By Peggy Uppinghouse*
INDIA–Many friends and relatives have asked about how we celebrated Thanksgiving here in India. Well, obviously, it is not an Indian holiday, even though it began with Indians at the first celebration in the 1600s – just a different kind of Indians. Read the rest of this entry »
Your sacrifices will result in eternal praise from every nation (and) tribe
We want you to know how grateful we are for your faithful giving to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. Your gifts make our ministry – and the ministries of more than 5,300 International Mission Board missionaries serving around the world – possible. Your sacrifices will result in eternal praise from every nation, tribe, language, and people.
We fully understand the financial hardship many are facing during these unstable economic times. And we know that a rough economy hasn’t changed your heart for the lost any more than it’s changed our call to reach them. Below is a list of how your gifts to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering are used to reach the lost tribal people of Bangladesh:
Thank you for your faithful and sacrificial gifts to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering.
The Galvins*
*Names changed for security reasons for missionaries serving in South Asia.
We appreciate your part in our lives and in our work
We attend a house church that currently meets in a colleague’s home. There is a certain freshness that comes from this type of situation, especially in our setting. Two weeks ago, a first-time visitor was passed a small Bible to use during the service. When the leader told everyone to open their Bibles to a certain spot, Rohan* blurted out, “This is a Bible?” When we answered affirmatively, he grinned widely and said excitedly, “I am holding (for) the first time the Bible!”
Last week, our teen-age daughters had a long conversation, though a stilted one due to language differences, with a 17-year-old girl from a neighboring state. (There are at least four languages represented in our small congregation.) There has been a lot of persecution of Christians in her state during this last year. In order to be safe, Rashmi* had come to our city to stay with her uncle’s family, members of our church. Rashmi was talking about her family and how much she missed them and her life in the village, especially at Christmas time. She particularly misses her older brother who taught her how to play a type of Indian drum and who, in her words, “knows everything!” She doesn’t like it as well as the drum, but she will laughingly play on a pot if we push hard enough.
In other areas, please pray for the training sessions Lonnie* is doing. Some of these are really taking off as attendees take the material and do their own training sessions with others. Exciting!
Your gifts to the Lottie Moon Christmas offering help provide training materials, Bibles, and evangelistic materials among other things, as well as help provide for our family’s needs and for many others like us. Please consider prayerfully what the Lord would have you give.
May God richly bless you and yours during this holiday season and in the year to follow!
The Teppers*
*Names changed for security reasons in South Asia.
God often uses you all to be His hands and feet – and His Voice
It’s that season of the year that one’s heart turns toward home and the joy of memories of family, friends, food, and lots of fun. After following a friend’s blog the other night, I found myself growing a tad homesick. Praise God that His mercies are new every morning and that He always knows right where we’re at! As I began to ponder my feelings, He gently reminded me of a few things – you know, those things you know, but you just need help remembering sometimes. I heard Charles Stanley say a long time ago, “Feelings are satanic slush.” It’s something I’ve held on to because I tend to be one of God’s extra-emotional beings. Feelings are just that – feelings; they are not fact.
So as we head into this season, pray for us – and so many others like us – who would love to be at “home” for the holidays but whose deepest desire is to honor the One who paid a debt He did not owe to obtain for us eternal life in a heavenly home with Him. Now that’s something to be thankful for!
Please know also how very thankful we are for the support you give us through your prayers and your notes of encouragement. God often uses you all to be His hands and feet – and His voice – as He ministers to us through you. We are blessed beyond measure!
Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your generous support to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering in the past. It is because of your unselfish giving that we, and 5000-plus like us, are able to live on this side and minister in Christ’s name.
The Cargills*
*Names changed for security reasons for missionaries serving in South Asia
Thank you: Taking Jesus to the people in the high pastures
The donkeys struggled under the heavy load of medicines, tents, food and other supplies as we trekked up to the high pastures in a mountainous area of South Asia. Our little daughter rode a pony to enable her to go with us. We were going to share the love of Jesus in a tangible way with families who had taken their flocks up to cooler air and rich grass. When we arrived and set up camp, ladies and children came from the scattered settlements to be checked by Josie*, who lovingly distributed medicines and vitamins provided by Southern Baptists. She shared words of encouragement and advice on hygiene and nutrition and prayed for the sick patients.
Meanwhile, in the kitchen tent, Isaiah* turned a hand-crank cassette player to share a story from the Bible with the men. After the story, we talked about the miracles of Jesus, then about God’s loving plan to redeem mankind through our Lord’s sacrifice. For most of the men, it was the first time they had ever heard the Good News.
As we came back down the mountain to our little town, exhausted but happy, we reflected on the privilege we have for such an opportunity to live among these lost souls and touch them with Christ’s love. Thank you for making that possible!
