This Good Friday as promised our church in Kolkata hit the streets after facing a short rain shower and some pretty sticky humidity with temperatures in the 90′s. We packed our bags with fruits and food and went out to share the good news on Good Friday!

What a marvelous response we go as we reached out to well over 300 people who crowded together as a hoard to press against us almost knocking us down at times just to get a morsel of food! We also had another group from our church in the village of Gangnapur serving hundreds out on the road there as well!

We have visiting with us from our mountain church in Nepal three disciples who also helped us as they got to see for themselves for the very first time poor people living off the streets.

Also joining us were some of the students of our school who used to live on the streets and some of the women we have helped down through the years who also used to live on these same streets along with some of the former addicts we have helped to get off these same streets. They all simultaneously were able to return to the places where they used to live to now offer hope to those who live there now!

And of course, Carlton and his family who have fought dearly for the faith and have themselves at times been pressed to lose their own home lead us once more in continuing over 20 years of ministry on the streets of Kolkata!

Thank you all so very much for assisting us by being a continual and faithful part of what we do here to reach out to the lives here in Asia! We ask you to send us your prayer requests, so we too can join you in the various aspects you have in your ministry as you go out and reach the least and the lost for Christ in your neighborhoods! May God truly bless you richly in the days to come for the full furtherance of His kingdom of love here on this earth as it is in heaven!

We are so very happy to report the roof was poured just recently after a tremendously long and patient wait. As the girls have been able to move into their nice new dormitories where we have been able to finish a few rooms there in the school, now the boys have gotten some much needed attention and their “temporary” accommodations have been almost completed and now they have a roof over their heads for meal times. One day with the construction of the Bible College will come much needed permanent dorm rooms for all the male students in our various programs at a later date. For now this will do.

We do ask for continued prayers as our kitchen grossly needs remodeling in a major sense as it still has only mud floors and a mud Indian stove known as a “chula” at present. But we are very thankful for the resources to allow us to do the roof we had requested earlier and it is finally finished. Some minor work needs to be completed to fulfill the project, but the main work has been done. Thank you very much to all who stand with us in prayers and for those led to give to make all this possible by God’s grand design!

You may notice we use our children, our own staff & teachers in the work as well as we cannot afford to hire out all the work. Mostly the children do just common tasks like chores or working on a farm in any rural area of any country across the world just helping out in the very basic tasks. And as children they tend to just have fun at their work! Like children working anywhere, they put on their old clothes and happily jump right in to put their hands to simple tasks that they are able to manage in order to do their part as they realize so many people are doing the needful in helping them out to get an education. This is a cost savings measure we are forced to use in times like these as inflation has gone rampant here with the Indian government cutting off many subsidies in the face of a world where crises occur now on a regular basis like Greece and Cyprus. The UK have cut their aid to India by 50% for the next two years and will cut it off completely in 2015 as the economic downturn across all economies globally is making everyone cut back in major ways in their aid while demand for services and need is rising higher and higher as the poor find it even more difficult to manage in times like these. We also use these opportunities to train our children as well in many areas where they can pick up valuable skills for a lifetime!

We had also requested help in finishing up our school building of which we started construction on back in 2005 and have well over 90% of it completed. As the girls have moved into their new dorm rooms from the Medical Center, there has been quite a bit we need to do with some work still remaining on the building. One such project of which we could no longer delay was a permanent septic system in place for the school building as we have been avoiding the use of the toilets for many years due to only a temporary solution currently in place. This week we have begun our focus on a new septic system to handle the school buildings needs.

Our next upcoming project will be setting up the place to keep dairy cows for milking. Donations have come in for 10 milk cows to be purchased allowing us to provide milk for those in our programs in the village with enough excess to sell off milk to pay for the cows’ feed, medicines, etc. as well as to have a surplus to buy other much needed items as well from the market. We would like to thank all those who helped us “pray this in” as one of our needs at this time and especially for those whom were lead to provide the funds to buy the cows, but much work will be required in setting up the proper place to take care of the cows as our tract of land needs to be prepared making it secured and all.

