親愛的代禱夥伴：
感謝主，一回到南非就回到繁忙的事工之中。我們走訪各地了解到各地事工都運作如常，沒有倒退或變化。回到南非第一個星期就為梅霜姊妹施洗。三年前我們為她的母親秀花姊妹施洗，她受洗後第一個分享就是要帶領她的全家族信主。她不僅是她全家族第一個信主的人，也是她整個村莊唯一的基督徒，秀花姊妹是教會中最年長的信徒，也是笑容最多的信徒。我們去探訪她時，總是聽到她許多感恩的話語或見證。秀花姊妹是閩南人，所以聽道需要有人翻譯，有時沒人翻譯就得半猜半聽的聽道。我們曾經特地為她搜索及製作一些閩南語的光碟幫助她學習和成長。梅霜姊妹也幫助她母親在網路上尋找講道信息，並為她翻譯。感謝主，許多聖經的真道和福音的種子就這樣撒在她的心中。幾乎每個主日我們都會為秀花姊妹家人信主代禱。真是太奇妙了！感謝主！我們不足的地方神補足，還用這個缺失成為梅霜姊妹得救的機會。
四月中，梅霜姊妹的一個遠房阿姨來南非探望她，並向她傳福音，她就決定信主了。她說她的母親多次勸她信主，她有想信，但是不知道為什麼又猶豫想再等一等。秀花姊妹在女兒和家人面前有美好的見證亦是她女兒信主的原因，因為秀花姊妹是個勤勞的媽媽，常在女兒的工廠打點大小事，有時還在工廠裡幹活，這印證了基督徒美善言行的見證會引領人信主的。看見神奇妙的引領梅霜姊妹信主，給我們很大的鼓勵。我們要繼續為秀花姊妹其它的家人信主禱告。也特別要為梅霜姊妹和她的丈夫禱告，她的丈夫是一個猶太人，他會守猶太人的節日。求主施恩，使他能從猶太傳統中釋放出來，進入基督的國度。求主為我們開路，可以向他傳福音。
感謝主，上次代禱信中提到的那一位慕道的朋友，現在已經是我們很熟悉的朋友了，克達和他談道發現他對福音不拒絕，但不喜歡宗教的束縛。給了他一些聖經真實性的書幫助他，希望能改變他的態度，更進一步幫助他認識主。他的妻子已信主半年。她信主後認真學習並且身體力行，願意尊主為大改變自己。本來緊張的夫妻關係經過輔導和她的努力而有改進。妻子的改變，也改變了這位慕道友，現在她的丈夫已經會主動帶兩個孩子，讓她來參加聚會。感謝主，福音不僅拯救了她，也改變了他們的婚姻和家庭。相信主也要拯救這位慕道友。請為這對姚姓夫妻禱告，為丈夫得救禱告，也求主使用姊妹親身的經歷去幫助別的夫妻－作妻子願意順服、願意成為丈夫好幫手的美好見證。
每個星期二我們和一對夫婦一起查聖經講福音。丈夫信主多年、妻子正在慕道。妻子在真道上的了解不少，但是，放不下過往許多人生的創傷，使她跨不出信心的一步，看不見神恩典的手在過去年月對她的引領和幫助，也看不見自己的需要，無法謙卑下來接受主的引領和安排。我們一邊上聖經課講信仰，一邊改變她對人生的心態，改變她的價值觀。感謝神，她可以被我們挑戰，我們也可以接受她拒絕現在就改變。請為這對鍾姓夫妻禱告，求主軟化她驕傲的心，能謙卑順服主。求主幫助她的丈夫能多關愛她。也求主賜給我們智慧的話語去開導他們。
代禱事項：
- 請為秀花姊妹和梅霜姊妹靈命成長代禱，也為她們的配偶及全家族信主代禱。
- 請為姚氏夫婦及鐘氏夫婦屬靈真道的認知代禱，也求主賜我們智慧去牧養他們。
- 求主差派工人到非洲來宣教。有更多華人來到非洲發展，但沒有人向他們傳福音。
- 請為我們申請納米比亞簽證的準備工作代禱。
- 請為我們在南非出外往各地事工的安全及行車的安全代禱。
你的同工，
克達、雅麗
二零一六年六月
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South Africa Prayer letter ( 6/2016 )
Dear Prayer Partners,
We thank the Lord as we visited our ministries in various places after our furlough and found that all is well and running smoothly.
