Impact195 Global Update - April 2013

by Ali Kaun | April 11, 2013

HAITI

Spiritual warfare is real in Haiti. One of our Rock Ambassadors recently wrote, "In Jeremie, one of our Haitian students and his wife moved into a new house and were experiencing intense spiritual attacks: they were awakened in the middle of the night to their sheets getting torn off the bed and items being thrown off shelves onto the floor, and the presence of a man looming over them. Their neighbors had warned them that 'bad things had happened to the previous owners' and 'bad spirits dwelt in the house.' With each nightly encounter, they would respond with prayer and worship. That would hold things off until the next night when the pattern would be repeated. They then asked the Impact-Haiti community to come pray and worship at the house, and 15 of us did that one afternoon after school. The strange happenings have not occurred since, for 2 weeks now."

Two of our Rock Ambassadors were also asked by a Haitian student to come pray for her 11 year old niece who, for years, had spells of violent convulsions. They had taken her to countless doctors for a diagnosis and treatment that proved ineffective and only left them with more questions. Our Ambassadors went with the sole intention of praying for complete healing. They spent a whole afternoon praying over her. She now reports that the convulsions (which typically occurred every few days) have not happened in almost a month! Rejoice with us in the power of Jesus' name. Seven more baptisms for new believers occurred this past month as well! Death also continues to be a constant reminder to our team of the importance of the work they have set out to do. One Ambassador reports,  "Our teams work in the orphanages…A young girl by the name of Sophie very recently went to be with the Lord…Death is a very real thing here, but that doesn't make it any easier on a child."

Please pray for our team in Haiti to continue to be strengthened and for them to continue to be rooted and established in love. Pray also for the Haitian students attending our discipleship school there, that they would be strong and courageous and that God would set their hearts on fire in their service to Him. Pray for the new believers coming to faith each week as a result of their witness – that they could get plugged into a loving community and grow in their knowledge of Jesus. Pray for revival in Jeremie through a full-scale church planting movement!

JAPAN

Our teams in Japan continue to see fruit from their efforts to bring hope to those in need of it! One Ambassador writes, "Higa-San is a 68-year-old Okinawan man. He lives in our neighborhood and attended church for the first time this year. He came to Saturday Night Lights (a bilingual Bible study we lead). Micah preached on Romans 12:1-2, and Alycia translated the message into Japanese. Micah used the example of the transformation of a caterpillar to a butterfly in describing the transformation that occurs when we are born again. At the end of the study, Higa-san decided it was time to commit his life to the Lord. At the next meeting, he explained that he came to faith in Jesus because he wanted to be transformed like the butterfly example from the message!" Our other team in Japan continues on in the patient work of relational evangelism. More children from the neighborhood are coming to visit and Liz is taking each opportunity to teach english that comes her way. God is moving powerfully in their house church as well.

Pray for God to send more laborers to Japan. Pray for encouragement as our teams continue on in the difficult work of breaking up the "hard soil" in prayer! Pray for many to be drawn by the kindness of Jesus to our Ambassadors there. Pray that it would be through the love our Ambassadors have for one another that the Japanese would know they belong to Him and would want to belong to Him as well.

INDIA

The India Ambassadors are making headway in their new home! Doors for ministry opportunities are being opened and friendships are being made. This is a season of exploration as they take time to pray and see where God is leading and what ministry opportunities to address. They have partnered with a local church where they have been able to lead worship regularly, teach, and pray for the church congregation. The Lord has brought a ton of physical healing to those our team has been praying over. On Easter Sunday, the men on the team were asked to share for fifteen minutes each to give the resurrection message to local believers. A couple of team members stumbled upon a school nearby where they may be able to teach English and Creative Arts. One Ambassador writes, "God is so GOOD! Today a group of us went to a nearby town, but we walked a different way than normal through the tea fields, and came across some women who were at work. We said our 'vanakum' hellos and even started to dance with some of them! We made our way up to the top (crazy mountain steepness) and found ourselves at a school for children, grades 6-10. We talked to one of the professors and found out that this school is a public school. He teaches the arts: music and drawing. We got his contact information and are really excited to see what kinds of opportunities there are to volunteer - creative arts YAY! We finally made it to our destination to visit our friend in the town we were heading to and met for tea and talked."

Please continue to pray for the people of India, for God to be made known and more opportunities to volunteer to serve them and bring hope on behalf of Jesus! Please also pray for the continued overall health of our team and for them to be bonded in the unity of peace!

ASIA

Our Rock Ambassadors in Asia continue faithfully in the work of building relationships and language studies. One Ambassador recently wrote, "My King has authority over all life. He speaks one word and people are healed, lives are changed, hearts are restored! The Lord can change anyone if they are willing to believe. Such beautiful triumphant words!" Our teams are also getting ample opportunities to demonstrate the love of our savior. One girl they recently met was in route to visit her father in jail. Upon meeting our team, she said she believed God was the one who sent her to meet them and she asked them to teach her how to pray. She shared that it was because of the love other believers had for one another that she could now decipher who knew Jesus and who didn't.

Please continue to pray that God would continue to bless and strengthen the relationships our teams are building with the locals. Pray that God would send more laborers to join in the work of the ministry. Pray that God would continue to bless and protect the marriages of the couples on the team and to grant to all team members a continued supernatural ability for language acquisition.

PHILIPPINES

Our team in the Philippines has been holding fast to the promises of Jesus, in particular John 6:35 - "And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst." There are many in the Philippines that go hungry. Families there have little to eat and sometimes aren't sure where their next meal is coming from. The team in PI has set out to do what they can with the resources provided by the Lord. Recently, they visited a local beach town with a pot full of food to share the love of Jesus in a tangible manner, play games with the locals, and sing Bible songs. They bring joy with them and seek to meet the needs of the people, as Jesus did. They hope to develop a monthly gathering in this community and minister in particular towards the children there.

Please pray that these families will become dependent on the living God so that their souls would never hunger or thirst. Pray they would come to know Jesus and that He would continue to provide for them all that they need for life and godliness. Pray also that God would continue to bless this team with the resources to bring food to the hungry. Please also lift of up the continued healthy pregnancy of our recently wed Rock Ambassador, Jane.

ROMANIA

Team Romania is working diligently all over town! They have discovered that though there are many churches there, the few that attend them lack opportunities to gather and fellowship. The team has launched two home fellowships this past month in different locations where they have been working faithfully to teach the Word and provide a loving community. Our team has also been invited into the home of two Gypsy families in a local village. They are being used by God to bring further clarity to the Word of God where there has been a misunderstanding of it in the past, leading to division within the village. Our team has also been serving in the coffee shop of a local church and have reported that this has been a great opportunity to build more relationships within the community.

Pray for God to fully penetrate the hearts and minds of those our team gets to encounter and teach and love on. Pray for continued unity among our team and for excitement as they welcome a new long term Rock Ambassador to the team this month.

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