American Indian reservations in the Midwest. What are the chances of setting up a Tantric Tibetan monastery in an Amish village? It’s a little bit like that… But, the Lord reigns!

Learn more.

by a Pioneer in India

Sunday morning, I heard a sermon about the Old Testament Law and how we're no longer under it. The speaker began by quoting how many times Paul says that we're no longer under the Old Law and that Jesus fulfilled it. However, he didn't stop there. He went on to say how Jesus, now, requires much more of us. He requires us to go further, to help those who need help. Remember the Good Samaritan? He didn't just help the man get somewhere, but had someone take care of him and even paid for his lodging!

With this fresh in my mind from Sunday morning, I finished Hindi class and was on my way to a local coffee shop as I do every morning. As I was getting off of my bike, a dark-skinned, upper-middle-aged man with long hair and a beard approached me. Immediately because of his appearance and dress I could tell he was a Muslim. He began (in Hindi), "Please help me, please help me."

Although I'd like to say that I immediately jumped at his words and began helping him, I cannot. I hear people ask me for money at least 10 times a day and therefore have grown somewhat immune to beggars. I simply looked back down at my motorcycle as I was getting out my Bible (ironically) to go upstairs and read. He once again said, "Please help me." I turned and looked into the man's eyes. His face was filled with anxiety and hopefulness. I took the bait. "Tik hai, Tik hai...Kyaa hua?" ("Ok, ok, what happened?") He opened his hand. He was holding a tube of medical ointment that was completely empty. "I have no more medicine, will you please buy me medicine?"

"What happened?” I asked again. “What is this for?"

He pulled up his pant leg to reveal what has to be one of the most horrific things I've ever seen. His tissue from an inch above his ankle to his heal was gone, completely gone. The foot was twice the size of normal and only muscle and bone were visible. As I began to get sick at the sight, the smell of the infection began overtaking the area.

I immediately asked a man close by who was watching us converse, "Where is the closest hospital?"

"The University Hospital is just around the corner," he answered.

"Can I take you to the hospital?" I asked.

To my surprise, he said, "Yes, please." I loaded the man on a rickshaw and we were off.

Upon arriving to the hospital, I paid for his rickshaw ride and took the man inside. I had never been to this specific hospital, so I needed to ask where to go. I quickly asked a younger guy who seemed to know what he was doing. He showed me how to get the man a "slip" to get into the hospital. As I was waiting in line two security guards approached the man I was helping and told him to leave (because he is a lower caste and has no money). I quickly stood up for the man saying, "He's with me. Do you want me to leave?"

"Oh no sir, sorry, sorry."

After getting the slip we took a "trip" around the hospital to find the right person who could help him. Once we had found the right doctor, we had to wait. I had the man sit down and rest while the guy who was helping us wanted to take me to his office (apparently he worked at the hospital and wanted me to see where he works). With apprehension about leaving the sickly man, I went along to the office. We sat and had chai and talked and took pictures together as I met the other men he worked with. As we talked, he began holding my hand (a sign of friendship), and wouldn't let go for about an hour and a half. As this man and I walked back to the waiting room (still holding hands), we met back up with the man I had been helping.

As we met up, he was called to see the doctor. We walked in with him and the doctor immediately began cleaning his wound. As the man began screaming and crying, I knew his pain must be immeasurable. The look in his eyes told me all I needed to know. I left the room because I started feeling light headed. As I waited, they brought the man back out with the wound bandaged, a sheet full of prescriptions and a vile of a sample of the wound.

I went quickly to fill the prescriptions and to find out where I needed to take the sample. As I paid for the prescriptions, the man with me said, "Wow, you do know these prescriptions will be expensive right?"

"So do you think that man in there can pay for them?" I replied.

Quickly he said, "No."

I then began to explain to him that as a believer in Jesus, this is my duty. "I have to do this," I said. With a great smile he said, "You are helping my countryman. You are a foreigner and we should be taking care of you, but instead, you are taking care of us." It was at that moment I realized what I was doing—helping the man that everyone else had passed by on the road. (Remember the Samaritan now? The big difference is I hadn't even realized it!) It took me a second to realize what was happening and how God was using me in this. I began to feel the weight of emotion coming upon me and fought back tears that were coming to my eyes.

Once we had found the place to take the sample, we returned to the sickly man still waiting for us in waiting area. As I glanced around, I saw him sitting in a chair, waving and smiling saying (with his expression), Here I am! I walked over to see he had drunk some of the water I bought him earlier. I had called my best friend in the city, Pradip, and had him come and pray for the man in his own mother tongue. As Pradip arrived, we explained the situation and Pradip explained all of the medicines as I explained them to him. It was at this moment, I began to realize what kind of difference this was going to make. The man was a rickshaw driver. He literally pedals people around on a "human-powered" taxi for living. How on earth would this man be able to go back to rickshaw driving if he lost his leg to this infection? If you're a rickshaw driver, you can't get any lower on the job chain, what will he do? Where will he get money? How will he eat? How will his family eat? Will they starve? Will they die? God what are you doing?! Once again, I fought back tears.

"Ok, do you understand all of these medicines? Do you know that you have to take all of it? That you can't stop after two days?"

"Yes, I understand." As Pradip leaned over and began talking to the man he said, "You know, Jesus protected you today. He brought this man to help you. It is in Jesus' name that you will be healed. Only because of Jesus was this possible." He then prayed for him and helped him back into the wheelchair to head outside.

As we got outside, a rickshaw came up and we loaded the man into it. I wrote down my phone number (and so did Pradip), and we handed it to the man along with 50 rupees (about one American dollar, but plenty to get home and eat food for two days). The man began weeping. His eyes were billowing tears, his voice cracked as he tried to say thank you. He lifted his hands in the Namaste position (a sign of gratitude and respect) and continued sobbing. He wiped away the tears, but they continued to come... as did mine.

As the rickshaw pulled away, the man continued to look over his shoulder with hands still folded in the Namaste position. I thanked God for allowing me to be a part in helping this man.

The Pioneer continues to interact with this man on the street, changing his bandages and getting him medicine. Pray that the man would not lose his foot due to the wound.

by a Pioneer in Central Asia

Jenny jumped when she saw Jesus—resurrected from the dead—appear to the disciples in the upper room. For two hours her eyes were glued to the screen as she, her husband and five other Muslims of various ages and backgrounds watch The Jesus Film based on the Gospel of Luke. On the night before Easter, the Lord provided the opportunity to watch this film, entirely in their heart-language, with a special introduction and closing added specifically for Muslims.

Earl

Two young men sat quietly. They weren‘t supposed to be there, but the Lord had other plans. Earlier that day, my husband tried to call and invite a new friend. In the Lord’s providence, he misdialed. It took him a minute to realize that he had miraculously connected to an old friend—Earl—who we haven’t seen or heard from in two years. In 2008, Earl was our tea-selling, migrant worker friend who moved to another province at the same time we came to the US to get married. When we returned to Central Asia, we thought we lost track of Earl forever. His phone number never worked, his old apartment was empty. Then, two years later, on the very day we are showing The Jesus Film, my husband calls Earl’s old phone number by accident. The Lord reconnects us with Earl. We find out he is now married. We invite him to The Jesus Film. Earl not only comes, but also invites a friend of his along.

The Fields

“That was such a good movie! Would you lend it to me so I can show it to all my husband’s friends?” Walking home, Mrs. Jenny Field talks about how Jesus is our substitute, just like the lamb Abraham sacrificed. The gospel is beginning to make sense. “Will you come to my house tomorrow?” she asks.

The next day (Easter), it is clear Jenny’s husband has been thinking about the movie. Mr. Field shares with my husband, “We (Muslims) believe that Judas was crucified. Everyone thought it was Jesus, but they grabbed Judas by mistake.” Mr. Field wasn’t argumentative; he was really trying to make sense of things. My husband asks, “What about Jesus’ mother? She watched Jesus be crucified. Would she have recognized whether or not it was her own son?” Mr. Field nods, saying he hadn’t thought about that and returned to his pondering.

Benji

This friend was disruptive. He kept silent the first half of the film, but then started loudly remarking to Earl, “This isn’t the same as what Islam teaches!” Praise the Lord no one else was interested in starting a discussion with Benji. Instead, Earl replied, “Jesus is one of our prophets, so we should learn about Him.” Although Benji continued to make remarks from time to time, no one cared to listen. Instead, they expressed frustration that he was making it hard for them to hear about Jesus.

Please pray for Benji, Earl, and the Fields to embrace Christ. Ask also that God will reveal Himself to countless other unreached peoples this Easter.

by a Pioneer in Southeast Asia

Pray for the first Bible study gathering with Stan and family. Stan is paralyzed from waist down. He is one of the recipients of the wheelchairs we are distributing. He has been paralyzed for a year now. He saw The Jesus Film a couple of times before his accident.

Back in early December he had two dreams on two consecutive days. In the first dream he was about to fall off the edge of a cliff and a glowing lion saved him. The lion brought him into a cave and turned into a man in a white robe. In the second dream on the next day, he was about to fall in the river and the same lion saved him and brought him back to his house. The lion turned into a man in white robe again. Stan asked the man “Who are you?” The man answered, “Be patient, I will be your Helper and you will know who I am later.”

Pray that this man would come to personally know the Lion of Judah!

by a Pioneer in Central Asia

For 10 years now, we have lived with, prayed for and given ourselves for the sake of the gospel going out among an unreached people group in Central Asia. At the end of nearly a decade, with hundreds of this people having heard the Scriptures, yet with no signs of a church, our team wonders, Has this group really understood the gospel?

This past month our team engaged in a story-crafting workshop. The goal of the two-week workshop was to train a team of nationals and expatriates to craft stories from the Holy Book in an oral, storytelling format, consistent with the local storying style and accurate to the written Word. We use the term “crafting” to differentiate how we adapt the written Scriptures to an oral format from those gifted people who painstakingly translate God’s Word to the nations.

One day, my friend Umar was visibly troubled and asked, “What will it take for them to believe?” Though not yet a follower of Jesus Christ, I had invited Umar to join the story-crafting team as my friend, because of his storytelling abilities, and because he had often expressed interest in stories from the Word. On this particular day, we had painstakingly discussed the parable of the soils in Mark 4. Umar wanted to make sure he understood the whole story, not just the parable in the story, in order to best retell it in his own words. So, when he asked “What will it take for them to believe?” he was referring to “those outside of the kingdom of God” in verse 11. Gently our trainer shared that this is a difficult verse to understand, and indeed we can understand that just like the soils, there are many people whose hearts are not ready to receive the Word. Umar understood and accepted the truth of that explanation. It was evident in Jesus’ parable, after all.

On another day during the workshop, Umar and Aaqil asked, “Who is Jesus?” We had just been discussing the question the disciples had asked after Jesus had calmed the sea: “Who is this man, that even the wind and sea obey him?” Umar went on to say, “We need to be careful here. Some believe he is a prophet. Some believe he is the same as God. This needs to be handled carefully.” Umar and our other friend, Aaqil, wanted to know what I thought. I took a deep breath and prayed.

Umar went on to point out that Jesus, like the other prophets, is one sent from God. He was given power to heal people; He was given power over the storms and the sea. But he couldn’t be God! “How could God allow himself to be nailed to a cross?” he wondered out loud. So I shared the eight-minute story we had learned from our training. This story shares an overview of creation to the Church. It clearly identifies that the Messiah was ordained to suffer for the sins of all mankind. It also clearly shares that it was foretold that the Messiah would rise again on the third day. At this point, I asked the question back, “Who is Jesus?” I asked further, “Did the prophets and Jesus all do the same things?”

Umar quickly identified the fact that they didn’t all do the same things. Umar was impressed by the reality of the resurrection and answered the question himself: “Jesus is at the same level as God.” This was a huge statement for a man of his background. Praise God, the truth is beginning to take root. May we soon see the harvest of those who “hear the word and accept it, and bear fruit, thirty, sixty and a hundredfold.”

by a Pioneer in Sierre Leone

This morning after I woke up, I meandered to my kitchen door and opened it to find my friend Aariz waiting outside. Aariz was bundled in a light jacket and ski cap in the frigid 70-degree weather, and he was holding the New Testament I had given him. With a big smile and with sleep filled eyes, he greeted me. I returned the greeting and was happy to see him. He had been quietly waiting for me outside because he did not want to disturb me. I invited Aariz in to talk.

It has been a couple of days since I received a visit from Aariz. We caught up a bit and went through the normal greetings about life and family. Aariz began to tell me about his wound. He showed me the wound and it is now almost completely closed. He is officially well and we both praised God for the healing that had taken place.

After the greetings, Aariz’s face changed to a sober expression. He brought out his New Testament and began to share with me about the last few days of his life. To the best of my memory, the following is what Aariz told me this morning:

“Mister Chuck, over the past few days I have been reading my Bible. Because I am a Muslim, I thought all my life that I was doing what God wanted me to do. I thought the road I was walking was the right road. After reading the Bible, I now see that my whole life and what I believe has been wrong. The words I read now in the Bible make me think differently and act differently. Since you have come into my life, I have never met any other person that cares the way you do. Even in my own faith, I have never seen anyone like you. You have greatly impacted my life. I am the first-born son. My father is a Muslim and expects me to walk this same road. Everything he owns will be mine one day if I do so. The reason I have not seen you in a couple of days is because this has been very heavy for me to face. If I choose to follow Christ, I know it will affect my life and family greatly. This is the problem I now face Mister Chuck.”

As Aariz shared this with me, he had tears in his eyes. I quickly went straight to the Scriptures and we read about the cost of discipleship. We read how “brother will turn against brother…and father against son,” we read about how we must “take up our cross daily and follow Christ” and we read about the rich young ruler who tragically chose his riches over Christ. I was open and honest with Aariz. I shared with him that following Christ was not an easy road. It would require sacrifice and loss. However, I assured him that the spiritual life and blessings awaiting him were far greater than he could ever imagine. I also challenged him in that just as reading the Word of God has changed his life, his father and family will see that positive change within him. The same love Aariz has seen in me (the love of Christ) will be the same love that his family will see in him. They will wonder about it, question it, ask about it and ultimately want it. I told him that God wants him to share the Hope he has found.

We ended the discussion in prayer. Aariz said he wants to come back this evening to talk and study. I will be going to another city tomorrow and stay until Monday. As I am away, I pray that God will continue to move in Aariz’s life as he counts the cost. Please pray for Aariz, his family and for Christ to be glorified through all! Praise God for the work He is doing in Aariz’s life. My heart is overjoyed today, yet I am humbled at the reminder of the cost to follow Christ.

In America, we have religious freedom to worship and proclaim our faith without much hindrance. At the most, we may get a strange look or face awkward silence when sharing our faith. But how many of us face complete isolation from our family? How many of us have our mother or fathers hate us for our faith? How many of us face persecution or death on a daily basis just to call Jesus our Lord? Let us pause and respect not only the joy of our salvation in Christ and His blessings, but also the high cost that is required to follow Him.

by a Pioneer in Bolivia

A group of us set to visit an area where we were told that there were no Christians. It was a three and a half hour drive from our village. The last hour and a half was up a makeshift road in a semi-dry riverbed. Higher up the mountain, the road ended at an elementary school. There were only two visible houses in the whole area.

We ventured into the school to talk to the teachers and ask if we could show The Jesus Film for Children on their hour lunch break. They agreed. There were 36 children up to grade five. We asked the children to invite their parents to come back to the school in the evening. Not knowing if anyone would come, we headed farther up into the mountains with a young lady who told us she would show us where the people lived.

We went up one mountain and down the other side, and then up another…then she pointed to two directions and said the people lived over there. We saw no houses so we split up and started walking. Five hours later we reunited at the school. Between the four of us we only came across seven houses. A bit dismayed, we set up the generator and movie equipment hoping that at least a few people would come.

About dusk the people started coming and by 8:00 pm the school assembly room was full of men, women and children. There were at least 60! People stood shoulder to shoulder and it was very warm as there were only two windows. We showed the full version of The Jesus Film and then Angel, one of the leaders who had come with us, got up to preach. The people listened intently. When he was sure that the people understood the message of salvation, that Jesus came to earth and died for our sins (Romans 3:23) and that the payment for sin is death (Romans 6:23), many of the people started to weep. Angel asked for those who would like to give their life to Christ and for Him to be their Lord and Savior to come up front.

Forty people, 24 adults and 16 young people came. On their knees and many with tears, they confessed their sin and their need for a Savior. Some came to me and asked, “Why hasn’t anyone come and told us this before?” With tears in my eyes, all I could do was explain Matthew 9:37-38, “Then he (Jesus) said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.’”

God had prepared these people to receive His message long before we had gone. My wife and I have been to many secluded villages to share the Good News of Jesus Christ. Once in a while, people give their lives to Him, but this trip was overwhelming to me—to see how the Holy Spirit had been working in the absence of any Christian presence. Praise God for His mercy, love and patience! I believe that we are in the end times but 2 Peter 3:9 talks of the second coming of Christ: “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”

by a Pioneer in Africa

It became apparent to us that Sam was not being unkind to us because of anything we did to him, but rather that he was treating us coldly because we follow Jesus. With each day he became colder and colder to us, and started acting more Islamic. After trying to get a mutual friend to mediate the situation (as Sam refused to tell me what was wrong), it became apparent to me that the cultural norm was to agree to forget about the situation, but not deal with the root of the matter. Sensing that the situation would continue, I tried confronting Sam one more time. If this time didn't work, I was concerned that we might have to move into another house.

When I got to his door all that came out was my tearful confession that he had hurt me and my family with how he had treated us (acting like we didn't exist). In an instant he changed, and realized that he had been treating us so poorly. He immediately asked for forgiveness. I gave it very willingly, and we hugged each other (a very rare thing to do in this culture). It was a sweet reconciliation between our family and Sam. He said, "I don't know what happened to me these last days." We were then able to share that he is in a spiritual battle, and that the believer has spiritual armor to defend himself from the enemy's flaming darts (as Ephesians 6 puts it). Thank you for your intercession. We're convinced that it was the Lord who changed him. Please continue to pray for him, as he still has not chosen to give himself to Christ, and is still subject to the enemy's schemes to keep his soul hell-bound.

by Pioneers appointee Jason B. LaBombard.

How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

Click here for opportunities to "be beautiful".

by a Pioneer in Southeast Asia

Recently I invited my friend, Mali, a local woman, to a social outing down by the river.

Mali declined, afraid of the evil spirit that resides there, that is known to kill and eat people. "Aren't you afraid?"

"No, I know where the evil spirits come from!"

Mali's eyes grew wide. She wanted to hear more.

I shared about how God created angels to serve Him, Satan's rebellion and demons. I explained I know the power of God is stronger than the evil spirits.

Here, evil spirits are woven tightly into the worldview and have so much control over people’s lives. Please pray for Mali who is enslaved by this fear.

by Steve Richardson, President, Pioneers-USA

Japan continues to experience an ongoing national tragedy as a result of the 8.9 magnitude earthquake that occurred off its coast on March 11th.

As the disaster continues to deepen, Pioneers has missionaries on the ground preparing to join in relief efforts. Our leadership here at the US base in Orlando, FL, stands ready to support the efforts of those teams in any way we can.

