Monthly Archives: March 2011

Sharing saris and sips of water shows South Asians the light of Christ

By Caroline Anderson*

KOLKATA, India–The beautiful part about Onima Chatterji* and Judith Melek’s* relationship is that it transcends the Indian caste system and etiquette for employer-employee relationships.

In India, every person has a place, or a caste, in the predominantly Hindu society. A person’s position in society comes with certain social restrictions. These social stratifications determine daily interactions and make India’s society very hierarchical.

Melek adheres to God’s law — to love His people, no matter their status or station in life. Normally, an employer would never call their house helper a friend. Chatterji’s caste is considered lower than Melek’s. However, the caste system does not define Melek’s interactions with people. She sees people the way Christ sees them, as beloved and in need of a Savior. She also tries to love as Christ loves — instead of loaves and fish, she gives saris and glasses of water.

Melek thumbs through a stack of brilliantly colored and variously textured fabrics on a recent market trip, looking for one to give Chatterji. She settles on a green and cream sari.

When she gets home, Melek helps Chatterji with the cooking and cleaning in the kitchen as they chat and giggle. Chatterji’s smile is as big as a slice of Fourth of July watermelon. Over boiling pots of saffron curry and Indian chai (Indian milk tea), Melek teaches Chatterji all about God’s love and how to pray. Chatterji then eats at the dinner table with the Meleks, something unheard of for house help in most of India.

“You don’t have any pictures in your home of Jesus,” Chatterji comments after hearing Melek talk about her Savior.

“We don’t need a picture; Jesus lives here,” Meleks says, pointing to her heart.

Chatterji now believes in Jesus — thanks to the love she sees in Melek and the raw Gospel Melek lives out before her.

Because of this living letter, six out of the 10 security guards in the Meleks’ apartment complex as well as the Meleks’ milkman also follow Jesus. Others, beyond their immediate neighborhood, have believed also.

It started with sharing glasses of water with the security guards who work long shifts. Melek and her husband, Clifton,* shared the Gospel with every ounce of water they offered and gave Bibles to each guard. This is the heart of church planting — to love, teach and disciple the people God puts in your path and invite them to do the same, Clifton Melek says.

The Meleks, Southern Baptist representatives, serve as church-planting teachers and trainers in South Asia. Born and raised in Bangladesh, the Meleks learned about church planting while attending seminary there. When they went to New York to pursue treatment for their son’s polio, they put their training into practice by serving with the Baptist Convention of New York. There the Meleks worked among 22 people groups and nationalities and planted four churches in New York and Canada.

Planting churches runs in Judith Melek’s family — her great grandfather became a Christian through the witness of William Carey, an English Baptist missionary who began ministry in India in 1793.

Today the Meleks travel throughout much of South Asia training and equipping national Christian leaders to first reach out to the lost, mobilize believers and then start house churches that multiply. The Meleks, along with other Southern Baptists, have started thousands of churches as a result.

“We found that (this training) is one of the best tools for equipping people to start churches, especially house churches,” Clifton Melek says.

Clifton Melek says constantly seeing the darkness in India reminds them of their responsibility to share about the light of Christ that they carry.

“If somehow we can gather all of our leaders, our Christian leaders of [this] city, and if we break all of our walls around, which is organizational walls or denominational walls, we can break those walls and look for where to win the battle of the city,” he says.

The Meleks’ lives give testimony that sharing the light of Christ can be as simple as offering a cup of water and as rewarding as teaching South Asian Christians how to plant multiplying house churches in their own communities.

“It is not impossible,” Clifton Melek says, “to win the city for Christ and let the people see the Light.”

–30–

*Name changed.

Caroline Anderson serves as a writer in Asia for the Southern Baptist International Mission Board.

