Dear FFICM Prayer Partners,
We have much to be grateful for this week! The safe birth of a baby boy in one of our Nigerian trainer’s family (Ishaku) and the successful completion of a week of follow-up training in Ethiopia. We also need God’s provision for healing, wisdom, and ongoing empowerment in ministry for many of our ministry partners. Thank you for your faithful partnership in prayer. May God’s Spirit move through our prayers to open pathways for Jesus’ kingdom to come among us!
Nigeria:
- Safety, protection and healing:
- Zainab’s aunt, who is a Muslim, maybe dying. She’s been in the hospital for 6 weeks. She is coughing blood and can not eat. Please pray that she be open to Zainab’s invitations to believe in Jesus.
- Sam requested prayer for his dad who is sick.
- Rick and Peter are going to Gindri Seminary tomorrow to work on setting up the training there that will be held close to Easter. Pray for safety as they travel and set up the training for the seminary students. The kidnappers make travel very dangerous.
- Wisdom:
- Zainab’s old church has asked that she give her house to the church for their new pastor. She’s praying for financial intervention. Zainab’s family has invested a significant amount of money into the house which was initially gifted by the church.
- There are some new laws that impact foreigners in Nigeria. Pray for wisdom as Rick navigates that process.
- Valentine and Peter are taking classes toward their Master’s Degree. Pray for wisdom as they try to manage classes and ministry responsibilities.
- The MBB conference committee will meet on Thursday this week. Pray for wisdom as they determine whether to change the date or the timing of the conference.
- Empowerment for ministry:
- Prisca is trying to connect with a group of prostitutes and drug addicts. She is hoping to start teaching the follow-up material to them soon.
- Pankyes Danladi started follow-up with someone who is not educated so he’s also teaching him to read and write as a part of the follow-up.
- Sam is going to Bauchi tomorrow with Ishaku to reconnect with some of the people we previously trained to see how they are using the follow-up material well and to help them with any struggles or any challenges.
- Sam’s wife is trying to write an SSC (senior secondary school) paper by the end of may or June.
- Ishaku asks prayer for wisdom as he continues to have opportunities to teach the FFICM follow-up materials through his church and help them as they continue to grow and expand with many new believers.
- Rick is planning to preach this Sunday. Please pray for his preparation process.
- Continue to pray for the radio and TV broadcasts. The radio program played the programs 20 minutes late which means listeners miss hearing the important content we’ve recorded.
- Praise:
- Ishaku’s wife Christiana delivered a baby boy safely! Praise God!! The boy’s name is Mayshack. Ishaku’s wife had a very speedy delivery.
- Praise God that the painting has begun today on the new office space. Please pray that the work is completed as soon as possible.
- Sunday Peter and Sarah are going to Kano to purchase supplies for the upcoming HBB conference and then on Monday they will have a meeting with the planning committee. They are expecting 2000 people at the conference.
- Zainab has several classes running right now where she is teaching women cooking skills and also training them with our follow-up materials. A pastor’s wife has joined the class.
- Rick’s covid test in Nigeria came back Negative.
- Provision:
- Nigeria trainer Ishaku’s motorcycle has been temporarily repaired after the accident a few weeks ago, but ultimately needs to be replaced. Pray for wisdom and provision.
- Pray for Rick’s car repairs and registration to go through quickly.
- The roads are not safe for driving because of kidnappers so Rich will need to fly between cities during his upcoming trip. Pray for access to flights as needed.
Ethiopia:
- We praise God because:
- Today is the second day of the second week of training in Ethiopia. Most people were not present when the training was supposed to start due to transportation problems. They were able to start finally at 10:30am with 70 trainees, but they expect to have over 100 tomorrow.
- Six of the trainers from the first week have taken leadership in teaching during the second week of training. The training is being translated into Oromo, the local language, which means that all in attendance can participate in their native language.
- One of last week’s trainees shared the message of the gospel using the FFICM gospel tract card with one of his neighbors who was demon possessed. The demon left the neighbor, she accepted Christ and so did his father who was listening in! He immediately began using the follow-up with these new believers. Praise God for this trainees’ boldness, faithfulness, humility in prayer, and dedication to follow-up. Praise God for delivering the woman from an evil spirit, for empowering her with faith in Jesus and for her father’s presence to witness this miracle!
- They have decided to go forward with the purchase of the vehicle that they have rented to use this week. It will need some repairs, but the seller has decreased the price to compensate for the repair costs. Pray for wisdom with the drafting of the ownership agreement papers with FFICM and the church we work with there. A HUGE thank you to all those who have given financially toward this need this past year!
- We now have the people identified who will be speaking at the big conference in Ethiopia at the end of March. We are expecting at least 15,000 at the conference where we will be teaching about the true gospel to many Christians who are considering leaving their faith. Pray for these speakers as they prepare what they will be sharing to this large group.
- Please join us in prayer:
- Please pray for Rich to get his COVID test on Friday. It should be available within 24 hours. This will allow him to return to the US as planned.
USA:
- We praise God because:
- The mold mitigation work on Dara’s house has progressed well. They found much more than they thought that they would find. Hopefully this will be part of the answer to her ongoing health issues. Please continue to pray for healing and health for Dara. Pray for wisdom regarding finances impacted by the past year of debilitating sickness.
- David’s wife’s hand is healing well. Thank you for all who have been praying for the healing of her hand that was bitten by a dog a few weeks ago.
- Please join us in prayer:
- Please continue to pray for the upcoming decision to be made by the Murdock Trust for our grant request. They will make the final decision on this grant request on February 25.
- Please continue to pray that God will give us wisdom as we try to recruit 2 or 3 international trainers to be part of the FFICM USA team this year.
