Greetings to you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ!

I hope you are doing well! Thank you for your prayers and support.

I am doing good by God’s grace. I am teaching 1st &2nd Corinthians at our Bible school. They students are doing great. I can see the improvement in them. When they first started, some of the students did not know anything about the Bible at all. And couple of them even had hard time with reading. I thank God that He has helped them grow! They have improved a lot in their reading and understanding of the scriptures. I am blessed and thankful to God that He has chosen me to be the part of this ministry–where I can invest in the lives of these young men and in future watch them start their own churches.

At the end of January, I had the opportunity to attend a conference in the South. It was really good to meet all of the pastors from all different parts of our country. We had a blessed time as we shared with each other about what God is doing in our ministry. Things are getting harder in our country when it comes to sharing the Gospel. People are getting more hostile and persecution is increasing. But, I thank God that the work is spreading. Just as Paul says in second Timothy, the Word of God is not bound/chained. At the conference, I was also reminded that the our main purpose is to church plant. To teach those who we disciple that they need to teach the same to those who they disciple. So that they can start their own church and so on. 

Prayer Requests:

• Pray for me to continue to grow in the Word of God.
• Pray that God will continue to uses me here.
• Pray for the teenage children whom I teach the Word each week. Right now they are taking their school final exams. Please pray that they will do good in their exams and glorify God.
• Pray for my country. Persecution is increasing. Pray that the Work of the Gospel will also increase. 

Blessings,

Pastor 9

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

Happy New Year! I hope you had a blessed Christmas season!

By God’s grace, we also had a wonderful Christmas season. We had organized a few Christmas programs to share the Gospel with non-Christians, and everything went well by God’s grace.

One evening, we had a program for children. We invited children from the neighborhood and friends of the children from our church. So many non-Christian children attended the program! We performed a few skits and a dance, taught them action songs, and shared the Gospel message. We also had a fun time—we played games and distributed gifts and snacks. I believe that the Word that is being planted in their hearts right now will bear fruit one day.

For three nights, we had carol singing. The people of our church gathered and visited different Christian homes, sang Christmas songs, shared a brief message, and then prayed for each family. At a few places, while we were singing carols in front of the Christians’ homes, many non-Christians who were passing by stopped to hear the songs. As a result, we had the opportunity to preach the Gospel to them. Some unbelievers came to us and shared their problems and sought our prayers.

However, there were also some who were filled with hatred and did not want us to be there. Overall, it was a blessing to share the Gospel and pray for those who came seeking prayer.

One day, we, along with some of our church members, went to the nursing home in our town. We sang Christmas songs and then shared the Gospel message with them and distributed fruit and groceries as a Christmas gift.

Every year in our town, all of the Christian churches gather together and conduct a Christmas rally. This year, we had the Christmas rally in the afternoon on December 18th. We went around the town singing and proclaiming the Gospel. It is always encouraging to join this group every year and see all of the churches sharing the Gospel.

Prayer Requests:

• Pray that God would continue to use me for His glory.
• Pray for all of the people who have heard the Gospel message during this Christmas season to put their faith in Jesus.
• Pray that our church will continue to grow in the Word and in number.
• Pray for the Bible School students to continue to grow in the Word and in His knowledge.

Blessings,

Pastor 9

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

Greetings to you in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ! I thank God for your prayers and support!

We are reaching the end of this year’s first semester of our Calvary Bible Institute. The students are doing really well in their study of the Word of God. I think that I mentioned in one of my updates that they are diligent (not intelligent) students of the Word. Sometimes when I visit them in their free time, I see them studying and discussing theological questions, which makes me really happy.

The Lord has been opening new doors for the ministry. In recent months, God gave me opportunities to get in touch with local Christian teens and young adults from different churches in my town. Last month, one local church teen/young adult group invited me to their church to share the Word of God. I thank the Lord for these teens and young adults who He has given me to help grow in the Lord and in His Word.

During the last week of September, all the churches in our town organized a 3 day conference. This was another opportunity for me to connect with the teenagers and young adults of different churches, since we were all part of the worship choir. I am praying that God will raise up this generation who are willing to stand for Christ. Since I am involved with local Christian teens and young adults, they see me as an example. I am thankful that they come to me with their Biblical and spiritual questions and that during their time of need they come to me seeking spiritual guidance. God has opened the door for these teens and young adults to trust me and come to me when they are low and need spiritual uplifting.

One of the brothers with whom I grew up at the church, now has his own church in his village. He lives quite far from where I am right now. If I took a train, it would take me more than 24 hours to reach his village.

He has started Bible study from the book of Genesis on Fridays for the believers of his church. I am grateful that he gave me the opportunity to teach at his Friday Bible study a couple of times. It is encouraging to see new believers learning for the first time about creation and the fall of man. Most of these believers are from villages. Many of them do not know how to read or write. We try to keep it simple when we teach them, so that they can understand.

Prayer Requests:

• Please pray that I may continue to grow in the Lord and in His knowledge and be used by God.
• Pray for my health. I have been taking medication for the past few months for allergies. I am still trying to figure out what I am allergic to.
• Please pray for the Bible Institute students to be equipped for the work of the Gospel. 
• Please pray for the teenagers, young adults and school children whom I am ministering to, to stand for God and be the light in the darkness around them.
• Please pray for the brother and the believers in his church, who I mentioned above, to continue to grow spiritually and stand firm in their faith. They are going through persecution. 

