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1. Fifteen Days of Prayer for the Tibetan Buddhist World

From the 10th to the 24th of February Christians from around the world will be praying for the Tibetan Buddhist world. This is precisely the time that Tibetans celebrate one of their most important feasts, Losar or New Year.

This is the perfect opportunity for people living far from Tibetan Buddhists to take part in reaching these unreached peoples. Prayer is powerful, and without it no progress is possible in bringing Jesus to those who need him.

Why don't you take part? All that is needed is that you take a few minutes each day for the fifteen days. There is a short piece to read, following which you can pray as you feel led. Invite your family, home group or church to take part.

To get the booklet, please contact me and I will send it to you via email.

Your prayers matter!

2. Slow Start to the Year

This year has been slow. For example, the weather has been sunny but cold, sometimes dropping below freezing. The strange thing has been that there has not been one drop of rain or one snowflake. This is room for concern is that unless we have rain soon the town will experience water shortages.

Not only that, for a variety of reasons our friends have not been available. C's husband has been ill so she has been very busy. Timothy has been away on family business.

Gonpo's library has officially opened and he has had multiple visitors every day. He is delighted at seeing readers enjoy his precious books. A large percentage of his visitors are children, and they have been devouring The Action Bible we put there. The Action Bible is a comic style narrative of the Bible. Pride of place in the library is currently "God Spoke Tibetan," a book about the first translation of the Bible into Tibetan.

The video translations have not been going as quickly as usual. Three of the four buildings around us are having construction of some sort, with all the accompanying noise. On many occasions production had to halt with hardly any progress. The reader of the Kham translation has been helping a friend who has been sick. Lately he has had his own health issues too. The couple doing the Hindi translation have moved out of his parents' house and are building their own home.

This month we started preparing for the social media outreaches. Using our Bible Story Video Series, we will aim to reach people with the good news. We have made friends with some folks who are well-versed in how to do this, and we plan that this will be a major part of our activities this coming year.

3. News About Leonie

Looking back, it is wonderful to see how God works good things in our lives, even when it is not going well. When I fell three months ago, we thought I would need two weeks to recover. It is three months later, and I am still mostly working from bed.

After two months of very slow healing, I met with a rheumatologist, and he has established that I have severe osteoporosis. We would not have found this out if it were not for the fall. Now I have begun treatment to actually make my bones stronger again. What would have cost $3,000 per month in the USA, is costing us $50. Praise the Lord!

It has been quite an adjustment, because I have to keep the medicine in the fridge and inject myself every day. We are working out how to do trips to remote areas and visit South Africa later this year.

Although we will only be able to see if it is working after three months, my back is definitely improving. Thank you for your ongoing prayers.

4. Coming Soon

YWAM visit
A group will be coming from YWAM (an international Christian organization) to serve the Tibetan Buddhists in various ways during the month of February. Our house will packed to the roof as they share life with us. We look forward to see their enthusiasm and youth in action!

Winter Camp
The Kids' Happy Club is planning a winter camp. We will have two sessions of three days, one for 6- to 9-year-olds, and the next for teens. We are using an international Vacation Bible School curriculum that is needing lots of adaptation to suit our Tibetan children. Our theme is "Stellar, Let Your Light Shine". The Kids' Club room is becoming the International Space station, and all the windows will have views of "outer space". We will play games, sing, dance, do cool science experiments and learn how Jesus is the light of the world.

This is a huge team effort, but we praise the Lord that he is sending all the help we need. The group of young people from YWAM will be kept busy.

5. Photos

This is a picture of one of the traders in our town. He deals in beads from Tibet. He was very proud of this necklace that he made.

Notice the beautiful onjuk (Tibetan jacket)

Dhondup is a member of a Tibetan tribal association. They asked him what the meaning of Christmas is. Here he is on Christmas Day telling them about how Jesus came to the world.

