International Mission Board missionary Joshua* stood at the bedside of Henry*, a devout Muslim in Southeast Asia. He’d spent the last five years sharing the gospel and his life with the man. Now, Henry was dying of cancer. It was in his small intestine and spreading.

As Joshua visited the declining Henry in his home, he took the opportunity to share the biblical story of the paralytic man whose friends took him through the roof of a house to see Jesus.

“I told him, ‘Henry, God can do that for you. Jesus can do that for you, too. If you’ll believe in Jesus, He can forgive you and heal you,” Joshua recounted.

“You know Joshua, right now I’ll take any prayer,” Henry responded. This man, hostile to the gospel and all things Christian, allowed this Western Christian to pray over him in Jesus’ name.

“I’m in a desperate way,” he confessed.

Before he’d been diagnosed with cancer, the two became friends, bonding over their shared fishing hobby.

Joshua and Ashley Taylor* and their children live in a predominantly Muslim culture in Southeast Asia. Over a million people live in their area. For the last six years, the Taylors have been the only IMB missionaries among them.

The people there are set in their religion. Secret police seek out those who are trying to proselytize. The government is run by those who adhere to Sharia law. While it’s permissible to be a Christian in this area, it is not legal to be a national and a Christian.

The overwhelming majority of the population is lost. Most have never heard the gospel. And for those who have, openly sharing comes at a great cost. Even the area itself is hard to access, off the beaten path.

IMB missionary Joshua and his new friend Henry bonded over their shared love of fishing. Through their time together, Joshua was able to share the gospel with Henry.

But the Taylor family planted their lives among these people. Joshua started a fishing club, and he found it was a fantastic way to connect with people.

Through this club, Joshua met Henry. While the two men immediately bonded over their love of fishing, Henry was hostile to Joshua’s religion. He believed, as most devout Muslims in his region do, that Christianity brought no good with it. Christianity is viewed there as “the great Satan,” and American Christians are perceived as bringing Western culture riddled with pornography, alcohol use, and all sorts of vices.

Joshua was Henry’s first Christian friend. Over the years, Joshua used their fishing excursions to share a few stories from Creation to Christ. He shared other stories, too, highlighting New Testament truths about love and justice for his very moral yet very lost Muslim friend.

“I’m always mad at you,” Henry said. “Every time I go to mosque and pray after we fish, I have to pray five times in order to get my anger away from you.”

Something about Joshua’s faith unsettled Henry, yet for five years, their friendship persisted, bound by their shared love of fishing. Their conversations shifted to deeper topics about life and marriage and all the tough stuff that comes along, such as this cancer.

“Out of all the people in this culture, God loved Henry so much, that even though he was an enemy of God, God sent a missionary to massage his feet, sharing God’s love with Henry, even as he was about to die,” IMB missionary Joshua Taylor recounted with tears in his eyes.

That afternoon in Henry’s home, Joshua prayed openly for his healing and for him to come to faith, all in Jesus’ name. Two months later, Henry was in the hospital, his body withering away. He couldn’t eat. He wasn’t even healthy enough to undergo surgery.

Joshua knew Henry’s time on this earth was ending. He prayed for God to help him communicate with Henry all the things he had on his heart in their next meeting.

A week later, he came to the hospital just as visiting hours ended. Not allowed to go in, Joshua went to the window. “Henry, Henry,” Joshua called.

“Is it time?” Henry asked, looking his American friend in the eye.

Joshua replied, “Yes, it is time. God is telling me your time is short. You need to accept Jesus.”

The next day, during visiting hours, Joshua repeated his message that the man’s time was short, and the gospel was the only thing he needed.

“No, no, no,” I want to go fishing with you, the dying man said to Joshua, not ready to die.

Joshua expressed his love to the man and asked to pray with him again.

“He rejected Christ in those moments, but he took a step forward,” Joshua said, his voice cracking. “God has His way of doing things outside of our interactions, but I can’t believe that if he didn’t have more time, that he wouldn’t have come a few more steps closer.”

The story continued with the dying man humbly asking the missionary to massage his feet, which is entirely out of character for this culture.

As the missionary poured oil on his feet, he was overcome with emotion.

Tears streaming down his face, Joshua recounted, “Out of all the people in this culture, God loved Henry so much that even though he was an enemy of God, God sent a missionary to massage his feet, sharing God’s love with Henry, even as he was about to die.

“That was just a beautiful picture [of] God saying to me, ‘I love this culture and I’m going to send laborers,’” Joshua said.

Two days later, Henry died. As far as Joshua knows, Henry rejected Christ.

There are still more in his fishing club who have heard the gospel and need to accept it, Joshua said. He encourages Southern Baptists who hear this story to consider whether God is calling them to reach the nations.

Perhaps you’re like Joshua and have a passion for fishing that you could use to create gospel access—short-term or long-term. Maybe you love to teach languages and want to use English as a Second Language as a platform to take the gospel to the nations. Or perhaps you’re a medical professional and want to bring hope and healing to a lost world. You can partner with the IMB to reach the nations, together.

*Names changed

Why is your gift important? As you know, South Asia is home to 1.8 billion lost people and over 2,500 people groups. More than 1000 of those groups have no believers (UUPGs), and nearly 500,000 towns and villages in our geographic area have yet to see a single church start.

If we are not careful, the truths of these statistics get lost and fade into oblivion. So why is your gift important? Because behind every statistic is a real person in need of a real Savior.

Real people. Just this morning, the wife of one of our national partners came to see my wife. She is considering adopting a baby but not in a conventional way. Last week, a young girl in our community gave birth to a baby girl. Unwed and unable to provide for the baby, she wanted to give it to a family who could take care of it. But her father told her she could not give the baby away; instead, she should sell it. Our national partners asked, “How much should we pay for the baby? If we don’t offer enough, the father is likely to just ‘get rid of it.’”

