Sharing with Amon

One of our newer team members, Damion, has been meeting with a teen Muslim named Amon. Damion met him and started sharing with him within the first few weeks that Damion had been in Houston and has had favor in Amon's life. A couple weeks ago Damion had asked to start reading through John with Amon and he agreed. Tonight (12/25) they read through John 4. Each conversation they have had has been deep and Amon has had a great curiosity.

Please pray God moves and speaks to Amon and that he may have ears to hear truth. Pray he becomes a first generation disciple and is transformed by the Spirit to lead others into the kingdom.

Thank you!
Merry Christmas!

Next Steps with Da Meh

It is with great joy that we share with you that Da Meh, a 7th grade Karenni girl, got baptized this past weekend! Team member Susana has been very intentional on following up with Da Meh since camp this past August, and she has proven very faithful to wanting to grow deeper with the Lord. She committed her life to Jesus at camp and has been reading her Bible and completing assignments that Susana has given her. The most recent assignment was to read some scripture from Luke 2. Team members Susana, Jenny, and Keri visited Da Meh two Wednesday's ago, and Da Meh shared that she felt very challenged by the scripture. Without prompting, she asked us about baptism, saying that she's ready for the next steps. On Sunday, our team and her mother gathered as she publicly declared her faith in Jesus Christ and her desire to be born again!

Please praying these specific things for Da Meh:

1. That she would say "yes" to being discipled by Susana
2. That she would be a witness to her peers and friends
3. That she would find a first generation disciple and multiply the gospel!

Picture: Susana and Keri baptizing Da Meh

Ezra Update

Here's an update from the Carranza's about Ezra...

"Round three; hospitalized again for the third time in two months. 

My son has been diagnosed with Bullous Mastocytosis, which is not an infectious disease but rather a very rare mast cell disorder. The simplest way to put it is that his mast cells (which are responsible for dealing with allergic reactions and his immune system) are overactive and/or do not function properly causing what looks like a severe allergic reaction (rash, hives, blistering, vomiting, etc). 

There is no cure, it is recurring, and is difficult to prevent. 

These episodes will continue to happen, and my husband and I will continue to diligently seek comfort, strength, and wisdom in Jesus through this for His word says: 

"Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord!" Psalms‬ ‭31‬:‭24‬

Thank you to everyone who has prayed earnestly with us for our son. You can continue to join us in prayer for his healing, peace, endurance, and rest."

A Missional Christmas Party

On Wednesday, team members Susana, Jenny, and Keri will be hosting a special Christmas party for three local girls. All three girls are in 8th-9th grade. Da Meh recently committed her life to the Lord and is faithfully reading her Bible and praying. Onaisa is a Burmese Muslim girl who went to camp and has expressed interest in Jesus; her mother has prohibited her from following Jesus, but has agreed to let her come to our Christmas party. Elizabeth comes from a Buddhist family who recently conformed to Mormonism and have been baptized into the Mormon church by some guys who regularly share their religion in our complex.

At our Christmas party, we plan to do "girly" things like paint nails, decorate gingerbread houses, and open gifts. We will also be sharing the creation to Christ story with Onaisa and Elizabeth! Please pray for their hearts to be opened and for us to have good follow- up with the girls!

Pray for Ali and Wael

Please pray for Ali and Wael (early 20's muslim refugees from the Middle East) as they prepare for baptism and proclaim Jesus as Lord and Savior this weekend.  Here is an account of their salvation story:

----

When I first connected with Ali earlier this year, I sensed through our conversations he was still defending his Islamic roots.  Since then I had little conversations with Ali.  Fast forward three weeks ago, his father Sa'id (new believer) let me know that his son Ali was ready to learn more about Jesus.  So my teammate and I went to their house to investigate further.  Ali also brought his friend Wael (known to our team as Ali's Islamic apologist friend) who also wanted to become a Christian.  We asked why they wanted to become Christian and they responded that a couple of reasons:

• positive influence of his father (a new believer) and other Christians they met

• bad influences from their bosses who were muslim (shady business practices, unfair wages, etc.)

• reflecting on the horrors among muslims back in their Middle East country (persecution, victimization/loss of life among family members, etc.

So I shared my testimony on how I became a follower of Jesus and the inheritance we have as followers of Jesus through the Beatitudes (Matt. 5:3-10).  Then we began to search the Scriptures with them through the arabic/english bibles.  We walked through the "Romans Road", lead them to read Rom. 3:23, Rom. 6:23, John 3:3, John 14:6, Rom. 10:9-10, and Rev. 3:20.  We took one verse at a time and after they recited it in both arabic and english, we asked them what the verses meant to them (guiding them to the key themes of each passage).  After 2 hours of sharing testimony and scripture, they confessed they were sinners and wanted to follow a new way.  So we laid hands and led Ali and Wael to a prayer of repentance and confession anchored on Rom 10:9-10.  In the midst of prayer, spiritual warfare began as Wael's father calls Sa'id (Ali's father) threatening physical retaliation b/c of his son's renouncement of Islam.  Ali and Wael then leaves to quell the quarrel between the families.

We scheduled the following week to work on deep repentance at my apt (12/01/16).  In doing so, they didn't tell their families they were meeting with us to keep the peace between both families.  After sharing the gospel with them again that night, we began to lead them in an exercise confessing:

• personal sins to repent

• occult involvements to renounce

• victimization to release

As our team led the two men into repentance, I guided them through the exercise while engaging in warfare prayer for the group.  After 2 hours of sharing, confessing, and praying against sins/involvements/victimization, we led them in prayer to speak biblical truths over each lie of the enemy.  After this they asked to receive the Spirit, we laid hands on them, anointed them in oil, and led them in asking for the Holy Spirit to fill them with His peace and power in the name of Jesus.

Pray that they will powerfully own the vision to glorify God by multiplying movements of Spirit transformed disciples of Jesus Christ in every nation on earth.  That they will be the first generation disciple in their family tribe to advance the Kingdom of God among their people group in their Islamic country.

​

Under Physical Attack

For a little over 2 weeks now, our team has been struck with a strand of the flu. It has continued to spread throughout nearly the whole team, including kids and babies. This doesn't really come as a surprise to us, as we know we are constantly battling the enemy; he will do everything in his power to distract us from the mission field. Please pray physical healing over our entire team. Also pray that this won't set us back from meeting with our redemptive communities and disciples any longer!

Ezra

Just wanted to give a quick update on some teammates so you can be joining us in prayer. Mario and Alejandra were a part of the Houston team for a little while at the beginning of the year, and have since moved to Los Angeles to help launch the L.A. Keystone team.