We continue to work hard to raise our own resources locally to help cut down the amount required for support each month and to help us one day to become independent as we grow a lot of our own food and raise fish in our baptistery along with some chickens for eggs. We require a whole lot more to get us where we need to be, but in the meantime we are so very thankful and very grateful for all we have received thus far!  We have several fields where we grow our own food as pictured and additional funds to develop the resources that we do have in order that they may be fully productive on a regular basis.

May God Bless you for those who continue to stand with us on a regular basis in love, prayers, and support for the needs of our mission. You are our partners in the faith helping us hand in hand to do the work of God required for us to reach many who would otherwise do without! Apart from you standing with us, we would not be able to accomplish what we do each and every day! As here we illustrate, the work is carried out when one passes on to the next one and together the job is completed, so you too play a vital role in assisting us to do the work we have been called to do as well!

God Bless you for your faithfulness to His call in the mission field for the Least & Lost of Asia! All He does do and all you do, make it possible for us to do what we do each and every day! You have our sincerest thanks! We give God all the honor and praise for His purpose, plan, and will for our lives and His special blessings upon all who go with us! The answered prayers of late have been such a boost and thus very refreshing indeed after such a long season of just barely getting by!

We at Lord Jesus Ministry have decided to add to all our solemnity a chance to hit the streets for Jesus this year in Kolkata. Mainly our Christmas program is widely and openly received while we tend to be more withdrawn on Good Friday for our own services. This year we are asking for prayers and donations to go towards a street ministry program to reach the masses with the Good News on Good Friday! Please join us in prayers!

If you feel led, please consider an extra donation at this time  to reach out to the least and lost on the city streets of Kolkata at $5 per packet. Be a special part of our mission here to fulfill the Great Commission by sharing the faith among the filth of this world’s loneliness and sin as we are separated from God yet made whole by the work of Christ on Good Friday! Let us reach out with outstretched arms of love just as He did for the sake of the call! Let’s DO GOOD Friday Because of Him!

Our school in Namchi was founded in March of 2006, yet after five years we are still getting all the new state required and mandated registrations completed. We have over 50 students there which attend up to Class V as there is no longer any more space to fit any more classrooms in the rooms we have completed. We are asking for prayers for both the completion of the registration which is in process as well as the construction of additional floors for our ever expanding programs there.

Back in September of 2011 the town there was the center of a major earthquake and our primitive mountain church in the outlying remote areas was severely damaged. Thankfully, we have been able to make some major repairs to continue having services there, but a much better construction is required. We are ever joyful that no one was hurt in the earthquake and God provided the funds for the much needed repairs, but we still need to consider something entirely more solid in the future against such landslides. Please join us in prayers for our brothers and sisters in Namchi for a better church facility that is not made up merely of dried mud, lattice work, bamboos, and some paint.

We are praying for the additional resources of $200 per month for a full-time pastor there in the mountains as the people there live entirely off the land. As we have no land ourselves at the moment to live off of, a full-time pastor would need this amount to start out on in order to do the much needed ministry there. Please join us in these peoples’ prayers as they so sincerely wish to have the like faith we have that has been delivered to the saints. God Bless you for your continued interest, prayers, and support of our mission and the work we do to reach out to the least and lost of Asia for Christ!

Zaffar Khan

As we have informed you before, in April we face a huge challenge with our high school students and their start up fees for the new academic year. This year two of our students are currently this week finishing their board exams for Class X and we had asked you to be praying for them. Joining new in the month of April are two more students. Across the board inflation has caused all prices to rise in India and with the current economic downturn across the world needs are up while giving is down.

Schools in India have greatly increased their fees as a result in the coming new year. We face a cost alone of about $1600 USD for our high school students which has to be paid before they can enroll in the new year. We are asking for your prayers and continued support for these students as they face the growing changes of a new school of which we currently are unable to supply them with our own programs as they are very costly indeed. We must send them to an outside school which for us is a huge undertaking. We are asking you to join us in prayers for their education needs as we have been stretched to our very limits in these days to see to all the price increases as the markets are responding to the downturns and the current economic crises.