Our concern for the earthquake and tsunami victims goes hand-in-hand with our compassion for the spiritual needs of the nation. Only one or two of every 1,000 Japanese would confess Christ as Lord. Operation World reports that only 1.5 percent of Japan’s 126 million people are believers, and based on statistics from the Joshua Project (JoshuaProject.net), the Japanese are the second largest unreached people group in the world.

We have three teams of missionaries currently working to meet the spiritual needs of this great unreached nation. Through their service, Pioneers is actively building relationships with unbelievers, seeing Japanese people come to faith, and moving toward the establishment of a Japanese church-planting movement.

As the crisis in Japan continues to deepen, our missionary teams (located in areas physically unaffected by the earthquake) desire to be used as God’s hands—bringing hope to those who are suffering. A team of Pioneers leaders has been appointed to assess the developing crisis and implement a disaster relief effort in coordination with our members on the ground. Simultaneously, we are dialoguing with other organizations about the potential for a coordinated response. These include other mission agencies, relief organizations, local churches, and The Evangelical Church Association of Japan.

As Pioneers formulates its crisis response plan, I would like to ask you to partner with us in the process. Please join us in prayer for the people of Japan, asking that God would spare the lives of those still in danger, and that we would be His agents of love and mercy. As well, would you please help us develop the financial capacity needed to support a response to this disaster? Your gift is tax-deductible, and no administrative expenses will be deducted from your gift, though 10 percent will be retained for general, ongoing disaster relief work around the globe.

To donate to this relief fund, please click here.

by a Pioneer in Asia

When I visited Mr. Urip two weeks ago, he asked me where my friend (and teammate) was. I told him that he was at home recovering from minor injuries caused by his recent motorcycle accident. He expressed his concern and advised that I should be extra careful before going out and showed me a piece of paper with an Arabic prayer written on it. He told me that I should recite that prayer before going out so that I could be spared from accidents. Hearing this, I took the opportunity to tell him that I already had a prayer I had learned from my teacher. His curiosity piqued, Mr. Urip asked who the teacher was. I told him that it was the Savior Isa Al Masih (the name of Jesus in Arabic). He seemed quite interested at that point, so I asked him if he wanted to hear the prayer himself. He said yes. I said the Lord's Prayer out loud and then invited him to pray it with me, which he did. Afterward he told me that he had felt an unusual peace when praying, something extraordinary that he had never felt before. He felt that this wasn't an ordinary prayer but one filled with power. Sensing openness on his part, I challenged him to put his faith in Isa Al Masih for the forgiveness of sins, and he said he did. I led him in a prayer of confession of sin and inviting the Lord into his life. It was amazing to see the Lord work through things and circumstances that I could never have imagined!

Praise the Lord for this new life! Ask that the roots of His faith would grow deep.

"How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news."

To find opportunities to make your move, click here.

by a Pioneer in Central Asia

Rachelle is going to her home village next week to get married. Rachelle is marrying a man she just met, or rather was introduced to by her parents. Her father said they have waited long enough for her to find a husband. Rachelle is in her later 20s and a believer. She really wanted to marry a believing man, but she didn’t get to choose. In this culture, as in all Muslim cultures throughout the Middle East and Central Asia, girls are seen as a liability to the family. It is the women whom they feel can bring the most shame on the family. It is therefore important to the family, especially the father, to get his daughter married off. Once married, she is her husband’s worry.

Rachelle is not happy but has resigned to honor her parents and go through with the wedding. When asked if her fiancé was a believer she replied, “Not yet!” Her faith is strong and she is pretty mature in her walk. Join us in praying that Father will allow her new husband to see His goodness in her and that he will, in turn, desire to know the One who is the way, the truth, and the light.

by a Pioneer in East Asia

More than 10 years ago, James, Deena and their two-year-old son were sent off to the “wild west” along with three other couples to fulfill the Great Commission. They had heard the call to preach to those from other people groups that had yet to hear the gospel. Most of their group didn’t have much more than elementary education, but they felt His boldness with a heart for the lost.

Once they arrived, they tried to make connections and look for opportunities to share their faith. They soon realized that this was much harder territory than back home. No one from other minority groups let them get a foot in the door, let alone listened to anything they had to say. Years of animosity and prejudice between the ethnic groups had built a seemingly immovable wall. On top of that, they realized that the individuals of the different nationalities represented in this area repulsed them.

No one was hearing the Good News, no fellowships were forming and the little funds they had were beginning to dwindle. They felt like foreigners in their own country. Some of them began to sell vegetables to stay above water in this unwelcoming land of the west. The vegetables would often rot, as they had little to no experience in the business. Another tried to collect recyclables.

Discouragement was the norm after two years of not being able to share their faith as they had originally envisioned.

One day they were introduced to a possibility of having a simple vehicle that would take them into remote villages, collecting old furniture, but also sharing as they entered into people’s homes. As they were able to share their faith their hopes were rekindled. Some of the other collectors slowly began to see fruit from their sowing.

But for James and Deena, a total of seven years passed with no visible fruit. All they had to account for was the gas they had used up going from village to village, and countless hours for James in bed with an unrelenting intestinal problem. Depression crept in on a regular basis. They questioned seriously whether they were in the right place.

Last year, James felt his desperation come to a head. He cried out, “Lord, if you have called me here, free me from this ailment. Otherwise, I will take my family back east.” For the first time in years, he felt his strength return and since then has never had a recurrence of his digestive problem.

Still, over the next year, they struggled with their role here. They had begun to take on a pastoral role among their own people group who were from their home province. It kept them busy but they felt quite unsettled about their work. Greatly discouraged one day, he came to talk to his friend, his boss. Coincidently, another friend was also visiting from overseas. As they connected and prayed, they felt a renewed sense of call to the Muslims of East Asia. Shortly after, when James visited a local village, an 80-year-old Muslim man heard and received after hearing the Good News!

Please keep this family in your prayers, asking that they would be dependent on Him, lean on His grace and be received well, wherever they go.

Have you ever wondered what it would take to change a life?

To learn about opportunities to take this summer from The Edge, click here.

by a Pioneer in the Middle East

Last week our friend Pastor Labib, his wife and two of his children invited my husband and I to join them in visiting their neighbors in the village. One of the ladies we visited was Bahi. She is married and has three boys.

Just after we arrived she told us of some unusual events around her house. She said that for several weeks she had been unable to sleep and always felt troubled. She had gone to the priest at the Catholic Church for prayer but nothing helped. One day a Korean believer and his wife visited her and he said he felt an evil presence in her house. A few days later Bahi decided to re-arrange the furniture in her living room. When she moved a large vase she heard a noise inside. She looked in and found an animal skull with bits of hair and cloths wired to it! Bahi was horrified! She remembered the Korean couple and called them to come over and pray for her house. After they prayed, her house returned to normal and she was finally able to sleep peacefully.

Pastor Labib began to share about Jesus and the cross and the importance of trusting Christ’s blood covering for our sins. He also explained the spiritual protection we have once the Holy Spirit resides in us. He and my husband shared the gospel with her as she sat on the edge of her chair eager to hear every word. “I feel like the angel of the Lord is speaking to me!” she said. At the close of our visit my husband prayed a “repeat after me” prayer of repentance and Bahi prayed along. When we left she agreed to attend our Bible study.

Last night when Bahi came to the Bible study she was so excited. She said, “I want to tell you I have been having some really bad dreams.” When she described them my husband recognized it was spiritual warfare. She was encouraged in our study from the book of Ephesians. She was thrilled to look into the Bible and learn from it. “Do you have a Bible?” we asked. When she said no, my husband picked his up and gave it to her. “The Book of Life” it says in Arabic on its cover. She was so glad she kissed it.

Please pray for Bahi as the spiritual warfare she is encountering is increasing. Ask that she will grow deep in her faith.

by Kevin King, a Pioneers partner in New York City

Anyone can start a church…it is just as natural as starting a family! This may seem like a radical proposition given what we normally view as “church” in the US. However, in the New Testament we see that the Holy Spirit moved people—everyday, normal people like you and me—to spread the gospel, and church communities began sprouting. Our desire is to see an expansion of the church by people who are Spirit-led and equipped to facilitate organic, simple churches.

Professor J, a law professor in his country, came to Columbia University in New York City as a visiting scholar. Shortly after he arrived, he joined a discovery Bible study and for the first time learned of God’s deep love for him. His life was changed. He got baptized in a bathtub, and with this small community of believers that met in an apartment he learned what church was really all about. Within months he was back in his country sharing with others the Good News of Jesus. Although it was illegal, he started a house church in his apartment with a desire to see it grow and multiply. We pray that God will continue to use Professor J greatly and that many more will come to Christ through him. We also pray to see a movement of churches starting in this “closed” country!

The world is moving to the cities! Trends indicate that by the year 2030 over 70 percent of the world’s population will live in major cities, the influential centers of any nation. As Professor J’s story indicates, ministry in international cities, like New York, is strategic in God’s plan to spread the gospel to unreached people groups. Thousands of internationals from least-evangelized countries flock to New York City every year for business, education and political service. In 2005, it was estimated that there were 170 different languages spoken here. These shifts in demographics give us a wonderful opportunity to reach people who have been unexposed to the gospel, who then have a powerful voice to their own people. The focus of NYC International Project (NYCIP) is on making disciples among these people groups and training them to start reproducible churches within their own cultures.

NYCIP and Pioneers have joined together to offer a unique opportunity in New York City called Pioneers EQUIP, a one-year training that focuses on growing organic church planters who will learn and practice Kingdom principles of church expansion. EQUIP is designed to instill within church planters the DNA required for church multiplication movements. Participants in EQUIP will work alongside experienced church planters, starting discovery Bible studies and house churches among internationals and unreached people groups within the city. This is an excellent training opportunity for anyone looking to make disciples and see churches multiply. It is especially valuable for those looking to plant churches cross-culturally.

To learn more, click here.

A young boy asks a very important question.

To learn more about Arab World Media, click here.

by a Pioneer in Asia

Uncle Sattar, a local believer who owned and ran his own rice mill, died recently; he was around 60 years old. His remaining family includes his believing wife, one unbelieving daughter and two sons, the oldest of which is a believer while the younger’s faith is not certain. Rohomot, another long time believer, led Uncle Sattar to faith in Isa Al Masih (Jesus Christ) 20 years ago. Immediately after he came to faith the word in the Muslim neighborhood got around that Rohomot had convinced Uncle Sattar to follow Isa, so social pressure started to mount on Rohomot’s family. Succumbing to this social pressure, he decided to talk to Sattar about his new faith and ask him to return to Islam. But Sattar resolutely refused saying that he would never return to Islam but would remain a follower of Isa, even though there would be much social persecution ahead. Today Sattar is receiving his reward and is with Jesus.

Sattar’s oldest son Shujon told me a week ago that his father was having increasing pain in his chest and asked me to pray for him. A night or two later Shujon called, very upset and weeping. He again told me to pray for his father because he was not well. The next morning I heard that Uncle Sattar had been admitted to the hospital and so I went to visit him. He was sleeping then, so I prayed for him and left.

On the afternoon of the next day, hearing that his condition had deteriorated further with very low blood pressure and a faint pulse, I along with many others went again to visit Uncle Sattar and his family. I got the sense that Uncle may not live long.

The next day, New Year’s Eve, we as a family again went to the hospital to visit him. When I saw him sitting up in his bed I couldn’t believe how well he looked. He was talking and smiling and looked healthy in every way. We left the hospital encouraged.

That night at 2:20 a.m., I got a call from Shujon who told me with great pain in his voice that his father was no longer with us. I left for the 20-minute bike ride to the hospital and on arrival just outside the hospital, I found the youngest son leaning against a rented mini van crying hysterically. I just put my arm around this young man and made my presence known to him by touch. About 19 minutes later they brought his father’s body out and laid him in the van. I met the van at their home. They took the body out, put some mats on the concrete floor of the rice mill and laid the body (with a sheet on top) on the floor. Women immediately surrounded the body, each one lamenting loudly. The youngest son came and sat by his father’s body and began to talk to him while weeping loudly. The men took turns comforting some of the lamenting family members and also were busy making arrangements for the burial that has to be completed in the same day. This scene continued for the next two hours until I was asked to leave before the 5:20 a.m. call to prayer. (They didn’t want me to attract too much attention from the faithful Muslims who would soon be making their stroll to the local mosque for the first prayer time of the day.)

Later in the day I found out that Uncle Sattar’s body had been buried in the local cemetery according to Muslim rules. There was some fear that some would raise objections to him being buried with other Muslims. I don’t know if this actually happened but the family is enduring the stress of accusations and rebuke because Uncle Sattar was not a Muslim. Rohomot and his family are also facing a lot of social persecution, so much they are now considering moving from the neighborhood they have called home for decades. We foreigners have been asked not to come around for several days so not to cause more persecution.

After seeking ways to be an encouragement for the family it was suggested that we have the family over to our house for a meal to hopefully give them some respite from the criticism they are facing during their grief. We are also looking forward to a believer memorial service that is being planned but will probably not take place for several days because of the pressure at the moment.

by a Pioneer in Southeast Asia

A man walked by the clove trees on the side of a mountain. He was 25 years old but his heart felt like it was 90 years with all of the problems that he was facing. Their family had been prosperous but in a quick series of unfortunate events, the wealth had vanished. Cito and his family lived in a tobacco and clove village. It is a beautiful village with lush vegetation and traditional wooden houses dotting the sides of the road, but they did not care about the natural beauty. All they could think about was how they were going to find help. When was something good going to happen to them? Villagers had shared that their neighbor cast a spell on them and they knew it was true.

They owned a house, but lost so much money that had to sell it. For six months straight their whole family was sick and their life was very difficult. His last semester of school, Cito was only able to attend three weeks of classes. The rest of the time he stayed home sick. They tried various medicines but nothing worked. They were not strong Muslims. They didn’t know Arabic so they couldn’t understand the words that they were being taught to memorize. They didn’t know how or what to pray. But they thought fasting would possibly help.

The family lived in an area with almost no Christians. The only thing they knew about Christians was from the leader at the mosque. He said that Christians were bad people who were linked with those that had colonized their country. Christianity was the religion for infidels. One day he was walking by a church and glanced inside. He thought they were worshipping the wooden cross on the wall, not God.

Cito’s family didn’t know where to turn for help but because of their desperate situation, the family decided to fast for a week. On the fourth night of their fast, Cito had a dream. There was a bearded man wearing a robe who came to him. He gave him some paper with the word Mazmur. But Cito didn’t know what that meant.

Three days later on the seventh day of their fast, both Cito’s mom and dad had a dream. The mom dreamed a cow was chasing her. The dad dreamed of two hills. On the top of each hill was a church with people clapping. In the middle of the two hills there was a bright, beautiful light. But the light was not hot; it was the most beautiful light he’d ever seen.

Because they didn’t know what these dreams meant, they went to a man who was known to have the ability to interpret dreams. This man was not a Christian, but practiced traditional religion. Still, he told them what the dreams meant together. In local belief if you are being chased by a cow, it means that if you want to be saved and you need to change your clothes or change something big in your life. In this situation, the man said that they needed to change religions and become Christians because Mazmur meant Psalms and the churches on the hill where the people were clapping were the place they needed to go.

Cito’s mom now says that following the Lord is remarkable. The Bible makes sense to them as a family. They have found many promises that help them. Now she’s much stronger to face challenges. Before, she was not. When they first became Christians, there were threats to kill them and people that threw stones at their home. But because of the dreams that they had, they were steady in their new faith. The first four months were difficult because of the pressure in the community, but a man from a nearby city came and started discipling them. He prayed over their sickness and they got well.

Another indication of change in her life is that she was alone when she got the news that her husband had been killed in a freak car accident. He was crossing the road to pay his electric bill and a motorcycle ran into him. While he was on the ground, a car ran over him and he died instantly. Even though neither of her children were with her, Cito’s mom did not faint when she got this terrible news. She’d been married to this man for more than 40 years and suddenly he was gone. Instead, she prayed for God to strengthen her and He did.

Of the 90 families in their village there are 15 now that believe.

by a Pioneer in South Asia

The Hindi word for sword is talwar. We learned this word early on because we have a sword-swinging son. The book of Hebrews tells us, “For the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (4:12).

For some reason, we put this truth on the back burner for some time. We have spent so much time studying Hindi, learning about the culture and trying to understand those we are trying to reach that the significance and power of God’s Word slipped to a position of lesser importance.

Our eyes were opened to this when we had the privilege of going to a village and seeing the simplicity of God’s Word in action. Immediately we began to read and memorize Scripture in Hindi. Within a week my husband found himself in the barbershop talking about Jesus. He was not only able to soundly share God’s Word but to return to the barbershop, read God’s Word with them and then give them a Bible. The beauty of God’s Word is undeniable in the richness of Jesus’ words: “I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness” (John 12:46).

Shortly after that, my husband was trying to translate and memorize a few more verses when our neighbor, Pawan, came over. My husband took advantage of the opportunity and asked Pawan for some help. An hour later they closed God’s Word having discussed sin, eternal life and the assuredness of salvation. Awesome!

God’s Word is indeed active and accomplishing its work wherever it is being preached.

by a Pioneer in Cambodia

For years we’ve asked you to pray for a certain village near us. This past year God has brought exciting breakthroughs there. Last month, we had another baptism in this village where only one year ago, there seemed to be no interest in the gospel. Only six months ago, there was only one family truly following Christ due to all the verbal persecution they were receiving.

The Cambodian church leaders baptized 18 people. The really cool thing is that all of these individuals were baptized with their family units. (There were five families total.) This house church is very proactive in their village, both in sharing the Good News and in caring for each other. At this point, they meet in different homes for prayer and worship most nights of the week.

by a Pioneer in Mongolia

A couple of days ago, a distraught Tumay rang us from the café. Her younger brother, Buya-raah, had been involved in an accident while felling trees in a nearby forest. A large branch had hit him across the face and one of his eyes was badly injured. His parents rushed him to Ulaanbaatar, as the local hospital didn’t have adequate equipment to make a diagnosis. Tumay asked us to pray, and of course we did. In such circumstances, it’s almost a reflex action to cry to God for help. At the end of the conversation Tumay thanked us for praying and added, “I know that before the Lord your prayers are more powerful than ours.” Inwardly I groaned, why do people still believe this?

Yesterday Tumay’s brother had surgery on his damaged eye, and I picked up on our earlier brief exchange about prayer. I asked Tumay, “What does the average man in the street do when a crisis arises or an important decision has to be made?” Without missing a beat she rattled off the answer.

“Oh, go to the local lama, pay a fee, get him to read from the Buddhist writings and say prayers on their behalf.”

“Why do people do this?” I inquired.

“Oh, because unlike us,” she replied, “ the lama is a holy man with good faith that can effect the gods.”

Carefully I asked Tumay whether she thought this “everyday” thinking had simply been transferred into the church. After a moment she replied that she was sure that it had. “After all,” she reasoned, “you only want people to pray for you who are good Christians, know their Bibles and have strong faith. It stands to reason that their prayers will be more effective than ours.” As our conversation continued, we spoke about God’s thoughts on prayer and I challenged her to read her Bible, think deeply and ask the Lord to transform her inner beliefs.

We have had many such conversations, and we are thankful that we do see the evidence of God changing people’s lives, but we covet your prayers.