They had their first child, Ezra, earlier this year. And about a month ago the baby boy started having lots of unexplained blisters on his skin. He spent some time in the hospital, and the doctors thought it was a type of staph infection. With some treatment the symptoms started disappearing, and they were discharged from the hospital.

But about a week ago the symptoms returned again, and they went back to the doctors for treatment. They were discharged a couple days ago, but the doctors still don't know what is causing the skin problems. Please be praying that Ezra would be healed completely from this and that God's total provision in this area of their lives would propel them to be able to launch this new team effectively!

Praying the Seemingly Impossible

God has opened doors for one of our team members to build a relationship with a local Imam. For the sake of privacy, we are purposely going to not give many details about this and won't be attaching a picture. One of our team members felt led to take their disciple to a nearby mosque and pray around it. The two proceeded to pursue an invitation for food and discussions of Jesus at their home. They saw the door unlocked, and entered, and were met with an Imam. God gave them an opportunity to meet his need at the moment, and give him a ride to complete an errand. Our team member invited him to his home for dinner, but the Imam stated that he was unable to come because if he said yes, that means he would need to visit the homes of all the families that attend the mosque. They ended up negotiating that they could still meet, just at a different place. Very soon, this meeting that will include conversations about Jesus will take place. Please pray against spiritual warfare, for wisdom to live out Luke 10:5-12, and for sharing the gospel through their testimonies of Jesus.

Islam in Los Arcos

In the past 8 months or so, there's been a major influx of Muslim people in Los Arcos. When our team first moved into the complex, nearly 2 years ago, there were only a few African Muslims, and most of the team's outreach into Middle Eastern people groups had to be done in other parts of Houston. The main people groups in Los Arcos have been Nepali (who are mostly Hindu) and Hispanic (mostly nominal Catholic).

A lot of the people moving in, however, are African Muslims, Middle Eastern Muslims and Burmese Muslims. Our new team member, Damion, is an excellent networker, since he builds trust and friendships quickly, so it's been perfect having him in this season. He's spent much of his time here playing with kids at the playground, and that's given him some in-roads with some of the Middle Eastern mothers. Hopefully, he'll be able to use those connections to get into homes and meet the fathers.

Damion has also become good friends with a Burmese Muslim teen, Aman, who recently moved in. He's been especially open to the gospel, and we're excited to see how he responds in the coming weeks. One of the next steps with him is to invite his family to spend Thanksgiving with Damion and Jacob.

Please be praying for our new connections. We believe if there's a certain people group moving into our community it's because God wants to launch a movement among them. Pray for more open doors and open hearts, so we can find the persons of peace among them. And pray that Damion would have wisdom in pursuing a discipling relationship with Aman. Thanks!

A Prayer for Maw La Eh

Team members Susana and Hannah started visiting a Karen woman named Maw La Eh. Maw has been in a wheelchair since she was a child from a terrible sickness she had. She is very poor and there was mold growing all over her apartment. Our team members were able to take formula to Maw for her youngest child, and she was beyond grateful. There was a Book of Mormon in their home, and when Susana and Hannah asked her about it, they said they can't read and allowed the girls to take it and throw it away. This opened up an opportunity for Susana to share with them the false things that the Mormons believe. They were able to share the Creation to Christ story with Maw using the Five Fish App, and they said they have never heard it. They said they wanted to hear and learn more. Susana told them to listen to some more stories before they come back, and to keep track of any questions they may have. Susana and Hannah plan to bring Maw an audio version of the Bible next time they visit. Please pray that Maw's heart would be open to receiving the gospel and that she would stay faithful to meeting with our team members!

Picture: Maw holding Hannah's son, Zadok.

New Intern

We are so excited to have a new intern here on location with us. Damion is 21 years old and comes to us from Indiana. After battling a variety of addictions throughout his teenage years and searching for something to complete him, Damion found Jesus a little over two years ago. His passion for sharing with the lost (specifically with teenagers) is strong and he is so excited to be joining our team. Please be praying that he can find a local job, that he can find a disciple, and that he will impact the city of Houston while he is here. Damion just completed the month long Keystone Project Training in South Dakota and is looking forward to putting all that he learned into practice.
Picture: Joe(left) and Damion (right)

Opening Up

Recently Srijana, Lacey's contact, has been opening up about her fear. At nights she sleeps in her room alone with her two young boys, 10 months and 3 years, because her husband works at night. She has said she's afraid of ghosts at night and sometimes she hears noises. In Nepal it was much worse. About a month or more ago she asked for a bible because she feels it helps her sleep better. I (Lacey) was able to tell her that it wasn't the book specifically that was going to remove the fear but the words inside it. This past week she asked me to pray that her fear would be gone completely. I know God wants to remove this and more from her, only not through my prayers but through hers.

I know she sees Jesus has power, God has shown himself to her and her family. She even grew up learning about Christ, so she knows some of the stories.

Please pray that:
Srijana would take great leaps towards Christ.
She would fully surrender, repent, renounce, and cast out.
She wouln't let tradition, religion, or fear of persecution hold her back from full life with Christ.
Her fear would be removed because of her full faith in Jesus.

Thank you and God bless your week!

Setting a New Foundation

Hey guys, just an update on Santa's dad, Bal. As I mentioned a few weeks back Bal was Hindu his whole life and opposed the gospel for some time. But after we (Santa and Jacob) kept ministering to him and after a prophetic dream he decided to accept Christ!

He started attending the Nepali church fellowship right away (there are meetings every Sunday and Wednesday), but no one was really teaching him what following Jesus actually means or looks like. Santa was really busy with work, and I couldn't meet with him without someone to translate.

But last week, I decided to start taking my 11-year-old disciple Rekesh to translate (left side of the picture), with the purpose of teaching all the basics of Christianity. (I didn't really like this idea at first because it's a bit culturally awkward for young Nepali people to translate for adults, but I eventually decided there's no other good option.) Both times that we've met with him he's invited us to come daily, so as long as he's faithful to finish the assignments we give him we'll probably go there often.

Some of the things we hope to impart to him in the coming weeks are (1) a full understanding of the gospel, (2) his new identity in Christ, (3) Christianity is a relationship, not a set of rules, (4) daily disciplines, (5) a lifestyle of repentance and growth, (6) following the Holy Spirit, and (7) the Great Commission. Or at least those are the ones that come to mind off the top of my head. :)

Please be praying for Bal, so he continues growing in Christ. He's the head of his household, so he has a lot of potential influence in Los Arcos, and all that Jesus needs from him is a willing heart. Please pray (1) that I would know what to teach and how to teach it, (2) that he would understand everything clearly despite hearing problems and despite Rekesh' limited knowledge of the language, and (3) that Bal would passionately seek to apply the things we're teaching rather than simply add them to his knowledge. Thanks!

