From one of our mission partners

Iran and beyond. The prayer letter of Elam Ministries

I want to encourage you with a modern-day Zacchaeus story. As a gang lord, Arash controlled his local community through violence. Arash had seized the properties of five prominent families in the town. They had fled, empty-handed and terrified. Everyone feared Arash and his men. But then Arash began an online conversation with Ali, who kept talking about Jesus. Curiosity piqued, Arash demanded a New Testament. Through God's Word, the Spirit convicted Arash's heart: he was a sinner who needed Jesus. As Ali began discipling him, Arash soon realized his life had to change. Arash left his violent, criminal lifestyle behind, telling his gang he was retiring. Then, one day, Arash read Zacchaeus's story in Luke 19, and he felt the Lord speak to him. The five properties had to be returned. Arash searched tirelessly until he found the five families. They were bewildered when he told them he would return their properties. Arash even took out a loan to reimburse them for the furnishings he had damaged or sold. Three members of Arash’s immediate family have since become Christians. Please pray for the impact of the Gospel in Arash's wider community. As Arash's story shows, God is powerfully at work in the heart of the Muslim world, changing the most unlikely of hearts. Please join us in praying for:  Arash and his family's continued growth in the Lord Others with hardened hearts to have the opportunity to hear the Gospel Ali, and others like him, who bravely share the Gospel and give out the Scriptures, despite the risks. Grace and peace, David Yeghnazar Executive Director