“Come and listen, all you who fear God; let me tell you what He has done for me. I cried out to Him with my mouth; His praise was on my tongue. If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened; but God has surely listened and heard my voice in prayer.  Praise be to God, Who has not rejected my prayer or withheld His love from me!”   Psalm 66:16-20

 

Dear Father, praise be to You. We pray that You might hear our prayer, in Jesus name, on behalf of the Zhuang. We praise You for what You have done, and ask that You might continue to work mightily among them...

 

PRAISE GOD:
*Praise Him for the 37 decisions and many, many seeds that were sown through the summer teaching program.
*Praise Him for the faithfulness of a fairly new believer to share her faith and see two more come to believe this month.
*Praise Him for the recent medical clinics and the decisions made from it. Continue to lift up those who made decisions that they would remain true, not fall away, and grow. Pray that they would share their new faith with others.

 

Testimony  
Xiao Huang was so excited!  Some visitors who had come to her hometown helped her share Jesus with her family!  Her father, mother, and little brother all accepted the Lord!  Later she returned with another friend to deliver Bible and other materials to them.  When they arrived at her home, she gathered together her sister and grandparents also.  “Don’t you want to believe in Jesus too?” she asked.  Thanks be to God!  They all did!  Now her family has seven members who are Christians!  Please pray that they will grow in Christ, develop a faithful small church, and teach others also!

 

VILLAGE WORK:
*Please pray for the workers who are going out, and the believers who are living among unbelievers. Pray that God would give them wisdom, discernment, joy, and strength. The people in the village prize unity and dislike change, so that when they are presented with the gospel if they do not receive it they actually see it as a threat, and want to hurt or discourage the people who might believe in their village since it will disturb the unity of the group.
*There is a special band of Christians who has had villagers come out and throw stones at them, and even break the windshield of the van they were traveling in, because they do not want to hear people sing and worship the Lord in their village. 

 

“…with the help of our God we dared to tell you His gospel in spite of strong opposition.” 1 Thessalonians 2:2b

 

* The Zhuang have no habit of worship or a concept of a loving God. All of their gods are basically evil, and the times that they worship are actually rituals designed to make the gods happy so they will leave the people alone and not harm them. When they accept God through Christ, it is very hard for them to understand that God wants to spend time with them, and that they will experience joy and peace as they set aside time to just worship Him.
*People who work their fields must go to the field every day to work hard. If they do not, they risk not having enough to feed their families, so working every day becomes the only world they know. When they become a Christian it is very hard for them to consider not going to the field in order to spend time in worship and praise of God. At first they feel so uneasy not going to the field it is hard for them to even concentrate on worship. One victory in this area came this summer when a husband and wife who were new believers left their fields for three days to attend a Bible training session. All of their neighbors were aware of this, so pray that this couple have a bumper harvest this year!
*Pray that Zhuang Christians will come to depend upon the Lord as their provision.

 

‘You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” But remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you the ability to produce wealth…’  Deuteronomy 8:17&18a

 

LOCAL WORKERS:
*Please consistently pray for those Chinese and Zhuang believers who are currently working a fulltime jobs in the city, and then going out once or twice a week to rural villages to share the gospel with people who have never heard. These city workers often reach the rural villages about 9:00pm, lead in witnessing to a group of people who have never heard the gospel, or assist a local group in learning how to worship.  They often return to their homes at midnight or one o’clock in the morning, and get up the next morning early to go to work. Many of these workers have been doing this for several months.
*Pray that the Lord will bless them for their faithfulness.  Pray that the Lord will guard their health.  Pray that they will see large numbers of people in the villages come to know the Lord.

 

“The Lord gives strength to His people; the Lord blesses His people with peace.”  Psalm 29:11

 

LOCAL BELIEVERS:
*Many of the local brothers and sisters continue to demonstrate such faith and boldness. They immediately commit their requests and concerns to the Father.  Pray that their faith would continue to increase. Pray that they might live in the confidence of their creator, that they might live righteously, and allow the peace they have to be given to others.  
*Please claim Psalm 37:23-24 (below) for our brothers and sisters in Guangxi. Many, who believed recently, or in the past year, find themselves doubting. Pray that they will realize how much He upholds them. Pray that they would understand that He delights in them. Pray that even though they may stumble they will not fall, but He will enable them to keep going.

 

“If the Lord delights in a man’s way, He makes his steps firm; though he stumble,  he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with His hand.”   Psalm 37: 23-24

 

Testimony
A woman and two of her children believed almost four months ago. She and one of her children got baptized this summer along with a neighbor. They continue to have much joy and share with others. Their small church is now 5-6 people. This woman and her neighbor study the word together and with the help of the Holy Spirit are growing in their understanding and joy!! It seems that each week they come to the heart understanding of what His word says about treating and sharing with others. One day, she asked if it was right that they shouldn’t worship their ancestors anymore! Recently she asked if it is okay to go and pray for a friend’s family member whom she thinks is demon possessed! Please pray that the Holy Spirit would continue to minister in, and through the lives of these new believers.

 

STORYING:
*We are now seeing more work done in rural villages where many people are illiterate, and even those Zhuang who are literate may often prefer to learn through storying rather than materials presented in an analytical manner. Because of this we are trying harder to present the Gospel, and do discipleship in a storying form. Please pray for those who are developing, testing, and using these storying materials. Evangelism, Discipleship and Church Planting materials are now being used in the storying form, pray for those who will be trying to develop a leadership curriculum in storying form.
*Some of these storying materials are now available in two of the Zhuang dialects; pray that these stories will quickly be put into each of the other dialects, so they can be shared by villagers with others in their dialect area. Pray also that these will be recorded on cassette tape and CD format so that they can be shared in distribution.