Week of April 3, 2011

April 3 : Encouragement Needed: “Desperation and hopelessness fill the hearts of so many in Bangladesh. It even seeps into long-term workers’ souls at times as we seek to live and work among a people ensnared by the evil one. The task at times seems so huge that it is easy to feel that our service is making no difference at all.” Please pray that God will give daily encouragement to the long-term workers in Bangladesh. Pray that He will give them rest when the world around them is restless. Pray that He will give peace while outside their walls others wail in anguish. Pray that He will give joy when it is possible to go an entire day and see no one else smile. Pray that He will be their light and that light will shine brightly through the darkness that covers this land. Pray that God will remind them that He so loved Bangladesh that He gave His only begotten Son. Pray for a multitude from Bangladesh to be at His feet one day, and pray for joy and hope in the journey for believers called to serve Him in this land.

April 4 : Mappila Need Jesus. The Mappila people do not have access to the Gospel. They need to hear and read God’s Word. Ways must be discovered to sow the Word of God effectively and widely. Please pray for this, and ask that many will have a burden for the Mappila. There are only a few known workers among the Mappila, but one has a vision to train others. He desires to run a three-month school to help workers understand Islam and be able to witness effectively in that context. Give thanks to God for this answer to prayer! There are also a couple of Muslim-background believers who are pastors. Thank the Lord for them as well.

April 5 : Renewed to Serve. In December, you were asked to pray for representatives from two Baptist churches in Asia who were traveling to Bihar to minister to Indian church planters serving among the Ansari Muslims of Bihar. The following, in the words of one Indian church planter, is how God answered your prayers: I “thank the brothers and sisters who personally visited us in the mission fields with prayers and the vision to reach out (to) the unreached . . . I found the teaching came to us in Indian style, and they are applicable in our context. . . . I would like to thank my friends whom I accepted as my spiritual guardians. They always help me to grow in my spiritual walk, to be strong mentally, to maintain the balance between ministry and life as we are all the workmanship of our living God. . . . We are renewed to face the new challenges of the future of the mission works here. Every team member has the same vision to preach the Gospel at any cost.” Your prayers are priceless! Praise the Lord! BihariBride@pobox.com

April 6 : College Teams Needed. “We are praying for teams of college students to come this summer to share among those seeking to improve their English. Please pray that God will send laborers to the harvest of the city of Kolkata. Ask Him to give them opportunities to share the Gospel boldly using English as a tool.”  

April 7 : Hearing the Shepherd’s Voice. Thank you for praying for religious leaders and people of influence in Kashmir. Several “divine appointments” have made it possible for workers to engage this segment of people with the Gospel in recent months – and they trust the Lord of the harvest to bring the increase! Please continue to pray that these leaders will hear the Shepherd’s voice and abandon all to follow Him. Pray that a leader’s open confession of Christ would cause a massive “spiritual earthquake” in the hearts and minds of Kashmiris and all South Asian Muslims.

April 8 : Humbled to Serve. Give thanks to the Lord for the trainings that took place in K state, in answer to your prayers. More than 100 believers attended the trainings and were further equipped to share the Good News and disciple fellow believers. The volunteers from the United States who came were both humbled and excited to share in what God is doing to reach the 60 million people of K state with the Gospel.

April 9 : Faithful Servants. A cross-cultural worker in India writes: “Our prayer needs today are much the same as they were when we first arrived: intimacy with the Father, discernment to follow His voice, wisdom to make good choices, faithfulness in our roles, and a love for the people we are here to serve. When we are faithful to keep these things in check, then God’s plans and opportunities for reaching these people become much more clear and do-able.” Please use this as a guide this month in praying for cross-cultural workers throughout India. 

Common Hearts: My first few days in India

By Heather Darnell

Locals shop for fruit in a popular market area.

BANGALORE, India — Men and women walk on the sides of the crowded roads in their saris, salwar kamise suits, kurtas, and dhotis (all words I have recently learned to describe Indian clothing). Motorbikes weave between the busses, cars, pedestrians and bicycles … I struggle to focus on one thing at a time. My husband and I are in India for two weeks, which now seems like a laughable amount of time to learn the pace of life and the rhythm of this city. This is my first time in Asia and I am convinced that everyone can tell by just looking at my sweaty, overwhelmed face.