The Middle East is in turmoil as first Tunisia and now Egypt face political upheaval. Hundreds of thousands of Egyptians have gathered in Cairo’s Tahrir (Liberty) Square to voice their anger over unemployment, poverty, high food prices and government repression. These protests appear likely to continue until President Hosni Mubarak agrees to step down without condition. In the meantime, chaos reigns—lives have been lost and buildings burned down. The police and the army have given ground to protestors and are struggling to maintain order.

However, Pioneers’ Arab World Media is continuing to stay the course, bringing the hope of the Good News to Arab Muslims during these troubling times. As never before, the Lord is using media to make His truth known. In 2010, one of Arab World Media’s websites, Maarifa, received 65,000 new Muslim visitors each month! Nearly 5,000 Muslims joined in conversations about Jesus, and 660 enrolled in online Bible studies.

As Muslims respond to the gospel, their e-mails and phone calls are handled by the Global Response Management System (GRMS). Trained volunteers answer questions, encourage those seeking the truth, and help Muslims coming to faith to make contact with local believers. Last year, 5,033 new inquirers were handled by our volunteers!

We do not know what the future holds for Egypt and the rest of the Middle East. What is clear, however, is that a great harvest waits to be reaped in the Arab world. Our brothers and sisters at Kasr Doubara church (near Tahrir Square) have asked us to join them in prayer:

Our beloved country of Egypt is passing through difficult times in these days. Thousands of people have gone into the streets to express their economic, social, and political demands. These demands spring from the sufferings of the Egyptian people as they face hard living conditions and many pressures. We know all about these struggles, for we face them too. Our love for our dear country has caused us to pray earnestly for many years for all sections of our population.

So we now call all our brothers and sisters in the church and all our friends to redouble their prayers with us, so that we may come through this time in peace and emerge as a more united people, with a stronger faith in a bright future for our country. May the Lord give each and every one in his own particular situation a vision to see how he can contribute positively, without violence or destruction. Let us seek the face of the Lord and ask for the grace of persevering, hopeful prayer for the making of a worthy future for ourselves and our children. Let us cry out to him with broken hearts and repent of all corruption and wrongdoing both in us and around us. May He bless our country with goodness, peace, justice, and righteousness. (Translated from Arabic.)

Please pray with us!

To learn more about the work of Arab World Media, click here.

*Photos courtesy of Kasr Doubara Church

by a Pioneer in Japan

We asked you to pray specifically for the salvation of Mr. Yamashiro. I first met Mr. Yamashiro about eight years ago, soon after his daughter accepted Christ. He has since seen two of his grandchildren, a son-in-law and his wife become Christians. He has always kept a distance from us, but we have had some contact with him over the years. Even so, he expressed little interest in the things of the Lord. As a life-long Buddhist he could not see the need to give up 75 years of Buddhism for something he did not understand.

Earlier this year my wife put together a wonderful meal and we invited his family over for food and fun. From that week on he started coming to church! He got to church a little early today and we sat down to talk. At first it did not appear that this would be a conversation that would end the way we had hoped, but little by little he began sharing his life, thoughts on what he had heard, and questions about God. He is an avid sports fan and has diabetes as I do, so we had several areas to "warm up" the conversation.

It was just amazing how as we looked again at the simple plan of salvation, God just melted his heart. He and I, and his daughter who made it there for the last few minutes, knelt on the carpet and Mr. Yamashiro accepted Jesus as his Savior!

Amazing! Years and years of investment brought him to the cross. We look for him to be baptized next month along with the other recent converts. What a privilege to have a front row seat to see the wonderful work of the Holy Spirit. Because you prayed, gave and encouraged, Mr. Yamashiro's family is now entirely Christian—all three generations!

by a Pioneer in Bosnia

His voice hoarse from the unplanned singing late into last night, Adin presses through the pain to tell me all about the weekend's proceedings. No, he hasn't been part of a drunken holiday celebration, singing love songs accompanied by accordion. He has been at an annual conference for youth hosted by the church in Sarajevo. He's a really nice kid, and his older brother is an emerging leader in the church. Nadim doesn't have much to say except that it was a good time. Next stop is to drop off Adin. As I turn around the car in his driveway, he says the words I've been waiting for: "I have good news—I'm ready."

I'm not one to rush people into big decisions. Adin isn't one to rush into them either. My mind goes to our previous conversations on the subject, also in my car.

"Have you counted the costs?" I had asked during that earlier talk. He said he had, referring to all of the (somewhat legitimate) concerns his mother had flung at him concerning the rejection he might experience and disadvantages in the culture. "Yeah, but there are other costs too," I warned. "Jesus accepts sinners as we are, but we must come as repentant sinners, with a desire to change and to do things God's way and for his glory." I went on to explain, "This means things like sex outside of marriage and self-centeredness become issues which will bring both Holy Spirit conviction (the whistle-blow in your soul) and rebuke from the brothers who love you and are committed to God.”

"I will think about those things," he told me. I reminded him, "Of course what seems impossible now, is impossible now, but when have been adopted as a son and have received the Holy Spirit, you'll have the help of the Spirit and of the church—which you don't have now."

"Yeah," he said, "that's what I was thinking." That conversation was about a week or two after Adin went to church camp.

Earlier was our fall camping trip with my friend from Croatia. Not by plan, it turned out to be on the exact same weekend as last year's camping trip, and in the same place. As the three of us walked by a gazebo where we had taken refuge from the rain a year earlier, memory prompted Adin to remark, "Look there's where we sat with the candle last year and you read the Bible to me for the first time!"

"Was that the first time?" my friend asked. It had been. Adin has attended many Bible studies, church services and youth meetings since then, but that was indeed the first time we had opened the Word together. 

As I complete my three-point turn in the driveway, again I am faced with the two questions, "Does he really understand the gospel and grace of God?" and "Does he really know what he's getting into?" Peace fills me, when the answer to both questions is yes. "I am so glad to hear that," I answer. "Not as much as I am, brother," comes his joyful and relieved reply. We had been looking forward to the day when we could address each other as brother. With delight I offer, "Let me pray for you, brother."

Father, I thank you so much for adopting Adin as your son. Thank you for hounding him down and not giving up on him. Thank you for what Jesus has done for him through the cross and resurrection. Thank you for all of the things you plan to do in Adin and all the good works you plan to do through him. Thank you for giving him faith. Thank you for giving your Holy Spirit. Help us to encourage one another as we try to honor you, serve you and glorify you. I am so thankful to have Adin as a brother in Christ. I know that you will complete what you have begun in him.

by a Pioneer in Asia

Our family was blessed to see God work on a remote mountain, where the first wind farm in our country was to install four wind turbines. On Thursday, we witnessed the first turbine being raised. The next day’s goal was to complete two more installations, leaving the last one for Saturday.

However, Friday’s weather was dismal. Even local fishing boats had been called in off the coast! With winds reaching 30 mph, raising 40-foot long blades to the height of 200 feet was impossible. The ground crew diligently spent the day assembling the countless bolts and screws, while the installation crew waited, climbed the tower and checked the wind speed. Too strong! The general manager of the project spent much of the day in solitude, wrestling with the Lord for the next step.

Overcome with dependence on God and his desire to see God’s name be praised in our midst, he unashamedly gathered the “set apart ones” to pray, openly, in front of those who are walking in darkness. We circled together and in faith, sought the Lord, beseeching the One who once calmed Galilee with, “Peace be still,” to still these winds. The onlookers watched.

God did not answer our prayers immediately. Nothing changed! The day now late, we traveled back to our hotels for the night. The next day, getting an early start, the whole team traveled the hour to the worksite, and found a slight drizzle turn to open skies and two mph winds. Very unusual!

Working with precision, the team successfully installed the remaining three turbines by early afternoon. The moment they began their descent down the mountain, God’s restraining hand lifted. He allowed the storm to rush back over the mountain with gusty winds and rain, lasting for the next three days. Marveling at the greatness of our Lord, we praise God for hearing our prayers. But even sweeter, God sent three local workers to this team leader, inquiring curiously, “What were you and your friends doing that day in a circle?” Our brother testified that, “We were praying to the God of the Universe.” Each time, the workers’ response was the same, “Your God heard you. He changed the weather on the mountain. It is never like that!” The Lord worked that day on behalf of His name and brought a wonderful miracle in front of our eyes.

by a Pioneer in South Asia

Arif just returned from a two-week job up in the north of the country, conducting surveys on tobacco use in various districts. He and the other college boys stayed at cheap hotels and government guesthouses. Arif described to me how in the evenings the four boys with him would indulge in the full range of immoral activities—drugs, smoking, looking at porn on mobiles, etc. He is thankful that God delivered him from these temptations during that time, as instead he read his small pocket Injil (New Testament) and prayed. Arif had the chance to share his faith with one co-worker when he was staying one-to-one, but it was different with the four boys. One of the last nights at 11pm before they went to sleep, they noticed him reading his Injil and together they launched into a three and a half hour interrogation session trying to dissuade him from going astray from the true path that they presumed to be on. They gave no room to listening to any arguments or answers. Arif thought of Jesus' words, "By their fruit you will recognize them."

Despite such incidents, Arif often prays that his little believing community here would experience more pressure from the surrounding community so they would be stirred up to faithful living and bold outreach. He also yearns to see his generation live out bold faith, not simply faith activities because of having a job for a Christian organization. He hopes to model that with his life.

Arif asked me for prayer about which path he should take, as he's finishing up high school. He feels pulled to minister full-time like his fellowship's founder, but he also dreams of starting a successful multi-level marketing business according to a new plan he's developed. If he goes into a life of ministry, what would his non-believing parents think?

Arif is also concerned about his sister, who is still a believer, but due to society and parental pressure is not fellowshipping. Arif really hopes she can be married to another Muslim-background believer without his parents finding out until afterwards. That way she can grow in her faith. Pray!

by a Pioneer in Lithuania

We usually look a little down on these folks, and often discount them, thinking that they're beyond hope. After all, they've chosen their life and probably will never be interested in the gospel. Not really knowing their world, we have the tendency to shy away from them. At least I know that's sometimes true of myself. Perhaps we are just a little bit like the Pharisees who asked Jesus, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?" What did Jesus answer them? "I have not come to call the (self) righteous, but sinners, to repentance" (Luke 5:32).

Well, Edwardas knows the world of these sinners. Our newest church member is a powerful testimony of God's saving grace. The Lord used Edwardas as His contact to recently bring a witch, a drug addict, and a prostitute to saving faith in Jesus Christ! The prostitute was suicidal because social services took away her young son. The witch repented and burned her tarot cards, her only source of income. It was really a blessing to see them in church on Sunday! The drug addict repented and immediately surrendered himself to a Christian, drug-rehab center. Please pray for jobs for these new believers. Pray that the Lord will show himself to them in practical ways to strengthen them against any temptations.

by a Pioneer in Kosovo

“I’m ready,” said Liam as he walked in for his English lesson. My teammate thought he was talking about their class. “No,” he said, “I’m ready to become a Christian.” Just then his friend Frank popped his head in the door. He had become a believer several months earlier and had been witnessing to Liam. A special time of prayer, hugs and tears followed as Liam committed his heart to Christ.

Like most believers here, Liam’s journey to Christ was not a sprint. A junior in high school, he had been attending meetings and asking questions for almost a year. We had some long coffees together wrestling with Muslim arguments against the Trinity, the cross and God having a Son.

But Liam’s journey started even farther back. He was one of my guitar students. Before that, he and my son were close friends in elementary school. He also came regularly to the kid’s club at the church. Liam was easy to pick out. He would participate in the games and songs, but when the time came for the Bible lesson, he would put both fingers in his ears, saying, “I am a Muslim and I don’t want to hear about Jesus.” Liam is a testimony to a God who unplugs ears and opens hearts.

by a Pioneer in Papua New Guinea

“You have died with Christ and he has set you free from the spiritual powers of this world. So why do you keep on following the rules of the world, such as ‘Don’t handle! Don’t taste! Don’t touch!’? Such rules are mere human teachings about things that deteriorate as we use them. These rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, pious self-denial, and severe bodily discipline. But they provide no help in conquering a person’s evil desires” (Colossians 2:20-23).

My ministry partner and I have been translating Titus and Colossians over the past three weeks as part of an epistle workshop here in Ukarumpa. We came to this passage yesterday—and are wondering today if we heard Paul right. Did he say that since we died with Christ, we are set free from the spiritual powers of this world? Literally, the words say that we died with Christ to these spirits. When we translated, we wrote, “You have died with Christ. By your death, the evil spirits that cause men to fear are not knowing/perceiving/understanding you.” That is, you are off their radars. Could this really be?

Fear of magic and sorcery, and accusations against sorcerers are on the rise among the Kubo and other unreached groups near them. When certain sicknesses hit, people are told to move away, or not walk certain trails to avoid the evil spirit involved. It seems that most people, including Christians, are continuing to follow the rules to keep themselves safe. As though they were alive to these spirits, and under their control.

This all feels pretty radical at the moment. But maybe it is just one more realization of what the death and resurrection of Christ have done for us. The Colossian Christians were mixing magic in with their faith as well. Paul’s remedy was not to combat each practice, but to remind them that they have died to these things, and have been resurrected with Jesus.

The Kubo and others are especially afraid of hogai, the spirits that men and women use to kill others. These spirits are said to kill their victim, take out part of his or her body, close up the wound and cause them to live again. In a short while, they sicken and die, or are bitten by a poisonous snake and die. The fear of this practice has always been present among the Kubo, and seems to be greater than ever. Maybe the key is to encourage people to die with Christ, and be raised with Him. Maybe a good sermon title would be, “If you want to quit being afraid of hogai, let God kill (and resurrect) you first!”

Please pray that God will help us to be clear in our translation of these passages, and that His truth will come home to the Kubo and truly set them free. Pray, too, that the church there will continue to grow, deepen, and reach out to those around them with the full gospel.

by a Pioneer in the Middle East

We recently asked you to pray for more opportunities to share. The Lord answered your prayers. One of those times came after watching a soccer match with my co-worker Tate. After some small talk about the game, Tate turned to me and said, "Have you ever considered becoming a Muslim?" Some people might be intimidated by this question, but I love it because it is an opening to discuss Jesus.

As we discussed the similarities and differences between our two religions with my primary focus on Jesus, Tate became more and more agitated. At one point, Tate stopped the conversation and said, “You are a good person. You have good morals and you follow God. However, I am really afraid that you are going to hell because you are not a Muslim.” Tate’s declaration touched me for two reasons. First, the light of Christ is shining through us. Second, we are in a spiritual battle where there are winners and losers. The penalty of sin is death. Our work here is eternal. Your prayers for us are eternal. God’s glory is eternal.

Pray that the Holy Spirit would work in people’s lives so that they might see the truth.

by a Pioneer in South Asia

The roads were still torn up to make way for a new underground sewer system and electric lines, and so on this particular morning we had to take a detour from our usual route to the cantonment or historically military area of the city. As our driver and friend, Ram deftly swerved back and forth to dodge cows, dogs, goats and pedestrians, I took the time to take in some areas of town that I don’t usually see: kids bathing using the hand water pump, women busy sweeping out their houses, and men chatting nearby idly sipping chai and chewing pan (tobacco).

The monsoon had not yet come. It was late this year to our city and one could almost feel the heightened anticipation from the land and its people for sweet rain. In the throng of horns honking, engines revving and drivers’ yelling, I leaned forward to hear what Ram was saying.

“Bhaiya (big brother), when is the monsoon going to come?” This was the question on everyone’s lips.

“I don’t know, Ram.”

“Did you know that it is now raining in the surrounding areas of the city and other parts of the country?” (The delay of the monsoon this year had only served to aggravate the situation.)

“Yes, Bhaiya, I know. I think it is because of the sins of the people. The sins of the people of our city are very great,” he responded.

I didn’t directly respond to his comment, but I found his viewpoint very interesting.

I leaned forward once again. “Ram, did you know that Jesus takes away sins”?

“Yes, Bhaiya. I’ve heard that, but I don’t really know about Jesus. I wanted to pray to Jesus but I didn’t know what to do.”

I paused for a moment, and then asked him, “Well, do you want to know about Jesus?”

“Yes Bhaiya. I would like for you and Ashok to teach me about Jesus. I used to be very bad though.”

“Ram, it doesn’t matter what you have done in life. Jesus accepts you just the way you are. Ashok and I would be happy to teach you about Jesus.”

Two days later Ram sat in my living room with Ashok and me, hungry and eager to learn. It was a beautiful picture to watch Ashok, the man I have discipled for the past two years, share the Good News. He is such a gifted man and I said very little. Ram asked question after question, and when his inquiries were exhausted Ashok simply asked Ram if he wanted to accept Jesus as His Lord and Savior. Ram said yes, and then they prayed together right then and there.

Since then, Ram has continued to be hungry to learn more about Jesus and what it means to follow him. Please pray for him and the challenges he will face. Pray also for Ashok as he disciples him, and for myself as I continue to pour into Ashok.

by a Pioneer in East Asia

Thirteen years ago, when we first arrived in East Asia, our foreign colleagues encouraged us to have a house helper. They then introduced us to Qulan. We soon realized that Qulan was much, much more than a house helper. She was our language tutor, starting from day one. When we couldn’t speak one word of the local language, we figured out a way to communicate through pictures and charades. She taught us how to survive: from how to wash vegetables and cook local food, to how to hook up our phone line, and pay the water bill.

At the same time we arrived in Asia, her younger sister moved to America, so we quickly became family. Qulan was there when our children were born. She was one of the only people we trusted to take care of them. Qulan became the girls’ tutor as they struggled through the local schools. Each time we went back to the States the girls would cry because they missed Qulan. They loved to snuggle up on the sofa with Qulan as she read them stories.

Qulan was there each time we moved. Three times she helped us pack up and unpack boxes. She was willing to stick with us even after we moved up to our current area. This meant she would have to ride two different buses and spend at least an hour each way to get to our house. She said, “We’re family, of course I will come.”

We committed to praying daily and sharing weekly with Qulan about the love of Jesus. In the beginning she would say, “I can’t believe this just because you want me to.” We said, “Of course your faith would be meaningless if it was for us.” Yet, we continued to pray and share and hope for Qulan to follow Jesus. After six years, with tears in her eyes Qulan shared with us that she was finally ready. Still there was a stronghold of fear holding her back. Because of experiences in her past she wouldn’t visit or meet with any other local brothers and sisters.

We kept praying and sharing our lives. Then her life really began to change. She started attending a local house fellowship, and became more and more involved. She not only attended the Saturday night gathering, but also started going to Thursday night prayer meeting, and even underground seminary classes on Sundays. There was evidence of real fruit in her life. She shared how in the past she would serve people so they would think highly of her. She said after she met Jesus she was finally free, and could serve people for Him. She became more patient with her husband, and the violent arguments ended. She began sharing Jesus with her friends and relatives, and bringing them to church with her. We would bring friends over to our house, and she would help share and counsel them. This past Christmas her daughter also made a step of faith to follow Jesus. Now we are just praying for her husband to follow.