Transitions

These two weeks we have felt small. Different members have been traveling the last half of October. Three members just returned from various trips and three members just took off for the South Dakota staff retreat in Keystone. The Veilmans left at the beginning of the month and will return after the staff retreat. Richie is also transitioning out of the team per leading of the Holy Spirit to return to school to achieve a degree.

• Pray God would continue to move in and through him in that place and that the Kingdom would come as he pursues how God wants to use him in this new season of life.

After the South Dakota training we will be gaining one member, Damion.

• Pray for those at the training that they would leave the training empowered and go back into their home countries or new homes ready to make disciples and see God move in a mighty way.
• Pray that Damion would adjust well in Houston and God would grow his heart for the lost in this place.

As everyone returns from travels we will have a fall retreat Women on November 4th, men on the 5th and 6th and everyone together for team time on the night of the 7th.

• Please pray for that time that we would be able to rest together in the presence of God and be able to get refocused on the mission.

Thank you and God bless you all!

Kingdom Girls Group

Every Wednesday evening, anywhere from 5-16 girls meet for Kingdom Girls Group in Susana's apartment. The leaders of the group are team members Susana, Mehmor, and Ashika. The purpose of this redemptive community is to give the local middle school and high school girls who follow Jesus a time to learn more about Jesus and how they can share Jesus with the lost. Our prayer is that from this group, generations of disciples will be made. We're also praying and trying to find who the leaders of this group are, and then spend time taking those specific girls out on mission throughout the week. Since we have been meeting, we've seen more of an intentionality of sharing the gospel from the girls. We're currently working on personal testimonies and how to share them. Please be praying for this group and for the girls to feel empowered to share with others and confident in who they are in Christ!

Night of Worship

Saturday October 8th we held a night of worship at Sunblossom Mountain. 20-30 people attended. We worshiped in song, prayed for the community and took time to listen to the voice of God.
Through this we had a couple opportunities to meet more neighbors and share again with contacts we already had. Joe was able to chat with Muhammad for awhile and below is Chris' testimony:

At our night of worship. I saw a large family of 7+ that were in the apartment above where we were worshipping. there was a boy aged maybe 9 years old who was watching us. I felt that God is going to use this boy to bring many to faith, but how will he if he has not heard. Went to share with the family and found out they are Karenni Buddhists in Apt. 1122. Please pray for them and that Susanna and the Karenni girls are able to share more with them.

Please pray:

• For the young adults to continue to grow in likeness and love for the Lord. 
• Muhammad's heart to soften and be receptive to Jesus.
• For follow up with this new family.

Thank you!
May God bless you and may more and more peace abound in your home.

Discipleship Training in India

Near the end of September, team member, Joe, went on a week long trip to New Delhi India. Joe's brother, Tim, along with his wife Loren, are joining the Keystone Project LA team. Tim and Joe went to India together to join Richard and Marge Greene in leading over 50 church leaders/ disciple makers in a week long discipleship training. They came along-side their Indian partner, Shammagum, who has devoted his life to spreading the gospel in his home country. India has 1.3 billion people, and only 2.1% of them are professing Christians. 95% of the population is UNREACHED, and 2,026 people groups have never heard the gospel of Jesus Christ. Joe personally coached 12 men and remains in contact with them as they are putting in to practice what was taught. Please be praying for the unreached people of India, for those from the training to feel empowered to launch disciple making movements, and for future trips to India.

October Keystone Training

Our annual October training starts tomorrow in Keystone, SD. This is a very important training because, not only do we have international leaders from around the world attending, but we also have several of our U.S. leaders attending for the first time.

Just from the Houston team, we have Jerome and Jenny, LJ and Chris who will be there all month. Jerome and Jenny moved on site with our team months ago, but Jenny has not yet attended a Keystone training, so we believe this will serve to unify both their family and our team.

Damion, a young man from Indiana, recently felt called by God to join our team, so he'll be attending the October training for the first time and plans to move on site with us afterward. And Chris' friend Kiegan has been living in Keystone and is considering the possibility of the joining our team after the month is over. Please be in prayer for these leaders!

Finally, we've been planning to start a small mission team in Los Angeles soon, and the 6 or so potential members will be using this month to get to know each other and become unified around God's vision. So this could be an important launch for that team.

And as always for these types of trainings, we're praying this month will equip dozens of international Christian leaders to go back to their countries and launch disciple-making movements. Thanks for the prayers!

Ministry with Santa

Since getting back from Haiti, I (Jacob) have been trying hard to connect with my disciple Santa. He’s been faithful ever since I’ve known him (we met and started doing ministry together back in April or so), but for the past couple months he seemed to be dodging me. I had just about given up on him and was walking outside to start searching for another potential disciple, but Santa’s mom saw me and started motioning toward her apartment (she doesn’t know any English) to indicate he was actually home at the time. So I met with him and worked to re-awaken a passion within him.

Apparently his disciple Buddhi Man had become really busy with work and didn’t want to do ministry anymore. But in the past week Santa and I have met with a new guy, Ram, a couple times and have cast the vision to him. So Santa is discipling him, meeting with him at least a few times a week to help him live a Kingdom life. As we talked with him, Ram was excited about the idea of sharing the gospel with his friends. Next steps with him are probably to go through repentance with him and teach him spiritual disciplines.

Also, about 3 months ago I sat down with Santa’s Hindu dad, Bal, to minister to him. To give some background, Santa came to Christ about a year ago, and Santa’s mom converted a few months after that. Even though Santa would minister to his dad week after week, his dad’s heart remained hard as stone. And when I met with him he was just as stubborn; the logic he kept coming back to was, “I was born Hindu, and I will die Hindu. I want you guys to continue following Jesus, but it’s just too late for me to change my ways.”

So anyway, after that conversation, God started convicting Bal that he’s bringing his family down, whereas he should be helping and leading them; as he described it to me, he basically felt like he was being a stick in the mud. Last week, then, he had a dream where Jesus showed him how his wife and son are both in the book of life, but he is nowhere to be found in the book. Bal wanted to be with his family, so he asked Jesus to write his name in the book, and Jesus said, “It doesn’t work like that. You must go, change your life and follow me, and then come back.”

So last week, Bal finally decided to give his life to Christ! And he has put all the Hindu things out of his home and stopped praying to the Hindu gods. Santa and I hope to meet with him later this week to teach him the basics of Christianity.

Please be in prayer for these guys, so God’s Kingdom will be multiplied here. Pray that Bal would understand that Christianity is a relationship, not a set of rules, and that he would lead his family and be a light in the community. Pray that Santa would have the wisdom and diligence to effectively disciple Ram, and that Ram would become a man of discipline and character in order to shine his light effectively. Thanks!