While I feel decidedly out of my comfort zone, I can’t deny that there is something strangely familiar about India. It’s not that I recognize the Kannada words written on the store front signs, the foods on the menu, or even the cadence of those speaking my own language. But I do recognize the familiarity of people doing the same exact things I’m used to doing every day; things like going to work and to the grocery store, cleaning houses and taking care of children. We all try to find meaning in our lives by trusting in our rituals and creating our man-made gods instead of submitting to the one true God.

Now, I don’t worship a statue named Shiva or a cow standing in the middle of a busy road; I disguise the gods in my life by calling them socially acceptable (American) names. I prioritize things like “comfort,” “education,” and “middle class status.” I look to entertainment, social activity, good deeds and even church involvement to appease the nagging thoughts in my deluded mind that tell me that Jesus is not enough.

But Jesus is enough. Philippians 3:8-11 says: “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith- that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”

I share a common bond with the Indian people, whose culture I do not yet understand. We all need the Gospel for our salvation. The sins of our hearts are the same. We may live in different parts of the world and speak different languages, but I need to relinquish my idols just as much as they do.

—30—

Heather Darnell, a student at southeastern seminary in North Carolina, recently spent two weeks in India learning about the culture and praying for South Asian peoples.

An MBB talks about praying for Muslims during times of unrest

By Lalit Joshi*

There are revolutions and demands for change in many Muslim countries, including Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Lebanon, Yemen, Bahrain, Iran and more. If it were just in one or two countries, I agree it would be a local issue. But it’s not. The entire Islamic world is in unrest, and the people losing the most sleep are the ones in charge.

There are three reasons I say this is a revolution against Islam, not just against government.

  1. The people are tired of ruthless, self-important rulers. Yet, this is the core nature of Islamic rule and politics dating back to the beginning with Mohammad. Islam demands a strong ruler to keep the population under control. It has often been said that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. This has never been more evident than in the Islamic world. At last, Muslims around the world are realizing there is a better way.
  2. Unemployment is rampant in most of these countries and the people want something done about it. This is perhaps one of the most cited reasons for the unrest, yet few look into the cause of the poor economy. Muslims tend to have a well-developed sense of fate (a core Islamic belief), and therefore often simply accept their poor conditions as the will of Allah. Perhaps true, but many are now seeing that the wealth and corruption of the Islamic leadership is repugnant when millions live in squalor and are simply told to accept it.
  3. Many Muslims have seen and tasted freedom for the first time. With access to the Internet, millions of Muslims around the world have access to new ideas, including an understanding of freedom. Under Islam, there is no freedom. Every behavior, every thought is to be controlled by Islam. Today, many people are seeing the beauty of freedom and want to experience it for themselves.

There is a major wave of awakening on the social level. I ask that you look beyond the headlines and see the spiritual dilemma Muslims are in. They need a savior, and He is responding. I know of a Shiite who prayed and committed his life to Christ yesterday. I know of another Muslim who came to faith in the Middle East. Yet another is exploring the New Testament.

There is a new spiritual hunger in the Muslim world, and we need to pray for Muslims everywhere to meet authentic Christians and hear the Good News of Christ.

Whether freedom wins, or not, we need to pray for Muslims to hear the Gospel.  We need to take action and get involved in this timely work.  We need to share the hope of Jesus with Muslims.

—30—

*Name changed.

Lalit Joshi is a Muslim-background believer.

Are you ready?

Dear Family and Friends,

I met Reva* and her new husband Nikhil* at a local church. She was raised Hindu, but Nikhil and his family were Christians. She dated Nikhil (against her father’s wishes) for five years before they finally got “approval” to marry. During that time, she, her younger sister and her mother all began to follow Jesus.

