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YWAM MADRAS NEWS - April 1, 2004

Dear Friends,
Here is the latest report from Madras / Chennai! Thank you all so much for praying for the people we are reaching out to. Water is also a major need in the city -- the ground water level has decreased so much that many people's wells are dry and we are only at the beginning of the summer! Though everyone suffers, the poor suffer the most, so we would ask you to pray for this desperate situation to change. The report will be coming to you from a different email id for a few months. Please do not be concerned about that and please respond to our usual email id, ywamchennai@gmail.com if you have any comments, address change, etc.

With every blessing, Sudhakar and Julie Simeon

FISHERMEN VILLAGE – CHENNAI / MADRAS
Muniyan is from a gypsy colony and he collects garbage for his daily earnings. Many of these gypsies just carry big sacks and pick up rubbish from the side of the road and sell what they can from it. I used to talk to Muniyan about Jesus, and he was not very interested. I even visited his house a few times. Last week when I met him on the road he ran to me and said, "Now I also follow your God. Now I am very happy and my wife and children are also coming with me to church.'' It was such surprising news for me and I really felt like crying because God had heard all my prayers for this man. Now this is my prayer - that through him a lot of Gypsies will find peace and acceptance in their life. Please pray for this marginalised people group.

AIDS MINISTRY -- CHENNAI / MADRAS
Viji is a 21 year old single lady from Tuticorin, a place well-known for world-class pearls. She completed a course for nursing, maternity and midwifery and was practising as a professional nurse in one of the private clinics in her hometown. She enjoyed her life and felt good to be a nurse, helping others. About a year ago, she developed some of the basic symptoms of HIV infection and was advised by a doctor to do an Elisa test. This came out positive. Viji had no idea how she could have got this infection and racked her brains to remember what could have happened. She finally remembered a mistake she had made quite frequently when taking blood from people in the clinic. On a few occasions, she had poked her own fingers after giving an injection, to experience the feel of the needle. She paid a heavy price for that. She became very depressed, but after some counselling she made up her mind to come to Chennai for treatment at the hospital we visit. When we met her and talked to her about how much God loves her, she was greatly comforted and gained faith in him. Please pray for her. We are trying to help her by providing a sewing machine for her livelihood as she will not be allowed to practise as a nurse anymore.

JEEVAN SUICIDE PREVENTION CENTRE – CHENNAI /MADRAS
Two sisters who attend a leading church in the city came to us and shared that their children were in love with one another. A couple of years ago the boy named Shankar had proposed to his first cousin, Geetha, and she had said "yes". Later Geetha moved to another city for a job. Soon Shankar, on the pretext of getting a job, also moved to that city and began living with Geetha. The two families found out about this and brought their children back to Chennai. The families tried counselling them but they continued with their relationship. Geetha's family thought that if they got her married she would forget her relationship and start life afresh. But soon after Geetha's marriage to another boy, Shankar approached her husband and made sure Geetha and her husband separated. After this Shankar and Geetha continued their affair. Geetha's familycounselled her but, seeing no change in her, her father told her not to talk to Shankar nor meet him and she was not allowed outside her house. During the last few months Geetha had attempted suicide 3 times by consuming poison. Geetha’s mother and Shankar's mother being sisters, approached us for help. They brought Geetha to us without telling her where they were taking her. When we met Geetha she was defiant and did not want anything to do with us. But a few minutes into the counselling session, she opened up and told her story. Later Geetha became more receptive and she saw the practical difficulties of her relationship and how she cannot live this way for too long. In short, she was encouraged to break off this relationship, take up a job and carry on with her life. Please pray the issue in her life will be resolved.

LEPROSY MINISTRY – CHENNAI / MADRAS
Jayaraj is 47 years old, born and brought up in a Christian family. When he was 25 years old he came to Chennai to look for a job. Quite soon he realized that symptoms of leprosy had started in him. He was feeling sad and rejected because he felt his dream to become somebody had vanished and he lost his hope to live any more. Instead of going to a doctor, he started to smoke and drink to forget his pain! Life became empty for him. Later he approached a government hospital and the doctors gave him plenty of tablets to take to control the leprosy, but he did not take it regularly. Because of that he lost his fingers and his feet developed ulcers. He moved to the railway station to beg. There he found some friends with the same condition. Through these friends he was admitted in a government leprosy hospital for better treatment. After that he got married and had two children. Our team met him and shared the love of Jesus. Though he was born and brought up in a Christian family, he never truly experienced a relationship with Jesus. Due to our team’s regular visit and counsel now he believes in Jesus.

Shoe Project – Recently, we started a shoe project which has been one of our long time goals and desires. The purpose of our shoe project is to make special shoes for leprosy victims to prevent them from getting ulcers on their feet. We have a skilled cobbler who can design and make suitable shoes for leprosy victims and we plan to provide 75 shoes per month. We are using special rubber, which will be smooth, and willgive good protection for the ulcer affected victims.

MERCY MINISTRIES – CHENNAI / MADRAS
Day Care Centre - Siva Priya is a student in our day care. Her mother was suffering with stomach pain because of cancer. Our staff and all the children of the day care prayed for Siva Priya’s mother and the Lord heard our prayers and gave total relief to the mother.

Sunday School- Kala’s mother Sumathy was ill for some time because of sickness. All the Sunday school students prayed for sister Sumathy during the prayer time and the Lord healed in a wonderful way, and now she attending the church regularly.

Medical Work- Suresh, a young boy, was suffering with severe pain in the ear. He came to us and we applied some medicine and prayed for him and the pain went away immediately.

DAYCARE – CHENNAI / MADRAS
Little Star Day Care - A girl called Saisahana aged 3 and studying Pre K.G. in our school is adamant by nature. She never obeys her parents and she throws whatever comes to her hand when she gets angry. After we spoke to her and prayed for her there was a distinct change in her behaviour which was testified by her parents.

Tuition Centre - A girl named Linshi, studying 4th grade, had a serious family problem. Her father was a drunkard and he was wasting all his earnings on liquor and never used to give any money to run the house. Linshi's mother had to work as a maid servant to make both ends meet. Along with Linshi we continuously prayed for this problem and in a very short time we were given to understand that the head of the family stopped drinking completely and started taking care of the family. The entire family has understood that Jesus loves them.

Sunday School - A boy named Dinesh, aged about 9, was disobedient to his parents, told lies and spoke filthy language. He came to Sunday School but would never pray. We counselled him and taught him how to pray. There has been a gradual but steady improvement in his behaviour. He obeys his parents, prays, does not speak bad language, has stopped telling lies and is developing a love for the Lord.

NEIGHBOURS – CHENNAI / MADRAS
One of the ladies in our group study poured out her heart to us saying her husband was always drunk and beat her. She requested us to pray for him and she also introduced us to her extended family. After two weeks the family members said, "Please don't come to our house any more". When we asked them why, they told us that from their worship centre they are getting pressure. They also stopped sending their children to our children's ministry. Please pray that God would "open the doors" in this family again.

PIONEER MINISTRIES
We have been working with groups of people who have recently been set free from bonded labour. In our outreach at Puthucottai we gathered children who were playing in the streets, told some moral stories, Bible stories, taught some songs and prayed. We went to all houses to share the gospel and spoke personally to several pepole. One night, a young man from a nearby village came to our room to say goodbye as we had planned to leave Puthucottai the next day morning. We led him to the Lord and he prayed with us and confessed Lord Jesus Christ as his personal Saviour. Six people gave their heart to Jesus during four days outreach.

Madurai Pioneering Team - Around 140 youth came for a meeting we arranged for college students. We talked about the goodness of God with action songs and skits and most of them want to have more meetings in future.

KANCHEEPURAM MINISTRIES
One day a team went to a village to run their cell group meeting, but some people from that village wouldn’t allow them to come in, threatening the team. The team sat under a tree and prayed to God to remove this hindrance. After 45 minute of prayer, the same people came back to us and said, “We are very sorry, you are not doing any bad things in this village, so you can come and do your ministry”. We praised God, and had very good cell group meeting!

AIDS MINISTRY -- CHENNAI / MADRAS
Mr. Kumar is a 35-year-old man. When he met his wife, who was a widow, he took pity on her considering her poverty and the bitterness of her former life. As he married her, he felt pleased with himself because he felt he had given a new life to this widow. Suddenly, his wife began to develop various diseases. When she contracted tuberculosis and was referred to the TB hospital, it was found that she was HIV+. Kumar remained faithful to his wife and was so sad when, after a few months, he lost his wife to this killer disease. Kumar also took the Elisa test and found that he also was HIV+. A few months ago, our staff met him in hospital as he was helping other patients, despite his own infirmities. His “Good Samaritan” attitude drew us near him and we talked to him about the love of God. He responded to this very quickly and decided to follow God himself. We have seen a real transformation in his life day after day. His attitude to shoulder other’s burdens is incredible. We could see God’s love in him for the suffering ones and he really radiates the fragrance of God’s love. Now he is leading many other HIV+ people to Jesus.

JEEVAN SUICIDE PREVENTION CENTRE – CHENNAI / MADRAS
When Shankar (not his real name) approached us he had just been discharged from the hospital after recovering from a suicide attempt. He looked completely devastated, his face was bloated, and around his neck, like a thick necklace, was the dark mark made by the rope he had used to hang himself. This unsuccessful attempt had made Shankar go into a coma and doctors who attended on him had given up hope that he would survive. His reason to commit suicide was extreme poverty. Shankar came to us after being referred to us by his doctor, who attends the same church as Shankar's sister. His sister, who is a believer, had hope that Jesus would be able to help her brother. Shankar is married with 4 sons the eldest being 13 years of age. Shankar used to run a small business, but the business had run into bad times and in order to tide over this bad patch they started taking loans which put him in debt. His wife is not able to take up a job as she has a medical condition, which prevents her from working. Due to all this, Shankar decided to take his life. At our center we listened to him and helped him see that by ending his life not only will he destroy his own soul, but also it would affect his whole family. We also helped him understand from a practical side that by him committing suicide his family would not in any way be helped. Later in the process of counselling, Shankar accepted Jesus as his personal saviour. We prayed for him and his family, then wrote a letter to the pastor of the church his sister attends explaining Shankar's situation. And we encouraged him to attend this church every week. After a few days Shankar’s sister called us and asked us to pray for Shankar as he had been thinking of committing suicide again. We again encouraged them to look at life positively and trust God to open a new door in their lives. Please pray for Shankar so that Jesus would bring a lasting hope into his situation.

LEPROSY MINISTRY – CHENNAI / MADRAS
M. Radha Krishnan, aged 60, is from Chennai city. When he was 20 years old, he noticed some bubbles on his leg. Later it became an ulcer and people said it could be leprosy. He went to the government leprosy hospital for a checkup and he did, indeed, have leprosy. He felt so empty! He lost all his happiness and peace and even lost hope to live any more. His family and relatives started to reject him, so he left home and went to a leprosy home. There he heard something about Jesus. Around that time our team came to do medical work. While they cleaned his wound, they shared very clearly about Jesus and his love. When he came to know about God’s love and eternal life, Mr. Radha Krishnan got back the hope to live. Now he is experiencing the love of Jesus. Please pray for him to grow spiritually.

