Jesus Gives Life
Prayer & Praise Report # 2 February and March 2022
Can God Use Global Turmoil for His Glory?
The world has faced tremendous challenges over the past few years and these trials seem to be growing. Myanmar remains under military rule with unspeakable atrocities. Russia invaded Ukraine since our last Prayer & Praise, again, committing unimaginable war crimes. Hidden in the background, behind the news reports of Russia and Ukraine, Burkina Faso continues to be attacked by jihadists in the North, and many roads outside the capital are not safe for travel. Ethiopia also has their own internal fighting. These are just a few countries in turmoil.
Despite this global chaos, God remains in control and knows each of us intimately. He knows our thoughts and our needs. Partners have taken solar audio players into the Ukraine loaded with God’s Story: From Creation to Eternity and the audio Bible. Players have also gone to the refugees in Southern Europe. We see these difficult situations as opportunities to love the lost, and bring the eternal saving grace of Jesus to all in need.
In Myanmar, an STS leader jailed has shared reports of leading people to Christ inside! Continue to pray for this leader.
From Death unto Life.
One of our instructors in Latin America has 20 siblings! This instructor has been doing weekly STS Bible stories with discussion on Zoom for the past few years. Some of his family has also joined this discussion including the instructor’s younger brother, in his 30’s, who had gone astray. Through time in the Word, discussion, and time with the instructor, this young man made peace with God. No one imagined that shortly afterward, the Lord would call this young man home.
Jacob, Idols, and Following Jesus
One of our other Latin American instructors shared the story of Jacob telling his household to get rid of their idols before going back to Bethel (Genesis 35:1-5) with a husband and wife. The couple saw how God protected Jacob as they traveled after his household put away their false gods and idols.
The husband asked, “As Catholics, what are we to do with our idols?”
Wisely, the instructor asked, “What happened with Jacob and his family after they put away their idols?” The husband was afraid something bad would happen to him and his wife if they destroyed their idols.
The wife responded that faith and fear do not go together. “We must get rid of our idols.”
We praise God for how His Word impacted this couple.
Why would People Travel So Far?
Years ago we worked with Michael Dawson and his family to get God’s Story into the Yanamamo language. Michael and his wife recently returned to Venezuela with several audio & light devices loaded with God’s Story and the New Testament.
Michael had specific villages designated to receive the devices. However, as word spread, more people kept asking for the audio lights. In one village, a lady edged her way through the crowd and whispered to Michael that she really needed one for her “walidiwä” (damaged) son. After Michael said there were no extra devices, tears welled up in her eyes. She said, “but my son is ruined, he can’t do much and he really wants to listen to it.” Her 12 year old boy lost his foot because of a snake bite. It is difficult living in the jungle with only one foot. Michael gave one of the designated audio light devices to the mother.
Two young men then whispered to Michael, “My father is a witchdoctor in the village down river. His demons are starting to scare him. We think if we had one of these and played it for him maybe it would bring him some peace and give him relief from the demons that are plaguing him.” Sadly, Michael shared that he had no extras to spare.
Another young lady pushed her way to Michael’s boat to ask for an audio light device. Again, Michael’s heart sank as he had to say no. He thought, “There's so many Yanomamö, what could we do?”
Michael promised a guy off the Ocamo River that they would show the movie, “God’s Story, From Creation to Eternity” to them. Normally they show God’s Story first, as it gives a good chronological over view of the entire Bible, and then the Jesus movie. Michael received a new copy of God’s Story along with the equipment to give to the village and they were excited to show it. At dark, Michael started the movie and the equipment worked flawlessly! After the movie, they talked for hours with the headman of the village.
As Michael and his team continued down the river it became clear they would not make it to the village that was promised the devices so they turned around.
For that reason, Michael was able to give the light audio devices to the people who had asked, including the young lady and the young men who wanted one for their witchdoctor father. Please remember these people in your prayers.
Now Michael is inundated with people paddling from far away villages asking for these devices and he says, ”I wish we had more.” Two men paddled for 6 days and will have to travel much longer to get home, just to get the light and audio devices. ”It broke my heart to have to tell him we were out.” wrote Michael.
They use the Yanomamö New Testament and God’s Story, and love it. The people love that it's a light too, which is very useful to people who often use a stick of firewood as a light when they are going somewhere.
Since receiving this update several weeks ago, our ministry has been able to help supply more light & audio devices with God’s Story and other audio resources to Michael and their team. Please pray with us. The amount of devices Michael received are a small fraction of what’s needed.
Visit here to listen to a Heart Pocket Podcast with Michael Dawson: https://heartpocket.libsyn.com/hpp0162-spiritual-warfare-part-1
Lights, Camera, and God's Story Premiers!
We praise God for the multiple premiers happening in West Africa. Pray for the teams as they share the Truth. These premiers, or what our leaders call "launchings", bring entire villages together at night to show God’s Story, and also during the day as public dedications are made to the village leaders and church leaders. Then God's Story and any other spiritual messages are handed out to the people. Our leader plants a vision for Simply The Story in some places, and in other places an STS training also takes place with the launch of a language. These premiers require much planning and coordination between our leader, the language team, and the village leaders.
Recipe for a Purim Celebration
Take two STS instructors, Bill Bjoraker and Larry Dinkins, 1 helping of a Messianic congregation in Dallas, 12 storytellers from the congregation, the book of Esther, and time for preparation and training and the results are a fresh mix for a Purim celebration.
Visit here to learn about the Purim celebration:
https://heartpocket.libsyn.com/hpp0180-prepare-to-celebrate-purim
Prayer Needs & A Call to Action
We are loading God’s Story on to YouTube over the next several months but need your help. We need as many subscribers as possible to help us brand our GS YouTube channel. Please go here and subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiyQEZjL0bdjTkNl7kOVVIQ (we are happy to email this link so it’s easy to click, just let us know)
We had a kind man working with a team in India to build our app. Unfortunately, all the work was destroyed and there were no backups. This man no longer has the time to start over. Pray for the Lord’s timing for our phone apps.
The Ayamara God’s Story, spoken in Latin America, has stalled. The script has been completed, but we need to do one more critical step before recording. We also have the Lesotho script completed and need a storyteller.
We covet and appreciate your prayers,
Andrea & The whole staff of The God's Story Project (TGSP)
Executive Director