Pastor Sanjay Shares Insights!

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Greetings! As we begin a new financial year in India (April to March), we take this opportunity to once again thank the Lord for His faithfulness and His grace, and providing our needs through His chosen ones.

I on behalf of the Council of the Church of God, and all the churches, pastors, evangelists and believers would like to say “THANK YOU” and the HHIM for all your prayers and support to make a difference in the lives of young and old, by touch and transforming life, and their final destiny.

I cherish the friendship and the partnership we have in His Kingdom, for the last 18 years.

We would like to share some stories and update you as to how the Lord is working in and through His people in the different works of work and life.

Sister R is a believer from a (M) background and working in Asia.  She was given in marriage to a (M) person and the person’s only purpose of marring her was to re-convert her. Her husband tried his best, but R instead won him for Christ. They both are a mature believer and are sharing their faith with others. They have been threatened and have been thrown out of their community/locality. However, they have moved out and are continuing to share with others.

Sister R is sharing the Gospel with Women as they are available in the homes when their male members are out for work. She also runs two children ministry in two different places where all the children come from non-Christian homes. Many come seeking for prayer to her, and are healed. PRAY FOR SISTER R, her family and her ministry. Pray for the need of two teachers to help and assist her in those two places. The shelter for the kids to come together has begun in the month of February and has been stopped due to lack of funds to complete. Just the foundation has been done, the pillars and the metal roof is still to be done.

Brother B is an evangelist ministering among the (Raj) people group (one of the most difficult people group and with very few believers). He is located at the India-Bangladesh border, very close to Church of God, Lalmunirhat across the border which is divided by Singmari River. He is a young and has ministry especially among the high school and college going student, and most of them are first generation Christian. He has fellowship in two different villages and one in his town. He is also actively involved in rescuing girls and women trafficked from that area, and have thus earned love and respect from the people in the community. People often approach him for such help. There are several young people awaiting to be baptized in the coming weeks. He had to move out of his rented house as the property was sold out. Now again he has to shift as the owner wants it vacated. We have the required land at his ancestral home and need to build a Worship Center.

Brother S is from India-Bhutan border. He comes from a small tribe that is just about 7786 in number in India. He has believer from both the side of the border. We are in the process of completing the new Worship/ Community Center and will be dedicated soon. He had the opportunity to go and meet the President of India during the Republic Day (26th January 2017) representing his  tribe.

Brother Bh is working among his tribe and has ministry in 3 different Tea Gardens, for which he has to travel about 200 miles on an average in a week. He is one of the evangelist who has been provided with a motorcycle from Spread the Word (STW), and that has made a great impact in his ministry. Brother Bh says; “the two-wheeler has been a blessing, which has cut down on the travel time and also gives me opportunity to visit new areas, which are far and remote and can only be accessed if one has his own mode of communication. I thank STW for their prayers and their gift of a two-wheeler”.  The bike also helps transporting sick children and people in emergency, and saves precious lives.

We have started to work on the Matigara Property plan / layout. The engineer has visited the site and found the soil is suitable for 3 storied building, the sand / loose gravel that is visible on a part of the property is just about two feet deep. The site plan and the 3D Image of the proposed building is under progress. This is one of the pressing needs of the ministry keeping in view of the changing scenario in the country.

Your Co-worker in Christ,

Pastor Sanjay Daniel Murmu

Church of God

Siliguri, West Bengal, India

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Prayer Concerns:

  1. Pray for God’s wisdom and guidance. That, we will be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit as our battle against the power and principalities of the unseen world gets intensified.
  2. Pray for God’s protecting as situation / atmosphere is rapidly become hostile towards the minority groups. Church services and programs being disrupted in many of the country.
  3. Pray for the Children ministry that is affected due to financial crunch.
  4. Pray for the new areas / regions we are focusing this year. Pray for the Awareness and Training Programs for Human Trafficking in the border areas of North Bengal in the coming months.
  5. Pray for the Small Business Loan / Soft Loan Program to strengthen the local believers and churches to slowly work towards self-sustenance.
  6. Pray for the Leadership Team as they work together to see the Church of God Movement continue to touch and transforms lives, through its various initiatives, programs and projects.
  7. Pray for the Proposed Training-cum-Retreat Center at Matigara, as the work on the basis of the land / layout, plans etc is under process. This will be a project for the ministry to train its pastors and evangelists, and also a facility to be rented out on a daily basis to raise funds locally / towards self-reliance.

