Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church 2009: Focus on India... Read and Pray

Here are a few videos that show the need of Christians every where to pray for our fellow brother's and sister's who are being persecuted.









This subject is very dear to us. Today is Prayer for the Persecuted Church Day!!!

Here are a few facts on the persecuted church:

"According to the World Evangelical Alliance, over 200 million Christians in at least 60 countries are denied fundamental human rights solely because of their faith. David B. Barrett, Todd M. Johnson, and Peter F. Crossing in their 2009 report in the International Bulletin of Missionary Research (Vol. 33, No. 1: 32) estimate that approximately 176,000 Christians will have been martyred from mid-2008 to mid-2009. This, according to the authors, compares to 160,000 martyrs in mid-2000 and 34,400 at the beginning of the 20th century. If current trends continue, Barrett, Johnson and Crossing estimate that by 2025, an average of 210,000 Christians will be martyred annually. (VOTM)"  The fact is that MORE CHRISTIANS HAVE BEEN MARTYRED IN THE 20th CENTURY THEN IN THE WHOLE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY.  An estimated 465 are martyred every day.  But GOD'S WORK IS CONTINUING!

Though persecution happens world wide, for this article we will be concentrating on India since God has called us there. In India, there are 7 States that have anti conversion laws. Our State, Tamil Nadu, does not currently have an anti conversion law, but it has in the past. This means by law we cannot convert people from any religion and if you do, you may face legal issues.  Last year in the state of Orrisa, Christians were targeted and brutally murdered. We hold this issue dear to us. We have friend, faithful servants of Jesus, that were killed last year because of their faith. Christians are ostracized daily for their faith. They loose family, jobs, housing due to their faith. 


We ask that you remember the believers.

Pray for the persecuted!

         Pray for the displaced Christians that have been forced our of their homes.
         Pray for the women and children who have been left widows and fatherless.
         Pray for the GROWTH of Christianity
         Pray for God's peace and strength.
         Pray for provision
         Pray that these Christians will be a witness during the persecutions

Pray for the persecuted!
        
          Pray that God would reveal himself to them! Think of Paul in the book of Acts
          Pray that God would move on the Government's Heart to permit the work of the Lord.

We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

—2 Corinthians 4:8-11

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.

Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.

—1 Peter 4:12-14, 16
 

Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,

—2 Timothy 3:12

Follow this link and you will find a few more places in the Bible where it talks about persecution, http://idop.org/pages/resources/bible-readings.php

Thanks for reading and praying.  If you would like to receive monthly information on the persecution world wide and how to pray, visit the Voice of the Martyrs website here or email us and we will let you know how to receive a free monthly magazine.

One Year in America

We have now been in America for one year. It is bittersweet for us. We are happy to see what God has for us in this season we are in. We are happy to be building our ministry in anticipation of our full time return to the mission field. But we really miss our kids, our ministry, and our life there. But we know God has great plans for us.

Currently, we have applied and received Ravi's Green Card. In 3 years, we are able to apply for citizenship. This is a year process, and after that is complete we have to get things cleared with the Indian government.  This seems like a life time for us, but we trust that God can do great things in this time.

Please be praying for us. We are having to find a place to live. We have been living with Evie's parents, but it has come time for us to move.  We are also working on building the ministry.. we have so much to do but we know God is leading and guiding us. 

Here are a few pictures from when we first got to America!!!!

Here is when we FIRST arrived off the plane in Maryland.. we stayed there for 2 weeks talking at local churches and visiting family... boy were we wiped!!!

We enjoyed visiting with extended family..

We cannot believe how little Jeshu was then!!! He is "SO BIG" now.. (Or that is what he likes to tell us all the time...)

Thank you for taking this journey with us.. 

Ravi, Evie, and Jeshu Kumar

Family in September

This September we enjoyed a visit from Evie's Grandparents, Dean and Esther Luse, and Aunt Nancy Luse. They took the train all the way from Pennsylvania to see us. It was a great time with them.

We enjoyed a great time as a family at Crater Lake. 

We enjoyed catching up and relaxing...

