Dear Friends,
God is moving among us! We have had a fruitful first part of the year.
Firstly, we’d like to thank you for praying for our change of leadership. In February, Mr. Ian Liu, was appointed the new City Co-ordinator for YWAM Chennai. Ian and his wife, Sandra, have been working with YWAM India since the early 1980’s and have served in various capacities in leadership over the years. Ian and Sandra have two teenage sons, and Sandra is the principal of our Asha Kendra Christian School as well as being the pastoral care co-ordinator for YWAM Chennai. Please do pray for this family as they move into their new role.
Another exciting event is that our street children’s ministry, Rescue and Restore, has moved into a new era! Two of the girls who were rescued from the streets many years ago, entered into marriage this year! Chitra married Babu (a boy rescued from the streets and now working in a restaurant in the city) in February, and in June, Mary married a young man who has a government job. We are thankful to God for giving these kids a new hope and a future.
Below are reports from our ministries. This month’s format is a little different as we update you on what the teams are currently involved in as well as giving testimonies of how God is touching people’s lives.
Thank you so much for your prayers!
YWAM Chennai city leadership
RESCUE AND RESTORE (STREET KIDS MINISTRY) – CHENNAI / MADRAS
During the summer months, the children staying in our shelter went home to spend time with their families, which is something the government now requires. Sometimes this is difficult for us to do as it means the children have to go back to live on the streets with their parent/s. They are then living in situations where they might not get enough to eat, where they could be abused, and could be tempted back into the street lifefstyle of begging and stealing. We praise God that all the kids returned to the shelter and are now back in school. Only one boy in our shelter was abandoned (so we have no idea whether he has any relatives anywhere) and he stayed with some of our staff during the holidays.
While the children were with their families, our staff conducted two Vacation Bible Schools (VBSs) one of which was in the slums near Central Station. Our staff, some volunteers and an outreach team ministered to over 70 children daily. The second VBS was located at a local church with approximately 130 kids attending each day. The outreach team also went to the streets and to a very large vegetable and fruit market to talk with the people there. We are also involved with various ministries such as home groups and women’s fellowship conducted in the slums and on the street. Our football program temporarily had to become a basketball program, as our football field is being renovated. Last, but certainly not least, we celebrated the marriage of Chitra and Babu, two of our young people who “graduated” from living at the shelter. They are currently on their own and doing quite well.
Praise Reports
· Increased staff this year
· Increased ministry happening, especially on the streets and in the slums
· Babu and Chitra's marriage
· Mary's marriage
Prayer Requests
· Spiritual fruit in all the various ministries.
· Additional staff
· Finances for staff and ministry programs
· Finances for school fees and other school expenses
JEEVAN SUICIDE PREVENTION CENTRE – CHENNAI / MADRAS
Praise the Lord that He is continually sustaining us! We are still providing phone counseling from 8am-6pm a day between Monday and Saturday to the depressed and hurting in Chennai. Many have been calling to receive our free counseling over the phone and attending regular counseling sessions at our center. Praise the Lord that we have had so many opportunities to speak into the lives of the hurting. We have received over 150 calls on our hotline since January.
During the school year, we run school programs promoting suicide awareness. These programs give us opportunities to counsel students who may be struggling with depression and not even be aware of it. This was a great chance for us to partner with local schools, and to have a voice in the children’s lives, bringing hope, life, and love.
Our advertising campaign on the local commuter trains ended in March. We started a new advertising campaign in the beginning of May on 40 city buses for the next four months. Advertising has been extremely beneficial to our ministry, because we are one of the only two free suicide counseling centers in Chennai. We noticed a marked reduction in calls in April when we did not have any advertisements out and then a marked increase in calls when the ads went out again. We hope to continue our advertising as the Lord provides.
Praise Reports
· A college student who previously received counseling from our center brought two friends who were hurting and in need. The two friends were helped and changed by the counseling. Praise the Lord that He can use anyone to bring the ones who need healing to our doorstep. People are referring our ministry to others!
· We met a student in 10th grade from a dysfunctional Christian family through a principal at a local school. We found out that her mother ran away to stay with relatives while the father was busy with ministry. The principal was trying to help, but was ineffective. When we met her, she had no idea where her mom was and her father didn’t care. We began to meet with her for counseling and prayed for her family. By God’s grace, in April her mother came back to the family and she even came to Jeevan with her daughter for counseling. Praise the Lord the family is being restored.
· A new door has been opening in our ministry for family counseling. Up until recently we have mostly had clients that were single. Now we have families that want to come and receive help and healing. Praise the Lord for a new avenue in our ministry!
Prayer Requests
· We need staff for counseling and local awareness programs. We had some move out of our ministry as the Lord led them. Pray that He brings in more workers for the harvest.
