ALBANIA — Give thanks for exciting mission collaboration opportunities! Recently, Words of Hope’s director for ministry in Albania had a chance to network with RCA Global Mission staff on the topic of church planting in Albania and Kosovo. Pray with us that more churches can be successfully planted in these countries. Pray that the right leadership will be found to shepherd new congregations.
SOUTH SUDAN — Our producer in South Sudan reports that ministry efforts are going well. We give thanks for relative peace and stability in the region, which has allowed our staff there to travel and gather new recordings from programmers living around the country. Some new producers are even able to travel to the recording studio themselves. We are so thankful for this positive report from South Sudan.
NIGER — Give thanks that our team in Niger was able to attend a Christian media conference in Burkina Faso. The topic of the conference was, “Christian Media Tools of Peace in a World of Conflict.” Pray that the team will be able to make good use of the things that they learned at the conference as they work to share the gospel of peace in their own heart languages in the country of Niger.
IRAN — Words of Hope’s director for Persian ministry recently had the opportunity to visit the Words of Hope team in Uganda. This was a time of blessing for the leadership of both teams, and a chance for them to learn and grow together as they shared ministry ideas. We are grateful that Christ’s universal, international church connects cultures and people groups as together we serve him and share the gospel.
TURKEY — The team in Turkey has completed their move into a new office. The new space has been built with state-of-the-art facilities for video and audio production, and has plenty of space for the ministry to expand. The office recently had their grand opening, and is now fully operational. We are so thankful for the ways in which God has provided for this next stage of ministry in Turkey.
BHUTAN — The Sartang, Tawang, and Dirang Monpa believers in Bhutan are now using a worship song that Words of Hope wrote and recorded in our studio there. It is an amazing thing to see these church congregations celebrating and praising God using original Bhutanese songs. Bhutan is a very difficult place for people to accept Christianity. But we believe that God can and will continue to draw people there to himself.
UGANDA — Translation work continues for the first ever Kuku language Bible. Members of the North American Words of Hope staff recently had a chance to travel to Uganda and meet with the translators in person. Translators discussed the challenge of translating abstract nouns that express events, such as the phrase “have mercy.” Pray for clarity in the translation work, that all original meaning in the Scripture will be preserved.
INDIA — We have received a report of seven new baptisms in India! The decision to be baptized there can be a risky one. Such baptisms often take place in streams found in remote areas. Pray for each new believer who has now committed their life to Christ. May Christ strengthen and uphold each new follower in their faith, and guard them from persecution. Pray also for our leaders as they continue to bravely share the gospel.
INDONESIA — We are thankful that the Indonesian team was recently able to visit the island of Java. They met many of the people who watch and listen to the programming they produce. They were also able to distribute more than 80 radios and 18 female goats. The goats are part of an economic empowerment program for the community. When the female goats give birth, the babies will go to community members who don’t yet have goats.
ENGLISH — A devotional reader shared these words from prison: “I was an avid reader of the Bible, and fell away. You don’t know how many times I started in Genesis and stopped there. I wrote the chaplain for a Bible and he added your booklet series. Since it was short I decided to use it as a morning devotional, and I have been blessed ever since. It has helped motivate me to read more of my Bible. It has jumpstarted my whole love of the Bible again.”
INDIA — Our Dogri program producer writes: “We praise God for sustainability in our day-to-day work in the office and in field work as well. We are seeing that the Lord is opening some new doors and opportunities for us to visit new mission fields. We were able to distribute our gospel material to people, and they were so eager to receive the gospel messages and songs in their own mother tongue.”
NEPAL — Pray for the country of Nepal, as it was hit by an earthquake in November. One hundred and twenty people died, and many more were injured. All Words of Hope leaders are fine, and have been actively helping out in the impacted areas. Pray for the churches as they help with relief work. Pray that people will receive the help they need during this time of difficulty.