1
You are My witnesses," says the LORD,
"And My servant whom I have chosen,
That you may know and believe Me,
And understand that I am He….
And besides Me there is no saviour. Isaiah 43:10-11
Remember to pray for Knox Alpha, covering weeks 5 – 8 in March! A good turnout of guests and almost 30 volunteers. As Christ-followers, we are called to be witnesses in Toronto and in Canada and to the farthest parts of the earth.
2
Dave & Rani, Brampton. “Dave winds down his visit to India the first week of March. He meets with Workers in the city where he worked with Rani. He will also vis-it a Christian hospital that works with the marginalized and poor. Please continue to pray for Deepak and his ability to focus during his last high school months. Rani meets with H1ndus and S1khs almost every day of the week.”
SUNDAY
Refugee Sponsorship. Exciting answers to prayer! The Haidary family is expected to have landed at Pearson on March 1. Rental housing was found in Scarborough and donations of useful items are growing. Monetary gifts are bringing us much closer to our $50,000 target for the year. Pray for a warm welcome in Christ for this new family who will have so much to adjust to!
4
Gus & Marliese, London. In February, Marliese travelled home to Switzerland for a week for the funeral of her sister-in-law. Pray for comfort for Marliese along with other family members. and particularly for her brother, Bruno. Gus asks prayer for their regular requests: for friendship and witness with the Yazidis as well as his Palestinian friend.
5
Colin & Rachel McCordic, AIM. “We praise the Lord for our safe arrival in Chad (Feb 7) and sweet reunions with friends here. Pray for us as we do language learning, build friendship in our neighbourhood, and make plans to travel to some different towns in the coming months. We will be helping out with Wellspring's homeschool week at the end March. Pray that this will be a blessing to the families who live in remote areas of the country.”
6
Leah Hopp, OPC, Uganda. “As the Ver-dick family plans their furlough for the be-ginning of April, Tina and I will be the only decision-makers on the field for six months. We are learning how to cover the work of our mission clinic and all the finances alongside two Ugandans … Aleper and Eunice. Please pray that we will all remain healthy and able to keep essential pro-grammes running smoothly.”
7
C & K. “They request prayer for Pakistan during this time of political turmoil, economic decline and environmental stress, to say nothing of the continuing environment of hostility towards the Christian community. There are some encouraging signs of a younger generation of Pakistani Christians exploring new ways of serving the country, particularly in and through the marketplace and business. Please pray for wisdom for us as we seek to serve in this context. C is planning a trip to Pakistan this month.”
8
Gord & Brenda Nickerson, Josiah Venture. On an upcoming ministry trip to Eu-rope, they’ll be hosting two pastors and spouses from their Fort Worth church so they can see some of the impact Josiah Venture is having on young lives in Central and Eastern Europe. Pray that the many details for this trip will come together. As well, two Youth Pastor Learning Communities happen throughout March. Pray as they discuss relevant issues for those serving youth. The Nickersons are also travelling to visit family and supporters.
9
Xerggyo & Hil. “We are so grateful for an intensive mission leadership training event in Spain. We have just returned home to Chiapas and were very surprised to see snow on the ground in some places. We are now trying to finalize our prayer and financial support to return to T in early summer. The church there is growing stronger.”
SUNDAY
Elizabeth Matthias, Germany. “From the 11th through 17th I'm excited to be in England with four mentees attending a biblical counseling conference on ‘Loss’. This is primarily a ‘vision trip’ for the mentees, but also for gaining practical insight on developing biblical counseling in the church by laity. May the Spirit enlighten us all as to God's will for us personally and corporately in Munich.”
11
Sylvia Dresser, Waterloo. “I recently sent the still unfinished manuscript of the South Coast History of TEAM's work in Papua to the seminary at Sowi and the school would like to publish it --but it isn't finished so I feel some pressure to get it done! Pray for my energy and discipline. Andrew has completed the workup for a kidney transplant. Pray that a suitable kidney will become available.”
12
Khevna & Sharon, Knox Missions Hub. “Khevna was grateful to participate at Missionfest Manitoba this past month, while Sharon created spaces to watch, play, learn, and pray with students during their reading week in February. Please pray for upcoming joint collaborations with student groups for UofTogether on March 15 before the semester wraps up!”
13
Glenn & Fern Byerly. “…When praying for Cameroon, I saw they had attacks from Boka Haram. I had always thought they were in Nigeria. My son-in-law explained that they move back and forth across the border. If hunted in Nigeria, they go into Cameroon. He said the village people are killed in the night in the village and in the field if they try to grow food. He arrived back safely.” Also, “Pray for housing for immigrants that is affordable.”
14
Laurie Armstrong, Power to Change. “Planning for the fall semester is ramping up this month on campuses nationally: pray for direction, courage, creativity. Pray for students continuing to take steps towards Jesus. The Meaning Makers winter cohort continues to meet: pray that these students would find encouragement and practical help in exploring faith in/through their passion for writing.”
15
Susan Jeffery, CANIL, Abbotsford. “CanIL Library is being transferred to the main library on campus in batches of about 200 books each, two batches per week. Sections of our Library that are less important to our students and faculty are being dealt with first so as not to inconvenience them mid-term. Pray for wisdom in deciding the makeup of each batch and for protection for those who are doing the heavy lifting.”
