Goodness of God in all situations.

fun time with the older kids at the slum

This past month has been a good one ministering to the children and the people of the village. I had the opportunity to travel to the places out of Ranchi to visit the sponsor kids and get to know them better. It is always a joy going and spending time with their families and encouraging them and praying for them. Each family has their own struggles but they are doing their best to bring their children up. We as a church are helping them with their education and medical fees as well. Kiran and I met with seven of the kids this past month and it was a blessed time for us. God has been so faithful to me in every aspect of my life and the thing He has been teaching me is that he knows the best in everything and even when I feel alone He is there guiding me through all. The main thing is to depend on Him fully and trust Him for He is the Good Father.

 Visiting Sponsor kids

One of the first things I did was travel to one of the far villages which was out of Ranchi with Kiran Anna and Vilma to minister. We went to each house and invited them to come and watch the Jesus movie. It was a great response and many people came to watch it and they loved it. It was around 150 people. The people were so eager to see and hear the gospel and for many of them it was the first time. Most of them were Hindus. It was a good time of ministry and I enjoyed it. This month we had a good time of Women’s ministry and house visiting. We are also preparing now for a first time two days women’s seminar this month and we are so excited for this new step we are taking to encourage and build our women spiritually in their walk with God. We are hoping that God would use us as we minister to them.

House visiting- Women's ministry

This month I also got the opportunity to go to Pune and celebrate a great moment in my brother Kumar’s life as he got engaged on the 30^th of June. I am very happy for him as his sister .It has been a great month of God’s grace in my life. Vilma and I got to go only few times to minister to the kids this month as it has been raining a lot and during rainy days it is a challenge to teach at the slums as the kids cannot sit outside or attend our class. It is so amazing to minister among them and they love spending time with us. It has altogether been a good month with God and His people.

Kumar and Manisha's engagement

Some of my prayer points would be:

·         Please pray for our first ever women’s seminar at our church that is happening on the 14^th-15^th July that there would be a good response from the women and that God would minister to their hearts.

·         For God to help our English service to continue to grow spiritually and in number as well.

·         For my heart to be steadfast in all situations and God to help me to trust in His guidance in terms of leading others.

LITTLE ONES FOR GOD

Our VBS kids and leaders

It has been a great month of fun and lots of work too. If I could describe this month I would say it was one filled with lots of encouragement from the Lord. I feel closer to God each day .He has been teaching me a lot on how to find deeper joy in Him alone and yes at times loneliness creeps in but I learn to trust in his companionship. His Grace alone holds me together. We had so much fun this month conducting the Vacation Bible School in Ranchi and two other places out of Ranchi.  We had a great group of volunteers helping us in the Vbs.  It was a three day camp for the kids and they loved it.

Amazing team of  Volunteers for VBS 

The theme was “Love” and the main passage was from 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. It took more than a month and a half to prepare for this and the three days went really well by the grace of God. The kids enjoyed learning, playing games and doing crafts. It was a blessed time. This is my second time leading the Vbs with two others and it has been a good experience of learning to lead well and depending on Gods guidance each day. We had about 100 kids and it was good ministering to them as they were hungry to learn more about God. They miss our Sunday school a lot as right now we have stopped them due to the church construction and we as a team continue to pray for their spiritual lives as we are unable to meet them on a weekly basis as before.

Ministering in Muri - VBS program

We were able to minister in two other places out of Ranchi during their Vbs time and it was an amazing experience as one of my wish was ministering to kids all over Jharkhand as well. Each place has its own set of kids and these places had such amazing active group of kids and it was amazing to see their heart for God .This month we also had our youth retreat which was such an amazing time with over 120 youths attending it. We had good sessions which were so helpful to all of the youths and we got good feedback from the youths. God ministered to each one of us through the speakers who came from Bangalore. It was a timely word for the youths here. Altogether it was a good month of working for the Lord with all that I have with kids and youths.

Vbs program in Jamshedhpur 

youth retreat -listening to a  session.

