Soon after we began work in Kandi, we developed a list of prayer points for our people group. We divided the list into two prayer points for each day of the week—one prayer focus for the morning, and one for the evening. For the past three years, we’ve been faithfully praying every day for these prayer points.

Ours is a very resistant people group, and we did not expect our mission work to be welcome at first. In fact, the opposition we encountered from extremist groups and the trials we went through were rather discouraging. But as we prayed fervently each day for God to reveal Himself to our people through dreams and visions, and as we asked the Holy Spirit to soften their hearts and anoint our efforts, we started to see signs of God’s light shining into the thoughts of some religious leaders. Their hearts were softened, and their habitual criticism of our work gave way to favor.

To our great surprise, many religious and social leaders have recently begun to publicly proclaim tolerance for our work. In February, when Marc Coleman, our field director, came to our project, he and I visited a number of our contacts. One day, we met with a group of five important community elders. Their leader, a World-War-II veteran named Ali Kandi, welcomed us and then immediately began to comment about my mission in Kandi. To my great surprise, he said, “I have chosen Islam, but I will not force my child to follow me in my faith.” To have this influential man, a leader in the community and the mosque, take this position on freedom of religion is a miracle. The Kandi area has long been known for its intolerance of anything but Islam. This is a sign that God is blessing our efforts and message.

We know the enemy is not pleased about this breakthrough. We pray that together we will make him powerless to check the progress of gospel truth here in Kandi and among the Dendi people. Thanks for your prayers and support.

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