MERCY MINISTRIES – CHENNAI / MADRAS
Tailoring Programme -- One of the students in our tailoring class, named Arokya Mary, was struggling because of financial problems. After completing her tailoring course she got a good job in an export company where she is getting a good salary. Now her family is happy and they have no financial problems anymore.

Saving Scheme – Mrs. Devi is a member in our savings scheme. She had a desire to start a small fancy store, but she didn’t have enough money to do that, so she approached us. We prayed for her and helped her by giving her a loan of 5,000.00 from the scheme. With that she started a small fancy store and now she is able to pay the school fees for her children, maintain her family and also repay the loan.

Day Care -- Baby Logeswari was suffering with pain in her ears so she did not attend the day care school. We prayed for her and she was healed from the pain. Praise be to the miracle working God.

Evangelism -- One young man was selling drugs in the area where we work. We met him, told him about the love of God and the gospel, then prayed for him. Now he has stopped selling drugs and believes in Christ.

Medical work -- Ms. Malar had a boil on her head. The doctor told her that is had to be operated on, but she was afraid of the operation. She came and told us and we all prayed for her. The next week when we met her she was totally healed.

DAYCARE – CHENNAI / MADRAS
Little Star Day Care School -- A boy named Nitish studies UKG in our school. His mother was suffering from typhoid for more than a week. Nitish and his brother knelt down and prayed for healing of their mother daily and she was completely healed. His mother came and testified about this and she was very happy. Tuition Centre -- A boy named Rajadurai was suffering from epilepsy from his early childhood. One day he had an attack which was very severe and he suffered a lot. We prayed along with him after this incident and he became better. He came to the tuition center and gave a testimony. This boy used to beat the other children and also had bad habits like telling lies, using filthy language, stealing and having friendship with unruly kids. After our counseling, there is a distinct change in his character and he even came to us and told us that he has put an end to all the bad things.

Sunday School -- Gurumani, one of our students, was very sad because her father, a drunkard, used to beat her mother almost daily. Gurumani requested us to pray for the same. We not only prayed for this, but we also taught her to pray for it. She came after a few days and testified that her father has stopped drinking and he does not beat her mother now.

Tailoring Classes -- A student named Kalaiselvi had an ulcer on her back for about 3 years. She was suffering from severe pain and pus was oozing out from the boil. The doctor whom she consulted could not cure this ulcer. She came to us and wept and requested us to pray for her. We gave her the promises of God as found in the Bible and told her to have absolute faith in Jesus who could definitely give the permanent cure for her problem. She came back to us and told us that she received complete cure from Jesus and she is not having any more pain. She was extremely happy about this. Praise be to God.

FISHERMEN VILLAGE – CHENNAI / MADRAS
Selvam is a 26 year old man who works in a local textile shop. One of our staff found him in a very depressed state. We feel the spirit of the Lord led him to this particular guy. While they were introducing each other they really felt as if they were close friends, even though this was the first time they met. Selvam shared all his problems to our team member. He was about to give up his life because the girl he loves and has decided to marry found out recently that she has a problem with her uterus. That made both of them very depressed. We comforted him and told him about Christ the great healer. They both said they wanted to accept Him, so we prayed with them. They are in the process of learning more about God and they call us from time to time to ask us for prayer. We thank God for this young couple.

Another time we met two guys who sell hot snacks on the side of the road. They are brothers and are very young. We also found that they have bad friendships which are leading them to drink, smoke and do other things. Here God gave us an opportunity to share the gospel. They both accepted God on that day. An interesting thing is that when they were small they used to go to Sunday School but when they grew up they got involved with bad friends and forgot God. But now both of them strongly feel the love of the God which follows them wherever they go and they are the regular members in our church. PRAISE GOD.

NEIGHBOURS – CHENNAI / MADRAS
Two brothers and their families used to have us come and do a bible study in their home. But last month they had a fight over some family problem. When we went to the elder brother’s house for the study, he told us all about this. Then the wife of the younger brother was offended that we did not go to their house and will not talk to us now. Please do pray that these brothers and their families will reconcile so they can continue to learn more about God.

The elder brother trusts in the Almighty. One day his wife told us about a dream she had that the man’s family are doing witchcraft against him, so we read to them from Numbers 23:23. They were surprised that there is a verse in the holy book to solve their problem!

PIONEER MINISTRIES – Pioneer Ministries, which runs a School of Evangelism and Pioneering in Chennai, sends out teams to pioneer new works within India and outside India. To date, we have sent out teams to Laos and the Gambia outside India, and several different places within India. Here is a report from the team that recently went to start a new mercy ministry work in Madurai, south Tamil Nadu:

In the worst slum in Madurai all the people are treated as low caste and there is no church or Christian organization working with them to uplift them. There is also no leader for the slum. We want reach out to these people, but when we approached the youth in the slum they were not happy for us to work there because in the past many non-government organisations came but did not do much work for the community. The N.G.Os were getting money but they didn’t help the people. Please pray that God will open a way for us to work there. One of the pastors in Madurai has said he will help introduce us to some key people in the slum. Please pray for wisdom when we talk to the slum people.

KANCHEEPURAM MINISTRIES
Tamil Discipleship Training School –One of the students in our last boys DTS had been involved with gangsters and street fights. He is from a Christian family, but had chosen to do things against his faith. During the lectures God started working in his life and he finally testified that he left all his past behaviour and committed his life to serve God in fulltime ministry. Another boy had bitterness and hatred against his father. He was not able to forgive and came to our school without any hope, full of rejection. In this school he experienced God’s acceptance and was able to release forgiveness to his father. Many good things happened in other students’ lives also!

Outreach was in Chennai, Salem and Ooty. In Chennai we helped to distribute suicide awareness handbills and during the time we worked with the suicide prevention centre, more than a hundred people connected with the counseling centre and changed theirs minds from suicidal thoughts. Some of them accepted Christ as their personal Savior. In Salem, our team met more than 8000 people with the chance of share the Gospel. Their prayers were answered and people were set free from the bondages in their lives. In Ooty, we had the chance to work with a YWAM team involved in church ministry, youth ministry, hospital ministry and making paper bags. In Ooty plastic bags are not allowed to be used, and the proceeds of the Go Bag Project are used to help poor and needy children to get school uniforms. From this school 8 of the 11 students have joined YWAM ministries in Chennai, Salem and Ooty. Our current DTS is for girls only and we hope you will keep the school in your prayers.

YWAM Madras News - December 9, 2003

JEEVAN SUICIDE PREVENTION CENTRE – CHENNAI / MADRAS
A young man (about 25 to 30 years old) contacted us this month and then came to meet us for counselling. He has attempted suicide twice. The first time he took some kind of poison, but his friends rushed him to hospital and he survived. The second time, he got drunk and deliberately walked onto a main railway track, but just as a train was about to hit him someone passing by pulled him away and saved him. He has a fear inside him that whenever he goes out, someone will hit him or he will have an accident and he feels he won¡¯t get back home alive. Because of this fear of death, he is very nervous to go out as he feels people will do something to him. As we talked to him about his childhood, he said he was physically abused by his father when he was a child and also by others at school and by relatives. He is a small person and has a problem in one eye. People bullied him and made fun of him because of that. Even now feels he can¡¯t do anything because of all the discouragement he¡¯s been through and feels he can¡¯t succeed in anything. The only thing that comes back to him is to kill himself. He came to us with the feeling that he can¡¯t go on. We spoke to him about working on his self-confidence and self esteem which is totally destroyed. We shared the gospel and the love of God to him and he prayed to receive Christ. We asked him to go to a church near his home where we have a relationship with the pastor. He said he¡¯ll go. Please do pray for this precious person – that he will learn to know the abundant life available in knowing Christ, that he will grow in the knowledge of God¡¯s love for him and that he will be delivered from his fear of death.

AIDS MINISTRY -- CHENNAI / MADRAS
Anjalam, a 35-year-old destitute lady, was married to a truck driver and gave birth to a baby boy in 1997. But within a short period, the child died. At the time, the reason for this was a mystery. After a few months, she lost her husband as well, so she had extreme sorrow. However, the death of her husband confirmed that the two deaths were due to AIDS. The doctors suspected that Anjalam also had the disease and tested her. The test found that she was HIV negative so the doctors gave her counseling and instructions on her lifestyle for the future. A few years later, considering her young age and loneliness, her relatives pressured her to remarry. For a few months, things went well in her new marriage, then she began to experience weakness in her body. Her non-stop sicknesses brought her to the TB hospital here and the medical reports confirmed the presence of the HIV virus in her body. No sooner than her second husband knew this, he deserted her, leaving her helpless. Her sick father could not help her in any way. At this point, Anjalam decided to end her life. However, it was the hand of God that protected her from committing suicide. When our staff met her in hospital and talked to her about how much God loves her, she immediately gained a great hope in the Lord that HE cares for her and would take her to eternity after her life comes to an end. We were all so amazed at God¡¯s instant work in her.

Home-Based Care -- David and Stella are a young couple, the parents of two young girls. David was an assistant clerk to a lawyer, who used to arrange bail for professional killers. Since the lawyer he worked for was influential, David was highly respected by his peers. In the year 2000, he had an accident and was on the road, unattended, for a few hours. Within this period, he lost an enormous amount of blood and was taken to the hospital, near death. The doctors decided to give him a few bottles of blood and one of his friends who had the same blood group willingly donated blood. Unfortunately he was a drug addict who injects himself very often with his friends and was HIV+. In the emergency situation the blood was not tested, and David (and later, his wife) also became HIV+. After a few years, various symptoms began to show in both of them. When they discovered they were HIV+, they were grieved over the future of their daughters and felt hopeless. As our staff talked to them about the forgiving love of God, David was convicted of his attitude in helping professional killers. He cried and asked the Lord for His mercy and forgiveness. As he realized God forgave him and that their former lives would no more be remembered by the Lord, they were both filled with joy. We believe this faith they have in Jesus will be steadfast. Kindly pray for the children, the family needs, for good health and extended lives.

LEPROSY MINISTRY – CHENNAI / MADRAS
Our team met Mr Subbaiah, aged 66, at one of the leprosy colonies. He is from the neighbouring state, Andhra Pradesh and was affected with leprosy when he was 24 years old. His right foot still has deep ulcers. In the beginning he underwent some treatment in a Goverment leprosy hospital. Then he started to stay in one of the leprosy homes and has been there for nearly 35 years. Now he runs a teashop in the same village. His wife has passed away and his daughter has rejected him, so he lives a isolated life. He was very attentive when our team talked about Jesus. He remembered that 5 years ago someone else had talked to him about Jesus. He enthusiastically asked us many things about God and he¡¯s still eager to know more. We prayed for him. Please also remember him in your prayers.

