a Christmas story and prayer points

My closest Uyhgur friend in town is also friends with another m worker who held a Christmas party on Christmas day.  The two of these friends cooked together days before and expected to enjoy the well prepared, fun festivities together.  But Christmas afternoon, this Uyghur girlfriend and her boyfriend and several more of their friends, didn't show up for the party.  Such a disappointment.

What happened was that "N" (our current houseguest, see below), "the boyfriend", decided to ask the Imam (Muslim pastor) if it was ok for them to attend a Christian Christmas party.  He said no, (of course!)  This group of Uyghur friends are quite staunch in their Islam and many of them seem to be deepening in their studies, prayers, piety as Muslims.  They knew what this party would entail and they did not want to submit themselves to having to listen to a Christian message shared even though the westerners sharing are their good friends.

PLEASE PRAY:

~  These students are minorities in a communist nation and they are Muslim.  Both of these factors add up to them often being very easily, wholly swayed by what a leader they respect might say.  M. said that she is going to ask for leaders' advice when she's home (right now, for semester break) to see if it's ok for her to study the Bible with Christians at school.  Probably 100% of them will say no.  But their holy book, the Koran, does in fact urge Muslims to seek out "people of the way" (Christians) and to read the New Testament.   Would you pray that my dear friend M. would encounter Jesus somehow and have courage to leave behind everything that would hinder her from pursuing him?  

~ Please continue to pray for N who is staying with us now.  Since our kids were sick today, we stayed home and listened to a sermon and he asked if he could join in and listen with us.  His English is quite poor so it's doubtful that he understood much but it's amazing that he even asked to listen with us!  And he hears our every-meal Bible reading, short teaching time for our kids (and ok, for him too!).  We love how our second child reaches to hold his hand during prayers.  He's never once refused that!

~ Ask that the Lord would move among this whole group of students.  One young guy has recently expressed great interest in following Christ but most of them are banded together with great unity under the shared identity "We are Uyghur, We are Muslim."  Would that the Spirit of God move mightily, graciously, to draw this whole group to Himself! 

houseguests

It's been a busy start to the new year for us....  sorry it's been too long since we've updated you here!

But we are finally feeling settled in our new place and into a mostly regular routine again.  We just said goodbye to a new friend who visited our city from the Uyghur province capital.  During her 5 day stay in our home, she joined in our meal-time Bible reading and prayer times, saw our love for/ discipline/ and sometimes tired impatience with our kids and heard again about the Gospel of Christ that we hope to adorn.  So glad it's not a message of our own goodness "Look how good we are, we're Christians!" but a message of the splendor of a God who would come to rescue dead sinners like us and give us life in Him...

She seemed to track with us as my husband explained "Yes.  You're right.  The law of Islam and the law of Christianity are very similar.   Some subtle differences, but lots of agreement.  The place where Christianity and Islam diverge, though, is in what the law tells us... does for us.  It doesn't make us holy.  We can never make ourselves holy by attaining to the whole law! The law is all that Islam offers....  But in Christ, we have a gift, a gift that we don't earn with our proud hard work, but must be received humbly, in faith.  The Gift of forgiveness and righteousness and certain, eternal salvation...."

She told me several times "you don't know what it's like..." to live as a minority in this communist nation that squelches her home culture, outlaws her language from education, bans books on her people's history, forbids conversion to any religion besides your parents'.

Precious Friend, you're right.  I don't know how horribly hard it would be to be under all that.  But I do believe God does.    "Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. ²⁴And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. ²⁵God saw the people of Israel—and God knew. (Exodus 2:23-25)  We are praying that she would know God's knowing of her...  and that she would have courage to leave all and come to Christ.

Would you please pray for this terrific young woman, "A" ?  She headed back yesterday morning on the train to her town, where we know a few Uyghur believers we could connect her with if she's interested.  Please intercede with us for her, like Moses did for the Israelite people (Exodus 32-33).  We're not asking for the Lord to save her because she's so good, but because she has no hope apart from him.

And for our kind-of cooky friend "N" who is staying with us now.  He's a fun, young student in town who chose not to return to his family for the semester break so that he could study more.  But the dorms are closed.... so he's at our place for about a month.  Pray with us that he would come to Christ in this time!  Oh the courage and humility needed for this miracle to happen!   Graciously humble him Lord.   Draw him to you.  May it be so, for your glory!!