· Our laptop crashed! Pray for financial provision to recover our important documents.
· Pray for the hurting people that are in need of suicide counseling that they would have the boldness to call and seek help before it is too late.
PROJECT AIDS THROUGH CARE AND TRAINING (PACT) – CHENNAI / MADRAS
Our current projects:
- 10 bed hospice for HIV+ women.
- 10 bed facility shelter for HIV+ children.
- Monthly home based care programs for 250 families through support groups held in different places in Chennai.
- Visiting 100 in-patients in every month in the local hospital and other health centers.
- AIDS awareness programs are being held in Tsunami affected areas of Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry.
- AIDS awareness programs among diverse communities and churches in Tamil Nadu.
Praise Reports
More than 500 people have given their lives to Christ and experienced His love and compassion through our ministry’s work to date. This mission has further placed thirty-five families in home based care programs and support them with provisions of Rs.250/- ($5 USD) a month. We have also been able to sponsor the education of HIV children worth Rs. 1,50,000/- ($3750.00 USD) each school year. In addition, we also provide burial support and other miscellaneous supports through our office to the meet the various needs of the people.
Subashree is from a well-to-do family in southern Tamil Nadu. She got married 12 years ago and then gave birth to a child two years later. Their child was always sick, and eventually doctors gave an HIV test, which stunned Subashree and her husband, as it came back positive! Then, Subashree and her husband were tested and found they too were positive! This news, coupled with the information that their child already had full-blown AIDS and would not live long, rocked the family. And, in fact, the child died within two weeks. Subhashree and her husband racked their minds to find out how they could have become infected and eventually, with doctors help, the discovered it was most likely from a blood transfusion the husband had had after an accident before his marriage. Her husband felt responsible for their child’s death and contemplated suicide. Subashree comforted and encouraged her husband and they pledged together to live and not end their lives no matter what difficulties they have to face from now on. When Subashree told us her story, our staff were deeply moved. We shared the love of Jesus with this couple and prayed with them. Please do pray for God to move in their lives.
Prayer Requests
· Pray for the staff and hospice resident’s health and finances.
· Pray for our own building for the aids hospice.
· Pray for the staff to abound in wisdom and peace for each situation they encounter.
ASHA KENDRA CHRISTIAN SCHOOL – CHENNAI / MADRAS
Praise the Lord for another successful school year! We wrapped up the 2006-2007 school year on April 4th, 2007. We have been quite busy this break already with a move! We found a new place for the school that will be better suited for the students. Our new location has more spacious meeting facilities and the neighborhood is much quieter. We are now tucked away in a calmer residential area.
Praise Reports
· We found out after signing the agreement for our new place that we found favor with our landlord and he turned down better offers for the building so we could have it! How great is our God?
· A couple of internationally minded cell groups from another country raised money to sponsor two children for next year. Their families will be so blessed!
· Praise God our loan is getting close to being paid in full!
Prayer Needs
· Three teachers are leaving and will not be returning for the next school year. We need three to replace them as well as an accountant and administrator.
· To be registered and recognized by the government.
· A van to transport the kids.
LEPROSY MINISTRY – CHENNAI / MADRAS
Praise the Lord that we have been able to continue working in six different areas in Tamil Nadu. The programs we are running in the various colonies include agriculture, day care, evening school, Sunday Schools, prayer meetings, and church plants. In February alone we had over 400 people attend prayer and church meetings in all the different colonies, in addition to over 200 patients cared for, utilizing over 1700 bandages. Praise the Lord for his provision and the influence he has given us in these areas of great need.
In one of our newer colonies we recently finished a sports competition and handed out merit awards to all the children. We were also able to provide a dining table and mosquito nets for several of the children. We hope to purchase some games and activities in the near future as well. Praise the Lord that we are spreading our roots in this newer area.
Praise Reports
· A 50 year old man named David who is affected with leprosy and asthma was admitted to the hospital last month. He was stress ridden and felt completely hopeless. The doctors at the hospital were unable to treat him. He was discharged from the hospital and became even more depressed. Our workers met him in a colony where we are establishing a church and introduced him to Jesus. We visited him regularly bringing him hope by praying for him. The words of life planted in his heart have completely changed him! He is now walking in boldness and faith with his trust in the Lord. Praise God!
· Kodhandam is 55 years old and lives in Bethel Nagar. He attends our house church regularly. Several months ago he prayed for God to provide the money to buy an auto rickshaw. Thankfully he was able to save some money in the local savings scheme. Praise God that he was able to buy the auto he needed!