Jeshu was introduced to chipmonks.. He was unsure about them crawling on him though and ended up kicking on off the wall..

We also took a family trip to the ocean..

Jeshu did not care for the cold ocean water...

Jeshu with Great Aunt Nancy and Cousin Beniah

Time for a family picture...

Jeshu and Great Grandma Luse AKA Grammie

Evie's father did not get bonus points though when he did not allow his wife to escape from the water.  But what a great photo op!

But soon it was time to say goodbye...

So with a posed Family Photo..  We said goodbye to our traveling family..

In the end of September, we added a new member to the Kumar Family...

It is  a 2005 Kia Optima.. we found out that our Mazada is needing a lot of work. And Ravi and Evie work different schdeules, so we needed two cars. This car is a blessing from God. It only has 50k miles on it and is in great condition!

But for the most part life continues on as normal with the Kumar family.  Including Jeshu's favorite show, ELMO'S WORLD..

Velangombai in September

A surprise waited for the team on the way up... a road full of butterflies

There was a great storm right before we went up to the village this month... This made the road to the village hard to pass. 

This is the area that once had a major bridge. Last year it washed out. We have now lost many of the bridges on the road up. In the summer months it is not an issue because there is a lack of water, but in the winter months when the rain comes through, this whole area will be flooded.

But this is all worth it to see our children. There were many children and adults there this time.

Even the Tribal Cheif, Rajapan, was in attendance. We could not do what we do if the Tribal Cheif was opposed to us. We are blessed to have befriended Rajapan. He tells many surrounding villages about our ministry.

Hallelujah!!!! This is a common greeting we use. Whenever we come into the village, the kids all yell HALLELUJAH to let everyone know we are there.

Our adults are all starting to join us in prayer. They are believing that God will answer their prayer request.

These are a few of our young mothers. They really enjoy coming to the meetings too.

So with a full house, we began our meeting for this month.  We started with worship. As you all know, our kids LOVE worship time.

After worship, we always hand out snacks. This gives the kids and adults a little break before we start with the message.

We are delighted each time to see Bushan. He makes a special effort to come for prayer each time we come.

From young to old, everyone enjoys snack and fellowhip time. It is a simple time for the people to forget about their worries and just relax.

This month, Pastor Stephen from Sathyamanagal Mizpah Prayer House came and preached to our tribal villages.

The kids love hearing the stories and repeat them to their friends. These little kids are a witness to their friends at school. What an amazing way to reach out.

The adults in the tribal village make the team tea each time we visit. We bring in the tea powder and they make it for everyone.

Once the message is over, it is time to color the same story.

We are like parents... It is hard for us to not take pictures of our kids.

But you have to admit.. they are cute. 

It is hard to resist adorable faces like these.

These are the future leaders of our villages. Hopefully, they will go out and make a difference for the Lord.

These are little ones have such great needs, and we try to help where we can.

We always bring our toleitries. The kids and adults look forward to this!

Even our growing toddlers and babies love their soap (or at least the gradparents and parents do)

We end in prayer and then it is time to go.

Then the team heads back through the damaged roads to reach home. Until next month....

Kumar family Summer '09

Ok so we are behind.. so instead of a month by month play.. lets do a quick highlight of the summer time in the Kumar household!!

Jeshu found Mommy's gloves and decided to wear them one day

We enjoyed a trip to wildlife safari with our friends the Tonn's and Reman's

 

4th of July weekend, we took a trip to Bend for a wedding and stopped by Diamond Lake for some pictures.

We had a great time there!

We shared a rental house with some friends that even had a vibrating massage chair. Titus Reman and Jeshu loved to share it!

We celebrated 4th of July with the family a few days later

Jeshu was not to sure of the fireworks

He rather watch from the safety of mommy's arms

We also enjoyed Cherry season.... mmmmm good...

Jeshu has decided to share his mom's love for playing instruments..

Do we have a future worship leader????

Also in the beginning of July, we went to Portland for Ravi's Green Card interview.

But before the interview, we met Evie's sister Heather and her Husband Tim and son Beniah at Multinomah Falls

It was a cool and misty day.. but we had a lot of fun!!