Pressing Needs:

  1. Addition $500.00 per month for Pastors & Evangelists.
  2. Minimum $1000.00 per month per project to run the bare minimum program in the two CDC’s.
  3. 10 days Church Planters Training Program: $2000.00
  4. Awareness Program & Training Program for Human Trafficking: $500.00 each quarter.
  5. $2500.00 for Self-help / Small business loan.

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Personal Update:

We are doing fine as a family. Rebecca is now in the 10th Grade and Lydia in 8th Grade. Sanjukta is also doing fine and she has no health issues now except for blood sugar which too is under control. We will always remain grateful to your generous help to meet our medical needs as Sanjukta was often complaining of breathlessness. We as a family remember you all in our prayers. God willing we will be able to meet someday again.

Pray for me, as I am standing at the crossroad and have to make crucial discussion that will have a lasting impact in my personal life, family and ministry. That, the Lord will show me and lead me that I may just do the ONE THING that the Lord requires of me, and rest will follow. I will wait on the Lord.

Convey our greetings to all the who pray for us and support our ministry.

Easter Outreach:

We had an outreach program in a new areas close to Siliguri, where we screened the film, “The Path of Truth” in Bengali, where we have a children ministry done by Bro. A. S. Though the community was not willing to let them meet about 4-5 weeks back when they first went, slowly they are opening up. Young and old were there to watch the film. There was no proper facility so we screen it in front of a cow shed, had hard time keeping the temporary electrical wire intact that led to shut down of the system, we had to quit through we were through 75% of the film with several breaks, as equipment was shutting down due to overheating apart from the mosquitoes that were all around and making it difficult to sit. We will go back and show the film again.

Pastor Don’s challenge to help the children of India!

Dear Brother and Sister in Christ,

I trust this letter finds you well. Allow me a moment to introduce myself to you. My name is Don Carson and I serve as the Sr. Pastor of the First Church of God in St. James, Missouri. I have been blessed to serve here in St. James for just over 20 years, over twelve as the Pastor of Student Ministries and over eight as Sr. Pastor.

During my time in St. James I have had the great opportunity to travel to different parts of the world and witness the mighty movement of the Lord in third world countries. I have been blessed to travel to India, Uganda and Haiti.

My travels to India and Haiti were with a good friend of mine, Richard Fields. Richard serves as the with a missions organization called Helping Hands In Motion, Inc. HHIM works in the 10/40 window areas of India and Sri Lanka as well as the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, Haiti. HHIM’s focus is to minister to and empower and equip indigenous national leaders in these areas to minister to their people. For more information about HHIM be sure to check out their website, www.helpinghandsinmotion.org.

In efforts to suppress the Gospel Message of Jesus Christ, the newly appointed Indian government aspires to make India an all Hindu nation once again, by enforcing the anti-conversion laws that several states have in place. They are looking for ways to stop Christian organizations from sending funds into India, which are helping many oppressed and hurting people by providing: relief resources, training, education and more while sharing the message of hope and salvation to those they are ministering. 

One organization India has stopped from sending funds into their country is Compassion International. Compassion has approximately 500 Children programs ministering to approximately 145,000 children and families in some of the poorest areas in the world, where they were releasing children from poverty in Jesus name. Compassion can no longer send funds to these programs to help release children from their spiritual, economic, social and physical poverty.

Persecution, trouble, a loss of hope and joy has permeated through the areas where these programs have been shut down. Leaders have seen the feelings of oppression return.  Plus 25% of the children who were in the Compassion programs have now dropped out of school. It is very heartbreaking to see what is happening. We know the church will grow strong as they go through this time, but those being oppressed without the Lord will suffer. We want to help those who are ministering to the suffering and oppressed!

