Once again, Ramon found himself staring at the shadows thrown by the fire on the grass roof. Nearly a year had passed since his dream about the Batangan crossing the fiery sea, and he was beginning to get discouraged. So little progress had been made toward reaching them with the news of Jesus. “God!” he cried out. “What is Your plan? Why is it taking so long?”

As Ramon lay pleading for the Batangan, God once again gave him a dream. He found himself looking down at a map of the world. It looked like the maps the missionaries had shown him with lines for roads and named dots for towns. This one, though, was colored in shades of brown and green. God explained to him that the shades of brown represented territories not yet ready to receive the Gospel, while the greens represented those that were ready. The brighter the green, the more receptive people were in that area. God then showed Ramon the places around the world that most urgently needed the Gospel preached to them. Finally God zoomed in on the Batangan territory. It was the most brilliant green of any of the places Ramon had seen. God pointed to a little town whose name Ramon could clearly see. As he read it, he understood that this was where we would find a trailhead that would lead us into the best place in the Batangan territory to begin the work.

Friends, God has given us evidence that His hand is at work in this endeavor. Now He asks us to step up and do our part. If we cooperate with each other and with Him, the Batangan can be reached before it is too late. Now is the time.

• Twitter