 

We all took a nice long hike before heading back to Heather and Tim's for the night

We then got up early in the morning to head to downtown Portland for the interview. We waited for an hour, and then had a 5 minute interview. In the end, Ravi got his Green card.

 

Another big thing was Ravi got job.  He is working at a group home for disabled adults. He is working graveyard, but still loves it.

In the Middle of July, we were guest speakers for Camas Valley Christian Fellowship's kids "Creation Camp."  The kids were learning about other countries, so we were asked to share. Ravi even got to teach them a few Tamil songs.

And Jeshu helped out too

Ravi and Jeshu got to experience their first camping trip which they loved.

 But Ravi noticed that there is no difference between camping and tribal living.

Jeshu had a great time and so did Mr Monkey. Jeshu had fun pushing Monkey around the campground

Just a cool picture.. something different

How do kids get so dirty??

We camped Old School style and cooked over an open flame.. to bad it was during the hot spell when it was 100 degrees. We went for a hike to Susan Creek Falls at the exact time that the Williams Creek Forest Fire started. In the hike down we noticed Helicopters flying over with their buckets of water and a few hours after we left they closed down the area.. hmm that was a close one

August brought Ravi and Jeshu's first fair experience.  We were accompained by Evie's parents.

Jeshu LOVED the animals.. he was very happy and was making animal noises for days after that.

 

Ravi enjoyed his time and even won himself a shirt by scaling the rock wall for the Army...

Then end of August the whole family got together for the annual family camping time

It is a great time had by all...

It was a bit cold.. but we managed

Jeshu loves to be outdoors... we could live out there and he would be happy as can be

We ended.. or lets me say.. Ravi ended the trip with a fishing experience.. Jeshu LOVES fish.. We decided to get a few fish for him.. however five fish later they were all dead and we ended our pet fish experience..

Well that was a highlight of our summer.. hope you enjoyed

Real Hope Revival Church Erode- August Youth meeting

In August, Real Hope Revival Church Erode conducted a youth conference.  There were 90 youth in attendance that day.

The tiny church was packed fully with all the youth and the adult helpers.

Pastor Steven Raj from Sathyamangalam Mizpah Prayer house led worship for the event.

 This is a yearly event that Pastor David conducts in his church. It is a great way to encourage the kids to continue to take a stand for Jesus. It is a hard thing to be a Christian kid in India; It is not a popular thing. These are our future leaders.  Our goal is to install a great future and vision into these young adults.

This event took place on August 15th. This is a national holiday in India. It is India's independence day. The kids have no school this day, which makes a perfect time to conduct this meeting.
Some of the young people gave testimony. This is Jagan; He helps out on a weekly basis in the church. He is a regular helper in the tribal area. He was attending college, but he could not pay his fees.  He asked Pastor David to pray, and they did. God answered! The school gave him a scholarship that covered most of the tuition, and the church was able to cover the rest.

 The youth conference also have many Bible drills and memory contest. This encourages the kids to memorize the scriptures and compete to see who knows the most.  This is one of the kids favorite times.

Many of the teenagers break into groups and present small skits. This team did a story about Jesus on the cross. These skits are entirely youth led.

A special guest speaker came into preach, Pr. Simon.  He was a college classmate of Pastor David. 

The pastor encouraged the kids to live a great Christian life. He gave the tools needed to live a victorious life.

The kids love this time to hear God's word. It is a fun way to spend the vacation day! We are thankful to be able to continue this tradition one more year!

The last thing we do at ANY Indian function is EAT!!! What a great time to socialize with other believers. Many of these Christians do not come across Christians on a day to day basis. When we gather like this it encourages the believers. The traditional meal served is Briyani. It is a meat and rice mixture.

This was a wonderful day in the presence of the Lord!

August 29th, 2009: Velangombai

In August we brought our team to Velangombai. 

We always bring a sign with us. We have to prove to the Indian Governement that we are actually doing something.

 This month we had another great month with lots of kids.

 The kids look forward to this each month.

 We always start with prayer and worship.

The kids love the songs.