The Lord has been so faithful to me in the small and big .I am happy that he has brought me to the right place to minister in and I enjoy it a lot. The slum ministry is my favorite and the kids are a blessing from God to me because seeing their faces cheers me up. I have not been so regular in going there and teaching them this month as I was busy with the vbs but the times I did get with them has been encouraging and wonderful. They continue to be a great bunch of kids with lots of love and we had good times of games and fun with them. I have been taking some of our youths there to help us in this ministry and it has been so good. They enjoy it a lot too. God is good all the time and I believe it. He takes good care of His children.

ministry in the slum with youths teaching action song

Some of my prayer points would be:

*That God would continue to help me in growing as a good leader that people can model after through my lifestyle and trust God more in everything.

*That the kids would continue to grow in the lord even if summer camp is over that they would choose Jesus each day.

* For the youths to live as light wherever they go and that they would remember what they learned in this retreat and do what is right

Love and Joy In Christ.

Craft time with kids in the slum.

It has been a great month of ministering to the kids, women and youths. God has been faithful to me in the smallest thing to the biggest thing. One of the biggest things God has been teaching me is to have lots of patience in many areas of my life. The ministry with the slum kids is going on well. Vilma and I have started the VBS for the kids with fun bible teachings and crafts and they have loved it. They find so much joy in learning more about God and His love for them. This year one of my prayers and wish has been for them to accept the Lord into their hearts and follow his ways. As we were teaching the first day lesson of our VBS to the kids we had a short time of explaining to the kids the importance of accepting Jesus in their lives.

Saying yes to Jesus.

So we asked them if anyone wanted to and six of the kids stood up for receiving Christ and we were so happy for them. We had a good time of leading them into prayer and they received Jesus into their hearts. This is a great thing to see as I know that the heavens rejoice over this. It is going to be hard for the kids to follow Christ as they are the only ones who know Christ in their family and follow Him as none of their parents do. Most of their parents are strong Hindus and we encourage the kids to keep praying for them and be a light in their family. I am so happy that they took this big step because they have been going to church and attending many Christian programs without knowing the importance of having personal relationship with Jesus. This is a new step for them and I know that God will continue to help us to guide them in the right way. Seeing this has been so encouraging to my heart and I love working with them each day.

Game time with kids in the children's home

I have also been ministering to some of the youths having one on ones with them and it has been a joy hearing them and ministering to them. We had a lot of fun going to one of the children’s home here in Ranchi and ministering to the kids there as our youth outreach. It was a good time of playing and spending time with them. This month also has been a time of preparing for our upcoming VBS in the next month. We have a good team of helpers who are helping us to get all things done for the three days program that is happening. I am excited for what God is going to do in these three days and we are praying that the kids would be blessed.

Fun time of ministry with the kids.

Some of my prayer requests would be:

·       For God to continue to give us ideas how to make the VBS a more effective one.

·       For God to guide us in helping the kids at the slum grow closer to Him in deeper levels and know Gods word more.

For the VBS that is taking place that everything would go well and that the kids would feel blessed and for the youth retreat also that is happening this month for Gods grace and guidance.

Loving God and people - True ministry.

It has been an amazing month of renewal and encouragement from the Lord. The Lord has been teaching me how to make the ministry grow deeper so that it would bear fruit and that the main key was to grow closer to Him and his people. It was so fun having some of our family members come and visit and encourage us. It was a wonderful and amazing time of refreshing and enjoyment. They got to see us in our ministry and spend good time with us. The best part was when we had a time of prayer and fellowship the Lord spoke to me some really deep things through Tammyma and others in how I can serve Him better and it was not of being a Martha working so much that I sometimes forget the main thing but it is the part of spending more time with God and growing in relationship with people as well. I know that this is true because ministry is about relationships more than task. It has been the thing the Lord is teaching me now to be more of Mary in the Bible.

Barbecue evening with English service crowd.

In my busyness of life there is a tendency to forget that it is about the people always and I am working on it. The Lord has been faithful throughout this month through the big and small and I am so happy that He never gives up on me. We had wonderful time of fellowship with our English service members by conducting a barbecue party night and it was so fun. Tammyma was the speaker for the night and they had a good time. This month in our youth meetings we have done a lot of small outreaches to reach out to the poor and sick in our community. We got the opportunity to pray for the sick in hospitals and reach out to the poor by sharing Jesus to them and meeting their physical needs. I love doing it as it always brings me joy to see the young people reach out to the community out of their comfort zones. I was reminded that Jesus came for people such as these and He rejoices when we put our faith into action. It is surely more blessed to give than to receive. We could see the joy in the people’s eyes as we prayed and reached out to them with all our hearts.

