Ministry Update

Just days after Christmas this year, Harvest India welcomed a team from Rock Harbor church to serve and experience what God is doing in India. One of the focuses of their trip was a three day Vacation Bible School extravaganza! The team tirelessly prepared bible lessons, crafts and memory verses to ensure a wonderful time of learning, hilarity and fun was had by all.

Sally Blotzer, one of the Rock Harbor leaders shares, “this year, I was blessed with the opportunity to return to India, to reunite my feet with the dust that forever changed my life, and my heart with hundreds of familiar smiles, exclaiming “Akka! Akka!” (“Big sister! Big sister!”): a Kingdom moment, a taste of heaven, and an invitation into organized chaos for the next three days. 

My responsibility for VBS was to coordinate the different stations. While doing my rounds during day two of VBS, a little guy, age ten, runs to me, proudly extending a picture of Joseph that he colored for his craft. My journey with Subini began by me extending my hand to him, guiding him to his proper station. Subini grabbed my hand, and asked “Akka, you Rock Harbor VBS leader?” To which I replied with an affirmative smile.

His eyes widened and he exclaimed “Wow!”

From there on he became my partner in making sure everyone else was in line.

We first walked from Bible memory to games, hand in hand we continued to the crafts area, to check on the mayhem occurring. As we were walking, I hear a sweet little voice singing “Jesus is my super hero, he’s my friend…”

When we arrived, I noticed a little boy laying down, separated from the rest of the group. I sat with the boy and asked if he was ill, the temperature of his forehead definitely spoke for itself. Subini quickly came to my rescue to translate. I asked the little boy if he wanted us to pray. After he said yes, I asked Subini if he would like to pray for him. Reluctantly, Subini told me his English was not very good—so I encouraged him to pray in Telugu. He immediately reached his hand out to me, wrapped my Chuni scarf around my head, and laid his hand on his friend, and prayed.

As we go on to check on Bible memory, Subini and I notice another little boy, lying in the back. We walk over and, once again, I invite him to pray for this boy. However, this time, we were joined by about ten other Dalit children—lifting up their brother in prayer.

I cannot tell you the beauty that my ears have been captivated by in listening to those prayers. We read in Proverbs 15:29 that God hears the prayers of the righteous. To imagine the smile on our Heavenly Father’s face as he watched his precious boy lifting up other children simply strips me of all words. What a sacred, sovereign, delightful moment this was—with a lasting impact on my heart.

As I was talking to one of the Harvest India workers, she informed me that Subini, before he was orphaned, was raised by a Muslim father. His mother passed away when he was young, and then he lost his father. Subini’s faith is a living testimony to God’s work at the Harvest India Children’s Home. His love for the Lord shines in his radiant smile, his songs of praise, and his reverence in prayer. I am thankful that through the partnership of Harvest India and Rock Harbor, Subini gets to experience a life based on a foundation of Christ’s love.”

I’m on a visit to Chennai to send off our friend Kallie from 31 Bits. Over the last two and a half weeks we have all been amazed at the ways that the Lord is already up to big things for our anticipated launch of 31 Bits in India. 31 Bits is an organization working with displaced women in Uganda teaching small business training, education and health awareness providing sustainable opportunities empowering women to begin small business that provide for themselves and their families. By creating fashionable jewelry out of recycled bits of paper these five young women have changed the lives of over one hundred women and opened endless doors of opportunity to the next generation of children in Uganda whose parents can now afford to send them to school and get a proper education. We’ve known about each other and partnered in small collaborations through IPP over the years, but last summer we learned that God was up to something new at 31 Bits. The girls were feeling called to India. Over coffee at the Gypsy Den in Costa Mesa, Suresh and I sat down to discuss the opportunities and needs existing in India and invited the girls to visit us and see what the Lord might be leading us in. Weeks later tickets were booked and the trip was scheduled. Time flew and the girls arrived in India on September 13th amped on what they would learn and see through Harvest India’s expansive ministry.

It’s been an amazing time of learning, praying and seeking God’s direction as we’ve shared what God’s been up to at Harvest India and learned more about the phenomenal work being done in Uganda. It quickly became very clear that we were going to working together in India and we turned our prayers and attention to developing a product and sourcing raw materials that would be needed in our venture. Meeting with fabric wholesalers, sari shop owners, metal smiths, hide tanners and artisan hand block printers should have taken months, but in the course of three weeks we accomplished nearly every connection needed to move forward in product development in the US. Praise God!

