I am very thankful to God and to all of you for praying for me from the beginning to find a life partner, who would join me in spreading the Gospel of God. Our God is the great Almighty, who has answered my prayer and given me such a wife. She has come to serve God with me. She has left every facility and is living with us in the village.
I thank God the Father that there was no problem of any kind during our wedding ceremony. God made everything easier than we thought. By the grace of God, our relationship is going very well.
Thank God the Father! God is great! He has given us another new village where we can take the Gospel. 2 people have become believers there. This village is about 60 kilometers away from our house. It is a very backward and poor. Children roam without any clothes. They do not go to school. Most of the men here are unemployed. Those who work spend their money on alcohol. We run the church in the open place. Pray that God keeps us safe us from opposition and that many souls will be saved there.
Please pray for all of the churches and Bible studies that are going on in different villages Monday through Saturday. May God enrich the people of the villages with His knowledge and strengthen them in their faith.
Thank you for your prayers, Christian love, and partnership for the Gospel.
God bless you.
Pastor 11
*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.
Greetings to all of you from our church! I thank you all and God from the bottom of my heart that you always take care of the members of the body of Christ and that you are constantly engaged in prayer and meet our needs. In the last week of January, there was a great persecution on our church and our church’s believers, which I will describe below. By the grace of God and your prayers, everything is back to normal.
An uneducated family was kept under house arrest for 10 days to break their faith in Lord Jesus Christ. They were tortured physically and mentally to testify against us!
When we study the Acts of the Apostles, we learn that wherever the Gospel reaches people who believe in Jesus, there is also the work of Satan. Similarly, in the last week of January, persecution came upon us and our church. A political leader complained about us to the center. So a team was formed by the government to keep people from our church under house arrest for 10 days. They were tortured mentally and physically so that they would give false testimony against us. But none of them gave false testimony against us. Their faith was also not broken. They told the team of police investigators, “We believe in the Lord Jesus Christ by our own will. Whether we die or live, we will not leave Jesus Christ.”
The team also came to our house. During the time that they were there, I was away in another state at an SGWM conference. My father was at home. My father shared his testimony with the police investigators, but he did not allow the investigators to enter our home’s gate. The investigators left threatening that they would put people in jail.
The very next day, it was in the newspaper that we are associated with a group of terrorists. For this reason, a team was sent by the central government to investigate us. But I thank God and all of you for your prayers. The team, which was sent by the Central Government, did not return here again. Still, the believers of our church were put under a lot of pressure to give false testimony against us. But they did not. I thank God that on the first Sunday of March, they reached the Sunday service through the jungle, bowing down to the people of the village.
It was great to go to the high mountains and fellowship with the people there.
I thank God for giving me the opportunity to go to the North in February. I got to travel around in 2 states there and spend time with my colleagues and friends. I especially thank God that we went to many new places that it was almost impossible to go to because there was no road. We had to hike through the mountains. God gave me the courage and strength through which I could go to the villages and preach the Gospel to the people.
Many strict laws have been implemented in both of the states against spreading the Gospel. Because of this, many pastors are running restaurants, cafes and guest houses instead of preaching the Gospel. I really enjoyed visiting with the people there. It warmed my heart to see their hospitality.
God also gave me the opportunity to deliver the Word of God in Pastor 12*’s church. God gave me the opportunity to meet my old neighbors also, among whom we were once again able to share the Word of God. I thank God that He used me in the North as well. Always pray for the ministry in the North, that the name of God is spread faithfully. Please also pray for the pastor of the church I went to for about 18 years. There is a conversion (witnessing) court case against them. Pray that he is released from this court case.
In March God opened another new village to evangelize.
All things work together for good to those who love God!
In January, when the newspapers published my father’s testimony, many people read it. Many fanatics opposed us. But many others also heard it who were hungry and thirsty for God. Among them is one man who after searching, came to know that there is a church at our house. He came to our Sunday service and requested that we start a weekly fellowship in his village. So we started a fellowship there. He is like other believers here, who came to know Christ when they went to a big city. They go back and forth for work. Thank you for your prayers. Now, by the grace of God, house churches have been established in 10 villages. We go there every week for prayer, worship and Bible study.
A Special Point of Thanksgiving and Prayer Request!
I am very happy to tell you that God has given me a wife who will be helpful in furthering the kingdom of God with me. The area where I serve is a very unreached place. No pastor wants to come here. People make up lies and many different excuses to not serve the Lord here. But I thank God that He has given me a wife who will serve with me in my field. I have known my wife for 5 years. We have been dating for a year. He sister and brother-in-law are believers in who live in the same home with her and her mother. Her mother does not believe in God. Still God spoke to her mother’s heart, and her mother agreed for us to get married. She even assisted in our legal (court) marriage as a witness for her daughter. Our court marriage happened very smoothly. Her family members, especially one named P* helped a lot with it.
Please pray for our marriage reception which will be hosted by my wife’s family members in the North. All of my wife’s relatives will come. Pray that everything goes well.
Please pray for our planned marriage ceremony and marriage reception at my house. Pray that God fulfills our every need. About 200 people will come. Everyone in my house does ministry. But by faith, I have invited many friends, relatives and believers who have been praying for my marriage for almost 10 years. Please pray that everything goes well.
Prayer Requests:
Please pray that my marriage goes well. May God fulfill our every need.
Please pray that my close friends are able to come to my wedding.
Please pray that the believers in our church will understand the Word of God more deeply.
Please pray for my mother’s back pain to be cured.
Pray. Next month, after marriage, I am going to another city close by to get audio Bibles. May God give me protection when I get them.