However, three weeks ago Qulan shared with us that her health was declining. She had high cholesterol, arthritis and was at risk for a stroke. Doctors said she needed to rest. This was hard news to take. Our dear sister had faithfully come twice a week to serve and love us for 13 years! We wept together, and hugged each other. Qulan looked at me with tears and said, “Thank you for showing me the way to Jesus.” The Lord then gave me a promise to share with Qulan: This time of rest is really a gift from the Father and He has plans for her to serve Him in a new way.

We praise and thank the Father for Qulan! Please pray for her health, and for the Holy Spirit's work in her husband’s life.

by a Pioneer in Senegal

For the past three days, Korité (the day that ends the month long fast for the Muslims) has been celebrated. Rob decided to do something different from his usual tradition of going around to his friends' houses, and instead went to everyone's house or store in the neighborhood. As he walked into a little store and greeted everyone, a man rose from a far corner to greet him. This particular man has been the cause of many issues against Rob over the years in the neighborhood, with partnerships, with directors and inspectors, as well as with the mayor and the governor. Rob has been praying to know how to approach this very angry man. He greeted the man, who then said, “I have wronged you; I am very sorry. Please forgive me. I want to work together with you.” To ask for forgiveness is normal on this specific day of the year, but the hug this man initiated was a huge step. He specifically communicated wanting to move forward. Praise Jesus for the divine orchestration of circumstances and hearts.

by a Pioneer in South Asia

We were taking a family walk when a man wearing conservative Muslim dress slowed his bike to pedal beside us. He asked us the normal questions—where we lived, where we were from, what we did, and the names of our kids. When he heard Yakub’s name, he said, “That’s a Muslim name.”

“It’s a prophet’s name,” my husband answered.

“Yes, yes. Are you a Muslim?”

“We believe in one God. We follow Hazrat Isa Masih.”

The man repeated our words thoughtfully. Then he said, “Following the prophet Jesus, hmm. If you followed our prophet Mohammed, it would be so much better. He is the last and final prophet, and on Judgment Day, Jesus will also join Mohammed.”

“I have read through the Torah, Gospels, Psalms, and the Qur’an in my mother tongue,” answered my husband. “I know some Arabic, but I have read the Qur’an so I can understand it. From what I have read, I have decided on my beliefs.” The man agreed politely, the conversation finished, and the man biked off.

Later we asked our local teammate how he would have responded. He answered immediately, “I would have said, ‘This is too big a conversation to have now. Let’s meet again and have tea. I will tell you why I chose Jesus instead of Mohammed as long as you agree on two conditions: not to get angry and that we will consult no book but the Qur’an.’”

Does that sound like a strange answer? This is actually the sort of witness that has led to much fruit in our area. Whatever else the Qur’an says, it is surprisingly clear that:

• All prophets have sinned and need forgiveness except Jesus, who alone is ‘blameless.’
• Jesus is the ‘Messiah’ and ‘God’s word.’
• Contrary to what most Muslims here believe, Mohammed will not intercede for them on Judgment Day; he only claims to be one who warns about judgment.
• The Torah, Psalms, and Gospels are reliable and valid Scripture.

Such startling things from the Qur’an amaze Muslims here and provoke them to rethink their religious assumptions.

by a Pioneer in Central Asia

“I normally don’t drink or smoke,” Smur said, “but lately under all my financial struggles I have started both.” As Smur and I discussed the soybean business together, Smur let me have a glimpse into his deeper struggles. I, in turn, was able to share my testimony about how Jesus Christ has met all my needs. Smur listened and received prayer in Jesus’ name. The next time we met, Smur said that he felt the heaviness was lifted and he had stopped smoking and drinking. I know we will have regular contact with Smur because the soybean factory is located on his property. This is the heart of BAM.

A few weeks ago our entire family went with Fati and Abraham to their soybean fields to see how the crops were growing. They are using quality soybean seed that we brought over from America to grow beans which we will buy in the fall. My wife also helps Fati with her English lessons. Our two families had a picnic, our kids played together, and I had an opportunity to share with Abraham about my faith in Jesus Christ. This is the heart of BAM.

What is BAM? It stands for ‘Business as Mission,’ and that is what we are doing in Central Asia. Our vision is to see a church-planting movement started among a minority Muslim group. Since there are no believers that we know of in our village, we are trying to meet as many people as possible in order to share seeds of the gospel. We are also seeking to bless the community, to God’s glory, by providing jobs and community development through small businesses.

I am the executive director of a local trading company. In the past, the company has dried tomatoes, sold flower seedlings, and imported and rented farming equipment. Currently the company has contracted with 23 local farmers to grow soybeans that the company will buy, process and extrude into a meal that is a critical ingredient in quality animal feed. To our knowledge soybeans have never been extruded in this country but already folks are lining up to buy the product. Though we are still in the early stages, this business has a lot of potential for providing jobs and blessing our village. We are also going to employ Muslim-background believers in the factory so they can have close interactions with our local Muslim friends. Also, some of the finished meal will go to trained local evangelists who will go into unreached villages with small-scale chicken businesses, based on this soybean feed. Praise the Lord with us that He has graciously provided all the funds and equipment that we’ve needed. Please pray that He will continue to use this business for His glory.

by Amber Smith, a Pioneer in Poland

The Shiva-like statue of the demonic goddess leered at us from across the open field. The nearly monotone chanting began with large speakers carrying the voices of priests to where our little group sat in the mid-day heat trying, but failing, to remain incognito. Refusing to stand or kneel in adoration of the goddess, we quickly came under the scrutiny of others. From all over the field suspicious and slightly annoyed faces stared at us. A woman punched her husband in the shoulder to get him to turn around and behave. We remained silent observers as the mother goddess was hailed through sacred rites and proclaimed to be humanity’s light, teacher, guide, and the one who will lead her people into life. Our souls, however, raged within us. The flesh of sacrifice was rent and distributed amongst the faithful. Wine flowed like blood; or, was it the other way around?

After the ceremony, an Edge team member felt the Holy Spirit leading her to pray over an elderly, hunch-backed woman sitting a few rows in front of us. We approached her and I explained that Kerri would like to pray for her healing. At first, the woman nodded affirmatively. Then, a cloud of doubt passed across her face. Once she realized our intention to pray for her in Jesus’ name, she became very frightened. “No, you better not,” she responded, “I don’t want you to put a curse on me. You might be Satanists.” We walked away discouraged. “Perhaps, God would have chosen to heal her but, she was not willing,” I thought dejectedly.

The image of the dark goddess was scattered around the field and the buildings of the Bright Mountain fortress. In her ornate worship chamber, masses of people knelt before the Queen of Heaven. In order to get a closer look at the one whom they adore, many dropped to their knees and crawled the circumference of her most holy and revered idol, standing only when they had exited her alcove. On the walls hung medallions representing body parts along with crutches, canes, and other offerings from those who had received the miraculous healing they had prayed for so devotedly. A chill ran down my spine as another Edge team member pointed out the satanic symbols of horned bulls, the sun, moon, and the all-seeing eye ensconced on every side of us. Outside, we found booths where medallions and other talismans were being blessed, and we visited a museum where costly offerings to the goddess were proudly displayed.

During lunch, the severe spiritual oppression that had been building all morning became too much for me. I do not weep for this nation often enough; yet, my heart is cleft when all around me the battle rages. Satan has a strangle hold on this country where the Mother of God reigns supreme. Christ has been bloodied and beaten and is utterly defeated. And, that is exactly where the deceiver wants Him. During the train ride home, the lyrics of a song resonated in my ears: “What choice do I have, but to join the battle? No debt that I owe, but that I love you forever.”

Please pray that those walking in darkness will see the great Light. Pray that many workers would come to this spiritual void to reach the lost and to rescue the prisoners. May the true and living Christ be proclaimed in Poland!

by a Pioneer in Uganda

Today started out as an average day. My co-worker Mandie ran into town to do errands while I stayed here so the babies could actually get good naps. We ate lunch and I got ready to go spend the afternoon at the hospital. Then we got a phone call from one of the AIDS Support Organization counselors. They asked if they could come by and see the babies and talk to us. What good patient care, that they would do home visits, we both thought.

Two hours later, they showed up and we chitchatted for a few minutes until they told us that they had the results back from the first HIV test they had done when the babies were a month old and the mother had brought them for testing. The news: Ellie is negative, but Eli is positive. Now I knew that was probably coming. On Friday the pediatrician told us that usually in the case of twins, the first is positive and the second is negative. But, it's kind of like waiting for a test grade....you may know it's probably not good, but until the results actually come back, you can hope that they don't turn out to be what you think they will....so then you're still disappointed by the results you were actually expecting.

So I held it all together until the counselor left and then promptly burst into tears. Mandie reminded me that the Lord had these babies with us for a reason and that we have saved their lives and that HIV isn't a death sentence and that we'll start him on antiretroviral drugs tomorrow....and then I cried some more. As much as I told myself not to fall in love with these babies, I've fallen in love with them, especially Eli, and I'm sad.

I'm also determined to find them a family, even if it isn't with me, where I know they'll be loved and taken care of and get the proper treatment.

by a Pioneer recently in Mongolia

Some people think that missionaries have all the answers about how to start a church: that we know just when a group of believers becomes a church and just how we are to go about organizing it. Well, some missionaries might have all, or at least, most of these answers. I am one who doesn't. This summer, my wife Yeroltma and I faced a difficult dilemma. Here we had five adults (two couples and a widow) who we, without doubt, believe have been born again. They aren't perfect and neither of the two men are ready to become leaders or elders of the church. Yet, we are leaving and there isn’t a church or any other believers in the county. What are we to do?

While the situation isn't exactly like ours, the Apostle Paul faced something similar in Thessalonica. He had been in this city for only a short time before he was run out of town. Paul tells us that the believers were facing great suffering for following Jesus. Yet, Paul had to leave. In his letter to the church, Paul tells how the church there had grown and become a mighty witness for Jesus not only in Thessalonica, but throughout the entire province. We don't read of him appointing elders or such. By reading the narrative, it seems that he had no time to organize a church at all. Now, our believers aren't experiencing outright persecution, nor would we say they are suffering, but they have been left alone.

Our last meeting with our friends was a time of sharing about the church at Thessalonica. In God's sovereign will, the believers had been forced to rely on the Holy Spirit for His power and leading. The believers in Totsonsingle are doing the same thing. While I did not appoint the men as elders, they are now the leaders and teachers of the church. After living in Mongolia for 16 years, by the grace of God, I can finally say, we have a church with nomads. We can honestly say God did it. Your years of giving and praying have borne fruit.

When we return to Totsonsingle after my wife Yeroltma graduates from nursing school, only God knows what we will find in our county. We may find the same believers just hanging on for dear life. We may find that they are no longer around. Or we may find that the believers have grown in faith and in size. I don't need to tell you which one to be praying for!

by a Pioneer in Southeast Asia

He had given up his job to follow the call of Christ on his life. He had been a successful businessman but when God came calling Timoteus answered. He began to give all that he had away as he started a ministry reaching the youth of our city. He poured out his time, his wealth, and his love over these youth with issues as big as drug addictions. With the help of a non-governmental organization, he was able to start a youth center. He, his wife, and five children all were a part of this ministry. Everything Timoteus had and everything he was he gave to the youth of our city.

On a recent holiday Timoteus took his family and youth from the center to the beach. As Timoteus was playing on the beach with his children a group from a local university were crossing a water passageway to a nearby island. Usually you can walk from the shore of the mainland to this island and the water only goes as high as your ankles. Occasionally the water will rise to your knees. However, on this day a massive wave came and pulled three of the women away. A fiancé to one of the girls dove into the ocean to save them. As he is doing so another wave came storming in and pushed the girls in while pulling the young man away. Timo looked up from playing and saw this young man being pulled farther out and struggling for life. Without a thought for his own life he told his kids to get away from the water, he told a youth to go find a boat, and he himself dove into the raging ocean. The ocean, being true to form for Southeast Asia, raged again and pulled Timo out. In the end, Timoteus and the young man drowned. Their bodies washed ashore an hour later.

For those who know Timoteus, we are not surprised that he gave up his life in an effort to save another. A few years prior to this he ran into a burning house to rescue someone trapped inside. It is what he had been doing for years already as he laid his life possessions aside in order to reach the youth of our city. Timoteus knew true love. He knew that true love would lay down his life for others just as Christ as done for us (1 John 3:16). He knew that the neighbors we are called to love are not just the people we know personally, but even the strangers on the beautiful beaches of Southeast Asia.

by a Pioneer in Bosnia

Last summer we befriended a young Muslim man, Samir, at summer camp who seemed to have that “God spark.” We also befriended his sister, Mara, and within a few months after camp, she became a follower of Jesus. Mara is a gem and God has used us mightily in her life. They come from a very strict Muslim family and the choice to believe comes at a great cost. Recently, Mara was baptized and since then, Samir has been asking questions and diligently searching for the Truth. A few nights ago after a very long and stressful day, we received a late night Skype call from Mara who wanted us to talk with Samir. He had spiritual questions that she could not answer. We spoke with him for about an hour and after the conversation he told us, “I am ready to believe.” So, over Skype, we prayed with him as he made Jesus the Lord and Savior of his life. Now, he and his sister follow Christ, praying to God for wisdom in how to share this with their family—knowing the consequences could be devastating. Now at least, they have each other for support as well as the small local church where they attend.

Please pray for them in their new walk of faith and for us as we continue our discipleship with them via Skype.

by a Pioneer in South America

There are about 400 tribes in the Amazon Jungle. At least 215 of these groups still have no Gospel, no church and no cross-cultural church planters serving among them. Others have just recently received the Bible in their own language and are in desperate need of discipleship and training to be effective in reaching the rest of their own group as well as other neighboring un-reached groups with the Gospel.

Our team has had the privilege of training and equipping indigenous believers for cross-cultural missionary work. Our jungle team now lives among a tribe in Peru and is learning their tribal language and culture in order to disciple and train them in their heart language to build up a church that is capable and motivated to evangelize all their own villages as well as reach out to other surrounding tribes.

Pioneers is looking for those who are willing to come alongside our indigenous brothers and sisters and make the Gospel come alive for them so that they can rise up and play a powerful role of reaching these yet unreached people groups. In order to see the Amazon reached with the Gospel, we need lots of workers who are willing to let the Holy Spirit work through them to disciple and empower the indigenous believers to be a part of the Great Commission. This field is ripe for workers. Will you join us?

Check out this video our team created to tell the story of what God is doing in the jungles of Peru and see the full video at Story'10.

by a Pioneer in Southeast Asia

Rudolf and I, along with Rudolf's pastor have been planning a 1.5 hour presentation to, as Rudolf puts it, “open the eyes and ears” of congregations across our city to the need to be involved in ministry focused on the un-churched—especially Muslims. From the outset, I sought to take advantage of this opportunity to challenge and truly empower Rudolf. I told him that he would be the presenter, and that I would support him. Initially he was overwhelmed with insecurity. The reality is that he comes from a blue-collar background and he has no “theological” expertise. This, I told him, was exactly what made him the right guy for the job. I agreed to take a 15-minute portion of the 90-minute presentation to speak about some exciting things that God is doing in the world.

Rudolf and I worked for a long while, talking about what would make a presentation like this one work, and what kind of content needed to a part of it. We agreed that we wanted to reserve a significant block of time for prayer specifically for unreached people groups in our area, as well as have Rudolf share some personal stories.

Just a few weeks ago Rudolf stood up before his own Church (our first
presentation) and said, “My brothers and sisters, I'm here to bring you the Word of God. This is the first time I've ever done anything like this.” As I heard him speak those words into the microphone, I realized that I was witnessing a special moment in history. I quietly thanked God for the opportunity to be a part of it, and went on to watch as Rudolf did a truly outstanding job. He was perfectly at home in front of about 100 people talking about how much God loves people, and how His word says over and over that He has a heart for all people groups, not just people “like us.”

As we prepared for the event we had decided that we really wanted to challenge people to take a role in God's Great Commission. Rudolf designed some cards to pass out and ask for responses. People were asked to pray, learn more about how to reach Muslims, become focused on going, and making disciples as the Great Commission says, or giving money to support workers that are doing it. We prayed for a 10% response. We trusted that with a small number of convicted people we could begin something special.

After the event was completed we counted 43 response cards! They were all complete with phone numbers and indications of how they want to play a part in seeing unreached people reached. We have eight people who've agreed to take a ten lesson course on what it means to "be a blessing" to others, 31 people who've agreed to pray for unreached people groups, three people who've agreed to give to the churches missions program focused on reaching out to unreached, and one person who's indicated that he wants to GO! Praise the Lord!

Download a new background for your computer of a man in Cairo, Egypt. Photo by Pioneers appointee Jason B. LaBombard.  Right click to download the following resolutions:  800x600 | 1024x768 | 1280x1024 | 1600x1200 | 1920x1080

by Johnny Fowler, Vice President of Finance, Pioneers-USA

Before my trip to the Middle East, I had a fixed idea about how “evil” Arabs are. I had let 9/11 and terrorist groups define my view of the Arab world, but God used this trip to give me a fresh perspective.

Our flight from Frankfort to “Country A” gave us our first look at the religion. As we prepared to land, men began to go into the lavatory to remove their Western clothes, and put on full-length robes made of plain white terry cloth. All during the flight, the young married couple sitting in the seat in front of me was quite affectionate. Something told me their life for the next few weeks visiting home would be quite different. In Arab countries, you can get arrested for public displays of affection.

In spite of the cultural differences, I was surprised to find these people very warm and friendly. Ministry here is very low key. The Quran teaches than anyone who converts from Islam to another religion should be killed. In fact, in some Arab countries men have the legal right to do just that. Making your faith publicly known has major consequences. Would you be willing to share Christ with someone knowing that it might cost them their life? My admiration for people willing to work in this area of the world began to grow.

Workers in “Country B” where we visited next are even more security conscious than those in Country A. They hold highly skilled professional jobs like college professors, airline pilots and engineers. Their goal is to reach locals, and they can work years to establish close relationships with them. Imagine raising your family in a foreign country, working a demanding full-time job, and finding time for ministry—with the pressure of knowing that if you say the wrong thing to the wrong person at the wrong time, you could be deported and lose years of investing in people.

“Country C”’s people were very friendly to us. They are first and foremost a member of a tribe, and a member of Country C second. Security is very, very tight. We were shown that our hotel rooms were “bugged.” It was a reminder to be extra careful in what we said during the time there.

Upon arrival in “Country D,” we boarded a large bus and drove to our hotel. For security reasons, we stayed in two separate hotels. The streets to the hotels were very narrow with cars parked alongside the streets. It was quite an experience to see our “host” jump off the bus, solicit some help from people on the street, and then physically pick up a car and move it so the bus could pass by. He did this not once, but twice.

Our last night, we enjoyed dinner in the home of a Pioneers ministry partner. It was a wonderful time of fellowship, prayer and praising God for what he is doing in the Arab and Muslim world. The Internet and satellite TV are reaching Arabs at an unprecedented rate, and thousands are coming to Christ as they gain an understanding of Him. Pray that God will use this technology.

Reflecting on this trip, I concluded that the merger of Pioneers and Arab World Ministries is very strategic. It will be exciting to watch as God works in this important area of the world.

by a Pioneer in Southeast Asia

Last week I stopped by Grandpa Syaiful’s house. As I got off my motorbike, they told me, “Grandpa Syaiful isn’t with us anymore. The night you came to the hospital…he died at 3am. He was going to have the operation at 8am.” Grandma came out and wept some. They told me, “Even though Grandpa is gone. Keep coming here. You are like family.”

