Pastor's blog

Story of Prem Masih

2011-04-15T10:20:05Z

Each missionary has a testimony of how the Lord touched and changed lives. When they share the good news, people accept Christ. When they prayed, people were healed and miracles happened. Most of the missionaries work among the Hindu, Muslim or Sikh communities. Here is story of a native missionary and how the Lord is using him for the Kingdom of God.

Pastor Prem Masih's working in a village, Ferozpur District, Punjab state. His days are often filled with trouble and opposition, he remains spiritually uplifted daily in the Lord. His impact on this region and the fruits of his labor are abundant. Most of the people here are either Sikh or Hindu. The main industries here are predominately farming and cattle ranching. They faithfully attend prayer and worship meetings with hungry expectations and exuberance.

Worship and Fellowship

A typical worship service will go for more than 2 hours. There is always plenty of singing, prayer, heartfelt testimonies and most importantly the sharing of God's Word. At the close of the service, the church provides a love meal. Every week, the Pastor's family and volunteers prepare enough love meals for all. For those who are still required to work the rest of the day, they are forced to eat their meal in a hurry. They will then work out in the fields again until dark.

Outreach / Training

Pastor Prem Masih is not only reaching out his village but also to many other surrounding villages in the area. The villagers see him as "God's own man" and give him much respect. God is using this servant in an amazing way to lead many to the saving knowledge of Christ and repentance. God hears and answers Prem's prayers. Prem has seen the healing grace of God time and time again with the sick. These miracles and healings are shared to encourage others. For many non-believers, these signs are critical in the initial process of taking the very first steps toward knowing their real Savior. This church has 250+ baptized members. There are, however, on average no less than 450 people attending the weekly worship services. This successful missionary style church has successfully planted several new churches in the district of Ferozpur. The men running these new churches are missionary Wilson Masih (working with HMU in Jalalbad) and missionary Shaym Lal (working with HMU in Lakho ki Bahiram).

Building Together

Prem Masih in encouraging his believers to take part in the ministry in different ways. Here is an example. As an answer to a long awaited prayer, God has enabled this church to purchase a piece of land through the help of HMU. Pastor Prem Masih explains, "Earlier we used to sit on the floor in the open sun for worship. But after some months, our church members cooperated with me and now we have been able to raise a permanent cemented shed with a concrete roof for the worship gatherings on this God given land. Some brothers brought the bricks, while some brought cement while others came and did the masonry. Somebody gifted us with a gold ring for this work. When I was very much troubled about the work, one day a Sikh man came to me and sponsored 20 bags of cement. Thus through the extended financial help from the HMU office, the work is almost completed." We thank God for the sponsors who supported this project. Even though some work remains to be completed, Pastor Mathew Oommen dedicated this building for God's glory on the 8th of September 2006.

His Vision
All of this exciting growth and development of this Church was brought to reality by divine intervention. One day, Prem saw a vision in which a person took him outside his small house and showed him a ripe crop ready for the harvest. The person in this vision said, "This entire crop that you are seeing is yours." The impact and revelation of this vision started Prem Masih on a path to this special place God had chosen for him. Missionary Prem has been working hard ever since to fulfill that vision

Harvest Kids Yearly Updates for 2010 Region Maharashtra

2011-04-15T10:06:26Z

An introduction to children's spiritual lives, including their spiritual development, Nurture and experiences of a spiritual nature. Spirituality is considered from a Distinctively Christian perspective, although broader perspectives of the topic also are Considered. The related areas of children's religion, faith, and spirituality are examined Both topically and historically.

We praise God for establishing work among Children. We have named this ministry wing as Harvest Kids. Currently there are 4 hundred children from different walks of life. Lord has been using this ministry to reach out the local unreached communities in most effective way following few testimonies from children and from their parents. What changes have taken places in the lives of their children and their families?

Harvest Kids Sangamner:

1) Deepak Kailash Khandare 8 Th STD.

