Dear Pastors, Leaders, and Supporters,
Greetings to all of you! First of all, I want to thank God and all of you for your prayers, Christian love, and support. By your prayers and love, we have reached over 500 villages that no one had reached before. In all of these villages, the people had never even heard the name of Jesus Christ before we shared.
During these 12 years, we distributed over 12,000 New Testaments and over 50,000 four-page Gospel tracts. We played the Jesus movie on a screen in over 60 rural villages and distributed about 20 audio Bibles. We baptized more than 200 people.
Together, my dad and I planted churches in over 60 villages at different times. However, because of persecution and a lack of jobs, most of the churches have closed. There are not good jobs in my state, so people move to bigger cities to find work. Right now, three house churches are being held in different villages. We are planning to start another church in a village we did outreach in last month.
Recently, over a hundred people began coming to our Sunday services. We do not have enough space to seat a 100 people. So, we divided the church into two parts. Those who were already baptized, we invite on Fridays. Those who are new and are not baptized, we invite on Sundays. This way we can all sit comfortably. It is all happening because of your prayers.
We had a great time sharing the Lord’s Supper together and having a fellowship meal.
I thank God that He is increasing our people in faith and in the knowledge of His Word daily. The believers of our church are facing pain and trouble. They have a difficult time being able to come to the Lord’s house, yet they are not abandoning the Lord. God be praised!
During our special gathering, we spent a lot of time with the believers of our church in fellowship and Bible study. We prayed throughout the day and also had the Lord’s Supper and a fellowship meal. This was a matter of great excitement for us. We prayed for the whole world, especially for the Gospel to be spread. There are still many places left where the name of Jesus has not even reached the ears of the people. We also prayed for our organization and for all of the servants, preachers and pastors who are imprisoned and persecuted for the name of Jesus. After having a fellowship meal, everyone went home.
While I was in another city for a meeting, my neighbor called the police to arrest my father.
I thank God that He is great! He gave me and my wife the opportunity to attend a meeting in another state. We were encouraged by Pastor G* and J*. God also gave us the opportunity to visit a Hindu pilgrimage city. There, my wife and I preached the Gospel to some Hindu priests and distributed candy to the children living in the slums.
While I was gone, our neighbors, who are always against our church, broke the entire water drain in front of our house and church. When my father stopped them, they abused him and called the police. They told the police that my father converts people to another religion. However, because there is no special law here right now, the police did not say anything about conversions. However, the police sided with the people against us and scolded my father and mother.
The police told my parents, “The drain will be built again, so no one should trouble these people.” However, it has been more than a month, and the drain has not been rebuilt yet. Because of this, we and the people of our church have great difficulty coming into our home and fellowship. It is especially difficult when we need to take a motorbike out to do ministry. Two or three people are needed to help push the motorbike out across the area and also to help it come back in. We cannot leave the motorbike outside. It would be stolen within an hour if we did.
Prayer Requests:
- Please continue to pray for our church family. May the Lord help them as they face persecution.
- Please continue pray for my parents. They both suffer with bone pain and still share the Good News.
- Please pray for my neighbors to believe on Jesus. Pray also that they will live peacefully and rebuild the drain quickly. The neighbor who led the breaking of the drain is a village leader.
- There are many outreaches that we are planning in November and December. The news about the outreaches needs to be spread in many villages. May God fulfill all of our needs for this. May He also grant us protection from those who are anti-Christian.
- Please pray that God gives us protection during Christmas. Many anti-Christians are planning to attack on Christmas.
- A very large Hindu festival is being held in our ministry area. So far, about 7 churches have been attacked. Those who do not participate in this festival are abused physically and mentally.
May God bless you all!
Pastor & Mrs. 11*
*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.