EMERGENCY PRAYER ALERT“ CALL TO PRAY FOR INDIA!
Esther Fast Monday the 29th to Wednesday the 1st of October.

Youth With A Mission staff members have been among the thousands of followers of Christ in India who are suffering under violent persecution by Hindu radicals.

The violence has increased in recent months across the nation, most particularly in the states of Orissa and Karnataka, where thousands are fleeing their homes in an attempt to escape the persecution. In the state of Orissa alone, 51 people are confirmed dead, while over 40 000 have been forced to flee their homes as gangs of Hindu radicals storm through, beating up pastors, priests and nuns, burning churches and homes and vandalizing property.

Reports have come in from over a dozen YWAM staff and students who have suffered beatings and injuries, the loss of their homes and damage to personal and ministry property. Other teams are engaged in efforts to support the refugees who are often left with nothing. All are desperately praying for God to intervene, and they are asking YWAM International to join them.

A group of 90 Christian leaders meeting last week in Mumbai felt in prayer that the situation for Indian Christians is similar to that in the book of Esther, when God's people were also being subject to a plan of extermination. YWAM leaders from India who were at the meeting explain, Queen Esther appeals, through Mordecai, to the people of God to go on a three day fast. The rest is history. God intervenes. That's the objective of this call to pray and fast. Accordingly we are urging all our friends to declare three days of prayer and fasting for India from Monday the 29th to Wednesday the 1st of October.

YWAM International Chairman, Lynn Green, echoes this call to prayer. This coming Thursday is YWAM's monthly Global Day of Prayer and our focus is on strengthening yourself in the Lord," Lynn says. "Our brothers and sisters in India are suffering in a way many of us have never faced and we must stand with them, strengthening them with our prayers as they pursue God's purposes in that nation.

Prayer Points for India :

1)Read Esther chapter 3 and 4 to see parallels between what is happening in India today and the enemy's goal at that time to wipe out God's people. Pray for Esthers to rise up and speak to influential people in India who can work to prevent further violence.
2)Pray that God will bless those who persecute, according to Jesus' instructions and that they would come to faith in Jesus through the example of the believers and the supernatural intervention of the Holy Spirit
3)Pray for believers across India to be strengthened in their faith and persevere through these hardships. Pray that God would use them especially in this time, to be salt and light in India.
4)Pray for the victims of this violence, and for intervention from the Central Government to prevent further attacks. Pray for relief efforts which are assisting those who have been hurt or have lost everything.


For updated news on violence against Christians in India, please go to the Evangelical Fellowship of India website at http://www.efionline.org

For this month's Global Day of Prayer teaching, go to "http://www.prayerday.org

A full list of prayer points from the Esther fast and other information is available from : ict@oval.com. Please include your full name and location when requesting further information.

Finding "God" in Zhuang Part 2

Continued from Friday, August 26, 2008:

One day, we got together in our kitchen with two linguists, and hashed out some of the most difficult terms with our two young Zhuang translators. We had asked one of the translators to bring his father along, a man who has been a believer for a short time, and has spent most of his life in a small rural village. He stoically sat at the table, trying to look interested in the conversation, but contributing little. After we had discussed the God term for awhile, he spoke up.

"Have you considered using the word Boh-fax?" he said.

We looked at each other, and then at the two young translators who looked as clueless as we did. We knew what the two syllables meant, literally, "sky-father," but did not know the rural Zhuang had such a term in their culture.

"Everyone knows about Boh-fax," he continued, "Boh-fax made everything, he controls the weather, and is responsible for what happens in our lives."

Each of us proceeded to pop out questions like, "Is he good?" "Is he eternal?" "Is he all-powerful?" and so on until we were convinced that we had indeed found a local Zhuang term for God that met the necessary requirements.

Later, we replaced the old word with the new one in our script, and have already seen its effectiveness as our teammates have shown the video in remote villages.

These villagers said, "We have heard this story in Mandarin before, but now we understand it!"

Praise Boh-fax that he had already revealed himself and his name to these local Zhuang!

A popular singer is on trial for speaking out against the war against the PKK in eastern Turkiye. The prosecutor accuses Bulent Ersoy of making dangerous propaganda for the PKK, describing military service as the "sacred duty" of every Turk.

