It has been in the works for a couple weeks, but it is finally up and working. DongTeam.org has the wonderful privilege to host the prayer wall for those who are interested in helping establish 24 hours of prayer for the Dong people.

No one person could achieve such a feat, and it will hopefully be encouraging as we see more and more people join. As we dedicate one hour a week to the Lord to wrestle for the Dong people in prayer, there is no way we will not see great progress of the gospel among the Dong.

For those of you who are interested, please feel free to visit the Dong Prayer Wall, see how it is set up, and contact us about joining up. You can always find the prayer wall by coming back here to the Prayer Journal and looking for the "advert" to the left.

May God be glorified among the Dong people!

The following testimony comes to us from a fellow Dong prayer warrior...

Is it just me, or do you also become discouraged in prayer? Often, I feel like I am getting nothing done, and when that happens, I stop praying altogether. It becomes hard to pray for people near and dear to me, much less a mostly unknown people on the other side of the world.

Recently, I was reading a biography of Hudson Taylor and noticed a very similar mass discouragement in prayer for the people of China. A man named Gutzlaff had travelled extensively in Europe chiefly to raise up prayer for the Chinese people. Then, when his mission to reach the Chinese of the interior largely failed, most of those whose hearts had been stirred to pray were discouraged. Most stopped praying altogether.

Does God really hear our prayers? When we pray for a people we hardly know anything about, does God really answer and work? Maybe it is just me that feels this way, and even if this is all written just for me, I want to wade my way through and find the other side.

China has captivated the spotlight of the world for the last few weeks. Not only did the devastating earthquake draw us all in to our televisions in sympathy, but before the earthquake ever hit, National Geographic chose to focus their entire May's issue on China.

NatGeo evidently decided a month on China would not be well rounded without telling of the people in China's countryside, and they just happened to chose to focus on one people group...the Dong. Nice choice.

For those who have not read the article, DongTeam.org would like to highly suggest it, if you get a chance. Not only is it well written (by a very famous author of other China-related books) and have beautiful photography of the Dong people, but it really does paint a clear and accurate picture of life in a Dong village.

Everybody in China is excited about the Olympics. Obviously, it is a big thing. The Dong are no different. In villages, basketball courts are the effective village square. Table tennis is common among school children and adult workers alike.

In the Olympic spirit, DongTeam.org wants to share a couple of new computer desktop backgrounds to help encourage sports related prayer. Let's pray that sports will be a bridge of common interest through which the gospel can be heard.

It has been a while since DongTeam has made a new desktop background available for you all. Our hope is that we can provide simple prayer reminders which we can incorporate into our everyday lives. Visit the Media Page to download the newest background.

If we long to see the Lord work wonders among the Dong people and establish his Church among them, how do we go about such a huge task? We would do well to look to examples in the past. One of the most successful movements of Christ among the minority peoples in China was undoubtedly among the Lisu people in the early 1900s.

J.O. Fraser served the Lord among the Lisu people of Yunnan Province and, in letters back home, wrote some incredible insights into how the work of God progresses among the unreached:

In the past decade, one of the biggest changes in how the Western church has approached cross cultural missions is the emphasis on short term missions, whether that be two weeks, two months, or two years. Much has been accomplished on such trips and many have felt God's calling through such experiences, but what of the traditional role of the sending church?

It is easy for us to see our modern missions efforts as superior to those of old, but much has happened in the past which we would do well to remember. In the early 1900s, a lone missionary from England struggled year after year among a people group in the rugged mountains of China with almost no progress. An incredible movement of God broke out, and it was clearly not because of the missionary or his well devised strategy. It was prayer.

In 1 Samuel 30, we see one of the many wise acts of David in his leadership over the people of Israel. It speaks clearly to us today of the value of those who "go" and those who "stay at home" as equal participants in the mission.

His troops had been marching and fighting for days. When they returned home, they found they themselves had been raided, and after consulting the Lord if they should pursue, the Lord confirmed they would catch the raiders. Of David's six hundred fighting men, two hundred did not have the strength to go on and they stayed behind and watched the equipment.