Coming from a Hindu family says I am so great full to the Lord Jesus. Before coming to this school I did not know any thing about Jesus Christ. After coming to this school I understood who Jesus is and what He did for humanity. Before I knew Him I was a rebellious child in home , I never ever used to listen to my parents , The songs and scriptures we learn in school have truly brought a great change in my life. My parents are so happy to changes in me. And as result of that my parents too have started coming to the church we are so thank full to the Lord and those who given us blankets and sweets on new year eve

2) Pranay Choker

Says I thank Jesus Christ. Because by coming to the Harvest Kids School I came to know the true and living God. . Harvest kids school is a good school to learn from Bible which helps to me. I n this school I have learned how to pray to Jesus and most important thing is Jesus not only hear my prayers but He answers too. I am happy because I have found a new friend who has promised to stay with me all the time His name is Jesus Christ. I always talk to my friends in school about my new friend..

Harvest Kids Aurngabad Walunj

Presently there are 50 children from backward class most of this is in outskirt area where the development of basic things is not done. Hygienically children are not clean. Around a year ago we began this project. Beginning the response was very poor. But as the days went by number of children began to increase .after noticing the change in the children more parents started sending their children to our school program.

Parents are very happy because most of these children were not going to school, after attending Harvest Kids School they themselves have started keeping themselves clean and tidy. Not only that but they started attending their regular school on day to day Basies. There is so much of change in children. One of the child told his father don't eat tobacco. Chewing of tobacco is sin. You come to church Jesus will help you to leave your tobacco habit. Most of these children did not have Tiffin box to carry their lunch to school. After giving them the Tiffin they were so happy. Each child thanks to God and the sponsors for providing the Tiffin for them as a new year's gift.

Harvest Kids Nashik

Praise God for this Harvest Kids project. This project has become very effective one to reach out people from other communities this year about 10 more children were added from surrounding area of our church. Now there are 100 children who regularly attend our play school. Following are some testimonies form parents and the children

Sanjana Gangurde

Says I thank God ever since I started attending the school my family whole family was changed. When I myself came to church my younger sister who is 8 years old also started attending the church. Here in this school we have learned more about true God and His love for us. Before coming to this school I had a very bad phase of my life. Such as fighting with neighbors living disobedient life but my life now is totally changed after seeing the change in me my family also began coming to church now my family and me we have been experiencing the peace of God . Also thank God for the gifts we got .

Shivaji Haribhajan Paricha

I praise God for His love, after coming to Harvest Kids School me and my family has seen some changes in our life. I come from a Hindu family my mother died when I was small baby. My father remarried and ever since then I was living with my stepmother. She never looked after me well, many of the times I used to go without food, slept without food. I was very sad in my life. Because of the harassment from my step mother and on top of that my body was affected with boils. No money for treatment One day my friends took me to Harvest Kids meetings. They prayed for me and within few days boils on my body disappeared, my step mother was amazed to see this she also one day came to the program and she was delivered from evil spirit. Ever since then she has been so loving and caring towards me. Now I am looked after well. I know now Jesus loves me and cares for me. Thanks for this new friend in Jesus.

Vishal Arjun Age 12

Before coming to Harvest Kids school I used to sell fruits and eatable items in railway compartment and on platforms. I don't have parents my aunty looks after me. Today I am so happy because Jesus has changed me. Before that I used to steal passengers luggage eating tobacco and ghutaka, smoking of beedis but here I have understood there is someone who loves me so dearly and cares for me. After hearing about this wonderful Lord Jesus I surrendered my life to Him because this was the first time I heard about Jesus. I have promised to Jesus from now on I will leave only for Him. Thank for gift of

Rugs

Parents Feed Back from all Stations

We have seen lots of changes in the lives of our children. Their behavior has been changed. We thought this is a Christian institution their motivation could be selfish to change our children religion. But now we know our children are following the best path in life. Most of our children were involved in crimes, running away from homes and put in rehabilitation centers and remand homes. But we are so grateful to this institution for taking up this noble task in bringing the changes in our society

Regards

Sanjay

Macedonian calls ringing from Himachal Pradesh

2011-04-15T10:04:20Z

Himachal Pradesh, is known as the "Abode of Snow". It is a state located in the northern part of India, dominated by the great Himalayas. Himachal is sometimes referred to as "God's own Abode". The entire region of Himachal Pradesh is characterized by hills and forests. The majority of the people in Himachal Pradesh are Hindus (95.9%), followed by Muslims 1.7%, Buddhists 1.2%, Sikh 1.1%. The percentage of Christians in the state is only 0.09%. Himachal Pradesh has long been India's least evangelized state. It is a centre for Hindu pilgrimages, and every mountain is named after a god and there is much devotion to idols.

