It has now been more than 10 years since the Lord first brought me to China and began placing this region on my heart. His faithfulness has amazed me. He hears our petitions!
Here is a short excerpt from my prayer journal at the time:
“Show me any possible way that I can more effectively penetrate the unreached tribes (of China) with Your Gospel. If and when I must dress like them, eat like them, talk like them, and live with them, help me to do it for the sake of sharing Your Truth with them.”
(From my recent blog post, Answered Prayers: What I discovered in a 10 year old journal)
God is the One who has brought us this far, but without a doubt He has done it by using people like you. Praise God for helping us all to be faithful to our callings as goers AND senders!
Now let me quickly share a couple of praise reports from recent weeks (and continue below with some important prayer requests):
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Recently, we’ve been able to distribute a significant number of tracts and Gospel portions in seven different Tibetan Buddhist monasteries in our region. Much of this had to be done discreetly, at night, and there were some very close calls. Praise God for protecting us and His Word in these Gospel-forbidden places!
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With the help two short-term visitors this month, we were able to deliver more than 50 Study Bibles, along hundreds of hours of audio Bible training materials, to a couple of rural churches. These Bibles were initially requested of me nearly 3 ½ years ago! Praise God for finally making this happen, and for keeping us safe during the actual deliveries (one of the trips took place late in the evening in a rainstorm)!
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God is clearly answering our long-standing prayers for more laborers, more missionaries, to be sent to our region. Besides the family from Peru who joined us earlier this year and who are immersed in Chinese language studies right now, God is bringing other faithful believers to be teachers at a nearby university in a small Tibetan city where we’ve been praying for years for people to come. I’m so excited about this!
Here are some key prayer requests:
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Ask the Lord to give us more strength, wisdom, grace, and protection to reach dozens more Tibetan monasteries with the Gospel during these warmer summer months, including some remote areas that we’ve never before visited as a family!
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Pray for all those who are new to this region, including the Peruvian family we support and the new teachers in our area, that they might not lose heart when things get difficult, but continue pushing forward faithfully in the power of the Spirit!
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Please also pray that God would guide us safely through many potential obstacles this summer regarding our Chinese visa situation and our ability to stay and continue living and ministering where we are right now. The legal situation for foreigners living in China has gotten steadily worse over the past 5-6 years. Pray that God would grant us the visas we need, and keep us in the place where He has called us to be!