How much is the life of a baby girl worth? Unfortunately, in South Asia, the reality is that her life is worth next to nothing—maybe the equivalent of $20 to $30. But we understand through the gospel that Jesus already paid a very high price for this girl and every person in South Asia.

In the last 12 months, your gifts have helped send out hundreds of South Asian missionaries. Some have permanently relocated to new parts of our geographic region, far away from their families and all they know. Others have simply gone 15 to 20 miles down the road to their in-laws or other family members, sharing the good news of Jesus.

Together, the South Asian missionaries you have helped send have started more than 500 new churches, engaged two dozen UUPGs for the first time with the gospel, and trained countless other national missionaries to do the same things.

Please join us in prayer:

• Pray for Sudem* and Mira* who have move over 600 miles from home to a new area. After 18 months on the ground, they now have a small team of local believers starting churches together. Pray for this fledging team as it begins sharing the gospel with those who need to know the salvation Christ offers.
• Pray for work in an island region of South Asia. This area has the highest concentration of very remote UUPGs. Pray God will provide a way onto islands that are protected from outsiders by the government. Unfortunately, severe jail time, or worse, awaits those who attempt entry.
• Pray for the South Asian church to count the cost of following Jesus under ongoing government persecution. This generation often must choose to share Him with others despite their homes being burnt or losing their jobs.
• Pray for our team to live out daily what it means to follow Jesus faithfully.

Thank you for your generosity and prayers. Your sacrificial gifts and intercession truly transform lives as we partner together to solve the world’s greatest problem, lostness.

* Names changes.

As we began working among UUPGs several years ago, my mentor asked me to begin praying for breakthroughs among five key groups. One of these people groups was the Big Smile* people located in North India. For years, we prayed but didn’t see God doing anything, but after four years of prayer, one person from the Big Smile group came to faith! By the end of that year, we saw the first family unit of believers and a couple of churches form. After that, a local brother sent me this note: 

We’ve seen many Big Smile people come to faith over the last few years. In fact, in [ABC village], nearly everyone except the witch doctor and his family followed Christ. One day, the witch doctor’s sister went mad, and he said that it is because all the Christians removed their evil spirits (meaning they removed the fetishes from their houses and their persons and no longer appease the evil spirits). He went on to say that all the spirits have now chosen to inhabit his sister, one of the few non-Christians left. So, the witch doctor said that he would spend the next three days preparing to cast the evil spirits out of his sister and back into the Christians.   

The Christians were scared, so they called me, asking what to do. I counseled them not to worry but remain true to Jesus because He is greater. Then I encouraged them to pray and fast for the same three days as the witch doctor was preparing. After three days, the witch doctor tried to cast out the evil spirits out of his sister, but nothing happened. She was still mad. On the fourth day, the Christians all went to the witch doctor’s house and prayed over the sister. God healed her! Then both the witch doctor and his sister believed in Jesus. 

Just last week, the witch doctor and sister were baptized. When they arrived at the river, they had a sack full of tantric items (used for witchcraft). When I asked why they brought these with them, they said we no longer have any use for them, then threw them in the river and came to be baptized! 

God is moving among the Big Smile people and many other unreached, unengaged people groups (UUPGs) and continuing to bring people like these into His kingdom! This year, because of your gifts, we’ve seen God launch work among more than 25 different UUPGs. In the last three years, we’ve seen God not just start the work but actually launch churches (plural!) in more than 19 of those groups.  Here are a few highlights: 

• 17 of the first believers from the Bright Colors* people group are now meeting together in a church. 
• The Bridge* people have been engaged in 5 different districts over the last 2 years. 
• We saw the first 3 Helper Community* believers come to faith two years ago…now there are 23 baptized believers. 
• The second-ever Farm and Forest People* church started in 2020. (The first started in 2019). 
• The Honey People* now have more than a dozen different churches and are beginning to engage other UUPGs. 

Please pray for the ongoing work among all remaining 1044 UUPGs in South Asia because an engagement of these people groups is just the start of the race. We must continue to press forward, prayerfully seeing the first churches start and entire communities transformed by the Good News of Jesus! 

Here is one more testimony from a local brother: 

Brother Harry* was in a training in one remote area when he envisioned everyone reaching their own UUPG. He began praying for God to bring his vision to fruition. 

At the same training, while listening to Brother Harry, Sister Viola* realized that her own people group had not been reached. She was [likely the first] believer, and now she was attending training to learn to share her faith. After the training, she went back and shared the gospel with her daughter-in-law, who came to faith. Together, they started sharing with many other people, and now we see the result of that: Sister Viola’s UUPG now has five churches and six leaders! [Altogether, there are 37 baptized people in this former UUPG and dozens more learning to follow Jesus and about baptism!] Praise God with us that they are no longer a UUPG!! 

God is at work across South Asia! Your faithfulness to pray and give is propelling the gospel into unreached villages and God is saving people! We ask that you continue to partner with us in this vital work. Don’t give up praying for God to draw the people groups of South Asia to saving faith and reveal Himself and the Way, Truth and Life. Also, please prayerfully consider making an end-of-the-year gift to support our work. One hundred percent of your gift will be used to train local leaders and reach unreached peoples for Christ. Also, all gifts are tax-deductible, so an end-of-the-year gift to support our work is a great way to receive another tax credit for 2021. 

Thank you for your partnership with us in this vital work. The peoples of South Asia who are coming to faith are part of your inheritance in the Lord (Psalm 2:8). 

*Name changed