Testimony from Punjab, India
Houston, Texas
Monday, December 1, 2008
Dear Esteemed Partners in the Great Commission,
Greetings in the sweet name of Jesus.
We just received an email message from a pastor in Punjab, India named Balkar Masih. He doesn’t speak or write English, so it is likely that the scanned handwritten letter contained in the attachment we received was not even written by him, but perhaps by a believer in his congregation or someone he knew. Pastor Balkar attended the Advanced Training which we taught in New Delhi last July. We would like to share his letter with you:
Village Kanwan
Post Box Preetnagar
Teh Ajnala
District Amritsar
Punjab, (India)
Respected Pastor William,
I am Pastor Balkar from Punjab village Kanwan. I finished my Bible training with you. When I finished my Elijah Challenge Training [in New Delhi last July] I came back to Punjab. Today the blessings of the Almighty [have come] and just because of you. I am serving the name of Jesus Christ in Punjab through The Elijah Challenge. Jesus did so many miracles [here] and the people were shocked when they see the miracles. Then all the pastors think if Elijah did so many miracles in the name of Almighty God, of course we can also do so many miracles in the name of Jesus Christ. Then some pastor came to me and they told me that we also want the Elijah Challenge Training. So we can serve the Lord through Elijah Challenge. Now I am Pastor Balkar Masih request you that you please come here in Punjab and do something for Bible training that the name of the Lord Jesus Christ will spread all over the world. So once again please Pastor William. I am requesting you that you come to Punjab and do something for Elijah Challenge Training and please answer this letter soon. God bless you.
We thank the Lord for what He has done through His servant Pastor Balkar after he attended the Advanced Training last July in New Delhi. Trips to places like India and Africa can be physically challenging for us, but because the Lord’s grace is so evident in such venues the work is always fruitful. Thank you for partnering with us, dear brethren!
We do not plan on going to Punjab to train the servants of God, but we will ask Pastor Joshua Gowda (the Director of The Elijah Challenge Training Centre in New Delhi) to go in our place to hold the Training. Last August he and his co-worker Simon Haqq held a Feeding Event in the same district of Amritsar where hundreds of miraculous healings were recorded and about 1,550 Hindus gave their lives to Jesus.
Our very fruitful Elijah Challenge Evangelistic Healing & Feeding Events have been generously sponsored by Bill Willis of Houston faithfully—month-after-month—since July 2007. Please pray for Bill and his wife Sammeye and the Lord’s abundant blessing on the work of their hands, despite these difficult economic times.
Our brother Pastor Subodh Jena who has been ministering among the believers in Orissa viciously persecuted by militant Hindus is also interested in holding Evangelistic Healing & Feeding Events in Orissa. We believe that after this season of violent persecution In Orissa is over, the Lord will refresh and encourage His Church there. There will be a great harvest among the Hindus through servants of God like Pastor Subodh, especially if the Lord enables him to hold Feeding Events for the Hindus. “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.”
Pastor Subodh recently wrote telling us that the believers in Orissa fear that a fanatic Hindu group there called the Nuxal group may be planning a Mumbai-like terrorist attack on the believers. Please pray to the Lord for His mercy upon His people and to extinguish any such plans for further attacks on the believers in Orissa. At a big meeting held by Viswahindu at Bhubaneswar (capital of Orissa), it has already been decided to ban all Christmas celebrations throughout Orissa.
Our dear sister and co-worker in The Elijah Challenge, Brenda Powell of Houston, will be leaving for North India (not Mumbai) this coming Sunday to hold the Basic Training for the Indian servants of God in different venues and to participate in a Feeding Event. Please cover Brenda and her trip with your prayers!
Thank you for covering these matters with your intercessory prayers, dear ones.
Love in Christ,
William & Lucille