Even the little kids get involved

One of our faithful volunteers hands out of snacks to the kids after the songs.

 

The kids and adults all sit on hard dirt floor, but still they try to never miss a meeting.

Pastor Steven poses with the children. He is one of our faithful helpers.

And so does Pastor David.. The kids LOVE their pictures taken.

Pastor David preaches a message to the people. This month we continued our 10 commandments series.

The kids then color a page to add to their personal story Bibles. Each kid is making their own presonal Bible.

 We have many kids coming up that are in need of help too. Thank you for all your prayer and support.

August 22, 2009 Our visit to Guilyada

This month was a great time! We started with great time of prayer! The kids have really enjoyed these meetings. 

 Pastor David Raj Kumar with assistant Pastor Sami Durai, lead the meeting.

These are the kids of Guilyada. There are a lot more, but not all the parents have their children come. There are also 6 surrounding villages that we have

The kids enjoy our action songs.

These are a few of our volunteers. Many of the volunteers give up a days wage to minister to these kids.  We could not run this ministry with out the these people.

 The Kids really enjoy our time of worship. These kids are learning the songs.  Music is a vital part of Indian culture, especially the tribal culture.  They love to play music and join in. So we are able to teach them songs that praise Jesus.

We give the kids snacks before we start the message. This helps them calm down from the fun of the songs and gets them ready to hear the Bible Story.

The kids all enjoy drinking coffee at a young age.

The kids love to listen intently to the messages that we give.  This is a great time that we design for them. The kids in this village are learning the same thing as the other ones.

We are slowly going through the Bible story by story. In a few years they will have completed the entire Bible and we will start again.

The kids love to color. It is a great time to share more about the story to the kids. They even learn a Bible verse each month.  

We have such beautiful kids. It is hard for us to choose just a few to share with you.

These kids have a better start to life then the kids in the other village, but they are still in great need for common necessities. They still need Jesus.

The kids have so much fun during our times there. We still have not gotten a full explanation on what this little boy is doing.  But non the less, he is having fun

We gave out some school supplies and toiletries to the kids in this village. The kids love getting these things. However, due to finances,  we are not able to do this every month. But the kids still love it when we can help them.

During these times of prayer, we can really present the gospel. We are able to pray for these little ones. The kids too love this time of prayer.

The kids LOVE to get their pictures taken.  They love the attention it brings. And we have to admit, we love taking pictures with them too. So the kids joined Pastor David for a group photo. They gathered in front of the common building where the water pump is. In the rainy seasons, the water pump works, but in the summer months, the villagers must go out to find their water.

The children always wait to see the teams off when it is time to go. Through the mud filled mud paths, the children waved goodbye to the team

The way back to our town was very cloudy and rainy.  The team passed another tribal village. There are so many villages in this area. Our dream is to reach these villages one by one..  This is our future and our prayer.

Wonderful Happenings in July Velangombai

"peekabo I see you"

July was a wonderful time in the village....

We conducted our normal Tribal Visit... Complete with stories from the Life of Moses. This month they learned about the Crossing of the Red Sea from the Book of Exodus. They are also learning about the 10 Commandments. Each time the team goes, they talk about one of the 10 Commandments. The kids are memorizing the 10 commandments now too..

We posed all the kids for pictures... Pastor David took the first spot..


Then came all of our kids... Like Perumal our Tribal Cheif's Son

Arun who is growing up so fast

Periasammy and his beautiful eyes

Pirya and her wonderful smile!!

Kavipriya is a mommy's girl and not a fan of the camera

All of the kids get soap, toothbrushes, toothpaste, etc each month when we come.

The little kids REALLY love getting the soaps.. Since they do not go to school, they miss out on so much...


We have mixed feelings during certain times in our ministry.. We welcome and love new kids that join our village. Life is a wonderful thing, but most of these new moms, are children themselves. We have a new baby in the village, but the mother is very young. This young mom is at the most 15 years old

It blesses our hearts to see the people in our village begin to pray.. They are testifying that God is doing miricales in thier lives...