· A 50 year old woman suffering from leprosy was excommunicated from her family and has been staying in the leper colony for the past twenty years. She experienced tremendous rejection and hurt from her family and society. She wondered how there could be any god that would allow this to happen to her. Our workers visited with her regularly and shared the love of Jesus with her. Through the visits and prayers she accepted Jesus Christ in her life. She is now experiencing love from the Lord and doesn’t suffer from rejection anymore. She is rejoicing with a new life in Christ. Praise God!
Prayer Requests
· Pray for provision to supply games to the children in the leper colonies.
· Pray for our workers to have creativity and wisdom while sharing Christ’s love with the hurting and rejected.
· Pray for God’s word to flourish in the areas that He has planted us!
MERCY MINISTRY TEAM – CHENNAI / MADRAS
Adambakkam
Praise the Lord for the many programs we have been able to sustain here in this place. We are still able to hold our weekly Sunday school here with the children. They really enjoy it and come faithfully. We are able to do a lot of different and creative things to teach Bible stories and songs. The children sing them all week long! We are also able to continue our Savings Scheme with ladies in the slum. If they faithfully bring money to deposit in the scheme for a couple weeks consecutively, they reach a point in the program where they are eligible to draw a loan out to establish a new business (micro-enterprise). Another area where we have seen great success is doing house visits and reaching out to everyone who opens their home to us.
Chinandikuppam
We are continuing our work in the slum here through a variety of creative social projects including: prayer walking the neighborhood, visiting homes regularly to pray for the needs of the people and form relationships with them, and teaching tailoring to women who are the sole providers for their families. In addition there is an after school tutoring program to assist the children in their studies, which also functions as an outlet to meet and establish rapport the families living here, and a day care that provides child care to parents who need to work but cannot because they are unable to have someone watch their children. Our Sunday School is bringing the good news to every age. Praise the Lord that all these ministries are having an influence on the spiritual climate in this slum. All glory to Jesus.
Kottivakkam
We continue to run tutoring classes after school and have many children that attend daily. Praise the Lord that we are having a lot of opportunities to speak and pray into the lives of the children. We have also had opportunities to bless families with school supplies and backpacks. Working so closely with the children has caused them to open up and share with us how their families are doing. This has given us many opportunities to go and do house visits in the neighborhood. The Lord has given us many opportunities to meet and pray with families who are struggling with alcoholism, sickness, and a variety of other needs.
Kannagi Nagar
We are still tutoring after school with children daily. This has been so fruitful in each of the slums we have done it in. We are blessed to be able to work and help these children excel in their studies. This is an influential ministry because education is so important in Indian society. Many parents highly encourage their children to come and focus on their studies with us. We have had different opportunities to present fun programs to supplement in addition to their normal studies. We are also able to visit homes in this slum. Several families have continuously opened their homes to us and invited us in for tea and discussions. We have had opportunities to bring the love of Christ into their home and pray with them!
Praise Reports
· Sasi is in kindergarten and was suffering in pain from a big boil under his eye lid. When we visited his house, we spoke with him and said that Jesus can remove his pain in a second and taught him to pray. We all gathered and prayed for the boy. The boil was healed quickly and he started attending tuition.
· We had a puppet show and a magic show with nearly 400 children and 200 parents who attended the show. Afterwards we shared the Gospel and many of the parents and children heard the Gospel spoken to them plainly.
· Sathya was very much depressed and fearful because her husband had beaten her very badly. When we went to visit her house she asked us to pray for her. We encouraged her with the Gospel and told her the love of Jesus. We prayed for her and her husband to love her. The next time we met with her she told us that they both were getting along much better and are much happier.
· Our new tract ministry and prayer station in a new area is doing well. We have handed out over 200 tracts so far. Praise the Lord!
Prayer Requests
· Pray that the Lord would use us mightily in the slum areas that we are currently working in.
· Pray for the people who we have been able to share the gospel with. Pray that they come to know the Lord personally.
· There are many needs in the slum, but pray for the people to step out and get involved in our different programs.
NEIGHBOURS – CHENNAI / MADRAS
Our ministry with the neighbors is going well. We are meeting the needs of the community and running Bible studies, fellowship dinners, and an after school program for tutoring. Our after school program has around twenty children in attendance. After the tutoring, we spend twenty minutes singing worship songs. The children really enjoy it. Many of them are singing praises to God. Our fellowship dinner now has about twenty parents from our after school program. This dinner allows us to have more time to get to know and interact with the children’s parents. We are still meeting and having our Bible study each week. We have several that attend, but are not yet ready to make a firm decision.
We recently received news through our network in another village that fifteen people made a decision for the gospel, and also went under the water. There are also about sixty seekers in the fellowship who are still searching out the truth. However, many of the community leaders are putting pressure on the believers. A few are fearful, but many are standing firm. We are planning to teach these new believers how to reach out to other neighbors. Please keep us in prayer!