Pray. Another believer wants to be baptized this month. May God protect us while we baptize.
There are some Hindu fundamentalists in our village also who are always trying to torture us. May God give them peace in their hearts.
Thank you for your love, prayers and partnership for the Gospel.
God bless you all,
Pastor 11
*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.
Greetings to all of you in the sweet name of the Lord Jesus Christ!
I thank God that He has kept me safe this whole month. Last month, an investigation team was formed by the central government that came to investigate us, by comparing us with a terrorist/insurgent group. But, thank God, they left after making inquiries and have not come again. Also, the newspaper did not publish anything bad about us again. All these are answers to your prayers.
I thank the Almighty God specially that He has given me good health. And thank God that He is using me to fulfill His purpose. In January, where I do ministry, I didn’t see the sunlight for almost 2 weeks due to a very dense fog. Because of this, it got very cold. Many people are dying due to the cold. Due to the dense fog many road accidents are happening. Still, God has saved me and my family members. So, I thank God and also thank you who always keep praying for us.
A Successful Effort to Bring All of the Pastors on One Stage
In present times, persecution is increasing day by day. Many churches are being vandalized. People who obey God are being beaten up. Women of pastors’ families are being abused. Pastors and Christians are being jailed because of false accusations against them. Just a few days ago, there was an incident of a pastor being locked up in the police station after being falsely accused. Some people from an organization working against Christians bribed a policeman so they could enter the police station. They then beat up the pastor and kept on beating him till they started crying loudly. When I saw all these things, God spoke to me to hold a meeting with the pastors of all the local churches, so that we can unite and help each other during the coming persecution.
We called all of the pastors and held a meeting, Many decisions were made. They appointed me and one of my friends as the coordinators of the posters of the entire district of churches for 1 year.
Together, we also decided to make a Christmas Carol Festival. We worked together to put on the festival. We invited the pastors of all the churches. The people who had practiced Christmas programs for their churches were invited to come there and compete. The one who did the best won a prize. Around 12-13 churches participated in the competition. God gave me the chance to lead this whole competition. The youth of my church also performed dance, songs and drama. Glory be to God, our church is very happy to have won the third prize!
Very Good Fellowship with Young People
I had a great of fellowship with a young man from my church. Some other pastors and I had planned to organize a huge youth meeting on January 9th. Through this, all of the youth of the churches would come and get to know each other. They would be immersed in the Word of God, because in present day many youth/young adults are falling away from God. However, due to very cold weather and financial problems, the big meeting could not be held.
I thank God that I called the youth/young adults of my church and had very nice fellowship with them. We studied the book of Daniel. I also showed a movie about Daniel to them so that the life of Daniel would be imprinted in their mind.
Keeping Warm By A Fire During Our Youth Meeting
Starting on January 1st, because of heavy fog the sun did not come out. Because of this, it was very cold. Some of my church’s youth could not reach the church. Only 7 youth came to the youth meeting. To warm them, a fire was prepared by burning coal so that they could keep themselves warm. We all had lunch together and then everyone went to their homes.
Prayer Requests:
I was engaged in prayer for many days for God to give me a wife who can further God’s work with me. It gives me great joy to share that God has given me a fiance who is a believer through Calvary Chapel and dedicated to God. I have just arrived in the North to have a court (legal) marriage. Please pray that my court marriage can be done soon. After that, I will go back to my state to do ministry. Then, on April 12, I will come back to the North to have my wedding.
Our wedding ceremonies/receptions are planned on April 12th in the North and on April 20th in my home state. May God give us strength to prepare everything well and may God fulfill every financial need.
Some Hindu fundamentalists are planning to break up/harm our church in many ways, after reading about our church in the newspaper. May God give them peace.
Please pray that my mother’s health problem is cured. She always has pain in her back.
Pray for the believers in my church to have a deeper understanding of the Word of God.
Pray that God will protect some more believers who want to be baptized next month.
Thank you for your prayers, Christian love, support and participation in the Gospel.
God bless you all!
Pastor 11
*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.
I thank God and all of you for your participation in spreading the good news of the birth of Jesus. Because of your prayers and support, we have been able to use a variety of methods and tools to spread the Gospel including:
Distributing New Testaments
Distributing Kids Comics that share about Jesus
Distributing Biscuits
Sharing the Gospel through Action Songs
Showing the Jesus Film on a projector
Sharing through worship songs
Assembling together to pray for the healing of the sick
Providing Christmas lunch
This year, through our Christmas outreaches, the Lord Jesus Christ has also been born in the lives of rural, illiterate and religion-hungry people!
I want to express my gratitude to God and to all of you. By your help and support and especially by your prayers, we have spread the Gospel to 6 new villages and some old villages as well. Some friends of mine and I distributed more than 500 New Testaments, and also comics that share about Jesus and biscuits to small children. We also showed the movie of the Lord Jesus Christ on a projector in 3 new villages.
In every village where we went with the Gospel, the people welcomed us very well. Some made us lunch and some made all of us supper. It swelled my heart to see people’s hearts open to hearing the Gospel. With your prayers and help, we will take the Gospel to villages that people may not even think of going to.
The Gospel reached people who did not know who Jesus Christ is. “Is this the name of an object? Or is it a person’s name? Or is it the name of the Lord?”
Thank God that the name of Jesus reached these ears for the first time and God changed hearts. About 20 more people received the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior! Praise God, one of them who accepted the Lord Jesus Christ was also baptized. By the grace of God we have also been invited to do weekly fellowship in 2 new villages!
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness because they will be satisfied!
