‘Doing’ or ‘Enjoying’?
 “I know for a fact that as a grain of sand compares in size to the earth itself, I compare in size to the cosmos. I am that insignificant. And yet…the fact that I feel beauty when I look up at the stars and when I watch the sunset, indicate I must be here for a reason. I think I would sum it up this way: life is not a story about me, but it is being told to me, and I can be glad of that. I think that is the why of this ancient faith I am caught up in: to enjoy God…Relationships between men and women indicate something of the nature of God-that He is relational, that He feels love and loss…The story is about us; it’s about all of us who God made, and God Himself, just enjoying each other…Months ago I would have told you life was about doing, about jumping through religious hoops, about impressing other people, and my actions would have told you this is done by buying possessions or keeping a good image or going to church… I think we are supposed to love our friends and introduce people to the story, to the peaceful, calming why of life. I think life is spirituality.”
Through Painted Deserts – Donald Miller

• Pray that the Mekong workers will ‘enjoy’ God as they introduce unreached people groups “to the story, to the peaceful, calming why of life.”

Boueyi
Mrs. Lu seriously considered aborting her baby. Praise the Lord that she decided not to abort even if it turned out to another daughter. In July she delivered a BOY at home, in their squalid shanty, with the help of another Bouyei woman. Within a few days her son became sick and was too weak to nurse. Without money to seek medical help she phoned Christian friends who quickly rushed him to hospital. This has happened before - Mrs. Lu was on medications for tuberculosis when she got pregnant with her second daughter.  In her concern she turned to the Lord and prayed. Later, Mrs. Lu’s mother-in-law marched into town to berate her and her husband for becoming Christians, declaring that no one in their village would help them if they ever returned to their village and did not follow the ancient tradition of ancestor worship.  Mrs. Lu and her husband caved under the pressure and turned away from the Lord.  This same mother-in-law has come to the city to help with the baby son. 

• Please pray that all in that family would come to realize that God is sovereign over life and death and that they would be brought to true repentance.
• Please pray for increasing light among the Bouyei.  They are in the grip of the evil one and their lives reflect this darkness, even in their misery and abject poverty. 

Tai Lue
A few Tai Lue believers spend one evening a week ministering to prostitutes. Some of the prostitutes work in brothels, others on the street. A lot of the girls say that they work out of free will although some are forced into prostitution by a pimp or their ‘boyfriend’. Money is a big pull - some girls make four to five times more money than a supermarket clerk. Often they say, “Just one year or just another month, and then I’ll stop”. But the reality is different. There is an apartment where the girls can stay while looking for other possibilities for work and some good projects available in another city where the girls can go to work.

• Pray for these girls and for wisdom and protection for the team. This is a real dark area, not only literally but also spiritually.
• Pray for the Tai Lue Bible translation team as they continue to make progress in translating the Old Testament (for the first time ever).  A key translation team member, Mrs. YK, recently died. Pray for her family, friends and the members of the translation team.