MERCY MINISTRIES – CHENNAI / MADRAS
Literacy Programme – Lidiya, a student in our literacy programme, has a son who is 2 years old. One day when she was doing her housework her son fell into a big gutter which is in front of the house. Nobody knew it. But after some time a small 4 year old child came and told Lidiya. Then she rushed and saw her son was struggling for life. She rescued him with the help of some other people. Praise God the baby is fine.

Medical Work -- Uma Mageswari, who lives in the Balaji Nagar slum, was very worried because she was tormented by her husband who is an alcoholic. He never gives any money to run the family, so we joined with her and prayed. The Lord has changed the heart of the man -- now there is a lot of difference in his life.

Tailoring – Please pray along with us for Vimala, one of our tailoring students, who has epilepsy.

Sunday School -- Venkatesan is a Sunday school student. His father had a lot of pain in the stomach because of a boil. They visited many doctors and temples, but he did not get better. One day, Venkatesan asked us to pray for his father, so we all prayed in the Sunday school and visited his house. There we proclaimed the promises of God and the whole family joined us in prayer. The following week he testified that the Lord had done a great miracle in his father¡¯s life and he was better!

Day care -- Divya is a small child who is in our day care. She was very sick so we went to visit her at her house. Her whole family was very sick so we all prayed for their family. Now she and her family are fine. Praise the Lord.

DAYCARE – CHENNAI / MADRAS
Little Star Day Care School : Once in a while, we go to all the children¡¯s homes to know about their activities and performance. In this way, we maintain a good relationship with their families. A boy named Suryanarayanan studying Pre-KG was reported by his family to be very naughty. They told us he was disobedient and rude to his parents and his grandmother. He also misbehaved with all of us in our school. We counseled him and prayed for him. After a few days, we asked his mother about him and she told us that there is a distinct change in him and he is behaving well. The Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ has changed him and given him a new way of living.

Another boy named Rogan Kumar, used to eat the other children¡¯s snacks and eats. We told him not to do so in future as God sees all we do. Now, he is not doing it. Glory be to God!

Tuition Centre : A boy named Satish failed his last exams and his father scolded him for not studying well. We prayed for that boy and asked him to study well, and seek God¡¯s guidance to gain knowledge. He prayed to God and when he did his exams this time, he did well!

Sunday School : Most of the children come to Sunday School and tell us about problems in their families. We, along with these children, pray to the Lord for their problems. A girl named Pavithra said that whenever she came to Sunday school her mother used to object and scold her. Pavithra prayed to God and now her mother asks her to attend the Sunday school regularly and also tells her to ask us to pray for her family.
Please pray for the health of children, especially for those who are affected with jaundice again and again.

FISHERMEN VILLAGE – CHENNAI / MADRAS
Tailoring Class -- Every day we pray before we start the class, but we were not very sure whether the students liked this prayer or not. One day we arrived at class a little late and just started the class immediately, completely forgetting to pray. That day, one of the machines had a problem and didn¡¯t work at all. Everybody had one problem or another. Then one of the ladies suddenly said, ¡°You didn't pray today -- that's why all this is happening.¡± It was a surprise to us that they really agree that prayer helps! Now every day they remind me to pray!

House visits -- This month we visited four new people -- three men and a woman. The lady had had an accident some months before and wasn¡¯t cared for well so now she is not able to do anything on her own. She was in a very hopeless condition. We told her about the love that Jesus has for us and she accepted God. God gave her a peace in her heart. It was a really wonderful time.

Gypsies -- We visited a group of gypsies in near Golden Beach. They are a small group that stay under the trees. We just spent some time getting to know them. It was very nice and we had lots of fun with them.

Church – The husband of one of our church believers was very bad in his all ways. But from last month he started to come to church. He has completely stopped drinking and he¡¯s trying his best to avoid smoking. He told us he really feels God is taking something from his heart. We just thank God for that.

NEIGHBOURS – CHENNAI / MADRAS
One day after the childrens class three teenage girls came running to saying, ¡°Anna, (elder brother), you haven't given us the memory verse! Can you please teach us one verse from your Holy book?¡±. I taught them one and they memorized it within a few minutes, saying it back to us. One of these girls told us last month that she feels happy only when she comes to our class. Please pray that these girls come to know our savior.

KANCHEEPURAM MINISTRIES
God is doing wonderful things in our midst! A team that consisted of one pastor and three lay leaders went to a small village of 55 families. The team came upon a six-year-old girl who was bedridden for the past two months. They prayed for her and she opened her eyes, got up, and walked--PRAISE GOD! In addition to this, the team prayed for a handful of other people who claimed that God touched them and healed them.

The same team went back to this village the following week, but the people who received prayer hid from them, fearing that they would be called out to worship God. One team member asked the mother whose daughter was healed, ¡°Why you are hiding from us? God healed your daughter last week; you told us that you accepted Jesus. The mother said, ¡°You are right, but I talked with my husband about this, he told if you go to a church I will kill you. I don¡¯t know what to do, but I love Jesus.¡± The next week the team went back and met an old man. He asked them to pray for him. They shared the gospel and prayed. The man was touched by God and asked the team to build a church there AND DONATED HIS LAND FOR A CHURCH BUILDING! This message has extended in the whole village -- wow! Now, ten families are getting ready to build a church in that village! This team has gone through the first two phases of our Church Planting School. This School is now in five locations. In two locations in which we have done follow up work, we have thirty-two leaders and 122 lay leaders. The leaders reported that they have shared the gospel to 3,086 people. 708 people have verbally accepted Jesus. The great thing is that forty-nine cell groups have been started to nurture these people!

STREET KIDS ?CHENNAI / MADRAS
This month two new small boys have joined our shelter. They are quite small and they don’t know what age they are, but we think they are about 6 or 7 years old. Please pray for these boys to settle in with us and feel at home. With these 2 new boys, we now have 42 children staying with us full time! The ones that are going to school are doing well in their studies. They just had quarterly exams and studied really hard for them. The bigger boys have learned how to make bonsai plants, so they are taking care of them and selling them. They are being really creative in this new talent.

When Babu was young, his father used to beat his mother. They fought every day, so his mother left. Then Babu went to his grandma's house, and stayed with his aunt and uncle. His uncle used to fight with his brother. One day he blamed Babu and kicked him out of the house, so Babu ran away and ended up at Central Station. He stayed at our shelter here for many years and once more returned to the streets. But after two years, he decided to come back and pursue a better future for himself. Right now, he is learning screen printing. We are so glad he is back with us rather than being on the streets.

Please pray for one of the girls who has to have an operation for haemorrhoids. She is only 12 years old. Also, we are really in need of more staff. For 42 children, we only have 2 couples and 3 single male staff. We really need more female staff. We would appreciate your prayers.

ACPT ?CHENNAI / MADRAS
In our Prarthana Bhavan (which means Prayer House) we prayed for a 14 year old boy who was suffering from a nervous disorder and was not able to move or speak. He had been bedridden for 6 months. Doctors had given up on him and said he would die within 48 hours, but he still lived. His parents were very distraught. When we met his parents we shared about the love of Jesus to them and gave them new hope about their son. We prayed for the boy and now he is able to move! First he turned his body to the left, then to the right and now he is able to slowly get up and sit. He is even able to speak some words. His parents believe in the healing power of Jesus.

As we have been praying around the city in prayer walks, prayer drives and in our prayer house, we have seen a lot of changes in the crime and corruption in the city. Here are some recent events which we believe are a result of prayer:

- star tortoises that were being smuggled out of the country were seized and the smugglers arrested
- illegal VCDs in both Tamil and English were seized and burned by the customs officers
- A bomb that was put into a garbage can in Central railway station was discovered by a young ragpicker. Thank God he did not touch it, but called the police, who defused the bomb.
- 40 people begging at traffic lights, bus stops and railway stations were arrested and sent to a refuge center
- a young man with a suitcase full of heroin was caught by police at a bus stop.
- An actress was arrested, along with her mother and a businessman, for agreeing to do prostitution for a large sum of money.

All of these kinds of crimes are committed regularly in Chennai, usually with officials turning a blind eye and being paid off. We praise God for the changes taking place in our city.

We are planning to move into the centre of Chennai where there are many more Hindi speaking people living. Our vision is to see more Hindi speaking churches started among this people group and we are working with churches in different areas to help them do this. Please pray for us as it is much more expensive to live in the centre of the city and we are looking for the right place to move to.

LEPROSY MINISTRY ?CHENNAI / MADRAS
At one of the leprosy colonies, our medical team met Krishnan who is 80 years old. He was affected with leprosy 20 years ago. Different treatments he had didn’t seem to work, so he went to a government leprosy hospital where he was under treatment for 2 years. His leprosy was healed, but he kept developing ulcers on his foot. When they became very bad, he was admitted into another leprosy hospital and did not return home for four years. His family also rejected him because of leprosy, so Krishnan started a new life at Bharathapuram Leprosy colony. As we listened to him, our team talked about God’s love and salvation in Jesus. Memories of his past began to come to his mind. He recalled how he had prayed to many gods when he was first admitted in hospital and rejected from society.

Once, he attended a church service, where he heard about Jesus. He asked Jesus to heal him and soon after that was the time his leprosy was healed! But, though he believed Jesus was real, he still kept faith in other gods. We explained to him clearly who God is and about His character. After talking with our team, he finally understood that Jesus is the only God. Please pray for him and pray for the team to have God’s wisdom in reach out to people like this.

JEEVAN SUICIDE PREVENTION CENTRE ?CHENNAI / MADRAS
John was a successful business man but his business failed when the government took up a project to lay sewer pipes and then did not complete it even after a year, forcing John to close down his business. This loss was in the thousands of dollars. John tried selling a piece of property he owned, but a friend who was helping him construct a building on that property has some developmental right over it and is now demanding around US$10,000 to revoke his rights. The house that he has built for his family is now occupied by his sister who has left her husband and is now occupying a major portion of his house cutting off access to John and also not paying him any rent. John has asked her repeatedly to return to her husband or at least vacate the property so that he could rent his house out to get some money, but she has done neither. His brother, whom John had helped start a business by loaning him more than US$10,000, now does not want to return the money.

In the meantime John's wife has left him with their children. After he shared all these problems with our counsellor he was presented with the gospel as the counsellor felt that it was only Jesus who could help him at his hour of need. John accepted Jesus as his personal saviour that night. Our counsellor also encouraged him further to not give up on life and, as a priority, to work on getting his wife back. John has been able to get a job and he will get back to us regarding his progress after a week. Please do pray with us for John’s life to get back on track.

MERCY MINISTRIES ?CHENNAI / MADRAS
Literacy programme -- Ruth is one of our students and she has a 3 month old baby. Both of them were very sick and they couldn’t get treatment because they didn’t have enough money. Ruth was so sick she was quite desperate, then one day when she came to the class she requested us to pray. God heard our prayers and healed them both. Praise the Lord.

Tailoring Class -- Rajeswari is a tailoring student. One day she asked us to pray for her family situation because her husband lost his job and financially they were in trouble. So we prayed and God changed the whole situation. He gave a good job to her husband.