Let me tell you in detail about one of these outreaches in a new village where people were moved by the hunger and thirst to hear the Gospel. The name of this village is S*. It is about 25 km away from our house. When my team and I reached there, the people welcomed us very well. They gave us places to sit and took us to a nice place where around 200 to 300 people could sit.
As soon as we reached there, a brother from my team started singing in the microphone and playing the guitar. Many school children came. The adults from the whole village also came to see. We all sang Christmas carols and shared the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. We taught action songs to the children and distributed comics that share about Jesus to the children. We distributed New Testaments to the adults. Around 200 to 300 people including children came. After getting permission from the school teacher, we went to the school class and taught action songs to the children. We also showed the Jesus movie on a laptop. At the end, we distributed biscuits to the children. Afterward, the people of the village prepared lunch for all of us. There were 10 of us, and they fed all of us well. 5 new people accepted Jesus Christ. They invited us to do weekly worship in their village. All of this was possible by the grace of God and your prayers.
Spiritual and worldly food for 400 people!
I thank God that, like every year, this year God helped us when we went to new villages to do outreach, evangelism, Bible distribution, and healing meetings. We invited people from each place to come to our church. We also told them that they could bring their relatives and friends.
Last year on December 25th, the news media came to our Christmas lunch because of the huge crowd. So this year we had our Christmas lunch on December 20th so that the people who are anti-Christian and the media would not know about it. Glory be to God, everything went well this year. Around 400 people and children came, participated in the worship, heard the Gospel of God, saw the dances by the Sunday school children of our church, saw a lot of activities, and finally went home after having lunch. It took almost 3 hours to feed the people due to the huge crowd. Many new people promised that they will continue come to Sunday services to come to know God deeply.
Prayer Requests:
Please pray that those who have heard the Word may one day receive the Lord.
Please pray. On December 27th, all of the local churches are doing a Christmas program together. Arrangements have also been made for dance, drama and song competition. God may bring revival among the youth. I have been given the chance to lead this program, please pray that I lead it well.
A youth meeting is being organized to take place on January 9th. Almost all of the youth of the church plan to come. Last time, about 150 people came. This time more people are expected than that. Pray that God will bless every one, provide the finances, and give wisdom to all of us so that we can organize this meeting well.
Pray for our country. Persecution is increasing every day.
Please pray for my mother’s health.
Please pray for my marriage. My family and I want me to be married in February. May God fulfill our every need.
Thanks again for your partnership in the Gospel!
God bless you!
Pastor 11
*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.
Greetings to all of you from my church! Thank God that He is always protecting me and my family and the people of my church every step of the way and fulfilling our each and every need. I also want to thank you for always praying for us. Through your prayers, God is doing wonders here. God is using me and my family members extensively for His kingdom.
Although God gives us some stories every day of the month to share with you, I want to share only two or three stories out of them, that will glorify God.
Explaining According to Their Understanding
I thank God for giving me a chance to visit the village again that I shared about in the previous newsletter. The people of this village are very hospitable. They invited us to come back to their village. We all went to their village again. Last time we went, 2 people accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior. The people heard the Word of God with great zeal and enthusiasm. No child or young adult is educated in this village.
When the British ruled our country, their ancestors were brought captive by the British people from South Africa, since then these people have settled here. There are a lot of kids here who never go to school. We taught them action songs and also explained the story of Zacchaeus through puppetry. They were listening intently to the story through the puppets. Later, he was answering the question about Zacchaeus very quickly.
Then I distributed apples for the children to eat. Many of these children are malnourished. Two months before I went there a child died from malnutrition. No government leader or non-profit organization wants to go to this village. All the men of this village work all day long, drink alcohol at night, and beat their children and their wife. Thank God that the Word of God has reached this village. People are slowly coming to faith and God will soon change them physically and mentally.
Very Nice Hospitality by a Widowed Woman
Thank God that the month of October has really been a season of many blessings. We have preached the Good News of God in many places and met many people. We were also provided for by many people. One of them is a widow. Her husband died about 10 years ago. She has a daughter and two sons living in her house. She received the Lord and was baptized about 5 years ago. Church used to run in her neighborhood every Monday. Due to persecution (when the high caste people there threatened them), they had to close. They had also planned to kill us but God saved me and my Dad.
This widow invited us to her house to have fellowship. We went to her house and she called her friends. We prayed for all of them and shared the Word of God. Despite being financially poor, she prepared food for us on a wood stove and fed us all. Some upper caste people came and watched us carefully but due to the crowd, they could not say anything to us. I thank God that He is protecting us and making the people of the church strong in their faith and growing them in the Word.
Pastors’ Conference
I had a wonderful time at the conference with fellow pastors. God gave me the opportunity to visit a nearby country.
Thank God that He gave a time in which all of us pastors could meet and worship God. My heart swelled when I was able to see my friends and fellow pastors after 3 years. Spending time with them was indeed a blessing with a lot of enthusiasm and zeal with which to grow the ministry more abundantly. At the same time, I want to thank God and you also for helping us so that we could travel around the nearby country well. God bless you all. Thank you very much.
Christmas Outreach
Those who did not hear will hear; those who did not see will see.
Please pray. Like every year for Christmas outreach, staring the first week of December, we are trying to spread the message of Jesus Christ from village to village where the name of Jesus Christ has not been mentioned yet. We are planning to go to those villages and preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
To evangelize, we distribute New Testaments, show the Jesus movie on a movie projector, show plays, and preach over loudspeakers. On Christmas Day, December 25, about 300 to 400 new people come and we preach the Gospel to them as well as cook for and feed them. We also distribute blankets to many poor people who live on the road and distribute sarees and blankets to widows. Please pray that if the Lord wills for us to do all this, He will meet our every financial need. Above are some photos from last year’s Christmas outreaches.