Here in India, the government to avoid the problems countries like Greece are facing has ended many of its subsidies that it once doled out to help people through these tough times. There are no longer sufficient funds to cover these costs and it has caused terrible fluctuations in the markets here locally bringing lots of prices to new record highs. Please, please join us in prayers for the much needed funds for us to continue to operate our school and see that our students finish their education nicely in their senior most years before they pursue their adult futures. This time is absolutely critical. As most of you know, education in India is not free and very costly while competition for jobs, scholarships, and colleges are extremely intense often taking only a minuscule percentage of the very best and brightest of students leaving the rest without much hope for a future. The requirements are becoming extremely difficult to maintain; thus we are coming to you for extra prayers at this time as for us it has become very difficult indeed.

When Carlton recently returned from the mountains of Nepal, he brought back with him to India three new disciples for training in Kolkata where they are not only currently pursuing courses in Discipleship, Bible Classes, and Leadership along with Social Work, but also in cooking, sewing/tailoring, as well as Spoken English and many other skills through our various education and training programs. They are hoping for training in whatever means for them to be able to reach out in ministry to share the Love of God found in Jesus Christ of which they themselves have come to know and to understand.

We praise God for their dedication and willingness to forsake all for the sake of the call to leave their families, homes, and village as well as country in order to receive the training they need to mold and form the gifts of God in their lives to full fruition. We ask you to join us in praying for them, and we would like to thank you for the opportunity we have been given to reach out to them in faith and for them to respond so well.

There are many such young women all across Asia who are subject to trafficking and modern day slavery. When given proper training, these young women of faith can reach out to those who face such circumstances. By equipping the saints and educating them, we offer them a hope and a bright future to reach out to the many others who are potential or even current victims of such crimes. It is because of your continual prayers and support we can reach out to the many here who are facing the challenges of living in our world today full of the corruption and violence of this present darkness by shining the Light of the World wherever we can. God Bless you!

He did manage to bring three students back with him to join our Bible College program to learn English, computers, guitar & keyboard, worship, and other much needed and valuable skills. Along the way, a new church was planted as well in the mountains near the border in Nepal as well. Needless to say, it was a very fruitful endeavor indeed! We also ask for prayers for the new church and God’s work there!

We thank everyone for making it possible for us each and every day to make a difference in someone’s life! Because of Him so many are saved! Because of you, we can share the love of God and help them to grow in their faith and relationship with God! When Carlton left, he was fighting a terrible cold and quite feverish; but stepping out in faith, he is now rejoicing at all the joy in serving a living God who uses surrendered hearts to make advances in the kingdom of God! The sickness is gone and lives were touched! God Bless you for supporting the work we do with your daily prayers and faithful love and care!

Lord Jesus Ministry

PO Box 1016

Mt. Carmel, IL 62863

By changing our PO Box we will save the time it takes for your checks to be cashed and once a month we will receive the funds in India to use for the work God has called us to. We are at present working on tax receipts for all of those who have made them in 2012 and will be sending them out soon. Please check carefully through them to see all your donations are listed and the amount matches your records. In the event they do not, please contact us immediately at our email address:

LordJesusMinistry@gmail.com

Or now you can call us at our new phone number:

58-MISSION-9

(586) 477-4669

So we will be closing down our old PO Box and switching to the new one. Please continue to make your checks out to “Lord Jesus Ministry”. And we still are continuing to work through a missionary fund of Abundant Grace Fellowship. For those using the online PayPal system it has automatically been adjusted and is working 100% now. The only thing we ask is that you make sure you use the “GIFT” option rather than the “Payment” option otherwise PayPal takes a cut. Thank you for all your love, prayers, concerns, and support! We are praying for you and ask you to feel free to send us your prayer concerns. May God truly and richly bless you for all you are doing to build His kingdom across the earth!

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