As I type this I have just finished listening to a song performed by the group Mercy Me titled “Keep Singing”.  Basically it says that even when things are bad or don’t go the way we hope, we’ve got to keep singing and praising God.  We all face times like this, and how true it is that even when things are not good, God is still on the throne and He is worthy of praise!  His promise is to work all things for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.

              Ever since we returned to Sri Lanka last June we have been under attack in ways like never before.  This past month has been an extremely trying one for us (which we will explain later).  To be honest there are times when we felt like giving up and returning home, wondering what we were actually accomplishing. But we’ve got to “keep singing!”  He is the reason we are here and He will never let go of us, He is our refuge and stronghold when all else falls apart!

              We have received a few cards and notes from folks at home reminding us of their prayers, for which we can never say “thank you” enough!  This means more to us than we could ever express.  We do also want to say thank you for your continued financial support for this ministry.  We know the difficult times there in the States and we realize that many missionaries are losing support right now.  All we can say is thank you and may our God supply all you need and more besides!

IT’S FINALLY COME

              We’ve been waiting for seven months for the government approval to begin construction on the Periyaneelavanai church building.  This was supposedly only going to take a few days (and I suppose that in light of eternity seven months is but a blink of the eye), but seven months IS a long time here, and now we are rejoicing that this is done and we can begin.

              The church people are excited and have begun clearing the area where the new church will be built, including removal of an old well and filling it in.  We are planning to begin construction early in March, Lord willing of course. 

              This is a much needed building for several reasons: the church numbers continue to grow, the old bakery building (where the church presently meets) is in very bad condition, and the preacher Vijay and his family will get a house in the village where they minister.  Therefore we are thrilled with being able to get started.  I’ll try to do a better job of sending pictures and keep you up to date on the progress.  So many times I think “hey, that would be a good picture to send the supporters back home (if I only had my camera)”!?

              Thank you for making this possible with your support!

TWO BECOME ONE

              We’re not talking a marriage of people, but of our Onthachimadam temporary building and Sunday school hut….

              After we purchased the new property for this church we wanted to move the buildings to the new site (yes, we are actually taking the buildings apart and moving them piece by piece).  Then the rains came and slowed our progress--with the rains came the flooding, which we have dealt with over the years.  And with the flooded land came the crocodiles (WOOHOO!).  So we worked out a deal with a homeowner and moved the worship and Sunday school into an unfinished empty house which is adjacent to our new property.  This had worked fairly well until recently.  The homeowner’s son has moved in and is living in one room. He uses the house for beer parties, which is obviously not the best situation for the church.  With the weather finally cooperating, we dismantled the two buildings, hauled them to the new property and rebuilt them.  This time we made one building out of the two and will put a dividing wall midway so worship will be in one end and Sunday school in the other end.  We are also going to attempt to make it more secure.  Our future plans are to eventually construct a new “church building” and continue to use the present building for Sunday school.

THINGS ARE NOT ALWAYS AS THEY APPEAR

              Last August a young preacher and family, George and Vathani, came to work with us.  They began working in Onthachimadam and we were very pleased with their attitude, their work, and seeming spiritual maturity.  This is the family we shared about who lost a grandmother and step-father within a month after they came to work here.

              Last month George’s sister-in-law accused him of taking her daughter’s gold necklace (given to infant girls at birth).  We discovered later that he had indeed stolen it.  He had also been accused of stealing some cell phones. Our nephew’s phone was missing from our house, but we had no reason to make a connection with George at that time. 

              George finally came and spoke with us saying that because of these accusations his testimony in the village was destroyed, and he desired to work somewhere else.  We agreed that his testimony was destroyed in Onthachimadam, but at this point there were no other ministries available, and we simply felt it best if he resigned.  We asked George to bring all the church receipts, accounting books, and offering money from the church, which he promised he would do.  His promise was never kept.  After repeated attempts (and many excuses) we finally got some of the paperwork back--no receipts at all, offering book pages ripped out and the book half burned, no records for money we had given for the church Christmas program (or any other church program), and no weekly offering money.  In addition to all this we have now discovered that George borrowed money from three different church members promising to return it within a few days (which he didn’t), and now he will not answer his phone when they call. 

              We still don’t have the money or any idea of actual accounts, but what we have lost is trust, which is far more important than the couple of hundred dollars he stole.

              We are all guilty of sin, after all that is why Christ came.  But it is so sad when a preacher gets waylaid by Satan—not only for the minister, but also for the affect it has on the churches and other workers.

              Shanthi and I have now taken the Onthachimadam church work until we can get another minister in place.

ONE LESS COLLEGE STUDENT RETURNS

              One of the five remaining students did not return when the Bible College began the new semester this month.  Instead he eloped with a girl from the church late one night.  Everyone knew that these two young people were a “couple,” but they had agreed to wait to marry until he had finished his schooling.  We found out later that the girl’s mother was the one that forced the issue and began to spread rumors that her daughter was pregnant!  When all this was heard in the village of Mahiloor, the people turned out in force, threatening to beat our preacher and destroy the church building.  The villagers blamed the church for bringing the two together, and for her pregnancy. None of it was true, but that’s how rumors start and how society here reacts to things.  We are saddened by these events, and once again see the harm Satan has inflicted on the reputation of the church by gossip and rumor.  More than that we have lost another set of willing hands to aid us in our ministry here as another young boy has chosen to leave his training for ministry in Bible College.

