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!

Update on Jimmy

Jerome, Christopher (pictured), and Zach have been ministering to Jimmy since first meeting him and Tha two months ago. This past Wednesday the three met with Jimmy to take him through repentance. At the beginning of their meeting he was struggling with faith in Jesus. One of the guys felt led to share James 5:16.

"Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working."

After sharing this Jimmy began confessing his sins to the Lord and to them. Praise the Lord! The guys said that he was very thankful but he was unable to renounce Buddhism.

They left Jimmy with the assignment to ask God everyday to make himself real and for God to give him faith to believe.

Please pray with us that the almighty God would reveal himself to Jimmy!
Pray Jimmy would draw near to God, confess completely that Jesus is Lord, and passionately seek the Lord and his Kingdom.

Thanks! God bless.

Reaching Classmates

Greatday’s disciple Rekesh (a 12-year-old Nepali boy in Los Arcos Apartments) could use prayer as he continues the difficult task of reaching his classmates. Just in January and February he led 5 of his classmates to Christ. He said they’ve all continued to be faithful, which is encouraging. He’s brought them together a couple times now, just so they could practice sharing the gospel with each other. Rekesh also made a new friend, Daniel, this week and plans to share the gospel with him next week. As he was sharing about some of this yesterday, Greatday said, “Wow, Rekesh, you’re gonna change your whole school!” :)

I took a few boys to visit Polo and the other disciples in Port Lavaca recently. The goal is always to give each of the 4 disciples there a fresh focus and fresh passion for the vision, since I only get to see them about every other month. After every trip I’ve made there in the past couple years, we’ve left filled with great joy and excitement.

Each of the 4 disciples there has a classmate they’re ministering to, but none of those classmates are disciples yet. The main ones to be praying for are Thay, Veronica and Eklo. Rekesh was able to encourage them with testimonies from his school and share advice how they might be even more effective.

I (Jacob) also started discipling Rekesh’ dad, Ghana, a few weeks ago, and I’m hoping he’ll be just as influential amongst the Nepali adults in the apartment complex as Rekesh is in the school. Anyway, please continue to lift these guys up in prayer. Thanks!

SE Asia Trip update

The rest of the Houston team returned about a week ago from the SE Asia trip. It sounds like it was a busy time for everyone involved, but we’re praising God for the ways He moved in and through us throughout our time there.

The trip mostly consisted of various trainings throughout Thailand and then Nepal, and we met with individuals or families when no trainings were taking place.

One significant contact in Thailand was a man by the name of La Lasee. He went with our team a couple times as we visited various bamboo huts to teach Buddhist families about Jesus. La Lasee was already a believer, and he was full of questions throughout our time with him. No one had ever shown him how to share the gospel before, so he had never tried.

We heard a similar testimony from many people we trained. Just about everyone in Thailand that we talked to (other than the pastor) had never shared with another person about Jesus.

On the last day of our team’s time in Thailand, Xavier took LaLasee back to a woman, Aphee, whom we had prayed over for healing. When we arrived to the home that day her knees had been healed so much so that her daughter greeted them saying, “Jesus has healed her.” They found the daughter not only convinced that Jesus had healed her mother, but believing that He is God. We left LaLasee the task of continuing to work with the family, discipling them and helping them to walk in relationship with Jesus.

La Lasee was very excited about the things we had taught him. At one point he said, "I like you show me how Jesus work in me, I teach that to another, they teach another, God grow kingdom 1 by 1."

We had a similar experience in Nepal, as more than half of the people attending the trainings had never shared the gospel. For each of the trainings we wanted to make everything as practical as possible, so we would always try to take them with us to share with locals.

One of the days there was a woman from the church that felt led to share with a 90-year-old Buddhist man. He said that he had seen the churches in the community, but has never heard about Jesus or what any of the Christians believe. With great joy he welcomed those from the training into his home to share with him the message of the Kingdom. This man began to listen and was visibly changed by the message of Jesus. He said that he wants to learn more about Jesus, so that he can learn to follow him. Members from the training are going back tomorrow to follow up with him.

Please continue praying for those we trained, since a disciple-making movement in that area would mean thousands upon thousands being saved. We know all it would take for such a movement is one or two people really understanding the mission of God.

Also, please pray for our teammate Ashika. She’s the only one that stayed in Nepal. She’s been there a couple weeks now and will stay for another month to continue ministering to the people. Pray that she’d be kept safe and would find great favor with the non-believers in order that she’d find great fruit among them. Thanks guys!