miracle in Orijja (Continued)
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_ JHA~I<. YOU fo~yom partnershignd your faithful month Iv 2Jedged support. Without .our hel we could not have seen what God has helped us to accomplish not only in Calcutta, the state of West Bengal, but also in the eleven states where we now have fast growing ministries. Calcutta Mercy Ministries 3267East 3300 South # 131 Salt Lake City, Utah 84109 Dear Pastor and Friends, December and January were very exciting months as we celebrated the 50th Jubilee Anniversary of the first church God helped us to construct and dedicate on Christmas Sunday 1959. It was a day of great rejoicing as it was the first church of any religious denomination to be constructed in a hundred years. I am grateful to God that we have come a long way since that time. Each event was a wonderful experience as we walked down memory lane reminiscing of God's goodness for the past, rejoicing in the present and believing God for greater miracles in the future. pajiof'j' Con/erencej H was my privilege to travel during these past weeks with Pastor Lonnie Di'Salvo from Plainview, Texas holding Pastors' conferences in four of the states where we have seen phenomenal growth in our churches and national leadership. You may remember that last year a request was made to all of our Assemblies of God Churches to pray for our Christians in Orissa who were facing terrible persecution. Our first Pastors' conference was held in Orissa with l68 Pastors in attendance. It was thrilling to hear many of our Pastors testify how God had protected them, their churches and congregations during this difficult time. I would like to share with you one of our Pastor's thrilling reports which was miraculous. One early evening while holding a service in his church in a remote area, he was informed that 300 persecutors were coming to burn the church and kill the 80 people attending the service. When they got this news, they immediately ran a short distance to the jungle to hide. As they were running, they could hear the 300 shouting and gaining ground behind them .. There was a small hill that needed to be crossed before they reached the valley below to enter the jungle. When the persecutors reached the top of the hill, suddenly a very large tiger came out of the jungle and stood between our church people and the persecutors. Being terrified by wild tigers, the 300 waited at the top of the hill for the tiger to leave, but instead the tiger laid down between the two groups. As it was getting dark, and the tiger did not move, the 300 returned to the village. P.T.O.
Transcript of miracle in Orijja (Continued)
_ JHA~I<. YOUfo~yom partnershignd your faithful month Iv2Jedged support. Without .our hel we could nothave seen what God has helped us to accomplish not only in Calcutta, the state of West Bengal, but also in theeleven states where we now have fast growing ministries.
Calcutta Mercy Ministries3267East 3300 South # 131Salt Lake City, Utah 84109
Dear Pastor and Friends,
December and January were very exciting months as we celebrated the 50th Jubilee Anniversary of the firstchurch God helped us to construct and dedicate on Christmas Sunday 1959. It was a day of great rejoicing asit was the first church of any religious denomination to be constructed in a hundred years. I am grateful to Godthat we have come a long way since that time. Each event was a wonderful experience as we walked downmemory lane reminiscing of God's goodness for the past, rejoicing in the present and believing God for greatermiracles in the future.
pajiof'j' Con/erencejH was my privilege to travel during these past weeks with Pastor Lonnie Di'Salvo from Plainview, Texas holdingPastors' conferences in four of the states where we have seen phenomenal growth in our churches and nationalleadership. You may remember that last year a request was made to all of our Assemblies of God Churches topray for our Christians in Orissa who were facing terrible persecution. Our first Pastors' conference was held inOrissa with l68 Pastors in attendance. It was thrilling to hear many of our Pastors testify how God had protectedthem, their churches and congregations during this difficult time.
I would like to share with you one of our Pastor's thrilling reports which was miraculous. One early eveningwhile holding a service in his church in a remote area, he was informed that 300 persecutors were coming toburn the church and kill the 80 people attending the service. When they got this news, they immediately ran ashort distance to the jungle to hide. As they were running, they could hear the 300 shouting and gaining groundbehind them ..There was a small hill that needed to be crossed before they reached the valley below to enter the jungle. Whenthe persecutors reached the top of the hill, suddenly a very large tiger came out of the jungle and stood betweenour church people and the persecutors. Being terrified by wild tigers, the 300 waited at the top of the hill for thetiger to leave, but instead the tiger laid down between the two groups. As it was getting dark, and the tiger didnot move, the 300 returned to the village.
P.T.O.
miracle in Orijja (Continued)
At 4 a.m. when the sun rose, the tiger got up, looked at the 80 people, and slowly walked back to the jungle.After a time of rejoicing for the miracle God had performed, the group decided to walk to our Assemblies ofGod Mission Headquarters in Puri which took them five days. Rev. P.C..Hota, the director of our Orissa min-istries, marvelled at their testimony of God's protection and took the group to where he had already sheltered500 other Christians who had fled from their villages. These simple village people believed that God had sentan angel in the form of a tiger to protect them that night.
Before Mark's sudden death. it was his earnest prayer and vision to commence ministries in these unreachedstates where we now have fast growing works. Each state in India has a different language and 1 am sograteful for our Bible Schools that graduate dedicated Pastors. This is the reason we have been able to plantover 700 churches during these past years. 1only wish Mark had lived to see his vision fulfilled.
Our main Calcutta church continues to see fantastic growth under the national leadership of Pastor Ivan andSheila Satyavrata. We have come a long way since holding tent services when we arrived in 1954, then movingto a rented upstairs hall and in 1959, moving to our first constructed church. As I stood in the feeding linesa few days ago, and visited the slum areas of Calcutta, Iwas also grateful for our Compassionate Ministries.It takes a lot of money to feed 25,000 each day, medically treat 40,000 free patients each year and educatethousands of poor children in our hundreds of schools. What a great arm of evangelism these ministries havebeen.J am so thankful for our Calcutta Mercy Ministries and the leadership of Rev. Amitabh Singh as well as the
__ -..;i"",n--,-v;::;.oly,ementofm daughter BOllllie and her husband Dr. Jim Lom:!:.in all of our COllmassionate Ministries.It is wonderful to see the next generation carryon the vision.
THANK YOU again for your continued monthly AGWM pledged support and for your offerings for omCalcutta Mercy Ministries. May God bless you and your church and give you a wonderful and blessed NewYear. I would love to share our Calcutta story with you and your church family. My contact email address is:[email protected]
With Jove and grateful thanks,
~J,6'~Huldah BuntainPresident - Assembly of God Mission, Calcutta
HULDAH BUNTAINAGWM ACCOUNT NO. R9-2491934