Camp Follow-Ups and Keystone Academy

A couple quick updates…

Everyone on the team has worked hard to follow up with each of the 100 kids or so that went to camp, and we’ve been encouraged to see so many remaining faithful after their transformational camp experience. 3 of the guys that had prayed to commit their lives to Christ wanted to be baptized, so we did that a couple weeks after camp.

One of our main goals in following up with them was that we could help the kids to be super passionate about establishing the Kingdom around them as they go back into the school system. And now many of the kids have 1 or 2 classmates that they’re focusing on sharing the gospel with. A few of them have even tried sharing the gospel with their teachers. Please be praying for receptive hearts!

There are also about 7 kids from camp that were identified by the counselors as leaders, so we’ve been meeting with those guys and girls once a week for leadership development.

And one of the counselors has been intrigued by our model of discipleship, so she’s hung out with us a few times since camp to see what our ministry is about.

On a separate note, because of some logistical issues we decided not to continue Keystone Academy this year (the school we started for refugee boys), so we spent a few weeks meeting with the previous students to prepare them to go back into the public school system. We believe Keystone Academy has successfully molded them into godly leaders, so we’re excited to see how they influence the schools they go into. Anyway, please pray that all those boys would not fall back into their old lifestyles, but rather would bring a fresh move of the spirit to the school system. Thanks!

Praise God!

Today we got word that another brothel in Sunblossom Mountain apartments has been shut down!
The first was Jerome and Jenny's old apartment. Oh, how the Lord redeems his land! Let us rejoice together!

Loving June Be and Nu Git

August 5th:

Catherine, Susana, and I (Keri) visited a Burmese Muslim family in mountain last night. We were able to share the gospel with them. They listened and asked questions. They are by far the poorest family I've seen since we've been here.  Their house was very heavy. No A/C on at first, no food whatsoever, rats running everywhere, and they're both sick, especially the lady. We were able to buy them some food and we're all going to pitch in so Susana can take her to the doctors next week. She's going blind, high blood pressure, and lots of other complications.

A few things I realized/ learned:
- there are lost people all around us in our complexes, we just have to be willing to "go"

- though we may fee intimated when sharing the gospel, especially with Muslims, they'll generally always end up thanking us for sharing with them

Please join us in praying for June Be and Nu Git. They allowed us to pray over their health in Jesus' name.

August 22nd:

June Be's blood work came back and she has been diagnosed with diabetes and asthma. We're taking her to the doctor now for a follow up so she can learn how to deal with these to start feeling better. Please pray for opportunities to share Jesus with her.

The first time we prayed for June be husband pain in his stomach, it worked. He told us today the pain hadn't returned since we prayed in Jesus' name. But then again tested us and had us pray for another pain. As soon as we finished he said "It's gone!"

August 26th:

Susana and I are taking June Be and her husband to the eye doctor today. 

Pray for continued conversations about Jesus.

Keri and Susana have been faithfully following up with these two, loving them and lifting the curse in their life naturally and supernaturally. And Jesus has been revealing himself in big ways to them.

Please pray for this couple to see the light and love of Christ through Keri and Susana.

Pray they would recognize the truth of the Gospel and that hope and peace would be restored in their family through the blood of the Lamb.

Thanks!

Kingdom Girls Redemptive Community

On Wednesday, we had our first gathering for our new Kingdom Girls Redemptive Community group. This group is led by Burmese team member, Susana, and overseen by team member, Keri. There has been a need for quite some time now to figure out a way to challenge, encourage, and spur on a lot of the local junior high girls who have either been disciples in the past, or recently given their lives to Christ. This group is a great opportunity for Keri to empower Susana, and in turn, for Susana to work with these girls. The goal of this group is to help the girls to have someone regularly pouring into them so that they can be stronger in their faith and have guidance in making disciples. We had 11 girls at our first meeting, so please be praying for the direction of this group, for Susana as she grows in her leadership skills, and for us to have wisdom on who the leaders among these girls are!

Multi-Cultural Camp 2016

Thanks for all the prayers for camp a couple weeks ago! Here are a few of the highlights from the week…

Keri:
All seven of the girls in my cabin re-dedicated their lives to Jesus! They have all already committed their lives to Jesus, but five of the seven girls (the five who live in or next to my apartment complex) strayed away from the Lord this past year, falling into the temptations of their peers. They were very excited to have some spiritual Guidance, and were like sponges soaking everything in!

Chris B.:
At camp I mostly interacted with Zar Kit, a Burmese Muslim kid. God really laid him on my heart. He and I really connected, and in a way he looked up to me. Joe Hutchinson would clue us in on the stirring and curiosity in Zar’s heart, which only propelled us to pray for him more. It was an incredible thing to later see Zar accept Christ in tears with counselor Peanut. With Zar in tears and Peanut saying his goodbye to Zar, Zar and I walked together, and he was still in tears. I just put my arm around him, and I was just so full of joy that Zar was experiencing God’s love. I just spoke to him some words of encouragement and that God had much that he wanted to use him for and that his life was just beginning. When I got back to Houston, it was funny, because I ran into Zar twice by accident. Before camp, I had never even seen Zar before. I feel God was teaching me how deep his love is and how much he wants us to see His Glory as painted through His creation and His people. Excited for Joe and Kyaw to begin discipling Zar!

Joe:
This year of camp was unique due to the amount of Muslims that we brought to camp. Kyaw has personally taken it upon himself to be intentional with them, therefore many of his friends came. In his group there were 7 boys, 4 of them being Burmese Muslim. God spoke to them and we could see their wheels turning, and we really realized He was up to something on Cross talk night. 3 of the 4 Muslim boys said that they would seriously consider Jesus but that they had a few questions.
I followed up with Zar after camp, whom Chris was mostly investing in. And at this point I do not feel comfortable calling him a follower of Christ yet, but he is willing to do some searching on his own and some assignments that I have given to him. Kyaw is currently teaching him how to have a quiet time so that he can process Scripture while he is on his journey. I still feel extremely good about his growth, and I am praying that he will soon be a disciple.

Xavier
Another student who I saw the most change in was a 13 year old boy named Tiger Three, a Karen Buddhist. With this particular boy, we’ve shared the gospel many times, but there was never any commitment. It wasn't until camp that I saw that God had filled him with the Spirit and I saw a fire in him that was eager and ready to learn more about Jesus and willing to go out and share to those who have never heard of Him. There was one night where he wrote a scenario where he was sharing the gospel with his friends, and as I heard it all I got a clear picture of how the Spirit was at work in his life. We now have a new member to God's Kingdom and a fired up disciple!