House visiting -womens ministry

Praying for the sick in hospital.

It is a wonderful season where we know that the Lord is doing amazing things in our church through the people of God and as we see the growth there is more of responsibility of souls that are coming each day to the Lord. Presently I am helping one of the youth who is from a Hindu family and she has been coming now to our church few times and is not sure of accepting Jesus as her Lord and it is hard for her to understand fully as none of her family members know about her knowledge of Christ so far. I had the opportunity to keep sharing more and also praying that she would accept Christ. It has been a month of amazing opportunities where God would just send people to come to me and I get to pray for them and listen to their problems. I find it exciting to reach out to people more as they too learn to trust and grow in Him.

Playing games with the slum kids.

The slum ministry has been amazing and with Pastors help we have got some more people to help us   in growing more in this ministry of reaching out to the children and taking it to the next level. We have seen good response and this upcoming month we have got some exciting things to teach the kids from the word of God and our aim is to help them really grow in Christ. They are always so joyful and a happy group of kids. Vilma and I find so much joy being around them and now with more helping us it is going to be amazing to see what God has for them more. The women’s ministry that we have each month and house visiting has been fun too. Altogether I can say that God is amazing and He chooses to move in the way He wants us and all we need is to listen.

praying for the man on the street .

Some of my prayer points would be:

·         Please pray that I would grow to have the heart of Mary more and less of Martha. I need to work on it more.

·         For the youth girl that I am praying and meeting with that God would soften her heart and that she would accept Him as her personal saviour.

·         For God to continue giving me more agendas in reaching the youths and children better.

Overcoming all through God.

We girls doing a dance in the concert.

It has been a great month of learning to live and depend on his grace over my life. Even when I don’t deserve it He still shows His grace and mercy over me each day. It is an amazing experience to depend on God and obey him in the small and big. The biggest thing God has been teaching me is to overcome frustrations and disappointments that come my way. Sometimes working with the young people here frustration and anger can come fast but I need to have lots of patience and grace and that is what I have been asking God for. Days are not perfect but with God leading able to do it. The concert we had went out pretty well. It was a great time of ministry. Thank you for your prayers for it.

New addition to our tuitions, unable to walk.

Simran-another new addition.

It has been fun ministering with the kids and growing deeper in relationship with them. The slum ministry has been going on well. The kids love the tuitions we take and they have been responding great. We had some new kids come and join us and the parents are so happy to send them for tuitions as the kids are in their exam season. Vilma and I have divided the kids into two groups and have been able to focus on them better. It has helped us get to know them even better and they love it. The best encouragement I got was from one of my student there who told me: “Jemi didi (older sister in Hindi) after you started teaching me English subject I like it so much.” In the beginning she did not like it all and now she never wants to end even when I say time is up.

It is encouraging to hear such things as sometimes you can feel discouraged if the kids are getting anything at all. For the next month Vilma and I are planning after their exams get over to do like a good summer program with them. Presently we are working on it. We want the gospel to reach all their families and warn them also about the harmful influence sometimes they get from their parents in terms of drinking and other things kids need to be aware of. It’s been such a joy working with them.

One of the other things my team and I were able to do was minister to children’s’ home called “Bethel Missions” in which some of the kids are being supported by our church here. We conducted a small workshop for the older senior kids there. We introduced them to future goals and options in studies and jobs they can get as most of them were unaware of it. It was a good session we had with them and they were able to share their desires with us. We are hoping to conduct more sessions with them in the future so they will be able to grasp it fully.  It is another place that I find so much joy in ministering in. They are an amazing group of kids who are eager to learn and grow.

My team and I at Bethel missions teaching.

So altogether I can say it has been a good month with its ups and downs but the secret God taught me was to depend on Him and trust Him step by step. I have been able to serve the Lord better with the help of Godly friends here who are an amazing help to me. I thank God for them. It’s been a joy serving the kids, Women and youths here. Sometimes we don’t see the fruit fast but I know even the smallest things we do one day will reflect in the lives of the people we serve. The main thing is to live as Jesus wants us to and reflect His love even when it is hard.