Sunday School -- Buvaneswari is a Sunday school student. Her father has been a drunkard from the day her parents got married. Her mother was very troubled because of this and wanted to commit suicide many times. One day she requested us to pray for her father, which we did. Now he has left drinking and is taking good care of the family.

Savings Scheme ?A member of our saving scheme had a 4 year old daughter who was suffering with a big boil on her face. The pain was excruciating, so the mother asked us to pray. We prayed with burden and she was cured. The mother herself was very sick with high fever, so much so that she thought she would die, leaving her children as orphans. When she told us we prayed with faith and she was healed. Praise God.

AIDS MINISTRY -- CHENNAI / MADRAS
Hospital visits -- Rani, a 30 year old lady, was leading a smooth life for the last 8 years. Her husband had good earnings and nothing was short for them in life. Suddenly, two years ago she fell acutely ill, nearing death at one time. Eventually she was given the HIV Elisa test, which showed positive. Her husband and 10 year old son were also tested, but both were negative, so the doctors were puzzled as to how she had become infected. On further investigation they discovered that when she delivered her son she was suffering from anaemia and was given 2 bottles of blood, which must have been contaminated. It is still a mystery how her husband has not become HIV+. When we first met Rani, she was so frustrated that she would not talk to us. She tried to commit suicide at different times, but we are thankful that she was not successful. Finally, when we shared the gospel with her she delightfully accepted the Lord Jesus as Lord and Saviour. She has found enough courage now to face the fear of death. Please pray for Rani and her family

Home based care -- Krishnamoorthy and Gantha are a new young couple that we are beginning to visit in their home. Krishnamoorthy is 28, Gantha is 26 and they have a son aged 4. Krishnamoorthy was a farmer who had good income from the land. With a baby boy his life was rich and colourful, however his mind was restless, and he used to go to prostitutes at different times, not knowing the risk of contracting the HIV virus. A few months later, his wife was admitted for chest cough and it was found that she had tuberculosis. When she was admitted in the tuberculosis sanatorium near us, Krishnamoorthy found out that his wife tested HIV positive. The doctors wanted to test him too and at first he refused, but he couldn’t really escape this and his tests were also positive. Their relatives tortured them physically and emotionally. Finally they decided to quit the house and lived as vagabonds on roadsides. When we met them in this state, we encouraged them and helped them. Through this, they realised that God loved them and cared for them. They now regularly attend all our Sunday gatherings. Praise God for the salvation they received in the Lord.

Thank you very much for your prayers. We have rented another house for children with the HIV virus. We still need to furnish the house. We would like to move the children as soon as possible to this new facility so please pray along with us for the needed provision of furniture for these precious kids.

DAYCARE ?CHENNAI / MADRAS
Little Star Day Care School -- A boy named Vaitheeshkumar, studying Lower K.G. was using filthy language according to his mother. We counselled and prayed for him. After a few days, his mother came to us and told us that he is behaving well.

Tuition Centre -- The children are very enthusiastic and they learn well. Recently they all had exams. A boy named Saravanan told us that he prayed to God before writing his exams and gave a testimony that he had passed in all the subjects.

Sunday School -- Often children come to us with their family problems such as “My parents fight all the time?or “My father comes home drunk?or “My father does not give any money for our food? They often ask us to pray for peace in their families. We teach them from the word of God and pray to God along with these children to guide and help them at all times. Please pray along with these children for peace in their homes. Tailoring Classes ?Our seven students are learning to stitch well. They ask us to pray for their personal and family problems. Devaki & Kalaiselvi have strengthened their faith in the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Now they seem to be cheerful.

Please pray along with us for some of our needs: Some parents are reluctant to send their kids to our daycare after the government passed an anti conversion law. We need a refrigerator, a t.v. and a DVD player for the children’s ministry. We also need a motorbike or scooter for the ministry team.

FISHERMEN VILLAGE ?CHENNAI / MADRAS
We praise God that we were able to start our tailoring programme recently. 6 girls are coming for it. We have 3 sewing machines so it works out well to have this number of students at one time.

The tuition classes, church and Sunday School are going on well and we were able to start a new prayer cell in another area. We want to start more prayer cells in days to come.

A new staff person joined us last month. Please pray for more staff for our team so that we can do more work among the fishermen and their families.

NEIGHBOURS ?CHENNAI / MADRAS
Last month I was able to visit one of my old friends in the community that I used to spend lot of time with, talking about the good news. He was very happy to meet me. It used to be me that started discussions, but this time he started the talk. He had a lot of questions, so I answered most of them, then we talked about a prophecy in the Bible and when it was fulfilled. We had good talk for an hour and thirty minutes and I enjoyed talking to him very much.

With our study group study we have ups & downs. One man attends every week and tells us stories of how God meets his special needs. Another family loves to listen to us as we talk to them. But with the other two families sometimes they come and sometimes they don’t because of pressures of the community. About seventy five children attend our children’s ministry. They are all growing in the Lord. Some of the children left due to pressure but other parents bring their children and leave the child with us, showing trust in us.

KANCHEEPURAM MINISTRIES
We have just finished our 2nd Module in a place called Kelambakkam. 71 people went out to do evangelism and God did wonderful things in their ministry time, so here are some great stories from them:

A pastor’s wife and 3 lay leaders went to a village for ministry and knocked at the door of a house. There was a young man watching TV and he told them, “Don’t come here, I don’t want your God, go and tell others!? But our people said, “Please just spend 5 minutes with us. We would like to share something about God then we will go, ?so he finally let them in. They shared the gospel from the beginning to the end through the Lamb of God evangelism teaching and when they finished, the young man wept and said, “My life is going the wrong way. I don’t have peace in my life. I am planning to die.?The team counselled him and prayed for him. When they were praying, God showed them some of the wrong things which was he doing and they told him to turn away from these things. The young man received Jesus as his personal Saviour and Lord, and has started coming to church. He is so happy and worshiping God! Another pastor and 3 lay leaders went to a village to share the gospel where there was no church at all. They decided to call the people in the village to come to a common place to hear the gospel, rather than going to individual houses. Many people didn’t come, but 30 people came and heard the gospel as the team preached the gospel from the book of Genesis to Revelation. 20 people decided to accept Christ and after the meeting they called the team to come into their homes and pray for them. God did many miracles there, with many sick people has healed. Now the 20 believers have asked us to build a church there, so please pray that this will be possible and that these people will grow in faith and in the knowledge of God.

There are many other stories like this, which we can tell you another time! Thank you for your prayers.

FISHERMEN VILLAGE ?CHENNAI / MADRAS
We met a new family this month. One day we were going out with a visiting team by van and I felt God tell me to talk to the driver. I felt the driver looked a bit too serious, but I obeyed God and talked to him about God and the gospel. The next week, while we were visiting houses in the fishing village, we met the same man, who had been staying there for the past two months! So we had a good talk with him and he told us all his troubles. He told us that he has been married for 10 years but that their married life has been terrible. They don’t like each other, so when he comes home, she goes out and when she sleeps inside the house, he sleeps outside. We went to his home to visit his wife, but found it hard to even get a word in! She talked and talked and said she wanted to divorce this man and go somewhere to live alone. We started to pray for this family and kept visiting them. Now the wife has become calmer and told us she has realised the importance of giving up her rights. Now the relationship is getting better and the wife went to church last week. Please pray that they will find God’s love for each other and have joy.

STREET KIDS ?CHENNAI / MADRAS
Right now we have 40 kids staying with us. Last month 4 kids went back to their family. Praise God we were able to find their parents! They were so happy to go back to their family. Now other kids are wondering, “When is my day going to come!? Here are some stories of other boys staying in our shelter:
Raja is 4 years old and is from a small village. His father left him and his mother 2 years ago. He was a gangster and Raja’s mother thinks he is either dead or in jail. Raja’s mother is also very young. Since it was so hard for her to live on the street, we shared the gospel with her, which she believed in. We have helped her to stay with some church people so that she is in a safe place.

Madesh is 22 years old. When he was young, he was sold for 2000 rupees (approx. $40). He felt that no one wanted him in the world and wondered why God made him. Last month he was depressed, so we counselled him and prayed with him. He is slowly leaving his past behind him. Please pray for him.

Stephen comes from a very poor background. His mother died when he was very young and his father did not provide food, education or even any attention to Stephen and his older brother, and from a young age Stephen felt very unappreciated and unloved. When his brother married, Stephen stayed with them but his sister-in-law was very cruel to him. Since he’d already had such a longing for love and care in his life, in desperation he ran away and made a home for himself in Chennai Central Railway Station. When we met Stephen during our street evangelism time, he was new to the streets. We were able to rescue him and bring him to our shelter before he got caught up in the street life and culture. After counselling him and praying with him he started to share his emotional pains with us and slowly started to forgive the people who had caused so much hurt in his life. At present he is learning computer in one of the leading companies in the city and is very busy every day with his work. He wants to learn as much as he can because he feels it will be very useful for him in the future. He also helps us around the shelter and he is an extremely responsible, well behaved, obedient boy. His desire is to go to school and be educated but his long-term vision is to minister to the street kids, who like him suffer from a lack of love and care. Ultimately he wants to serve the Lord in whatever he does.

LEPROSY MINISTRY ?CHENNAI / MADRAS
Krishnan, from Chennai, is 75. He first discovered he had leprosy when he was 16 years old. His family rejected him totally because of this disease and he has deep loneliness and rejection in his heart. Like most leprosy patients, Krishan developed ulcers on his feet and his fingers shrank. He found it very difficult to accept the changes that were happening to his body, though he was receiving treatment. After time, he began to accept his condition and now he has many friends among other leprosy victims. As a leper he took a strong decision not to get married, so he is still a single man. Our medical team met him when we visited the leprosy colony he lives in. We shared God’s unfailing love and acceptance for Krishnan. Krishnan is doing much better now. Mentally he is clear that Jesus loves him. Every week he is getting medical help from our team and he is experiencing God’s joy & peace.

JEEVAN SUICIDE PREVENTION CENTRE ?CHENNAI / MADRAS
A physically challenged girl (from birth) wanted to get married. Someone advised her to put an advertisement in the newspaper. A man responded to her and wanted to marry her. She was very happy at first, but later she found out that he was already married and has children. She tried to stop the guy from calling her but he kept getting in touch with her, which was very distressing for her. She phoned us in a desperate state. We counselled her and also felt we should tell her the gospel. After that, she prayed and he stopped calling her. Because her prayers were answered, she accepted Christ and started going to church.

MERCY MINISTRIES ?CHENNAI / MADRAS
Medical Work -- Ganesh had an accident and had very bad wounds. One day when we saw he was suffering with a lot of pain and the condition was very bad, we cleaned all his wounds and gave some medicine. Then we prayed for him. He became fine in just one week and was very happy. We told him about Jesus and prayed with him. He now believes in Jesus.

Tailoring ?Kuppu, one of our students, wanted to buy a new machine. We prayed for her request for two weeks. God heard our prayer and at the end of the month she was able to buy a new one for her own use. Praise God.

