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Interview with Pastor Severino Mission ONE 15th Anniversary Banquet October 27 in Arizona Marriage retreat in Kenya, June 12-17 Church planting and equipping to serve peresecuted believers in southeast Asia Persecuted bishop returns home Pray for persecuted church in Laos Report from India: One year after the tsunami of December 26, 2004 Operation WorldView is video training for 750 “short-termers”
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Report from India: One year after the tsunami of December 26, 2004 The following email from Dr. Paul R. (Bobby) Gupta dated January 4, 2006 gives the report on the fruit of the ministry of HBI among villages that were hit by the tsunami. Dear Friends, Oh! What a wonderful day, wonderful day! Out of 1000 children that attended the winter camp, more than 600 of them accepted Jesus as their personal savior and Lord! Praise the Lord! It was a touching moment to see these children raising their hands and crying out to the Lord asking Him to come into their heart. Your prayers have yielded incredible outcomes and thank you so very much for praying.
Three young boys - Venkestesh, Iyyappan and Kothandaram who attended the winter camp told our field co-ordinator after they left HBI campus, "we came to HBI campus not really wanted to learn about Jesus. We wanted to have fun and games. We did give a lot of trouble to our teacher and were fighting with other children. But our teacher Emmanuel accepted us as we were and talked to us with love and care. He shared with us that Jesus loves and forgives all our sin. We were so fascinated to listen to the teaching. On the last day, we made the decision to accept Jesus as our God". These three young men told our field co-ordinator, "anna (brother), we stopped worshipping the idols because we have Jesus in us". Praise the Lord!
We thank God that we trained 20 young men and women from each village who learnt songs about Christ's birth. They were so excited to visit each home, sing two songs, read a scripture portion from the Bible, pray for the family and wish them a blessed New year. The uniqueness was our field co-ordinators just accompanied them but the Tsunami young guys did all the singing, praying, reading the scripture and wishing the family a blessed new year. Before they left each home, they lit a candle and gave it to the home saying, "let the light of Jesus shine in your home". We also left a calendar with scripture verse for each day as a special gift to each family.
(Left: One of the young men reads a promise in our home) (These men and women did not even know the name Jesus before Tsunami). When they handed over a candle and said, "let the light of Jesus shine in your home through out this year", I could not stop my tears rolling down on my cheeks. Our field co-ordinator Isaac told us that one of the young men who went on caroling is Ellumalai, a panchat leader of Kokulamedu village. Ellumalai told him, "Isac my desire is by next Christmas I want to see a star hung in front of each house and all celebrating Christmas along with us". Praise God! Our desire too is to see every knee bowing before Him and every tongue confessing that Jesus is the Lord and savior in all these five villages. On 26th of December - one year after the Tsunami, we had a thanksgiving service and over 1000 people from our five villages gathered together to praise and thank the Lord Jesus for enabling them to move forward after hit by the dreadful Tsunami. They were so thankful to the ministries of HBI for continuously working with them and staying with them in times of difficulties, troubles and hopelessness. They thanked for not only helping them with relief, but giving them shelter, rebuilding their economy, restoring their lives and continue to direct them to move forward. God has been so faithful in enabling us to work with these people day in and day out. We truly rejoice in watching these people drawn to the Lord, proclaiming His name and thanking the Lord Jesus Christ for His faithfulness in enabling them to see a better tomorrow. A year after Tsunami, we see lives changed, relationship established, young men and women given skills, children cared for, economy restored, villages rebuilt, the name of Jesus is proclaimed by every one, prayer cells started and churches planted. Praise God! I want to thank you soooooooooooooo very much for your valuable prayers and faithful support. We couldn't have come this far if it was not for your faithfulness. We want you to continue to pray as we continue to work with them in rebuilding their lives, economy and the village towards total development. As I write this email, I want to share with you that God has opened a window of opportunity for the ministries of HBI to work in Jammu & Kashmir. I am right now visiting in Kashmir with our missionary who is a MBB and God has led him to reach more than 25 people this year alone. All these MBBs will be coming to HBI this month for a discipleship program. We want your knees! We count on your knees! Praying for you and may the Lord bless you. Your servant in the mission, Dr. Paul (Bobby) Gupta |
We were so encouraged by the testimonies of the children from Tsunami villages. Many of them testified how Jesus has given them a hope for tomorrow as they reflected on the terrified day when they were hit by Tsunami. Many of the older children told us that they thought there was no hope for them after the Tsunami as they lost everything they had and they did not even have a place to call it their home. But they thanked us for just being there for them through out the last one year.
I hope you will remember that we asked to you pray for the young men and women who were prepared to go on carol singing to each houses in five Tsunami villages. (Left: praying before visiting each home)
They even visited some of our houses in Chennai. I was in tears of joy to see them sing songs so joyfully, read the scripture so confidently and pray so earnestly.