Over thirteen years ago, Helping Hands In Motion working though our national leader, Sanjay Murmu, helped start two of these Compassion International programs. Through the efforts of these programs many children and families were helped; giving hope, joy and a future. Many people have heard about Jesus Christ, through various venues and committed their lives to Him.

Helping Hands In Motion and our National Leader desire to help these two programs keep running, on a smaller scale. Compassion International sent approximately $8,000 per month to each of these programs to minster to around 300 children in each program. At this time, we cannot afford to do this. Our goal is to send $1,000 per month to each of these two programs to keep them ministering to as many children and families they can handle with the reduced revenue – this is our short-term goal for the next twelve months.

This is where you and I come in. As Sr. Pastor of FCOG St. James, I am leading our congregation in campaign to pay for at least two months of support. We will do this through Love Offerings, VBS Offerings, fundraisers, etc. We pray that God will move mightily so that we may pay for even more.

I am writing to you to ask you to prayerfully consider leading your congregation in the same campaign. If we could get twelve churches to commit to two months or twenty four churches to one month we could keep these children in school, learning about Jesus and bringing light to darkness.

I do want to thank you for reading this letter and at least prayerfully considering this tremendous opportunity to the Salt of the Earth and the Light of the World. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me at 573-265-3465 or Richard Fields at 863-255-1339. FOR SAFETY REASONS WE DO ASK THAT YOU NOT SHARE THIS ON SOCIAL MEDIA.

In His Service,

Pastor Donald Carson Jr

Rev. Donald Carson Jr

Sr. Pastor, FCOG St. James Mo

Helping Hands In Motion Board Member

Impacting the world through Children!

557621_432701320075145_1468868920_nHow do we make an impact on Haiti? Through Children! House Of Blessings will celebrate, this year, 30 years of ministry to children and the community with young adults leaving the House Of Blessings going into communities and making a difference.

How has this happened? How does this continue? One child at a time! This has happened and will continue because you are there to help us prayerfully, physically, mentally, spiritually and financially.

Over the years House Of Blessings philosophy has been, quality over quantity, this continues today. In the past, we have concentrated on having around 20 of children at House Of Blessings. However, now the government is applying pressure on the House Of Blessings Directors to increase the number of children raised, they want a minimum of 30 children at House Of Blessings.

To do this we must add onto the current building where the children sleep and are cared for. Plans are now finished and the building of the addition should start in June 2016… WOW – this year! Phase 1 of the structure will cost around $46,000.00.  Some of you are asking: How do we get involved?

One awesome story in getting this addition started is of a working man who drives a truck and does carpentry work on the side. He recently did a job and donated the profits towards the building of the addition… he has sent us $8,000!  He said use this to enable the House Of Blessing to help even more children. He has asked us to tell others about his donation and challenge others, churches, businesses, whoever and wherever to match or triple these funds.

So the challenge goes out to all of you. This hard working guy gives $8,000.  What will you give towards matching or tripling this amount so we can get this addition built?

There are other ways you can get involved and we will be sharing those in some of our next messages. But for now, will you get involved? Will you send funds towards the addition? You have been part of making the House Of Blessings to be what it is today. We know you will help us as we move forward and IMPACT the lives of even more Haitian children to IMPACT Haiti as they grow and give leadership throughout Haiti and the world.

Contact Richard or Debi Fields and let them know how you will be involved, or send a check to Helping Hands In Motion and on the memo line write HOB addition matching funds.

Thank you and God Bless!

What Surprised Me Most About Haiti!

Journey HOBIt’s been over a month since I had the opportunity to spend a week serving at the House of Blessings orphanage in Haiti. Lots of people have asked me…

How was your trip to Haiti?

It’s difficult to sum up an entire week in a couple of minutes. But after stumbling through a lot of conversations and after a lot of reflection, I think I’ve been able to distill it down to two main themes

1) It was awesome!

