PRAISES:

• The Lord provided every cent to cover Fatu’s surgery cost!
• I have a working vehicle to travel around in!

PRAYER:

• The great spiritual darkness in Liberia. Please pray that Truth will be heard above wickedness.
• For the Ladies of Freedom Bible Study with community ladies
• Not to get to overwhelmed or put to much on my plate but follow Holy Spirit leading for new ministry
• Pray for all the little kids I come into contact with each day as well as adults that I remain an example of Gods Love and truth!
• PLEASE join me in praying God will raise up both Liberian leaders and ministry partners including a husband 
• Pray for patience as we wait on God’s timing for full immigration paperwork for Fatu

PRAISES:

-We praise the Lord for the opportunity to share the Gospel message at Seinan Jo Gakuin!
-We praise Him for Takashi & Bun for following up with Nanako & opening up their home for His works & m!n!stries!
-We thank God for bringing Maho & her 2 kids to join the church outreach event for their 1st time!
-We praise God for Shun & Taka as they continue to come to join the church events and English B!ble Classes! 
-We give thanks to our Lord for both the ble$$ed time cooking with the kids and for our 1st game outreach inside KU!

PRAYER REQUEST:

-Please continue to pray for Nanako as she agreed to start the English B!ble Class during the Spring Break in February! 
-Please pray for our relationship with leaders of Seinan Jo Gakuin as we partner together to share the Gospel to students, faculty members and people in the community!
-Please pray for Kakan’s salvation! Only 4 days after we 1st met her, she already joined the KU English B!ble Class! 
-Please pray for Manami that we will be able to connect with her soon. Pray that her heart will be prepared and ready to join the KU English B!ble Class! 
-Please pray for Koyanaki, a KU student who is studying in the same department that Takashi studied when he was a student at KU! Takashi is planning to connect with him soon. Koyanaki lives in Nishijin area where Lifetree is located and our team members live!

Praises: 

Please keep praying, your prayers are being answered in big ways!

The speaking engagements Kathy and I had in December all went very well, or so we have been told. The financial needs we had to help keep the ministry in Cuba going forward this coming year all came through, and the ministries of so many churches we are connected to in Cuba, all had incredible praises from having the joy of celebrating baptisms of new believers and amazing evangelistic services over the Christmas period. 

Prayer Requests:

1. For plans to come together for visiting churches and supporters during January and February.
2. For the details of our next trip to Cuba in early March to all come together and have the Lord’s favor and blessing.
3. For the followup that churches in Cuba will make to people who attended Christmas outreach services to be fruitful.

Praise Reports

• Praise we are back “home”.
• Praise we made all our flights and all our luggage made it here.
• Praise we had a great a relaxing time in quarantine.
• Praise we found a new house, and the house owner is a believer and supportive of what we are doing here.

Praise we have our new visas.

Prayer Request

• Pray for us to remain healthy through this season of cleaning out, packing, and moving.
• Pray for us, especially the kids, as we make this new transition and move. Pray we can make great connections and lasting relationships with those in our new city.
• Pray for our new house to get renovated quickly. Some renovations are taking place now, and then more will be done once we move.

Pray for all of us as we say goodbye to our friends here in the coming weeks.

RETURN to ASIA: Pray for our health and completion of all the requirements for us to return to Asia. Pray for us as we are required to quarantine in a government approved hotel for our first 15 days. The quarantine hotel is in a different city than our home. The travel to our home may require a home quarantine. Regardless, pray for us as we settle back into our home. Thailand, like so many other countries, is seeing a massive increase in Covid cases. Domestic airlines are grounded and other measures are in place to address the resurgence. Pray for us as we navigate the current situation.  

HOPE: Hope is starting 11th grade. We are so grateful that she has a great set of teachers for this year. The school will start and remain online throughout August. Pray for Hope to be able to handle her new clases well. With online school and just the challenges of being a teen in high school, please pray for Hope to rely on the Lord and see Him in her circumstances.

ELIJAH: Elijah will be a senior this year at William Carey University. He’s also a new driver and will be driving to college for the first time on August 21. Please pray for Elijah’s travel and adjustment back into college. He wants to pursue family and children counseling. Pray for his planning and preparing for his master’s. 

GABI: Gabi is also in her senior year. She will graduate from Union University as a biology major and then go to Physician Assistant school. Pray for her travel and adjustments back into college, as well as her planning and needs to get into a PA school.

CAROLE: Upon our return to Asia, Carole will continue to work as a 1:1 aide at Hope’s school. However, with the school being online, we don’t know what to expect or how the semester will go. Pray for Carole as she seeks to serve others and respond to opportunities the Lord provides.

MIKE: Mike will be able to continue most of his work online as we see how the Delta variant affects Thailand. At this point, he won’t be able to utilize local events. A Thai church is interested in Mike helping them to begin to reach the Thai community through gaming and gaming communities. This could be delayed because of the need to meet in person and plan. Pray for Mike to have wisdom and creativity in his work. 

• Please pray for us that we will continue to grow in our love for God & our love for one another each day!

• Please pray for each and all members of our team

• Lifetree Church

• In our last update, we asked you to pray that we would find a good therapist for Ezra here in the Czech Republic. Well, God did just that and she is literally the ONLY therapist in the country who specializes in bi-lingual autistic needs. Ezra has been steadily improving over the past few months and we are so grateful! Of course, we are looking at some significant needs in the future for his situation, but God has kept us on a really good path. Pray for us in this continual process of finding the best ways to help Ezra.

• Pray for Tomáš and Soňa (our neighbors mentioned above) that their interest in the things of God would only increase more and more. Their friendship during this time has been such a big gift to us. Pray for their little daughter as well (she’s the same age as Ezra and he loves her so much)!

• Erin has been getting sick a lot recently (nothing to do with Covid thankfully) and we really need your prayer. Erin is very tired of dealing with sickness at home and is wanting to be back doing normal life! Pray for her healing and health.

• The “Josiah Venture Prayer Room” app for iPhone that John designed has continued to be a great way to bring in more and more prayer for God’s work here. We are also hoping to release it for Android soon! Pray for this to go smoothly as well!

• This week is our “Josiah Venture Media Academy”! We use this time to coach and equip young creatives throughout our organization to engage their peers with the gospel through video, photo, graphic design, social media, etc. Pray for John’s zoom coaching sessions.

• Please pray for our continued work on the Manderson campus

• Pray for our continued discipleship meetings with those that are new believers

• Pray for ministry opportunities as the Chanku Waste Wellness Center opens

• Pray for us to walk in His joy, strength and grace. 
• Pray that our hearts will be at peace as stress and distress surround us daily, that our eyes would be fixed on Jesus
• Pray that we will lead with His wisdom, integrity and discernment.
• Pray that our SSA leadership will not grow weary, but be encouraged to press on, that we will see African churches sending African missionaries to the ends of the earth.
• Pray that we will be able to gather the believers in Gathiga community into a healthy new church soon.
• Pray that God will call more missionaries into the harvest fields of Sub-Saharan Africa.
• Pray that many Africans would repent and believe in Jesus Christ and share with their families and friends the Good News.