Prayer Requests:
Please pray. We are planning to start Christmas outreaches the first week of December. May God meet our needs.
Please pray for my mother. She is always sick. May God heal her.
Pray for my marriage. My parents want me to get married as soon as possible. Pray that if God wills, we can get married in February. May God provide every financial need for my marriage.
Pray that the people of our church may persevere and understand God’s Word more deeply.
Pray. I need 500 New Testaments for our Christmas outreaches. Please pray God would provide us with them.
Thank you for your help, prayers and partnership for the Gospel.
God bless you all!
Pastor 11
*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.
Greetings to all of you from my family and church! Thank God that He is fulfilling every single one of my family and I’s needs. Everyone is safe from trouble.
It is through love that people will know that we are disciples of Jesus.
Thank God that He has put me in a place where 99% of people are illiterate and there are many villages and communities where the name of Jesus Christ has not yet reached.
I am going to tell about a village where we have been going for about 5-6 years. 100% of the people there are completely illiterate and poor. However, seeing their love, it seems that even the educated and rich have nothing in comparison to them.
They live in a village where people of other castes will not go. The people of this village are despised by people of other castes. In this village, if a friend comes to visit, he neither will drink tea nor eat biscuits at his friend’s house, due to which these people felt very bad. That’s why I took my sister and her friends to them. They hugged these people, shared their lives with them, and preached the Good News of God, and taught action songs to the children. When the people of these villages saw the love of Christ through my sister and her friends and heard the Good News, two people gave their lives to the Lord. We gave biscuits to about 50 children.
When all of the villagers saw that our group was talking nicely with them and even hugging them, about 20 of the villagers’ families together donated the supplies and made lunch for me and my sister’s friends. They fed us well, and we went with them some distance on foot towards their homes. The people requested us to come again to their village with the whole team. Thank God that people in this village are growing more in the Word of God.
A Destroyer of New Testaments was Baptized.
We all know Paul’s story very well. First, he persecuted Christians and wanted to end Christianity. Then, the Lord Jesus Christ appeared to him and his life changed. Similarly, this story is about a person who was against Christ. He hated the books and the religion of Jesus Christ. This brother’s name is A*. He is a farmer.
Once, we distributed New Testaments to his whole village. When this brother saw that the “new rule” (Bibles) had been distributed in his village, he collected all the “new rules” and threw them in the river.
But the Lord Jesus Christ came in his wife’s dream at night and said that what your husband did is not good. For this reason, the next day he came to church and asked for forgiveness. We told him the Gospel and he started following the Lord by believing in Jesus Christ. His wife was also troubled a lot by an evil spirit. We prayed and the Lord Jesus Christ healed her. A* has been coming to Bible study and learning God’s Word verse-by-verse, for almost 1 year. He got baptized this month. House church takes place in his house every Wednesday.
For the first time in 10 years, someone from our organization came to meet me.
Thank God! For the first time, 2 people who are from our organization came to my house. They stayed with us for about 3 days. All this was a matter of great pleasure for me. We went to visit 4 villages during their visit.
In one of the villages, Uncle 5* (right) shared the Word of God. In another village and during our Friday Bible study, Pastor 1* (above) shared the Word of God. God also arranged for a new movie projector. We had a great time with them; they encouraged us a lot by the Word.
The zeal of my heart is to go where the name of Jesus has not been heard. I thank God that He gave us a chance in a village to preach the Word and Gospel of Jesus Christ in that village and also that God has provided a new movie projector.
After repairing the sound system and generator, we went to a village to show a movie where people watched the movie with great pleasure. It was starting to rain and the clouds were also roaring. We prayed together that it would not rain until the movie was over. God listened to the prayer and did the same! About 150 to 200 people watched the movie to the end. Afterward, I preached the Gospel. After listening to the Gospel, the people went to their respective homes. As soon as we loaded all the stuff on the taxi (the movie projector, sound system, and generator etc.), it started raining. We returned home by taxi after praising the Lord.
Prayer Requests:
Please pray for my mother. She has been having headaches for a long time and pain in her shoulder and back. The pain is not getting better even with treatment. May God heal her. Last week, her own sister, who lived in our neighborhood, died. Because we are Christians, our neighbors didn’t allow my mom to see her sister and replied to her with insults. No one (in our village) talks to us, everyone is at enmity with us. It is the same way for all of our church believers with the people who live around them.
Please pray that the believers of my church able to understand the Word of God more deeply.
Pray that God strengthens the people of my church in their faith and protects them from all kinds of trouble and persecution.
Pray that if the Lord wills, our church may be registered.
Please pray that just as God has arranged for the projector, God can also arrange for a sound system and projector screen.
Please pray. Last month in the village where our church used to run on Mondays, the upper caste people were waiting to kill us. So we stopped having church there and were trying to start it again in another village. But the upper caste people went and threatened the people of the other village also. Because of this, there is no church in that village right now. Some people from there still come to our house on Fridays for Bible study and Sundays for church fellowship. Pray that God gives peace to the people there and that God talks to those who are persecuting, that they too can receive the Lord.
Pray that God give peace to our neighbors and those who are the political leaders of our village who hate us, may God give peace to them too.
Pray. There are still many villages in my state where people have not yet heard the name of Christ. Pray that those people can also hear the name of Jesus Christ and that God uses me abundantly for His pleasure.
Thank you for your prayers, Christian love, financial support, and partnership for the Gospel.
God bless you all!
Pastor 11
*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.
