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:

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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.

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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!