After the four hundred returned victoriously, these "more honorable members of the army" did not want to share the spoils with the two hundred who did not go on with them. David refused, saying, "For as his share is who goes down into the battle, so shall his share be who stays by the baggage. They shall share alike." He made it a law for the army after becoming king over all Israel.

Just a few days ago, one of our fellow prayer warriors left a comment on the Prayer Journal saying that a group of children is going to hear about the spiritual needs of the Dong people and will be praying for them tonight (Wednesday night in the United States). In a reversal of the normal prayer requests we see here on DongTeam, why not pray for that time, for the children, and the preparation necessary to lead the children in prayer.

It is a beautiful gift to be able to pray with children. For good reason did Jesus call us to be like children and to live out a child-like faith. Let us pray for the Holy Spirit to work in these childrens' hearts and help them understand who the Dong people are and why they have such a great need to hear the salvation of Jesus Christ. May the Holy Spirit work in their prayers great works of faith!

It is easy for us to doubt. We think of the massive task ahead of us. We are praying for the Dong people, but it is really possible for so many hundreds of millions of people hidden deep in the mountains of Southwest China to be reached by the good news of Christ?

Isaiah 52:10
The Lord has bared is holy arm before the eyes of all the nations,
and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.

In short, the answer to that question is "yes!" Elsewhere in Isaiah, the Lord asks if once his arm has been stretched out to work, there anyone who can turn it back? No! Well, he has bared his holy arm before all the nations, and he will definitely fulfill his plan.

Are we sure his plan includes the Dong people of China? They surely fall within "all the ends of the earth" and so, yes, the Dong too will see the salvation of our God.

We do not find any assurance in our own power. However, we can place all our assurance in the words of our most faithful Lord. He has bared his holy arm, and he fully intends to work his wonders. We want to see what happens when the Lord starts working. What a wonderful sight!

What do we hope to happen in the new year for the Dong people of China? What happens when God chooses a people as his own, establishes himself among them, and leads them unto salvation? Here is a little new year history:

Exodus 40:1,34
The LORD now said to Moses, "Set up the Tabernacle on the first day of the new year." ... Then the cloud covered the Tabernacle, and the glorious presence of the LORD filled it.

In the old covenant, God lived among the Israelites by choosing for himself the Tabernacle as the holy place of his presence. Jesus has written, with his blood, the terms of the new covenant, though, and that is a covenant with all the peoples of the earth, including the Dong people of China.

Now, the Lord is establishing himself among the Dong people. There will be no Tabernacle, but we can pray that God would continue to choose Dong people which he will fill with his glorious presence. Nothing better could happen in the new year.

It is wonderful when we are able to share in praising God when he brings about growth in the lives of fellow believers. And when there are so few Dong believers, watching them and praying for them as they grow is a special joy.

This lady's testimony of God's leading and faithfulness was related to DongTeam and can be an encouragement for those of us who are praying to know that God is indeed answering our prayers. Here is her story:

"I knew the job opportunity was God's provision. My husband and I were really struggling financially and did not know what to do. We had a lengthy conversation about our troubles, but could not find any possible solution, especially in the winter when there are no crops to sell.

"The next day, I received a call with a job opportunity in the town thirty minutes away. I had inquired for a job there before, but there were no openings. And right when we needed it most, we received the call with the new opening.

"It had to be God. So, my husband and I went into town to nail down the job opportunity. I mentioned to him that I really wish we could find our Christian friends who live in town, but I do not know where they are right now or how to find them. I went into my meeting with the trainers for the job, and my husband went to take care of some business around town.

"When I came out of my meeting, my husband said he had run into our Christian brother and sister and they were waiting for us to go to their house where they had prepared lunch! And that is not all, as I look for an apartment to stay in the town, I did not really know whether to travel back and forth from the village or to try to stay the night in the town with the expense of staying at a guest house. Without me saying anything, our friends offered a place at their home till I found an apartment.