That evening as the sun set, I rode the 10 minute ride down the mountain. I felt like I hadn’t done enough to tell Grandpa about how he could “live forever.” I had shared some of my testimony, but as far as I know Grandpa Syaiful died without ever having a clear presentation of the gospel. Who else would have told him? There are none who know Him in his village.

That night I had dinner with my neighbor, who happens to be a counselor and is a brother. He reassured me that my coworker and I did the right thing when we visited the family. We should just keep being their true friend—regardless of if they ever make a decision. Then, as they ask me questions about my life, I can share. Which, thankfully they did ask the other day.

Please ask that He would provide doors for us to share among our dear friends here.

by a Pioneers Edge Team member in Poland

There is obliviousness to the heart of this place. Everyone seems to be convinced that they are going somewhere—some sweet place promised to them by a forgotten hope salesman. But that place was left down the road of broken dreams, disappointments, and failed relationships. Each new advertisement, cigarette and girlfriend brings something yet to be explored, awakening the very desire they so desperately tried to kill the last time their hopes rose, only to fail them.

Signs on church buildings prohibit the entry of the scandalously dressed, never letting us escape the reminder that Jesus Christ is only for the “righteous enough”—only for the pious, only for those wealthy enough to afford clothes. He is not for the promiscuous, the broken, the whores, the abused, the hurting, the alcoholics, the womanizers, and those caught in the asphyxiating grips of their sin. Here, we must be well dressed to pay homage to the temples men have built.

It was Voltaire who once said, “God made man in His own image, and now man returns the favor.”

Hope here is a flicker, but it is a flicker not easily blown out. Jesus’ words are wooing as He beckons these people to bring their weary souls to find rest in Him alone. That way is hard: it is hard to love a God your culture sees as out-dated, obsolete and as boring as the stained glass depictions of bearded men on crosses portrayed on the sinless folks’ buildings.

It is hard to leave sex, marijuana, the pursuit of money and alcohol when they have been kind enough to provide you with a name, a purpose, and to take up your thoughts and your time. Jesus never said that the Easy Way was not beautiful, enticing, and full of the people that you want to be just like. He never said that the hard way was glamorous, either, but it is glorious.

When Jesus came, to where was it? May we be reminded of these words, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth”? As Christ, pure goodness and beauty, superimposed Himself with the broken and the ugly, so these two ways, while spiritually set apart by an ocean of grace and waves of holiness, are physically intertwined like two lovers sharing their first embrace.

As the multitude of Poles head to an eternity of sorrow and “what-if’s,” may the Redeemed forsake all of life’s trifles and fight to tear down the walls of Jericho in the hearts of the lost, the Babel’s of confusion in the minds of the hurting. May we come out of our church buildings and our “Kingdom-of-one’s” to look the countless “I-never-knew-you’s” in the face and tell them of a Treasure buried in a field that is worth selling everything we have to possess.

May we lose our lives that they may live. May we be captivated by the seductive words of a Savior: “Follow me.” Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints. May we be precious!

"And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.” Everyone.

by a Pioneer in Central Asia

Last week, we talked about the suicide bombing in the capital. That attack was utterly heartbreaking, especially since it came directly on the heels of a plane crash. There’s one story about a woman on a bus who was cut completely in half. Her baby, in her arms, lived.

We talked about violence and enemies. I pointed out that we are taught to bless our enemies. Our Sharia law school graduate made the Sharia case: a tooth for a tooth. My other local staff member tried to explain that I didn’t really mean ‘blessing.’ Oh yes I do. Our conversation turned heated. In the end, I brought it back. I challenged us to pray and ask God who our enemies here are and who we, individually or as a little office, could bless. How can we, just the few of us, be peacemakers in this country? My staff took up the challenge. Then, over the weekend as I prayed, I was reminded of the village that threw my coworker and I out. They used the excuse that radicals would kill us and then the foreign army would burn down their village. Both sides of that reasoning are pretty far-fetched considering the village composition and location. Regardless, it was offered as reasoning.

Today we discussed the situation over lunch. We agreed that we would send seven rose bushes to the mosque in that village along with a message from me. My message will say something like; “Thanks so much for caring about our safety. We are very sad we cannot visit our friends in your village anymore. Still, we thank you for trying to protect us and your village. Please receive this small and insignificant gift from our hands. We pray that God would bless you and keep you.”

We decided on rose bushes because they are simply beautiful. The village would rather I dig a well or build a clinic, but that’s not going to happen. The point is just to bless. To do something kind. And rose bushes? They bear no fruit, nothing to fight over, just something beautiful. We are learning how to walk with our God here in this place and to invite our neighbors, co-workers and friends to join with us on that journey. I know rose bushes really are just a small thing, but I’ll bet God is delighted with the gift and the discussions that went into choosing it. And of course, only He knows what tiny seed it will plant in the hearts of the village men who argued so vehemently against us. Even rose bushes for His glory.

by a Pioneer in East Asia

When we arrived in our city, we knew of one small house church. By God’s grace working primarily through the ministries of national believers, there are now several house churches. Estimates of the attendance at a recent combined party were between 300 and 400 nationals! Many of these were not yet believers.

We praise the Lord for bringing the leaders of these local groups together to seek His will and wisdom. They have been meeting once a month to worship, pray and share ideas and needs. This is a tremendous praise that the Lord is helping them be aware of their need for one another in encouraging, supporting and growing His church in this city, and hopefully beyond.

Please pray for continuing unity and the Lord’s leading in how to carry out His will for the local church.

by a Pioneer in the Middle East

“They were training me to blow myself up…with promise of 70 virgins.”

“So they really did promise you that?” I replied to Harvey as we talked in the coffee shop a few blocks from my house. This training occurred more than 20 years ago while he was a youth and his country went through a civil war. Harvey progressively distanced himself from his religion as he saw its reality among those seeking to be most faithful to its origins. He married a woman from a Christian background, and more recently began watching Father Z—an Egyptian Coptic priest on a satellite channel—attack the religion by merely quoting its sources and scholars. Harvey cried out to God to show him the truth, and after seeing Jesus in a dream, began to follow him one year ago. Friends in the U.S. put me in contact with him.

Apart from his wife, I was the first ‘live’ believer he had talked to about his faith. What a privilege to hear his story, confirm the gospel with him, and begin to answer his questions!

Praise the Lord with us that terrorists are not beyond his reach! Pray for Harvey’s growth, fellowship and discipleship. Ask also for wisdom in his work environment and the protection of his children.

by a Pioneer in India

Most of the time, my wife and I see only the struggling, sometimes tedious face of service to others as we set out to demonstrate God’s love in India, but sometimes the bright, spontaneous, joyful face of evangelism pops up. As we visit homes, hike the hills, help widows, give medicine, and pray for people, little kids hang around our campsite to play with, talk to, and stare at our team. Just like the kids of the Bible that the disciples wanted to get rid of, and of whom Jesus said, “Don’t tell them to go away,” we’ve also “put up with” our share over the years. Out of that noisy group three young men came to Christ a year ago. But they did not just show up one day. They have been sitting by our campfire for years.

These three are different now. When we meet, they come smiling and laughing, shaking our hands or giving hugs. At our camp they are a part of our group, they talk, learn to play guitar, sing songs, and are often seen studying or praying. In addition to that, the other kids are now tagging along, want Bibles themselves, and want to be “just like Rakesh, Vimal and Pankaj.”

Most of our intentional “walk-about” time is spent in conversation with parents or grandparents, but each visit is inevitably surrounded by a similar throng of children and teens paying careful attention. Ministry with older folks is slow, but not fruitless. HariKor is an illiterate 80-year-old widow who’s been a friend for years. She doesn’t get along with the neighbors, which seems to be the norm for everyone there. HariKor acknowledges Jesus, but she cannot read and I am unsure what she understands. Going to her house can be a long, hard walk up the mountain. We bring some vegetables, sit and talk, pray and encourage her, and all the while a handful of kids sit around her steps watching and listening. We try to speak clearly so they can hear and understand, too. There are always two audiences in the village.

BisunDutt was another example. A friend for ten years, the last few of which he said he prayed to no one else but Jesus, all the while dying of some disease. He was over 80 and enjoyed arguing and laughing. His neighbors were his own two brothers, but no one plays favorites in the village so no one gets along! His nephew Pankaj is one of the new Christians. While we cared for BisunDutt, Pankaj was watching and listening.

Birendra is not so old. Maybe only 50. He, too, claims to pray only to Jesus, but will not tell anyone because he has to work there and he has the same neighbors to not get along with! He has been miserable lately because his teenage son’s appendix burst (fortunately) while in Delhi near a hospital. The boy survived, but not without costing lots of money. This week Birendra’s mother died, and he called to say with misery in his voice, not sorrow, “Hundreds of people are coming; they want tea…and food…there’s big problems.”

For Birendra, that means money problems. All may be poor in these villages, but for Birendra money seems his highest concern and priority. If Birendra had surrendered his life to Jesus without reservation a year ago, he might be in a completely different mood today. He and I might be serving cookies and tea side by side at his mother’s wake this week. Instead, some hopeless uncertainly of Hindu gloom still haunts his home. Birendra is halfway in Jesus and halfway out and that seems worse than not at all. The concerns of this world seem to choke out any joy available from new life in Jesus. Birendra’s house is also overflowing with children watching and listening as we go.

But what of these three Christian boys? They are of different castes, which means their parents won’t go into each others’ houses, but they get along well and do not seem to see any difference. It’s a breath of fresh air.

by a Pioneer in the Middle East

Yesterday I had a great visit with a family living far out in the desert. Do you ever wonder what I mean by a “great” visit? In this culture where the people are overwhelmingly kind and hospitable, it would almost be impossible to have a “bad” visit. Every time I go into someone’s home or tent they immediately serve coffee and tea. Women make fresh coffee first thing in the morning and keep it hot all day just in case a guest may stop by. Almost always the hostess will try to serve food as well, but I try not to let them do this too much because the people are very poor. However, I am not always successful. One time a family saw us coming and had caught and killed a goat before we even had a chance to sit down! When that happens, you have no choice but to stay to eat with them and accept their blessing. So, all visits are full of tea, smiles and fun conversations, but to me, a “great” visit is when I have a real chance to talk with my hosts about God’s love for them.

One elderly man in the family I visited is sick. He wonders now more than ever about what will happen after death. We talked freely about it and I was able to share with him that it is never too late to get into a right relationship with God. I could tell that he took these words to heart. Another sister living there recognized the name of Jesus Christ when I said it. She said, “I know him, I used to listen to stories about Jesus Christ on the radio.”

I asked her why she stopped and she said the batteries in her radio had died and she didn’t have money to buy new ones. I just so happened to have extras of the same size battery in the car with me that I then gave to her. She was thrilled for the gift, but even more excited to have someone to tell her more about Jesus Christ.

How is it that this family, living completely in the middle of nowhere, has hearts that are so prepared and ready to hear long before I ever came to tell them? It’s just another example of how it is God doing all the work here, opening doors and making the way for people to come into his kingdom.

by a Pioneer in Southeast Asia

I headed out to the Boat People quarter with little to work with. With 50 kids close behind, I managed to make it to almost every house in the area. “Hello, my name is Andrew. I want to learn your language.” “Salamwalakum. Moi nam Andrew. Bal hota shikdaday mona hore.” I repeated the phrase countless times to anyone who would listen. No surprise, most everyone was happy to hear me speak their language. The excitement of the children was mesmerizing as they repeated everything I said.

I entered one home, that of Adam, with his son, Moe, and daughter, Dee. The feeling was an unusually peaceful welcome. They spoke broken English but were happy to have me in and invited me back the next day. Thus it began, every day I would visit the family. Moe and I would work on language while Dee sat by sewing and Adam listened with cigarette in hand, sitting in the doorway out to the porch. This family has accepted me and is becoming more and more like a family to me here.

One day while working on language Dee asked me what the word “Amen” means. I was somewhat put back as she scurried to the back room and emerged with a Bible in hand! “This book is very good! Christians are very good!” Dee said with excitement. As I sat in awe I could not help but think, “Seriously God? The one house you put me in for language learning is the one where they are reading the Bible!”

God is working here in some amazing ways. This is just a small glimpse of what God is doing among these people.

by a Pioneer in Asia

We climbed the hill toward the thangka house—well, not a hill really—more like a slight incline. But at 12,000 feet above sea level, a slight incline is enough to make me pause to catch my breath. Thankful for my wool sweater, I unfolded the turtleneck and raised it up above my nose to warm the freezing air before it entered my lungs.

Two elderly Tibetan women were walking our route, swinging their prayer wheels and chanting, “…om mani padme hum…” Poor women! Subzero temperatures and a slight incline were the least of their worries. Elderly Tibetan people are in a race against time to accrue positive merit before they die. Satan’s lie says that freedom from suffering can be achieved through chanting mantras and making pilgrimages. If your good karma outweighs the bad, you will reach nirvana and escape the wheel of suffering and rebirth.

Ahead of us, a Tibetan man was making prostrations: Clap, clap, clap! Lie down. Stand up. Two steps. Clap, clap, clap! And on and on… Poor man! He doesn’t know he’s on the wide road to destruction and his works have no merit in heaven. He’s never heard of the Spotless Lamb. He doesn’t know he could be forgiven. Come, Lord Jesus!

Ask God to transform the hearts of the world’s 1 million Tibetans, drawing them to Himself.

by a Pioneer in Southeast Asia

Come with me into a village where our organization built and now operates a new Christian school. Can you see those children perched on that roughly hewn wooden porch? Notice they don’t have any toys. Now let’s move closer. It’s wet season, so be careful. You’ll need to take off your shoes and slog through the mud. With every step, your toes squish in garbage and human waste that’s been dropped into the muck. Go ahead, climb onto that porch, muddy feet and all. Sit with them, if you can stand the stench. It’ll take a minute for them to get over their fear of you. Don’t mind the flies, even the ones crawling on their lips and eyelashes.

Tell me, what do you see in their eyes? Most of these children are doing just fine. They’re content. Feel free to ask about their dreams, but don’t be surprised at the confused expressions on their faces. It has never crossed most of their minds that they might want to escape this place or somehow make it healthier, cleaner, prettier, or safer. This is like their day at the office. It is their daily grind. You might wonder, Why don’t they at least clear away some of the garbage under their feet? They don’t even seem to see it! They have no idea how deeply they are embedded in poverty. They feel at home in a condition that we consider sub-human.

How can two people look in the same direction and see such different realities? The dissonance is so awkward. I sometimes even feel a twinge of guilt. I am no smarter than them, and I am certainly not better!

Ah, but there are differences between us:

I have walked through Butchart Gardens in Victoria, British Columbia. I’ve driven a car through the Canadian Rockies in July. I’ve gone to the fridge for a glass of clean, pure water. I’ve rushed my children to the hospital when they were mysteriously ill. I’ve slept in a bed. I’ve experienced what it feels like for God to set me free from the inside out. I’ve seen God breathe new life into my marriage when my wife and I were struggling and feeling hopeless. These memories remain in me, and they are a part of my consciousness. In this place, they rise within me, stirring me with hope. Images of God’s grace are rooted within my imagination, and in yours.

As children, imagination caused fear of monsters in our closets. Even now, we sometimes hear imaginary thieves creeping in our houses at night. We easily conjure up enemies at the office and misread the motives of others. Yes, our imaginations can be dangerous. So why has God designed us with this ability to see what is not really there? Does imagination play a role in responding to the lot we find ourselves in? Does an activated imagination affect whether we rise up and break through our muddy conditions of slavery and paralysis?

Listen to the Spirit of God hovering over these filthy children. He’s whispering, “I will make rivers flow on barren heights, and springs within the valleys. I will turn the desert into pools of water, and the parched ground into springs. I will put into the desert the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the olive. I will set pines in the wasteland, the fir and the cypress together, so that people may see and know, may consider and understand, that the hand of the Lord has done this, that the Holy One of Israel has created it.” (Isaiah 41:18-20)

Now, open your eyes once again to the scene before you. Smell the rancid garbage in the mud. In this sublime moment, cedars and acacia, olives and pines rise in defiant revolt against the wasteland. This dissonance between our ideals and our present reality sparks the creative process and moves God’s warriors of faith into action.

What might happen if you dared to imagine problems solved, the poor served, beggar children rescued, and neighbors being loved into the kingdom of God? When I dare to meditate on these things, I rarely sleep well, and neither will you. But be assured. A bold imagination accelerates our creativity, and launches static faith into motion.

Story'10 is a multigenerational missions conference inviting you to be a part of God's story. Meet missionaries straight from the field and hear first-hand accounts of what God is doing among the least reached peoples on earth. Learn about God's movement in Scripture, His activity in the world today, His glory in your life and throughout the earth, and how to make your move to be a part of it.

For more info about Story'10 go to pioneers.org/story

by a Pioneer in Asia

The week following our arrival to the mission field I felt I needed to visit Glenda. There were still many things at home to do but the Lord seemed to repeatedly bring this visit to mind.

When I arrived at Glenda's apartment everyone was still in bed. Despite thinking I had poorly planned my hour of arrival, I was invited in. Glenda 's daughter Ellen was there also, and she quickly stowed her bedding away, preparing to serve breakfast as quickly as possible. As we caught up on current life happenings I was able to share how God had worked in my life recently. I was able to pray for them after this moment of precious intimacy, thinking a brief moment of prayer would be enough to hold Ellen’s attention. But to my great surprise, Ellen wanted more prayer. I had already prayed for her two most desired requests, a new job and a respectable husband. Not knowing what else she was desiring prayer for, I almost dismissed her request, but the Lord said, "Tell her about Me and then pray with her."

Even after multiple interruptions, Ellen continued to ask for more prayer on her behalf. So I opened my Bible to John 1:1-14 for Ellen to read, and then I prayed. I followed by asking Ellen if she wanted to invite Jesus into her life and believe upon His name and acknowledge her need for forgiveness. We started praying together and even after I stopped speaking, she continued on.

Help Pioneers publicize the needs of unreached peoples around the world. Enter our T-shirt design contest and use your design prowess to advance God's Kingdom among the unreached. See all current entries on our Facebook page!

Guidelines

1. Make the case for engagement with the unreached in a creative way.
2. Subtly incorporate our logo--but not too big. This isn’t about Pioneers; it’s about the glory of God among the unreached. Click here to download our logo.
3. Create a t-shirt friendly design.
4. Tweet your design or post on the Pioneers Facebook page—we’ll contact the winner for a high-resolution version.
5. Have fun!

Prizes

1st Place
• T-shirt with your design
• A package of authentic and rare Kopi Luwak coffee from Indonesia. (click here for more information)
• A copy of When God Comes Calling

2nd Place
• T-shirt with winning design
• A copy of When God Comes Calling

3rd Place
• T-shirt with winning design

Deadline

All entries must be submitted by August 15, 2010.

Disclaimer

1. For copyright reasons, please use only original or royalty-free art.
2. Winning entries belong to Pioneers for reproduction and use on Pioneers materials.
3. Pioneers reserves the right to adapt winning entries.

by a Pioneer in Chad

We often get asked if we are afraid to live in Chad.