Literacy Programme -- One of the teachers who helps us in the literacy programme had a son who was distributing drugs in the slum. We all prayed for him for a long time. God heard our prayers and changed his mind and now he left that work and is doing a good job. Praise God.

Day Care -- One day we went to visit the families of the day care children. Then we found out that Jenefer's parents were not on good terms and because of that the family did not have peace. So we all joined together and prayed. God spoke to them and now there is peace in the family.

Savings Scheme -- Manimagalai is one of the members in the saving scheme. She used to get nosebleeds very often and she was worried because no doctor could cure her. She requested us to pray for her and the whole group joined together and prayed. She was totally cured! This incident has increased her faith in Jesus she wants to go to church.

Sunday School -- Abirami comes to our Sunday School regularly. Her parents fought with each other and they were living separately. All the brothers and sisters were suffering because of this. We and Abirami used to pray for this every week without fail. God heard our prayers and they are now living happily together as a family.

Youth meeting -- Vimala attended our youth meeting once. From then on, she wanted to attend regularly but could not because her parents did not allow her. When she came the first time she learnt how to pray so she prayed that God should make a way to attend the meeting. And her prayer was answered! Praise the Lord.

AIDS MINISTRY -- CHENNAI / MADRAS
Hospital visits -- One day in the hospital we heard a woman crying out in a way that reminded us how the biblical Bartimaeus would have called upon the Lord Jesus for compassion. Selvi, a 35 year old widow, was longing to have someone to share her sorrows and to get comforting words from them. Selvi’s husband died of AIDS 11 years ago and Selvi came to know of her own viral infection 3 years ago. She has 3 grown up sons and a daughter. Her husband was respected as a man of dignity in his hometown. He had a good reputation and wealth. Selvi still doesn’t know how her husband came to get AIDS because he was always faithful to her in their marriage. None of Selvi’s family, including her children, know that she has AIDS, and her mother has taken her to many shrines to try and get healing, but nothing has helped. It was when Selvi observed how we were reaching out to the poor and needy, that she was moved to call out to us that day. As we told her about Christ she was so moved in her heart and she was even more open with us. Our subsequent visits have brought a remarkable transformation in her life and she has pledged to live for Christ till her last breath.

Home based care -- Selvam and Maadhu have a 7-year-old daughter and a 5-year-old son. Selvam was a truck driver by his profession and during his travels used prostitutes often. In this way, he became infected with the HIV virus in 1995 and passed the disease onto his wife. Now both his son and his daughter are HIV+ as well. Selvam is so sorry now as he remembers all the wrong things he did and how he has affected his family. He actually came from a well-off family, but all of them have excommunicated him. He has pawned his cell phone, TV and all other household items in order to survive as he can no longer work. When we met this family in their home, we were happy to help them by giving them some provisions. All his past bitter experiences have made him to turn to God. Through our sharing, he and his family have accepted Lord Jesus as their personal Saviour. He attends all our Sunday gatherings without ceasing. He has begun to understand the true love of God. We believe that he would never turn back from the Lord.

DAYCARE ?CHENNAI / MADRAS
Little Star Day Care School -- The children are very enthusiastic and they learn well. A 4 year old girl named Pavithra is a quick learner, especially about Jesus. She sings and prays at home. An aunt of her says that her songs soothe her when she is worried or sick and she is very pleased about it.

Sunday School -- A boy named Saravanan used to be very happy. All of a sudden he became very morose. So we spoke to him and we came to know that his father drinks and quarrels frequently. His younger brother was very sick, vomitting frequently. We prayed for him and after two days Saravanan brought his younger brother to the Tuition Centre and told us that his younger brother is well. He has found his lost joy and is his old self once more.

Several people in the slum have more than one wife. Chitra, a 13 year old girl, is her father’s first wife’s daughter. The two wives used to fight often. Her father supports the second wife and one day he was beating Chitra’s mother. Chitra prayed and after some time her father came and apologised to her mother. She prayed for an easy job with high salary for her father and for peace in the house. God answered her prayers and her father has a job now and there is peace in the family. We praise God for these children learning how to rely on God to help them.

Tailoring Classes -- Six students are attending classes. Every Friday, we pray together for their prayer requests. A woman, Manjula, had attended tailoring classes elsewhere for 6 months. Because she could not understand the making of a blouse, she came to us. But even here she could not understand. We prayed with her on a Friday for knowledge and wisdom. The following Monday, she came with two well made blouses she had made during the week end!

NEIGHBOURS ?CHENNAI / MADRAS
One day while we were sitting in our friend’s house waiting to run a bible study his wife’s family visited them, so I told them we will go and come back next week as I thought his wife’s family might get upset with our study. The man told me to continue with the study, but I just prayed and left the house. As soon as I left the house, I remembered Acts chapter 10 -- how Cornelius invited his extended family and friends to hear the Good news. Though we have been praying for such opportunities in this community we did not share the good news when we had the chance, but we decided that next time we will take the opportunity!

Many children still come to our children’s ministry even though it was announced among their community that none should attend our programmes. One day a girl was sitting in our class and her cousin told her to come with her. But she replied, it is boring where you are going, but it is nice over here!

KANCHEEPURAM MINISTRIES
We are continuing with our modular teaching for pastors and lay leaders. This is a 7 month course where pastors bring 3 lay leaders with them for training. The first module is the Lamb of God evangelism course, the second is on care cells, the third is on Basic church Doctrine, the fourth is Inductive Bible study and the fifth is sharpening interpersonal skills and video bible college. We finished teaching the first module in two places. In one place there were 19 Leaders and 52 Lay leaders from 15 churches. In the other place, there were 13 Leaders and 37 Lay leaders. Here are some testimonies from people who are taking this training:

One pastor said, “I have been doing ministry for 20 years and I have taught the gospel in different ways, but this is such a simple way, and effective too! I learned a lot of things from this class and I want to teach it to my church members also.?lt;p> Another man said, “I had an interest to do evangelism, but I didn’t know how to share. Now I have the confidence to share the gospel to anyone.? A lady said, “I believe it was God that brought me to this module course. Nowadays, people go to Bible College to learn more about God and the Bible. We are not able to go to Bible College, so this course is a good opportunity for us to learn. I am eagerly awaiting the other modules!?lt;p>

Dear Friends,
August 16th was a significant day for us when the work of Chennai City Co-ordinator was handed over to Sudhakar. Nearly 450 people were at the function ?YWAMers, pastors, people from other Christian organisations, family and friends. Thank you so much to all of you who prayed for this event.
Here is our latest report. We really appreciate your prayers for the work and for the people being ministered to.
Sudhakar and Julie Simeon

LEPROSY MINISTRY ?CHENNAI / MADRAS
We might wonder how long a person can live with leprosy. Well, here are a couple of stories of men who have lived most of their lives with the disease? Ranganathan is 72 years old and was diagnosed with leprosy when he was 7 years old. At that time (1941) there was not much medication to treat leprosy. Because of this, he lost his hands and his left foot. Ranganathan never married and has spent his whole life in the Leprosy Hospital. He used to worry about his future and often felt very lonely and rejected by society. When he saw different families eating out and having fun times together, he felt very lonely. How he wished to have a family to love and embrace him in times of difficulty and sadness! But now he is very comforted and happy because of his faith in Jesus. He attends church service regularly and is very eager to hear God's word.

Joseph Selvam is 81 years old. He can’t remember when he was affected with leprosy, but from 1952 he was under treatment in a leprosy hospital and was there for 10 years. After the treatment he worked there as a helper for several more years. He was married and has four children, but his wife passed away 4 years ago. Deep in his heart, he is feeling lonely and sad that his wife is no longer with him. Our team visits the colony he lives in every week, and we have managed to make friends with him. His legs were affected badly with ulcers and he began to come for weekly treatment from us. At the end of the treatment each week our team members prayed for him. He slowly began to trust God and his ulcers are beginning to heal. Joseph is also learning to experience God’s peace, joy and new meaning in life. He is praying aloud and always giving thanks to God! New life can come even at an old age!

JEEVAN SUICIDE PREVENTION CENTRE ?CHENNAI / MADRAS
Recently a couple approached our Jeevan Suicide Prevention Centre for help due to their extremely stressful problem. They told us how they had taken loans from various money lenders but were unable to pay back the loans in the proper time and way. Due to their inability to pay back the money they had been subjected to emotional, verbal and threat of physical abuse from the money lenders. After constant threats for a few months, they were contemplating suicide, at which point they approached us. This couple said they were willing to pay back the money lenders if the payback method was made easier, so we typed a letter to the police asking them to take necessary action to provide protection for this couple and also to provide an easier way to pay back the money lenders. After doing this, the police gave protection and Mr. and Mrs. Peter are paying back the loans. While talking to this couple, we also shared the gospel to them, letting them know that God can help them. They decided to follow Christ and said they will go to church. In Mr. Peter’s last call to us, he said, “I see new leaves growing in our lives because of Jesus? We are so grateful for being able to help this couple.

MERCY MINISTRIES ?CHENNAI / MADRAS
Tailoring work -- Indhumathy is a student in our tailoring class who comes from a family who strongly believes in idol worship. When she started coming to the tailoring class we told her about God and His wonderful love. Then when a team came and enacted some skits, Indu was touched by it and commited her life totally to God. Please continue to pray for her to grow in her relationship with Him.

Literacy Programme ?Selvi is one of our literacy programme students. Her husband suddenly became sick with boils on his body. Because of this he could not go to work and the family was suffering financially. When we heard about this, we prayed for him. We also gave him special oil and asked him to apply it with faith every day. He did so. Now the boils have started to slowly heal. Please continue to pray for Selvi and her husband. The Lord who has started the healing will definitely finish it.

Sunday School -- Sumathi comes to our Sunday school regularly and suffers with night blindness. Her parents were very worried because in the evenings she could not see properly. They took her to many temples and doctors but it was of no use. Finally they brought her to the Sunday school for us to pray for her. We all prayed for her, shared the gospel to the parents and told them to have faith in Jesus. They told us they trusted in the Lord and accepted Him as their personal saviour. God did a great miracle that day, Their daughter was totally healed from her night blindness. Praise be to our miracle working God!

Savings Scheme -- Jayalakshmi’s family was in a difficult situation because her husband was without a job and was not a good man. She wanted to do some kind of small business but did not have enough money. One day she shared her problem with us so we gave her a loan from her group. With that money she bought a Wet Grinder and started to do a small business by grinding rice. Now her family is happy and she is able to even repay her loan little by little.

STREET KIDS ?CHENNAI / MADRAS
We now have 44 kids staying with us and 2 new staff have joined us, which we are really thankful for. 23 of the children are going to the government school. It took quite a long time to get their admission in the school as a lot of them don’t have a birth certificate, but we praise God that they finally were able to go and they are now doing well in school. For many of them sitting in one place for more than an hour is a new thing, so we are happy they are doing so well.

The rest of the children are learning different things at home, like making bags, learning screen printing, doing embroidery. Here are some of the older childrens?stories:

Sumathy is 17 years old. She decided to go home and live in her own village. We called her uncle and he said he can get her into school there. We hope that God will work in her to draw her closer to Him. She thought Chennai would be an easy place to live, but she has found she likes her village better.