Before the team left, they gathered around to pray for Bushan. For those of you who do not know, Bushan is a physically disabled man, that we have watched God HEAL over the last few years. When we first met him in 2004, he was close to dying. His family said, "he will die soon." Well God had other plans.. He is now able to move, and scoots himself to the meetings each week. He has given his life to Jesus.. So, we pray with him every time we come that God would FULLY, 100% heal him, so that he could walk!!!


The kids have really come to love Pastor David... We are so happy that the kids have made this connection with Pastor David....

The road is still in horrible condition.. They took the van that drives the kids to school, to the village... This shows where a bridge ONCE was; it has now washed out and has been HAND DUG by the adults in the tribal village...

June in Velangombai

The new uniforms and school supplies

The kids are arriving at school..

For this visit, we did not conduct our normal tribal visit. School starts in June, and we had so much to do to prepare for the new school year..



The students needed uniforms, school supplies, and other necessities. We had asked the Principal to join us in the tribal area to hand out the needed school supplies to the children. But he had a better idea, He invited us to join him at the school and hand out the uniforms and supplies there.
Well this may not seem like a big deal to you, but there it is a HUGE deal. Christians are rarely invited into public places like this. We were able to show the love of Jesus to the surrounding village.
We also gave out sweets to EVERY CHILD in the school. We wish we were able to help every child that struggles in this area.


Not only does June mark the beginning of school, but also the beginning of the rainy season.. It is not what we think of the rainy season.. In our part of India, a rain storm will come through every once in a while and for a hour or more a torrential rain will soak the area causing flash flooding.

In the end of June, this happened again. Again our road washed out. Every week it is getting more and more difficult to reach the tribal area.


Thank you for your continued support and interest in reading about our ministry and life... Continue to read for more exciting stories....

Real Hope Revival Church Erode- June

In June Real Hope Revival Church Erode conducted a special meeting....


The church attended and packed out the small church


A Guest Speakers came in to preach, Rev Sam Varghees. He was Pastor David Raj Kumar's principal when he was in Bible College...

These Meetings bless the hearts of our believers and encourage them to continue to follow Jesus in a place that is hostile to Christianity..

June in Guliyada

Here is a few pictures of what happened in June in Guliyada...

Pastor David Preaches a message to the children. Here we do not have many adults that attend the meetings because they are working in the jungle and fields. But the parents love that their children are "busy" doing something else and are not under foot. It is a simple way of ministering to the whole village.
Imagine a day there if you can... the parents go to work early in the morning.. the children get up early and get ready for the visitors... Our team arrives and ministers to the children... telling them about Jesus who loves them... The parents come home and ask what they learn about... the kids share the gospel with the parents..

Sweet faces from our village

The Children Listen intently to the story

A young man joins us as we close in prayer

The Road that goes into the village...

Raj and some of the girls wave goodbye.. Until next month

Ravi's Trip to India

Ravi left for India on April 25th and Returned May 23rd
His main goal was to visit our ministry, but he also enjoyed some great time with his family


Ravi's Family right before he left

Ravi's Sister Ruby, her husband Stephen and their son Joshua. They are the head pastor's of the Sathyamanaglam Mizpah Church.

Ravi's sister in law Saline and mother Suganthi

Ravi with his parents

Ravi's brother and Real Hope Pastor, David Raj Kumar with his twin daughters Joyce and Jennish and son Joe

Celebrating Joshua's 2nd Birthday

Playing with Joe

Our growing girls

Ravi's dad while visiting his father's house

Joe

The girls in their western dress with Joshua at church

Tribal School Visit

Ravi showed up to the school on the last day of school. The schools in India run from June to April.

This was the first time that Ravi was able to see our precious kids.


We brought them sweets and talked to the principal.


Ravi spent 2 hours with the kids.

a boy from the local village was terrified

Our kids are all being promoted to the next level and the school should be expanded to the 8th grade. Currently it only serves kids up to the 6th grade. Please pray that the school will be expanded.

It was a great joy to see our kids again.
We are so proud of them.
These are kids that have no relatives that have gone to school, yet they have completed one grade of school. Thank you for all your support.

