When we gathered together, we sang songs – I was there with my guitar, but it was hardly needed. Instead Kashkdar rubab and the doyra (a stringed instrument and a drum) were enough. It started with one man singing a couple of Psalms he had put music. Then we read from Luke and another brother spoke for awhile – sharing the basics of what it means to have a risen Lord, and about the witnesses who saw it. After singing some more songs, and a prayer, we had a meal. At the end of the meal we heard another song – brand new that had been written that morning telling of the complete meaning of Easter.

The chorus was:
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, you died for us
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, you rose for us

I just sat back in amazement and praised the Lord. Oh, of course, in overall terms you might not be so impressed…25 people or so gathered by the river to hear a simple message from a man who had never preached before about the faith that he had found a couple years ago. Another man sang songs from the Bible about God and the death and resurrection of Christ. Many guests were hearing the gospel for the first time! And…it was completely Central Asian. Sitting on the ground, Central Asian food, Central Asian program (or lack of it!), Central Asian fellowship, Central Asian music.

The worker brought him into his own house and gave him food and drink and helped him to wash. The man was confused as to where he lived. He said he had a sister and yet he couldn’t find his way home.

Some people came and warned that the man should leave, for he was a drunk and would come back and steal from the house.

Eventually the worker decided to drive around with him in the area the man vaguely indicated. He recognized a street and a house and on approaching it the occupant ran out and up to the homeless man and embraced him with tears of joy.

The family told of their brother who had left the house 20 days earlier to get a magazine and had never returned. He was slightly retarded and had very bad eyesight. Posters had been put up and information given on the local radio station to help to trace the missing man, but without success.

The worker had the chance to share about the love of God, the prayers around the world being prayed for their nation and how God had heard the prayers. They wept together over the goodness of God and said that this worker would now be a member of their family. They explained that God had told them a man with a pure heart would bring back their brother.

The worker shared the gospel and prayed for them. The older sister said “May God give you a nation”, to which the worker replied “That is my prayer, also”.

Josef’s wife saw them reading the Injil (Bible) together, and questioned him afterward, since Muslims are told not to read that book. And then Josef’s older brother also heard about it somehow, and got angry and started criticizing Josef. Josef even lied to him, saying that he is not reading the Bible. Josef explained to Philip that if his brother believed that he was, he would tell all their family and friends and have him cut off from everyone in our city.

Josef is still willing to read the Bible and discuss with Philip, but obviously there is a real need for prayer! As we wrote in the last email, we really sense that we ourselves are weak – but God can work in any heart. Please pray for this man, his family, and for Philip as he tries to share the message of the Gospel all the way from the Genesis to Jesus.

Recently, Philip visited Josef to tell the story of Cain and Abel. A bit earlier he had had a surprise guest: The driver who had hit him. The driver has not taken care of the medical costs Josef has had; instead he bribed the officials to forge documents that he could get away free. Both Josef and his relatives are under a severe temptation to get revenge, and especially Josef’s relatives want to see this driver suffer.

The story of Cain and Abel is powerful when it reminds us that God sees all, and even when we plan do evil. God even warned Cain: “watch out! Sin is waiting to attack and destroy you, and you must subdue it.” (Genesis 4:7)

Josef listened carefully to the story, and didn’t interrupt once. We still request you to pray that these stories from the Bible and the discussions would wake in Josef an ability to see the truth, and prepare him to accept Jesus.

Now the wonderful news. Later this month in Oblaststan one of these three, one woman, will be leading a retreat for 7-10 new female believers. They are all village women and will meet at a secure location to grow in their new faith in our Lord. This entire retreat, the planning, funding, and teaching is being done by those we left behind. This is exactly the way it is suppose to work. We went (and others), we planted the seed in some and even reaped a harvest among some. We have been able from afar to continue the process of mentoring and now they are taking over. In that harsh and repressive land, the church not only survives but it is growing.

Note: Oblaststan is not an actual name of a country in Central Asia, but it represents a real country.

Late last year, one of the young local ladies in this group, Michele, who has been a believer for 6 years, moved to a village about 2 hours drive from the city. She did this because she felt God’s call to go there, and had the support of both the Fellowships. Though there were no others who could go with her full time, occasionally a small team goes from the city to help. Despite times of loneliness, the physical demands of single-handedly looking after a house and being threatened with assault, Michele has stayed in the village. She has prayed and befriended people, and found opportunities to share the gospel.

One of the people Michele met was a 12 year old girl, Lorna, whose mother is in prison. She has not seen her father for many years and was being looked after by her grandparents. However her grandmother was in hospital for a short time, so Lorna stayed for about a month with Michele. Towards the end of December, Lorna made a commitment to follow Jesus.

It turns out that one of Lorna’s aunts, while living in our city had spent some time with a large church, though currently is not close to Jesus. Also, an uncle, while in prison had received help from visiting believers, and had heard the gospel, though without making a commitment. Then the grandmother let it be known that she wanted to read the Injil (Gospels or New Testament) in her own language. Two believers obtained copies of the Injil from the city and went with Michele to visit the grandmother, now back home. With tears in her eyes she accepted the copy of God’s word in her native language, and reading from this, with further explanations in the local language, found forgiveness from Jesus. Her husband also prayed a prayer of commitment. For two weeks, Lorna’s grandmother developed her relationship with Jesus in prayer, and then passed into His presence.