As far back as Reva can remember, her father would torture her mother mentally and physically. Once Reva and Nikhil married, her mother finally had the courage to leave her husband and take her youngest daughter to live with Reva and Nikhil.

Reva is 22, and Nikhil 23. Their one-year wedding anniversary was Aug. 27 of this year — only they did not get to celebrate.

Nikhil started complaining of headaches, fever and body pain Aug. 22. They took him to the hospital, but doctors sent him home, saying he had a viral fever. The next day he felt even worse, so they took him to another hospital. Doctors said he had dengue fever, caught from a mosquito bite. However, due to the lack of immediate and proper treatment from the first hospital, by the time he reached the second hospital, Nikhil had already reached a critical point. Within 24 hours, he was not responding to medication and all his internal organs were failing. Nikhil went to meet the Lord that night, leaving his beloved young bride alone.

I share this very sad story with you for two reasons.

First, I ask you to pray for Reva. Nikhil was supporting these women, and now they are alone. Reva will now be the one trying to support them.

Reva shared with me that she keeps asking God what she did wrong to have Nikhil taken from her. This belief is very typical for people from a Hindu background. She is still young in the faith, so I ask you to please pray that I would have more opportunities to walk alongside her in this time and also to help her grow in the knowledge of our Lord.

Secondly, I share this as a reminder to all of us. Are you ready? No one knows when our time on this Earth is over. Nikhil was young and healthy, but a simple mosquito bite led to his death. We know that God ordains all things and that this was not a surprise to Him. Yet, my question remains — are we living out our lives ready to meet Him who made us? Let us live our lives in such a way that when our time comes, the Lord God will be able to say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

With Love,

Skylar Pippin*

Serving in South Asia

 

*Name changed.

Boys of the railway find life, love and eternal life

By Caroline Anderson

Gangs of boys live on the railways of India. They spend their days sniffing glue and pick pocketing from travelers. The money they steal buys more glue.

KOLKATA, India—Before Jesus became the father in his life, the only god Tarak Sett* knew was his gang leader. The scars on his wrists were only vestiges of his past. Now, the scars identify him with his Savior.

It’s still hard for Sett to let go of the anger he acquired and needed to survive living on the railway. But he’s learning. Scars take time to fade and they are fading as he learns more about Jesus.

Like many of the boys who call the railway ties and tracks home, Sett ran away from home. But unlike most of the boys, Sett and five other boys found an exit from their life on the railway.

Sett, who is now 14 years old and lives in a hostel, is still aggressive and bossy. He uses the skills of persuasion he learned on the railway to get the other boys in the hostel to listen to him. But now, his mentality has changed and Jesus has taken the place of his gang leader.

Sett found his way to the Kolkata train station when he ran away from home after his mother died and his father started beating him. In the station, he fell in with a gang of boys who inducted him into their band of brothers.

Part of the induction included drinking a bottle of liquid. Sett refused this bottle of unidentifiable liquid the first several times it was offered, but finally gave in. It was drugged; and from that point forward, he was addicted. Sett learned the rule of the rail quickly: glue was candy and killing was sport.

Gang leaders, older boys in their teens, kept the boys addicted and controlled the profits. Local gang leaders rule the roost, extorting, threatening, murdering and raping. They terrorize the boys, girls and families who sleep anywhere — whether out in the open, under corrugated tin roofs, or around abandoned concrete pillars around the train station.

The gang leaders aren’t the only ones who threaten, murder and rape. Most of the boys in the gangs are guilty of the same.

Sett traveled the rails with the gang, from Mumbai to Delhi and then to Kolkata — stealing, pick pocketing and pilfering from travelers to finance his drug addictions. The stolen money paid for drugs more often than it paid for food. Their other source of income came from collecting empty water bottles that sell for 1 rupee (or 2 cents).

Gang warfare, and not the simulated, Xbox version, was a daily reality. The boys would keep razor blades in between their pants and their hipbones and use them against each other and against other gangs. Murders punctuate their stories like staccato notes and their scars tell stories of hate.