Our dog, Ruby, is afraid of the vacuum cleaner. On this occasion, she hid in the corner with her tail between her legs and very concerned eyes.

As a test, I set out pieces of her kibble in a line, starting from further out, then placing the final piece just inches from her nose. My hope was that as she reached for first piece, she would find her desire for food much greater than her fear of the vacuum noise.

I was wrong.

Sometimes we focus on the things we are afraid of—the vacuum. Other times we focus on what it is that's 'out there' if we didn't listen to fear—the kibble, so to speak. If the kibble is worth facing the vacuum, well, it must be some pretty good kibble.

Does that answer the question about our fears living in Chad?

Pray for the people of Chad and for people to overcome fear because God is wholly worth it.

by a Pioneer in North Africa

Recently construction workers have been working to dismantle our neighbors’ living space. At its peak, 1,200 families lived here, “on the other side of the tracks.” The government plan is to send the inhabitants to low cost housing projects in other parts of the city. In approximately six city blocks there was a primary school, a mosque with a very loud loudspeaker (which continues to awaken me at the dawn call to prayer), and a communal shower, but no bathroom facilities. Sewage runs down the streets. There were two centrally located water faucets where families drew water for laundry or to carry home for drinking and cooking. More than one-third of this city (of millions) lives in such shantytowns.

Pray for these families to seek after Christ as their lives are uprooted.

by a Pioneer in South Asia

07.12.10 | God has heard your prayers. For about the last year, Mr. Handsome has been telling his wife the stories from the Bible. She heard the story of God using Moses to rescue His people from Egypt, and thought, That’s great, I wish I had powers like the ones God gave Moses. The story that affected her the most was when God sent His Son, Jesus to die in our place. She was amazed that as Jesus was dying on the cross, He said, “Lord, forgive them, they don’t know what they are doing.”

About two months ago, their baby got really sick. They took her to the hospital, but nothing the doctors could do helped. Then Mrs. Handsome asked her husband, “Can we ask God to heal our baby?”

“Of course we can!” he answered.

They prayed and God healed their baby the next day! So as a sign of her decision to give her life to God, Mr. Handsome baptized his wife in the ocean. Mr. and Mrs. Handsome would like to thank you all very much for your prayers to God for them.

by a Pioneer in India

“William! Will you come up to the front?” said Mr. Kanchan as I was making a speedy exit out the back door. As I walked up to the podium the club president continued, “William is our newest member and has come here from America to take part in our culture.” My face was beginning to redden as hundreds of heads turned to look in my direction. “Please welcome him into our community.” I put my hands together in the gesture common when receiving honor and smiled back at the crowd.

I was at the annual meeting of the Indian Cultural Society when the new president is named and the new year’s festivities are begun. As a chartered accountant and owner of a large gift shop, Mr. Kanchan is one of the pillars of this city’s society. A year ago, I walked into his gift shop and started making casual conversation with him. Several weeks later I met Mr. Punit who happened to be a member of the Indian Cultural Society and he took me to Mr. Kanchan’s house. Since that time, I’ve experienced a wealth of this city’s culture and seen how Indians honor one another. Now even the Indian Cultural Society is honoring me!

Pray that as I continue to remain involved in the club, I would be used of God to speak of Jesus’ love for the Indian people and their culture.

by a Pioneer in East Asia

07.09.10 | Last night our living room was packed with twelve Asian students that attend a local underground seminary. It was a privilege to worship with these students and to study the Word with them. They come from all over the country and are looking forward to entering some sort of ministry when they graduate. One of them mentioned that he would like to work as a missionary to Muslims!

Partnering with this seminary was one of the initial reasons we were interested in moving to this city. We are thrilled that we can be a part of ministering to and training these students.

Please pray that the Lord will give us wisdom in our teaching and the language needed to communicate clearly.

by a Pioneer in the Middle East

I had climbed into the back seat of the car just before 6 am. I was expecting a quiet hour and a half drive out to a neighboring city. Then, I was expecting to wait for a plane to land. I had brought my MP3 player, a book that I was reading and some bread. My driver was a man from the neighborhood, someone I’ve known since I first came. I have visited their home and shared a great many things. Still, I expected a quiet drive.

About 20 minutes into the drive, the man looked into his rearview mirror and surprised me. He said, “For example, if a man, a Middle Eastern man, for example…wanted to become a follower of Jesus, for example, if such a man wanted to do something like that, what would he have to do?”

I took a deep breath, breathed a prayer and responded. Our conversation wasn’t long. I kept my words clear and my sentences brief. When I was finished, I returned to gazing out across the morning fields. We slowed down for a military checkpoint and I ignored the soldiers with their automatic weapons. We drove on for some 10 more minutes in complete silence. Then he explained to me that if a man, for example, a Middle Eastern man, decided to become a follower, people would kill him. He explained this to me very patiently as though it was something I would not have otherwise known. I listened and when he finished I said, “Yes, I understand that that’s true.” I didn’t say anything else and we continued in silence.

By the time we had approached the third checkpoint, he had broached his own third subject: “If a man, for example, a Middle Eastern man became a follower, and people came to kill him, would he be able to get out of the country?” (Several years ago there had been a man who had in fact been threatened with death. The rumor here is that the Italians gave him sanctuary. I don’t know if that’s true, but it’s the rumor.) I told the driver that I had no idea whether or not such a man would be able to get out of country, but that I wouldn’t count on it. He nodded and we returned to silence.

A little while later, I received a phone call that told me that my guests would not be landing at the airport and that, therefore, there was no reason for me to be on that road. We turned the vehicle around and headed back to my city. On the way, I interrupted my driver’s thoughts to explain that it’s one thing to become a follower and another to follow. He asked me to explain that further and so I did, again keeping my words clear and my sentences brief. In the process, I had mentioned a Book. He asked me if I had such a Book. I said that I did, but only one copy and that I read it. That left him again in silence. He seemed to consider my words for some time. At one point he said, “It’s helping you learn the language, isn’t it?”

“Yes. I already know what it says so when I read it, there’s a pretty good chance I’m going to understand the words.”

After a while, he looked in the rearview mirror and asked me, “Could you photocopy it?” I considered that a pretty good idea but imagined myself carrying my very illegal local language Book down to a photocopy store in the center of town. I didn’t think I could get away with any such thing. The truth was, I was hedging. I didn’t know if his request was legitimate or if this was meant to be a trap. This particular man was at one time a police officer. So I was hedging.

Finally, I said, “You know, it’s available on the Internet. It’s not at all hard to find.”

“In my language?”

“Yes, in your language.”

After another pause he said, “I don’t know how to use the Internet.” Of course, I knew that was true. I allowed the silence to fill the car for a couple more minutes and then told him that if he wanted, I could find it on the Internet and print a small part of it. He immediately agreed.

The next day, I printed the book of Matthew, slid it into an envelope and waited for an opportunity. I had meant to go out with him several more times to get visitors from the airport, but the planes didn’t fly the way they were supposed to and instead I had to drive to an entirely to a different city with a different driver. So the envelope with the printed pages waited for almost a week. Finally, when my last two visitors were ready to head out to the airport, I gave them the envelope and asked them to leave it in the man’s vehicle. Personally, I was sad not to give it to him myself. I could have, of course, but this seemed so much wiser. My guests did exactly as I asked and now, the neighbor man has the Book, or at least part of it.

In a few weeks, I will go back and see his family. Then, perhaps we’ll have something to talk about.

What's a day like for just one of Hindu's countless gods? This unique, four-minute glimpse will give you a greater heart for India's more than 2,000 unreached people groups.

by Jason LaBombard, a Pioneer headed to Southeast Asia

The worship of our Lord is being stolen. Across Southeast Asia, usurpers have taken His rightful praise. Tens of millions are blind. Hundreds of millions are chained.

They are dead.

From hi-tech cities, where every imaginable sin is cultivated, to backwater villages, where shreds of ancient ways hold on hopelessly; a scene becomes familiar. It is humanity bowing down at idols made of wood, steel and stone—adorned with cheap, gold paint.

Praises that should ring out to the Savior are instead the toll of bells in holy places where artifacts of dead men are venerated. Offerings and acts of merit spill forth to achieve peaceful oblivion, and the idols stand by in dreadful silence.

The Lord has little glory given Him in Southeast Asia.

What will you do?

by a Pioneer in Asia

Like all believers, Jin was rescued from great darkness. However, we might say that Jin was saved from a greater darkness than what we often face in our comfortable lives. She narrowly escaped being employed in a brothel in Asia. Poverty drove her to the city to find work, and the job she found turned out to be not in foot massage, but in the sex trade. Before she was forced to work as a prostitute, Jin met Auntie Wang, a housemother for Beyond Brothels.

Beyond Brothels started when Amanda, a Pioneer in Asia, felt called to serve the many women trapped in the sex trade. Lacking any other source of income, these women work in brothels called “pink light shops”—named from the neon pink lights advertising their services. Prostitution is illegal in this country, but the practice is rampant throughout all levels of society, “from the hole-in-the-wall pink light shops and hair salons to the expected business perk and ‘second wives’ of the high class,” says Amanda. Beyond Brothels offers these women an alternative—to make and sell jewelry for a living while being ministered to in Christian love.

Women like Auntie Wang who work with Beyond Brothels regularly prayer walk through the city, and it was on one of those prayer walks that she met Jin and offered her employment at Beyond Brothels. Relieved to escape her environment, Jin has since come to faith in Christ. Karen, another Pioneer, says, “Listening to her pray, I was moved by her honest faith. We are so thankful for her presence with us and the insight she can bring to us as we reach out to women caught in prostitution.”

For Jin, salvation came in a clear and visible way and was very welcome. However, she realizes that many women will not as quickly come to Christ. “You are not going to reach these women through a series of casual encounters,” she told Karen. “You have to go deep, you have to know them and love them because they will not trust easily. They are in it for the money, and they will not come out easily.” Pray for women who are in the sex trade and do not want or see no hope of escape.

by a Pioneer in Hungary

“He determined their boundaries. His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward Him and find Him” (Acts 17:26-27).

What an amazing truth to consider! God has thoughtfully placed each individual in each nation in a place where they could encounter Him. Hugi, a member of our evangelistic puppet team, testifies to this. Years ago she suffered a stroke that left her with limited use of her right hand. After years of suffering through a drastically changed life and being forced to move from Budapest to our small town of Petöfibánya with her husband Gábor, she took interest in one of our local English classes. She began attending our Bible studies, and in 2007 was saved and baptized.

Now Hugi often says that without her struggles, she would not have been in the right place geographically or spiritually to understand her need for Jesus Christ. By God’s amazing grace, Hugi, with her limited physical ability, is still able to share the gospel every Christmas and Easter to over 1,000 kids in public schools on our evangelistic puppet team. We estimate that our team can deliver the gospel 16 times to children as they progress from preschool to high school. After each show, we distribute a Christian family magazine and a CD full of creative expressions of the gospel message. By God’s grace, many of these seeds may take root and help establish the next generation in their faith in Christ.

We often find Hugi in tears when we pray together, saying, “Lord, thank you for allowing me to serve you in this way.” Praise God for opening doors to sow seeds in the next generation of Hungarians, and for using the most unexpected people as workers in the Harvest.

by a Pioneer in Poland

One morning our children decided to scramble eggs for us. Our son turned on the wrong burner on our electric stove top, consequently melting part of the cord to my wife's slow cooker. Such an appliance is not sold in our country, so we had to either throw it away or see if it could be repaired.

My wife and I went to an old building just outside the town center where there is a small repair shop on the second floor. As we watched the handyman take the slow cooker apart, he engaged us in conversation and became very excited to learn that we were a missionaries. He had left the Catholic church a while ago, attended a Jehovah’s Witness congregation for some time and was still left with many questions about the faith. We talked for a while and then invited him to our home the next evening. When he came, we sat and talked for a few hours. Since we were unable to answer all of his questions, he invited me to his home the next night.

Since then, I have met with him a couple of times, engaging in his favorite activities and sharing my own with him. Now that we have established a relationship with each other, I have invited him to come to our church and hear my preaching.

Please pray that he will come, and that his openness will lead him to faith in Christ. And praise God for the frustrating moments when appliances break but lives are restored.

by a Pioneer in Peru

Originally from the mountains of Peru, Jacob felt at home in our village. When he was a young man, he joined the Shining Path terrorist group that went into Quechua villages killing people, stealing their things and violating the women. Jacob eventually accepted the Lord as his Savior and became a podiatrist, using this skill to serve the Lord in the jungle. While he was in our village he asked one of the older men if there had been much terrorist activity there, to which the older man replied yes. Then Jacob took the time to apologize to the man for the wrongdoings of the Shining Path. There are very few people, if any, who ever come back to apologize to and reconcile with the Quechua people, so our hearts were really touched to see this! What a testimony to the changing power and love of Christ!

by a Pioneer in the Middle East

Arriving at my friend Kristin’s house, I found the door was shut, the house empty. The following morning as I was walking to school, a good 30 minutes from home, I ran into Kristen and her son. He was at a medical laboratory getting his blood drawn. His skin was pasty, his eyes sunken in and his joints swollen and shaky. I told her when I’d be home and that if she brought her son, Brad, we would pray for him.

Around 5:00 pm, she and Brad came. Within five minutes of sitting in our living room, she said, “We came because you said that you would pray.” We were stunned to silence, excited and nervous. We explained what the Bible says about God, how He loves us and desires to heal us, and that he is able to use a doctor, medicine or the miraculous. My husband, Luis, put his arm around Brad and both he and his mom started to cry.

Three days later, he was healed! He went to the doctor, and the doctor said that he didn't know what had happened, but that he was no longer sick. Brad’s color is normal, his skin is normal and he is gaining weight.

Luis continues to meet with him. Brad said that he felt something go through him when my husband laid hands on him and he gives credit to that moment as the point at which he was healed. In fact when he told us, he called about four times in a row, insisting that they meet. So, they met. They sat, had coffee and visited. Luis offered again to lift up his work situation and he was more than willing, responding, "The last answer was within three days." So, we are waiting to see how our Father will draw Brad to himself.

We are hoping God will use this experience as a witness to his family.

Pioneers mobilizes teams to glorify God among unreached peoples by initiating church-planting movements in partnership with local churches.

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by a Pioneer in South Asia

Aisha is a young believing woman in her 20s with a son in grade school. She is very unique in that she was raised in a family in which both parents are believers. She herself is literate and has had a keen interest in learning the Word. One of our teammates has spent time discipling her.

Unfortunately she is married to an unbelieving man who at earlier times in their marriage threatened to kill her during his fits of rage (not necessarily because of her faith). She persevered and her husband has since become less hostile and has even secretly read her copy of the Scriptures. She and her husband have been living with his family (as most people do here), but soon will have to find a new place because one brother deceitfully had the land put in his name and is forcing the family out.

Please pray for Aisha. Due to finances and pressures from her in-laws she faces many hardships. Pray for her to learn of the Lord and for her husband to receive Isa as his Savior.

by a Pioneer in Southeast Asia

What would you say if you met a terrorist?

Would you rebuke him and tell him to stop his evil deeds!? Would you defend American foreign policy and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? Would you share the Four Spiritual Laws with him?

Have you ever thought about it?

Actually, I’ve thought about it for years, because I figured one day I’d meet one. Little did I know that he’d be among the most renown and feared terrorists in my host country today. Wanted by the governments of several countries, this man was temporarily imprisoned but later set free due to “insufficient evidence.” Now he is free to continue his preaching and teaching, running an Islamic boarding school with thousands of students here.

I was coming back from a recent trip and there he was on my flight, sitting right on the aisle with a bodyguard on his left. I recognized him from the TV news and asked him if he was who I thought he was. He extended his hand. “Yes, I am,” he said, “and who are you?” The next thing I knew I was shaking the hand of a terrorist and telling him I was “an American who loves Muslims.” The force of the others wanting to board the plane urged me forward so I had to go and find my seat. I sat down shocked and amazed. Had that just happened?! At least I figured I was safe from terrorist attack on this flight!

I found him again at the baggage claim. Several Muslim men came up to him to shake hands and say “peace be upon you,” but fortunately for me, none of them were brave enough to stand and actually talk to this revered man. Thus I had opportunity to keep talking for at least five minutes while we awaited our baggage. It was just like talking to any of the thousands of other Muslims I’ve talked to in this country, but it was surreal in that this man is considered a terrorist. Was he? Is he? The thought kept running through my head as I asked about his school, his travels and his life.

I praise God for this incredible opportunity to witness to a renown Muslim scholar and alleged terrorist. No, I did not share a gospel presentation (like the Four Laws), but I did clearly tell him that I’ve read his holy book twice and yet remain a committed follower of Jesus. And I told him that I don’t know about all the political-military issues of this world today, but I do know that “he who lives by the sword will die by the sword.” (His bodyguard didn’t like that part very much!) And I told him that though I was American, I love Muslims—something I was also hoping was demonstrated by talking to him kindly and peacefully, though he should be considered my enemy (Matthew 5:15). He ended up inviting me to come teach English at his school!

Did God himself arrange that I met this man that day? Or did the devil intend it so that this terrorist could find out about us? We’ll probably never know the answers to these questions, but we do know that God loves the world (John 3:16)—and that includes this man.

Would you pray for this man now…and pray against any terror activities he may be involved in? Use 1 Timothy 2:1-6 as a guide.

by a Pioneer in India

05.28.10 | Praise the Lord with us for my wife’s new language helper, Suzy. Suzy lives here in "the hood" and has a firm grasp on English as well as the language we’re learning. Though Suzy appears to be very western with few religious interests she was horrified to hear of my wife’s boat ride on the local river while pregnant. Her belief, along with others here in the "hood" is that the curses thrown into the river affect not only the person being cursed, but also any unnamed person who traverses the river, such as an unnamed, unborn child. Suzy went onto explain that many Muslims go to their spiritual leaders if they want to curse someone. The religious leaders give them a written curse. The curses are carried around for some time and then thrown into the river. Suzy was concerned for the protection of our baby. She also encouraged my wife to wear an amulet during her pregnancy in order to avert "the evil eye." What a joy it was for my wife to tell Suzy of Christ's victory over all evil spirits and powers. Pray with us for protection for our child not only physically but also spiritually in this dark city. We are thankful that we need not live in fear.

by a Pioneer in India

05.28.10 | Praise the Lord with us for my wife’s new language helper, Suzy. Suzy lives here in "the hood" and has a firm grasp on English as well as the language we’re learning. Though Suzy appears to be very western with few religious interests she was horrified to hear of my wife’s boat ride on the local river while pregnant. Her belief, along with others here in the "hood" is that the curses thrown into the river affect not only the person being cursed, but also any unnamed person who traverses the river, such as an unnamed, unborn child. Suzy went onto explain that many Muslims go to their spiritual leaders if they want to curse someone. The religious leaders give them a written curse. The curses are carried around for some time and then thrown into the river. Suzy was concerned for the protection of our baby. She also encouraged my wife to wear an amulet during her pregnancy in order to avert "the evil eye." What a joy it was for my wife to tell Suzy of Christ's victory over all evil spirits and powers. Pray with us for protection for our child not only physically but also spiritually in this dark city. We are thankful that we need not live in fear.

by Pioneers in Kosovo

We are celebrating an anniversary. Fifteen years ago we landed on an airstrip in Albania, wide-eyed and knowing only a few words of the language. Our teammate met us at the airport. After showing us around the capital for a couple days, he drove us five hours up the snowy mountain road to the town that became our home for the next six years. I remember being surprised at hardly passing another vehicle along the way. In those days, there were only a few thousand cars in all of Albania.