 We are excited to see the way that God continues to work and move in both 31 Bits and Harvest India. We are moving forward in partnership, trusting that the Lord will continue to provide through what we all hope to be a generous and successful Christmas season. We are proud to announce that 31 Bits is coming to India in 2012!

As Suresh travels to visit friends, church partners and new connections that God has provided to us over this past year we are expectant of the ways God is going to move this summer to continue to grow and expand our abilities to reach the unreached in India. We hope that you will join us to hear the stories, celebrate the life transformations and empower the movement of God’s love reaching the lost. Suresh will be speaking at the following churches across the US on the dates specified below::

Sunday, May 1, 2011 at Revolution Church in Long Beach, CA
Sunday, May 15, 2011 at Grace Fellowship Church in Tehachapi, CA
Sunday, May 22, 2011 at the Garden Church in Long Beach, CA
Saturday June 4, 2011 at Rock Harbor Central in Costa Mesa, CA
Sunday June 5, 2011 at Rock Harbor Central and South Orange County Campuses in CA
Sunday June 12, 2011 at Cornerstone Church in Chandler, AZ
Tuesday June 14, 2011 at Scottsdale First Assembly in Scottsdale, AZ
Sunday June 19, 2011 at The Way Church in Scottsdale, AZ
Sunday June 26, 2011 at Collision Church in Cerritos, CA
Sunday July 3, 2011 at Immanuel Church in Gurnee, IL
Sunday July 17, 2011 at East Leesville Baptist Church in Leesville, LA

He will also be visiting::
Bend, OR May 26-June 1
Scottsdale & Chandler, AZ June 9-21
Atlanta, GA July 9-11
Charlotte, NC July 12
Nashville, TN July 13-14
Dallas, TX July 15-16

This year as the season of our dear Savior’s birth drew near we asked our partners to give one additional gift for Christmas. Through prayer and the multiplied resources that were given, Harvest India blessed thousands of men, women and children by giving clothes, breaking bread, and preaching the Good News.

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. James 1:27

          Our 24 children homes worshiped Jesus and prayed for all of our patners on Christmas Eve.

On Christmas morning, all of the children recieved new uniforms for school.

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We also gathered with our Staff to bless their families and gave clothing to the widows and elderly in each village we ministered to throughout the Christmas Season.
     

THANK YOU! Through your prayers and support we watched many receive Christ’s love and find the true meaning in Christmas.

We have just returned from our pastor and leader conference in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. For the last nine years Harvest India has been growing its presence in Tamil Nadu and we now share the gospel in over 38 villages in this state. Tamil Nadu is a six hour train ride plus ten hours by bus from Tenali. The language is Tamil instead of Telugu where the majority of our ministry is conducted. It’s a foreign land even to us, but the workers are few and the harvest is plenty and we believe that God has a great work to be done in this desperate land. Under the leadership of Pastor Mony and the servants God has called to the ministry, the work in Tamil Nadu is growing; more churches are being planted; the unreached are hearing the Good News and lives are being eternally transformed. It has been a powerful and wonderful four days.

God used Pastor Andy Silva (a partner from New Mexico), Pastor Kevin (a partner from Arizona), and I to train, equip, and encourage these faithful men and women in the work they endeavor for the Glory of God. We are encouraged to see the faithfulness and strength of our pastors and leaders working in Tamil Nadu. We are overjoyed to hear the stories of the harvest that is coming from the laborious years of faithfully planting seed and prayerfully protecting that seed as the Lord grows the believers in this state.

God spoke to our pastors and leaders about the authority they have been given in Christ Jesus. He led us to specifically pray over our younger ministers who are laboring for the Lord; that they would not be hindered in their work and that they would rise up to stand as an example of right living for the next generation. The theme of the conference was “wah” the Tamil word for “come.” We encouraged our pastors to walk in faith and speak out their desires to the Lord; to pray unceasingly for the things they need to effectively run the ministry and to call those things to “wah” in Jesus name. Above all else we gathered to give ourselves to the Word of God and prayer. We also had much time of praise and worship. The spirit of the Lord broke out and we all rejoiced with praise and dancing to honor God for His faithfulness and thank Him for His grace on our lives. We are so thankful for the work the Lord is doing in Tamil Nadu, for the ways He has revealed himself to us over the last few days. He has given us encouragement through His Word and in revelation through the Holy Spirit to continue to run the race. Anyone can begin the job, can start to walk in the Christian life, but to those who faithfully press forward, seeking first the Kingdom and remaining focused on the eternal prize, will be rewarded greatly.

Please continue to pray for the harvest in Tamil Nadu.

