Missionaries in India -- the Ekka Family

September 4, 2010

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ at Hope Lutheran Church !

Warm Greeting to you all from Ranchi in North India!

We rejoice as we see what God is doing here and everywhere. We are sure that God continues to sustain and nourish your lives in and through his grace. Our loving God's assurance of faithfulness may grant all of us constant joy in his presence. We are encouraged by God's promise in Psalm 105:8 for care and concern:

"He is mindful of his covenant forever, of the word that he commanded for a thousand generations."

We thank you so much for your faithful prayers and generous financial support for us and our ministry. Your partnership is a constant source of encouragement and our ability to serve. Thank you. May God continue to bless you to be blessings for other for the sake of the kingdom of God. We fondly remember our many visits and warm reception in your congregation. We continue to pray for all of you.

We had thought, at this time we would be in MN for a year but Neeraj was denied visa and this forced us to change our plans. However, this gave us more opportunities to be part of what God is doing in this part. It was a wonderful opportunity for us to teach about 70 pastors of our national church from 8 states in June. It was special for us to interact and inspire young pastors who look up to us for mentoring and guidance. We shared about servant leadership with them which was very well received.

On 10th of July our seminary planted many trees as part of college day celebrations. We plan to plant hundreds of trees in our five acres campus. We are encouraging the villagers also to plant as many trees as possible.

The ten graduates who graduated this year are enjoying their ministries in ten different parishes. One of them says that the true joy of leading new brothers and sisters in Christ is to be with them and spend time in worship. Our graduates say that people in these newly established congregations love to sing and dance. The singing which starts at 7:00 pm often goes till 11 o'clock in the night.

We are working hard for affiliation of the center. Once we have affiliation we expect students from all over North India from many other denominations. One of the many areas of attention is library. We are requesting pastors and others to donate books to our library. There isn't great scope as not many pastors are able to buy books during their ministry. Nijhar's dad who had a good collection of books because of his research interests and his studies in USA donated more than 2000 books. We are very thankful to him.

Our kids are a bit sad. They were excited about our one year long furlough in US. They were so looking forward to American school beginning in September. We tell them that they would be admitted in school whenever we get there. Maani our 10 year daughter likes to read and dance; Urbas (8) and Puna (6) two boys love to play outside and Jhumpa (2 ½ ) follows her older siblings which is sometimes fun and in other times frustration for the older siblings.

Please do give praise to the Lord and pray for us especially for the following:

Thank the Lord:

1. For the graduates enjoying their ministries.
2. For current students that the Lord would deepen their understanding and commitment.
3. For women fellowship of our national church, they donated 36 fans for our facility.
4. For young people of our church working in different parts of India who are showing great interest in the ministry of our center that the Lord would make them greater stakeholders
5. For Bp. Dr. N. Minz and his wife Pracleta Minz for donating more than 2000 books.
6. For WMPL for facilitating our ministry and mission activity worldwide.

Pray to the Lord:

1. Pray for the faculty as we are trying to develop collective leadership after the model of Jesus' servant leadership
2. Pray for students as they work hard to acquires skills and God's wisdom through the training
3. Pray for new brothers and sisters in Chattisgargh state that they would continue to experience God's grace and wonderful joy in the Lord
4. For God's provision for the construction of kitchen and dining facility
5. Pray for us as we continue to work on Neeraj's visa (we will be traveling to Delhi for visa work in near future)
6. For Maani, Urbas, Puna and Jhumpa for patience and understanding and concentration in their studies for Maani, Urbas and Puna especially when both of us are away busy in other ministries.

Thank you again and may God continue to bless you ! We look forward to hearing from you.

Together in God's ministry,
Neeraj and Nijhar
Maani, Urbas, Puna and Jhumpa
jnekka@gmail.com

 

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