"It is still a trying time: till our ducks are sold off soon, my husband and daughter will need to stay in the village, not to mention the financial pressure which is still on us. It is encouraging to know that God is taking care of us and providing for us."

Though reading this journal entry most likely means you already feel a burden to pray for God's work around the globe and those who are carrying out his will, here is a quick note of encouragement from the pen of Paul for all of us praying for the Dong people.

Paul writes: "He will rescue us because you are helping by praying for us. As a result many will give thanks to God because so many people's prayers for our safety have been answered" (2 Cor 1:11).

Our prayers do make a difference. Not only is there is the immediate prayer request for which Paul's prayer team was praying ("the rescue"), but God worked a result beyond what it actually prayed. After the the answer, "many will give thanks to God" when they see these prayers answered. God loves to answer beyond our request.

So not to just talk about prayer and not do it, let us take Paul's prayer need and apply it to the Dong world, for it is quite relavent.

DongTeam is organized for prayer. It is not a random collection of information on the Dong people of China. It is not a mouthpiece of some organization. It is intended as a meeting point for the "team" of those praying for the Dong people. Everybody who prays for the Dong is a part of the "DongTeam" team.

Fully desiring to live up to Richard Foster's challenge, brought forth in the previous entry, DongTeam desires to delve into all the complexities of reaching a "hidden people" and more clearly define what part we all can play in reaching the Dong. The general information, geography, and research pages provide some of the resources we can use in that effort to pray.

The main tool is this prayer journal. We are all on the team: each of us reading this. The prayer journal is not just a broadcast of prayer requests; the prayer journal is an interactive process of prayer. When you have additional thoughts or questions, feel free to add to the journal entry by adding a comment.

It has been so long since this journal was started, it is strange to jump in the middle. We are here to struggle forward in prayer. These people are unreached for a reason. Let us pray through those issues and ask our awesome God to lead us in prayer.

As the Habakkuk passage makes clear, the results we do or do not see are not necessarily the way things truly are. It is hard to keep praying when we see nothing happening. It is hard to know what to pray for when so little news is given to be able to know what to pray for.

Let us, instead, put our joy in the Lord of our salvation! Let us praise him for all the things he is doing outside of our knowledge. He is working among the Dong people; he is becoming the God of strength among them. We must keep praying for his name to be glorified among them.

We briefly mentioned, when talking through the Isaiah verse, that we do not see it. Is it right in front of us? Are we doing the right thing, or do we need to drop everything and head another direction?

The work with the Dong is God's work, and everybody involved in this work wants to do it his way. Let's pray that God will continue to lead all of us as we pray and act on God's direction.

There are many people who have felt God lead them to focus their ministry on the Dong people. Some of these live in China; some are which have adopted the Dong; some are individual saints praying for the spread of the gospel among the Dong. Cooperation and unity among these different groups and individuals is essential and will bring about the blessed fruits of unity.

Several of the people interested in the work among the Dong will be meeting in just a few days. We need to do our part to pray for them as they seek the face of God together and, through the grace of God, unify their work for the Kingdom.

"Finally brothers, pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you" (2Thess 3:1).

We often do not think back to our own roots, but focus solely on the morning worship, the new youth minister, the recreation building activities. We forget about the great revivals or maybe never read of the faith of those that came before us and the great deeds the Lord worked through them.

How was it with us? Certainly there were times of rapidity and often was the message of the Lord honored. These things in our history, out of memory for most, are the same things we are praying would come about among the Dong people. Let us pray that the "message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored" among the Dong people.

Three million people. That is a lot, you know. Not only are there three million Dong spread through the mountains and valleys, but at the very least two different dialects of their language making communication among their own people difficult. Many of them cannot communicate in the national language, Chinese. The outcome is a large group of people who have no access to the Gospel in their language.

In Matthew 19:26, Jesus said, "Humanly speaking, it is impossible, but with God everything is possible." This is God's work. He challenges us to place our faith in the One who can accomplish the salvation of hundreds of thousands of people. With God everything is possible, and with God let us pray together for the salvation of this people.