Specifically that:

• the 400 plus pastors and leaders in attendance would be strengthened and remain encouraged.
• we would be able to conduct more ministry in Tamil Nadu as the Lord provides resources.
• Pastor Mony and his team would remain focused on the Lord and not be distracted or hindered by the enemies schemes.

Thank you for your faithful prayers and support, glory to God!

The last few days at Harvest India’s main campus in Tenali have been busy and blessed. A few weeks ago we received an unexpected e-mail from a college student involved with one of our partner churches. She is currently studying children’s education while participating in a Semester at Sea program. While in port in Chennai, she wanted to see if it was possible to spend her three day in India experiencing Harvest India, an organization she has heard so much about and partnered with through prayer and child sponsorship. We were thrilled to hear the news and invited her to come and see what the Lord is doing through our ministry.

With a team of four college age students we have had an exciting few days. Bringing in these young men and women who are passionately serving God’s Kingdom is so encouraging to see. Though they could have spent the three days enjoying the more developed Chennai shopping malls, restaurants, and beaches, they chose to come and serve, the children, the ministry and the Kingdom of God.

On the first day of their arrival they taught English at Harvest India’s Public School and on day two they really got their hands dirty and cleaned the construction site of our Tenali church building. By faith we prayed that God will continue to bring the right hands, finances and resources to further the construction so that this project can be completed and many more people can come to know Jesus, gather, worship and praise the Lord. In reward for their hard work and in true Harvest India fashion they were each gifted an authentic Indian outfit. The following day we toured some of our ministry sites to allow each of them to experience the breadth of Harvest India. And that afternoon, they returned to Chennai to re-board their ship and head to their next port. Truly grateful and blessed by their visit, Harvest India is thrilled to be reminded, by these passionate young people who are serving God instead of serving themselves, that God is continuing this great work through the generations, forming young partnerships that will stand in the days to come, and creating catalysts for the faith today!

Thank you, Alex, Mike, Michelle and Leah, for all your hard work and passion these last few days. May God continue to enrich your lives as you seek first His Kingdom. Safe journeys to you and your shipmates during the remainder of your Semester at Sea.

As we prepare for the opening of our second sewing center in partnership with the International Princess Project of Costa Mesa, CA, it has been exciting to see the ways God is already at work in the lives of those He has called to this work of hope and dignity. The new center is located in Peddaparem, which is one of the largest red light cities in the state. There is a darkness in the streets of Peddaparem by day and by night fall the only thing you feel comfortable doing is staying inside. There are few women who roam the streets at night, most are already working, but many pimps pushing prostitution and men looking for deals flood the streets.

We’ve acquired a house in the middle of it all so that we can begin our ministry presence. We visited for the first time last week and as we gathered to pray over the land and buildings God’s goodness and light filled each room. The residential building is a good size, with two bedrooms in the front portion and two more in the rear. Previously a house where prostitution ran rampant, we have commissioned this building for our ongoing staff presence in Paddaparem and the teams who will come from near and far to conduct ministry in this desperate land. The house was previously modified for sex work with secret doors masked to look like closet space and a hidden room in case of police invasion. It weighs heavy on the heart to know that from the outside the street looks similar to most other residential areas in Andhra Pradesh but inside more than half the homes in Peddaparem the lives of women young and old are being destroyed, enslaved to a sin that appears to give no hope of a better life, no sign of change.

Just minutes away from our residential building is the sewing center. The former owner of the house is renting us the building. She too use to be involed in the sex trade industry, but falling on hard times was forced out of the area. We’re praying that Christ will allow us to minister to her as well. She’s made some beautiful upgrades to the doors in the home that are hard-carved pictures of Jesus. When we enter the center their is peace. It’s daytime so the streets have resumed normal business. We meet twelve of the twenty women who are have left or desire to leave the sex trade and we open in prayer, thanking God for the way that he has brought each woman here today. That he has restored hope to these beautiful, cherished women and that he has had a plan, since the begining of time, to prosper these women, to bring each one a hope and a future.

We spend the day explaining what the women will be doing and giving instruction on cutting patterns, sewing, and construction. The women are all excited to get there hands in and have a try so they spend the next hours sewing old fabric, focusing on straight lines and even margins. They seem to picking it up quite well. With much help from the teachers, one pair of punjammies is assembled by the days end. The punjammies are not perfect by any means… but they are beautiful. Their story makes them so and then again that’s what this is all about!

To learn more about the International Princess Project please visit http://www.intlprincess.org/

Dear Friends and Partners,

Greetings and blessings in the name of Jesus! I am following the example of the Apostle Paul as he was always praising God for his friends and partners. I am so thankful to God for your faithful partnership and prayerful support of Harvest India over all the years. Your faithfulness allows our ministry to do many great things for the Kingdom of God in India. Without your financial and prayer support, Harvest India can do nothing. We deeply appreciate your kind hearts and love.

