Have you heard the expression “Boots on the Ground?” Well our Live Dead Missionaries are the boots on the Silk Road. Here we’d like to take a moment and allow one of them to share a snapshot of their life with you. Some names and details have been changed, but this is a true story from this colorful, vibrant, and sometimes surprising region.

We sat in our living room with our local partners for our weekly accountability gathering.  These partners are local believers that work closely with us on our projects and in our sharing.  One of the local partners shared about how he sat at a party last week and shared his testimony and stories of Jesus for 2 1/2 hours.  One of the other local partners asked him, “Did the guests get mad?”  He replied by asking, “Do you get mad when someone brings you a platter full of rich food?”.

My husband, Justin, works in multiple villages with multiple farmers. One group of farmers that has not yet planted soybeans with Justin took a trip with him to a village, 2 hours away, to see the soybean fields.  One of the farmers asked Justin  if they could listen to the stories that he had been playing for him over the past months. Justin plugged in his phone and turned on the stories of Jesus. All of the farmers sat in the car listening to audible Bible stories in their language. The conversations that followed were about Jesus.

They couldn’t get enough of the rich food on that platter.  

A friend of mine, a local believer, has been discouraged in her ability to share. She gets stuck.  She feels like she can’t remember what she has read or how to share it. We practice and then she gets scared. She tries and then she feels like it falls on deaf ears.  It’s been discouraging for her.  But it has been so encouraging for me.  My friend is trying so hard to share.  She feels like her platter is empty. But every time she shares, that platter is in fact full.

It may look empty to her, but the Lord makes her words rich.

Will you pray for our local partners and for us as we continue to share intentionally here? Please pray for Nathan. He is a farmer that is very open and very hungry. He is about to fully take the platter. Please pray for Rachel who wants so badly to share well and boldly.

Lord, use us all to carry the platter.