Hello dear pastors, partners, and leaders. Greetings from our church!

I thank God that He has kept me safe. I also want to thank you for always praying for us. I hope that you will be blessed after reading this update and continue to pray for us.

I had a very encouraging and heart-refreshing time with the visiting pastors.

I want to express my gratitude to God that He has given me the opportunity to work in an organization where we feel like we are members of the same family! It was a very joyful time meeting with the pastors who came from America in November. We talked about how we can further the Gospel of Jesus. God filled our hearts with new enthusiasm through which we could carry the news forward with enthusiasm and force. We all shared the testimonies of our lives with each other. After hearing each other’s testimonies; we were greatly encouraged and looked forward to expanding the work of God. I thank God that we had this beautiful meeting and also that it happened in a very safe manner.

A widow woman was thrown out of her village and threatened to be raped and killed because of the Name of Jesus Christ.

A woman from our church is named DD*. She has three small children. Previously, her husband died suddenly. She is raising her children by farming on her own and by working in other people’s fields. 

About eight years ago, my father and I went to her village on a bicycle. At that time we told her about the Lord Jesus Christ. Right then, she believed in the Lord Jesus Christ and started coming to the house of God. Since then, she has been coming to church. She also brings her daughter who is now about 15 years old. Her daughter is also a very good believer and sometimes leads worship in our church. 

We used to go to her village once a week and have fellowship, until 3 years ago. But the upper caste people in her village opposed us. They gathered a lot of people to stop the church. They wanted to kill me and my dad. But someone warned us, “Today they are planning to kill you. Do not go to the village.” 

Because of the warning, we did not go to the village to have a worship service that day. But the people came to this woman’s house and threatened her. They said, “If you do not stop following Jesus Christ, we will do bad things to you and throw you out of the village.” 

This poor woman stopped having church fellowship at her home, but comes to our church every Friday and Sunday and also participates in prayer. Please pray for her. She has been thrown out of her house because she is a widow who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ. Because of this, she has built her own hut in a field. She lives their with her three children. I gave them an audio Bible this week so that they can always listen to the Word and worship and pray. May God bless their family.

A woman who is in pain and has weak bones is still preaching the Gospel.

I want to share with you about my mother. She is about 65 years old. She always has pain in her waist, knees, legs and hands. For this reason, I took her to a bigger city in November so that she could get good treatment. They tested her and found out that her bone density is very low. Because of this, she will have to take injections every day for one and a half years. She also often needs to take pain medicine.

Her bones are weak, but she is still young in faith and in the work of God. While we were in the big city, when I saw that she was in a lot of pain, I gave her pain medicine. About a half hour later, I saw that she was preaching the Gospel of Lord Jesus Christ to women her age. This was a great joy for me. I also see that when our church is over, she talks with the women, counsels them, tells them about the Lord Jesus Christ, and prays for them all. Please pray for her that God will heal her and fulfill every need for her treatment.

I am continuing to distribute audio Bibles!

I thank God that He arranged for some audio Bibles for our church. In order to get them, I drove about 300 km (186 miles) by motorbike and brought them back. Most of the people in our church are illiterate. They are very excited to learn the Word of God. I gave an audio Bible to a another family and I want to give more. I also gave Bibles to two believers who had been attending our church for about 8-10 years. They had been learning God’s Word but did not know how to read and write. I gave them audio Bible so that they can listen and understand well. Please pray that God will make more audio Bibles available so that I can give them to the uneducated people. The people who gave me the audio Bibles are now reluctant to give them to me. Because of the increase in persecution, many pastors have hidden their New Testaments. Some pastors have left their New Testaments at our house because they know that we are not afraid and will distribute them. So now we have 1,500 New Testaments. Please pray that we can distribute the New Testaments before Christmas.

Prayer Requests:

1. Please pray that our Christmas program and Christmas outreach will happen without opposition.
2. Please pray that my mother’s health gets better.
3. Please pray that it is possible for us to have children. We got a medical check-up done in a bigger city. All of the tests came back normal, except that my wife has a thyroid problem. May God heal her.
4. Please pray for our South Asia Admin’s father who is ill. May God heal him.
5. Please pray for our church to grow more in the Word of God.
6. Please pray that God fulfills our every need.

Thanks for your Christian love, precious prayers, and partnership in the Gospel!

God bless you all!

Pastor & Mrs. 11*

*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.