We held a baptism service for sister Mei-Shuang on the first Sunday after we returned to South Africa. Her mother, sister Xiu-Hua, was baptized three years ago; her first sharing was her wishes for her whole family to be saved. Sister Xiu-Hua not only was the first Christian in her family but also her whole village. She is the oldest member in our church and also has the greatest smile. Whenever we visit her, she always shares her testimonies of God’s grace and expresses her gratefulness to God. She is from southern Fujian and does not speak a lot of Mandarin. Therefore, she needs a translator during church meetings; if none is available, she will miss part of the sermon. To help her grow in her faith, we searched for and copied some DVD’s in Fujianese for her. Her daughter also tried to help her mom by searching and downloading some Mandarin sermons from the internet. For that she would need to be the translator for her mom; and as a result, the Biblical truth and the seed of the gospel were planted in her heart. We have been praying for sister Xiu-Hua family’s salvation almost every week. How wonderful is the Lord! He knew our inadequacy but turned it around as a way to save sister Mei-Shuang!
In the middle of April, one of their good friends came to visit them from China. She shared the gospel with sister Mei-Shuang who accepted Christ at her invitation. Sister Mei-Shuang shared that her mom had repeatedly ask her to accept Christ. She did want to at some point, but somehow decided to wait. Sister Xiu-Hua’s personal testimony also played a role in her daughter’s accepting Christ. She is a very hardworking mother, always willing to help out in her daughter’s factories, and even gets on her hands and knees to get the work done. It really proves that having a good testimony in the family does make a difference. Seeing how God led sister Mei-Shuang did encourage us greatly. We will continue to pray for the salvation of sister Xiu-Hua’s family, especially for sister Mei-Shuang and her husband. Her husband is Jewish, and he vigilantly holds to all Jewish traditions. May the Lord lead him out of his bondage and come into Christ’s kingdom. Please pray for us for opportunities to share the gospel with him.
We thank the Lord for the progress in our relationship with the seeker we mentioned in our last prayer letter. In our visits with him, we found that he is willing to hear the gospel but is resistant to his presumed “restrictions” in religion. We gave him some literature about the authenticity of the Bible to help him correct his misconceptions on Christianity. His wife is a new Christian who was baptized about six months ago. She is serious about following Christ and is willing to change herself to be more like Christ. Their marriage was on the rocks before, but because of her noticeable changes, her husband begins to change, too. He even volunteers to look after their kids so she can attend church. The Lord not only saved her but also saved her marriage. We believe the Lord will not give up on her husband. Please pray for Mr. Yao’s salvation. May this personal experience also become our sister’s testimony for other couples—a beautiful testimony of a wife’s willingness to submit and be a true helper to her husband.
Each Tuesday, we have Bible study with a couple. The husband has been a Christian for many years, and the wife has become more receptive to the gospel in the recent year. Even though she has learned quite a bit in the truth, she was not willing to let go of her bitterness toward people who caused her pain and sufferings in her life. As a result, she was blinded from seeing the grace and protection God had showered on her in all these years and humbling herself to submit to God’s sovereignty in her life. When we study the Bible, we try to direct her to change her world view and value system. We are grateful to see that she is not offended by our challenges, and she feels comfortable that we are not forcing her to change. Please pray for Mr. and Mrs. Chung. May God change the wife’s heart to be willing to humble herself before the Almighty God and to help the husband to be more sensitive to his wife’s needs. May the Lords also give us wisdom to help both of them.
Prayer Requests:
- Please pray for the spiritual growth of sister Xiu-Hua and her daughter Mei-Shuang. Please also pray for the salvation of their family.
- Please pray for words of wisdom for us to help the Yao’s and the Chung’s.
- Please pray for more missionaries for the southern African countries.
- Please pray for our work permit applications for Namibia.
- Please continue to pray for our safety as we travel to different cities and towns.
In His service,
Ko-Ta & Christina