First Tribal Visit

This was the first visit Ravi made during his trip to India. We had the team postpone the April visit to the end of the month, so that Ravi could join them. Ravi wanted to make sure he would have a lot of time to spend there. He woke up early that morning and finished all that needed to be done. What a joy to see the people that we love after such a long time...

Pastor David with Ravi

Ravi surprised the village by showing up with the team. When Ravi came into the village area, he shouted the normal "HALLELUJAH" greeting. The kids all came running, and were so happy to see him.



This was a typical visit except for one thing, Ravi was here. Ravi got into a lot of trouble with the ladies for not bringing his wife and son.




We started out with prayer. The sound of these tribal people praying is the sweetest sound.




We shared about Joseph. Then the children learned their memory verse and colored their pictures.


One of the main jobs this visit was handing out some new clothing. We were so blessed to receive 20 pounds of clothing from the Roseburg Dream Center. We had enough to give a new shirt and shorts or pants to every child in the village.

They were ecstatic to receive such a great gift. They never get these nice of clothing. The clothing that here in America are considered to be cast of clothing, is considered to be a high possession. What a joy to give these kids such joy.



We also brought some fake police badges that the kids loved. They were so happy to become American Police Officers. We also handed out the normal monthly items like toothpaste and soap.



We also handed out some balloons. They LOVE American balloons. They keep these balloons for weeks on end. They will blow them up, and tie them off with a string. They will then play with them for a while; after that, they deflate them and put them away for later.



We posed for a few last pictures.

These kids can scream Hallelujah loud!!!

But it was time to say goodbye. Whenever we leave the village, the whole village comes to say goodbye to us. It felt so good to be back.

Sathyamangalam Church

The Church in Sathyamangalam is our home church. Ravi's parents were the pastors of this church until this last fall when they retired and passed the reigns to Ravi's Sister Ruby and her husband Stephen. They have been doing a great job. It was a great joy for Ravi to come back and have the chance to preach.

He was able to preach two Sundays here. It has been 8 months since he has had the opportunity to preach, so this was a great joy for him.

The church is a very small room. It is the size of large walk in closet here in America. People cram into this small room and gladly sit for hours to hear the word of God. This area of Sathyamangalam is strongly Hindu. They are very anti-Christianity. This is the only church in the area. Most Hindu's will not rent a building to Christians, but a nice Muslim family has been renting our family this small house for 14 years. If it were not for this Muslim family, we would not have a place to mee. So we are grateful no matter the size.


He were also able to dedicate a little baby boy to the Lord named Jaivarsen. It was a delight to pray for this little boy.

Also he spent a lot of time visiting some of the believers in the church. He had the change to pray for a faithful servant of the Lord. She has been a dedicated member of the church for over 12 years. We were sad to find out that she is in the final stages of cancer. She has been quietly battling it for 4 years, but has not said anything due to the lack of money. This breaks our heart. We wish we could have helped her, but the doctors say it is too late to help her. Unless God heals her, she will die with in a few months. Please be praying for her.

It was exciting for Ravi to be back in his home church.

The New village of Guliyada- the Macedonian Call

We never planned to seek out new villages this visit. We were and still are trusting God to bring us to the people HE wants us to reach. When Ravi first got to India, he got an invitation to go to two different tribal areas. The first place we have tried to go to before. We keep getting invited, but things happen that prevent us from coming. This village is close to our current village. We took this as a sign from God that He did not want us in that particular village.

We also received a invitation to visit a village called Guliyada. This village is in the complete opposite direction as our current village. It is centrally located, and is surrounded by 5 other smaller villages.


So on Thursday, May 14th, we took a group of people up to visit this new village. In this lower village the government has come in and helped built a few houses for the tribal people. They are simple one room house that is 10' by 8'. These are small houses that will hold around 10 people, but they are more durable houses then the other mud houses.

The other type of houses are all concrete on for the base, but they have a coconut leave roof that needs to be replaced once a year. They are only slightly larger then the one the government built them.

The basic house is like what is typically found in tribal areas. The walls are made of mud and sticks and the roof is made of coconut leaves. These are typically smaller then all the houses.