Meh Mor:
Koung Mo, the one that go by her nickname Doe Meh, gave her life to Christ at camp. Her family background is Buddhist. She said she never heard about Jesus Christ before, and she was so happy to learn about God at camp. She was hungry for God and she asked several questions. After she accepted Christ and asked us to pray over her to be filled with the Spirit, it looks like she received wisdom from God, and she understands deep spiritual truths very quickly. She knew what God wants her to do, and she is excited to do them. She wants to share with others about what she learned from camp, and I'll follow up with her. Please pray for her that she will be faithful to God and follow the 10 steps (5 things to do and pray everyday) that I showed her. She also always puts others before herself. She loves the quote, "God first, other's second, and I'm third". Pray that she will be able to apply these words to her life. She is 11 years old.

Haiti

Thanks for the prayers for the Haiti training by the way! We (LJ, Julio and Jacob) spent about a week training a group of pastors and leaders in the city of Grandgoave (the city where Julio lives). And then we spent a week just meeting one-on-one with some of the key leaders from that training.

            Most of the leaders haven’t really been exposed to the idea of discipleship/multiplication, so it’s really going to take a major lifestyle change for many leaders if this movement is going to be successful. The primary religion in Haiti is Catholicism, and hence the Protestants there have an unhealthy value for the institutional church. They work hard to draw people into the church meetings, and they spend as much time as they can ‘doing church’.

We did a Keystone training a few years ago, and what we’ve seen is that the 2013 training spurred on many leaders there to be engaging the lost through evangelism. But I can’t say that anyone really caught the vision for discipleship at that time, at least in the sense that Jesus modeled it. So we spent more time this training showing, practically, what discipleship looks like and how to effectively equip those disciples to multiply.

 There were many that came up to us throughout the week just to say that the training was exactly what they needed in this season. And the week that we spent following up with those leaders seemed to be really effective. We were able to sit down with them and write out some practical, strategic plans to begin launching movements. Within just a few days following the training, a few of them had already begun sharing the gospel with the lost, looking for their 1^st generation disciple.

We finished the training Thursday the 28^th. And one of the leaders went home that day and spent a couple days praying and fasting for a movement. God laid it on his heart to go to another part of the city, which he did, and he started talking to people there. He met 3 young men who were very interested in joining the vision, so this leader began discipling them. In the end, just a week following the training he was already taking some of his new disciples to share the gospel with others in the community.

Many throughout the city heard about the training, and so we received several invitations to teach at various churches. Jacob ended up sharing with 3 different congregations during his second week there, and every single person from those meetings made commitments to begin making disciples (almost 200 people). And after LJ and Jacob had left, Julio held a mini-training for many others that were begging to learn about discipleship.

Please be praying for all these leaders, that God would bring them the key disciples that will launch a movement. And pray that the leaders would have great wisdom to know how to disciple other leaders effectively, even though no one has necessarily shown them what each part of the process should look like.

Julio will stay there as long as he needs to help get the movement going. And if most of the people we trained work through the 2^nd generation within 6 months either LJ or Jacob will likely go back to follow up with everyone. 

Recent Prayer Requests

Hey guys, here are some brief updates on various disciples...

Jerome and I will specifically be meeting with our 3 graduates from KA over the next few weeks. Please pray for direction and insight to launch them off into being disciple makers

-Joe

For me the biggest requests would be is

1. Transitioning Lah Kpro out of my overseeing and for him to continue to be faithful and proactive as a disciple.

2. For Kyaw and Lah as leaders of Boys group. So far they've done a great job and so I want that to continue to be the case.

-Xavier

I met with some nepali boys that went to camp last year yesterday. And seemed pretty convicted about not being faithful to Jesus. And they're being rekindled now, pray that they would give their life to Jesus and not look back. True spiritual transformation not a camp experience that will fade. their names are Monaj, ardash, and kiran

-Richie

Pray Hayder (came to Christ and continues to be the light of Christ for his family) will serve his wife Hannah well and she sees Jesus in him.

-Jerome

Pray specifically for Bar, Swar, and Zar. They are all Soul's brothers. They live under us. They're going to camp and we've been spending time with that whole family, believing that God can work supernaturally and open their eyes to the real truth. A Burmese Muslim family.

-Keri

Just met with Tae. God is still moving in him and giving him some revelations of truth from His Word. Pray protection over Him as he is still learning to hear God's voice and interpret His Word.

-Joe

Also Jacob and LJ will be taking off for Haiti tomorrow. Please pray for the training they will be having there.

Also pray for Multicultural Camp. We will be leading about 115 kids through 5 sessions on the Promises of God. This will take place August 7 - 10.

Thank you and God Bless!

Tae's Kingdom Experience

Today God was active in advancing his Kingdom! Jerome met Tae a few months ago. But just recently God brought them back together, and after talking a bit Tae wanted to confess and repent of his past and fully enter into God's amazing purposes for his life. After 7.5 hours of praying, listening, confessing, spiritual warfare, testimonies, and even tears, we can proudly proclaim that Jesus had a great victory today over Satan! Tae truly was hearing from God today, and he is one of those guys that gets me (Joe) excited to see what God is going to do, as I feel like none of us really knows his full Kingdom potential through Christ! This was one of the best mornings I have ever had. Please join in with us and be praying for him as he gets ready to take the next steps in his faith. To God be the Glory!

Side note that shows how awesome God is: he lives in our dear friends' (Hannah Brougher, Katie Riley, and Sara Vaughn) old apartment!

Commissioning Shabiswa

One of our main disciples, Shabiswa, decided recently that he'll be moving to Ohio to be near some family there. He's the main leader of the 3 other Nepali men we're discipling in Los Arcos, so we're praying this transition goes as smoothly as possible. We spent much of the evening Thursday just strategizing with Sabisua how he can multiply disciples in Ohio, so he's excited for the work God has for him there.

We could use your prayers throughout this transition though. (1) Please pray that God would prepare him completely before he leaves, and that our leaders would know how to invest into him during this time. He'll probably leave in about 2 weeks. (2) Pray that God would prepare leaders in Ohio, that they'd be ready to be transformed by Sabisua and make other disciples (I think the city is Cincinnati). (3) Please pray that Santa would really take up ownership of the movement in Los Arcos, so that the other disciples don't fall away. Santa's disciple Buddhi Man will also try to start discipling his brother-in-law Bishal this week, so he could use prayer for boldness and direction. Thanks guys!

Haiti Training

In about 2 and a half weeks, LJ and I (Jacob) will leave for Haiti. We’ll be doing a couple Keystone trainings there, teaching believers how to follow the Spirit in launching disciple-making movements. And these trainings will hopefully help change that country as people learn how to establish God’s Kingdom more effectively. One of our goals is to also find leaders there that will own the vision enough to continue multiplying Keystone leaders in the years to come, even without direct involvement from us.

