CHILDREN’S HOME NEWS

The two boys pictured to the left are brothers, Anil and Sanil. Anil is eight and Sanil is nine. These fine young men were two of five who came while Cathy and I were there in April. Anil is physically handicapped and he loves being at Deva Anbu Illam. Though he may have been treated badly in the world, at DAI he is loved by all. I asked him his favorite part of the program and he pointed to the playground. I asked him if he had a favorite friend at DAI yet and he answered, “Yes, the white boy.” I was surprised by his answer, since there are no white children at DAI, and asked him to point out his good friend. One of our boys whose skin is a little lighter than most came and stood beside of Anil. Anil did not know his name. He just called him “white boy.”

Another funny incident happened one night as I walked to Ebenezer Hall to observe the children watching their Saturday night movie. We had purchased six new movies and carried them in our luggage. They were watching “Casper” but it had no sound, only subscripts. I didn’t understand but did not interrupt the movie to question. The next day I asked Stan why the children were watching the movie without sound. “Oh,” he explained, “the children told me that brother Don brought us a deaf movie!” Further investigation revealed that someone had accidentally pressed the “closed caption” button on the remote.”

SEWING CLASSES are part of the training our older children receive. These girls are being taught in our new vocational building. Joy Vasuchi, one of our house mothers, is one of the teachers. The boys are also trained in tailoring and on this particular day they were in the other room learning how to cut patterns. BELOW: The construction of the new library is coming along well. This will be a place to also train our children in computer skills.

Four new cottages are currently under construction. Hopefully, they will be completed in June. We expect many more children during the month of May and we are currently seeking additional house mothers. Of everything at DAI, the work with which we are the most pleased is the Bible program. Our children will be some of the greatest evangelists in all of India. Please continue to pray for our kids.

GRADUATION DAY

From Don's Diary, April 14, 2007

Today we attended the graduation at Erode. Twenty-five men have been training here for the past year. Jeganathan, the principal/teacher first stood to greet the crowd of 700 people. He then proceeded to introduce his students one by one. Many of their accomplishments for the Lord were remarkable and Jeganathan was obviously very proud of this batch of newly trained evangelists. I spoke about the precious feet of the evangelist (Rom. 10:15). We train these men to be self supported soul-winners, not just preachers. I spoke about Isaiah and his willingness to serve, “…here am I, send me” (Is. 6:8). The nods of the student’s heads showed they were stirred by the words of the prophet.

The graduation programs are for Tamil speaking people and with the exception of Cathy and me, everyone comprehends. Therefore I was a little disappointed when one student came to the microphone and started speaking in English. My disappointment soon turned to appreciation. Jayapal was the student’s name and the fire in his bones was obvious. He referred to a comment I had made about the jovial nature of Jeganathan, the principal, and then went on to say I should never mistake his comical nature for insincerity. “As students we expected yesterday in our class to be an easy day. After all, graduation was today. But Jeganathan was just as disciplined and strict as ever.” Then, to my amazement, Jayapal turned and looked directly at me. The brothers tried to get him to turn forward and speak into the microphone, but he continued to look at me. “We have been told by our teacher that it requires 30,000 rupees ($660) to train each of us. We want to assure you,” he said with strong emphasis, “that the Lord’s money will not be wasted.” I thought about our American brethren, many of which are sacrificing to support this work. I thought of all of the widows and about great men like Bobby Hiland (along with his Carolyn) and their love for this work. Bobby lost his life last month to cancer. There are so many faithful American brethren who love these students and I wished they could have also been there for that moment.

Jayapal explained that in the beginning he did not want to come to the school but finally yielded to the very persistent evangelist who preaches in his congregation. After the service I sought out Jayapal. I shook his hand and thanked him. “By the way,” he said, “here is my preacher.” Standing before me was Babu, a former student in my personal evangelism classes at Dindigul. Babu had been a drunkard prior to his conversion. Now he is a beacon for Christ (Matt. 5:14). He preaches the gospel and works as a truck driver to support his family and his ministry. I am thankful to God for the privilege of working alongside mighty men like Jeganathan, Jayapal and Babu.

EVANGELIST GRADUATIONS

Cathy and I just returned to our North Carolina home last night. Over the past month we attended and I spoke for graduations at eleven of our Bible training schools. It is exciting to send men into the fields “white unto harvest” (John 4:35). Often, as I sat waiting for my time to speak, I would look at the graduating men thinking about all of the new congregations of the Lord’s church that will be established. I explained to the students that we have not trained them to simply be “preachers” but evangelists. As such we expect for their pants to stay wet with the waters of ponds and tanks, baptizing many souls into Christ. God loves the precious souls of men much more than we can comprehend. He is surely pleased with seeing these trained men as they go forth to re-unite India with their Father (Lk. 15:20).

Our first stop was one of the latest schools, started in 2006, the School of Evangelism at Trivandrum. Cathy and I conducted two-day seminars at the school. I taught the men about evangelism. Cathy taught the ladies, mostly wives of preacher students. This is the school where we dismissed the principal in January for dishonesty. The seminars were an encouragement to the Trivandrum brothers, who had baptized sixteen new souls into Christ just two weeks before we arrived, and added seven more souls while we were there. The Trivandrum evangelists give glory to God for the new growth, remarking that God is blessing the Trivandrum work because we strive to do everything honestly and according to God’s will. After finishing that program on Tuesday, April 10, we moved south to Kanniyakumari to start the first of the graduations on Wednesday, April 11. The graduation circuit finished with the last program at the Polarai school on April 27.

TSUNAMI, PHASE II – DISASTER TO VICTORY

Routinely, I shake my head in disbelief at the great things God has accomplished in the tsunami areas. The last poll revealed that 71 new congregations have been established in or around the devastated region since that catastrophic day, December 26, 2004. We have helped more than twenty-five thousand families with relief items, but from the beginning our main goal was the saving of men’s souls. Part of the plan, to teach every soul in every seacoast village, was the establishment of schools of evangelism. Part of the funds for training evangelists in these areas were set aside even while relief work was continuing.

Many victims who were baptized in the beginning of the tsunami work have now matured to the point of qualifying to enter one of the new schools. These brethren are strong because they have been studying their Bibles, but also, they have been spiritually tempered by their suffering and persecution. While I was there in April they began appearing for their interviews and entrance examinations. I was thrilled to receive news that most scored in the top ten percent. We have been praying and working for two years to get to this moment and by the grace of God, 126 men in these coastal areas will begin their training as evangelists on June 4. The monthly support needed for each man while he is training will be $60.

Lord willing, seven schools of evangelism will be operating to serve these coastal people (450 miles of coastline) beginning next month. One of these, the Kanniyakumari school, has been in existence for seven years. Two schools, Tirunelveli and Trivandrum were added last year. Four new schools will open in June: Trichendur, Nagapattinam, Cuddalore and Kovilpati. Of students who have passed their written and oral interviews to sit for the selection classes in one-year schools, 21 have been chosen at Kovilpati, 12 at Cuddalore, 12 at Nagapattinam, 32 at Trichendur, 16 at Trivandrum and 33 at Kanniyakumari. That makes a total of 126 new evangelists! Additionally, 35 men will be continuing in the second-year program at Tirunelveli and 28 continuing at Trivandrum.

God is great! Only he could turn such a catastropic disaster into such a mighty victory.

Don Iverson (E-mail: doniverson at juno.com)