When we got to the village, we met with the leader of the tribal village. We asked him how he found out about us. Someone from our current village told them about all the things we were doing. He was so impressed that he called us to come.

The village is a 2 hour drive from our town of Sathyamangalam. It is on top of the mountains. We were so surprised that they found out about us. Ravi's mother grew up in an area close to this village, and it has been a prayer of hers to have a ministry in this area.

There is a small school in the village that some of the local children attend, but once they reach 5th standard there are no more classes. There are around 200 kids total and about 100 of them are too old to study in the local school, but have no means continue their studies.


The people are devote Dalit (untouchable) Hindu's; the people in the other village are untouchables too, but they are animast and not a devote Hindu's.

However, the village is open to participate in prayer times. We gathered the kids and some of the adults together then spent a few minutes praying.

We did not do any Bible stories this first visit. We have to slowly introduce them to the gospel. If we move to fast, we will risk the chance of them becoming closed off to the gospel.



We handed out snacks and spent some time just getting to know the people. We have such a love for these people. We want to get to know them.


There is one man who has 7 acers of land surrounding the village, but no one else land, except the house they own. The people work as farmers and shepherds. Occasionally, they will go out and work in the outlying area doing some low wage manual labor.



We posed for one last photo and then they took us out to show us around.

The land was especially dry. It had not rained in months. There are no rivers or lakes around the area. They have a water storage tank and pump that the government gave them that does not work. The only way they get water is by a culvert that they had built that collects the rain water. However, due to the lack of rain. As you can see below, the water that they have collected is next to nothing.

This has left the fields dry and the plants dying. They took us out to their fields, and all around we could see the plants dying. This is their lively hood with out these plants, they will not have enough food. They asked us to pray to God for rain, which we gladly did. It had not rained in a long time. We received a call the next day. It rained that very night that we prayed!! It brought enough water that the plants are now flourishing.



After we prayed, we got a HUGE surprise. The land owner told us that they would be willing to sell us some of the land to use for our ministry. Even a few acres of land would be exactly what we need to build a home to allow tribal kids from around the region to receive and education.

When we left, we were treated to a rare sight, a dear. They have been hunted and now it is hard to find them.

We are amazed at the way that God works. We fully feel his leading and calling to reach this village. We are continuing to seek His guidance. We are waiting for His provision. Please be praying for us as we start reaching this new village.

Erode Real Hope Revival Church Dedication

On May 10th, we had the honor of dedicating the first church into Real Hope Ministries India.
Pastor David Raj Kumar has been working faithfully with Ravi since he started the tribal ministry. Since we left for America, Pastor David has been in charge of ministry and has been doing a wonderful job.

His church use to be associated with Church of God. About a year ago, Church of God lost a lot of their funding and stopped sponsoring many of their pastors including David Raj Kumar. We spent a lot of time praying and decided to add his church to our ministry.

Pastor David praying at the beginning of church

The church building is a small room on the third story of a building. Many places in this area will not rent a place to Christians. This room has little ventilation and can get VERY hot. There are 150 people that attend this church, but they all do not come at the same time. It is a small room so people come every other Sunday. Since they rent it, they cannot have multiple services in one day. Please pray. They are looking for a new building that would give them freedom to worship.

After Worship, Ravi started preaching. He planned to preach a short message and ended up going for 55 minutes. However, most sermons are 1 1/2 hours each Sunday and a service can last up to 3 hours. Anything shorter then this is considered a waste of time, since many of these people give up a days pay to come to church.

Ravi spoke from Isaiah 44:3 "For I will pour out water to quench your thirst and to irrigate your parched fields. And I will pour out my Spirit on your descendants, and my blessing on your children." He talked about the blessing that God has done for us, and the testimony in our lives. He encourage the people that God will bless them too.

We then moved on to the dedication of the church. We felt honored to have Ravi's parents pray over the church.



This Sunday was also Communion Sunday. It was a delight to partake in the Lord's Supper after celebrating the new church!




We stopped and welcomed

Real Hope Revival Church Erode