Jamie & Jessica

Pray for local churches. At the end of the day we would love to work ourselves out of a job, or at least the front-line aspect of it, and see local churches owning the task to reach their MENA neighbors in a way that leads to healthy and multiplying MENA-background churches. Big task, so a big ask! Pray for local believers to see how God has providentially placed them here for these nations and others. Pray for local churches, though small in number, to have big kingdom vision when it comes to the work of EV, D, and CP. They are more naturally positioned, if they would be equipped and mobilized, to reach their peers, neighbors, and co-workers in a way us outsiders are not. Pray for our relationships with them to be mutually encouraging and fruitful.

We have prayed for where we live, work, and now… play. As you know, our primary task is engaging those from MENA with a broad saturation of the g*spel, dscplship of believers, and a vision to see local chrches started and sustained by those who have come out of a m’slim background. But our daily lives also put us in close proximity to people from all over the world, and several of our extracurricular activities in particular have brought us into regular presence with people who need to hear and believe the g*spel just as much as anybody else. We are part of a richly diverse community and we have the opportunity to share the truth while our kids engage in hobbies that they enjoy.

We want to lift up Mchl, Lottie‘s musical theater instructor. He has been a very encouraging presence for her in this new adventure and has been very kind and respectful towards her, especially when it comes to her desire to not compromise her faith. As you can probably imagine, the arts in New York City are filled with a lot of things that Jesus followers are not supportive of. Recently, Lottie expressed a desire to abstain from a particular song in their musical, expressly because of her Christian faith. Mchl was not put off at this at all, but rather said it was perfectly fine if she wanted to go off stage during that song, and then come back on when it was appropriate for her character. We are grateful for this response, because we anticipated that something like this would come up this year. But it has only built our confidence in her continuing with this theater company next semester as well. She has enjoyed the other kids in her class and is keenly aware that her life and speech is an opportunity to proclaim a better Way than what most of them currently follow.

Baristas, cashiers, and chefs oh my! Whether we are meeting up with contacts, hosting visitors, running errands, homeschooling in the neighborhood, or just being present in the community, we are at minimum walking past cafes, food stalls, and stores every day. Since we live in "Lil' MENA", many of them are m'slim. We could give pages of names and places to pray through, but we will focus on a few for whom we have a particular soft spot.

Knz, Mlk, Ysf, Hfs, A*, and Z* are baristas at a few local cafes we frequent. Being young adults, we hope to become spiritual aunts and uncles. They, specifically, are extra hospitable and especially take a liking to our kids. The owners, too, generally throw in some extra goodies for them! But more than anything, we are broken for them because they are all tight-roping an emptiness from Isl^m and a vain pursuit of secular Western America.

Ah* works at one of our favorite Leb^nese & Egy spots. After several conversations with Jamie he started sharing his poetry, which reveals a lot of spiritual longing. Now Jamie just has to progress quickly toward understanding Ar^bic poetry and eat a lot more shawarma to take advantage of these conversation starters.

Hnh is a great example of someone, who even when they want to leave Isl^m, is trapped by family and tight social circles controlling their daily lives and the course of their future. This is more common for young ladies, and her story reveals how difficult it is for them to have the opportunity to ever hear the gospel when laborers are few, intentional C's are even less, and most interactions with non-m'slims are usually consumeristic.

Consistent presence plus consistent proclamation is a mantra of ours, and it comes in so many different forms.

Praise God for the open doors we have. Pray with us for more. And pray for more gospel touches among the thousands just like these few that are mentioned.

We want to invite you to pray along with us for Jamie and Sam’s barber, Abd^, and Jessica and the girls’ hairstylist, Al’ta.

We joke that finding trustworthy people to manage your hair any time you move is on par with finding new doctors (you can pray for them, too; that is a whole ‘nother headache here). But after a few trial runs, and a couple of errors (mostly on Jamie’s side), we landed on two that we have grown to love.

Abd^ is Leb^nese and grew up in the neighborhood, but spent considerable time back in Leb^non so he could know family and appreciate his culture more. He has two little kids, and though he has a few rough co-workers, there is a softness to him. There is always a fascinating conversation happening, whether in Turk’sh, Ar^bic, or Spanish. Getting time outside haircuts hasn’t happened yet, but his shop is on the way to many other places we walk to. So between cuts Jamie likes to pop in whenever he passes by.

Al’ta is B*snian and from a m’slim family, though that was more out of cultural pressure during the w^r. So she is technically unrel’gious. Jessica was surprised to find out she was m’slim background because she is so disenfranchised with “religion”, and just tries to “be a good person.” But she is a warm soul, refers to the girls as her own, and always wants to keep up with Jessica’s family. There are so many others from Alb^nia, Monten’gro, and other Balkan nations. Today Jessica used Al’tas interest in family, culture, and language to share the Gen. 11 story of Babel. She had never heard this before, but texted later expressing how much she enjoys these conversations. Though she is incredibly busy, she is growing in her willingness to meet up outside of the salon.

Pray for Abd^ and Jamie to have more time together (not necessarily more haircuts), and that we could get connected to his wife and kids.

Pray for Al’ta and Jessica to be able to meet outside the salon as well, and for continued openness to the gospel stories and biblical truths that are so foreign to her.

Pray for our friends MM & G and their kiddos. They are h’nd^ and s’kh background from Ind. Last year Jessica was able to spend almost 2 hours every week with MM at MJs dance studio. We grew pretty close to her and the kids, and also got to know her husband G. They are such a sweet family, and so much fun to hang out with. At one point they even considered buying a home in our neighborhood, which would have been amazing! They decided not to do dance this year (from which the Lord provided R*), but still make an effort to connect. A few weeks ago we got to spend an afternoon celebrating the kids’ birthdays. Of course, MJ got the flu from it… but hey, for the kingdom right!

Please pray that G, who still desires a spiritual influence for his family even though he formally left s’kh, would embrace Jesus and lead his family to follow.

Please pray for MM, who has very vivid dreams and places a lot of significance in them, would also have a dream of Jesus to give credence to everything Jessica has shared. She often recognizes that C makes more sense than H, but the idea of following J seems so foreign to her strong Ind identity. 

We continue to pray for our direct neighbors! The Lord has been kind to give us respectful, helpful, and enjoyable neighbors. Some are obviously more willing to chat than others, but we certainly wouldn’t wish any of them away!

Though we work primarily among MENA UPGs, and our neighborhood is becoming a “Little Casablanca,” we also live on the edge of “Himalayan Heights” and one of the largest Tibetan populations in the Western Hemisphere.

We give thanks and pray for F*, specifically, and his family; they are Tibetan neighbors who help shovel sidewalks and cook the most savory smelling dishes. His extended family owns homes on several adjacent blocks. We hope to get coffee soon at his home when his remodel is finished.

We give thanks and pray for D*, our Columbian neighbor with intel on the whole neighborhood. She has grown up here since it was primarily Irish. Her late night texts keep us rolling in laughter, and city recommendations are usually worth consideration.

We give thanks and pray for Sh*, our Bangladeshi neighbor, and her husband. Though nominal, they are connected to a broader m’slim community on the block.

We pray for T*, named after her spiritual leader, along with thousands of others in the neighborhood. Her home is a revolving door of family and friends, and a consistent stop for those on their way to the local “community center”.

Please pray that the door of the gospel would be open for us among them and through them, for we have been placed here for a reason. 

Recently we have experienced God’s favor in giving us new relationships with several people who have soft hearts. Please pray for the new relationships that God would continue to work in their hearts as we continue to reach His Kingdom.