The Lord paved the way for Harvest Mission to the Unreached to start ministry in this least evangelized state since the year 2009. The Almighty is blessing the ministry and the work is progressing. On November 4, Pastor Joy Varghese, a senior minister working with Harvest Mission, visited the mission fields in Himachal Pradesh. Along with few other servants of God, he reached a place called Madhuani at night 9.30, one hundreds miles away from capital city Shimla.A prayer meeting was arranged in this particular place and people from different hills and valleys were waiting. After having a swift fresh-up, the servants of God had gone to the meeting place. The Spirit of God moved mightily in the meeting, setting people free from the bondage of evil spirit and sickness. Almost everyone who came for the prayer had one or the other problems in their lives. Moreover, all of them were bounded by the demonic spirits. When the servants of God prayed, the demons threw the people to the ground and were screaming loudly. However, through prayer and the ministry of the Word, God delivered all of them completely. By God's rich grace and mercies, the meeting went up to two in the morning.

Then the team went to a village called Noula, where Pastor Devender Singh Negi, (HMU Missionary) is ministering. There too people from different places were gathered and the Lord helped His servants to minister powerfully. Hence, the Lord healed the sick and delivered the demon-possessed persons. People were able to experience the touch of God in their lives in a fresh way.

The next destination was Garasu, where the HMU's missionary Pastor Deshraj is ministering. To reach his place (Garasu), the team had to walk about three and a half kilometers. They walked through the narrow roads and sometimes climbed the hills with the God-given strength. Physically they became very tired and when they reached the actual destination, their legs were swollen and ached with pain.

The prayer meeting in Garasu was a great blessing. An old woman, a regular attendee of the church lives in a distant village on a hilltop. Some years ago, when Pastor Deshraj visited her house with the Gospel, she received Christ as her Savior. Along with her one of her sons named Satish also received Jesus into his heart. But, he failed to have a steady walk with the Lord. However, his mother was kept on praying for him to have a close walk with God. Moreover, Satish was always inside the room, not doing any work. So, his mother wanted the servants of God to come to her house and pray for him. Although her house was on a mountain top, the Lord enabled His servant to climb up to there and speak to Satish from the Word. As they spoke to him from the Word lovingly and authoritatively, he began to have a change in his attitude. The Spirit of God then convicted him of his lost state. Toward the end of the conversation, with tears he admitted his failures and the need for the Savior. He then surrendered his life completely to the Lord, asking Him to be his Master. He also decided to obey the Lord in water baptism. His life took a new turn and was filled with lasting joy and peace. On seeing the tremendous change in Satish, his mother's joy was untold.

Many people from the neighborhood attended a prayer meeting conducted at night in the residence of Pastor Deshraj, where the regular Sunday worship service is being arranged. A woman came for the prayer from a place which is nine kilometers away from the meeting place. She was suffering from a severe headache since a long time. When God's servants prayed for her, the Lord touched her. She was fully tormented by the powers of darkness. But through prayer, God delivered her completely from the evil bondage. She then became very happy and was overwhelmed with heavenly peace and joy. She returned to home as a new person.

Everywhere the team went, the presence of God was so real and He healed the sick, delivered the demon-possessed and broken families were united. As a result of their ministry ten persons made a solid commitment to obey the Lord in water baptism. Pray for them to be firm in their decision and for the continuous growth of the ministry in Himachal Pradesh. Now the winter snow is raining in these places, and hence the water baptism is not possible, till the winter is over, or arrangements needs to be made to take these candidates, who has taken decision to witness the lord in water baptism to elsewhere, where cold is not much severe.

