This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
1 John 4:10 (NIV)
Latin America
Paraguay: Bible translation
Pray for mission partner Tim Curtis who is working with a team revising the Northern Enlhet Bible translation, currently looking at 1 Samuel. Please pray for good progress in this work and for safe travels for Tim as he returns home on Saturday along a section of the Trans-Chaco highway that is currently in poor condition.
Paraguay: returning to school
After a year of online schooling, St Andrew’s School in Asuncion, where mission partner Bev Richardson is a member of staff, has now launched into a hybrid system of online and attendance-based classes. Pray for staff and students as they return and pray for the chapel congregation which Bev leads, and which is restarting services again this weekend.
Argentina: calming of fear
Mission partners David and Shelley Stokes ask for prayer for a calming of fear among the indigenous peoples of northern Argentina. Distrust between the indigenous peoples and the government has been amplified by the current quarantining approach, taken to help curb the spread of COVID-19. Many indigenous people fear that the government’s tracing and quarantining of people is part of a government plot to harm them and lots of terrified people have been taken into quarantine. Pray for the truth of what is happening to be known.
Ecuador: elections
Pray for the first round of elections in Ecuador on Sunday 7 February. Pray for the right presidential candidate to be elected and that this round of voting won’t cause a significant increase in the spread of COVID-19 as people travel to vote in the place where they are registered. Pray for all those in the country including mission partner Sharon Wilcox.
Europe, Middle East and North Africa
Iran: Christians under pressure
Since the end of January, Iranian intelligence officials in Karaj have summoned about a dozen Christian converts for interrogation, putting pressure on them to promise not to meet with other Christians, even in private homes. Please pray that those who are summoned, interrogated and pressured will have the faith and courage to stand firm for the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, for God’s love to cast our fear and for the security officials to hear the gospel and come to a point of repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus. (This prayer request comes from Middle East Concern.)
Africa
DR Congo: sharing Jesus
Local partner Bisoke Balikenga, who runs a peace centre in Bunia, asks for prayer for him and his colleagues to be able to speak on local radio about accepting Jesus and reconciliation. Bisoke writes that many are losing their faith; pray for God to open up opportunities for Christians to share the good news.
South Sudan: refugees coming home
Praise God that more than 350,000 refugees have returned to South Sudan since 2017, most of them after the peace agreement was signed in 2018. 15,000 of them have returned to Mundri (which adjoins Maridi), saying they now feel secure in their own county. Give thanks that improved security is bringing people home, and pray for their welfare.
South Sudan: completion of security arrangements under peace agreement
The Joint Monitoring Committee has reported that the training of the various forces for integration into a national army – a critical element of the peace agreement – has stalled. Troops are leaving the cantonment sites, where there is no food, and no plans have been prepared for graduation or subsequent deployment. Pray for the effective completion of the training, genuine integration and strategic deployment of the united forces.
Sudan: border dispute
Ethiopia is massing troops, including tanks and anti-aircraft batteries, on the border between the two countries, where Sudanese troops have reclaimed and re-occupied land which had been occupied by Ethiopian farmers. Pray that this dispute may be resolved by diplomatic means.
Asia
Myanmar: military coup
Please pray for Myanmar, which saw military rulers overthrow the democratic government this week. Armies on all sides of the conflict are heavily weaponised, meaning the situation could deteriorate in an instant. Please pray for the army to release members of the government who have been detained including the state counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Pray for peace to come to this nation.