16
Paul & Mary Beth McLean, PCC, Taiwan. “Praise God for publication of the complete Bible in Bunun today in Taiwan. May the 86 Presbyterian churches and others be in-spired to read their new Bible and share the Good News in their communities.”
SUNDAY
Hanneke Cost Budde, Tanzania. The kids are doing fine! Kiri has started her second year, doing field work. Baraka is much better. Hanneke teaches at the Bible school. Pray for students having difficulties paying fees and travel money. One student, Rahabu, lost her 5-year-old daughter and had to go home for the funeral. So sad. Another student was dismissed for stealing. They are lovely people and try very hard to keep up with their studies. (Only 4 of the 11 students have secondary school education.)
18
Carluci & Christina Dos Santos. In February, Carluci was in Brazil celebrating the life and ministry of his 90-year-old dad who’s still in good health and praying for people. Carluci took down for distribution 100 solar radios with Bible recordings, ser-mons and songs in the Ticuna language of Colombia. He began a new 5-session cycle of training 7 Portuguese- and Spanish-speaking leaders for the Langham Bible expository circles in Canada. The Dos Santos seek prayer and financial support.
19
Bill Fitch, Listen to Learn, East Africa. The Kenya team has completed a 3-day training session with 8 Regional Leaders in Kenya. To reduce time and costs, they are distributing more of the Local Bible Institute management to local leaders. Six of the 8 (all men, sadly) who participated have been working with L2L for at least a year. All together for the first time and apparently a great success! Please pray for Daniel & Fred from Uganda, John & Benjamini from TZ, for Ken, Samwel, Richard & Billy from Kenya.
20
Ann Chow, Event & Project Management. “Thanks for your prayers for my trip to Phuket, Thailand. The meetings went well - we got a ton of work done for Seoul 2024 (Lausanne 4), we are designing canvases to be used by all 5000 in-person participants and 5000+ virtual participants.” Ann is recruiting team members and working with the team that is creating the virtual congress for those who can’t make it in person, for the collaboration process.”
21
Elaine Esser, Owen Sound. “As we celebrate Easter may the gospel message be preached through-out the world. Christ has risen is the true meaning of Easter not the Easter bunnies and chocolate that are advertised this time of celebration.”
22
Luke & Yuko Elliot, Aomori Christian Center, Japan. Please lift up events and programming that continue to make great use of their new multi-purpose refectory. So much work and so many prayers went into it. The Lord make it a great blessing to believers in Japan!
23
Marg Roth. “I am thankful to see we are having more folk attending our Sunday worship services here. This month my heart has been particularly burdened with the many, both living and working here, who have no relationship with The Lord. For some the time is short. Also, for those involved around the world in ongoing conflicts and wars that just keep going on. So good we can bring our concerns to our Lord and know He cares.”
SUNDAY
Chyrl Basa, FFM. Please mark the dates for the upcoming Days of Prayer for the Muslim World: May 11th & August 17th. As well, our annual Global Day of Prayer for the Muslim World, which is held entirely on Zoom, will be November 16th.
25
I & S. Pray that politics and conflicts in the region would not negatively affect the advancement of the gospel in the country to which they are going. Pray for visa requests to be granted and for stamina as they raise prayer and financial support.
26
Jack & Mary Anne Voelkel. “This coming June, ‘UCU,’ the Colombian University Movement related to Intervarsity must select, train, and fund a new General Secretary. Pray for God to raise up a prayerful, visionary leader who can guide the movement forward, develop staff and student leaders, and engage this generation of Colombian students, resistant to commitment, yet in great need of an intimate, saving relationship with Jesus.”
27
Jim Mason, Challenge Enterprises, Ghana. Richard Nyarko was discharged from Nsawam Medium Security Prison, is now a fulltime Cinevan evangelist and was recently married. Pray for a Christ-centered marriage. Thank God for sustaining CEG during the last financial year, and pray that He leads CEG to exceed targets for the 2023/2024 fiscal year. Pray also that CEG will be a good steward of God’s blessings.
28
Mary Jane Fandrich, Dallas. “I've been offline with some stomach distress for a couple of weeks but seem to be back in shape. People are still looking for love and blessing here but on their own terms. There's a real undertow of anger and frustration, and struggle. Pray for me as I pray over them daily, for compassion and patience. God will do His work in the hearts. They ask for prayer but reject Jesus as the Source and Object of our faith.”
29 GOOD FRIDAY “This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life." John 3:16, The Message
30
Wayne & Helen Hancock, Threefold Ministries, Nicaragua. “Give thanks to God for the pastors being trained and the many local groups being discipled at the Skylark Centre. Pray for the board as they continue discussions with partners and discern how to move forward in a very difficult situation due to Nicaraguan government regulations.”
SUNDAY
Phase II Workers. John & Debra Bowen, Eleanor Crabtree (Nothing special this month. I do thank the Lord for the health care that I have received), Gladys Linthicum, Norine Love, Patsy McCarthy, Clarence & Cathy McMullen, David & Angela Morris, Barbara Rahn, Pamela Stedman, Diana Wadsworth and Rosemary Walker.