Shanker is 16 years old and is very tall ?around 6 feet. He ran away from home after finding out he was not his parents own son. This hurt him, so he took a train to Chennai. When we met him we gave him a home in the Shelter and we’re trying to find work for him. But he misses his adoptive mother very much. We are praying that he will accept that he is adopted and go back home again.

R. Venkatesh is 19 and does not know where his native village is. During his childhood, his parents worked on the roadside. They stayed in the temples and on the street. When he was staying with his parents his father was in bad condition so his mother married another man. One day she left Venkatesh alone on the street. He searched but was unable to find her, so he ended up living on the streets. We found him near the Central Railway Station. After many visits he came to the shelter, first in day care and then full time. He ran away after a few years and again lived on the streets for two years. But life was really hard and he decided to come back to the shelter. Now he is living at the boys shelter and he is learning how to do screen printing.

AIDS MINISTRY -- CHENNAI / MADRAS
A fumbling walk, skeleton in place of flesh, sighing eyes, plastic tubes coming from the body to extricate waste and other fluids are the few symptoms of Mrs. Prabhavathi, wife of Mr. Krishna, from our neighbouring state, Andhra Pradesh. Both Krishna and Prabavathi were sidelined in the hospital without proper care. They faced a lot of struggles due to not being able to speak Tamil. They longed to be able to speak to someone who understood their language. This was the scenario when our staff met them. One of our staff speaks Telegu, their language, so finally they were able to communicate. Prabavathi was suffering from acute headache. We told her, if you believe, God is certainly powerful to set you free from this headache. They believed it and requested us to pray for them, which we did. The next day, we were eager to meet them to know her condition. What we heard from them was certainly not encouraging. That lady’s headache had become worse after the prayer. We were a little confused at first, then prayed again for her more fervently. God proved yet again that He is still all-powerful and her headache went away. Their faith was strengthened in Jesus after having seen this miracle of the Lord. When their time came to leave Chennai, they pledged to give up idol worship and follow the Lord. Praise God for this wonderful transformation in them. May the Lord enable them to be living witnesses for the Lord.

Home based care -- Tamilarasi is a resident of Chennai who got married 7 years ago. When her baby was 3 months old, she lost her husband. She did not know the reason why he died ?she thought it was due to cholera, as the symptoms of HIV closely resemble that of cholera. A few years after the death of her husband, she suddenly lost weight and had all sorts of HIV’s primary symptoms. She didn’t fear the condition but tried to get well. When she gave a blood sample and found she was HIV+, it was a big blow to her. She was treated badly by her relatives and was very worried about her son, in case relatives treated him badly because of her disease. On the advice of some people, she put her son in a boarding school, but the separation from her son was very painful. This was her situation when met her. She gradually came under the loving enfolding of Jesus and was enriched in His love. His love has totally transformed her and she has gained great hope in the Lord. Jesus set her free from all the doubts that she had about her son and her future. We now visit her in our home-based care program. She attends all the worship services of the nearest church even in the midst of her infirmities. Please do pray for this woman.

DAYCARE ?CHENNAI / MADRAS
Little Star Day Care School ?This year we have 55 children coming to the daycare. A 4 year old girl named Deepika has a hole in her heart, so her parents did not send her to any school. We asked her mother to send her to us and said we would take care of her. So, her mother started sending her to our school. We took care of her prayerfully and now she plays and is very active, not only in the school but also in her house.

Sunday School -- The same children who attend our tuition classes used to attend the Sunday school. So we changed the routine and have games before we teach them. This has attracted a few more children and now we have 70 children attending the Sunday school, 20 more than the Tuition Centre.

Tailoring Classes -- 6 girls are learning tailoring. We have a prayer meeting for them every Friday, praying for their prayer points. One girl named Jamila has a married elder sister with 3 children. This girl’s husband sent her home suddenly to her parents to get money from them. The parents did not have the money to give. Jamila joined us to pray for this one Friday. After a few days, her husband came on his own and took her back to his house.

After several years with the same number of staff, recently 3 more girls joined us, so we praise God for their help. Please do continue to pray for the teens in our area who are drawn to taking drugs.

NEIGHBOURS ?CHENNAI / MADRAS
A family was praying to rebuild their hut. They had approached a lot of people for credit, but nothing happened. One day they talked us. We asked them to pray to the heavenly father and taught them how to pray. Within a few days a miracle happened! Some people came forward to help them in building their house. This family has told us before that they were waiting for two miracles and they told us, "This is one of the miracles and now we are praying for the next miracle to happen soon!"

With another study group they said, “You are teaching many things but don't you have any videos or CDs about what you are teaching??So we gave them a CD on the life of the son of God and we heard they have been watching it with some of their relatives.

KANCHEEPURAM MINISTRIES
School of Equipping Women ?we have started a new batch in Sriperumbudur. There are 30 ladies attending the school including 11 pastor's wives. After a teaching on the gifts of the Holy Spirit we encouraged the women to operate without fear in the gifts which God has given them. In one pastor's wife's village a boy fell down from a wall and he didn't eat or talk to anyone for some days. The pastor’s wife went to pray for that boy. The mother of the boy said to her, “If your God heals my son, I will come to church and accept Him as my Lord.?God healed the boy completely! So, the whole family is coming to church. Praise the Lord.

Church Planting Modules ?We are up to the 5th module which deals with sharpening their interpersonal skills. Many participants are enjoying knowing the importance of relationships. They said that it helps them to interact with people in proper way. One of the students and his team members put into practise what he has been learning and shared some of the teaching to the villagers. Some people, including a priest, accepted Christ and he started a cell group in that village.

Small group for pastors ?we meet 10 pastors twice weekly at Sriperumbudur to pray for each other, hold each other accountable, discuss different subjects like family, ministry, leadership development process, relationship issues, authority insight and various practical issues. This has been happening from the month of June. Some of the pastors started to spend time with their families after this small group. One pastor’s wife said that her husband had started talking to her nicely after the small group. Before he wouldn't talk to her much and she had to initiate all conversation.

United Worship -- In order to reach Kancheepuram District we felt to unify the local churches in common worship. God enabled us to start this with 63 people from 7 churches gathered. We believe that when we worship our God surely the spiritual strongholds in that place will be broken. We also held one day of fasting and prayer with 30 pastors for the District. During that time, God spoke to us clearly that He sees Kancheepuram District like Zion. This changed the pastor’s perspective of the District and they have renewed hope to see things changed!

Video Bible School -- We are going to start the Video Bible School at 8 different locations in Kancheepuram District. Video Bible School is designed in such a way that each believer can benefit by the course. There are many famous men & woman of God teaching on various subjects. Please do pray that 5 more people will join us on staff so that we can reach more areas in this District.

AIDS MINISTRY -- CHENNAI / MADRAS
Hospice - One Sunday, at the closure of our worship service, a woman stood near the door. She told us of her hopeless future and asked us for shelter for her and her 3 little children. She had just returned from the hospital after leaving her husband's body at the mortuary. She did not even have money to bury him and had had to leave him there like an orphan. She told us that her husband had been a liquor seller who had made such a good living that he celebrated his earnings with prostitutes. When he went to the doctor after being severely ill for some time, he tested positive for HIV. He was referred to the Sanatorium and within a month he passed away. We felt a lot of compassion for this poor woman and invited her to come and stay in our hospice. Please do pray for Muthulakshmi and her children.

Hospital report ?One day, Vasanthi, a 27 year old lady, came to ask us why we were visiting the hospital. When we told her, she decided to tell us about her life. Her husband is a building mason with good earnings and she has an 8 year old daughter. However, wealth could not give her joy and peace. Frequent frustrations between husband and wife led to many conflicts and she finally decided to leave her husband. When she was standing at the bus stop, a lady tricked her by promising to get her a job and took her to a lady who was running a brothel where she sold Vasanthi for some money. Vasanthi’s eyes were opened only after entering the house. She tried to escape but all her efforts failed. When she became too hungry, she finally consented to commercial sex. In this way, she developed AIDS. When her boss found out, she kicked Vasanthi out of the brothel. Vasanthi broke into tears as she was sharing all of this to us. Our staff consoled her with encouraging words and the love of Jesus. She was amazed to listen about eternal life and she asked, “Is this really true? Can He forgive all my past wicked life??We boldly said Yes. Praise God! He has certainly set her free from the fear of death and has given a new hope in her life.

LEPROSY MINISTRY ?CHENNAI / MADRAS
Purushothaman was affected by leprosy seven years ago when he was 45 years old. He used to be a fruit seller, but now he is in the leprosy hospital. When one of our staff talked with him he told us his story. He is very worried about his wife and two sons because he is unable to take care of them. Also he is totally isolated from his family because of his inability to earn. He also doesn’t have any link with his relatives, so he is alone in the hospital, not getting proper food or help. He was very comforted when our team members visited him and shared God’s love. Now he is attending church service regularly and asks for prayer for himself and his family. Purushothaman is learning to trust God. Please pray for him.

Munuswamy, is 57 and got leprosy when he was 21 years old. It started with a few patches, then spread all over his body. When this happened, his parents sent him out of their house. He had treatment in the hospital for four years, then began to live in a leprosy colony. While he was out begging one day, he found 2 children and adopted them. Now these two children are married and, through them, he has grand children. But still he feels very lonely and discouraged because he lost relationship with his own family. When our medical team met him, they treated him, then shared the love of Jesus to him. At first, he didn’t want to listen, but as the days passed, one day Munusamy approached our team to know more about Jesus. He is beginning to receive God‘s love. The ulcer on his leg is getting healed. Our team meets him every week to give counsel and pray with him. He is very happy that he has some good friends. He believes strongly that Lord Jesus will heal him completely one day. We are praying for him to grow in spiritual life.

JEEVAN SUICIDE PREVENTION CENTRE ?CHENNAI / MADRAS
A girl visited our Suicide counselling center seeking help to have her baby aborted. Her father had died recently and soon after her father's death her relatives moved in, planning to take away the house her father had built for her, her mother and her sister. In the midst of all this, she discovered she was pregnant. Not wanting the child, and also since this is happening out of wedlock which has a social stigma attached to it, she decided to abort the baby. Her boy friend was also not willing to have the baby as he felt that it was not time for them to have one. If she went ahead to have the baby delivered, she said that her mother would send her out of the house and her younger sister would not get a bridegroom. Seeing abortion as the best option, she came to us seeking help to arrange it for her. She said that if she was not able to have an abortion, she was going to commit suicide. Our staff have advised her to keep the baby and have given her different options she can try out to circumvent this issue.

This only affirms the fact to us that there is a big need to have a place where women can come, stay for a short time, have their unwanted baby delivered and, if they have a change of heart, take their baby along with them or stay with us with the baby and be rehabilitated or leave the baby with us and go their own way to pursue their lives. Please pray for the door in this area of need to be opened.

