Lights in the Night

"Greetings in the mighty name of Jesus Christ to all the Reach the Nations family. We are fine here by the grace of God and hope You are also in the mighty name of Jesus." These are the opening words of greeting from Mehboob as he reports on the work he and Irfan are undertaking in Daska and Bharokay.

BHAROKAY

The picture above is of Irfan reading Scripture and teaching at an evening prayer meeting in Bharokay. While this area does have electricity, it is functioning only intermittently these days as the power grid is overloaded and is often shut down, some days for up to 12 hours at a time.

But these believers and seekers come to the meeting anyway - even in the dark and extreme heat - and they proceed with their meeting by flashlight as you see.

Bharokay is one of the newer locations in which the RTN team is seeking to establish a church. They are starting with prayer meetings until the number of believers grows to a point where regular worship services can be held.

The area of Bharokay is populated primarily with Muslims and some who call themselves Christians, but who Mehboob says, ". . .are very far from the true Christianity." So Irfan and Mehboob are approaching these nominal Christians, inviting them to meet, and teaching them truths about God, the Trinity, and salvation.

"Now we believe in the future we will start harvesting souls there for our Lord Jesus Christ," Mehboob says. He and Irfan are thankful that the people come even when it is hot and dark.

DASKA

Mehboob reports that the ministry in Daska is growing day-by-day. New people are coming from surrounding areas to attend the meetings which include worship, teaching/preaching, and prayer.

Temperatures have been soaring to well above 100 degrees F (40 degrees C and higher Mehboob says), so this group meets outdoors on rooftops in order to capture whatever breeze they can.

In Mehboob's words: "During this current prayer meeting some of the people are gathered on one roof which is shown in the picture where I am standing for preaching, and some people are gathered on another nearby roof to listen."

"We give thanks to God for bringing people together even though the weather is very hot, and there is no proper place for sitting: no carpet, no chairs, and no electricity, but people still have come together to pray and worship."

As Mehboob and Irfan minister together in Daska, Irfan usually leads the prayer meeting, and Mehboob presents teaching from the Bible. He is teaching in Acts at this time about the early church and the power of the Holy Spirit.

"People are very happy and as they enjoy the prayer meetings, and sometimes people share their testimonies, praising God for his blessed words."

Please pray for this work and for Irfan and Mehboob and their families as they labor in difficult circumstances.

". . . in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." - Romans 8:37-39