Htoo Nay

Joe's disciple, Kyaw, introduced Joe to Htoo Nay at the beginning of the summer. The boys are 13 years old and cousins. Htoo Nay wanted to know more about Jesus, so asked Kyaw to share with him. Both Joe and Kyaw saw potential in Htoo Nay and began spending time with him. He went to multicultural camp for the first time and really felt that Jesus wants Htoo Nay to know him more! Praise the Lord. This is Kyaw's third year in Keystone Academy, and now Htoo Nay's first year. Last night, Joe and Kyaw led Htoo Nay through repentance and it was evident Christ was working in him! Please pray for Htoo Nay to continue to seek Jesus and for this to be a powerful year for him as a disciple and as a student of Keystone Academy!

Finding Freedom at Camp

God used Multicultural Camp in so many ways! New believers were made, some made a greater commitment to follow Jesus, and some fell deeper in love with Him! We’d like to share one story from this past weekend.

Here’s a little bit of background:

Fatmata is a teenage girl from an African Muslim family. Her father is an imam, the leader of a mosque, in Houston here. A few months ago Katie and her disciple Hafsa felt like the Lord wanted them to go share with Fatmata, but she wasn’t sure if it was true. Even though she had said that, the two and others continued to minister to her, loving her, and sharing stories from the Word. Katie had given her a bible and told her to start to read it. So she did, but her family was not happy about it and even threw the bible outside.

Fast forward to this past weekend:

Throughout the weekend at camp she participated in discussions, but I (Lacey) could still feel that there was something in her heart holding her back, a chain that needed to be broken.

Saturday day was the girls’ time. Nicole taught on modesty, showing them that God created them beautifully and wonderfully, He loves them perfectly, and that they are precious to Him. She showed them that they are worthy of love, and that they shouldn’t see their worth in how they look. Nicole had them write down three things that they struggle to believe from a video we watched and went through a time of renouncing lies and replacing it with truth. I went with Fatmata and Sing. I told them that before they can tell Satan to stop telling them this lie they need to believe that Jesus died and rose and has authority over Satan, and that the Holy Spirit who lives in our hearts gives us this power. She said she believed it all and prayed to accept the Lord into her life!

From the teachings, she understood that the Lord has a deep love for us and He wants relationship with us, He wants friendship. She heard His call to come and accepted!

The next day she boldly asked for prayer for her father’s health, strength for her mother as she continues to run the household, and that she would have strength as she goes back into her family. She then opened up to me. Satan had been telling her lies and trying to put hopelessness, loneliness, and fear into her heart, but God’s Word was stronger than any lie he could have told!

Chains were broken and love was found! My heart was overwhelmed with joy and I continue to rejoice!

On the way home I felt like God wanted me to read John 4. As I was reading verses 35 – 38 stuck out to me.

“You know the saying, ‘Four months between planting and harvest.’ But I say wake up and look around. The fields are already ripe for harvest. The harvesters are paid good wages, and the fruit they harvest is people brought to eternal life. What joy awaits both the planter and harvester alike! You know the saying, ‘One plants and another harvests.’ And it’s true. I sent you to harvest where you didn’t plant; other had already done the work and now you will get to gather the harvest.”

I got harvest what others had planted and I get share this joy with those who planted.  Praise the Lord!

Please join us in prayer for Fatmata.

That her roots will grow deep in the Lord.

That she will be strengthened and anchored in the Lord’s love and goodness through any persecution she may experience from her family.

Pray for the salvation of her family!

That she would allow the Lord to continually grow her and change her heart so that she may look more and more like Jesus.

That she would believe that she is valued and precious in the eyes of the Lord.

Other praises and prayer requests from MCC:

Jonish (Nepali) and two karenni girls also prayed to accept the Lord.

Pray Meh asked for forgiveness for the first time.

Htoo Nay took a deeper step towards Christ.

Htoo Ku Paw wants to start sharing the Gospel and be discipled.

Chhali wants to learn more about Jesus (has not fully accepted him yet).

Ree Mi Ra accepted Christ.

Multiplying a Nepali Leader

A couple weeks ago, Jacob began taking Man into non-believing Nepali homes in order to (1) bridge the gap between Nepali Christians and Nepali Hindus/Buddhists in Los Arcos, (2) to find a faithful disciple for Man, and (3) to allow Man to experience, first-hand, God's vision. One of the adults they met was Ram, a Nepali Hindu (far right in the picture). Like Man, he doesn't speak any English, so communicating can be difficult at times.

Jacob and Man went into the home for the first time last week and shared the gospel with Ram. Like most non-believing Nepali's we've encountered, he was interested to learn but didn't want to follow Jesus. However, he seemed a bit friendlier and open to the message than most, so our team began lifting him up in prayer. Man followed up with him last Sunday, and Ram said at the end that he'd like to go to church with him this weekend to learn more about Jesus!

They've since met with him one more time and have continued sharing truth with him, but there are still a lot of walls that need broken down before he'll be ready to follow Christ. Please be praying for him! Some of the main things to pray for are (1) that he'd recognize following Christ is not 'one of many ways to salvation' but instead the only way to salvation, (2) the God of the Bible, who is Jesus, has created all things and is infinitely more powerful than any man-made god, and (3) that he'd begin experiencing Jesus and His power in many aspects of his life, through dreams, visions, signs and miracles.

