Guntur, India
(February 2005)

There is an old song that says, "How can I say thanks for all the things You have done for me?" It is a song of worship towards God, but for pastor Benjamin Ramesh it goes a step further and expresses his feelings toward you! His church was wiped out by the tsunami, and they expected it would take years to rebuild. Money is scarce in the fishing village he lives in and raising $2,500.00 would be just about impossible. At the dedication service of their new church he could not contain his joy and praised God along with his congregation.

Once again your partnership with us  in India touched lives, and on this occasion it touched the lives of our team as well. It was quite moving to see the little house that $500.00 rebuilt for a widow who lost everything in tsunami wind and waves. It was heartbreaking to spend time in a hospital giving out gifts and prayers to those who had incurable diseases. It was a thrill to see 110 businessmen come to a luncheon to listen to the testimonies of Alan and Dick, two businessmen traveling with us. At the end of the luncheon 43 Hindu men gave their lives to the Lord. Praise the Lord!

Pastor Thompson said of our festival in Guntur, "We have never seen anything like this before. We have not seen so many decisions and we have not seen this quality of counseling material before." To the glory of God 8,216 people put their trust in Jesus Christ! It was a wonderful experience to see so many responding to the message of salvation like Mr. and Mrs. Parisudha Rao who said, “For the last few months we couple do not have peace in our home. There are many misunderstandings between us. We thought of leaving each other and live separately. And then we have received a personal invitation to attend PEACE AND GOOD NEWS FESTIVAL. When I reached the Bible quote printed on the invitation - Jesus said:  "My peace I give unto you, not as the World gives. Let your heart be not troubled" That verse attracted me since we do not have peace in our home. We both attended the Festival. When we saw so many hundreds of young people singing with great joy, I felt so happy. After I listened to the Bible Words and message I understood that because of my sin all these unhappiness and disturbance came into our family. We both went to altar and prayed with the pastor. They gave us a nice book GO FORWARD WITH JESUS. Now we are following that book and reading everyday from Luke’s Gospel. Please pray for us."

Each person went away with follow-up material that included the gospel of Luke along with corresponding Bibles studies and lessons on how to grow in their new faith. Of course, all of this was translated into Telagu and printed before we arrived.

We praise the Lord for His protection and for granting us favor with the authorities. We were honored to have on the platform as our guests the State Senator of Andhra Pradesh as well as the Attorney General who gave a gospel message himself during his official greeting. Our ministry was made more effective by having a team of musicians from Oregon led by Dave Wacker, one of our board members, and prayer partners from California.

Now thanks to your generosity I will be retuning to India in April to oversee the building of more churches that were destroyed by the tsunami. I will also be visiting Guntur to see how the follow-up is progressing and listen to the testimonies of many who came to Christ. We are able to build more due to the incredible generosity of our ministry partners. If you would like to give a gift for the rebuilding of the destroyed churches along the coast of India, it is not too late. I can take your gift with me in April.

Praise the Lord for His miraculous work in Guntur and the surrounding regions and for your partnership in prayer and giving. 

With Eternity In Mind,

Dan Owens