“If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.  I Peter 4:11

 

MEDIA PRESENTATIONS:
*The book of Luke in Hongshui He dialect is almost finished. As soon as key terms have been decided upon and field testing has been done, the script for the Jesus Film will be begun. Pray that this version of the Jesus Film will be completed in the next 8 months. Pray that translators who worked on this effort would be able to help with translation of other materials in their dialect. Pray that they will also be able to help other Mother Tongue Translators to know how to translate materials in the other dialects.
* Research has shown that rural illiterate people prefer dramatic sometimes melodramatic video presentations. With this in mind we hope this next year to translate a Mandarin video that is currently used in village evangelism, into several of the Zhuang dialects. Pray for those Mother Tongue Translators who will work on this translation.  

“May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us; establish the work of our hands for us—yes, establish the work of our hands.”  Psalm 90:17

 

Testimony   
“They are just like dead people walking,” Christian student “Nathan” said despairingly about his classmates.  “They have bodies, but they are a different kind of empty.  They don’t have their own thoughts. How can I tell them about Jesus?” Pray for students—future leaders in China!  Pray that God’s Spirit will breathe His life into these dry bones!  “I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.”  Ezekiel 37:6b

 

 CHINESE GOVERNMENT:  
Psalm 24: 7-10 says: “Lift up your heads, O you gates: be lifted up, you ancient doors that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O you gates; lift them up, you ancient doors that the King of glory may come in. Who is He, this King of glory? The Lord Almighty – He is the King of glory.”

*Pray that the ancient doors and gates of the strongholds in this country would open up and allow the King of glory to flood in. Pray that the Zhuang would supernaturally understand and recognize that He is the Lord Almighty.
*While China is opening to the outside world through trade and business, the current government is actually moving to tighten control on political and religious freedom. Across China, specifically in Guangxi and Yunnan (There are approximately one million Zhuang in Yunnan province.  Most have never heard the good news.) Where most Zhuang live, this spring members of the national Public Security Bureau have been sent to most cities and many smaller towns to make sure the local Public Security Bureaus are enforcing laws that govern political and religious issues. This has resulted in many foreign Christians, including some on the teams in Guangxi, being called in for questioning. Local believers have also been offered money by the PSB if they will spy on other local believers, or foreign Christians who work in the area where they live. An older believer stated that he feels the scrutiny of local and foreign Christians is the tightest it has been in 30 years.
*Pray for Zhuang Christians who will be brought in and questioned, pray that they will have clear guidance and know how to answer. Pray for the lady house church leader and others who are currently in prison in Guangxi because they have lead groups in their homes.
*Pray for the protection of foreign Christians who are working among the Zhuang, pray that they will have wisdom as they go about trying to reach out and share the gospel.

 

“…you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of My Name. This will result in your being witnesses to them.”  Luke 21:12b-13

 

Testimony
A student in a rural high school drew a cross in his notebook one day. His teacher asked him to see her after class.  It turns out another one of the Christian teachers had shared the good news in class.   After she and others shared the good news more fully with him, he was asked, “Would you like to think about it some more?”   He replied that he already had thought about it a lot and wanted to become a Christian. It was not long before several of his friends heard about his decision, wanted to hear more, and then also wanted to follow Christ! Praise God! Please pray for a balance of wisdom and boldness.  The teacher mentioned above shared with her class without giving it much thought.  The Word bore fruit (as seen above), and as a result her teaching position was put on the line.  This younger believer was required to leave the city to teach in a rural school.  Please pray for her attitude and relationship with God and that He would give her a real love for her students.

 

WORKERS NEEDED AMONG THE ZHUANG:
*Pray for a mature Chinese couple to join the work in Guangxi so that they may be able to counsel many of the believers on marriage and family issues. Since most Zhuang believers are the first ones in their family to accept Christ, they have no role model of how a Christian treats his or her mate, or how children are raised in a Christian family.
*Pray for a long-term, Chinese speaking worker to come and take responsibility for a rural health-training program. This program is a practical and simple method for rural villagers to be equipped with knowledge on preventative practices. National evangelists are trained as health workers to go into rural areas and teach locals simple health lessons. The gospel is shared as the needs of the people are satisfied and relationships are developed. This past year we have been able share Christ’s love in many Zhuang villages for the first time, because of workers who were part of this program.  The person who was directing the program has now returned to his home country and we are unable to carry this to more villages until we have someone to give supervision to the program.
*Pray for a worker for a key Zhuang city that for the first time in five years does not have a foreign Christian teacher teaching in one of its schools. Since there are many young Zhuang believers in this city it would be very helpful to the whole area if there was someone there to encourage them. 
*Pray for the workers currently on the field to be focused, determined and abandoned in love for Jesus. Pray that they would be bold; that they would not hesitate to take each opportunity no matter what time of day or what else they have planned to do. *Pray for those of learning language that He would continue to help and allow their minds to soak up this difficult language.
*October there will be a group teaching English at a high school where there are existing groups of brothers and sisters. Pray that their time bear fruit that will last, that hearts would be prepared to receive the gift of eternal life and that His spirit would continue to move in the lives of the students on that campus.

 

“Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers  into His harvest field.”  Matthew 9:38