Yes, “awesome” is an overused word that doesn’t convey a lot of meaning, but I am literally in awe of so many aspects of that week…

  • I’m in awe that God provided financially for the entire team, beyond our needs and expectations so we could bless others in some unexpected ways.
  • I’m in awe that 1,000 pounds of food, shoes, clothes and school supplies were donated and all 20 suitcases made it through the flight and customs.
  • I’m in awe of how beautiful the rugged Haitian landscapes are
  • I’m in awe of the staff of and kids at House of Blessings, how caring they are, how God is at work in their lives.
  • I’m in awe of how well our team bonded and worked together – from 3 different churches, ages 18 to over 60.
  • I’m in awe of what happened when we drove an hour to a desolate ridge where Frankie is being called to plant a church, how people came seemingly out of nowhere, and how they responded.
  • I’m in awe of the glimpse we got of the beautiful bride of Christ (the church) worshiping her Lord each night, Haitians and Americans, singing, talking and praying together.

2) It was what?

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear, “Haiti?”

I think poverty, corruption, earthquake, tropical diseases, voodoo & spiritual darkness.

So, one of the most shocking things to me was we experienced very little of that…

  • Haiti seems to have recovered from the 2010 earthquake. We didn’t see any rubble or buildings falling apart.
  • We woke up every morning to a beautiful sunrise, the sounds of farm animals and music, people preparing meals and doing other chores
  • We never heard voodoo drums beating in the distance as past teams have. Instead we saw one church up the ridge and another church down the ridge from where we were staying
  • We slept each night on air mattresses in a comfortable bunk house that has fans and a modern bathroom.

I’ve found myself tell people…

“It was a lot easier than I expected.”

I’ve done some reflecting on why that is. And here’s what I’ve come up with…

  • We were 90 minutes outside of Port au Prince in the mountains where there is very little government presence and very little corruption that I could see.
  • While there have been lots of stories about how little money from the earthquake relief actually made it to people in need, over the last 5 years thousands of small teams of people have come to Haiti to help clear rubble and rebuild houses.
  • We stayed in a Christian orphanage that has a two Christian churches nearby each also has a school, all started by Spirit-led individuals many years ago and through them God has transformed many people’s lives. The culture of area has changed dramatically
  • We stayed in a comfortable bunk house built by teams of people on past missions trips.

Most people want to solve Haiti’s problems from the top down by electing a better government, reducing corruption, providing billions of dollars of aid.  So far that hasn’t seemed to change much.

But what I experienced was a part of Haiti that is being transformed from the bottom up, by individuals being led by God to love and give and serve others. Through them others are coming to know and follow Christ. As God transforms the hearts of individual people, they are less corrupt, less abusive, more giving. As individuals are being changed by God, it is changing the community.

Which reminds me of one of my favorite quotes

Never believe that a few caring people can’t change the world. For, indeed, that’s all who ever have. – Margaret Mead

Journey to Haiti 2015

The LIGHT by Lisa Bultman

Lisa and Marie

Lisa and Marie

It’s so funny how God happens upon us – maybe it is when our defenses are down, the outside noise stops just for brief moment and we get a glimpse, a glimpse of His heart. It still amazes me, even after all this time of my little life. For me it is often when I am still very still, not really thinking and then all of sudden I hear His voice. It’s like my little Spirit finally is in “sync” – and within a split second I “SEE” scripture not just see words on a page, it’s not ink. It lives, it breathes, it’s amazing and I wonder how I ever missed it?

Haiti does this to me. Maybe it’s being unplugged and undistracted? Maybe it’s being with others who are all waiting for Him to show up? Our trip in May was split between two places (my second homes) House of Blessing and Arcahaie with Poverty Resolutions. Sometimes mission trips can seem exclusive, you see one place, one church, one group and one goal – even within that context it is still amazing to see Him move and continue to build on foundations He already had planned. (For the record I think we are really slow in catching God’s vision – how much patience He has for us.) But this time I saw the body working together – The Church Body working together all these people from all parts of the world working together. It was like each day we found another piece of ourselves. (I jokingly said we found another body part to our Pastor – I think he changed colors! LOL) it was just so cool for lack of a better word to describe seeing scripture in the flesh – you know that glimpse. And what was cooler was knowing how many others we brought with us in Spirit; family, friends, sponsors, coworkers, old and new church members – they were part of it too – we just happen to be the “hands” for the trip delivering those gifts, prayers, medicines, love, well wishes and let’s not forget the candy! Amazing right!