Once in our town, we soon felt the isolation. The only communication with the outside world was the central switchboard at the post office, a cold noisy room, packed with people waiting impatiently to push a piece of paper to the lady behind the desk. She would dial the number scrawled on it, and if it connected, would patch it to another phone. On a sunny day, when the lines were dry, you could usually hear the person on the other end, just above the buzz on the line. So you yelled into the phone and strained an ear as the whole room stared and listened in, everyone waiting for the moment when the line would abruptly cut off.

That was 15 years ago. This morning I was reading in Mark where Jesus told a man, “Go home to your people and report to them what great things the Lord has done for you and how he head mercy on you” (Mark 5:19). It got me thinking about all of the great things God has done for us over the past 15 years.

• God helped us learn a difficult new language, enabling us to minister to Albanians in their heart language. There were so many days when I thought I would never get it.
• God kept our family strong, helping us raise kids in a foreign culture with lots of social and educational challenges. He provided great teammates and Albanian friends along the way.
• God kept us safe through wars and civil unrest. He protected us in the midst of threats, attacks, slit tires and broken windows.
• God provided for our financial needs for 15 years through faithful partners and supporters.
• God used us to help plant a church in Albania and start a second church in Kosovo. He raised up thoughtful Albanian believers who are serving throughout Albania and Kosovo.

God truly has done great things for us and had mercy on us!

by a Pioneer in Mongolia

A few years ago two Mongolian brothers came to believe in Jesus. They grew up in a home that was anything but peaceful. As they established their own homes, they naturally lived out the conflict they witnessed growing up.

These two brothers are vegetable farmers. They have some land that is fenced in that provides their livelihood. Over the past few years they have had an ongoing conflict with some local herders. Animals have gotten in and eaten vegetables, wrecked fences, ruined greenhouses and caused a fair amount of damage. As a result, a lot of built up frustration would often come out while confronting the herders. Needless to say, the relationship was not peaceful.

This past fall, the words of Jesus in Matthew calling us to be peacemakers made an impact on these two men. They realized their need to choose to live in peace with their neighbors. They quickly had opportunity to put this into practice. Some animals broke in, and after a period of time the herder came prepared for battle to claim his livestock. Past experience caused him to expect intense conflict. Instead he was greeted. He was asked kindly to take his animals and in the future to keep them away. The herder was astonished and didn’t know what to say.

In a culture where at a deeper level there is a great deal of unfortunate conflict, those surrendered to Jesus are changing, and it is causing others to look on. Peace is important to Mongolians. They all want to experience it, but unfortunately it is not often a reality. May more come to allow the peace of Jesus to rule in their lives.

by a Pioneer in Thailand

05.19.10 | "Bangkok Dangerous" ... "Live Fire area stay indoors" ... "U.S. Embassy is evacuating citizens"

These are some of the headlines we've been reading these last few days. As we keep up with the news via the internet and twitter, it is completely heart wrenching to see Thais killing Thais. For more than 40 days now, Bangkok has been in a political deadlock between the Red Shirt anti-government protesters and the government—complicated by some "terrorists" instigating violence and mayhem. The situation is extremely complex, and the facts are sometimes difficult to sift through often depending on the news source. However, the fact is that there has been burning, shooting and bombing on the streets of downtown Bangkok with the death count at more than 40 dead and 360+ injured.

Today, most (though not all) of the protest leaders surrendered to the military calling off the protests, but the protestors angrily refused to stop. Then protestors proceeded to set fires at major sites across the city. If an official call to end the protests by the main leaders does not end the violence, what will?

Almost all of the danger is in the very center of the city, of which we are far from. Some of my students have had close calls. One student, Dan, told me last night that he had to evacuate a bus because of a bomb that had just gone off not too far behind them.

As it is with tears that we write this update to you, it just reminds us of how the Lord's heart aches for all the Thais here. We ache and we mourn with the lives that have been taken. Yet with all this increasing mayhem, we are not shaken and continue to cry out to the Lord who loves and has loved the Thais all along. Please pray with us.

He is good...All the time...All glory to Jesus.

by a Pioneers writer

Workers in East Asia may soon have a way to find renewal and rejuvenation when they need a break from the stresses of work in a cross-cultural environment. One Pioneer hopes to bring them out into the wilderness—the same environment, he believes, where the biblical prophets and Christ found solitude for rest and healing. He will be focusing specifically on kids, who are often hit hard by cross-cultural life. He has already begun taking third culture kids on overnight trips in the mountains surrounding his city. This year, he hopes to begin ramping up the program to eventually include a three-week backpacking trip in Southern China for teens.

This worker needs assistance. Pray that God would raise up workers with a similar vision to help him with this program, and also that God would move supporters to contribute the rest of the gear he needs to make the program a reality.

by Jason LaBombard, a Pioneer headed to Southeast Asia

Rhythmic drums filled the soundscape of the distance. My adrenaline amped up ever so slightly. Hunger faded, but not the heat.

Entering a walled area with humble boldness, we slipped into what, unbeknownst to us at the time, was a Buddhist monastic compound. Acrobats and musicians entertained young monks-in-training. The scene was surreal.

Though we tried to be discreet, we caught the attention of an adult monk. He did not ask us to leave. Instead, with a nod of his head and a knowing look, he gave me permission to take his photograph.

He was interested in the photo, but more so in my camera.

Soon, my not-so-inexpensive camera was in the hands of a Buddhist monk, and I was the one being photographed.

This exchange continued for some time, and continued the following day when we returned to the monastic compound. I would take his photo. He would take mine. A Christian building a bridge to a Buddhist monk, one photo at a time.

My mind races and reels at the possibilities! Oh to be there full-time! Oh to go back tomorrow! Just imagine…

The fields are ripe for harvest.

Pray for this monk—I know him as “Thad.” Pray for me—to continue to hear, “Trust Me. Take a step.” Pray support will come in, that we could return to Southeast Asia full-time.

Shortly before his homegoing in 2003, Pioneers' co-founder Ted Fletcher took one last "ministry scouting" trip to the Middle East, where he was struck by the vast needs and strategic importance of reaching Muslims—in this part of the world and elsewhere. 

“What will it take to reach Saudi Arabia for Christ,” he wrote. “To see Saudi Arabians—and Kurds and Fulani and Sundanese—worshiping around the throne of God someday, bowing not toward a dead god or a merciless prophet, but to the holy and righteous King of kings?”

Today, more than 50 percent of Pioneers serve on church-planting teams among Muslim people groups, and that number will rise to 61 percent with today's announcement that Arab World Ministries U.S. will merge with Pioneers-USA. Together their combined ministry will be at the forefront of reaching Muslims for Christ in the heartland of Islam.

Founded in 1881, Arab World Ministries is an evangelical, international and interdenominational mission with a focus of making disciples and establishing churches among Muslims of the Arab world wherever they reside. More than 400 AWM personnel of 30-plus nationalities serve in North Africa, the Middle East, the Arabian Peninsula and major cities in Europe and North America.

• Click here to read more about the merger

by a Pioneer in Southeast Asia

Arnold, a Southeast Asian believer, went to Ron and Wendy’s home. He commented that their children were really young, but Ron corrected him, “These are our grandkids we are raising now. We’ve had them since they were born.”

Arnold saw that something was troubling Ron so he asked him about it. It turns out Ron had a prostate tumor that caused him to have surgery. The surgery was successful a few months ago, but the tumor had grown back. The doctor told Ron that he would need to have his bladder removed and carry a plastic bag. Ron’s response was, “It is better for me to die than face that humiliation...”

Immediately Arnold saw this as an opportunity to testify for Jesus. He shared about Jesus’ ability to heal sick people and challenged Ron to believe and call out to Him as his Savior and Lord. Ron and Wendy responded in faith. They were baptized in the sea shortly afterwards.

Pray for the Lord to completely heal Ron and cause him to be a witness to others in his family and community. This was Arnold’s first time leading a Muslim to Christ. God had prepared Ron’s heart to believe. We are finding more and more people ready to believe in Jesus but so few of them get to hear about Him. Still, weekly people are coming to the Lord. Ask God for ways to build these new believers into worshiping communities that will shine for Him and His glory.

Help initiate church-planting movements among Muslims in Southeast Asia by giving now to the project behind this ministry.  

• Give now

by a Pioneer in Guinea

Shops, stalls, table stands, and roaming vendors pack Guinea’s open-air markets. Garbage gets piled in walkways, fish juice drips from tables, and distinctly African smells fill the air. During the dry season, a layer of red dust covers everything.

Still, we look forward to going to the market for one reason: connecting with people. The Fulbe people are very friendly. Our flour vendor always asks how our family is doing. Amadou, who sells baskets, spoons and shoes, always gives us good prices and throws gifts into our bag after we’ve purchased several items. Abdul willingly leaves his shop to help me find exactly what we need at a fair price. The rice lady practices Pular with my wife, slowly repeating phrases until she understands. Mama Dian, our landlord, greets us each time we pass his shoe stall and offers us his only chair to rest and chat.

It is not simply friendships we seek, but a hearing for the gospel. These market contacts have opened doors for us to share the gospel with individuals and families.

Pray for God to lead us to the people He has prepared to hear His Word.

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by a Pioneer in Central Asia

By the time truth is known, lies will have destroyed the village.

The significance of this local proverb became apparent recently when the youngest sister of an extended family that we have known since we first moved here was shot and killed at home under mysterious circumstances. In the first few days following this tragedy numerous stories were circulating about the cause of her death. Fingers pointed first one way then another and eventually nowhere at all. Confusion led to police involvement and harassment. It seemed the family might be destroyed in the search for a “truth” that would be least shameful to the group as a whole.

Our western mindset wanted to know the facts and have the real “truth” revealed. We wanted everything clearly spelled out like a case on the show CSI. We wanted to know who was to blame and what the circumstances were. The family did as well, but for very different reasons. They wanted to know where focus needed to be deflected so as to preserve the family’s honor.

Truth is not the highest value here. In this culture, honor reigns supreme. One person’s feelings, rights, or desires matter little in the quest to keep the family name from being shamed. For those of us raised in a culture where telling the truth is of utmost importance, this pursuit of honor can be maddening and bewildering to comprehend. We want to label an action or word “right” or “wrong,” while our neighbors are more concerned about whether an action or word leads to greater honor or shame.

Experiences like these reveal to us how different people’s worldviews really are. Despite years of living here we are still often surprised by their reactions. Recognizing their emotions, and more importantly the values that are driving those emotions are vital if we are to present the person of Christ to them in a way that they might comprehend. Thankfully, the God of the Bible didn’t just offer a way to save us from our wrongdoing; he lifted us from a position of shame to one of honor by making us sons and daughters in His kingdom. He answers our highest value whatever our worldview.

by a Pioneer in Peru

04.30.10 | This weekend some big parties will start here in the valley. Most of the parties begin with the Catholic holiday Virgen de Chapi as people trek to an area where a virgin saint appeared. They believe she will bless them with wealth and many other things if they make the walk to where she had been seen in the rock. People come from all over Peru to our area for this and other rituals. The Catholic Church blesses these things, and then the alcohol comes out. While they are dancing and worshiping the virgin idols, they are getting drunk. The Catholic Church is much different here than in the US. These are the types of things we are up against here in Peru as we share the Good News of Jesus Christ. And it makes us very sad to see our friends here caught up in it all. Please pray with us for the Light and Truth of the gospel of Christ to break through and reach the people.

04.30.10 | Pray for Kashmiri Muslims—one of Pioneers’ Priority Unreached People Groups—as a civilian died during a recent violent protest against the Indian government.

by Janay Garrick, a Pioneers advocate for Children at Risk

“This baby was rescued from the cho by a good samaritan.”
“The cho? What’s a cho?”
“The toilet.”
“Oh.”

I blink
and picture
the baby beside a porcelain bowl
swaddled upon a clean, western-tiled floor
but this is East Africa,
Kenya, to be exact and I know of
no such chos except in the houses of
the rich, the few and far between.

I summon
the courage to clarify
and picture the true picture:
baby Joel drowning in a pit latrine
lying and dying in feces and urine,
someone – his mom? – had dropped
him in there.

…but a Samaritan, as he passed by,
came to where the hurting child was
and when he saw him,
he took pity on him…

God,
as Your people,
give us Your strength
to picture the true pictures
to stay on the right side of the road –
where the hurting people lie,
where the abandoned children cry.

Don’t let “distance be the enemy of Africa.”
don’t let us distance ourselves
from the needs
we see
and feel
and hear about.

Amen.

by Caryn Pederson

In 1989 there were three known Mongolian believers in the world. Today there are more than 100,000. According to one Pioneer who served thirteen years in Mongolia, “It’s the nearest thing to a church-planting movement I’ve ever seen.”

What happened? How did it begin? Throughout history, shamanism, Buddhism, and communism had all failed the Mongolians. In 1990 the people informally gathered in the city square of Ulaanbaatar, the capitol, until the government declared democracy. They wanted things to change.

Missionaries had been preparing for such an open door. Back in 1987 a Pioneers family moved to Budapest, Hungary to study language and culture with Mongolian students. Three years later, they were the third, fourth, and fifth foreigners to arrive in the country. Their heart? To see those who had never heard the name of Jesus embrace and serve Him.

By 1992, Ulaanbaatar had three struggling churches and government officials were putting laws in place that would pave the way for religious freedom in the nation. That year, they voted to hold any international treaty above the Mongolian constitution.

Two years later, there were more than a dozen mission organizations serving in this new land of opportunity and there was a growing need for them to work together. One Pioneer was asked by the missionary community to co-facilitate an organization that brought mission agencies together for networking and collaboration. A year later, when 90 percent of the agencies were working together well, that Pioneer was asked to help launch a Mongolian Bible college. Seventeen churches and ten agencies came together to create the institution. Just months after the idea was born, 23 students enrolled in September 1995. In each of the subsequent years, the school added 25-30 new students until they had a four-year program. Only those with the endorsement of their church could apply. Of those applicants, only 50 percent were accepted. The students worked a “tag team” system with a fellow church member in the countryside. While one student was at the school in the capitol studying, his partner was back at the church serving. At the end of the teaching module, they switched places, so there was a constant stream of application interwoven with the education.

By 2003 the Mongolian Association of Evangelicals reported there were 300 churches in the country. Their goal for 2020 is to have 10 percent of the nation’s 2.6 million not just believers, but equipped followers who are actively discipling others.

God’s done more in Mongolia in just over two decades than missionaries in other countries have seen in centuries. Why did God bring the growth? Ultimately, it was His time for Mongolia. External factors helped: the USSR’s control brought common languages (Russian and a single Mongolian dialect) as well as a literacy rate of 98 percent. And from the missionary perspective, international workers chose to work together from the beginning. There was a focus on oneness and they taught often from John 17. To their surprise, Presbyterian students would meet with Southern Baptist friends for mutual encouragement. Human indicators aside, however, one Pioneer reports, “We were just there at the right time. We learned to run in the Spirit, not just walk in it.”

by a Pioneers-USA writer

Missions often requires going thousands of miles from home to spread the gospel, but that is not always the case. Consider Marie, a Pioneer from Canada, who is ministering to the “Yew” people in her hometown of Vancouver.

After several years of working with this Muslim minority in Western China, she was forced to return home for family reasons. However, that didn’t bring an end to her work. Marie estimates that there are several hundred Yew in the Vancouver area and thousands in all of Canada. They are just as in need of the gospel as the Yew in China.

Marie’s ministry to the Yew in Vancouver differs a little from her ministry in China—but not by much. She still shares the gospel through English lessons and friendship evangelism, praying for and with Yew women and talking often about Jesus. The biggest difference is that the Muslims in Canada are more open to the gospel, having no need to fear the government as they do in China.

Working in her home country doesn’t mean Marie’s ministry is easy. She is currently the only full-time missionary to the Yew in Vancouver, and she asks that more people would be committed to praying for the Yew people, both in Canada and worldwide.

Pray that Marie would trust the Holy Spirit to work miracles in the hearts and minds of the women she has built friendships with, and that the changes in their lives would open the eyes of their families as well.

by a Pioneer in the Middle East

The broken woman told only fragments of her story. She had had too many children and was desperate not to have any more. Her pregnancies and births had been difficult. Her husband was a good man, but poor.

In her despair she had become pregnant again. She did the unthinkable, the unallowable. In this culture and religion—an unforgivable sin. She had an abortion. There could be no forgiveness. The depression was clear. The anguish and sorrow, the losing of the will to live was all very close to the surface.

She lay in the arms of her caregivers. And they are the beauty in this story. A roomful of women, all ages—perhaps 18 to 65. There were children, too. We listened to their stories and saw the love in their faces. They wiped the woman’s face and pressed tea and water to her lips. We talked about love and the power of their love, about God and his love. We talked about the courage it took them, especially the old women, to get up each day and face the rockets and the guns and the death. And they understood deeply what we were saying because they had in fact gotten up each day, prepared breakfast for their families, washed their children and somehow found a way to live.

This story would be too hard for me to bear if I had not looked into the faces of those beautiful women, if I had not seen their hands and listened to their voices. We did the only two things we could do. We prayed for them, for all of them—the beautiful women, the broken woman and the precious children. And then we walked away, encouraging them to keep loving and to keep praying…and then to love some more.

by a Pioneer in Asia

As residential outreach to Uyghurs becomes more and more restricted, media continues to be one of the methods God is using to reach across the Tarim Basin. For the last few years we have been producing almost exclusively evangelistic material for broadcast and distribution. These programs introduce the Bible and the person of Jesus in ways that an average Uyghur Muslim can understand. Now, for the first time, we are beginning a series of programs primarily for the training and encouragement of young Uyghur followers of Christ. We have begun a series of talks based on the book of James that revolve around the idea of “Faith in Real Life.” We continue to hear of small isolated groups of Uyghur believers around the Tarim Basin who rely on the radio broadcasts for instruction and encouragement.

Due to the fact that our audience is primarily Uyghur peasant farmers, we don’t expect much feedback on the programs and materials we air. However, one listener wrote, “I have listened to the radio a lot and through the Internet began looking for more information. I am a young Muslim but I have been interested in researching the Injil (New Testament) for a long time. When I listened to the radio I heard that you were willing to send your listeners a Bible. If [this is] true, would you send me one?”

Through much effort and risk on the part of local believers, colleagues were able to discreetly get a Bible and a set of 100 mp3 audio programs to this young man. He wrote a little over a week later: “Greetings! I last wrote you asking for a Holy Book. I want you to know that I have received it and have read about 1,000 pages. I have also listened to around 50 programs of The Way of Righteousness.”

All we can surmise is that every bit of his spare time in that week must have been consumed in reading the Uyghur New Testament and listening to the programs. Join us in praying for him and others like him who are searching for spiritual reality beyond what they and their fathers have followed for centuries. God is looking for Uyghur men and women like this young man with hearts that hunger for Him, and when He finds them, He will stop at nothing to reveal Himself to them.