One of Sett’s scars, a large gash near his left eye, happened when he fell under a train after drinking milk laced with drugs. Some of his scars he gave himself in fits of rage and drug withdrawals.

A game of tag changed Sett’s life. When boys on the railway play tag, they are normally high on glue. Sett tripped in the game of tag and fell on the train tracks as a train approached. Someone pulled him off just in time. He doesn’t know for sure, but he thinks an angel saved him. Sett says he can see God’s hand in saving him that night.

God’s providence led Sett to accept an invitation to leave the railway and move to a hostel for boys who’ve been rescued.

Five other boys left the railway to live with Sett in the hostel. All have similar stories: their parents abused them, abandoned them or died. All of the boys made their living, terrorizing railway passengers in drugged stupors. All now know and love Jesus.

When the boys first came to the hostel, they had to be weaned off drugs and glue by substituting food, TV and sports.

The recovery process is ongoing.  The hostel is run with Jesus as the focus. Worship times, Bible studies and mentorship are all part of the atmosphere.

With absent earthly fathers, the boys turn to their heavenly Father.

“Jesus is the father in my life,” Sett said, holding the hand of a visitor to the hostel. The boys crave the physical touch their parents never gave or had the opportunity to give them.

Sett’s favorite Bible story is the story of David and Goliath. He speaks with great admiration about how God gave David strength to beat Goliath. God also gave Sett strength to beat his nemesis: drugs.

Sett now has a life dream. Career advancement on the railway meant becoming a gang leader. Now, he’s attending school and he wants to be a doctor.

Though Sett made it off the railway, there are hundreds of boys who still live as orphans on the railway, without a home, future or Jesus.

—30—

*Name changed.

Pakistani jailed since ’02 for blasphemy dies

Baptist Press, Mar 16, 2011: http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=34849

By Lela Gilbert/Hudson Institute

WASHINGTON (BP)–Qamar David, a Pakistani Christian serving a life sentence for blasphemy against Islam, was found dead in his Karachi jail cell March 15.

David, in prison since 2002, was sentenced for allegedly sending derogatory text messages about the Prophet Mohammad, though his lawyer maintains that the charges were motivated by a business rivalry. He was 55 years old and the father of four sons.

Authorities report that he died of a heart attack, but it is widely suspected that he was murdered by radical Muslims who, in recent months, have sought by violent means to defend Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy laws.

David is the most recent in a mounting toll of Pakistani deaths this year related to blasphemy. In January, Salman Taseer, governor of Punjab, was shot by one of his bodyguards who was angry about Taseer’s opposition to the blasphemy laws. Taseer, a Muslim, had come to the defense of Asia Bibi, a Christian mother of five, who was sentenced to death by hanging for blasphemy in November 2010. Her continuing imprisonment has attracted international concern.

On March 2, Shahbaz Bhatti, a Roman Catholic and the only Christian member of Pakistan’s cabinet, was shot dead during an ambush by gunmen in Islamabad. He had received numerous death threats over his efforts to reform the blasphemy laws. He had courageously and outspokenly defied the threats.

Also this year in Pakistan, 10 Sufis were murdered for their religious heterodoxy and a Sunni Muslim man was killed by someone who had accused him of blasphemy.

Pakistan’s blasphemy laws only apply to alleged offenses against Islam; no other religions are similarly protected. The laws neither define blasphemy nor provide measures to protect those who are falsely accused, inviting abuses and false accusations frequently motivated by personal grudges, property disputes, or religious intolerance.

Although no one in Pakistan has yet officially been executed for blasphemy, since the 1980s many of those accused have been murdered by police, vigilantes or mobs. Some have been killed even after having been acquitted. Many others suffered brutal assaults, and there have been innumerable mob attacks on churches, homes and businesses.