Dear Pastor, Leaders, Supporters and Church Family,
Thank God that He is truly great, living, gracious and mighty. He makes the impossible possible and keeps everyone out of trouble.
How God Saved Us From Being Killed or Imprisoned by a Phone Call
“As a lion drags the wicked into his bush, so does the wicked lie in ambush; He keeps ambush to catch the day, he drags the day into his net, and then captures it.“
Psalm 10:9
Our Church
I thank God that He is really great, loving, and ever loving. Every Monday, there is a house church which we started about two or three years ago. About 10 people were baptized there. Many others also come to hear the Gospel. As I was preaching from the book of Acts about how God’s work was progressing, there was a lot of opposition. The same thing happened when we preached from Acts here also.
When we used to go to our house church every Monday, some upper caste people used to watch us attentively. When they inquired about us, they came to know that we are preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Because of this, they became angry and misguided the people of the village against us. In the beginning of the month of August on Monday, they were waiting on our way to the village to kill me and my father.
But some good people of the village came to know that they were waiting on the way to kill us. They then went and told the people of our house church. Right when we were about to leave on Monday to preach at the house church, a call came from the village. They told us everything, and told us not to come.
I thank God for saving us from getting killed, beaten, or going to jail. The fellowship there is still going on. The people there who are established believers have all been continuing to have fellowship together, studying the Word of God verse by verse. All of us, together, have decided that we will start the house church again in a certain village that is next to that village.
God Has Given an Evangelist Who, Even at the Risk of Her Life, Preaches the Gospel!
Sister R*
I thank God that He is strengthening my church members in their faith and in the Word of God. Ever since we started Bible study and started preaching the whole Bible without leaving out a single word, the people of my church are understanding deeply and preaching the Gospel very well. Through them, many new people come to our church.
One such woman from my church, who I have shared about many times in prayer requests and newsletters, is R*. She is completely illiterate. I tried to educate her, but his mother-in-law protested a lot. She very firmly narrates the Word of God and all the news in the village.
This month, she went to the bank for some business. There she recited the Word of God among the ladies and the staff. The security guards of the bank saw her t preaching the Gospel. Because of this, they harassed her and took away everything from her, including her bank passbook and ID card. Later, after many requests, the bankers returned her bank passbook and ID card and warned that she may never come to the bank again. Thank God that they didn’t call the police.
She is even now continuing to preach the Gospel with steadfastness and adding so many new people to our church. Please will all of you pray that God will use this sister more and may she continue to preach the Good News with steadfastness. Our house church goes on at her house every Tuesday, please pray that it will always keep going.
I Had a Very Nice Time at a Medical Refresher Camp
Thank God that He gave me the opportunity to attend a medical refresher camp for 3 days. This training is very beneficial for me because of the area in which I serve. The people here are very illiterate. They do not know anything about physical health. 50% of village women have child birth at home, because they have a wrong belief that if they go to the hospital, the doctor will replace their son with a daughter. Rural women do not know anything about cleanliness. They do not keep their children clean, nor do they cook food properly. Because of this, they get sick and go to the local practitioner doctor. Even when they have a viral fever the doctor treats them by injecting antibiotics and charges them thousands of rupees.
If someone is bitten by a snake, people go straight to witchcraft. If they were bitten by a non-poisonous snake, then they are okay. But many times, because the snakes are poisonous, they die before being able to see a doctor. For this reason, I always run awareness campaigns among the villagers, so that people can understand and go directly to the doctor.
By receiving training, I learned a lot about medical things. I also learned how to do many tests including blood pressure, blood sugar, temperature; to check for malnutrition, and anemia; to perform eye examinations; and to tie crepe bandages. Whenever I go to rural areas to host church services, I continuously teach people health, along with the Bible, so that people’s bodies can be helped as well as their souls saved. Many people listen to my words, follow them, and remain safe from disease.
Prayer Requests:
Please pray for the pastors of the North. During the first week of August, I met with them. May God give them protection and also provide pastor 12* with land or a house for God’s church. Pastor 12’s landlady stops his Sunday services and prevents believers from entering his house. He has been talking to many people to find another place to rent, but he is not finding a place for the church. Whenever the police arrest people while their is a church service, they also take action against the landlord.This is why no one wants to rent a room to Christians. Pray that the Lord will provide a house, land, or rented room if it is God’s will.
Please pray and pray for the members of our church. May God give them protection. Especially pray on Mondays (for the Monday church service). Some upper caste people of the village where the church used to run are persecuting those who believe in Jesus.
Please keep praying that our church can be registered.
Please pray. There are many Hindu festivals during these few months. During them, Hindu people have processions. Processions keep attacking many churches.
Please pray this month for two churches that were attacked and their pastor. The pastor was badly beaten and is in the hospital.
Some pastors from the south are planning to come to visit. May God protect them.
Please pray for my little sister. She is coming to my house for about 3 weeks with some of her friends. We are planning to preach the Gospel together in more than 10 villages. May God fulfill our financial needs and may He help us all keep away from evil people.
Please pray for my area. It is getting very hot here. The electricity is cut off at any time. May God arrange for an inverter and battery.
Thanks for your Christian love, support, prayers, and partnership in the Gospel.
God bless all!
Pastor 11
*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.
Thank God that He has saved me from every crisis. He is taking care of my every need. God is doing amazingly wonderful things with those I know and He is giving me the chance to preach the Gospel in new places. Church fellowships are going on in 5 villages, by the grace of God. There is also a Bible study on Friday and a fellowship on Sunday here. In the Bible study we are studying Genesis and on Sunday we are studying and preaching verse by verse from Acts. Through God, people’s faith is growing more and they are getting stronger in persecution.
