Three Missionaries Serving in Hostile Environments

The H Family Serving in Southeast Asia

Their Bio

The H family consists of a husband and wife and four girls ages 4-11.  Mr. and Mrs. H are homeschooling their girls, which can be a struggle without any community support.  They also have the dual challenge of preparing their girls for their present reality in Southeast Asia, while preparing them for their future in the West.  They have been living in their current country for over ten years.

Their Work

They have a coffee company and are working towards expanding their processing capability and have recently added a warehouse and office.  The crops are plentiful and healthy for harvest in April, so they are expecting a good year for the business.  While the business provides jobs, relationships, and a solid identity in their community, the business takes time and attention away from some other tasks that better suit their primary goals.

Language Study

Mr. H. has been studying the local language for over four years.  During this relatively quiet time before harvest, Mr. H. is grateful that he can focus more attention on language study and is making significant progress.  Although he can carry on most day-to-day conversations, he feels he is still years away from reaching true fluency.  His language study offers great opportunities to deepen his relationships with his local friends as they help him with his study by recording their life stories in the local language, which Mr. H then uses to expand his vocabulary and grammar.  Using his friends in this way serves a dual purpose in that it also helps Mr. H. to better understand his friends and how he should best share Truth with them one day.

Community Life

Community life adds an unpredictable, ongoing aspect to their daily life.  In their village it is important to stay engaged in community events like weddings, funerals, and engagements.  Each of these takes many hours spread over many days, and it can feel like it is not always the most effective use of the H’s time.  However, they have become convinced over the years that those times that they stretch and give of themselves, rejoicing with those who rejoice, weeping with those who weep, are weaving the deep connections God will use for them to reach their neighbors with the Truth.

Prayer Requests

  • To be patient, sacrificial parents, training their girls well for all aspects of life.
  • For the ability to balance the demands of community, business, and language study such that each would benefit the others, and that they would be well placed in both ability and circumstance to make disciples.
  • To follow where our Father leads.  They need His wisdom and guidance as it is very hard to know what the next best thing is, and they want to rely heavily on His daily leading to guide them to His plan, not their own.

The J Family Serving in Central Asia

Their Bio

The J family consists of a husband and wife and four children ages 7-14.  The children attend a local international school.  They have lived in the capital of this country since 2017.

Their Work

As a trained Physician’s Assistant Mr. J. is involved in medical care and training through local partners, as well as a community development project, in remote areas of their country. 

Mrs. J. teaches at their children’s school and has led a Bible study in their home with local women for the last five years.  Attendance at the Bible study hadn’t grown for a while, so Mrs. J. moved it to the international school where her children attend.  Praise God, there are now over seven local women attending on a weekly basis, and the study is largely being led by a local friend.

Praises

Mr. J. is excited that their local partner has just extended their project for an additional year.  He is also pleased that they have added several new local partners, who are engaged in agriculture, sewing/employment, and church planting.

After many years of developing relationships among conservative Muslims largely through work, there is finally a small group of seeking believers thanks to God’s work through the Holy Spirit going before the J family.  Most are women and are partnering with a young, local pastor.

Winter hasn’t been as cold and polluted as last year.  Winters can be quite difficult, and the pollution is typically very high, causing locals to wear masks and stay indoors.  They are thankful that the country has improved its energy grid and reduced pollution.  Plus, it’s been a warmer winter.

Mrs. J. has enjoyed great relief from her debilitating migraine headaches thanks to medication.

The J family is thankful for their recent debrief at a counseling center in Thailand.  After serving in the field for over six years, it was a great time of refreshing, and helped them review current challenges, and develop some new strategies and rhythms to support longevity.

Challenges

There is a strong push from the government to close all Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in the country.  A bill was almost passed that would have shut the J Family’s current platform to work there.  They are looking at business models, returning to language visas, residency options, and praying that there’s enough pushback that the NGO (also known as the Foreign Agent) bill does not pass.  It would be devastating to their country to lose all their foreign aid.  They are feeling quite exposed and nervous.

The young local pastor who has recently been hired, has been needed to support, guide, and encourage the local church planting workers, but unfortunately, he has been met with some resistance.

Prayer Requests

  • Praise God for the new ministry partners and for the new Believers.
  • That God would give discernment to these new Believers that they would have discernment on how open they should be with their new faith.
  • For unity and wellness of mind and heart for their whole team, especially around supporting the new local pastor.
  • That the government would pullback from its initiative to close all NGOs, but in all circumstances that the J family would have excellent options for being able to stay and continue in their kingdom work.

The B Family Serving in the Balkans

Their Bio

Mr. and Mrs. B have six children and have been living in their current country for over 15 years.  Their oldest daughter is now attending college in the U.S., and their second child has received his first college acceptance and is waiting to hear from several more universities.

Their Work

Mr. B. works in a local non-profit, which he co-founded and is now serving as the CEO.  Mrs. B. teaches part-time in the international school where their children attend.

Praises

Mr. B’s non-profit has been working on a podcast about youth mental health, to provide education from a Christian perspective on a topic that is still taboo in their culture.

All six children are doing well and are following Jesus.

Two of their sons are involved in a boys’ Bible study with two boys from their high school who attended an introduction to Christianity course in the fall and have decided to continue in Bible study with them.  They are thankful for these two seekers, and pray that God will keep working in them, so they will have true faith in Him.

They enjoyed a wonderful Christmas holiday with their oldest daughter during her break from college.

Challenges

Mr. B.’s non-profit is losing a major financial partner this year.

Prayer Requests

  • For God to provide additional funding for what He wants to achieve through the B family.
  • For all the children to grow closer to Jesus, and for them to be salt and light to their friends at school and in their sports activities.
  • That God would direct their son’s steps to find good Christian fellowship wherever he goes to college.