           

For now, Julio will be the primary leader of the Haiti movement, and we’re praying that God will use this training to bring some leaders alongside him. Julio came to the U.S. from Haiti about 7 years ago, and I met him here in Houston back in 2013. He was a volunteer pastor at his church at the time, and he was working as a security guard at the hotel I work at. We were both working 3^rd shift, so I began using the long nights with him to share God’s vision and explain the work of the Kingdom.

           

The idea of making disciples that make disciples was really transformational in his life, because pretty much all of his time up until this point was being used to simply gain Biblical knowledge and perpetuate the programs inside of his church building. So in the months following, he joined the Keystone team, moved in with me and began making disciples with us.

I went with Julio a few years ago back to his home to train fellow Christian leaders, and we saw many people embrace a new Kingdom lifestyle. Now, we hope to use this training to follow up with some of them as well as train some new leaders. This is exciting for the Houston team, since a goal has always been to find internationals here, equip them, and send them back to their countries as missionaries. Julio will leave in 2 days to go home to get everything ready, and he knows he might never be able to come to the states again.

After living back in his country for a month he would have to re-apply for a visa to the U.S. (which is nearly impossible to get for someone who's finished college already), but he has such a deep desire to see a movement launched there that he feels there's no other option. His father and two brothers continue to advise him to stay in the states, just because the Haitian economy is so awful, but the call God has placed on his heart has been clear.

The reason I'm posting this a few weeks in advance is because I believe it's extremely important that God begins preparing people's hearts now, even before we get there. We want to see some movements launched that will change the country, and that means people's hearts need to be ready to receive His call (both amongst believers and non-believers).

So please join us in praying (1) that God will prepare the ground there for a fresh move of the Spirit; (2) that the right people, and only those people, will attend; and finally (3) that LJ, Julio and I would prepare the right teachings, in the right way, so we'll be able to speak deep into their lives. Thanks guys!

Vision Casting

Sunday, June 19th Lacey met with 4 African women and shared God's heart for the lost with them. She shared from 2 Kings 7:3-11 with them, how the lepers knew it wasn't right to keep the good news from those who were in famine still. She challenged them think about who Jesus is, what he came for, and what their purpose and role is in life/in the kingdom. Discussion went well and one or two of the ladies really understood the deeper meaning of the story. She hopes to get the women together again and challenge them to share the Gospel with a co-worker or someone they know who doesn't know Jesus.

Please pray for a desire in them to know Christ intimately.
Pray for their hearts and minds to grasp the immensity of God's heart for the lost and for the nations.
Pray that their love for God and burden for the lost would compel them to share.
Pray they would lead their children in this as well and their entire househould would seek the Kingdom of God.

Hyder's Hope

Team members Xavier and Jerome have recently been working with Hyder, an Iraqi man who got saved nine months ago while living in Jordan. He has now been in the states for 4 months, and besides his youngest son, Sajiid, who recently accepted Jesus, the rest of his family (his wife and 5 other children) remain Muslim. Our team has specifically been praying to reach heads of house, as well as Muslim families!

Here are some specific ways that you can join us in praying:
1. wisdom on next steps with these men
2. Opportunities to work with the entire family, leading them all to Christ
3. For Hyder and Sajjid to be empowered
4. Hyder to have opportunities to minister to his Muslim friends at work (he's a mechanic)
5. A new job opportunity for Sajjid, as he is currently working at a night club

Multiplying Nepali Disciples

Almost 2 months ago I (Jacob) had the privilege to start discipling Santa, a Nepali man (about 23 years old) who grew up in a Hindu family. Up until about 8 months ago he spent most of his time hanging out with his friends, drinking and partying. But God placed a few Christian friends in his life who convinced him to join a Nepali church in the area. The Spirit changed Santa’s heart pretty radically, and within a few weeks he had given his life to Christ and stopped drinking, smoking, partying and hanging out with his old friends.

Even without anyone telling him to do so, he had a desire a be in God’s Word daily and started reading through the New Testament. He also led his Hindu mother to Christ (though his dad has yet to renounce his Hindu beliefs). About 2 months ago, then – by God’s leading, no doubt – Santa randomly came across Sabisua (my disciple since December). Sabisua told him how God had similarly transformed his life after becoming my disciple, and he encouraged Santa to get connected with me.

So I met him and began discipling him. At this point he’s finished the New Testament and is up through Exodus in the Old Testament. Santa was praying daily for a disciple for at least a month, and I finally had a chance to join him in visiting one of his friends a few weeks ago, a Nepali man, Buddhi Man. That night, after we shared with him God’s heart for the nations, Buddhi Man excitedly declared he will be a disciple and help us finish God’s work! Santa has been discipling him since.

That said, we now have 4 faithful adult men in Los Arcos: my main disciples are Sabisua and Santa – Sabisua is discipling Kharka and Santa is discipling Buddhi Man.

I believe these men are the result of much prayer, both from our team and from prayer warriors such as yourselves, as well as from those that have come before us. Please continue to lift up these men, as well as the Los Arcos Nepali community in general.

Please pray Santa would effectively disciple Buddhi Man, and that Buddhi Man would grow to be faithful and hungry for the presence of God. And please pray that these 4 men would continue to multiply in the coming weeks, especially reaching into the Hindu population of the Nepali people. Thanks guys!

New Team Members Move In

On Saturday, Jerome and Jenny moved in to their new apartment in Sunblossom Mountain. Our team gathered together and prayed over their entire apartment. This is a huge answer to prayer, as now they are on site! Please be praying for this new transition for their family; they are expecting their first child in just 7 more weeks. We are so excited for Jerome and Jenny to be here because they're huge assets to our team. Also, we were told by a team member who works in the office at the apartment complex that prior to Jerome and Jenny moving in, their apartment was used as a brothel. We've renounced and prayed against any of these spirits that may be attached to this home. Join us in praying spiritual warfare prayer for the family and their home.

Picture: some of the local boys/ disciples praying over the porch.

Commissioning the Rejoice Team

Thanks for all the prayers last week! Our time with the Rejoice team went really well. Our focus throughout the week was to give them a greater dependence on the voice, power and leading of the Holy Spirit. And that’s exactly what many of them said they will change as they go back home.

It was great to watch the Spirit work on their hearts each day and confirm the things we were teaching. One of the ladies had a dream one of the nights about a camera, and the next day they met and ministered to a person who shared a random story about her camera. They believed God was confirming this was a person that we should continue following up with.

Another from the team was convicted by a day of training which focused heavily on the leading of the Spirit. He had never experienced the voice of God before, but he wanted to become more obedient in that way. That evening as we prayed and listened with him, he felt the Spirit speak to him ‘Galatians 5:25’. He hadn’t read Galatians before, but he turned there and read the verse, “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” He was encouraged that God was confirming what he’d already been learning.

