From the Bible Training Centre in Gavuvu, Papua New Guinea, Gotthilf and Rosemarie Holl write, “Running the bible school and the mission station are both great challenges, even though we are experiencing God’s help. We are still short of applications by potential first-year students. Let us pray for God to call men and women into the spiritual ministry!”

“There has been an awakening in the congregation in Machida,” shares Priscilla Kunz from her new ministry in Japan. Five people, across all age groups, have either been baptized recently or are taking baptism/discipleship classes. “Baptism is a difficult step for Japanese. With it, they publicly confess Jesus and the Christian faith thus becoming outsiders. This is not easy for members of a people in which it is not the individual that counts, but the group. But nothing is impossible for God – even in Japan!”

Ecuador field leader Edgar Luz writes, “Please pray for our national pastors as we go through rough times of testing these days, especially in the health area for Pastor Diego and his wife Mercedes. All of our pastors have a lot of work on their plates, with lots of stressful times. May God give them strength! Thanks for praying with us!”

“This has been a full month,” writes Markus Klausli from the Academy for World Mission in Korntal, Germany. “I taught two classes in three weeks (about 75 hours of classroom time). Now I need to dig out from under my email and real mail pile. I am grateful to God for his grace and strength.”

From Papua New Guinea, missionary Jochen Stern reports that Luke J. Pondikou, the Youth Coordinator of the Evangelical Church of Manus (our partner church), died recently after a long illness. Jochen requests prayer for the Pondikou family, and for church leadership as they seek a replacement for his ministry.