Bobby and Sandy Jank minister among a people group in Latin America. Mateo, one of the believers of that people group, attended a meeting to discuss cross-cultural evangelism. “Mateo did great, sharing his testimony and experiences. He also had much to say [about] his burden for his people and the many challenges the Yanomamö church is facing. … He kept commenting to me that they really seemed to want to know about his situation and that of his people. It wasn’t lost on him that all these people had taken the time and effort to come together not to discuss and resolve their own problems, but rather to learn how to better reach out to others, and specifically, to groups like the Yanomamö.

“Within the Yanomamö culture, there are reasons why the church has been slow to grow in the area of Christian community. … Please pray with us about this. Pray that the Yanomamö believers will have the courage to open their hearts to other Yanomamö believers who are not from their own family group and who don’t have the same official ties. Pray that they will choose the family of God, even when it seems to mean rejecting their own earthly families. They are facing difficult choices that most of us have never had to consider.

“In Luke 14:26, Jesus told his followers: ‘If you want to be my disciple, you must hate everyone else by comparison — your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters — yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple.’ Wow! What a challenge. And this is exactly what the Yanomamö believers are facing.

“Pray that God will raise up disciples among our Yanomamö believers.”