Blessings,

Pastor 9

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

Greetings to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

Thank you for your prayers and support!

We have started Bible School again here in the central part of our country. The classes are held in the same hall where we have our church service. For the students to stay, we rented out a small house near the church so that students can just walk to the classroom. We are looking for another place where the students can stay and have classes in the same place.

Right now, we have six students living in the rented house. We have another person who lives at his house nearby and attends our classes. We have another student from one of our churches in the North who attends live online through his mobile phone. The student from the North came to faith a few years ago through one of our pastors there. He always has really good questions from the Word. He is a really good student of the Word and calls his pastor or me to ask questions. He is married and has a small child, so he could not come and live here. But since he wanted to study, he is attending the classes through audio and video calls.

So, this semester we have a total of 8 people attending the classes everyday. They really like the way we teach the Word of God and have been growing in the knowledge of the Lord. I have been teaching them Systematic Theology. I am really enjoying teaching this subject. I have to study a lot to teach them and studying it has been a blessing to me as well.

Prayer Requests:

• Pray for me. This last week I was not well and had a high fever. Now, I am much better, but I am weak. Please pray that I will recover well.
• Pray for me and the other teachers to be a blessing and good teachers to the Bible school students.
• Pray for the students that they may also grow in the Word and be well equipped to be used to expand the kingdom of God in their places.
• Please pray that we may find a good place nearby for the Bible school. 

Blessings,

Pastor 9

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

Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ! I thank God for you as you continue to pray and support the ministry.

Since last month, we have been having Sunday church services in another village (above). In that village there were a few believers. About two years ago they went through persecution and many of them turned away from the Lord, but there were a few who did not. They have been having a house fellowship. For the last two years they have been doing Sunday services by themselves. They were excommunicated from the village. But, these two families remained faithful to the Lord and they (ten members in one family and five in another) would gather together in one family and sing worship songs and study the Word. They were left by the others, and had no one to guide and teach the Word.

It has now been over a month since we have been going to their village every Sunday to teach them from the Bible. Each Sunday two people from our church go there to have the church service. We take turns since we also preach at our main church in the city. In our church I have been teaching through the book of Galatians, so I am planning to teach the same in this village church when it is my turn. The last couple of times I visited them, I shared from Psalms.

If you remember, I have been teaching Bible study to teenage children every week. It’s really encouraging to see them grow in the Word. Now they have many good questions from the Bible that sometimes I cannot give the answers to right away. It’s good! They make me think and study more. In May they had summer break. During this time they had a Vacation Bible School (VBS) at a Mennonite Church. That’s the first church we had in our city which is more than 100 years old. They started the mission work here and my grandparent’s parents came to the faith through them.

During the summer time, children from all of the churches attend that VBS and learn a lot from the Bible. I went through their books and they have a really good syllabus for the VBS. I am happy to share that two of my students (pictured) got the tag “bright star” in their respective class group, which is like the best student award. I then shared with their teachers that they are my students. I am really glad to see them grow in the Word and in their Christian faith. I am thankful to God for using me to be a part in their spiritual growth.

Prayer Requests:

• Please pray for me to continue to grow and be used by God here in my city.
• Please pray for my church people to also continue to grow strong spiritually and that new believers may be added to the church as we minister to the non-Christians.
• Please pray for the new village church that I shared about. May they also grow in the Word and faith.
• Please pray for us to find committed students as we are planning to start the Bible School next month. 

Blessings,

Pastor 9

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

Greetings to you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ! 

I thank God for your partnership in the ministry through your prayers and financial support.

In my last update I shared about how Covid was spreading throughout our community and about all the restrictions that the government was imposing. My family and some of our church members had tested positive and were quarantined. A lock down was even imposed.

During the second wave in our country, hundreds of people were dying every day. I remember watching on the news that because there were long waits at the cremating place, people threw dead bodies in the river. During this time I thought that the situation would got worse in this third wave. Thank God–it wasn’t so. All of the people (my family, neighbors and church members) who were affected by Corona got well. There were no complications.

Now our ministry is going on as usual. We are having regular church gatherings with no restrictions. I am teaching the book of Galatians during Sunday services when it is my turn. I am half way done and I am really excited to preach the rest of the book.  

By the end of last year, I had started a Bible study with some school children. They are from Christian backgrounds but do not know the Word well. So I got the opportunity to lead them in this Bible study. They are doing good and are always excited to have the Bible study. I have been seeing progress in them which really brings me joy. They want to grow in the Word and grow in their spiritual walk with Christ.

Prayer Requests:

• Pray that I would continue to grow in the Lord and continue to serve Him.
• Pray that I will be a blessing to the people in my town.
• Pray that people of our church would also continue to grow and stand strong in the Word. 
• Pray that the children who are coming to the Bible study at this young age will fall in love with Jesus and His Word. Also, this month they are taking their final examinations at school. Pray that they will do well in their studies and exams.

Blessings,

Pastor 9

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