Dear supporters and prayer partners,
Merry Christmas!
Wish you a joyful Christ centered Christmas! May this Christmas bring you and your family God’s blessings! Soon 2011 is going to leave us all forever and ever. The Lord has been faithful to us throughout the year and has used us for His own glory. We have seen lives changed and people saved. In the Deolsari area we have believers in six villages and one other village which is about 20 minutes drive from Mussoorie. This year in 2011 alone we witnessed the salvation of 11 people (excluding Nandini’s two children). We praise God for these precious souls that have been saved. Now we have twenty three believers in seven villages and one regular Sunday Service in one of the villages in Deolsari. We believe and pray that next year we will have more fruit and more Sunday Services will start in other villages. Pradeep will join us next year after finishing his Bible school in March 2012. Aren’t you excited to see the work of God in this part of the Garhwal Mountains where there wasn’t a single believer a couple of years ago? Our heart leaps in joy to see these people entering the kingdom of God. At the birth of our Lord the angels praised God saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.” We see God being glorified in the highest as these people receive peace and favor of God through faith in Jesus. Dear partners all these things are happening here because of your prayers and continued support. You enable us to reach out to the people with the gospel in this Garhwal Mountain in Himalayas. We want to thank you all for partnering with us.
We receive positive and negative response in villages. Some families are friendly they invite us in their home and give us tea, but some families show no interest at all. This family in the picture where Vinita and Nandini are seen is our believer Samptti’s neighbor. We have been going to this village for more than two years. This family never welcomed us in their home or showed any interest to talk to us, they only responded back to us when we greeted them and walked by or ignored us. This time we were welcomed and offered tea. Every one in the family was sad and they told us that their young daughter-in-law died a few days ago. One morning she went alone to cut grass (which is the work of the women in the family in Garhwal) for cows. Usually she would go with other women of the family and would come back with grass in a couple of hours. On that particular day other women in family had work at home; therefore, she had to go alone to cut grass. When she did not come home for lunch the family members went to look for her and found her lying dead on the ground. She had fallen from the cliff and died. Maybe she was alive for hours and did not get any medical help and died before she was discovered. This is a common incident here in the mountains. They have no hope for the
life after death. Though we can not do anything now for this family, we want to develop a friendship with them and share the gospel so that they may have the eternal hope.
While we were leaving for Mussoorie we met some children playing cricket on the dirt road. It reminded us that when I first went to Deolsari with Dave; Rakesh and our other believers were small kids like these children. Rakesh, is now the leader of our Deolsari Fellowship, was even younger than the older boys in this photo. Rakesh was in 6th standard when I first met him. Two boys who are in this photo are in 8th standard. So we stopped to play cricket with those children and make friendship with them. It seemed that no grown up people of our age ever played with them. We have not seen parents or any grown up people play with children in Garhwal. They were so happy to play with us. Playing with those children was fun and ministered for us. If we continue to build up this friendship one day some of them may become Christians and leaders of a fellowship in their village. Children are dear to the Lord. One time when parents were bringing their children to Him disciples rebuked them, 
but the Lord said, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” We are so optimistic about the children.
Seeing our Deolsari believers is always joy and encouragement for us. Last month we were encouraged by their testimonies. We went to Deolsari and met with them in Rakesh’s house for fellowship. There was no preaching this time we all shared our testimonies. Two hours passed like few minutes. They are able to see the work of God even in small things. They are building their trust in the Lord. This will help them to trust the Lord for even big things. Pooja’s younger sister is not mentally sound and speaks only few words. One day she fell down from a few meters high terrace in the field and was unconscious for three-four hours. Everyone was crying and then Shilam thought to pray for her and when she prayed immediately
the girl opened her eyes. Shilam, Meena, Reena and Pooja all these four sisters have started praying for their younger sister to be mentally sound and we saw the result with our own eyes. The girl was present there in our fellowship and was talking to us and behaving nicely. Every one present had wonderful testimonies. We need to learn from our new believers to trust the Lord for our day to day life. Let us not forget what the Lord has done in our lives in 2011, but recall them big or small experiences and become strong in our faith to receive greater miracles of God in 2012.
Co-workers in Christ,
Pratim and Vinita
