|
 God started putting the pieces of the puzzle together for Moms in Prayer Pakistan in 2009 when a Pakistani pastor contacted Headquarters. The Field Ministry Assistant was shocked to discover he lived in the same city where her father lived for five years and traveled to for 30 years! Prayers were lifted up to the Lord, asking Him to establish and grow Moms in Prayer groups in Pakistan and to send a leader to train the women.
Fast forward to 2011 when God called me to travel to this South Asian country. Before flying into Pakistan, I met up with a church team. The leader of this group had already traveled to see the pastor in Pakistan two-years prior, so this was another answer to prayer! The only anxiety I experienced was flying alone from the U.S. to a city in the Middle East. When I walked onto the huge Air Bus, which looked more like a boat than a plane, young children were running up and down the aisles, excited to travel. The entire scene calmed me down.
When we arrived in Pakistan, the pastor and his family welcomed us with beautiful flowers. He helped organize all the meetings and his family blessed us with such incredible hospitality and graciousness. His brother and a neighbor even took a week off from the university to help interpret and provide worship music for our team.
The first conference started the morning we arrived. Fifty women were in attendance including another fifty men and children. The husbands usually accompany their wives when going out during the day. Throughout the various conferences, the attribute God kept giving me was, "Mountain Mover" and Ephesians 3:20 was the theme verse. Sharing the Four Steps of Prayer with the Pakistani women was incredibly exciting and humbling. The Lord showed up every day in a sweet and protective way. It was exciting to experience the Pakistani culture while communicating the Greatness of our Lord to the women. I have a great deal of respect for the way they live and their braveness to worship the Lord.
The second conference surprised me when instead of 100 people, the Lord brought double this number! It was such a blessing to have the Junior High and High School girls in attendance at our meetings. After the conference, these girls spoke with us in English (they study the English language in school) so that we could communicate with their moms, answering questions about prayer.
At the next conference I remember walking up the stairs to the church and asking the Lord for strength. I was very tired since we had been traveling each night to different villages. For this conference, we had traveled three hours to a village where the pastor grew up. I was thankful that the pastor and his family printed 130 Urdu Booklets for the conferences because Thursday night 700 people attended, 500 of whom were women! I was in my element and knew it was God who had equipped me for this moment. Everyone broke out in song. Then the Sunday school women and children presented me with a bouquet of roses. I felt very special being welcomed in such a warm way, and I hadn't even spoken yet! This conference was the most powerful of all. The people were eager to hear about Jesus and Moms in Prayer.
It was a busy week and one of the best experiences of my life. I will treasure these precious moms and children forever. Please pray for their safety and also for provision to print more Urdu Booklets. Looking back, I realized the Lord helped me teach 700 women about Moms in Prayer at several different locations. There are already 37 groups in Pakistan!
Now all glory to God, who is able, through His mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to Him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21 (NLT)
|