In addition to several other testimonies like these, we got to pray with a couple of the boys on the Rejoice team who had never officially accepted Christ into their lives. They had always just assumed that they were saved because they were involved with the church, but it had never evolved into a personal relationship with Christ.

Here’s Tim’s (the Rejoice team leader’s) response after the week. This was his 2^nd year here.

“Had a phenomenal week in Houston with our Jr Highers! We were able to experience salvations, international ministry, the Holy Spirit in new ways, and so much more. Thank you to The Keystone Project Houston Team for being great hosts and investing into us! I pray that we are able to apply what we learned and experienced back here in Owasso. To God be the glory!”

Rejoice Team

Today a group of about 20 students and parents from Rejoice Church in Oklahoma will be arriving! This is their second year joining our team for a one week mission trip. Various members of our team will be teaching and training this group on how to share their testimony and how to reach the lost. The group will be staying in the different team members' homes and will have a lot of opportunities to practice what they're learning. Please pray for the following:
1. That our team and their team will be spirit led
2. For a focus and depth with limited distractions, as our team has had 3 extended family members pass away this week
3. For spiritual fruit
4. For the students to leave feeling both challenged and empowered

Returning to Houston

As many of you know, Polo has been a disciple for about 3 years now. He's been our main leader in Port Lavaca, where he's lived for the past couple years. And today he's traveling to Houston to stay for the summer again. This will be his 3rd summer living with Jacob.

Please be in prayer for him, that this summer would be very impactful for him. Since he's shown faithfulness for a while now, we hope to actually involve him a bit more with our team, rather than just being involved with the boys here. And we'd like to see God really give him a vision and passion for discipleship this summer, so that he commits to establishing God's Kingdom the rest of his life, wherever that may take him.

A Prayer for Ma Ei Ei

For the past 37 years, a Burmese lady named Mah Ei Ei has been following Buddha. She came over to the USA from Malaysia almost 3 years ago. After 12 years of being married and unable to get pregnant, it was suggested to them that they ask God for a child. They got pregnant, and their son is now 14 months old. They couldn't believe that God had given them a son. Team member, Susana, connected with Ma Ei Ei a month ago. She told Susana that she follows Buddha, but also believes in God because he gave her a child. Susana and Catherine were able to share the creation to Christ story with her, and she shared that if/when she decides to follow Christ, her family and friends will oppose her. Susana began praying for next steps, and felt that Keri was supposed to share her testimony with Ma Ei Ei. In the end, Ma Ei Ei said she believes in Jesus, and that she would like for all of us to pray that the Lord would specifically speak to her, so that when she shares with her family that she follows Jesus, she will be able to explain the personal encounter that she had with him, instead of saying "so and so said I should follow him." Please pray that she would completely deny herself, Buddha, and any other idols in her life and completely follow the one TRUE God!

Finding Leaders Amongst Refugees

For the past year or so the Houston team living in Los Arcos has been actively praying for leaders that we could invest our lives into. We know that it’s going to take the right people with the right giftings to launch a movement, but we’ve found it’s not so easy to find those people. Like many seasons we’ve found ourselves in, we’ve been reminded that the only way we’ll see success is through a supernatural work of the Spirit.

Some of the men we’ve poured our lives into within the complex in the past year are Man (Sangay’s dad), Mani (the deaf couple), and Sabisua. Man was pretty faithful for a while, but he struggled a lot to teach others, due to his introverted nature and lack of education, so he soon lost interest in the mission altogether.

And Mani has remained pretty faithful, having cut himself off from the Mormons’ influence and started attending a Christian church regularly, as mentioned a while back. But we never got very far with him just because were unable to find a willing and able interpreter. Finally, Sabisua continues to be a disciple and is actively pursuing his disciple Karkha. However, it’s going to take some time to work through some of his character issues before the Spirit has complete freedom to work in and through him, simply because he’s still new to the faith.

But we’ve been encouraged by a new contact recently, an African Muslim man, Tambwe. He’s a guy in his mid-50’s from the Congo who moved to the States about 2 months ago. Jacob met him soon after Tambwe arrived to Los Arcos, and he started going to his home regularly to minister to him. It turns out his parents and siblings are all Christian, but since he converted to Islam at a young age he’s rooted pretty deeply in that faith. He’s been super friendly with us, even as we share with him about Jesus.

We were especially intrigued by his background. He was a high school teacher most of his life, and has always shown natural leadership skills. One day, a man approached him with a job offer for a refugee organization, and Tambwe accepted. So he became the president of the Youth Society amongst refugees in the Congo, and he held that position 10 years before moving here. While living there, several people encouraged him to work toward becoming the president of the Congo, just because of his leadership anointing, and he believes Allah brought him here to prepare him for that presidency someday.

Every time Jacob goes to Tambwe’s apartment he shares some of the supernatural things Jesus is doing in our midst, such as healings, dreams and prophetic words. And we told him that we’ll begin praying for Jesus to visit him in his dreams to confirm what we have been saying. We’d like to ask you guys to be praying for such supernatural works in his life, since that might be the only way he’ll really believe us. If he does realize the truth about Jesus, I believe God could use him in a mighty way back in his country and beyond. (And we’ll try to get a picture of him soon :)

Soul and Ali

Soul and Ali are Burmese Muslim. The Hutchinsons have been spending time talking about their past and trying to learn more about why they are who they are. Last night, a very good (long) conversation happened in which Ali and Joe agreed that they will start meeting weekly. Ali will share things from the Quaran, and Joe will share things from the Bible. They will then, together, pursue what the truth and only way is. Please pray for this family's hearts to be open to the gospel! (Pictured are Soul, Ali, Kimberly, and Jasmine)

Mang

The little girl on the left, Mang, decided to follow Jesus about one week ago! Keri and her daughters frequently take walks around the apartment complex and Mang always wants to follow them and ask them a ton of questions, as any 6 year old does. When Keri was on a walk on this particular day, Mang asked,"Can I follow you?" Keri's daughter, pictured above, had some chalk she was playing with. Keri felt the spirit promoting her to share the creation to Christ story with this precious girl. Mang was amazed, and said she had never heard of Jesus. She wanted to accept Jesus in her life and asked if she can share about Jesus with all her friends! Please pray for wisdom for Keri in pursuing this relationship, and for her family to be accepting and go also be open to the gospel!

