the people you're praying for

Photos of Uy ghurs

(pronounced /Wee ger/ )

from www.trekearth.com

The photos that are easiest to find of Uyghurs are usually snapped in rural areas but there are also city-living Uyg hurs. Our friends in this city are all very city savvy, cell-phone toting, bi or trilingual, highly educated Muslims. They range from nominal ("my people are all Muslim") to devout ("if you have ever had pork in your house, I can't eat with you there") but they are all Muslim- so far. Almost all of these are because they have never heard of Jesus- as the true Son of God, a Savior for all who believe- but a slim percentage are still Muslims because they have rejected the Good News of Christ probably due to cultural pressures and generations-old opposition to and misunderstanding of the Gospel.

One of the issues we see often with these friends is that their culture is suppressed, oppressed by the majority culture and government here, and honestly, also by Islam. (For example, Islamic Arabic tradition holds that Muslims really shouldn't dance, but the U culture is rich with music and dancing.) Pray that Christ would come quickly and beautify this whole people with salvation.

Pray for opportunities to share around Easter/ Good Friday this year. Pray for receptive, open, soft hearts among our friends here and Uy ghurs out west whom other misny friends are sharing with.

a prayer resource

Scotty Smith has recently begun to blog at the Gospel Coalition site (a site which we are big fans of- with a myriad of resources on every tab). Here's the link.

The content of this blog is prayer- prayer lead by Scripture, prayer pursuing the heart and glory of God.

Just guessing, there might not be much there (hopefully, "not yet") about the unreached, but it still might fuel your general prayer life well. May you be blessed as you pursue God's kingdom first.

Who are the U?

Please get to know this people with the excellent info and prayer points at this link.

a little bit of desperation

We just received a newsletter from our dear friends who are missionaries in India. They wrote about a family that lived near them, who they had been praying for for over a year and who they had spoke of Christ with. They had just heard the awful news: that entire family died in a car accident. It pounds into our hearts the urgency of our message and great need for clarity in our proclamation!

As we processed this news from our friends, the two of us agreed that can't settle for small vision lives- when we get wrapped up in only thinking about one more language lesson and engaging our kids this week, putting dinner on the table this evening and meeting one new neighbor. We yearn that the Holy Spirit would come boldly in our midst- come down and stir his work, his power in our lives for the salvation of many here and out west. Yes, God will use all these daily things, and we want to be faithful and joyful in all these tasks, but we want more too. Oh that our hearts and prayers would be well invested in His kingdom-sized dreams and promises and requests!

We want to see people come to Christ, we just don't know what it will take for us- any mastermind strategy of evangelism or church planting. We don't have a clue, but he knows exactly. So we're going to pray. Pray that God will do whatever it takes, pour over our weakness and limitations and come with his might to draw men to himself.

Oh God teach us how to live and how to preach the great news of salvation here and especially to the U people! Their culture is so resistant to you and so few have ever heard or received Christ. Come oh Holy Spirit of God! Come quickly to them! Come quickly to us! Save!

There are times when our job seems just plain too long lasting... 3 more years of labor to get another language and try not to loose, but even to improve on the majority language (Mandarin) we just finished studying. Reminds me of Jacob laboring for 7 years for his wife... then 14 years to finally get her.

There doesn't seem to be any legitimate correlation between us and him, other than the fact that this is a long time to labor. Just like it might have been easy and tempting for Jacob to grow slack in his work, we are weak in the same way. Lead us in our labor Lord. Oh God proclaim your goodness and salvation here! Use us and use whatever means to make your salvation, your Savior Son, known here!

Would you ask the Lord to give us wisdom, knowledge, boldness, diligence, and protection that we would be able to stay in country long... long enough to be used by him to see his church established among the U people.