1 Titus 4:3-5 “For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.”

God has created each new day with new and numerous ways to share the love of Jesus. With each day brings an opportunity for us to listen to God to how He wants to use us.

This past week was Spring break for the students and staff at KIS. For Betsy and me, it was a chance to visit with our Baptist partners around India. Betsy’s travels will be in another journal. As for my travels, I am always awed at how God is on the move in India. As I travel to different parts of India where previous missionaries have ministered, I am honored to be representing all of you and to speak of the love of Jesus to those who live and worship in those places. Hyderabad, Warangal (Hanamacunda), Nellore, Bapatala, and Nizapatnam (all in Andhra Pradesh) to name a few. I truly feel like I am walking where Jesus has walked as I learn about and continue ministering where fellow missionaries have worked.

My first stop was the Centenary Baptist Church in Hyderabad, which seats about 1500 and still isn’t big enough. The joy of the Lord is surely in this place. The next day, I was privileged to represent all of you at two churches in Warangal, AP. The first was the Centenary Baptist Church-Warangal/Hanamkonda, seating for about 1700, and the second was a small church near by. The Centenary BC (a participant for the church’s ground breaking in 1991 was Naomi Carman, Betsy’s Grandmother) was celebrating the ministries in the rural areas. Baptists from all over the area came and worshipped together. Over 2000 people were in attendance. So many came that tents were set up outside the church so that all could participate. It was a joy to address the crowd, sharing the love of Jesus with so many.

After that 3 hour service, we moved to a smaller church that was located on a site that houses a ministry for tribals, near where Dr. and Mrs. Tegenfeldt and Esther Wiebe used to live and work. It was a very full chapel of mostly children with beautiful smiles as I shared a short message with them (they had already been there for a couple of hours). Following the service I was asked to pray over a sick child who had swallowed her father’s medicine. It reminded me of all the times we called poison control after finding our daughter Lisa, when she was very young, with various things going into her mouth. I ask that you take a moment to pray for this young child, that her tiny body overcomes the poison. Jesus has the power to bring this child back to good health.

Another stop allowed me to visit with about 200 tribal Children who have received help from International Ministries in a combined effort with Compassion International. As I spoke to the kids, from age 5 to 19, I could feel the love that they receive from those who share a piece of their “pie” with them. As I left the room, almost every child reached out to shake my hand as if they didn’t want to let go.
* Please pray for these children as they learn to feel the love of Christ, at this outreach ministry (one of many in the Warangal area), the one who will never let go.
Though I made these stops to help encourage these ministries, I left being encouraged in the work that I do at Kodai School.

Moving on to the Coast of Andhra Pradesh, two hours from the nearest city, one of my main stops was to check on the progress of the housing project for tsunami victims, near Kothapalem. Yes, the work goes on. Government permissions have finally come through which allows International Ministries to get 200 houses built. Twenty-four homes will be finished, ready for living, by the end of March. All 200 will be completed and ready for commissioning by mid June. It is an exciting time for all. Some of the stumbling blocks that are hampering steady progress, and still need your prayers, are rising building costs, water shortages and getting through government “red tape.”

One of the meetings I had while there was with a sympathetic government legislator, a Hindu, who is a good man and is helping International Ministries get this project done as quickly as legally possible. With his help, we are also looking towards getting land cleared for putting up a school building for children grade 6-10, which is sorely needed. Most children, especially girls, do not have access to education. The nearest school is too far for all the village children to attend, so boys have priority if they choose to go at all. We are hoping to supply a school building in the same area as the homes we are providing that will make education for boys and girls a reality. In addition to this, we hope the government will offer adult literacy classes as part of this project.
* Please pray that this school becomes a reality to help make this area a healthy community of hope.

Prayer requests
* for ministries for tribal children and their families
* the girl who swallowed her father’s medicine
* housing for tsunami victims are completed by mid June
* a school for children of tsunami victims becomes a reality
* that the good news of Jesus spreads in all these areas

Blessings,
David Perkins