This state is now ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party, who oppose the Christian propagation in the state and on several times the local leaders of the party warned our missionaries and final warning is served to them to stop the worship and not to share gospel with anybody. However, our missionaries are bold in their decision to do the ministry, God called them for.

NEW OPENINGS FOR MINISTRY IN THE NORTH EAST by PR. Shibu K. Mathai

2011-04-15T10:03:02Z

God enabled me to visit North East India from 11^th to 20^th October 2010 wherein I could visit Bengal, Bhutan (India's neighbouring nation), Assam and Meghalaya. God's grace could be felt each and every one of these days.

The first visit was to Jaigaon, a city adjacent to Bhutan. It is India's main border with Bhutan. Pastor Bobby Mathew, who hosted me here, gave lot of first hand information about mission situation in Bhutan and also took me into the country to the border city of Phuntsholing. Here, we could visit a pastor too.

Tantric Buddhism is the religion of Bhutan. Tantric Buddhism is that sect of Buddhism that is involved in numerous magical rituals, which are mired in everything that is demonic. While there is no freedom to openly involve in evangelism and church planting, yet house churches have proliferated in the capital and some other main cities. Living costs are too much. To support a missionary in Bhutan is very expensive. People love their nation and are extremely proud of their culture. Influence of the outside world on the culture here has been minimal. This nation needs the gospel more than ever. Even the pastors working here have little or no ministry and theological training.

As I had gone there with lot of prayer, I could see God at work everywhere. In Jaigaon I met a theologically trained professional who came to the Lord from a Hindu background. He had come there from Mumbai after God started speaking to him about Bhutan. He could visit Bhutan many times and develop some contacts with local Christians. He has promised all help for us to start ministry there.

After ministering in an inter-denominational youth camp at Alipur Duar, some 50 km inland from Jaigaon, attended by about 300 youths from various churches, I travelled to Shillong in Meghalaya. Here, our missionaries arranged a meeting attended by about 30 people. Thereafter, as a team of ten people including Pr. K. Myrthong, Pr. Victor and Pr. Deepak we travelled to the remote villages of West Khasi Hills. The exhausting journey of 120 km (73 miles) through difficult mountainous terrain took us almost six hours by an SUV! In between, the jeep had to tread on stone strewn mud paths for almost 10 km!! But, the soothing natural beauty of this virgin land is worth the trouble taken in exploring it. Ministering in these areas is a challenge in itself. There is hardly any transport facility!!

Finally, we reached Maynore, the hometown of Pr. K. Myrthong. His parents hosted us for two days. Here we could conduct four sessions of revival meetings attended by about 30-50 people in each session. In this Presbyterian village this was the first time any such event was being organized. All the participants were immensely blessed through these meetings. People are utterly ignorant of the Word of God. An HMU church was inaugurated in this village. Pr. K. Myrthong was given additional charge of this infant church till a full time pastor is appointed. Our pastors have initiated some ministry among Jaintia people also. Khasi, Garo and Jaintia are three people groups in Meghalaya. Overall, the work in Meghalaya looks poised for growth.

In Guwahati (Assam), Evg. Rohit is still doing the needed groundwork to plant a church. He is confident in the Lord that within a year a good congregation would be planted there.

NEW OPENINGS FOR MINISTRY IN THE NORTH EAST by PR. Shibu K. Mathai

In Guwahati (Assam), Evg. Rohit is still doing the needed groundwork to plant a church. He is confident in the Lord that within a year a good congregation would be planted there.

ANOTHER CHURCH BUILDING IN PUNJAB DEDICATED TO WORSHIP THE LIVING LORD

2011-04-15T10:00:23Z

Pastor Shyamlal Bhatti, working with Harvest Mission to the Unreached as a missionary in Punjab state was not educated theologically much, but he was working along with Pastor Prem Mashi, who led him to Christ. They travelled together in all the villages around Mamdot in Ferozpur district in Punjab in a single bicycle to preach the gospel. They used to peddle the bicycle for miles through village roads to preach the gospel in the scorching summer heat, and chilly winter cold, as the burden for the souls are motivating them every day. Consequently, a group of people formed as a congregation to worship the lord from the village Lakhokebahram in Ferozpur district, Pastor Prem Mashi assigned his assistant and disciple Shyamlal Bhatti to look after that church about a couple of years ago.