One of our Muslim friends sells amazing handcrafted goods. I was visiting him when this young tourist came in to try on his jackets. He was very happy to model my friend's garments, in this case an intricately stitched jacket. Like good Indian tourists, he and his friend each tried on half a dozen different jackets, bargaining all the way, before declaring that they didn't want any.

It may be the off season, and there may not be any snow, but the main square is buzzing with tourists and locals.

6. Praise Reports

Testimony 1 - Bill and Sarah
Bill and Sarah have joined our little group of friends. They set up house on the top level and then left for home in the UK to set up Sarah's visa (Bill had already received his visa painlessly months before). Simple right?

It turned out to be a huge test of faith. When Sarah arrived at the nearest VFS office (still a long journey away from home), they informed her that there is no such thing as a Student Spouse visa. When she produced Leonie's copy of her visa, they referred her to the High Commission in London.

In London, the staff were not aware of the Student Spouse visa type either and at first refused to help them. After some explanation, the staff informed them that they needed specific documentation. The demand was outrageous, but the Tibetan Library (the school where we study) went beyond the call of duty and helped out.

The school's letter was still not good enough; the wording was not precisely what the High Commission wanted. A second time and a third time the good-natured people at the Library obliged, but then they said that they had done enough. It seemed that there was no way forward.

Bill and Sarah mobilized their prayer partners, and some serious prayer took place.

The next day, Sarah received a call from VFS out of the blue. They were now ready to receive her application. Within days she had her visa and within 24 hours she was winging her way to India.

God answers prayer!

Testimony 2 - Alfred's glasses
Throughout my adult life, I have received new spectacles every two years. Each time the prescription was stronger, and I thought that that was to be the pattern for the rest of my life.

Ten years ago a new prescription was made for me, but it was physically impossible to make lenses that met that requirement. I kept on wearing those glasses. We weren't in a position to buy new ones.

I was concerned that my eyes were weakening without me noticing.

In November my 12-year-old lenses started failing - they had patches that became opaque and in some light I could not see properly. I suspect that the photochromatic treatment has now deteriorated.

I went to the local clinic. They tested my eyes and asked why I wanted new glasses - the old prescription was perfectly good.

Praise the Lord - he has taken care of my eyes all these years.

Hopefully I will be receiving new glasses in the next few days.

7. Prayer Requests

Join in the 15 Days of Prayer for the Tibetan Buddhist World.
Leonie needs your prayers for her complete healing.
C is in a very difficult place; her husband is sick and she needs to look after a hostel of 20 young girls.
The noise from the construction projects is slowing down progress on the video productions. Please pray that this will stop.
The personal situations of the presenters of the video productions are challenging. Please pray that the Lord will resolve each problem.
Preparations for the social media campaigns are on-going. Please pray for wisdom.
The YWAM visitors need to find the best ways to serve the Tibetans.
Please pray that the kids coming to the Winter Camp will be ready to hear about Jesus and his love.
We still need financial provision for our living expenses.

How you can support us

We need your prayer support: without prayer and fasting the walls that are surrounding Tibetan Buddhists will never be broken down. Our newsletters aim to help you focus your prayers strategically.

You can also support us financially. South Africans can pay directly into our bank account:
Account name AE Smith
Nedbank
Cheque Account 1556031424
Branch code 155605

We also have an international facility. Simply click the link below, choose an amount to donate, and then provide payment details. Click below:

Support Alfred & Leonie

We appreciate you

Thank you to each one that is praying for us, supporting us financially and being there for us. We deeply appreciate it that you can be a part of our lives. May you be blessed far beyond what you can imagine.

Do you have news? We'd be glad to hear from you. Do you have a need? Let us pray for you. You can write to us at writetoalfred@gmail.com.

Be greatly blessed

Alfred & Leonie

Our WhatsApp number is +91 82650 37842

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Alfred & Leonie Smith · 342 Konstant Street · Meyerspark · Pretoria, Gauteng 0184 · South Africa

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