Among the Unreached Sogwo Arig

Our last update ended with us preparing to leave on about a week long mission trip “farther up and farther in” to the Tibetan Plateau southwest of us to try and locate the unreached and most likely unengaged Sogwo Arig tribe.

Previously I asked you to pray that God would…

1) protect us 
2) give us wisdom and guidance 
3) give us divine appointments and open doors 
4) make it clear what should be done to make Jesus known among the Sogwo Arig people

Well, to cut straight to the point, God did all of those things and more during our time there! Here are some answers to prayer, listed in the same order as above…

1) We were protected during all our travels through this remote and *gorgeous territory, as well as from an incident with a drunk Tibetan who wanted to fight one night.

2) We were led very quickly to the place that is the heart and soul of the Sogwo Arig territory. It was much easier to locate than expected, praise the Lord!

3) As we traveled each day to a different part of the region, God graciously led us to a few key people who were able to provide us with valuable information and also gave us the opportunity to distribute numerous Tibetan tracts in strategic places (a couple of monasteries and directly in the hands of some Buddhist Monks)!

4) As a result of the information gathered and the experience of visiting the majority of the populated places within the area, it is much easier for us to picture now what it is going to take to effectively reach out with the Gospel and eventually plant a church among the unreached Sogwo Arig.

In short, its going to take (at least!) one dedicated couple (men AND women are needed) willing to toil for many, many years and give up countless “creature comforts” to spend the time necessary to learn the language, befriend the locals, and begin to form them into disciples of Christ!

Please also pray for these few (urgent!) things that we have coming up:

1) Wisdom, boldness, and protection as I seek to resolve a tense situation tomorrow with rowdy (violent) patrons at a bar next to our ministry cafe.

2) Strength and grace to find and finally get settled down into a permanent home in the upcoming weeks (we still don’t even know what city will officially “reside” in)!

3) Wisdom and an anointing to teach our Tibetan, Muslim (former), and Chinese brothers and sisters who are seeking to grow in their knowledge of the Gospel.

*The scenery was amazing, almost indescribable, in some places. You should still be able to see a Facebook album from our friend and travel companion MaryBeth.