Successful mission to the Masai in Kenya

We have told you many remarkable stories about Pastor Mustafa, who coordinates Bibles for Mideast in Central Africa. During a recent prayer and fasting session, our pastor sensed a divine call from the Lord to go to Masai Mara in Kenya and share the gospel.

Masai Mara is a large national game reserve in Kenya, contiguous with the Serengeti in Tanzania and about 140 miles from Nairobi, Kenya’s capital. The Masai tribe of around 50,000 people is one of the largest in Kenya. Polygamy and female genital mutilation are both traditional Masai practices.

Pastor Mustafa had visited the region several years ago, impacting one man and one of his wives in particular. The couple had been especially moved by the testimony of Lydia*—someone else we have shared a number of dramatic stories about—and were eager for the pastor to return.  

Lydia, the 14-year-old daughter of a missionary with Bibles for Mideast, had undergone forced and brutal female genital mutilation (FGM) back in 2017. Every girl between 10 and 14 years of age is forced to undergo the brutal practice, and many die—including Lydia—because of it.  

You can read the remarkable three-part account of her dying and being resurrected here:
URGENT CALL TO PRAYER for young Christian victim of female genital mutilation;
Doctors confirm death of young Lydia … BUT GOD!;
Jesus and Salvation in Lydia’s West African Town.]

When young Lydia heard of the planned mission trip, Holy Spirit prophesied through her that the team were to go courageously, for they would “face many mental and physical challenges from the people. But don’t get upset,” she continued, “several people will genuinely respond to the gospel message and be saved.” And she joined the five-member team!

Upon Pastor Mustafa and the team’s arrival in Masai Mara, the whole village was preparing for an FGM ceremony for several young women. Preparations involved evening gatherings for dance, singing and other cultural activities. Pastor Mustafa took advantage of their gathering to share the gospel and his own testimony of leaving Islam for the saving, freeing truth of Jesus Christ.

Lydia also shared her experience of FGM, death, and coming back to life by the touch of the Lord Jesus Christ (Doctors confirm death of young Lydia … BUT GOD!).

She explained graphically and effectively how they must leave the barbaric practice and turn to Jesus instead.  She then instructed them how to receive Jesus Christ as their own personal Lord and Savior.

The people listening--the young men especially—began shouting angrily at her to stop speaking about Jesus and against FGM. Grabbing thorny sticks from the nearby fence, they beat and sent the missionaries running. When the team finally found a safe place to rest, they spent the night in fervent prayer.

As night fell and the team prayed, Holy Spirit fell mightily on the whole village. No one could sleep;  many saw visions of Jesus Christ.

The villagers knew Pastor Mustafa and the team had to be praying somewhere not too far away, and once they located them, begged for forgiveness. Plans for the FGM ceremony were shut down and heaven opened wide as everyone accepted the Lord as their savior.

Pastor Mustafa and the team spent five more days with them, fellowshipping and instructing them further in the precious faith. Please pray for these villagers and the whole Masai tribe.
_______________________
*name changed for security reasons

Encounter with a ferocious tiger ... and then with Jesus!

Five members of a Bibles for Mideast team—including our dear Pastor Paul—have just returned from spending a week of prayer and fasting in the jungle home of a fellow we’ll call Omar*, who had lost one of his legs in a vicious tiger attack.

Omar and some of his friends had headed out into the deep jungle to hunt, as they often did, for animals, birds, wild honey and various edible fruits. Some of their bounty would help feed their families, the rest they sold in nearby villages and towns.

On this fateful day, however, a fiercely aggressive tiger leapt out of hiding and attacked the hunters, killing one and seriously injuring Omar. Forest rangers on duty managed to rescue Omar, rushing him to the nearest hospital where medics did all they could to help and stabilize him, but, unfortunately, could not save his tattered leg.

One of those rescuing forest rangers ‘just happened’ to be an ALG church member (Assemblies of Loving God, or ALG, being the umbrella group of Bibles for Mideast churches) as well as a volunteer evangelist with Bibles for Mideast. So he prayed for and with Omar, telling him Jesus is the mighty Savior and Healer. While Omar did not accept the words of the forest ranger about Jesus and stuck instead to his Islamic faith, he kept quiet since the ranger was so good and helpful to him.

