Useless? A Waste?
“This month I was struggling with frustration with my job situation - I felt so useless and incapable of contributing anything. Many times, as I sat at my desk, I only read and waited for the workday to be over. Yes, I tried to learn more so I might be more useful at a later stage, but often, I was not very successful. I also found it difficult that my work colleagues did not involve me as they had in the beginning. The initial interest seemed to have worn off and, of course, our language barrier meant that any interaction required extra work. One morning, as I thought about the long and frustrating workday ahead I remembered a song, “Father, You will be with me.” As I thought of the certainly of this truth - “my Father is with me” - it changed my perspective. My worries had grown too big. I could take my questions and my lack of hope to my Father. I was encouraged.”
– a Mekong worker
- Pray for the over 170 Mekong workers to resist the lie of being “useless” and to stand in the truth of our Father’s presence and plan.
Tai Yuan (Northern Thai)
In a small village tucked away in the mountains of North Thailand, there is a church named W-n. It has been there for seventy years. The members of W-n proudly tell of the days when the church was in its infancy and how the Japanese persecuted the original elders during World War II. But despite the pride and heritage of the current members there is little life to be found in the church. To them, Christianity has become their tradition, a religion that was handed down to them. It is not a life-changing relationship of believing and serving a living God but rather following a set of rituals comparable to Buddhism.
Most of the Tai Yuan (6 million) are Buddhist and have no access to the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. Their only insight to Christianity is the churches like W-n. Sadly, many of the 10,000 Tai Yuan Christians are nominal.
- Pray that God would transform the 10,000 ‘Christian’ Tai Yuan into a people who hunger to see God in all his power and grace in their own lives and in the lives of their Buddhists neighbors.
- Pray that there would be revival throughout Northern Thailand
- Ask God to raise up leaders who are not afraid to challenge and lead their flocks to a true understanding of Jesus Christ
- Pray the Northern Thai Christians would sense a call and burden to reach out to their Buddhist neighbors.
Hmong (Miao)
One Hmong man who heard the radio broadcasts and became a Christian at the end of 2004 has started 22 groups of believers, each group having 7- 8 families. He says he likes Jesus and wants everyone else to know how great he is!
A Hmong Christian who was imprisoned for 3 years led another Hmong prisoner (jailed on negligent homicide charges) to Christ. When the new convert was released, he went home and led 200 families to Christ.
36 songs have been recorded in Blue and Black Hmong. The Black Hmong radio broadcasts are still in development, but the songs will be a great addition to the programs.
- Two Hmong couples living in Asia desire to move to a nearby country to share the gospel with other Hmong. A strong group of believers is needed to support them in this venture.
Pray for the thousands of Hmong whose only means of hearing the good news and of being discipled in the Word of God is through radio