MERCY MINISTRIES ?CHENNAI / MADRAS
Tailoring -- One of our students named Jeya has a husband whose name is Harry. Before their marriage he was baptised, but after their marriage his father became sick and died, so he turned away from God. He joined a radical group and began smoking and gambling. His wife was worried about that and talked to us about it. Our staff and members of a prayer cell kept praying for him. After one year he decided to follow God again. He started going to church again in June and bought five new Bibles to distribute among his friends. God is doing great things for that family.

Medical work ?A very old woman in the slum used to come to us for vitamins. Because of her age, her family were not looking after her properly, so sometimes we used to help her with money for food and other needs. She asked us to find her an old age home, and after some time we found a good hostel for her. Now she is very happy.

Sunday school -- 11 year old Jenifer is not very good at studying and she gets low marks in her class, so her teachers and her parents treat her badly. One day she was very sad. Her Sunday school teacher asked her why do you look so sad and Jenifer told her teacher everything. All the Sunday School teachers prayed for her and encouraged her to pray before and after studying. She did that regularly for the whole of last month and began to get good marks! She and her parents are so happy. Thank God.

Literacy -- Latha is one of our literacy students who is doing well in her studies. Her husband used to fight with her often and one Sunday last month they had a fight and he went to another state. He didn’t come back so she didn’t have money to feed her two small children. We prayed for her and we were able to find a good job for her. Her life is changed now as she can read and write and she can take care of her family. Please pray for her.

Saving Scheme -- We started 7 new saving scheme groups last month, with the women being very interested to save their money and then benefit.

Jeyalakshmi and her husband had many problems. They have no children, and they do not speak to each other much because of this. Also her husband would not go to work and they had financial difficulties. One day she told us about her life. We listened very closely and advised her. We also prayed that they would reconcile. She took a loan from her group to buy a grinding machine. Now she is grinding rice and making money for the family. Please pray for this couple.

FISHERMEN VILLAGE MINISTRY ?CHENNAI / MADRAS
Two weeks ago, one of our Sunday school boys told us of problems in his family. His father put kerosene on his wife and tried to burn her, but the neighbours came and saved her. The boy was weeping when he told us all this. We comforted him and prayed with him and he had great faith that Jesus would change the situation in his home. Recently, he came and reported to us that his mother came back home and the situation is getting better. Please pray for this family.

We praise God that we found a house where we can teach tailoring right next to the place where we give tuition. We are happy that now we can begin to teach young girls and women in the village how to sew, so that they can get jobs.

A baby that we prayed for the month before last (who was not breathing or moving properly when she was born) is now putting on weight. The mother’s brother had told us that the whole family would come to church if our prayers were answered and the baby lived. He has become a strong believer because of what God has done for them. Also, he had been suffering from some skin problem for years and when we prayed for him it disappeared! He is really tasting the love of God.

DAYCARE ?CHENNAI / MADRAS
Little Star Day Care School ?We opened the new school year with 45 children on roll. 19 of them are old students and 25 are new students. Since most of the students are new and in a new environment most of them cry every day and there is a lot of chaos and noise, but they will get used to being in the daycare and will begin learning soon.

Sunday School -- A girl named Mohana is going into grade 9. She needed a new uniform, books and supplies, but her parents would not buy her anything, so she prayed and asked God for all these things. A family living opposite her house had made a vow that if their son passed his exams they would buy uniforms and books for the girl living in the opposite house. Their son passed, so Mohana got her uniform, books etc., as an answer to her prayer!

Chitra, a girl who attends Sunday School, was abandoned by her mother and her father re-married but her step-mother treated her very badly. She prayed earnestly and after 5 years her mother came back from Dubai and has rented a new house. Now they live happily together.

Tailoring Classes -- Six girls are learning tailoring with us. Jamila, a 19 year old girl, had an illicit relationship with a man. We spoke to her and told her that it was wrong and prayed with her. She believed in Jesus and she also prayed. Now she says she has severed her relationship and she does not even feel bad about it.

In the slum we are working in, a lot of teenagers are taking drugs. Pray for their deliverance.

ACPT ?CHENNAI / MADRAS
A family came to us for prayer one day. They had 4 children and all of them needed to pay school fees and buy books for the new school year. The total came to Rs.25,000 (approx. US$550), but they didn’t have any money for that, so they were very worried. We told them that with God everything is possible and prayed for them. Then God did a great thing. The principal of the school called the guardian to the school and said that someone had paid the school fees and books for 2 of the children and that for the other two children she wanted to make it free! The parents were very happy and their faith in God increased.

AIDS MINISTRY -- CHENNAI / MADRAS
Regina is a 30-year-old lady who has a 10-year-old son. Her husband was a professional driver who died recently from AIDS. A few months ago, Regina was admitted in the hospital where she was also diagnosed HIV+. She was totally frustrated and made up her mind to commit suicide. However, remembering her son made her change her mind. At this point, we met her in the hospital and we were able to share the Gospel with her. Without questioning anything she implicitly accepted it and God has changed her life. Presently she lives happy in Christ.

Hospice report -- Anita is 25-year-old lady who led a fabulous life in her family. But a sudden recession in the family finances meant that she had to find a job. She finally found one in a school where she met a man whom she decided to marry. He was a van driver in the school and went to many states in his driving profession. After they were married they were blessed with a child. Last year her husband became acutely ill and was admitted in hospital for treatment. Blood samples taken for testing were diagnosed HIV+. However he concealed the facts and was leading a quiet, normal life.

Suddenly, Anita also became sick and was taken to hospital. There she received the shocking news that she had AIDS. Her husband then admitted he was the cause of this. He became bedridden, but he let his wife come to our hospice to stay. Our compassionate approach caused her to give her life to Christ and she now has a new life. Her 1-year-old boy Nitin Immanuel has won everyone’s hearts in the hospice. We do not know yet whether he is also HIV+. After 6 months we will take blood tests. Please pray that this little child will test negative and that he will live a long, healthy and happy life.

LEPROSY MINISTRY ?CHENNAI / MADRAS
We have started a new work in North Chennai and, for the past month, we have been going to four leprosy colonies doing the same kind of medical work we do in Chengleput, south of Chennai. Here is a testimony of a man from one of these new leprosy colonies:

Kumar is 55 years old. He came to Chennai city many years ago to find work. He got a job and after awhile he got married. When he was 25 years old he found some patches in his body, but he did not know what it was and didn’t do anything about it. As the days passed it became worse, so he went to a doctor and found that he had leprosy. When his relatives found out he was affected by leprosy, they stopped relating to him.

Both of his legs are affected by leprosy and his right leg also has a bad ulcer. Now he has 4 children and he is living in Avadi leprosy colony. He was very happy that he could share his problems and worries to someone. Our team told him about God’s love and prayed for him. Now he has relationship with his parents and relatives. Our medical team is giving treatment to him and he is getting better now.

JEEVAN SUICIDE PREVENTION CENTRE ?CHENNAI / MADRAS
John (not his real name) had planned to commit suicide that morning. His reason for wanting to do that?

A local politician had given him a carpentry contract to the tune of approx. US$ 760. Once the work was finished the politician refused to pay the contract cost. So John approached the police for help, but they were not helpful as it involved a politician. John approached the court but the politician’s clout defeated him there too. He approached many other avenues for help but none worked out. John approached the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu to get her help but the politician's people blocked him there as well. In the midst of all this his father-in-law was compelling John's wife to divorce him. Feeling that he had come to the very end, John decided that he would write a letter to the Chief Minister and set himself on fire in the front of her office. (Several suicides have happened this way as people want to draw the general public's attention to their plight). So, having written a 7 page letter addressed to the Chief Minister, he came to Chennai to commit suicide within the government compound where the Chief Minister works.

That morning, he saw our advertisement and got in touch with us. After listening to him we also felt there were no avenues for him to follow to solve his problem. Finally we decided that only Jesus could help him with this desperate situation and we gave him the gospel, asked him to commit the whole thing into Jesus' hands and prayed over him. Our worker also suggested that he go to another city and start a new life.

A few days later John called us to let us know that he had followed our advice and moved to another city, got a new job and is happy. He also said he was planning to get bring his wife and children to the new city. WHEN ALL DOORS ARE CLOSED THERE IS ALWAYS "THE DOOR" WHICH IS OPEN FOR US. John 10:7 Therefore Jesus said again, "I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep?

STREET KIDS -- CHENNAI / MADRAS
Our ministry has grown to 40 kids staying with us full time!

We'd like to tell you about one of the new street girls who has come to stay with us. Sumithi is 17 years old. She ran away from home because she wanted to work and become rich. She ended up at a suburban bus stop late at night, asking for a job. She was in great danger as some men were saying "we will give you a job...". She stayed the night on the railway bridge. When she woke up it was Sunday and many people were going to church. Following them, she ended up outside one of the larger churches in the city. People we know from the church called us to tell us about her, so our counsellors went to the church and brought her to the shelter. After seeing our shelter kids going to school she decided she wants to study, so we are working on that for her. She is a very brave girl. Please pray for her.

Ragu and Supara are 5 year old twins whose father ran away with another woman and whose mother is not in her right mind. Their mother would leave them in the streets and go somewhere, not coming back for a day or so. In the meantime, Ragu and Supara would be sleeping next to the garbage cans. We are currently looking for their mother. Please pray for these little ones as they need a lot of prayer.

MERCY MINISTRIES ?CHENNAI / MADRAS
Medical Work -- Sumathi had a lot of boils on her head. Her mother used some local medicine, but it didn’t work. Then she took her to a hospital where they gave medicine that was also of no use. One day they came to our medical camp and showed us the boils in her head. We gave some medicine and prayed for her. After one week they came to show us that she was totally healed. Then we prayed for her told her about the One who had healed her. We shared the gospel to her and her mother. Praise be to God.

Literacy Programme -- Lilhy is one of our students. Her niece Jancy had jaundice so they asked us to pray. We prayed with much burden. When they took her to the doctor for treatment they were told that she was better and had no need of treatment! Saving Scheme -- Rani was deserted by her husband and husband and was very much suffering with financial problem. She has 3 girls. They were even suffering from fever. Then she heard about our scheme and she came to us we explained her every thing and she joined us and she started saving monthly. Then we gave her 2000 Rs loan and with that she started selling vegetables. Now she is praying back all her loan and her family situation has changed and they are happy. One day her daughter hard shiver stomach pain and was suffering with pain. There she requested us to pray we prayed for her and now she is fine.

FISHERMEN VILLAGE MINISTRY ?CHENNAI / MADRAS
This month we ran a Vacation Bible School in the village which over 100 children came to. This is the first time we have been able to conduct this kind of program in the village without opposition. After this VBS we could really see a change in some of these kids.

One of our believer ladies had to have a cesearean in the 8th month of pregnancy and the baby was not able to move or breathe properly. They called us to the hospital to pray, but the baby was in ICU and we were not allowed in. So we sat down right there in the hospital and prayed for the child. The next day they called us again to say the baby was in a serious condition so we decided to fast and pray for him. The lady’s brother joined in with us and he said if the Lord delivers this baby we will all come to church. God really answered our prayers because after 15 days the baby began to move and breathe properly. The family were so happy because this lady’s first baby died in the same way. After that she had believed in God and prayed for another baby. We are so happy God answered her prayers.