When Omar shifted to his home from the hospital, the same forest ranger often visited him for prayer and further sharing of the gospel. Omar’s wife and children joyously came to faith in Jesus, but soon became concerned when Omar began expressing his desire to die and end all his pain and discomfort. Only because of the family’s interest and insistence did the team decide on their ‘mission trip’ to their jungle home.

In spite of heavy rains, thunder and lightning for the entirety of the team’s stay, Pastor Paul calls the trip “tremendous.” Omar’s family’s home is, according to Pastor Paul, “a muddy house with grass roofing and no facilities to stay five people, not even bathroom facilities.”

Still, he says, “we enjoyed everything because of the love of Jesus.” Many in the area, both Hindus and Muslims, joined them for the times of prayer and fasting.

During one of those sessions, the Lord Jesus touched Omar palpably, giving him tremendous relief from pain and uneasiness. Now he could sit straight up in his bed! Since the tiger attack and the loss of his leg he had been completely prone in bed but now, for the first time, he could sit up comfortably.

With the supernatural relief came a solid and certain faith in Jesus. Further, hundreds of jungle people who attended the sessions came to faith in Jesus as well.

On the final day of prayer and fasting, 27 believers received baptism. Praise be to God as He adds daily to His Kingdom!

Please pray for these people. Pray as well that Omar can soon be fitted with an artificial leg, and that these many new believers find a place for meeting, worship and prayer.
____________
*Name changed for security reasons

The power of prayer and fasting: deaf woman hears and speaks for the first time!

Last summer, one of our Bibles for Mideast leaders, Pastor Riyaz*, was brutally attacked while ministering among Muslims and Hindus in East Champaran, India—an area of India along the border with Nepal. Pastor Riyaz and his family are all former Muslims and so well-understand that faith system. He ministers mainly to Indians and Nepalese, with many Muslims and Hindus having received Christ through his, his family’s and his team’s efforts.

On this particular day, a mob of angry Muslim fundamentalists attacked him, then threw his seemingly lifeless body into a ditch, leaving him for dead [that story here: A beyond-astonishing story of God’s redemption!].

But God! Some Christian believers found him lying in the ditch and, noticing signs of life, rushed him to the local hospital. Barely alive and with one knee damaged beyond repair, once he was stabilized somewhat, doctors replaced the pastor’s knee.

More problems—and excitement—followed during his stay in hospital, which you can read about here: Going above and beyond with ‘Bloom where you're planted’:  hospital miracles continue.

MANY OF PASTOR RIyAZ’S* CONGREGATION GATHERED FOR PRAYER when he was hospitalized

AND NOW, THE EXCITING UPDATE!

Bibles for Mideast Director Pastor Paul recently joined Pastor Riyaz (now almost completely recovered) and his congregation at the pastor’s home in East Champaran.

Amazingly, even some of those who had attacked Pastor Riyaz and his church attended. Tears flowed as they confessed before him and the congregation. The once-disabled pastor then shared the saving gospel with them, and they accepted Jesus as their personal saviour and Lord! 

The group had originally planned for three days of prayer and fasting, to include sharing testimonies and hearing the gospel each day from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., and then again from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m.

As more and more people came, the group grew so large Pastor Riyaz’s home could no longer accommodate them. Services were then moved outdoors, with worshippers gathering under the sprawling branches of a huge tree as even more joined in from the neighborhood. The projected three days stretched to seven full days because of the growing numbers of attendees—including the many people from the hospital who had felt the touch of the Lord as Pastor Riyaz recovered (and ministered!) there.

Last Saturday, as the seven days came to a close, Pastors Paul and Riyaz joined with two other pastors to hold a remarkable baptismal ceremony in the nearby Gandak River.

Among the 327 people baptized that day were hundreds from the hospital where Pastor Riyaz had received treatment—including four Hindu doctors, two Muslim doctors, and a number of Hindu and Muslim nurses—plus many others from the nearby Indian and Nepalese communities.

After the baptismal service, the group began making preparations to celebrate the Lord’s Supper—750 people partaking on this final day of their week of prayer and fasting.

As they prepared, Pastor Riyaz’s deaf and mute sister Saira* (who lives with the pastor’s family due to her disability) suddenly stood, vigorously moving her hands and lips. She kept this up for a couple of minutes. While all could see she seemed desperate to express something, they grew increasingly anxious at her inability to do so.

