This story comes from one of our teams in Central Eurasia. If you would like to receive real-time information of needs and answers to prayer from one of our teams on the field, with many more details than we are able to share here publicly on our blog, we invite you to looking into starting a Pray Band.

I received a phone call late last evening from a farmer telling me that the soybeans in one of his fields were dying.  It was a piece of land that had looked really healthy.  I was so disappointed and frustrated by the news. I and my local partner planned to go right away in the morning…a 2 hour drive to the village. 

The next morning when I arrived at the field I immediately identified the problem as a mite issue on the crops.  The owner of the land became very frustrated as he had entrusted the care of the field to his son who had been negligent in finding the problem, a common problem that I had warned them about at the time of planting.  The father was so upset with his son and had remembered that I warned them about the risk of mites and yet, they failed to see it.  I tried to take some of the blame for not checking in sooner but instead the farmer affirmed that I had advised him and was now ready to do whatever needed to be done.

Unfortunately there will be some crop loss because of the negligence but today I earned some respect and a voice.  It takes people awhile to learn to trust here but once they trust, they really trust.  When they respect, they listen.  Now I have a voice, not just in the field, but also in his life.  

So the farmer jumped in my car for a ride to the city to get the chemical he needed to spray his crops.  For 2 hours he listened.  Not about crops, mites or fields, but to stories and testimonies about Jesus.  Now he wants to read the Bible.  Its really not about the crops.  There really is no loss.  We are praying for great gain.

Will you pray very specifically for this farmer? We will visit him again very soon and we will be opening the Word with him for the first time.  Pray that he finds Jesus.  

Specific Prayers for Central Eurasia this month:

One of our team leaders who was medically evacuated to Bangkok for a threatening allergic reaction.

Teams in somewhat remote places. Pray that they find favor with locals and develop a community of believers.

Laborers – Please continue to pray for more workers.

Please pray as our leadership team comes together for renewed vision and strategy to create more capacity to receive and facilitate more workers in the harvest.

Pray for more people in CE to be open to hearing the gospel and following Christ.