safety measures....

I shared with you how our city has been facing new rules and new roadblocks all around.... phone checks for pedestrians and mandatory car checks for drivers at random places, where citizens ought to continually be on guard for identity theft.  Thousands, some say several tens of thousands, across our province have been taken into political re-education.     The past few months have been an incredible time of fear and uncertainty.

I've had close friends who have missed their husbands for months.  Another who has stayed quite mobile- visiting friends and family in several different locations- to try to keep her husband from being picked up and taken away.  Again, if someone is brought in.... they don't need a trial or a sentence, but families plan on them being gone for probably at least 3-4 months, and many have not yet returned even after being gone for about a year now.

Right now, as meetings are being held to decide the future of these security measures in our province, all employees of companies or institutions in our province are forced to work 50 days straight.  Saturdays and Sundays.  No break.   We've heard people show up on weekends and no-school days with school aged kids who have to sit by their parents desk all day.  And there's nothing to do, but be there.....  this isn't about workload.  Supposedly it has to do with keeping people in our province from traveling while these meetings are going on.

Right now, there's a total suspension of shipping into our province.  Online groceries are completely stopped.  Hopefully after one more week of meetings it will resume.... and I can't imagine the backlog that the whole province will be dealing with.

Honestly, it has me weighed down as I think about how Romans writes to us that governments only cause fear for those who have done wrong.  Not always....  This is a hard situation.

And yet, we absolutely believe that the Lord will use this.  We are praying, and would you pray with us, that these hard measures would result in the U people coming awake to see that I sl am does not need to grip their whole people?  The security behind all this is a response to I s lam ic  terr or ism... but it's also the easiest thing in the world for the U people to say that it's just oppression against their people group (whom they assume are 100% Muslim.)

May they come to see that there are U ygh ur people that are Christians, Christians who are commanded to obey their leaders and pray for those in authority over them!  May this hard time be the place in history when the U people shake free, by God's grace, of the deception of Islam, and decide that truth will determine their beliefs not tradition.  May it be God!  Build your church among the Uy gh ur people!

living simply for the sake of the Gospel

Here's an excerpt from a needed post over at Radical.net  The author is writing about living simply with material goods among a jungle people group they would present with the Gospel.  The first indented words are from a local believer who was reflecting on his view and encouragement for the missionaries...

There's just so much to this, and it's not only about reaching a jungle tribe with the Gospel.  There's the element of how our own hearts are lassoed towards dependence in God if we are choosing to not depend on stuff for security, comfort, happiness, status.  There's the great demonstration to everyone who sees us that we are living not according to this world's system or for this world's reward.   We can evidence an actual belief in heaven if we show that we're more concerned for other's eternity than we are for our present reality (in this fallen world!  which is more important!?)  We can show that we're not taking our happiness or joy in stuff (that will all burn.)   There's a holy heap of good reasons that we, the church (not just missionaries) should consider living as humbly as we can beautifully serve others.  I love all this, and yet I know that there's still much room for the Lord to work this humility and stuff-severing in my heart.  I want the Lord to continually work in us to draw us down, make us dependent on Him and make His grace the thing that shines out of our lives as great.... not out income, our fashion, our status markers in this world.   May it be, Lord, all for your glory!

Mis3ionaries should be thinking about the future church that will be born. 

When the gospel is taught clearly in our heart languages and the Holy Spirit saves souls, that’s when we see everything that you have said and done with clear eyes—because we understand why. Now, when the Lord asks us to do without or to do hard things and walk to far off villages for the sake of the gospel, we will have your pattern as an example. Missionaries need to ask God for help to live like we live. If you build and work with only your family in mind and you bring many things from your culture to live with you and you love those things, you will make decisions that will separate you from us, the ones you came to reach.

There is no right formula for simple living among the unreached, or at home for that matter. It is a matter of the heart, including our personal convictions and our strategies of suffering. However, we should all take inventory occasionally and ask ourselves if our living standards and our “stuff,” which will soon be wood, hay and stubble ( ), are playing a larger role in our daily lives and decisions than the urgency and eternity of the gospel. As the Lord leads you to suffer the infringements of your own rights, the flesh will protest and others may misunderstand, but we have Christ and His joy for our example as we move toward Him in obedience. 

Yesterday...