Praise Reports
· Praise the Lord for the trust, respect, and reputation we have earned in our community through our after school program with the children.
· We have been able to see neighbors find the truth and are preparing to train them to reach other neighbors. (Multiplication)
Prayer Requests
· Please pray protection on our families and the neighbors that are stepping out in boldness.
· Please pray for more seekers to make a firm decision.
· Please pray for an even greater influence in the villages we are working in.
PIONEER MINISTRIES -- KOCHI
We just recently finished some ministry in Kasargod. It was wonderful experience. We did open-air meetings, Prayer Station, house visiting, and hospital visiting. We were able to pray for a lot of people during those ministry times. We also personally shared the gospel to more than 500 people of all different faiths. Praise the Lord that twenty three of them accepted Jesus as their personal savior.
Our Summer for Jesus also just recently finished. We had eighteen local youth from Kochi in attendance and were able to see many lives affected and impacted. Praise the Lord for this opportunity we had to influence local Christian youth.
Praise Reports
· Successful ministry in Kasargod and the lives that were impacted. Pray for those new believers.
· An amazing Summer for Jesus. Praise the Lord for the youth who attended and went out boldly to preach the good news.
· A young man named Babu accepted Christ and has started to come to meetings.
· We now have three churches doing Prayer Stations in the city.
Prayer Requests
· Effective opportunities in Kasargod and Kochi to present the gospel.
· Our upcoming DTS in July – students, finances, and direction for outreach.
· Wisdom and direction during this season of preparation.
PIONEER MINISTRIES -- MADURAI
Things are going well here in Madurai! We have several projects that are fully functioning and being an effective witness.
Our savings scheme now has forty women participating. We are able to teach women the importance of saving and starting a business. The local moneylender offers loans at an interest rate that is unreasonable and unaffordable. We are able to offer loans that they can afford, and pay off in a reasonable time that will benefit their families. We want to see the women flourish in a trade they can support their family with.
Our Sunday evening youth service started with eight people and now has twenty-five. We have been able to speak into their lives about salvation, God’s love, and hope for the future. So far we have been able to reach out to 70 of the 300 youth in the slum we are working in through personal evangelism.
We are still running our medical work and have had over five hundred local people benefit from it!
Praise Reports
· A woman was suffering with a cough and fever for one month. She came to our medical team and we took her to the hospital where she was diagnosed with tuberculosis. She accepted Jesus and is now coming to church! Praise the Lord!
· We now have fifteen cell groups that are active in the slum with over ten people in each.
Prayer Requests
· We need more workers and staff for our ministries and programs.
· Pray that we would continue to be fruitful and effective in our ministries.
KANCHEEPURAM
We are so grateful to the Lord to allow us to continue our ministry in different areas of Kancheepuram. Our DTS center is in full swing with ten students who have set aside the next several months to seek God and his purpose for their life.
Our Daycare now has twenty four children! The parents are very supportive and send them regularly. They are excited to have their children praying each night and singing songs when them come home.
The Equip Women Ministry just started an Equipping Women’s School in the city. We have twenty women coming.
We were also able to host a pastors weekend where we brought in eight pastors and their wives for a weekend of fun and refreshing. Since these pastors spend so much time serving, we wanted to make sure they had some time to relax and be served. They really enjoyed their time!
Praise Reports
· Our leadership retreat was successful! Pastors and their wives were refreshed!
· Twenty women are now being equipped at our school.
· Our day care now has twenty-four children. Local parents are very supportive.
Prayer Requests
· Pray for all the ministry leaders to find their rest in the Lord.
· Pray for staff welfare
· Pray for the new supporters for Equip Women Ministry
STREET KIDS -- HYDERABAD
Recently, we had a medical camp arranged by KIMS Hospital in Hyderabad. A few doctors came to check the vision of the poor and needy people from nearby villages. It was very exciting! We had 150 people come for eye checkups, and from them thirty people were given free eye operations at the hospital. Some of our children also benefited for the vision checkups. Two boys were struggling with headache, and the doctors prescribed glasses for them. Please pray for two boys, Rakesh and Vamsi, that the glasses will help the headaches to go away.
Praise Reports
· The children received many good marks in school!
· The doctors blessed so many needy people with visions tests, glasses, and free eye operations! Praise the Lord!
Prayer Requests
· Pray for Anil, one of our boys who wondered back to his home and his parents said they didn’t know him. They claimed he was not their son. Please pray for Anil and his parent’s relationship to be restored.
· Please pray Munna, a Punjabi boy who is newer to our shelter. He was rescued from the train station and is just starting to learn the local language. Pray that Munna can adapt to life well in the shelter and be transformed by God’s love.