I have not shared with you a testimony from a believer for a long time. So, I prayed that the Lord would lead me to a person whom the Lord brought into the faith in a very strange way. Hearing their testimony, you will glorify God.
How a Hindu Priest and Temple Builder Became a Pastor and Church Builder
When we read about Paul’s testimony in the Acts of the Apostles, we see the way the Lord Jesus Christ appeared to Paul. Jesus changed the life of Paul who had previously persecuted for the Lord, and Paul began to preach for the Lord. I feel happy to testify that there is only one man I know with such a testimony. He is my father. He was a temple priest and leader, when he did not know the Lord Jesus Christ. There was a small temple in our village, which had earlier been a hut. When my father became the leader of the temple, he collected a lot of donations for the construction of the temple. He also stole sand and other material from the road which was being built, to build the temple. This temple is still present in our village. After collecting a lot of donations, he used to call outside priests to perform big conventions. Millions of people used to participate in that worship.
But my father never got peace by doing this work. There were always fights in our home and a lack of food. Raising 6 children was not an easy thing. For this reason, my father left all of this worship. He then got into an accident while going to another state to find work. Due to a poor financial condition, he could not get the proper treatment and so his hand was damaged.
But, the second time he went to the other state, he started doing trash/litter work. At the same time a man from England met him. This man got my father treatment for his hand. At the same time, an elderly woman told my father about going to church. She sent him to the church in which our pastors from Calvary Chapel and Pastor 15* held many marriage conferences etc. and Amy and Diana used to go. Our family went to this church for about 18 years. Then, God called my father to go to our home village . God blessed us so much in the business we used to do. We ourselves built a church in our village through our own business. It is the church I use now.
When God spoke to him to go and preach in the village, he left his business and work and went to a village and started preaching the gospel. At first, he would walk 15-20 kilometers on foot to preach the Gospel and invite those who believed to come to the church. I was studying in Calvary Chapel Bible College when someone heard the testimony of a pastor’s father who preached the Gospel on foot for 20 kilometers. He gave my father his bicycle.
When I came here, after finishing Bible college, I also started preaching the Gospel by bike for 60 kms. But later, God decided to provide us with a motor bike. Now we can spread the Gospel further. We have now preached the Gospel in more than 200 villages. We are having church services in 5 villages. Some time ago, after seeing our service, some pastors from the South came who wanted to give monthly support to my father. However they refused to give him support because of their difference in Bible doctrine/principles. My Papa loves the principles of Calvary Chapel and loves to preach the Word of God verse by verse. He has now studied the entire Bible about three times.
Bible study with Pastor 9*!
As I mentioned in the last newsletter we do Bible study on Fridays. The first Friday of the month we are taught Bible study by different outside pastors. Last month we invited pastor 12* from the North. This time we invited a zealous, young pastor to teach Bible study. You know the pastor very well, his name is Pastor 9*. Studying the Bible with Pastor 9* has been a great blessing to us. Our group is becoming very strong in faith by doing Bible study. Even the illiterate believers are growing in faith by hearing the Word from the Bible study. They also explain to the people of their village society through the Word of God and preach the Gospel.
Praise Report:
Praise the Lord and thank all of you! Last month I gave a prayer request about a woman whose name is R*. She had suffered a lot and you prayed. Her neighbors and villagers had made complete plans to kill her, but God saved her and gave her a new life. The church fellowship was closed at her house for almost a month and we were all praying together that the people of the church’s faith would remain stable. R*is very strong in prayer and in faith. Although she was not educated, she used to go from village to village to recite the Word of God and keep encouraging people. But thank God! 2 weeks ago the fellowship started again. They can’t openly fellowship like before, but now they worship God together in a small room. May God bless and strengthen all these people in their faith.
Prayer Requests:
Please pray! There is an anti-Christian organization working in our village. During last Sunday’s fellowship, a person from his group came and looked at our company and left. Pray that God will give them peace and they do not do anything against God. Please also pray for my to have a chance to preach the good news to them.
Kindly pray continuously that my church can be registered and cc camera can be installed.
Please pray for my country. There are many types of riots happening here. Trains were burnt at many places and a bus was set on fire. The government shut down the internet for about 4 days.
Pray for my mother’s health. May God will heal her. Her hands and feet are always in pain.
Thank God that He gave me a chance to preach the Good News to a village where many people are illiterate and who had not even heard the name of Jesus Christ before. In one of the families almost every person in the family is haunted by an evil spirit.
Pray for a believer in my church who is suffering from a very strange disease. May God would provide the financial needs for treatment for him or even heal him.
Please pray and pray for a child who is orphan and mentally ill. His aunt cares for him. May God heal this child. Last time when he was suffering from TB, the people of our organization helped pay for his treatment.
Please pray for a new movie projector for my church. My old projector broke because of high surge of electricity while I was showing Jesus movie during a Christmas outreach.
Thanks for your Christian love, support, prayers and partnership in the Gospel.
God bless you!
Pastor 11
*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.
I thank God that, like every month, God has saved us from many kinds of sorrows, troubles and diseases. God is great, almighty and trustworthy. These days, I am preaching from book of Acts, verse by verse. Whenever I study the book of Acts, I am filled with renewed vigor and enthusiasm. If I look at our present situation and compare it with the circumstances of Paul’s time, then the present crisis is nothing in comparison to their present crisis. When I read about Paul’s life and study about his ministry, my heart fills with joy and a different kind of enthusiasm.