PRAYER REQUESTS

1.  The construction at Periyaneelavanai to begin soon.

2.  Completion of the Onthachimadam church building so we can move into it.

3.  Faithfulness and strength for our current workers, and for new workers to join with us.

4.  God’s wisdom and strength as we continue to deal with George and the aftermath of his theft.

5.  Onthachimadam church to recover and grow in spite of the trouble caused by George.

6.  Our four remaining Bible College students as they continue their training.

7.  Mahiloor church dealing with the false rumors and unhappy villagers.

Dear fellow laborers in Christ,

As I write this today we are having presidential elections. This is quite a controversial election as the top general through the war resigned his post and is seeking the presidency. By the time you read this it will be history (except there is always fallout after a major election here). We do pray that God will direct and the man he wants in office will win.

We’ve somewhat recovered from the holiday “busyness” but it seems it has been replaced with new things to keep us jumping, I guess that’s a good thing though.

Over the last few years we have encouraged our preachers to set goals for the coming year and how they will accomplish them. We discussed these in our last staff meeting and they have set some pretty high goals for themselves and for the churches, but that is needed as it is much too easy to just sit back and wait for things to happen, which is the norm for here.  The greatest thing we try to instill in them is their need to pray for God to work in their ministry and the village where they work. We can “do” all kinds of things and never entrust it to God or look to Him for direction. As the churches here grow our preachers are finding this to be true.

We praise and thank God for you our supporters! And we know that you make a sacrifice to support our ministry financially. We pray that God will bless you for that and request that above all you keep us in your prayers.

SLOW DOWN IN GROWTH RATE

This past year we have not seen as many baptisms as we have in the past, but we have had some growth. In fact it had been several months since any of the churches reported a baptism so I was beginning to be concerned. Then this last Sunday there were six baptisms in the Periyaneelavanai church (there were supposed to be seven, but one young lady had a change of heart at the last minute).

All the churches have people in attendance who have never accepted Christ so there is the potential for more in the next few months.

What we have seen is more people getting involved in the work of the church, and not just leaving it all up to the preacher (which is good). And the preachers are doing a better job of training up leaders in the churches.

MAHILOOR CHURCH GOING THROUGH OPPOSITION

We had a special meeting with our preacher Dene and with the village G.S., the man appointed by the government to assist and help the people within a district of their village.  The problem is the G.S. in Mahiloor is making trouble for the church and for Dene. For example, all the people are required to do some community work around and in the community building (such as cleaning, digging etc). Dene was informed he had to come to help. He is more than willing to do so but he is disabled--he has one leg and arm which are somewhat shriveled and is physically unable to do manual work. Dene sent 3 people including his own mother to the center on his behalf and the G. S. sent them back saying Dene had to come personally.  It is “strange” that none of the Hindu temple chiefs or priests are required to do this. But the G.S. isn’t willing to listen to any kind of reason.  The G.S. told us that if we did “anything” in the village it had to be first approved by the District Secretariat and then overseen personally by himself. So on goes the work of Satan to try and destroy what God is doing.

NEW TRAINING STRATEGY

This past month we had a full day training seminar for the Sunday school teachers and youth who want to go to Bible College in the future. This was held for the Mahiloor and Onthachimadam churches and was very well received and attended.  Our plan is to do this one day per month. We felt it was very beneficial and our Koddai Kallar and Periyaneelavanai churches will be beginning theirs this month as well.  We have begun with some very basic teachings and will progress through the months to more in depth studies.

MORE SCHOOL SUPPLIES GIVEN

Last December we were asked by another school in Periya Kallar to help their students with school bags and supplies. With everything that was going on, and wanting to make sure we would have enough funds for the Sunday schools, we waited until January to do this.

It is a very small school with only 32 students--grades one through five.  It was originally started by the Methodist church, but it has long since stopped any help for the schools they started in years past. This is one of the few schools which still retains the Methodist Mission name, as most have been taken over by the government and the name changed.

The principle and the teachers were thrilled that we would help the students in this way. Most of these small schools are totally overlooked by the government and other organizations, and the students in this school come from very poor families so they really needed our help.

COLLEGE STUDENTS DROP OUT

We were so thrilled to report last year we had ten young people who wanted to enter full time ministry and go to Bible College. And I must confess we along with our preachers were proud of this achievement. Maybe this is why we are struggling now with keeping them in school. As the Scriptures teach “pride goes before destruction,” and we see now how true that is.

During the past month five of the original ten have dropped out of the program, some not even giving reasons for their decision. This has been very discouraging for all of us but has made us stop and examine ourselves, our motives, and our training methods as well. We have seen where we failed to adequately prepare them for what full time ministry means, and the sacrifices which must be made many times.  All the students loved the school, but they were not prepared for the challenges they would face personally and in ministry when they returned home during the holiday break.

CONSTRUCTION APPROVAL SUPPOSED TO COME THIS MONTH

The approval to begin construction for the new church at Periyaneelavanai is supposed to come through finally this month but we haven’t seen it yet.  We are ready to begin building as soon as we get the approval, because the congregation continues to grow and the present building continues to deteriorate.  This project will take several months to complete so we want to begin as soon as possible but must wait for the local government approval.

PRAYER CONCERNS

1. Strength for us and the coworkers as we face many areas of opposition.

2. Approval for construction in Periyaneelavanai so we can begin the new church.

3. For the remaining college students to remain faithful to their commitment.

4. God to use the school supply distribution for His glory and the Kingdom’s sake.

5. God to bring more workers for the ministry here.

Lamp Lighters World Ministries - January, 2010