Report from BHW India Partnership Facilitator 

In January 2018 Bright Hope World ran a summit in Bangalore for all our Indian and Nepalese partners. This was an amazing time which almost every one of our partners attended. In total we had about 40 people from India and Nepal and another nine from New Zealand, England and the USA. 

We prayed this would be a time where our partners met one another (many for the first time), learned from each other, were encouraged in the Lord, and went home inspired to keep serving the Lord in their communities. The Lord answered our prayer. 

It was so encouraging, and inspiring, to listen to every partner share their ministry’s story. From those who have been serving in ministry for 30+ years, to those who have just started in the past 18 months, every story impacted this gathering of believers. 

Running the conference in Bangalore meant I couldn’t visit each of the partners in their own environment and so I am only able to provide a brief update from each of the partnerships.  

S and S, Olivet Hostel – Bhutan border 

S came to the conference but S and the children we not able to as they were quite unwell. They have had typhoid in the family and the hostel children, probably because their water source is not great. This has gone on for several months. 

S reported on the work in Bhutan and in the tea estates on the Indian side of the border. They are seeing constant growth in the faith-based communities on both sides of the border but it’s not easy. There is a lot of poverty as the tea estates are under a great deal of financial pressure. People who relied on the tea estates for employment are losing their jobs and along with the loss of the job is the loss of their house as well. 

He showed photos of the people he is working with, mainly local young people who have become believers and who are now spreading the good news in their own villages. Again, this is on both sides of the border. Their dream is that many of the young people in the hostel will become active faith-based workers as they grow up. 

Prayer Points

1) Pray for the village faith-based communities and the brothers and sisters who are working in these villages 

2) Many women in the area have been abandoned, their husbands go off to find work and don’t come back. Pray for these sisters to stand firm in their faith. They would like to start some sustainable women empowerment programmes in the villages.

3) Pray for the tea garden labourers; many tea gardens have closed and many people have migrated to South India for their livelihood. Some have died of malnutrition. 

4) Pray for a permanent building at the hostel; dormitories, dining hall, kitchen and warden room. Currently there are 17 boys squashed into one room.

5) Pray for a bore well for Olivet boys hostel. They currently get water from a small stream but unfortunately in summer this dries up and in the rainy season the source is wiped out by river water.

Further Update from S and S 24th March 2018

By the grace of God all of the students have done well in their exams. Two of them stood first in their classes and two stood second and third ranked in their classes. Others scored good marks in all their exams. Now we are a little bit free to write a few lines and let you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. Thank you very much and a big thanks to all the Bright Hope World team for your efforts.

On 1st April 2018 we will be completing four years of our Hostel. We started it in the year 2014 and some of the children have accepted the Lord as their personal Savior. They are from other faith backgrounds and now they are ready to take baptism. God willing on the 1st April four students along with some other believers will be baptised. Please pray for them. 

As the rainy season is approaching, we are facing much difficulty in cooking food as the cooking area is leaking everywhere. We are therefore constructing a small kitchen for the hostel.