God used Shyamlal Bhatti in a special way to minister to the spiritual needs of the people coming for the gospel. Though he is not an eloquent speaker or a teacher, whomever he prays get the deliverance and healing. Slowly people gathered in a small room made of mud, which he has taken on rent, where he used to conduct prayer meetings and worship services. As the months went by, seeing the effectiveness of his ministry somebody donated a piece of land for him to construct a church building. Depending upon God for the provision, Harvest mission initiated the church building construction in the month of April 2010. Pastor Mathew Oommen was laying the foundation stone for the church building in the month of April 2010, two brothers who came for short term team ministry in Punjab, was witnessing that function, namely Bros. Samuel Joshua and K.V.Chandran - the spirit of God inspired in their heart and before Pastor Mathew Oommen said the benediction, they came forward to sponsor the construction of that church building. Thus a church hall of 15feet x 45 feet was constructed on that spot and that building has dedicated to worship the Lord on 30^th October 2010 by the servants of God and the building opened for worship and handed over to Pastor Shalala Bhatt and his congregation by Brother K.V.Chandran, who was a co-sponsor of this construction project. Even while carrying on the construction, whenever Pastor Shamlal comes to see the construction progress, the afflicted people used to come for prayer by him and received the deliverance. Prominent among them is one lady belongs to the Sikh religion, who was married four years ago and was without child, and the doctors told her that she cannot bear child since her uterus is damaged and need to be removed. Pastors prayed for her at this church building while the construction going on, is now carrying 4 months of pregnancy. Praise the Lord for His marvellous doing.

God is moving mightily in Pratapgarh

2011-04-15T09:46:52Z

After being studied in Calvary School of Harvest, Punjab, the Lord guided missionary Sunil to serve Him in a village in Pratapgarh district (county), Uttar Pradesh state with Harvest Mission to the Unreached. This village is known for all sorts of notorious activities. Most gang fighters in the city are from this particular village. Sunil is the first missionary to this village. God began to move in this village and many families are now coming to the fold of Christ.

Spreading of the ministry

Within a short period of time, the Lord helped him to start a ministry in a nearby village. When the first meeting was arranged in this village, the Lord delivered three women who were under the powers of darkness. While praying in the name of Jesus Christ, the demons left them and they became completely well. On seeing this miracle, a witch doctor invited Pastor Sunil and his team to his house. Having shared from the Word, pastor and his team prayed for him and his family. As they were praying, the witch doctor's wife, who was demon-possessed, was completely delivered. As a result, the whole family repented of their sins and received Christ as their Savior. There was a goat in their home which was brought to offer as a sacrifice to their gods for her deliverance. After Jesus had delivered her, they sold the goat and brought the tithe to the church for the living God.

Meetings and God's Deliverence

Two more meetings were organized in the villages which hundreds of people attended. During the prayer time, the Lord healed many sick people, making them to understand that there is no God apart from Him. Moreover, God is touching many sorcerers to know Him as their Savior. Till now six sorcerers have received Jesus as their personal Savior and are gladly worshipping Him in truth and spirit.

God is working wonders in his ministry and many people are coming to the church, even from faraway places of 30 and 40 kilometers. As the Lord is blessing his ministry, many people who received Him as their Savior had made a commitment to witness their faith publicly in water baptism. Another person was suffering from a heart problem and high blood pressure. However, the Lord healed him completely when Pastor Sunil prayed for him. This incident helped him to know Jesus as his personal Savior. He is now a strong believer in Christ and witnessed his faith in water baptism.

Oppositions

By God's grace, the ministry is progressing daily, and now more than 80 people are regularly attending church services. However, he faces constant threats and opposition from the villagers. Many of his relatives are against him, and they will never include Pastor Sunil for any of the family functions. If any of the villagers invite Pastor Sunil for their marriage function or any celebrations, his relatives would threaten them with dire consequences. Then, the villagers would tell Pastor Sunil to not to attend their functions. Yet, the Lord is helping him to go ahead in preaching His Good News.