But looking back – I want to see Him everywhere – to catch a glimpse of Him daily in the ordinary life I live here in the collective body He has put me in…in the sunsets, blue haired Tookie’s, gentle breezes , early mornings and hubby hugs…just a glimpse.

House of Blessings Video

Haiti Video 2015 from Eastland Church of God

Sonali Video

Hosanna to House Of Blessings!

 

Hosanna Team

Hosanna Team

Six people began a journey October, 2014 after Theresa Coe shared her trip with the congregation at Hosanna Lutheran Church in Mesa, AZ. She shared photos, memorabilia, and Haitian music; Theresa then suggested and challenged the members to prayerfully consider a mission trip to Haiti. There were several people who prayerfully considered this mission trip and God lead 6 people on this remarkable journey to Calabasse, Haiti.

So began our journey to go to Haiti – an unlikely group of six with very different backgrounds, but intense in the unity and oneness in the Love of Christ. All be it a group seemingly as 6th graders on an adventurous journey in boundless energy with child like joy and purpose. How would God lead us? How would God use us? In an orphanage named House of Blessings. In a land where 200,000 perished  5 years ago through earthquake devastation.

After all we come from a land with drinkable  tap water, hot water, showers, restrooms with running water, electricity, paved roads, stop lights ( I think you have to go to Haiti to appreciate stoplights)  air conditioning, refrigerators and microwaves.

We really got into the spirit of the trip after receiving our information packets from Richard Fields regarding what we would be required to bring with us, which included peanut butter, jelly, tuna, canned chicken, and toilet paper! The six of us also took on the challenge to fulfil Richards’s wish list for items for a summer program. The items included toothbrushes, toothpaste, granola bars, candy, soap, personal items such as combs, hair brushes, and deodorant. The congregation at Hosanna stepped up and donated over 500 tooth brushes along with tooth paste! We put a dent in the request for 475 granola bars! Black board chalk was on the request list also and we collected over 900 pieces of chalk! It was fun to see all the goodies come in each Sunday. The six of us carried extra suitcases to bring our treasures to Haiti.

On the front steps with the kids!

On the front steps with the kids!

On May 30, 2015 we travel to Haiti and House Of Blessings. Our week at the House of Blessings orphanage was one filled with fun, love, yummy food and outstanding fellowship. I think everyone in our group will treasure the devotions we participated in each evening. We shared God’s word and sang praises to His glory.

Sunday morning at church wow 500 or more singing to the top of their lungs! But the pastor yells louder!! They invited our whole group up in front of the church, well I’m sure we looked funny to the congregation. We are dressed quite different from theirs, they are all dressed so beautiful and formal – but the joy in the Lord brings us together. To meet other Christians with a love of our Savior and the gift of loving others. We took hundreds of pictures maybe thousands of the precious children, the mountain sides, Port Au Prince, plants, animals. Pictures of the Church of many Haitian peoples worshiping the Lord! The amazing Church is packed with men, women and children reading their Bibles, no padded pues, air conditioning, restrooms with running water and paved parking lots were not in view, things in the States we seem to put great importance in. There is one picture however that is embedded in my mind. The picture however was not in any of the pictures that our team took.

The picture is that of a child, a beautiful child lifting his arms up, wanting to be loved and wanting to be held.

The carpenter’s, (Paul, Ryan, and Tom) in our group built four more bunk beds for the dorm like bedrooms and built a queen size bed for the leader bedroom. Theresa and Serenah got into the spirit and hammered some nails and drilled in some screws! Cyndi met the ladies who make the purses for Bagay Ki Bon and was happy to sit and sew with them during the afternoon hours.

Our team met Linda and Ron Cox who joined our group to be able to watch the drilling of a water well on the House

Serenah, Felo & Theresa

Serenah, Felo & Theresa

of Blessings property. God had other plans and the drilling was cancelled as the truck had mechanical problems. Our week drew to a close much too quickly and soon we were back on the road to Port Au Prince and headed home. I know each of us has a special place in our hearts for the people and children we met in those few precious days in Callabasse, Haiti.

Helping Hands In Motion

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Port St. Lucie, FL 34983

Phone: 772-878-7007

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