Yesterday I went with a friend to a grocery shop across town, an area she was more familiar with than I.  With only a little pleading with the parking attendant, we were able to squish into a parking place on a street I'd been to just once or twice before.  "This street used to be full of people" she told me.  Hint, hint.  Lots of people around here had either been forced out of their homes, forced to return to their familial hometowns (where they are registered) or they had been taken into government custody.  This is usually called "jail" but most people all agree that what is supposedly going on is that the people taken are going through political education.   Still, who knows what the conditions are....

Perhaps we could call it forced education time....  but another friend just a few days before said to me "We are helpless.  Hopeless.  The government could be taking all these people- some from every family- and they could keep them as long as they want.  We fear that anything could happen to them.  We know so few who have returned after being taken.  We may never know, may never be told, if we don't hear from them again.  And we can do nothing about it."  Many people have told me that is exactly what happened when there was uprising in our city several years ago.  The official report is that about 200 people died.  Locals have all told me that well over a 1,000 people have never been seen since then.

So we parked and walked back past that parking attendant, the only way in and out, and we wanted to thank him for letting us in.  But we couldn't get through....  just to walk into a neighborhood now, turn the corner on a street, you might need to register your government id card and undergo a security check- pat down and scan.  People can be tracked where they are at all times.  And family members of people in custody have been called out before, detained and questioned, if their cards ring any bells...  We made our way through with hearts racing....

And if id card checks aren't enough, phones are being scanned too.  Everywhere.  Any nationality.  Supposedly the government is trying to make sure that everyone has installed an app on their phone that makes sure they have "clean internet" (because apparently the enormous governement supported firewall isn't enough, at least not in our province.)

But the fear is that they are swiping our phones to turn our phones into "bugs" so they can listen in to whatever we say on or near the phone.  Then there's also the very reasonable concern that they're snagging passwords (for online email setups, for example)...  Locals are all very concerned to have any religious material on their phones, but we actually haven't heard of having the U Bible causing anyone trouble.  It's just hard to tell that to people right now... when their relatives have been taken for who knows how long for being suspected to or associated with someone who may have visited an Isl@mic website... in recent years.

Please pray with us for PEACE for this land, for these people.  Wisdom and humility and softening care for government leaders in this land.  Ask with us for a gracious move of God to use this hard time just like He did for Israel:  using a time of exile as an opportunity to bring a newly humbled people into renewed relationship with Him as He desires, as He deserves.   May Is l amic or any other kind of terrorist influence be silenced in the hearts of this people and across this land.  May there be peace in hearts and homes.   May families be restored and heads of homes and whole families turn to Christ... who their culture has been prejudiced against and completely unaware of for centuries...

May your kingdom come to this land, to these precious 12 million plus people who live in darkness... Shine your light here, God of Truth, Gracious Savior....

ladies

I had just exchanged smiles and hellos with her once or twice when another neighbor told me her story:   

"She was pregnant last month with her third child.  You know her youngest now is only about one year old, so the government would never allow her to have another so close, and certainly not a third child.  She wanted to keep the baby, hide her pregnancy, hide the child, but she was too afraid that she would be found.  So she had an abortion.  Then, just days later, the police came to her home and took her husband.   She was overcome with grief- now loosing her husband, the only income earner- and she felt shame and fear that this was God's judgement against her for killing her baby.  She's been deeply distraught these two weeks...."

Then this morning, a new friend said to me, "I heard that you have sometimes like to have a friend help you cook food in your home.  Do you want to hire a lady now?"

Literally it was on my way down the stairs, just moments before, that I had thought "How can I help her?"  I hadn't thought of this... but apparently the Lord did. The very lady I've been praying for will be starting work in our home tomorrow.  

Until recently, I had two ladies come for a total of three two-hour stretches in our home.  Such grace to have their help- to speak Uyghur with them in our home and to have help to make salsa, spaghetti sauce,  or make a local dish for a meal to share.  But both of them, in the past month or so, have become afraid of being associated with foreigners.  Both of them changed their phone numbers and wouldn't let me know their new numbers and then they both got busy and couldn't come.   Many friends have seemed to push back from wanting to be in contact or visit with foreigners.  

When my helpers first cancelled on me I took it as a major downer, a low, sad spot of being unwanted and unwelcomed here and "what's the good of us being here?" kind of thoughts.  I didn't see it then, but my days surprisingly and suddenly became more open for language study time.... And now this dear lady can come!  As often as she can!  To chat with me and be a language helper to me, and ok, she can cook for us (it's not something we really love, eating more local food, but it's worth it for this case!)  

Please pray for Rita*.... that she would know the peace of Christ, that she would see God caring for and providing for her, and that she and her family would trust in Him and His Word to make it through this very hard time.

another friend...

You've been praying for a gathering of dear friends who wanted to read God's Word together.  Thank you!  One of the hungriest of these friends, we call Margarite.

She told us yesterday, "I pray every night that God won't let me die until I know the truth about Him. I'm not a Christian yet, I don't understand enough yet, but I'm not a Muslim simply because all of my family and my people are.  The truth about God is an understanding I want to have for myself."

This is the same girl who told us a little while ago....  "I loved studying about Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden, but when I went home and thought about it I realized my question:  where is Jesus in the Garden of Eden?  I really want to know about this Jesus."  What a privilege it's been to get to study through the Word with her!

Please ask that she would be bold to continue to read.... she's read Genesis and we've studied through selected OT stories and now she's reading John.   May she see the Savior and believe in Him as she reads....  We talked about how she can "Hear" God's voice as she reads His Word....  please ask that she would know the Truth and power of God's Word in her life.  Pray that she would be able to spend more time with us before she heads back to her hometown for the summer.

Standard

Years ago we started dreaming and praying that one day the Lord would gather sufficient numbers and strength of Uyghur believers who would want to declare their faith… something like a evangelical standard statement of faith.  We long to see a clear description in Uyghur of what is a standard evangelical faith- not specific doctrines, which can still be left to individual churches- but a guideline of what is counted as within range of a Biblical faith.  

When we first arrived in our city, we expected that ministry in this city would involve preaching the Gospel to Uyghur people who had never heard it before.  We were surprised and grieved to see that many Jehovah’s Witness, Mormons, confusing teachers, prosperity preachers, and super-miracle-oriented people are already here and making waves.   This makes distinguishing what is sound Biblical doctrine a crucial matter for many young believers here.

There are exciting stirrings of this work beginning…  we’re gettign to see a few things take shape but it’s not directly our doing.  A very exciting, and mighty work of God!  Please join us to pray that…

* There would be sufficient unity of local Christians to join together to discuss and form a statement.

* That their work to draft a joint statement of faith would uphold the Word of God

* That the Lord would be pleased to use it to gather more believers in (may true doctrine be stated winsomely) and strengthen the Body that is under His headship.  

Suffering & Security

Recently, a dear friend in this good work shared with us that it’s really on his heart to see us be talking about and guiding conversation towards suffering with local friends.  How on earth can we as Americans help to prepare local friends who trust in Jesus for the suffering, the opposition and persecution that may come for them?  We’ve listened to a testimony of a brother in the former USSR whose faithfulness inspired us all…

And last night one girl said to us “I think God is testing us…”  by giving us this season where the police may come after us if we have a Bible app on our phones or when family members may be taken away if the government questions something about their lives.  What an opportunity to reply for these several friends around our table to hear:  “I think religion should be tested.  First, we have to know if what we believe about God is really, truly true.  It should stand up to questioning if it is. (They are told insistently that they should not question Is lam but just believe it.  To show any doubt is not honorable.)  and Second, if what we believe, if we have chosen our religion because we are convinced that it is the truth of God, than we should be ready to live and to suffer for it….  God and eternity and truth simply matter more than comforts here, now.”

 

The girls kept commenting on religion being the way that we “pass God’s test.”  And again, we got to explain that we can never pass God’s test of holiness and perfect righteousness… but there is One who passes God’s test for us and gives us His perfect score.  One of the girls was crying as we shared about Jesus….

Please pray that these ladies would join together for a study through God’s word.  We’d like to talk about the main storyline of the Bible from Genesis/creation/sin through sacrifices and prophets and prophecy of Christ and then to the life and death and resurrection of Jesus.   Ask that the Father would give these young ladies boldness to be willing to meet weekly to study His Word.  

oops!

.... this was supposed to be a link to our instagram 

but we got you here at our prayer blog.  

If you'd like to follow us on instagram, would you please email us?  We'd be so happy to get to follow you there too!

And hopefully we'll get some great posts here soon too, there's lots to pray for of God's work among the Uyghur people!

Thank you friends!!!