Also, please pray for Man to understand God's vision and work in a deeper, more practical way than ever before. Pray for great passion in his life as he aligns every aspect of himself with God's Kingdom!

Unexpected Visit

Tuesday night our team member, Lacey, was praying, asking what God wanted her to do that night. She was planning on meeting with her disciple and was looking for direction for that but she heard, "Go see YeeBwee." YeeBwee was a girl she had been discipling last fall and decided she no longer wanted to be discipled. She lives 30 minutes away from Los Arcos at the Ranchester location and hadn't seen her in a few months. Lacey was hesitant about going because she didn't know if Yeebwee would be there and wasn't sure if she had heard correctly from the Lord. But at the Spirit's prompting she decided to obey and go see her.   

Fortunately, YeeBwee was home and they got to talk for about two hours! Lacey felt like she should ask how YeeBwee had been and what has been happening in her life. During their time together YeeBwee shared that most of her friendships (ones where the people would try to pull her down) had been broken, she had come to a place of recognizing her mistakes, understanding she needs to think before acting, and wanting to grow from these things.    

In the end, Lacey was able to challenge her, give her encouragement, and give her a new perspective on how God sees these situations. As she was leaving she shared how God had told her to go there. YeeBwee then shared how two weeks prior to the visit she was feeling down and praying and felt like God had told her, "Don't worry, Lacey will come visit soon." Please be in prayer for this young lady!    

Prayer points:
-  Pray that YeeBwee would be drawn to the Lord as she has these times of solitude.
-  Pray that she wouldn't anchor her love and hope into anything except the Lord.
-  As she is starting high school, pray that God would lead her to a friend that would build her up and encourage her and point her to the Lord instead of the world.

School is Approaching

Next Wednesday, August 26, Keystone Academy will be starting again! Eleven of the twelve boys have already been decided, and the staff is really looking forward to working with and discipling these boys. The staff has been praying and seeking Christ as they plan all aspects of this upcoming school year. Please join us in prayer for the following things:
1. For christ to be first in every decision made
2. Who the 12th student should be
3. For unity amongst the boys who come from various backgrounds
4. That God would provide the support needed for KA
5. That the withdrawal process from the public school will go smoothly

Carina's Connections

Our intern, Carina, has been faithfully pursuing and praying for a first generation disciple. About 3 weeks ago, she met two little girls, Anna (age 11) and Maria (age 10) at an apartment just around the corner from hers. The girls are Hispanic and have a Catholic background, but are very open to learning more specifically about Jesus. Carina shared the creation to christ story with the girls and began spending time getting to know the girls. Anna, specifically, is very eager to learn more and always wants Carina to teach her more; she has been faithful in carrying out assignments, such as sharing with her friends. There are a few specific ways you can pray for Carina's new connections:
1. Pray for wisdom for Carina on next steps
2. Pray that she knows how much time she should spend with them, especially since they already have a pretty good knowledge of God, though some of their beliefs are not Biblical
3. Pray that her time spent with them is Christ- centered and meaningful
4. Pray that God will be working in their lives

Raising Up a Nepali Leader

For the Salem Oaks team, the main people group we've worked with and that live among us are Nepali, the majority of which are Hindu/Buddhist. So since moving into the apartment complex, we've been praying for a Nepali leader that can help us find in-roads and begin making a network of disciples among their own people. Unfortunately, all that we've met with thus far (as far as the adults go) have been either too busy with church/work/family/friends or simply not interested in being a part of the movement.

But we've worked with Man (pronounced Mon) for a few weeks now, and it's been great to see the Spirit working on his heart and bringing him into the vision. He was Hindu most of his life, but he and his family converted years ago after spending more time with the Nepali Christians. Jacob has been discipling his son Sangay for several months now, but he just recently started discipling Man. They hope to go meet Nepali Hindus together on Sunday.

Please pray that he would give his life to make disciples and launch a movement within the Nepali community and that he and his family would continue drawing closer to Jesus!

A Blessed Week

Wow, what a great week we had. God did some amazing things in the lives of our team, as well as in the lives of our visitors! The training was super impactful and really challenged us in many different areas of our lives. One night, each visitor went out with a team member to practice sharing their testimony. The visitors also got to go into the homes of some disciples of the team members. They were even able to visit our redemptive community groups. Three of the Rejoice members, along with some of our team members, were very encouraged by how summer school went. One day, there were 17 kids there! They learned a lot about America and its culture, but more importantly about Jesus. They participated in a lot of hands on learning activities and heard stories from the word daily! We were in awe of how God showed up, and there are countless stories of people receiving the gospel for the first time, the visiting team being challenged to be more bold in their faith, and our team being blessed and encouraged by the visitors. Please pray for a deep, God- centered connection between the visitors ( Rejoice Church, a couple from MI, and a couple from IN). Also pray for our team to rest and abide in Christ as we prepare for the next season of life, including camp and school!

Here are two pictures of some boys during summer school.