Some of my prayer points are:

·       That God would help me with the program I am planning for the kids for summer.

·       For more of God’s love in me to reflect to the people I serve each day.

·       To overcome feelings of discouragement that are not from God.

Dependency and trust

It has been a month of learning to hold on to Jesus my Rock and salvation when I felt like giving up. Being in ministry has its own challenges but the key the Lord taught me was to trust Him and He knew best. One of the things the Lord has been teaching me is to stay strong and brave through any storm because He’s got my back. As a father loves his daughter so He loves me and is taking care of my every need be it physical or spiritual. The biggest thing I learned is to conquer fear in many areas.

Teaching the kids about hygiene

Going to the slums has been fun. Vilma and I have come up with ideas to reach the kids this year with more of the gospel as well as basic awareness that would help them in future and Basic English grammar. The class we enjoyed with them was the hygiene class. They responded well and I knew it was so helpful for them. Some of the things were so new for them and we had a great time hearing their response and seeing their joy. We are presently practicing and getting ready for the concert day on Feb 10^th and it is going to be fun.

second hand scooty

Our church is conducting this to reach out to our youth community in Ranchi which is going to be wonderful to see. God has blessed me with a second hand scooty and it has been a great blessing to travel better and to far places. I have learned how to overcome fear in driving here in this new place. I had the opportunity to meet one of the sponsor kids and her story surprised me. She used to be normal talking, walking and singing and now she is not able to talk at all and her hands totally paralyzed and not able to do anything. When I asked how it happened and her mom told us that someone who does witchcraft brought this upon her and now it’s been two years she has been like this and prayers have been happening and no medicine can make her better. We are all praying for a miracle to happen.

sponsor kid- Sweety Kujur

Some of the things I am unable to grasp or understand but I believe that God is able to do anything and her mom is not giving up in prayer. It was sad to see how a small 6 year old girl’s life has become. The church is helping them financially so they would be able to visit the right doctors who can actually help and for basic needs in their house. Though it has been a little tough month for me, it has all turned out for good in the end and God will always guide us in the right way till the end and never leaves us in our tough times.

Teaching Sunday school in another local church

Some of my prayer points would be:

*Please pray that the Lord would continue to give me courage and strength in other areas of my life.

* For the concert we are hosting on the 10^th of Feb that it would not be just a show people are attending but rather feel the Lords presence as they come and participate.

* For the sponsor kid who needs Gods healing touch for I believe that His power is above all else

MONTH OF REFRESHMENT

my friend and I hosting the program

This past month has been a great one hearing and learning from the Lord as well as the people of God. The main lesson God taught me is to be grateful in everything. I enjoyed conducting the Christmas program for the kids at the slums. Vilma has been a great blessing to me and with her help it went well. We enjoyed watching them showing off their talents and gifts. We had the opportunity of blessing them with presents too. They were so happy. It is so encouraging to see their grateful hearts and sweet smiles. All the hard work paid off. We also took the kids to a program where Christmas was celebrated for kids all over Ranchi and they loved it.

kids doing the nativity scene for their whole slum

We also had a great time celebrating the youth Christmas. Kumar and our team helped organize the whole thing. The youths had a great time. After that we went to Bangalore to celebrate Christmas with the family and it has been a great time there. We had an amazing retreat with the sons and daughters team. It was so refreshing and fun. We have learned so much and had good fellowship too. The best part of the retreat was when they all prayed over us and had a time of prophesying over us. It was definitely life giving and I treasure each moment of it. As the New year is here now the Lord has been teaching me to serve Him wholeheartedly and willingly.

with the slum kids at a program the whole day

celebrating youth Christmas

I am excited for what God is going to do through me to reach out to the kids and I want to do the best I can. After coming back to Ranchi we have decided our goals and targets for the year 2017 and one of my strongest ones is to reach the parents of the kids at the slum through ministering the word of God to kids at a deeper level. To also teach them how to deal with issues in life. As I was praying the Lord laid this on my heart to do and with His help I am praying it would happen.

sons and daughters retreat

Some of my prayer requests would be:

·       That the Lord would guide me to teach the kids in the right way so that they are the light in their families.

·       That God would give extra wisdom in terms of reaching out to the Jharkhand people and to fluently learn their language.

·       To trust Gods agenda and not mine.