• Explore other ways to reach the Uyghurs

by a Pioneers appointee to Southeast Asia

The blistering sun beats down as the humidity sticks to our skin. Dust and dirt cover our feet as Jim, his friend “Mr. Handsome” and I make the four-mile walk to the closest “Boat People” village. I have been praying for these people for over a year, and now I get to make my first real contact. As we get closer, children and adults working in the rice fields begin to take notice. Some start to follow as we make our way into the village. Slowly more and more come to see. The curious smiles explain it all: “Why are these white giants here?” Before we know it, we are surrounded by a mass of humanity. We make our way to a tea shop and take a seat to rest. Through broken language and some interpreters, we begin to chat with the local men.

By now word of our arrival has spread. Jim studiously starts working on an audio dictionary with one man while I sit quietly by. The dictionary will help me get a jump-start on this unwritten language.

Through the crowd a man appears; he is relatively clean and well-kept, and the others quickly give him a prominent seat. “This guy must be important,” I think to myself. With some difficulty, I find out he is a gentleman, or village leader. “Salaam walekum,” I say. He smiles as we shake hands. The incomprehensible chatter continues, but nonetheless a conversation takes place.

“Why are you here?” he asks bluntly.

“I read about your situation and have been praying for you. I want to help,” I reply.

The faces of those who hear convey the message clearly: “You care about us? But nobody cares about us!”

Now it is dark, and faces turn to shadows under the dim light bulbs. Dinner is served: rice and a freshly-killed chicken (feet and all). Having some business to attend to, the gentleman stands to leave. Impulsively, I stand and abruptly stop him. Following the Spirit, I take off my watch and hand it to him. “This is just a small gift,” I say. “When I return, I will have a much better gift.” The gentleman smiles.

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).

Pray that God will reveal Himself and make real the gift of eternal life to the “Boat People” of Southeast Asia as Pioneers learn the language and build relationships with members of this Muslim people group.

by a Pioneer in Asia

04.04.10 | Tomb Sweeping Day is a time to pay respects to deceased family members at their gravesites. Families may pay tribute to relatives by sweeping tombs, offering prayers and leaving flowers, fruit, tea or other token offerings. These traditions are not necessarily connected with a well-developed religious worldview, but seem to be signs of respect for the family.

One of the more well-known superstitious practices associated with honoring the dead is the ritual burning of “paper money” (literally “currency of the underworld”) that is made to resemble real money. Issued by the “Bank of Heaven and Earth” in the amount of 100 billion, the bills picture the Jade Emperor who is the king of heaven in traditional Daoist belief. People believe that these practices allow their ancestors to enjoy good things in the afterlife and also burn paper clothes, paper replicas of ancient coins and paper credit cards.

Ask God to open the eyes of Asians to the gospel. Even as they honor Tomb Sweeping Day may they be freed to celebrate Christ’s resurrection.

by a Pioneer in Cambodia

04.01.10 | God is using the missionary doctors and the Khmer evangelists at Mercy Medical Center to heal the sick and to build His Kingdom. I am presently partnering with a fellow Baptist missionary to follow up with one of the patients who came into the clinic recently. He has been a believer for about a year now but because he is very far from any church he still knows very little about the Bible. Still, he asked for help to know how to evangelize and start a church in his village. His name is Lok Krew (meaning "teacher") and he is very excited about his faith in Jesus, but is the only believer in his village at this time.

Because He is older and is a teacher, he has clout in his village. My missionary friend and I have gone there each week for a month and are teaching through the book of Mark. Many in the village are open to hearing about Jesus, but none have yet decided to trust Christ.

Last week, we had our first baptism. Most of the villagers looked on as Lok Krew stepped into a drinking water pot (about three feet in diameter and three feet tall) and went under the best he could. After he was baptized many of the villagers asked good questions pertaining to how Lok Krew would relate to them as a Christian. What would he do when people persecuted him? Would he go to their funerals and parties (most of which have Buddhist content and purpose)? I was amazed at how well Lok Krew answered their questions in both love for them and confidence in his decision to follow Jesus with his whole life.

Pray that a group of believers would be raised up in this village.

by a Pioneer in Mongolia

The end of 2009 found us fighting nighttime temperatures of 30 to 40 below zero Fahrenheit. Even though it was very difficult, at least we had a nice warm house and the shed where we made fires for the garage and library was only about 25 yards from the house.

The livestock haven’t fared very well. From what we understand, our state is one of eight hardest hit in Mongolia, with our county of Tuvshrulek being the worst in our state. We entered into the fall of last year with around 127,000 head of livestock and now at least 60,000 are dead, from intense cold, snow and starvation, plus the wolves. As we drove out through our town into the countryside we passed pile after pile of dead animals. We again began to realize how many animals are dying. With the nighttime temperatures still around 20 below or colder the winter is still severe. If we have 20,000 livestock left by June we will be blessed.

by a Pioneers-USA writer

Paul and Sarah, Pioneers in Central Asia, are bringing Truth to their region through teaching on spiritual and physical health. According to these workers, poor spiritual health can lead to poor physical health, and it is through this message that they hope to share the gospel with Muslims in their area. When coworkers from a church in the US set up a health fair in their village, they were eager to help.

With glucose testers and reading glasses ready to hand out, the team provided medical checkups and basic training on subjects like choking and CPR. Local doctors also assisted. Paul and Sarah helped through a mini-seminar on the connection between spiritual and physical health. Their assistants presented stories of people whose physical ailments were not related to physical causes. For example, one talked about a man in Africa who had been cursed and could not be healed by doctors. Listeners agreed that “un-treatables” from stress to disunity can contribute to poor health. During some of the presentations, workers were able to share the gospel, “a fairly bold move for us in our village of devout Muslims,” said Sarah. At the end of these sessions, listeners were invited back to follow-up meetings if they were interested in hearing more.

According to Sarah, everyone was doubtful that anyone would show up to the follow-up meetings the week after the health fairs. But four doctors and nurses came, as well as two men and a woman who were interested in hearing more about the gospel. Such a turnout might be small by human standards, but seeds were planted in the heart of everyone who heard the gospel during the health fair, and just as importantly, people in the villages were able to see an example of Christian love.

Pray for the seeds to sprout, and pray for the salvation of those who attended the follow-up meeting. And praise God that some expressed interest in the gospel and nobody objected to its presentation through the health fair—in a country that otherwise offers limited opportunities to share this Truth.

by a Pioneer in Southeast Asia

After an afternoon spent with one of my “adopted families” here, I was going to take one of the little public vans back to my friend’s home where I was staying. The bumpy ride earlier in the day made my back worse, so I asked Abba if I should splurge and take a taxi. I sensed His answer was yes.

The taxi driver was very talkative and I wasn’t offering much in response. Suddenly he asked what church I went to here. We hadn’t discussed religion at all, but I told him and he told me the name of his church as well. Without my asking, he also informed me that he was a former Muslim. I asked how He came to be a follower, and he said he had three dreams where a man in a white robe came to him. The dreams led him to meet with a pastor who explained who Isa (our Savior) was, and he eventually believed. I was stunned. If my back hadn’t been out, I wouldn’t have taken the taxi home.

I am giving the taxi driver a DVD about four Muslims from different countries who came to believe because Abba used dreams to initially open their hearts to Him. Now I have the name and phone number of a man right here who had a similar dream.

Would you please continue to pray for God to give visions and dreams and open blind eyes? Thank you!

by a Pioneer in Papua New Guinea

The village of Bung Ples was burned to the ground recently as a result of an inter-clan tribal fight. By God's grace our former student Michael and his wife, Doris, were not there.

Men from two enemy clans from Michael's tribe surrounded the village and attacked. The people of Bung fled and consequently had to endure the destruction of nearly everything they owned.

The attackers looted, burnt houses (including Michael's mother's), destroyed the coffee cash crop, cut down banana and nut trees, and killed or stole pigs. The people of Bung lost nearly everything including pots, pans, clothes, mattresses, and blankets. Some spent the first night sleeping outdoors in the rain in the bush. Others found wontoks or friends to stay with.

What makes this even more tragic is that Bung Ples is where many youth had recently turned to the Lord. We have spent over two years working up there to help turn a bunch of former criminals into committed Christians.

A man from Michael's clan appears to be the cause of the fight. There are conflicting reports of what exactly happened. He either raped or had a pre-arranged liaison with the wife of another man. The wife's husband belonged to another clan within Michael's tribe. Apparently, he came home in the middle of the night to find the two of them together. A fight ensued and the husband was badly cut up by a bush knife.

The sad part about the whole affair is Michael's clan had previously run off the perpetrator because he was a known troublemaker and the cause of a tribal fight that broke out in 2007.

When we heard about this, we prayed that the missionary doctors at Kudjip Hospital could save the man. Thankfully, they did. However, a line had been crossed.

Walking back home for lunch last Friday, I could see smoke rising from the mountains around Bung, and I knew what had happened. The attack was on. People at the Christian Leadership Training College where I teach reported hearing gunshots, and we feared the worst.

We prayed that there would be no loss of life, and graciously the Lord answered.

However, the initial reports were of total devastation. We heard that the attackers had burned the Youth Bible Study House to the ground and that they had spared nothing.

However, a few days later Peter Tommy and his wife, Maria, paid us a visit. They live in Bung and had lost their home. We did what we could for them. My wife and Maria went to our garden to harvest anything ready to pick. We also found a pile of clothes we planned to donate and a blanket, and gave the lot to the Tommys.

They did bring some good news. The attackers had spared a soon-to-be-completed schoolhouse and the Youth Bible Study House.

Please pray for the people of Bung. They have suffered this kind of hardship before, but this is the first time we have been so close to people in this predicament. Pray for wisdom for us as to how we should help.

Pray that this fight is over. There are lots of old scores that need settling between Michael's clan and his neighbors, so pray that cooler heads will prevail. If there is a fresh outbreak of violence, we fear that lives will be lost.

Pray too for unity. Members of the youth Bible study were on both sides of the fight.

by a Pioneer in Poland

Veronica was the last person I expected to see at English Camp. I had visited her school several times to teach English lessons as a guest native speaker. I knew I could not directly share the gospel in the classroom, but was given permission to promote the upcoming English Camp. As I left the school I saw her sitting outside with her boyfriend. I so badly wanted them to attend camp and to hear the message of Christ, but was sure they would not come. Their mannerisms and dress led me wrongly to believe neither would be interested in camp, let alone learning about God.

I did not recognize her when she approached me on the first day of camp. She looked vaguely familiar, but then I had met many teenagers in a short period of time. “Hi, I’m Veronica,” she said, “remember? You visited my class at school.” After thinking a moment, I did remember her. Not only were Veronica and her boyfriend both at camp; they also came with friends from other schools. “Wow, God,” I prayed, “this is so cool!”

As the week began, I wondered if Veronica thought it was odd to see a teacher tackling teenagers and jumping into the crazy camp games. Mostly, she was surprised to hear me speaking Polish. On the day we took an 11-kilometer “walk” through the mountains, we had some time to talk. Mostly, she asked why I came to Poland, whether I like it here, and why I did not speak Polish when I visited her school.

As English Camp continued, I had great conversations with some other students, one of whom became a believer, but somehow I never managed to catch Veronica. Finally, on the last day of camp after the gospel had been shared, I was able to ask what her thoughts were about what she had heard. She explained that, although it is extremely uncommon in Catholic Poland, she was raised as an atheist and found most Catholic doctrine to be absurd. After hearing what we were teaching about God and spending time with the Christians leading English Camp, she happily announced that she had decided to be agnostic.

Unexpectedly, she and her boyfriend showed up at church for two weeks after English Camp ended. She expressed a desire to attend regularly, but said she would be away for a few weeks. She has not returned. I will be tutoring her again in English. During our first meeting this year, I discovered that she no longer considers herself “agnostic”, but “Christian.” Only God knows her heart, and only time and further conversations will reveal what she truly believes. One thing is clear: God has begun to work in Veronica’s life. In a country where a worker sees very little spiritual fruit, that is an amazing thing to celebrate.

by a Pioneer in Thailand

03.12.10 | On February 26, 2010, Thailand's Supreme Court ruled that the government could seize $1.5 billion from the fugitive politician Thaksin Shinawatra due inappropriate actions during his term of service as prime minister from 2001-2006.

Although Thaksin has been banned from politics for five years for violating election laws, he remains popular with the rural poor, who feel he was the first Thai leader to address their needs by implementing social welfare programs. His supporters believe he is being selectively targeted by his political enemies, while his opponents feel he is paying the price for blatant conflicts of interest and abuse of power.

What's next?

Pro-Thaksin protesters, known as red-shirts, announced their plans to hold a three-day mass rally (March 12-14, 2010). The highlight will be on Sunday at the government district at the heart of Bangkok. Their objectives?

• To demand a House dissolution and a snap election
• To destabilize the government and proclaim their support for former premier Thaksin Shinawatra
• The red shirts claimed that it is mobilizing at least 1 million supporters nationwide to join the mass rally March 14 aiming at bringing down the current government.
• To cause a paralysis to Bangkok traffic and have also targeted to attack key government installations located in the capital. This will likely cause huge inconveniences and tempers might flare up to trigger riots.
• With Maoist tactics of the “forest surrounding the town,” protesters from the provinces will move from their home towns to the capitol by farm and pickup trucks, plus buses to put pressure on the government.
• Nobody knows how long the demonstration will last and how serious the situation will be, but the government is prepared for a worst-case scenario of violence and riots.
• The red shirts have not ruled out the possibility of copying the yellow-shirt group's tactics, including seizing government offices as well as Suvarnabhumi Airport.
• The bottom line is to stir a chaotic situation until the government loses control. The Cabinet on Tuesday, March 9, 2010 approved the enforcement of the internal security law on March 11-to-23 in the face of the red-shirt rally.

 

Please pray that the Lord would use this opportunity to prompt Thais to seek peace and find it in the Prince of Peace. Ask that the Lord would bring peace into the situation and that there will be no violence, injuries or loss of life (Isaiah 60:18). Pray, too, that He will give wisdom and strategies to the government how to solve problems (Psalm 20:7). We long for the Holy Spirit to move powerfully in bringing the light of the gospel of Christ to the Thai people.

Compiled from Time.com and Bless Chiang Mai Prayer Network email. Read more.

by a Pioneer in Southeast Asia

Ali is one of the new believers being discipled by our church planters. A few weeks ago, a severe abdominal pain suddenly overwhelmed Ali while working in his field. Since there was no medicine available, he took a leaf of a tree, mixed it with mud and prayed to Jesus for healing. Then he attached the leaf to his stomach and in the five minutes the pain went away.

Ali was amazed by what had happened so he ran home and told his wife how Jesus had the power to heal his abdominal pain. He started to share the gospel with his wife and asked her to pray to Christ. At first his wife laughed him but soon she realized that her husband had a profound experience.

His wife continues to see the power of Isa Al Masih (Jesus) at work in their family. In their small town, most wells have no water during the dry season. This included Ali’s well at the back of their house. Year after year, it too would be dry when the rains did not come. Remembering his experience with the pain in his abdomen, he asked his wife to pray that Christ’s grace and power would give them water in their well. Amazingly, the well supplied the water they needed for their daily needs throughout the dry season. Jesus answered their prayer. Now whenever our church planter comes to visit, he finds Ali’s family eager and serious to study God’s Word and pray together.

by a Pioneer in Africa

My laptop, just a year and a half old, suddenly crashed and I lost everything. All my newsletters, my email lists and addresses, everything that had taken months to create—all gone! Then on my way back to the States to claim my warranty, my dead laptop was stolen, right out of my bag.

If I had not been discouraged before, I was now positively depressed. While I was at my wit’s end about what to do next, I arrived in Orlando and met Tim Ross, a member of Pioneers’ Information Technology Team. It was almost—almost—like meeting an angel! He listened to my story, empathized with me, and didn’t even make me feel stupid for my irresponsibility of not backing up my material. Then, he offered to go with me to Best Buy, help me choose a computer, and set everything up for me before I left town. After we found just the right laptop, Tim spent basically a whole day working on my new machine, making sure it was set up, backed up and secure.

One of my favorite things about the people at Pioneers is the personal attention and interest they give each person. I felt as if I was getting VIP service, but I think that’s how they treat every person who comes through—as if they’re someone special, someone loved by God.

Thanks Tim, and thanks everyone at Pioneers in Orlando for the way you live out God’s love as you serve each day. You are a blessing to me and to so many others.

by Tony Haug, a Pioneer in Japan

We are thrilled to share with you that Mrs. Yumi Hamabe accepted Jesus Christ as her Savior! I noticed a young woman taking a Bible up to the register in our Christian bookstore. When I asked her why she had come to purchase a Bible, she shared that she had been thinking about evolution and the creation of man. She said she had read several books lately about the biblical account of creation and she had come to think that the God of Christianity had really created man directly. Yumi had recently moved to Shimonoseki and occasionally had attended a church in her neighborhood, but they had not discussed this issue in the sermons she had heard. I asked her if she would be willing to take a few minutes and let me show her from Scripture how creation and the cross were related.

Since I had a Four Spiritual Laws gospel tract and New Testament with me, we simply looked at various Scriptures and talked about God’s wonderful plan of salvation alone in Jesus Christ. It was so fantastic to later lead her in a prayer of repentance and acceptance of Christ's free gift of salvation.

Yumi had come to purchase her first Bible ever (she had been borrowing a friend's Bible from college days) and returned home not only with her first Bible but a new relationship with the Author. I cannot express how awesome it was to see God direct this woman to our bookstore and to have the privilege of being at the right place at the right time! I have to believe this outpouring of God's work in our midst is a direct result of the renewed prayers for the people of Shimonoseki.

by Jack Uphill, a Pioneer in India

One Sunday evening, as the last of our conversations was winding down and we were ready to head for home, a woman approached my wife at the church door. Her face was gaunt and haggard. With three children in tow, she looked like any of the other beggar women outside the gate to whom my wife often gives “rations” (food staples for a week). But she had walked on through the gate, and she had come for help, not money. Poor, sick, malnourished, saddled with three daughters (a sure sign of divine disfavor or bad karma from a previous life), abused by a demonized husband and (self-confessedly) tormented by evil spirits herself, she came now in desperate hope for some kind of help. Other gods in their various temples had proven useless; perhaps this God in this religious building may be different. She knew neither his name nor his story. But He knew her and (unknown to her) was calling her: “Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Several weeks later, this woman is still poor, still has three daughters (one of whom, it turns out, recently survived tuberculous meningitis) and is still abused by her unfaithful husband. But now she knows the name of the God in the building, and she knows His story. And His story now includes her as she stumbles toward faith, tripping over the tragedies and failures of her past with one step and landing on the surprising power and mercy of this other God with the next. He has delivered her from evil spirits, embraced her in a caring family of new friends and given her hope.

Please join us in praying for this woman as the pastor, my wife and others at church help her and point her to Jesus. Please pray that God would deliver her completely, heal her daughter and overcome her husband's stubborn refusal to seek counsel and help with her at the church.]]>http://www.pioneers.org/Connect/Media/MediaArchive/tabid/149/PostID/112/Out-of-Place.aspxPioneers-USA112Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMTStories