Dear Prayer Partners,
Since our last prayer letter in November so many great things have happened, yet there remains much to pray about. We were blessed with having Ryan and Sarah join us for Christmas and really enjoyed having them around. Just a few of the highlights’ of their time with us included: Ryan playing father Christmas for a children’s program, having a Christmas meal and activities at a local orphanage and attending a Nigerian Christian Rap program for wayward youth. Their time with us was short but packed full and we experienced no troubles.
At the end of Nov our Evangelism team traveled to Lu-Tinghen, near Yelwa-Shandam in Plateau State with almost 500 people coming out to hear the Gospel and 88 of them making decisions to trust Christ. Please pray for this village as there is a terrible problem with alcohol addiction as much as one third of the community begin their day with a local fermented drink and consume it throughout the day. The biggest business in town is producing this drink and selling it, with the families that produce it giving it to their children because mom is to preoccupied with the business to make food in the morning. We will be returning there in the next few weeks for follow up and further discussion with the elders about the School that they had started and its completion. Below is a photo taken before 7am of one of the many drinking establishments.
In Nov & Dec special training was provided for about 20 of our team members with a specific mission to reach out to Muslims. On Dec 19 -21they traveled to Dangi and were able to witness to almost 300 Muslims with 35 of them accepting the Lord as their personal savior with 50 more who were very open to the gospel and will need a second visit which we hope to do also do in the next few weeks. Pray for us as we think of good ways to follow-up with them and the discipleship process.
Today we are headed to Limun in Souther Plateau for the weekend to a community that almost 70% practice traditional indigenous worship with no Islam influence and very little Christianity. Next week end we are headed to Zamgwa which has followers of all three of the previously mentioned religions. Pray for safety as we travel, open hearts and for many to trust Christ.
No doubt most of you have heard of the continued troubles with Boko Haram and the attack on Baga town which may possibly be the worst massacre in the history of the current insurgency. Official Nigerian figures list the number killed at 150, but there are other reports of up to 2000, many being women, children or the elderly. The number that are displaced at this point from their homes from what I read is over a million, with 35,000 in plateau alone. With elections coming up on the 14th & 28th of Feb there is added concern about all of this. How will elections hold in the 3 Northern States currently under emergency rule and how will the many displaced individuals be able to vote? There has also been a problem with the distribution of registered voters id cards with reports of as many as half of those registered not receiving them yet which means they will not be able to vote. Elections are always a concern because of potential violence but this round has more against it than ever with a very close contest between the current President and his opponent who was a military ruler back in the early to mid 80’s. Pray for the elections to be fair and free of violence, with the results being accepted by both sides and no loss of life over Politics.
God Bless you and Keep you & thanks for your Prayers
Bob & Meredith DeVoe
