Monday, November 28, 2016

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!

Thursday, November 17, 2016

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!

Sunday, November 6, 2016

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.