In the following pages, you will find two reports from HeartCry missionaries Raj K. in northern India and Luis Ramirez in Japan.
Raj K. - Northern India
Brother Raj works alongside seven other HeartCry missionaries in northern India. He also oversees all our missionary efforts in Nepal.
Greetings to you in the Name of our Savior and Lord Jesus! We are doing well here, and we hope the same for you. I would like to share the following with you:
A church worship service was disturbed, and believers were beaten in the hills about 240 km (149 miles) away from us. The church has about 18 families who have put their trust in Christ for salvation in the last four years. The believers have been mistreated because they do not participate in the worship of a local deity. The leaders have asked us to pray for them. They have been blamed for converting others to the Christian faith. The matter became a legal issue (police and court) after the beaten believers were cared for in the government hospital. Other than local believers, no one is permitted in the village.
We continue to meet with the local like-minded brothers during the first week of each month. When we meet, we have singing, prayers for the families, teaching, and sharing about God’s faithfulness. Under the leadership of Seema Raj, the women’s fellowships continue to meet every month. They study the Word of God and pray for the mission work associated with us, and for the church worldwide. The fellowships take place in different villages each time according to requests. They are also reaching out to unbelievers through sewing.
All the children who come to our church on Sunday and other days are of unbelieving parents. They learn to read and write in our HELP Tuition Center (please visit www.helphbt.blogspot.in). Most of them are from poor and illiterate families. Please ask God to use these little ones to make a bridge to more villages.
In June, I went to Nepal to visit HeartCry’s partners in this Himalayan country, and it is my pleasure to write some points about the work.
I went there with my wife and both children. Since it was hot in the plains, we continued on our journey through Nepal until we reached Pokhara. It is a beautiful and cool city surrounded by mountains and many green trees. We could even see some high mountains covered with snow. After visiting the city, we moved to a nearby region in the Palpa district and spent three days and nights in fellowship with the believers.
While there, I took a ride by motorcycle and went to a village about 13 kilometers away from where we were staying in Tahoon. Brother Sarvajeet was brave enough to drive the motorcycle on the muddy road. The most difficult part was when it rained on the way. It made our journey even more difficult. We almost wrecked at more than five places, and I had to get down in three places so that we could make it safely to the village. Despite the hardship, it was good to visit three different women and their families. They are new believers and growing slowly in the knowledge of our Lord. In the same village, we saw two other women during the Saturday fellowship who had walked on foot for three hours to listen to God’s Word.
Brother Gopal G. is known in the whole area. All the children (of believers and unbelievers) love Mr. Gopal and greet him with the Christian greeting, Jai Masih Baje, which is translated in English, “Hail to Christ.” The word Baje means “grandfather.” Due to the nature of his work, Mr. Gopal is a famous man now in the villages. They all know that he follows Christ and spreads the Christian faith.
All our friends who work together gathered in one place, and I taught them from God’s Word about how a leader should be and act from I Timothy. After the Bible studies, we prayed together and then shared about our work – how God is using us, our needs, etc. Mr. Dal Bahadur works among the Bhojpuri-speaking people. He recently lost his wife. He became very emotional while sharing about his life and work. He has sons who are seventeen and twelve years old and a daughter who is six years old. He said that the most difficult part of his life right now is when he has to answer his little daughter who asks at night, “Where’s my mother?” Please remember Mr. Dal in your prayers.
Finally, I would say that the Nepalese people are coming to the Lord, and the church numbers are on the rise. But they are lacking in training and organization. The leadership needs to be a lot more mature in the faith with solid biblical teachings. They need to go beyond singing beautiful songs and sharing experiences. Sound doctrine must be taught and heard! We appreciate your love, prayers, and ongoing support.
Luis Ramirez - Japan
Brother Luis and his wife Nicola work as HeartCry missionaries to Japan. Although they began working primarily with Hispanics, God is now using them to minister to the Japanese who are also coming to Christ.
Aya is a lady who started attending New Life three years ago. She introduced herself as a Christian, but she had never attended church before coming to us, did not want to be baptized, and practiced idolatry. Her main problem was that a pastor had told her that she was a Christian because she prayed a prayer. When she heard the gospel in our Bible studies, she could not hide her anger or her rejection of the real gospel. She even tried to discourage other non-Christians from attending our outreach. However, God is a God of miracles. After one of our members remained faithful to Christ in the midst of terrible persecution, Aya started asking questions. She began attending our Sunday services, joined our believers’ Bible studies, and expressed to us her new faith in Christ. However, she still did not want to be baptized publicly because of her fear of her husband and family.
Aya spent the last year attending our church, but she struggled with her desire to confess Christ as her Savior and her fear of her family’s rejection. Finally, during a Friday night Bible study at our home, God changed her heart, and she decided to confess Christ in public baptism no matter what the cost. Last month, Aya was baptized. During her baptism, she shared her testimony with her family and many non-Christian Japanese. She is now the third Japanese member of our church, together with our persecuted sister K____ and our dear elderly sister Miyoko, who is currently facing an aggressive form of cancer, but persevering by the mercy of God. Please pray for Aya’s husband, parents, and sons. God has blessed her with a family that is not opposing her faith.
I have included in this report a photograph of the baptism of our dear sister Miyoko. She is very faithful, but only attends church on Sundays because of her age and the distance she lives from our church. For these past four months, my family and a group from our church have been traveling five hours each week to do a Bible study in her home.
Please pray for a Peruvian named Max. Three years ago, I invited him to our fellowship. He listened to the gospel several times, but always rejected it. Last month, we saw on Japanese TV that he had murdered a Russian lady and was in jail. Max asked his lawyer to contact me because he needed to talk. Please pray that I will clearly speak the gospel, and that God will bring Max to repentance and faith.
Finally, pray for Japan. For hundreds of years, this country has rejected God, but He has not removed His mercy. All glory to God!