Please pray for all of these in whom the seed has been sown and for a powerful outpouring of the Holy Spirit in this place!
The Gabdons*
*Names changed for security reasons in South Asia.
Thank you: Gospel spreads from family to family
Dear Southern Baptist family,
You are such a vital part of spreading the Good News in India! You have been so generous in your giving, and we are truly thankful – not only our McFarland family, but also those whom your gifts made it possible to reach and win for the Lord.
Earlier this year, a group of Indian Christians was trained in how to evangelize their communities. One of these men came back with the report that one entire family chose to follow Jesus. But it didn’t stop there! One person from that first family shared his testimony with another family. The result was a greater harvest in yet another family! Praise the Lord who makes all this possible!
The McFarlands*
*Names changed for security reasons for missionaries serving in South Asia.
Thank you: Your support keeps the called in strategic places
Dear Southern Baptists,
We serve in a sea of lostness – dark and hopeless without the light of Jesus Christ. Your support allows called-out men and women to live in strategic places throughout our region of the world in order that those who are blind can see Truth and respond. The two of us provide member care to those who come, live and work in difficult places and to their families. With your help, we are able to encourage, empower and equip these servants to stand firm. What you do makes the difference, keeping those on the front lines healthy and effective for the kingdom’s sake.
Each personal visit, phone call or e-mail we make or resource we share to strengthen our front-line folks is possible through your faithfulness and generosity. You are extending the ministry of the Body of Christ throughout South Asia. The result is that more and more are accepting Christ. The kingdom is advancing in record numbers here. We rejoice! We give thanks! As we express our gratitude to the Lord for what He is doing, we also express the same gratitude to you.
Reid and Eve Godsey*
*Names changed for security reasons for missionaries serving in South Asia.
Thank you: Jiva* no longer worships idols
Dear Faithful Supporter,
Lives have been changed, for eternity, because of you!
The darkness of South Asia can sometimes seem impenetrable. Thank the Lord for the greatest supporters in the world to help us continue the task of taking the gospel to the ends of the earth. Because of your prayers and financial support, Jiva*, formerly in bondage to idol worship, is now a born-again believer in Jesus Christ, along with many others.
With sincerest love and gratitude, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your generous donation to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering.
Yours in Christ, Vincent, Reba and Salem*
*Names changed for security reasons in South Asia.
Thank you: Your gifts are changing lives!
The Lord called me to the field when I was 9. Several years later, I went to India on my first volunteer trip. As I shared testimony about the Lord during that trip, a Hindu woman proclaimed to me that when I returned to India, the idols would be gone from her home. In just a few short days, the Lord forever bonded my heart to the Indian people. I would return!
For eight years now, I have served the Lord full-time in South Asia, which includes India and the surrounding six countries. My service here is possible because of your prayers and your gifts to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. I thank you deeply. My national friends also thank you. Your gifts have not only supported me on the field, they also have helped train nationals in evangelism and church planting and as a result, every day more and more South Asians are denying their gods and giving their hearts to Christ. They are learning that the Lord is unlike any other. He created them, loves them, offers forgiveness to them, and He alone is worthy of their worship.
Your gifts are changing lives throughout South Asia. Many still have yet to hear. As you continue to pray and give, more South Asians – Indian Hindus, Sri Lankan Buddhists, Pakistani Muslims and others – will have greater opportunity to hear. Thank you for advancing the kingdom of God in South Asia.
Goldie Frances*
*Names changed for security reasons for missionaries serving in South Asia.
God healed Parvez* when they prayed
Dear Southern Baptist family,
In a South Asia city of 3 million, we have interacted with Hindus, Muslims and Jains on a regular basis. Last week, we received a call from Parvez, one of our Muslim friends. Parvez’s morning phone call was not his usual invitation for another visit. Instead, he informed us that he had been sick for four days and unable to work. Then he asked if we would pray to Jesus for him. Hayden* prayed for Parvez over the phone, asking God to heal him that very day. Later that evening, we called to see how Parvez was feeling. He cheerfully relayed that he was feeling very well and would be going to work the next day. Parvez expressed his appreciation for our prayers. Once again, God provided us an opportunity to share with Parvez that Jesus, our Healer, was the One who heard and answered prayer.
God is opening many such doors to share the gospel in South Asia in response to your faithful prayers and generous giving. Thank you, Southern Baptists, for loving Jesus, loving us, and loving the lost world. We are greatly blessed through your cooperative undergirding in prayer and your faithful giving through the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. God continues to use you as partners in reaching South Asia for Christ.
Hayden and Taffy Monticello*
*Names changed for security reasons in South Asia.