Efforts to amend the laws have inflamed radical Islamists. After Bhatti’s death, Farahnaz Ispahani, an aide to President Asif Ali Zardari, said of the recent bloodshed, “This is a concerted campaign to slaughter every liberal, progressive and humanist voice in Pakistan. The time has come for the federal government and provincial governments to speak out and to take a strong stand against these murderers to save the very essence of Pakistan.”

–30–

Lela Gilbert is an adjunct fellow of the Hudson Institute’s Center for Religious Freedom in Washington, on the Web at http://crf.hudson.org. Used by permission.

World Water Day, North Carolina Sunday school funds well in India

By Caroline Anderson

March 22, 2011 is World Water Day. India is one of many countries around the world with water needs. In 1992, the UN General Assembly designated March 22 of each year as the World Day for Water.

No longer without clean water, a South Asian pastor stands by a newly built well. Members of a Sunday School from Flemings Baptist Church in Lenior, N.C. contributed the money to build the well.

INDIA – For a village in India, having clean water meant walking more than a mile round trip. For most Americans, having clean water simply means walking into the kitchen. One woman from North Carolina and her Sunday School class decided to shorten the walking distance for a village in India.

Katie Justice heard about the need for water in this village of 200 to 250 people after members of her church, Flemings Baptist Church, Lenior, N.C., took a mission trip to work with her nephew Cal Hardison.* Hardison and his wife Maggie work with national pastors in the area.

Justice learned from the mission trip debrief that the only usable well in the village had not been well maintained and the water was too dirty to drink. The United Nations (UN) estimates most villages in India do not have clean drinking water, with one in six people in the world denied access to clean, fresh water. The international organization has designated March 22 as World Water Day in an effort to draw attention to the dire needs for water in villages such as the Haridons’.

The Hardisons said women brought back as much water as they could carry in containers, often weighing as much as 41 pounds, while carrying their babies at the same time. This water provided for their families daily needs — drinking, cooking and cleaning. The UN suggests every person needs five to 13 gallons of water a day.

Justice and several friends from her Sunday School class decided to send $1,000 to build several wells in this village, to eliminate the mile-long walks.

“After church one Sunday night, we (Justice and her Sunday School class) were talking about the church budget not having a designated amount to send,” Justice said. “It seemed to us that we three, in fact, could be the ones to provide money for one or more wells.

“Providing wells was a way to put our desire to show the love of our Savior Jesus to those in need,” Justice said.

It also provided inroads for national pastors in the area to share the Gospel. One of the wells was built on the property of a national partner.

“It (the well) has created several opportunities for him and his wife to re-share the Gospel and to share more stories from the Bible as the people come to his house to pump water,” Maggie Hardison said.

Before, the national partner didn’t have much success in sharing the Gospel. Hardison said the well strengthened his credibility within the community.

“When he put in the well, many neighbors walked by and asked if they were going to be able to use it,” she said.

There are two hand-pump wells in the village, one located in a government-owned school and another personally owned. The government school would not allow usage during school hours. The man who owned the private well wouldn’t allow anyone outside of his family to use the pump. Villagers were also banned from using a well located on a mosque compound.

“He told them, yes, that it would be available to anyone in the community,“ Hardison said.

There are 10 known believers in the village, Hardison said. The majority of the village professes to be Hindu. Some of the villagers are Muslim.

“People understand that the Christians are willing to help anyone in the community despite religion or caste (class status),” Hardison said.

A second well will be dug soon for the community.

*Name changed

–30—

A missionary kid learns that when the unexpected happens, God provides

MK Expedition: Missionary kids from Asia taught children in India about the power of Jesus in Vacation Bible School lessons they prepared.

By Hannah Cargill*

KOLKATA, India–My trip to India was really amazing. I learned a lot!

I went with a group of 20 other teenagers and three adults. Our team split into two separate groups on the first day. One group would do work on a mountain and would live in a national’s house. The other group would be doing Vacation Bible School all day. I was chosen for the VBS. I was very happy about this.