COFFEEHOUSE ?CHENNAI / MADRAS
Both daughters of our neighbours were involved in an accident. Amazingly, they were attended in the hospital by a guy who comes to Coffeehouse! When the girls came back home again, we all went to visit them and pray for them. That opened door for them to come as a family to the next coffeehouse worship.

One of the guys we have been counselling came back to us and told us how useful our counsel was. We shared the gospel with him and he started trusting Jesus.

ACPT ?CHENNAI / MADRAS
Every year, there is a eunuch's (transvestites and transsexuals) festival held in a particular town in Tamil Nadu. Our team went to visit this colourful festival where around 5,000 eunuchs gather each year for a beauty contest, talent contest and other contests. The culmination of the festival is where the eunuchs "marry" the god of the eunuchs one night. The next morning, they remove their "thali" (the symbol of marriage) and become "widows". 30,000 - 40,000 people from surrounding villages also come to join in the festival. Eunuchs are used in the commercial sex trade in major cities around the country, mostly in Bombay, and AIDS is highly prevalent among them. The villagers who come to festival engage in sex with the eunuchs during the festival and also contract the HIV virus, passing it on to their families. Our team members prayed around the festival grounds, talked with several people and connected with other pastors and believing eunuchs who want to work among this people group. One of the people working in our AIDS ministry also has a vision to start a work among this people group and we would ask you to pray that he will find people to work with him and the resources to start this work.

LEPROSY MINISTRY ?CHENNAI / MADRAS
Narayana is 55 years old and was affected with leprosy when he was 10. His family admitted him in a hospital to get treatment, but they slowly rejected him by not visiting him there. Narayana has had so many problems and rejection because of the disease. He and his wife were in the leprosy hospital to get treatment for his wife because she is suffering from bad ulcers on her feet and they are badly infected. Our team visits this leprosy hospital every week and when we met Narayana and his wife, we shared about God’s love and prayed with them. Tears begin to flow from Narayana’s eyes. He was so happy to hear about God who loves him.

Arul is 22 years old. He is from a Christian family and studied only primary school. His parents put so much pressure on him to study hard and get good marks in all his exams, but despite studying very hard, Arul still failed the exam. His parents were very hard on him and beat him badly. Arul ran away from home to escape his parents and got a job in an export factory. One day Arul noticed some patches on his back and hands and there was no feeling in the affected areas. Quickly he went to see a doctor to find out what was wrong. After blood test the result was positive, that Arul was affected with leprosy. He was devastated to hear the news. He also came to the leprosy hospital for treatment, where he met our team and heard about God’s love for him. He is trusting God for healing. He also would like to go back to his family after he is healed. Please pray for him.

JEEVAN SUICIDE PREVENTION CENTRE ?CHENNAI / MADRAS
"I believe God started this project just for me!!!" A drug addict contemplating suicide because he was not allowed into his house anymore due to his habit, told our worker, "I believe God started this project just for me!!!" after being given hope and referrals to a de-addiction agency. Later he called us from the agency to say he is doing well and thanked God for our timely help.

We have been getting varied calls, and one day we had a "silent" call. This is where the caller does not speak but chooses to stay silent. Even though we had this for the first time, our worker rose up to the occasion by saying, "Its ok if you don't want to talk, I'll talk" and kept talking, encouraging the person on the other side. After 5 minutes the person hung up. We praise God for the wisdom he gives our workers to deal with every situation communicating to the callers that we care.

Lately we are receiving around 4 - 8 calls daily and a few people drop in for a face to face counselling. These numbers will increase as we cover more areas of Chennai with advertising. We need more Tamil speaking staff and volunteers to join us as most callers tend to speak in Tamil even if they know English. Please do pray for us to have more workers as well as for us to God’s wisdom in dealing with counsellees.

STREET KIDS ?CHENNAI / MADRAS
Shalani and Saranya are two sisters that have lived with us for the last two years. Their father abandoned the family and the girls were left with their mother to live on the streets. However, their mother was not able to support them on the small jobs she did and the girls were in the street hanging out for food all day as their mother would go to work before they get up and then come back very late. So the girls came to stay at the shelter, but they really miss their father and mother. Whenever we would meet Shalani’s mother, we would explain about families and how to care for children to her. One day, she and her husband decided to live together again. We are so happy that the parents have come back together and the girls now have a family and a home to live in! We hope that many more street children will be reunited with their families in the same way.

At the boys house there are 12 older street boys. They take English and Tamil lessons so they can learn to read and write and their screen printing work is going well. They need more screen printing jobs though, to keep them busy! They are all doing very well and God is changing their lives. Some of them are very serious about God and want to make serious steps of commitment to Him.

This summer we decided to hold one of our YWAM programs, “Summer for Jesus?exclusively for kids from the street. These kids area between the ages of 17 and 19 and they love living on the street. We are praying their lives will be changed by being part of our summer program. Please pray for them.

AIDS MINISTRY -- CHENNAI / MADRAS
Hospital visits -- Senthil Kumar and Kulanjai moved to Chennai with their new baby in 2000. Senthil Kumar took a job in a bottling plant where he was a soda maker. This was a risky job as sometimes the bottles blast. Once he had a heavy blow from a bottle blast and he was put into hospital. There, he was given blood and unfortunately, it was contaminated. He was totally unaware of this and carried on with his life. Six months ago, his health deteriorated and after tests, he was certified HIV+. From that day, he lost all hope for the future. We met him soon after this and shared the hope of the gospel. Both he and his wife accepted God and decided to follow Him. Please do pray for this young family.

Home Based Care ?Our first home based care person passed away recently. Mrs. Jones had been in our care for over five years and, after a year of severe illness, she passed away. Mrs. Jones?husband died seven years ago and she stayed with her mother who gave her all support and care all these years. We would appreciate your prayers for her two daughters who have now lost both their father and mother. Duraisamy is a 44 year old widower who has one son. He was a professional farmer and was very wealthy. A sudden recession in the agricultural industry and chronic drought in our state made him lose all his business. He decided to come to Chennai to find work as he had no other option. He used to visit his wife and son every six months.

About a year ago, he suffered dysentery on one of his trips home and was given drips by IV. The needles that were used were not sterilized properly and the same needle was rotated between different patients. He believes this is how he got the HIV virus. When he discovered he was HIV+, he wanted to commit suicide. This was his state when our staff noticed him and began to talk with him. As soon as he heard about the Saviour, he said I accept Him right from this moment as my personal saviour and will follow Him till I die!

NEIGHBOURS ?CHENNAI / MADRAS
Through friendship with some people in the community, my pastor and I met a man who was paralysed. My pastor prayed for him to be healed and the healing started to happen. On Good Friday, the same man came to our church. My pastor had asked me to preach and I was using the verses from John 15:13-15 to speak, but half way I through felt my message wasn’t really touching the people so I stopped speaking early. After the service was over, this man came to the altar unable to control his tears, saying that when he prayed to the Lord, he felt joy and peace in his life. I was amazed that God still used the message that I thought was going nowhere, to touch this man’s life!

MERCY MINISTRIES ?CHENNAI / MADRAS
Valli comes to our Sunday School regularly. She was not able to pay her school fees and so she was not able to go to school because of the poverty in her house. Suddenly she thought, “In my Sunday School they taught me how to pray.?So she started praying for the school fees. God miraculously met her needs and now she can go back to school. Praise and glory be to God. Murugan was suffering with tuberculosis and was on his death bed. We visited him at that time, told him the Gospel and prayed for him. He accepted the Saviour and died as a Christian.

One woman’s husband was an autorickshaw driver. He used to drink away all the money he earned and beat up his wife. He never used to give to money for the house rent, either, so his wife got fed up and tried to attempt suicide. At that time we told her about Jesus and now she gave up the idea of committing suicide and wants to know more about God.

DAY CARE -- CHENNAI / MADRAS
Little Star Day Care School -- A 3 year old girl named Kavitha never used to like school. We often had to send her home because she would cry a lot. We took time to talk and pray with her and now she is well behaved in school and socializes with other students. She goes home and prays for her father who is a habitual drinker and beats his wife. Her grandmother came and told to us that they are all very happy about her.

Tuition Centre -- As the children were to write their exams, we conducted regular prayers and coached them to the best of our ability. Before going to write their exams the students used to come to us for prayer. They all said they have written their exams well.

Tailoring Classes ?One of our tailoring students named Chitra was washing her clothes in a deep pond, sitting on the bund. She was alone, but she felt like someone pushed her into the pond. Somehow she struggled to come up on the bund. Again she was pushed into the pond and this time she went deep down. She shouted ‘Jesus?and she felt someone pull her up on to the bund by her hands but no one was around! Jesus saved her! Until now, many people have fallen into this pond and drowned, but she is the only one who has been saved. We praise God for preserving her life!

COFFEEHOUSE ?CHENNAI / MADRAS
One of our staff regularly visits a local college, distributing brochures and sharing the gospel to the students. Two to three guys from the college come and meet him in the evenings for prayer. One Sunday evening we were called to lead worship but because of sore throat I did not go. I later realized God had a different plan for that day because a man came to visit in a very depressed state. I counseled and prayed with him and he left happily. Another day another young guy came and we ministered to Him. Praise God this place is becoming a Spiritual clinic!

EQUIPPING WOMEN IN MINISTRY ?CHENNAI / MADRAS
This is a course we have decided to put on to equip women in the church. From various villages outside Chennai, 22 ladies attended this course. Ten of them are pastors?wives, 12 of them are cell group leaders. Though they are all in some sort of responsibility in their church, they didn’t have proper training so they couldn’t do their job effectively. After they attended this course God transformed them and they are equipped to reach the unreached also. On April 7th we had graduation 18 of them graduated. All of them committed to teach what they learned to another 3 people, so that 3 more people will become cell group leaders and start new cell groups.

Some of the student’s testimonies follow: One pastor gave a testimony about his wife on graduation. Though they have been in ministry for 20 years, his wife didn’t show much interest in ministry and church activities. But after the course she stood before the people and taught them a lesson which she learned in the course. This lady had never received the Holy Spirit and felt it was because she was not good. She was afraid to tell anyone about this for the whole 20 years in ministry as she felt people would look down on her. As she shared with us, we prayed for her and immediately she was filled with the Holy Spirit. Praise the Lord! God honoured her.

Another pastor said that his wife had not been interested in doing ministry and they had difficulty making decisions together. But after the course, he said she is transformed totally and she is showing a lot of interest in the ministry and they have oneness. He was so thankful to God for this school. Now she has started doing childrens ministry and running a cell group.

Another pastor’s wife has been in ministry for 10 years, but was not able to give proper counseling for people’s problems. She says that now she is able to answer all their questions and to counsel them properly.

We plan to have another school like this in July this year. Please pray for the women who come.

Links

YWAM Madras News - December 2002 to May 2003