Earned the Respect

Sunil Kumar, a very small in size, he is not much educated except our Bible school training. However, as a man of God he is respected by most of the people not only of his village, but the neighbouring villages too, except his own relatives. Because for any of their problems, they run to him for prayer, because they believe his prayer will work. Even the village chief too respect him. In the recently held local body election, the village chief was contesting, and came to pastor Sunil Kumar with folded hand as a mark of respect to seek his blessing, so that he may win the election. Hearing that news, next day, the candidate contesting against him also approached Sunil Kumar to be prayed for, so that he may get the victory.

Baptism in temporary tank

When the people made decision to take water baptism, the question come up, where to give them water baptism, because there is no river, water tank and pond nearby, people depend upon the tube well for their water needs. But they found out solution. They dig a hole of 5feet x 4 feet size with 5 feet depth and spread a plastic leak proof sheet on it and filled the water from the tube well, to enable pastor Joy to give water baptism to the people who have taken firm decision. On that day, 25 people, 10 men and 15 women all from Hindu background took water baptism. One among them was a prominent witch doctor in the village. He was doing all sorts of witchcraft, but had no peace of mind. When Pastor Sunil shared with him about Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit convicted him of his need for the Savior and took baptism on this day. Though there are many more people decided for water baptism, Pastor Joy advised them to firm on their decision and give up the religious practices they are doing and grow in the spiritual life. So that we the baptism shall be given to them after a while. All those who have taken water baptism are happy, as they could obey God's command. The first baptism service was done by a senior minister of HMU, Pastor Joy Varghese from Delhi.

Cowshed turn to Worship place

Missionary Sunil's house is a small room made of mud and grass with plastic sheets. That room was not enough to be used for the worship places. Hence he converted a nearby shed which they used as a cow shed. He converted that into a worship place and now more than 80 people who attend the worship at this place experience heavenly joy on their worship. The worship services are not time bound, they continue to worship till they feel satisfied. As the believes used to come from 30 to 80 kilometres away, they start by 10 am and go up to 4 to 5pm in the afternoon. But they enjoy. The present worship place is not sufficient to accommodate everyone who comes for prayer. Sunil told us that he has separated a small piece of land which he got as ancestral property for the construction of the church hall. He is praying for the resources to construct a church hall which can accommodate hundreds of people, who comes for worship. Pray that the Lord may provide all the needed resources for them to have a church building as their own, where hundreds can come together to worship Him. Pray for the newly baptized believers that they may walk closer to the Lord and stand for Him in the midst of all difficulties.

Experiencing heavenly joy during the worship in cow shed

2011-04-15T09:44:00Z

Pastor Sunil when he started his ministry in the village called Kaseruva (Pratapgarh) his native village. His house is a small room made of mud and grass with plastic sheets. That room was not enough to be used for the worship places. Hence he converted a nearby shed which they used as a cow shed. He converted that into a worship place and now more than 80 people who attend the worship at this place experience heavenly joy on their worship. They forget all their worries and pains, when they come to worship. The worship services are not time bound, they continue to worship till they feel satisfied. As the believes used to come from 30 to 80 kilometres away, they start by 10 am and go up to 4 to 5pm in the afternoon. But they enjoy. Pr. Sunil told us that he has separated a small piece of land which he got as ancestral property for the construction of the church hall. He is praying for the resources to construct a church hall which can accommodate hundreds of people, who comes for worship.

VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL PROGRAMS

2011-04-15T09:41:35Z

HMU missionaries are ambitious to make use of every opportunity they come across to share the Gospel with the lost. As the educational institutions were closed for the summer vacations, Harvest Mission missionaries have arranged Vacation Bible Schools in different parts of the metropolitan city of Delhi. Many of the churches conducted the programs to reach the children with the Gospel. Thus, it helped to implant the love of Jesus into the hearts of hundreds of non-Christian children.

Pastor Joy Varghese, a senior minister working with Harvest Mission, was in search of a place to organize the VBS since they do not have an own worship place. On every Sunday, they arrange the worship service in a small private school building, situated in a jam-packed street in an unapproved colony. The owner of the building will not permit his premises for any other programs except on Sundays. Because on other days, he is using his premises for other purposes.

