Colleen's Prayer Emails

Dear Praying Friends,

Warm Greetings to you in His Precious Name.

Across the road from us we have the most pitiful picture. Over 200 hut house flattened to the ground, still people living on the side of the road and many of these our own children from Bethany School who have lost their uniforms, school books, etc., in all the shifting and also who have not been given an allotment for alternative housing. It has affected 30-40 of our sponsored children and we are faced with the most pitiful situation.

Some of our children have been shifted 20 kilometers outside the city and the parents are working in this area and they have a ration card and also a voter’s card for this area. Three slum areas have been bull dozed to the ground in our area. The reason is they are planning to have a Metro Railway system around the city which will take 10-15 years to build. The entire rail track is going to be along the Coovum river and we have heard a station is going to come up across the road outside our building. It is very distressing to us and we need the Lord’s wisdom. The sponsorship department are very busy checking up on the children and their circumstances. Some of the families are going to need advance rent to get another place nearby. If there is no other alternative, these children cannot go to any other school until June of next year. So, the situation is quite urgent.

Many of you reading this may be having a sponsored child involved. Please pray with us and if your child is involved we will let you know eventually.

The monsoon is not over as yet and the weather report says there will be more rain and we can expect rain up till the 15th of December.

We had the TV crew from America with us only for two days as they were delayed coming to Chennai by one day. It was a very busy time trying to fit in everything, and confusion. There are many things that have not been covered, but in the end I am sure it is going to be very worth while for the glory of God.

We need prayer for health. Some of us have been very ill with a very bad cold, including myself. There is a lot of illness going around Chikangunya is spreading very fast.

In our Bethany Higher Secondary School, because of the rains, the walls have been literally blackened, covered with mosquitoes. They have been trying to spray them out, but it is impossible for the children and even the teachers to sit in the class. To put mosquito netting on all the windows will be very expensive and when the class room doors open, this is not going to help.

My son-in-law, Swamy, husband of Dora, has had a motor bike accident. It is a miracle his life was saved. In the same place the next day a woman was killed. Swamy is in bed and will not be able to walk for at least a month. Dr. Jayaraman has done a skin graft on his leg. Today Vimala has had a further X-Ray and healing is taking place, but she still has to be very careful. Because she is indisposed, I have been spending a lot of time with our sponsorship staff, buying the Christmas clothes for every sponsored child. We give all the children in the Sponsorship programs new clothes for Christmas. We still have two or three more days to complete the shopping.

Every evening this week, we have been having practices for the Christmas program which will be held tomorrow night in the Museum Theatre. Today as well as tomorrow morning, there will be a main practice. Our program is at 6 p.m. tomorrow night the 21st. Then, from Monday, 23rd November, we start all our end of the year programs which involves a special program nearly every night, and some in the day time. So, I need a lot of strengthening from the Lord as all want me to attend their respective programs. We also need to do this in order to encourage all the others in the ministry.

In regard to the Tsunami Housing project, the re-building of the housing cannot start until the rainy season is over.

We realize in these days that the evil one is working over time and we need to be very strong in the Lord and on guard all the time and be powerful to overcome the evil one. We are also human and it means so much when prayer partners stand with us and encourage us. In the modern world we are living in, there are very few who write letters and emails have become so business-like. Sadly, we have lost out terribly on the personal touch.

With warmest greetings,

In His Joyful Service,

Colleen