We are studying from the book of Genesis in our Bible study on Fridays. God is encouraging many people to join this study. Although many people in this Bible study are illiterate, the Holy Spirit is helping them to understand and obey words. They are starting to share the Word of God with their neighbors, village and community. Christians in my state are less than 0.5% of the population. I believe that many souls will be saved by the Lord.
“Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days
come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure
in them”
Ecclesiastes 12:1.
Thank God that on June 1st, about 10 of us pastors organized a youth meeting together. About one hundred and fifty young people participated. They deeply understand the Word of God, worshiped together and met the youth of other churches. Many young people are moving towards worldliness. The purpose of us pastors was that the youth of each church should understand and recognize the youth of each other church so that if the Lord leads, then they will marry a Christian only. In these days, many Christian young adults are marrying Hindu boys and girls because of not getting in the right relationship. Due to this many Christian girls have gone back to the old life. They have deviated from the faith due to marrying a Hindu boy. Here, it is a male dominated area. For this reason, men put pressure on their wives to follow the orders of their husbands.
God Sets the Solitary in Families (Psalm 68:6a)
Truly our God is very great, powerful and gracious. God always takes care of orphans and widows. I keep reading it in the Word of God everywhere like Deuteronomy 14:29, 16:11, James 1:26, and Isaiah 1:17, 23. There are many other verses by which we understand that God loves and cares for orphans, widows and foreigners very much. When I was in Bible College, I was taught by two sisters who taught at a Bible college. They encouraged me, “God has given you a heart for orphans and widows. You should open an orphanage in the future.”
At that time that I came from Bible college. My eldest sister has 4 kids. Her husband is mad. Her son lives in a boy’s home. It was very difficult for her to take care of 3 children and provide them education. She washed dishes, cooked, and swept houses for others for her job. For this reason, I started having my 3-year-old niece study at my home about 10 years ago and started paying for all of her school supplies, books, school fees, etc. Today, she has turned 13, and is studying in the seventh grade. She plays the small drums during our Sunday service and home church and teaches Sunday school. She has the children memorize Bible verses and teaches them action songs. She is increasing day-by-day in the Word of God and in the fear of the Lord. I am requesting you all to pray that if it is the Lord’s will, then in the future, I will be able to keep some more orphan children and move them forward in education and in the fear and Word of God.
Faith is Incomplete Without Works!
Whenever we wake up in the morning, we look at our face in the mirror and thank God that God has made us beautiful. There is one believer in our church, named Surrender (right), who, before he knew Jesus, cursed himself whenever he saw his face. His hands and feet blistered in a strange way and blood and pus came out of them. I have shared about him so many times in prayer requests. One of his wounds smells very bad. Because of this, no one wants to talk to him or even come near him. This has been going on in our church for a long time. We are praying that God will heal him soon. Lately, God has led me to help him get treatment again. Just praying is not enough for him. I thank God that I have taken him to the doctor to get him treated again. He has been taking medicine for about a month. Now his wounds have stopped smelling foul and they have stopped having pus. Please also remember this brother in your prayers that God may give him complete healing.
One More Village Open for Fellowship!
Thank God! This month God has given an opportunity to preach the Good News in another village where no one has heard the name of Jesus Christ until today. Because the people cannot read and they also are not on social media, the name of Jesus Christ has not yet reached the ears of the people. They do not even know who Jesus Christ is. I wrote above about Surendra, who is suffering from strange disease. This village is where his elder sister lives. We took Surender to his elder sister’s house to preach the Gospel to his elder sister. When we reached there, his elder sister had called the people of the whole village to come listen to the Gospel. When I started preaching, the Lord did a great miracle there. There was a person who was suffering from an evil spirit. He suddenly started crawling on the ground like a snake and started speaking many different dialects. We all prayed for him and God healed him at that very moment. When the people around saw this miracle, they believed in Jesus Christ. The driver of the taxi in which we went also believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and took us to his home. He believed in Jesus Christ with the whole family. Lately, I see that Lord Jesus is helping us all to spread the Gospel like this in so many ways.
Many Believers are Fleeing Because of Unemployment
I thank the Lord that He called me to serve in a state where people are very poor and are in debt. The population here is very high. Because of this, the government is not able to give jobs to everyone. About 50% of the people work in big cities away from this state. Some do physical labor; some do dishes; and some work in factories. Here the government gives some grain every month to people to eat, but due to lack of jobs, people are still falling prey to malnutrition. There is also a believing family of our church, in whose home there used to be a fellowship every Monday. They also left our state and went to work in a big city due to being poor and not finding a job. Because of this, we started a fellowship in a different house. God is blessing it. The believers are engaging in the Bible study and God is helping them grow in the Word of God.
Prayer Requests:
Please pray–there is a flood in the village which is affecting all of the believers outside our village. This flood usually lasts for about 3 months. Pray that God will make arrangements for all of the people to live, eat, and have clean water.
Please pray for a boy named Raju (right). He is about 21 years old. He was born paralyzed. He is neither able to walk nor speak. His parents have to take care of him like a child drinking milk. His whole family accepted the Lord about 10 years ago and always keep coming to the Lord’s house. We also have a home fellowship at their house. His parents carry him in their lap despite being 21 years old. Please, all of you, remember this child in your personal prayers.
Please pray! There is an anti-Christian organization working in our village. During last Sunday’s fellowship, a person from this group came and looked at who was attending and left. Pray that God will give them peace and that they will not do anything against God. Please pray that God will give me a chance to preach the Good News to them.
Kindly pray continuously that my church can be registered, and that a security camera can be installed.
Please pray for my country–there are many types of riots happening here. Trains were burnt in many places and a bus was set on fire. The government had to shut down the internet for about 4 days.