“The Holy Spirit then insisted I go and pray over her,” Pastor Paul recalls. “Holy Spirit is moving on her to say something!” he explained to those gathered. He then asked that everyone pray for her while he went to lay on his hands and pray.

“Jesus, Jesus, Jesus!” It only took a few minutes for Saira to voice the name of the one who had healed her! She went on to speak for about 15 minutes, every word either praise or thanks to the Lord.  

Further, she could HEAR herself speaking; she could hear the murmurs of the crowd around her. As she continued in praise, the Holy Spirit moved on and filled every person in attendance, with absolutely glorious worship ensuing.

Pastor Paul then gave the people a message on his heart from the Lord, and went on to conduct the Lord’s supper.

Please keep all of these believers, new and seasoned, in your prayers. And when you pray, please pray for Pastor Riyaz’s church: that they would find their sorely-needed dedicated place of worship.
________________
*Names changed for security reasons

+++++ If you are able to help us financially, please click here: BLESSING Bibles for Mideast. +++++

Bibles for Mideast establishes its 500th church!

The ministry of Bibles for Mideast reached a milestone recently, establishing its 500th church in Haima, central Oman. That same day, 54 former Muslims were baptized to become new members of this newest church!

Pastor Paul, Director of Bibles for Mideast, travelled from India to lead both the baptismal and dedication services.  Pastor Peter Haneef, President of the Assembly of Loving God churches along with Pastor Musthafa (Overseer of Africa for Bibles for Mideast),  Pastor Muthalib (who oversees the work in the Middle East),  Pastor Khani (who oversees the work in Bangladesh) and many other leaders assisted in the programs. Holy Spirit moved powerfully throughout the services, which included wonderful worship and concluded with a celebration of the Lord's Supper. 

Because of security concerns in this mostly Islamic nation, the dedication service began shortly after midnight on the chosen day. Everyone then boarded three buses for the trip from Haima to the Gulf of Masira in the Arabian Sea. A police van followed the buses for part of the route, but the travellers were relieved when they saw it turn back. Finally reaching the seashore about 3:30 in the morning for the baptism, Pastor Peter Haneef and the others could palpably feel God’s Presence and pleasure.

“Our Lord gave us a very blessed and bright moon light!” Pastor Peter recalls. “It felt like daylight! The sea was calm and quiet. Nobody felt afraid going down to the sea.”

The baptismal candidates reaffirmed their faith in Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior and were baptised. All then knelt down together, praising and thanking the Lord before returning back to the newborn church in Haima. A worship service with the Lord’s Supper followed, with believers from many different ALG (Assembly of Loving God) churches taking part.

Pastor Mubarak and his wife worked long and hard, facing much persecution along the path to establishing this newest Bibles for Mideast church. The couple spend hours meeting people in the street, sharing their own experiences with and in Jesus, and distributing sample gospels. They often face abuse and beatings.

One evening a man brutally dragged Mrs. Mubarek by her hair through the street. Another time, someone grabbed their bibles and sample gospels and set them on fire. When Mrs. Mubarek lay down on the bibles in an attempt to squelch the flames, she was brutally kicked by the attacker. Even so, midst all the persecutions, the Lord rescued even some of the persecutors as He built His new church.

The pastor, his wife, and the growing flock continued in prayer and fasting as the small band of believers multiplied in numbers and power. When healings began to manifest, even more attended. And so the church was born!

We request your prayers for Pastor Mubarek, his family and all the members of this church as they continue to face persecution. We do remember you in our regular prayers as well, and thank you for your support of the ministry.

Muscat, capital city of Oman. Religion in Oman is dominantly Islam as Muslims account for a total of 88% per cent of the entire population

___________

Can you help? Please click here: BLESSING Bibles for Mideast

She once ran with drug addicts and prostitutes; now she ministers to them!

While Sharon Dutra’s story is an American one, we share it with you because she shares this ministry’s heart for Jesus and for others. Her hardships and her tumultuous ‘life before Christ’ could all have happened in any country in the world—places where she also now freely shares her ministry and Bible Study books. Over the years, she has become a great friend, prayer partner and encourager of the ministry and of me personally.

++++++++++++

Sharon Dutra’s emotions ranged from wonder to worry and back again as she headed—voluntarily this time—into the California Institution for Women. She had shared a tiny cell at this women’s state prison in southern California with another inmate several decades ago in what proved to be the last stop in an already long series of arrests and incarcerations.