The church has been praying to God for a suitable place. At the end of their search, they could find a small place - a motor garage where the motor engines were brought for the repairing. Since they close their work late hours of the day, they start late. That was helpful for the church to conduct this program there. In order to close the program, before the motor repairing works start, pastor and believers planned to start the program bit early, viz. 7.30 in the morning and went on for 2.30 Hrs. They also were bit doubtful whether they will get any children for the program. Trusting on God for every resource, they started the program on 31^st May. Beyond their expectation, 50 children enrolled on the first day itself for this four days' program.

Hundreds of people are accommodated in their matchbox type houses in this crammed street. Both sides of this narrow street are having uncovered drainage (channel to drain out the dirty water and other wastes) - which children of these areas uses as "toilet". One cannot walk through these filthy streets blanketed by the flies without hitting the passersby or stray dogs and wandering animals.

On hearing the songs and the music, which are not familiar to the people of that area, they peeped into the garage to see what was going on there.

Hence, on the next day onwards, more children came in, and there were 70 plus kids were regular to the meetings. The VBS program ended on 3^rd June. The children were taught about the love of Jesus, and His sacrificial death on the cross through stories, action songs, and skits. Snacks and drinks were served to encourage these children to come daily. On the last day of the meeting, many children's parents also attended the program. Moreover, during the closing program, many children testified the changes that happened in their lives through this four-day meeting. The most wonderful part of the VBS was that many children received Christ as their personal Savior though this program.

Pastor Shaji Abraham organized the VBS program for the children living in the slums of "Sooraj Park" in north Delhi for five days. 300 plus children from the age of 4 to 15 attended this program. Very many fun-filled programs, besides the story-telling, puppet shows, action songs, added color to the VBS, which immensely helped the children to learn about the only Savior. Pastor Shaji and his wife Lissa coordinated this program on behalf of Harvest Mission.

Pastor P.K.Samkutty and his church arranged the Vacation Bible School program for the children in the neighborhood of the Rajagarden Church. However, they have charged a small registration fee from the participants to regulate the uncontrollable flow of the children. Many parents were sending their children to this program, as they were not able to control the urchin children at their small homes. However, the VBS program transformed the lives of these naughty ones.

In spite of the strict regulations, one hundred plus children enrolled for the one-week VBS program of the Rajagarden church. Pastor Sajimon of Gurgaon Church is also planning to conduct the VBS program in the month of June.

We are confident that hundreds of children were blessed through the Vacation Bible School program held during this summer.

Missionary Journey through the mountains of Nepal

2011-04-15T09:31:24Z

The Lord helped Harvest Mission pastors Jijo Varghese and Abin Jacob from Delhi Head Office to travel to the various mission fields in Nepal, holding special prayer meetings, spiritual breakthrough meetings and youth meetings and visiting each of the HMU pastors in this Hindu kingdom. They had two full weeks of ministry in Nepal which encouraged the 27 of HMU workers. Though the team had to encounter several hurdles and difficulties, the grace of God was upon them in a great measure.

To reach the various mission fields, the team had to travel by bus or jeep (four-wheeler vehicle which is using to travel in the remote areas) for hours together. Besides the tiresome journey on bus or jeep, they had to walk on their foot for several hours.

From the very first day of their travel, they faced struggles. After 32 hours of travel in a bus, they reached the border area at midnight. Due to certain inconveniences, the bus which supposed to go to Nepal stopped there, and they had to change the bus. After waiting for hours, they took another bus and reached Kawasoti (the place where Pr. Dpacha and Gopal Lam ministers) in the early hours of the day. After having a short time of rest and fresh up, they began their missionary journey at five in the morning.

The fist place where the team visited was Dhading, where six missionaries are working. Pastor Gopal Lama, Br. Ramesh Thapa and Evg. Aman Thada from Nepal accompanied the team to visit the mission stations. Except for one, all the five missionaries are working in the mountaintops of Dhading District. The mode of transportation was a Jeep which was overloaded with around 25 people along with their luggage(the seating capacity is for 12 passengers) The journey was very much tiring yet God strengthened them. After 4 hours of journey in the jeep, they walked for another 1 hour on the mountains to reach an inn, where they rested for the night.