Pray for my mother’s health–that God will heal her. Her hands and feet are always in pain.
Thank God that He gave me a chance to preach the Good News to a village where many people are illiterate and who had not even heard the name of Jesus Christ. In one of the families there, almost everyone in the family is haunted by an evil spirit.
Pray for a believer in my church who is suffering from a very strange disease. Please pray that God provide the financial needs for treatment or even healing.
Please pray and pray for a child who is an orphan and mentally ill. His aunt cares for him. May God heal this child. Before, when he was suffering from TB, the people of our organization helped provide for his treatment.
Please pray for a new movie projector for my church. My old projector broke because of a surge of electricity while I was showing the Jesus movie during Christmas outreach.
Thanks for your help, love and partnership for the Gospel.
God bless you all!
Pastor 11
*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.
Greetings to all of you from my church family. I want to thank God, Who has protected me and my church from every disease and from all kinds of the devil’s tricks. Also, I thank God that I have been working with Calvary Chapel for ten years! Calvary Chapel has always fulfilled our needs. They have been with us like family members in every situation. You continually pray for us. I appreciate your encouragement. I wish that someone was able to come visit my area; I am a little bit sad that no one has been able to come in almost 10 years. Thank you for your wonderful love and faith in me. God’s ministry is going on in 6 villages, by the grace of God. Along with the fellowships there are also Bible studies, and God is giving wisdom and knowledge to all of these people. They are deeply understanding the Word of God. Thank you for always remembering us in your prayers and encouraging us with the Word of God all the time.
This is an answer to 15 years of my prayers, and it’s an incredible day!
Thank God! My sister’s wedding was on February 28th. It was the answer to my family’s prayer. God met every single need, and I saw that God is truly faithful and fulfills every one of our needs beyond what we can imagine. When I went to talk about preparing for my sister’s wedding, I was thinking, “How will this marriage happen? It is too far away and there is not enough money.” No one supports my sister or parents monthly. But everything was accomplished in an orderly manner by God.
My sister’s new husband’s parents are Hindu, and they do not believe in the Lord. For a while they were against the marriage. But God put it on my sister’s husband’s heart, that they should be married, and he prepared for the marriage. He had attended Bible College, but, due to the lack of monthly finances, he started working in an outside industry. After he and my sister were married, he decided that they should serve the Lord and resigned from his job. Pray that God will fulfill their needs and guide their plans; may God bless them for their ministry.
Such a great joy that I have no words to describe it!
I had an incredible time with my dearest friends in the North. It was very nice to hear their testimonies, of what has happened with them during these past 3 years and how they are serving the Lord faithfully. Their testimonies were really the reason for so much excitement for me. Even after coming under persecution, one of my dear brothers stood with the Lord and faithfully worshiped the Lord. Spending time with him, camping and traveling was a blessing to me and to him.
No one visited these friends for almost 3 years. Since the persecution started, many people blocked them on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp because of fear. But when I went, they liked it very much. I also made a lot of memories that I will never forget. I was so happy to see my brother’s heart, and he helped with my sister’s marriage like it was his own sister’s wedding. God bless these friends!
Two more people were baptized last week!
Thank God that He has given me new believers. For the first time, they heard the Word through us, and now they believe in the Lord with all their heart and soul. Because fuel is so expensive, taxi fares have almost doubled; but still, these poor people come and listen to the Word of God and apply the Word of God in their lives. Lately, we have a Bible study from the Acts of the Apostles during Sunday fellowship and a Bible study from Genesis on Fridays. A lot of people believe. We thank God that the two women were baptized last week. One of the women is the mother of a boy who is suffering from a very strange disease, which I have written to you about many times. The second woman is the mother of another believer. When that believer told her mother that salvation was only through Jesus Christ, her mother believed and gave her life to the Lord and was baptized. Thank God that more than 42 people have been baptized so far!
A huge sacrifice for the Lord!
I thank God that He has given me the best church family in the world. Along with the uneducated, there are the poor, and the unemployed. They are very hungry and thirsty for God.
When people come to believe in the Lord, the people of their village society hate them and separate themselves from the believers. Many believers have also been excommunicated from their communities, becoming outcasts. Being out of cast means that no one will talk to them, nor do any kind of financial transaction or provide professional services. No one will attend their marriages or funerals. Still, I am very surprised to see the faith of these believers, that they even leave their village community family for the sake of the Lord. It is not an easy thing here.
My church is not registered yet; pray that I can get church registration. Then, I can make a case that the cemetery here is for all Christians and not just for two families. Or else, please pray that God will provide for us enough money to buy land for a separate cemetery for my church so that those who believe in God will not face any kind of problem at the last moment before death against their entire village community family. Also, it is very important for me to register so that if I have any problems in the present or future, then I can tell them that my church is registered. Because in this matter I can’t rely on any other person except God to help me.
Prayer requests;
1. Everyone please pray that the Lord will provide a cemetery for our church.
2. Pray that God will help us with the registration of our church if it is His will, and that I will be able to install a security camera in our church.
3. Please pray about the price of fuel; it is getting more expensive here every day, and about 30 to 40% of our support is going to pay for fuel.
4. Pray that my mother will be in good health.
5. I want to preach the Gospel at Easter time in an unreached area about 220 miles from my village. If the Lord wills, then He will help and meet our financial needs.
6. Pray for our believers to understand the Bible more deeply.
7. Pray for a movie projector. My projector has suddenly broken, due to an electrical power surge.
Thank you for your prayers, love, support and partnership for the Gospel!
God bless you all!
Pastor 11
*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.