Like most who end up ‘on the wrong side of the tracks,’ Sharon’s early life reads like a dark thriller. Her mother left when Sharon was about five; her alcoholic, womanizing father had been married four times by the time she was 17.

Young Sharon, shuttled from one foster home to another, felt abandoned and alone. By 13, she resorted to drugs to dull the pain and growing sense of worthlessness and by 15, had run from her latest home to an even worse life on the streets.

In and out of various detention facilities in the years that followed, with each escape she learned more about ‘life on the streets’, while her self-hatred and contempt for others escalated.

Marriage with an ex-con and two children later, her life continued its increasingly dark and steep downward spiral. Hard-core drugs, near-death experiences, prostitution, homelessness, suicide attempts—all culminated in her thirteenth and final arrest.

“Because of my lengthy criminal record,” she explains,” I was sent to a women’s prison in Southern California, where I already knew some of the inmates from my time on the street.”

A view from Outside the California Institution for Women; photo: Tag Christof

That, thankfully, proved to be her ultimate conviction in more ways than one. While there, she read Al Capone’s Devil Driver, by and about George Meyer, the notorious crime boss’s chauffeur who had killed many people himself and ended up in prison, where he eventually traded in his life of crime for Life with Jesus.

The book helped open her eyes to the divine realization that God alone could help her out of her misery and pain and was right there with her, waiting to be invited into her life.

“I got on my knees and cried out to Him for over an hour,” she remembers, “weeping for all the wrongs I had done. When I got up off the cell floor, I was a brand-new person.”

A few weeks later, Sharon moved from 23-hour-a-day lockdown to the general prison population. She immediately began attending church, where the prison chaplain presented her with her very own bible.

“I read it for hours every day!” she recalls. “After a lifetime derailed by destructive lies, finding God’s truth felt like discovering a cool stream in the desert.”

“At first, I could hardly fathom that Jesus would love a sinner like me, much less that my sins were totally forgiven,” she marvels. “But the more I read, the more the Holy Spirit confirmed the shocking reality of the Gospel! I drew special encouragement from Joel 2:25, which speaks of God ‘repaying us for the years the locusts have eaten’.”

She couldn’t help but share the astonishingly freeing Good News with others in prison, and soon picked back up her guitar-playing to lead in worship. Eventually, she also began teaching Bible studies for fellow prisoners. When finally released, she returned to her hometown of Santa Cruz, California.

“But the only people I knew there were drug addicts and prostitutes!” she recalls. “I wondered why God had returned me to this kind of environment. How would I overcome my reputation there? But God graciously gave me many opportunities to witness to those I had run with.”

She eventually returned to school, earned a registered nursing degree, and married. She and her husband Michael, through their Be Transformed Ministries, now help people from many backgrounds both come to know Jesus and become His disciples.

She began leading Bible studies while still in prison and continues to, now using books she has written herself to fill needs and answer questions she couldn’t find in existing materials. Her books (Be Transformed, New Beginnings, and Fishers of Men) have been translated into Spanish, Japanese and Farsi; many have been freely sent overseas (mostly for pastoral training) and over 35,000 of her books have been sent to prisons, jails and rehab centers across the U.S.

250 Bibles and 500 of Sharon’s books were shipped to Ghana to be used in Churches and Prisons. Here is a presentation in a Ghana prison

Pastors in South Africa gather after training with Sharon’s books

On her December return to the prison where she had met Jesus, Sharon shared her story with a roomful of hungry inmates—making new friends and several new converts before ‘escaping’ into the waiting arms of her husband outside the prison. They rejoiced together over all God had done and continues to do through their own and others’ lives redirected to the One who created them.

“After so many years on the run—from home, from authority, from life itself—I praise God for giving rest to my weary soul,” she explains. “No life is too broken for God to heal. I am living proof.”

___________

Christianity Today recently featured Sharon’s story (I Used to Run with Drug Addicts and Prostitutes. Now I Share the Gospel with Them) and Victorious Living has her story in their January 2022 issue.

Michael and Sharon Dutra with one of Sharon’s books

To see and hear Sharon’s testimony, please visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuH8U_dRdiw

To contact Sharon or learn more about her ministry, please visit:
betransformedministries.comor email her at: betransformed@betransformedministries