Update from Nepal

These are Ashika's last two updates to us:

just a update on Bishnu and Dena and other stuff. Bishnu auntie and others girls who are with her are doing lot of great stuff like they went back to there old villages and shared Gospel with them lot of them were Christan but went back to old relagion they accpeted   Jesus again.
Bishnu Auntie told me one of the Girl who comes to her house helped her friend accept Jesus just by talking on phone and she is going to catch up with her. And about Dena auntie,she is still working with her neighbor . She told me people comes to her house now and asks her to pray for them or for their kids even they have not accept Jesus yet they are beginning to see the truth.
And update on That old grandma we prayed for her at Dena's Auntie house ,last time when I met her we prayed for her again and asked her to pray too. Day after we prayed for her she was totally different person ,she was all happy and laughing ,she was walking around . She looked very healthy. Her face was glowing. Even I was surprised! 
Lot of things are happening people are interested on learning new things and asking about how to make disciples. Last Saturday I went to church where we had our training and bunch of people were there from India for outreach and I got to share with them about keystone project and showed them 10th step on disciple making . They were all open and wants to go to the training .
One of them said he heard about keystone project and really wants to attend the training . He took the picture of 10th step. He was asking what can he do to attend the training and stuff I told him  I will ask Lj or Catherine about it . And I also told him it's better if he  contacts lj or shanmugam.
And also that Grandma we prayed for at Dena's auntie house she comes to pray with Dena every evening . Sorry de I hope you understand what am I trying to write . I don't really know how to explain when I'm writing.
Pray for her:
Sometimes I get discouraged by people that I share with even my dad side if the family they still really believes in Hindu God . Sometimes Satan tried to bring distraction from my family or friends . Even when I m sitting with so many people I feel lonely and sad. And I pray to God I won't feel that because I know it's from Satan. Please pray for me I won't feel that.


Bishnu auntie said she is almost ready to go she said she is preparing for prayer team and mission team for illam she said she wanted to go earlier but God told her to be ready before she goes in the battle field. I told her if I can go with her soon she said its not possible for me to go there now. She said that place where she is going it needs lot of prayers before they go in .
That's why she is making prayer team too. She is thinking probably after 2 weeks. There will probably be 10 or more people going . Please pray that it will happen. She is still not sure how many but she is thinking. The ppl on her team are all very committed to making  disciples . I talked to some of their team members and they hears God voice before they do anything and whenever I ask them about hearing God's voice and obeying them and I teach them about 10th steps they already knew most of it like be a disciple ,fill with Holy Spirit and fill with God's word and pray. Lifting curses and everything . They only need to know how to multiply and I'm sure Bishnu is going to find a leader and teach them . And I'm going to help them with most of it. Bishnu knows about multiplying and making disciples. I think from that training she is the one who understood more.
SHe really liked how simple and easy we made them understand. I think it will be no problem for them to multiply if they all go with prayers .  She told me there are already so many open doors for them . She said she heard people are getting sick Alot there,one already died today and she told me time has come to go there and she is ready and preparing for strong prayer team and to heal the village. I want To prepare bishnu and her team before I leave I want to help them more. And I want to help Dena auntie to help multiply disciples . I know she will do great job on making disciples but multiplying will be hard for her . I can already see her winning people in Christ .but not so much multiplying .
And also my little cousin  Sumuna has her own little girls group of 4-5 little girls. They gather together every evening. I need to help my little cousin to teach them more on making disciples . My little cousin is already a leader .

Other day my older cousins heard her pray and my older cousins are not believers they were all amazed how nice and mature she was praying. My other guy cousin asked her to pray for his head becuase it was hurting real badly. He got healed after we both prayed for him and he had lots of questions for us. I told him ask God to show you what to do and he said he will.

Please continue to pray for her and this movement.
Praise God with us for the work he is doing in Nepal!

Team "Staycation"

On Sunday and Monday, the team is participating in a mini retreat that we're calling a "Staycation." We spent the whole day Sunday together having intentional time relaxing with one another and engaging in praise and worship to the Lord. The team had a great time playing "Can-Jam", kayaking, grilling out, fellowshipping, and interacting with Jesus through scripture and songs. On Monday, we plan to dig even deeper into the scriptures to use this Staycation as an opportunity to recharge and refocus as we prepare for this next season. Please join us in praying for a restful, challenging mini- retreat and for a greater focus on reaching the lost!


Keri

Sabisua's 1st Generation Disciple

Just wanted to give an update on Sabisua (he's the shorter one in the picture)… 

I (Jacob) have been discipling him about 3 months now, mostly teaching him what it means to be a solid disciple of Jesus. When I first started working with him I had a sense he might be unfaithful in the long run and lose interest quickly. This was partly because of the many other Nepali adults like him I’ve tried to work with. But I’ve been really surprised to see his level of faithfulness so far.

Pretty much every time I’ve gone to his apartment he makes time to meet with me, no matter what he’s doing, which is something I haven’t seen in any of the other adults we’ve discipled. And each time we meet he’s slightly more excited to go deeper with Christ and begin making disciples.

He was praying about who he could possibly share his faith with, and God laid one of his friends on his heart, Karkha. So he and I went to meet with Karkha last Sunday and shared the gospel with him. He had considered himself a Christian, but he didn’t know what it means to follow Jesus or how he himself could be saved. So he ended up praying to receive the Holy Spirit and to begin following Christ. We’ve met with Karkha a couple times since then, and he’s still just learning the basics of how to be a disciple.

Anyway, please be praying for these guys, as they could be an important key to reaching the huge Nepali Hindu people group in Los Arcos. Please pray (1) that Sabisua would understand God’s vision in a deeper way and begin ministering to more people than just Karkha, (2) that Sabisua and I would have great wisdom in how to disciple Karkha effectively, and (3) that Karkha would develop a personal relationship with Jesus in the coming weeks, so that everything he does would be out of desire rather than obligation. Thanks!

New Neighbors

 Soul and Keri

Over the past several months the Hutchinsons have had several neighbors move in and then rapidly move out in the apartment diagonally down from them. Within the past few weeks, Soul and her family moved in. There's 10 people total living there. They are Burmese Muslim, which God has been putting on Joe's heart as of late. God started making a connection into this family before they even moved in and we believe God moved all of these other people out to prepare a place for this family. Kyaw, Joe's disciple, knew Soul's brother, Zar. Joe and Kyaw have been getting to spend time with Zar and his brothers. 

This family is the first Muslim family who has accepted the Hutchinson's invitation into their home. They have also had the Hutchinsons in their home multiple times. Soul and Keri spend time together just about every day, and Keri is starting to learn more of Soul's story, waiting and trusting the Spirit to provide the perfect opportunity for Keri to share Jesus with her.

Please pray for:

• Deeper connection with this family and conversations to go beyond surface level.
• That Jesus would reveal himself as God to them.
• God would pour out the Spirit and Keri and Joe would walk in it.
• Keri and Joe would love this family well.

Thanks!