But Ms Ersoy told the judge she had committed no crime. The singer said she stood by her words and her right to express her thoughts freely - as a loyal citizen of her country.
"Even if they hang me, I'll keep talking," she said.

Article 318 of the penal code - "dissuading people from military service" - is frequently used by the military against its critics. Meanwhile another article, 301, makes it a crime to insult the Turkish nation and its institutions, which is used to stifle free speech.

What are the limits of free speech vs. harming the country?

Learning about Central Asia

This is my first post to this blog and hopefully you will find the things I have to share informative.  My focus will be to share with you about the part of the world that we call Central Asia.  Most of the countries in this region of the world were once part of the Former Soviet Union.  Most of the countries have a majority Muslim population.  Let me start by directing you to a web site that is a great resource to learn about the region and it's people.

http://www.eurasianet.org

Enjoy!

Finding "God" in Zhuang Part 1

Below is a story about Translation work among the Zhuang:

In 2007, we were working on a translation of a Chinese language evangelistic video into a Zhuang dialect. Our work was primarily with young Zhaung translators, as they had a higher level of education, and knew some English. There were several hurdles to overcome in the process, one of which was to find appropriate words for some of the key religious terms used in the video‚ the most significant being the word for "God."

Most of the local Zhuang believers were using the term "Cangj-dij" for God, which is a direct transliteration* of the Mandarin Chinese term, "Shangdi." We were not satisfied with this term, however, as our goal was to have the message understood by villagers with little or no access to Mandarin Chinese. Our heart was to see Zhuang churches established using their own concepts, and not being overly influenced by the Chinese church.

To be continued on Monday....

*transliteration simply means to translate using the closest corresponding letters from one language to another. This means that the pronunciation is transferred but not meaning.

We are quite worried and concerned about what is going on in this nation

Diary, update Sept 2009. Hello Every one,
This week was pretty slow due to the bomb blast from the last week. City is still under deep hurt and great panic. The police caught some of them who were behind the blast and it's mastermind. Some of the guys were studying and living in the same community. The situation is unrest and very sensitive right now!
Our family is doing well; God has been good and faithful to us. We have been blessed in many ways. K is doing well and going to her school and learning so much every day. ...
We are quite worried and concerned about what is going on in this nation right now.

Many of you are aware of the recent attacks on Christians and Christian Institutions across the nation, natural disaster in Bihar and Orissa and growing terrorist activities in major cities in our country. Hundreds of Christians were murdered, over 200 people were killed in the bomb blast and hundred thousands of people became homeless in the last two months.

We cry out for God's mercy, protection, provision and work of the Holy Spirit. We also ask your prayers for unity in the body of Christ and brotherly love and care for one another!
...
With much joy in serving Jesus,

Please pray for,
God's protection, direction for our family and team (YWAM),
Persecuted Christians and the body of Christ in our nation,
People in Orisa and Bihar, who affected by the flood,
God's work manifest in tough and painful situation,
Our family would be sensitive to Holy Spirit.

Favor From God

One night in the mountains I had a dream/vision. All I could actually see was a bunch of colors, but I knew they were multi-colored coats and that the people in them were tied down and being beaten. (I couldn't see what was tying the people down or any blood from the beating so it wasn't "ugly", but I knew both were there).

The story of Joseph in Genesis started off with a multi-colored tunic. His father gave him the robe as a sign of love and favor. His brothers got jealous and angry at Joseph and sold him into slavery. The brothers took his tunic and tore it, then dipped it in blood, and took it back to the father. They let him think Joseph was dead. Joseph, in the meantime, ended up in a foreign land. God gave him favor and blessed everything he did. But then he was thrown into prison for something he didn't do. God gave him favor in prison and put him in charge of most of the prisoners. While there he interpreted some dreams that turned out exactly as he had predicted. Finally he was able to interpret a dream that the Pharaoh had and ended up second in command of the country. He was able to save his own family and the whole country from dying from a famine... and God redeemed the whole situation.


I believe my people group have been given multi-colored coats as a sign of favor from God. (I never saw a coat there that didn't have several colors in it). They have, in essence, been sold into slavery by their brothers. They have been in agony. But it's God's plan to redeem them! Will you pray that they will receive hope and strength, and redemption? Will you pray that they will begin to understand God's favor and move deeper into His love?