Hi Folks
Greetings to you from India. It was great connecting with most of you during my time in the US in late October and early November. We are doing well here and appreciate your prayers and support of our ministry here in India.
We trust you all had a blessed thanksgiving. We awoke Thursday morning to India’s version of 9/11. Most of you have probably seen the news and heard all the stories by now. We are about 100 miles east of Mumbai. This event has shocked the nation here and has had a 9/11 kind of impact on India. India is prone to terror attacks but there has never been something of this magnitude since independence. It is indescribable evil and shows the extent the enemy has corrupted human minds. Swati and I have a lot of friends in Mumbai and by God’s grace they have all been accounted for. We have spent a lot of time in prayer and ministry with different groups of people as fear and anger began to set in among the people. All schools and offices were closed on Thursday and we were in shut down mode.
The good news is that even through all this God is still on the throne. Swati and I shared at the Sunday service this morning at the Ahmednagar church and the Lord gave us the verse from Isaiah 41:10 “Do not fear, for I am with you; do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.’ It was a great time of ministry and sharing. The sad part in all of this is that people we minister to almost have no time to mourn. Most of them are in shock over this incident but they also make about a $1 a day and when the city shuts down their access to work and food shuts down for that day. Please lift them up that the Lord would take care of them and provide their needs in these difficult times.
Please continue to uphold India in your prayers. Please pray for his peace to reign in peoples minds. We have elections coming up in the next few months here and the terror attacks could drive people to vote for the radical hindu party which has been persecuting Christians in various states here in India. There is a very high possibility of escalating tensions with Pakistan as well.
We are in a safe place here and excited for how God is using us and allowing us to minister here in India. We do believe that God will make a way in any situation for his kingdom message to go out. Our God is big and asks us not to fear for he is with us.
God Bless
Jon, Swati and Neil