We all rode an overnight train, which was fun. When we all got off the train, 10 of us went straight to the village and started teaching. The other group spent a few hours driving up the mountain.

The first day we split up into three different groups, so there were about three people to a team since we had so many kids to teach. Two other girls and I were going to teach 70 2- to 5-year-olds! We had only planned for 10, so it was quite a shock; but we made it through, even though our translator decided to take the day off.

When we were done teaching, we walked around the village and the kids showed us their houses and parents. It was a lot of fun!

Every time we saw a little group of people on the road, we would stop and sing a few songs and then someone would tell his testimony. It was a little embarrassing, just because we were singing all the songs with motions that make you look stupid in front of adults. They didn’t know what had happened to us, but we had fun and so did the kids!

The second day we did the same thing but at a different place. We didn’t have quite so many kids that day. It was definitely the most fun though, because we got to hang out with the kids more and we got really close to them.

The pastor who we were working with said that he went walking again the next day and he could hear the kids still talking about the stories and songs that they learned. This was just amazing because we didn’t know how much the kids were getting out of everything due to the language problem, but turns out they understood more than any of us thought, which was a great encouragement.

On the third day, we did three different Vacation Bible Schools at two different locations and that was busy! We had a few sick team members so we were down a few people, but it was still great!

We sang “If you’re happy and you know it” and “Itsy bitsy spider” many times. We also sang “Making melodies” and “Peel bananas.” The kids loved every minute from what we could tell!

The fourth day we went to this really tiny school on the side of a hill. We were expecting a few kids, and again we were surprised; but the Lord helped us get through it, and we all had a blast teaching the kids the different stories.

We got back on the overnight train that night and met up with the other half of the team.

God taught us as a team that we weren’t prepared for what He had planned, and even though we didn’t have enough crafts or glue or whatever, He provided.

The pastor we worked with during the week was always happy, and he was always offering us food or water even though he didn’t have much at all. It reminded me of how little I give when I have so much that could be given, so that was a good eye-opener!

I am so glad I had the opportunity to go.

–30–

*Name changed.

Hannah Cargill is an MK from South Carolina who serves with her family in South Asia.

Week of March 27, 2011

March 27 : Devastating Floods in Sri Lanka. While the first week of January ushered in the New Year of 2011, it also brought with it devastating floods that affected most of Sri Lanka’s eastern coast, as well as some central areas. In the eastern town of Batticaloa, an amazing 70 inches of rain fell over the course of a few days. With dams breaking and rivers well over their banks, there was just nowhere for the massive amounts of water to go. All transportation was brought to a halt, and most families in the affected areas fled their flooded homes to makeshift camps in schools or other buildings. However, these makeshift camps also soon flooded. Just as many of the displaced were returning to their homes, the first week of February saw another round of heavy rains in already affected areas. Please pray for the more than 1 million people whose lives have been altered by the floods and for the families of those who have lost their lives. As the floodwaters recede and people begin to put their lives and homes back together, pray that in their hopelessness they will turn to the one true God who has the power to hear and answer their prayers. Also pray for Sri Lankan believers to minister to those in need, showing them the love of Christ.

March 28 : Immersed  for a Purpose. “Please continue to pray for our worker doing a language immersion. There is a new Muslim-background believer who is serving as a language helper. Please pray that meeting with a foreigner will not bring about persecution for her. Also pray that the worker will be able to disciple her and be better able to communicate about spiritual matters. Please continue to pray, as well, for F. She recently met a national pastor and received a marriage proposal. The man’s family is Christian but has not given full support of the marriage because of F’s physical disability. Please lift up this situation, and ask God to speak to all involved about His will for this couple. F had planned to travel to visit her family this month and share about the proposal; however, a relative with whom F has remained close has instructed her not to do this. Although F’s Muslim family knows she is a Christian, the relative suspected the news would bring trouble to F. She shared the news with F’s family, her concerns were confirmed, and she has instructed F not to visit at this time. Please continue to pray for the salvation of F’s family; also for their acceptance of F’s marriage to a believer. Finally, over the past year, you have been praying for additional laborers for the harvest. There is a possibility of a team coming from another Asian country to serve. Please be in pray for their church leadership as they discuss this. Pray that viable visa options can be discovered and the necessary resources provided.”

