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Last updated: 4/1/2010
Martyrdom! Churches Destroyed
We have learned that 2 of our pastors have had their churches destroyed. Three years ago we built a church for Pastor Paul Charon Nayak in the Kandhamal District. During the recent radical Hindu persecutions his church was completely decimated. Now 78 baptized believers and 50 Sunday School children need a new building to replace the one they lost.
Pastor Digal's church building was also destroyed. He has 150 believers attending. During the monsoons it is very difficult to gather the church and maintain the congregation's need for ministry. it is with great sadness that we report our first martyr, a member of Pastor Gopal Digal's church from the Kandhamal District. The persecution was planned and all our churches and believers were in great danger. Things have calmed down and it is now time to rebuild and step up our support and encouragement of our brethren.
President's Message
Kell Frandsen, President GLMWe have been incredibly busy the last 6 months adding new administrative staff with Pastor Varun in India. He works perfectly with our accountant, lawyer, and existing staff and leaders in India. Our budgets and quality of care have been streamlined and we are having excellent communication and reporting...so THANK-YOU Pastor Varun!
Kenna Elford has come on board as our administrator. She is a great gift to us all. She will work closely with our Board and our accountant as it protects the heart of the ministry and guards the material and monetary investments of the sponsors, as well as keeping us on top of reporting and communication. Kenna will be contacting many of you so please feel free to communicate and concerns to her. Please pray for Kenna and her son Nathan, and for Pastor Varun and wife Vanaja (she and Varun are expecting a baby).
Since our last newsletter we made a trip to India in December. It was a great privilege to travel with Chris Kutyn, his wife Dianna, and daughter Julia. The Kutyns fit perfectly and the children owned them as uncle, auntie, and sister. I was extremely encouraged by their enthusiasm and the talents and love they brought to the children. We all hope they will have many more visits and stays in India.
The Children's Home is running extremely well. The childrne are very happy and are doing well in school. We also run a daycare ministry at the Sevenagar slum where about 40-6- children gather for 4 hours a day under Pastor Karuna Digal's leadership. We also provide food for these children.
Please consider and pray for a Trust to be formed for the children's education. We have a number of older children who will be of the age to enter college soon. Many are very bright. We wish to give them every opportunity to succeed and become leaders in His Church in India.
This fall Kell and I will be 61 and 59. It still feels strange to think of ourselves as senior citizens, but that's what we are, with all the gray hair and wrinkles to prove it. Usually people think of retirement at this stage of life, especially if there are health issues, but after much prayer and consideration, Kell and I feel we want to spend our latter years in full-time ministry in India. Actually this has been on our hearts for many years. We have been self-supporting since 1994, using our business and the sale of our house to provide funding for our trips abroiad. It hasn't been easy. As anyone who has tried to run an international ministry can tell you, it is difficult to keep on top of things when you live thousands of miles away. By God's grace, the ministry has not only continued, but it hass prospered and expanded. We are very grateful to our Board members, sponsors, donors, staff, and volunteers who have helped make it all possible. Yet our hearts yearn to see more happen. Kell has a dream to start a Bible School and that would require his full attention and focus as he works closely with his students. And I have always wanted to rescue 'throw-away' babies and help destitute women, both of which would require much organizationa nd nlots of hard work. And of course we also greatly desire to see the children in the Homes go on to college and hopeuflly become future staff and leaders in the ministry. They will need our guidance and direction. So you can see, we have BIG dreams and these fill us with excitement and energy, in spite of the fact that we are in the latter stage of nour lives. Nevertheless we are not at the end of the race and we want to run so as to win the grand prize - the Gold of Jesus Christ's affirming words: Well done, good and faithful servant." Actually our race is more of a relay team event with the passing of the baton from one runner to the next. We don't run alone. We need your prayers, encouragement and support if we are to see the fulfillment of the desires in our hearts for this ministry. And the children and npastors of India need the same if they are to rise above poverty and oppression and see victory in their lives. We all need each other as we run this race together.
last updated 2/5/2010