After having visited all the six missionaries in Dhading and encouraging them to serve the Lord more vibrantly and joyfully, they got up at early morning five and walked for 4 hours to reach Tawal village, where our missionary Chandra Bahadur Tamang ministers. There Pr. Abin Jacob ministered from the Word during the worship service on Saturday, it is on Saturdays the worship services are being held in Nepal. After a time of praise and worship and ministry of the Word, the team spent time in praying for the sick and needy. It was a time of God's presence coming down and touching everyone. All the people especially youths experienced the powerful presence of the Holy Spirit. Also, on that day, there was a baptism service where 10 persons testified the Lord in water baptism.

In each mission field which the team traveled had arranged special meetings where attended by not less than 150 to 200 people on average. God did great things through our team and all the churches experienced revival. They also conducted special sessions for the pastors and for the youths in which Evg. Abin and Pr. Jijo ministered. Thereafter, they walked 6 hours continuously and traveled again in a jeep for 4 hours to reach back Dhading City.

In the mountains of Nepal, there are no vehicles available. So, to visit mission stations there, you have no way other than to climb mountains by foot. All together in Dhading, the team had walked 18 hours on mountains to visit 5 churches!!

From Dhading the team traveled to Gorkha, another main district of Nepal where Pr. Kharpa Lama and Pr. Ningja Tamang ministers. They also traveled to Chitwan and Nawal Parasi districts. Four missionaries are working in Chitwan. Even though the churches in Nawal Parasi are in the valley, yet due to the lack of public transport system, they had to hire a jeep to reach the location.

Although they had a tiresome yet an exciting trip to various churches in Nepal and were encouraged by seeing what God is doing in these places. Even though Nepal is a Hindu nation, the churches there are experiencing a steady growth. Our missionaries are working with lot of commitment and dedication and many souls are being added to God's kingdom. The urgent need now before us is to give proper Biblical training to our missionaries working in Nepal to help them to be more effective in their own mission fields. After visiting all our missionaries, encouraging them to stand firm for the Lord and arranging Gospel meetings in each pace, Pastor Jijo and Abin safely reached back to the Delhi Office on May 26^th 2010. The grace and presence of God was upon them all through their journey and ministry in different parts of Nepal. We pray and hope in the Lord that soon the nation Nepal will be won for Jesus Christ.

Water Baptism in a temporary water tank

2011-04-15T09:15:28Z

When Pastor Joy Varghese of HMU with a team, reached at the mission station namely “PRATAP GARH”in Uttar Pradesh, where Pastor Sunil Kumar is ministering since last couple of years. Pastor Sunil Kumar has been requesting us to visit his place, since long to teach his new believers from the bible. Though Sunil Kumar, a very small in size, he is not much educated, now he is respected by all the people not only of his village, but the neighbouring villages too, except his own relatives. Because for any of their problems, they run to him for prayer, because they believe his prayer will work. Even the village chief too respect him, because in the recently held local body election, the village chief was contesting, and came to pastor Sunil Kumar with folded hand as a mark of respect to seek his blessing, so that he may win the election. Hearing that news, next day, the candidate contesting against him also approached Sunil Kumar to be prayed for, so that he may get the victory.

When the people made decision to take water baptism, the question come up, where to give them water baptism, because there is no river, and pond nearby, people depend upon the tube well for their water needs. But they found out solution. They dig a hole of 5feet x 4 feet size with 5 feet depth and spread a plastic leak proof sheet on it and filled the water from the tube well, to enable pastor Joy to give water baptism to the people who have taken firm decision. On that day, 25 people all from Hindu background took water baptism. Though there are many more people decided for water baptism, Pr. Joy advised them to firm on their decision and give up the religious practices they are doing and grow in the spiritual life. So that we the baptism shall be given to them after a while. All those who have taken water baptism are happy, as they could obey God’s command.