March 29 : Acts Brought to Life. The spring semester for the LEAD program has already begun and will continue into May. During this semester, the participants will study the Book of Acts, Personal Evangelism, and Church Planting. Acts provides the foundation as they look at the birth of the church and Jesus’ instructions to be His witnesses. In Personal Evangelism, they will be taught two methods that can help them have greater confidence in being a witness, even in potentially hostile environments. Church Planting is intended to increase their vision for God’s work and to provide them tools – not just for planting “a” church, but for planting churches that will reproduce. Please pray for these participants, asking that they will grasp the truths that Acts teaches, and understand that we are all empowered by the same Holy Spirit who empowered the disciples on the day of Pentecost. And pray that they will follow Peter and Paul’s examples of telling everyone they meet the best news that the world has ever received!

March 30 : Divine Appointments. Thank you for praying in January as two female volunteers visited in homes to pray with women in two Bihari Muslim communities in the capital city of Bangladesh. You were asked to pray specifically for ‘divine appointments,’ and that prayer was especially answered in the home of R. Her husband is a porter, and all of R’s family now lives in Pakistan. The volunteers visited in R’s home twice and were able to share God’s love through simple songs with her and with many others who had gathered there. The volunteers also had an opportunity to share their testimonies with a group of Bihari Muslim women who are seekers and who are trying to decide whether they will make a commitment to follow Isa (Jesus) as their personal Savior. They shared Bible stories and songs with Bihari Muslim children as well. Please pray for the salvation of R and each Bihari Muslim who heard about Isa’s power and love. BihariBride@pobox.com

March 31 : Community Transformation Projects. Please pray today for the India team at the Strategy Coordinator (SC) church. They are in the process of planning a trip to G-city this fall to execute a community transformation (CT) project. A community transformation project is an activity that will improve the life of the residents in a community. The goal is to establish a relationship with the residents of the community and share Jesus. In nearby rural areas, the workers have been using water testing, well drilling and health lessons in various villages. The activities have opened up several villages to the Gospel. The India team is praying that in a similar way, a CT project will open up one or more communities in G-city to the Gospel. Pray for wisdom for the team and for the national workers as they seek to identify one or more communities for the CT project, and one or more activities that can be executed in those communities. Ask God to use those activities to open up doors of access to share Jesus with the residents. Pray that He will call out several members of the SC church to go on this trip. Ask Him to provide all that is needed for these CT projects, as well as the resources needed to handle the logistics on the ground in the city.

April 1 :The Real Pakistan.  When people around the world hear the name “Pakistan,” they may think of a land filled with terrorists and violent people. What they often don’t realize is that Pakistan is filled with many regular human beings fearful for the future of their country and their families. Pakistanis live a world apart from the politicians and landowners. Minorities (and even some Muslims) suffer under unjust laws in which they can be wrongfully accused of religious blasphemy, regardless of whether they have actually done so. And on a daily basis, they face job discrimination even though they may be more qualified than their peers. Please pray for just and righteous leaders to be raised up in Pakistan. Pray for those people who have integrity to come under God’s powerful hand of protection. Pray that unjust laws will be repealed and replaced with laws that protect the basic rights and equalities of Pakistanis. Ask God to draw many to Himself in a place where people don’t know what love looks like.

April 2 : Karachi – Land of Opportunity. Karachi has the highest literacy rate in Pakistan and the highest number of universities and other educational institutions. Students from all over Pakistan come to Karachi in hopes of furthering their education and getting a good job some day. Pray that these students will not only grow in knowledge, but also that they will encounter the Lord Jesus Christ and be transformed completely “by the renewing of their minds.”