SERVE India

Dear Prayer Partners,
How grateful I am in the Lord for the opportunities to serve Him and His people. During my last trip I was encouraged by what God is doing in India. Thank you for praying on behalf of SERVE India ministries. We are grateful for your faith, prayer, and support each month, believing that the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective (James 5:16).
We praise God for another year of an awesome Believers Conference in the Krishna District area. More than 1000 people gathered over 5 days for worship and uplifting Christ around the Hindu neighborhoods. Praise God that there were no interruptions and we were able to walk through the streets and witness, baptizing new believers. We praise God for this event where the local churches and believers partnered and so generously contributed to this event with many bags of rice and vegetables and the labor to feed all of the people that came. We are so encouraged by this process.
We praise God for Pastor Suvarna Raj and his son, William Booth for their enthusiastic leadership to their area Pastors. They are taking this conference to different regions of our state. Using the local churches as a platform 5 more local conferences were held since March. We believe this will accelerate the church planting efforts in new villages, where there are no churches yet.
Our training center at Tuni continues to serve as a place for Pastors to gather for ongoing training, equipping, and for mentoring younger Pastors. They go out to neighborhoods and villages to the glory of God. The expansion work on the building for the teacher training program goes on. Please pray as the facility is being prepared.
This summer many village congregations will conduct a VBS for the children of their village. The main goal is to give children the Word of God, the Gospel, fellowship and love. It is always a great surprise of what all God will do through this. Several Hindu kids join for there is there are no other activities for them to do. Please pray for them.
Praise God for a growing number of house churches in the tribal areas. Pastor Isaac reported that through the adult education literacy program they have had the opportunity to invite their neighbors to come and learn how to read and write. As Pastors light up the gas light every night it is an opportunity for them to remove the darkness and spread the Light among the illiterate people.
He shared that as they go along the hill that is the border of our state of Andhra Pradesh and Orissa, they see people who are untouched by the development of the country. These tribal people are illiterate and ignorant of the rights and privileges provided by the Indian government. We are grateful to God for raising up men from these tribes who want to take the Gospel to them. Many years SERVE India has been working in training and providing resources for them and by the grace of God we have seen some thriving churches established and they are growing. Poor children are cared for and helped and the Widows Home in the town continues to serve 22 women. Please pray for the new leadership there.
The community living at Jeeva Jalem (leprosy colony) is being helped and continue with a sustainability plan which includes the breeding and raising of cows, goats and chickens, and gardens that help feed them. Thank you for the new addition of 2 cows recently.
Please pray for a potential business plan for the rice and sugar cane growers in our area. This would be an opportunity to be a blessing to them and to the people of W. Africa.
You may have seen in the news that flooding continues to rise in North India and Nepal. This is not in our area but countless families are being impacted by the river taking lives and buildings. There are many without homes. Please pray in this difficult time that the people will cry out to the Living God and experience His comfort and love.
Again, I thank you all for joining with us and trusting God to move in India for His glory and honor and love.
Love you all,
In Him,
John R Nanda