The grandfather had a dream shortly after this, seeing his wife dressed in white, which we take as an encouragement to him to know where she now is. However, this time of bereavement is very hard for him, and he and two of his daughters often resort to the traditional comfort, vodka, even though one of the daughters has also prayed asking for forgiveness and committed her life to Jesus.

It has also been a difficult time for the granddaughter Lorna, working through the loss of her grandmother. For a while, she stopped coming to the children’s group that meets with Michele. Then she had a dream, and saw her grandmother, outside their block of flats, sitting, where she usually sat. Her grandmother said that she was alive, Lorna replied that she had just been buried, how could she be alive? Then in the dream her grandmother told her of heaven where she was, and of hell, and as she spoke Lorna saw pictures of the two places. This dream brought a restored joy to Lorna and a return to fellowship.

After checking on the little ones, the families of the other patients also asked for help in the hospital – so to each room by lantern light we went, checking on a burned little girl who wasn’t eating much, and on a man who had had his leg amputated in Kabul and was in a lot of pain. We finally left after giving out some more medicine. After finding our lantern that one patient’s wife had borrowed we walked back under the rising moon home.

We found out the next day that both malnourished babies had died in the night.

The Hazara people we worked among this summer are very poor Muslims, like most of the people of Afghanistan. Most make their living by farming here, and have very simple village lives. And it is very hard for them to provide even basic things for their little children. The poorest people here do not own land. They just wander from year to year working for the landowners on the fields.

Please pray for the Hazara people of Afghanistan. Pray for more workers to go out and take the Love of Jesus to them.

“Or suppose a woman has ten valuable silver coins and loses one. Won’t she light a lamp and look in every corner of the house and sweep every nook and cranny until she finds it? And when she finds it, she will call in her friends and neighbors to rejoice with her because she has found her lost coin. In the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels when even one sinner repents.” Luke 15:8-10

Rejoice with us! We cannot remember when our team has seen so many Muslims turn to Jesus in just one month, and even during this Ramadan month of fasting!

Pray with us that these Gospel seeds will take firm root and the Enemy will not be able to stop them from bearing much fruit, and fruit that will remain!

When Ramadan began, Annette and her husband decided to fast as well as their local friends. She suggested to Betty, who was also fasting, that they’d study the bible during the lunch breaks. In the beginning Annette showed the Jesus-movie in portions so that Betty could grasp the bigger picture. Day by day Betty began to talk more and more about Jesus and God’s Word, our conversations with her and Christian songs were also ministering to her heart. God also gave her a couple of powerful dreams that clearly manifested the power of Jesus’ name and saving blood. To our great joy on the last day of Ramadan Betty made a public commitment of faith and we can testify everyday how she keeps on growing in her faith. She really feels that she’d been born again, having new life and instead of the restlessness there’s a deep peace in her heart. She said that her suicidal thoughts are history and she feels inside her like a 17-year-old woman full of energy! Let’s pray that God could mightily use this simple, but, but to Him, so dear woman.

The next Sunday, one of these families got on the mini-bus to go to the church meeting in our city, and the same government official was riding with them. He marveled that they had the courage to go, and the neighbors, after seeing that this family is continuing in their faith, have started coming to the Bible studies again. When asked why they haven’t been put in prison, the family says “Our God is a God of peace.”

So please pray with us for our brothers and sisters who are being persecuted for their faith. Pray for their joy, ask Jesus’ disciple Peter wrote for them:

So be truly glad! There is wonderful joy ahead, even though it is necessary for you to endure many trials for a while.

These trials are only to test your faith, to show that it is strong and pure. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold–and your faith is far more precious to God than mere gold. So, if your faith remains strong after being tried by fiery trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world. I Peter 1:6-7

KABUL, Afghanistan — An Afghan man who allegedly converted from Islam to Christianity is being prosecuted in a Kabul court and could be sentenced to death, a judge said Sunday.

The defendant, Abdul Rahman, was arrested last month after his family went to the police and accused him of becoming a Christian, Judge Ansarullah Mawlavezada told the Associated Press in an interview. Such a conversion would violate the country’s Islamic laws.

Rahman, who is believed to be 41, was charged with rejecting Islam when his trial started last week, the judge said.

During the hearing, the defendant allegedly confessed that he converted from Islam to Christianity 16 years ago when he was 25 and working as a medical aid worker for Afghan refugees in neighboring Pakistan, Mawlavezada said.

Afghanistan’s constitution is based on Shariah law, which states that any Muslim who rejects their religion should be sentenced to death.

“We are not against any particular religion in the world. But in Afghanistan, this sort of thing is against the law,” the judge said. “It is an attack on Islam. … The prosecutor is asking for the death penalty.”

The prosecutor, Abdul Wasi, said the case was the first of its kind in Afghanistan.

He said that he had offered to drop the charges if Rahman changed his religion back to Islam, but the defendant refused.

Mawlavezada said he would rule on the case within two months.

Afghanistan is a deeply conservative society and 99 percent of its 28 million people are Muslim. The rest are mainly Hindus.