Look What the Lord Has Done!
May 28, 2024 Update
Dear RHM Friends,
Greetings in the Name of our Precious Lord JESUS.
"Who executes justice for the oppressed, Who gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets the prisoners free. The LORD opens the eyes of the blind; the LORD raises up those who are bowed down; the LORD loves the righteous. The LORD  protects the strangers; He  supports the fatherless and the widow..." Psalms 146:7-9
Yes, look what the Lord has done! For thousands of years past, now, and until Christ returns, all around the world our precious Lord has, is, and will give justice to the oppressed, food to the hungry, set the prisoners free...support the fatherless and the widow. Praise His Name forevermore! And how does He do that?? We know that He often works supernaturally and provides any or all of these things simply by a work of His Spirit, sovereignty and grace. But we also know that He oftentimes, if not most of the time, does these things through the involvement of His children. His love, operating through His children, to meet the needs of His children. He is a loving Father!
I was thinking of the "fatherless" that we work with among the children. Some translations (and most paraphrases) use the word "orphan", but the majority of Bible translations use the word "fatherless". As far as total orphans (no parents), we have 5 (4 girls and 1 boy) that we work with on a regular basis. Among those who are without a father (and they stay with the mother), we have 35. Among these, 19 children had fathers who died. With the other 16 children, all their fathers left the home. So we have a total of 40 "fatherless" children, most of whom we work with on a regular basis. Only a few of these "fatherless" children we work with semi-regularly, and help to sponsor their education. Of the other more than 30 children whom we work regularly with (who have fathers), at least half of those fathers are alcoholics and don't care for the family properly. Three of our children have fathers who are handicapped, and thus are not able to work, so only the mother works to provide for the family.
We praise the Lord that our loving heavenly Father is a "Father of the fatherless" (Psalms 68:5), "supports the fatherless" (Psalms 146:9), is a "Helper of the fatherless" (Psalms 10:14), and that in Him "the fatherless finds mercy" (Hosea 14:3). He truly is an amazing GOD. Hallelujah!
Thank you ALWAYS for your love, prayers and support! Bless you.
Brother Dan
"So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith." Galatians 6:10
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ABOVE: A beautiful sight! The majority of those gathered here in prayer groups are teenagers, along with some adults and younger children. Please pray for revival among the children, and for the salvation of their parents, grandparents and others who are in their families. And pray for the 6 adults (3 men and 3 women) who have devoted their lives in various ways to reach our children and families.
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ABOVE: Precious 4th grade children in the school where we sponsored 21 children during the 2023-24 academic year. As we have shared previously, we've prayed about starting a school of our own, and are planning to wait until June 8th to see if the Lord is leading any donors to sponsor this project. We've received some responses, but would need a much greater commitment before starting this venture. We are at total peace: His will be done. If we decide to abandon this idea on the 8th, then we will again put these children in a local school for the next academic year which begins in the 2nd week of June.
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ABOVE: Fourteen year old Nageena and her mother, Sister Karima. It's a long story, part of which we shared with you on our blog, but we are helping them to have a couple of rooms of their own on the roof of Nageena's aunt's home. We are contributing about $2,000 for this construction, others helping with the remainder of the cost. Karima is also part of our widows & elderly program. Although she's not very old, she does have a terminal disease and cannot hold down a job because of weakness.
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ABOVE: Sister Pavani (Bro. Raju's wife) giving cake to sweet Akshaya on her 14th birthday in April. Pray for Pavani, due to have her baby within the next week or so.
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ABOVE: In late April and early May we had a 3 day youth camp. It seems that hearts were truly impacted, and deeper commitments were made to follow Christ. Praise the Lord!
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ABOVE: While the youth camp was going on during the mornings and afternoons, the guest speaker who came from another state also spoke in some night meetings. This is one of the meetings conducted in a local village, Bro. Prasanth translating.
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ABOVE: Sunday School class is being conducted in a church in the village of NTR Colony. Thankful the children are learning to pray, most of them from non-Christian homes. Brother Bhaskara Rao helps us with children's ministry in 5 different villages. Here in this village Sunday School, B Rao comes twice a month to teach songs, do puppet shows, etc.
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ABOVE: This is Bhaskara Rao teaching a different village Sunday School, which he helps with once a month, as other teachers are there for the remaining weeks. Most of the older children in this group (not all are in this particular photo) are very faithful to attend youth and adult meetings as well.
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ABOVE: Brother Marthababu and his wife Pavani work with the children full-time, and one of the places they go to on a weekly basis is this church in a town called Karlapalem. They're doing a really good work with these children, a total of almost 20 children who come off and on, all of them from the nearby neighborhood.
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ABOVE: From left are Divya, Mary, Sirisha, Soniya, Akshaya, Prasanna and Martha singing during a girls meeting that was conducted in a village where we have 2 families and some of their neighbors that we're ministering to on a weekly basis.
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ABOVE: These precious people are part of a culture that often is migrating from place to place looking for work. We are very thankful that they have been near us for perhaps 5 years or more. Although most of the men are alcoholics, the Lord has given them favor with the police and local officials, who surprisingly have not driven them away from the huts they have built by the main road. Your donations recently helped them with new huts after they were damaged by a cyclone in December. The 2 women in the photo have come to Christ, as well as another husband and wife. Some or most of these children attend Sunday School now and then.
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ABOVE: Brother Raju with 3 sisters, Divya, little Kavya and Soniya. Their mother left the father years ago because of abuse, and these girls look to Raju as a father figure in their lives. He and his wife Pavani also love this family very much.
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ABOVE: Another family that has been very special to all of us. The mother (left), Shivangi, has come to the Lord, and her twin daughters, Mary (far right) and Martha next to her, are very faithful to attend all the meetings they can. Your donations are helping them with their nursing college. Their brother, Prem (holding his baby boy) helps us with bringing children to and from the meetings in his auto rickshaw. He and his young bride next to him, Chandrika, are also very faithful to attend our weekly meetings on Sundays, and are learning more about JESUS. Praise the Lord!
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ABOVE: In late April 16 boys and 3 college-age boys went with Brothers Raju and Marthababu on an excursion to the city of Vizag. I can see from the photos that it was a great bonding time for all of them, as well as a good time for them in prayer and devotions. I'm not sure where they are in this photo.
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ABOVE: Here are some of the boys at a park in Vizag. So thankful for the college boys, (from left) Pavan, Pradeep and Samuel. To have college-age boys (all doing very well in their studies) showing a Godly example to the younger boys is a huge blessing! Many of you prayed for Samuel (far right, a pastor's son), who was in a coma for hours after a motorcycle accident late last year. We praise the Lord that his shoulder and arm are completely healed!
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ABOVE: Boys having breakfast together during their Vizag excursion. I have been with the children many times on these excursions, or on one-day outings, and they always enjoy these breakfasts. Most of them are eating what is called dosa, made in the restaurants in a way that most people are not able to make in their homes (I miss the dosa). Pray that the blessed time that they had together will linger in their memories throughout their lives.
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"Whatever you do, do all things to the glory of GOD." 1 Corinthians 10:31 |
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