HANDING OUT RELIEF AND LOVE IN JESUS NAME
Church Congregation at Nizampatnam
Crossing the Estuary on Fishing Boats - see Rev Ellis
Crossing the Estuary on Fishing Boats - see Rev John Moparthi(CARE)
Dead Pastor Isaacs Son andWife out the house he died in when flooded by the Tsunami
Pastor Phil and John Moparthi Handing out Relief.
Last
week we were able to have the rare privilege of visiting some
Indian villages and handing out some token of our love to them as
brothers and sisters in Christ. These were church people who come
under IAFM. We took up a collection amongst ourselves and
associates and took this little money to the front area where
some of these people stayed.
There
are four village churches effected along the coast line of
The
photos beneath are photos I took whilst there. This village is
known as Nizampattnam and will give you some idea of the
conditions. The village church had 100 families effected by the
tsunami. Most lost households and incomes but also 7 people were
confirmed dead or missing. Pastor Isaacs was one of these. In the
photos below you can see his son , who has now taken over from
his father, Pastor Kanaiah. And his widowed wife. The hut behind
them is the place where he was killed.
To reach
the village we had to use four wheel drive vehicle that we rented
and go the last part of the journey on hired local fishing boats.
To cross the estuary at the coast line and on a simple peninsula
find out shattered congregation. All these congregations come
under the direct oversight of John Moparthi and his CARE
organisation (We have 63 churches in this organisation)
Both
John and his brother Mohanarao accompanied us on this venture.
After meeting with the family of God we were able to hand out our
love tokens of 500 rupees to each effected family. Not much about
£6-7, but considering the monthly income is 300-400 rupees it
did make a difference.
We gave
the pastors family 5000 rupees to try to help them and comfort
them a little. We took with us receipts to be signed by all those
who received, but 97% were illiterate and had to use thumb prints
to sign for their gift. We stressed that this was just a token of
our love and support from the body of Christ.
But it
did make a difference. Although I tried my best to hide under a
hat and so, local villages soon noticed this white mans
appearance and suspected funds being given and so towards the end
of our service we had many village gatecrashers trying to get
something from us. This time it was profitable even naturally to
be part of the family of God.
Heated
voices from these sent us packing. We finished our business and
visited the dead pastor's hut with his family, stressing our
support and then boarding the fishermen’s boats we left once
more to continue to the next village congregation.
Devastation and a sense of not knowing what to do next were all around us.
Two villages were visited with two others to be visited soon. In The Adnaman Islands the church people there have suffered the losee of 20 dead and much loss of homes and houses.
Pastor John Moparthi and brother will be visitng these
shortly with some gifts from us.