A Challenging Season
Although I have greatly enjoyed my visit with you in the US this Summer, it has been another challenging year in terms of raising funds for the work of Harvest India. Because of the bad economy and loss of jobs, there are so many people who are facing financial problems. I am extremely thankful that we have been able to raise funds for designated purposes such as sponsorships for many orphans and Bible College students, but we are experiencing a challenging season when it comes to our general fund. These are the financial resources that allow us to minister on a daily basis to the poor and needy in India…feeding, clothing, and sharing the good news of God’s love.

At the end of the day, I know the Lord is in control. I have seen the hand of God through the continual growth of the ministry over the years. I am confident that He will never leave us nor forsake us, and He is always faithful to you and to me.

Will You Invest in Harvest India?
As I trust God to fulfill the vision He has placed in our hearts, I am requesting that you passionately pray for our ministry and the entire nation of India. I believe this is a very important time, and we need to look to God for His direction. Our mission is to take the good news of Christ to every unreached village and bless many untouchables, orphaned children, elderly, and desperate people living with HIV and AIDS.

Will you…?

Open your eyes to the tremendous needs?
Ask God how you are to respond to the needs of Harvest India?
Listen to God’s direction and respond generously?

Please consider investing in what God is doing through Harvest India.

Once again, thank you so much for your support and love. We want you to know that all our staff, pastors, children’s homes, and old aged homes pray daily for you to be blessed. Please stay in touch with us, and let us know how we can pray for you.

God Bless,
Suresh Kumar

We are so blessed to have Suresh speaking in California for the next several weeks. The Lord is continuing to use him powerfully as he proclaims the truth and reminds this American Nation of God’s call to missions. Please join us at one of our partner churches.

Speaking Dates and Locations

June 5th: ROCKHARBOR CHURCH, Costa Mesa CA @ 6PM
June 6th: ROCKHARBOR CHURCH, Costa Mesa CA @ 9AM, 11AM, 7PM, & 9PM
ROCKHARBOR CHURCH, South Orange County @ 10AM
June 13th: St. Peters Church, Huntington Beach @ 9AM & 10:45AM
ROCKHARBOR CHURCH, Fullerton @ 7PM & 9PM
June 20th: Revolution Church, Long Beach @ 10AM
June 27th: TBD (please check back soon)
July 4th: Newsong Church, Los Angeles @ 9:30AM & 11:30AM
July 11th: Grace Fellowship, Tehachapi @ 9AM & 10:45AM
July 18th: North Hills Community Church, Rancho Cucamonga 9AM & 10:45AM

Also join us for two evenings of great fellowship as we gather together to pray for Harvest India, celebrate what God is doing in India, and look to the future together:

INFORMED | God’s story in India
When: Tuesday, June 8, 7-9pm
Where: the living room @ ROCKHARBOR
Q&A with Suresh Kumar from Harvest India to discover how the gospel is moving throughout India and how to join the work God has already started.

CULTURED | Experience the beauty of India
When: Monday, June 14, 7-9pm
Where: the box @ ROCKHARBOR
Capture a taste of India… the colorful beauty, its rich, vibrant culture, and the deep heritage of its people

Continue to ask God how you can become a part of the Kingdom work in India. We love you, we are praying for you continuously and we hope to see you.

In His Love,
The Harvest India USA Team

As Harvest India gears up for what promises to be a ministry full summer, it is once again the time we Westerners wait anxiously for all year; Suresh’s annual visit to the USA! We are excited to share that Suresh will be visiting Arizona, California and Oregon this summer. Suresh will be traveling with David, his son, who is now fourteen. Please join us as we continually cover his family and this trip in prayer. Primarily, this trip will focus on connecting and updating our supporters, fund raising for the 2010 ministry year, and establishing new partnerships while sharing the salvation, love and redemption of Christ with everyone we encounter. Here are some of the ways you can join Harvest India:

PRAY for India

• Pray for Suresh, his wife Christina, and their children as they faithfully press on in the Kingdom work of Harvest India.
• Pray for new partnerships to be formed throughout the World in supporting Harvest India.
• Pray for the funding of projects and continued favor from the Lord in the days to come.
• Pray for the HIV/AIDS Hospice which was dedicated at the end of March. We are still waiting for the gas line to be laid this week and then we will be ready to welcome a combined 20 men and women to receive medical care at this “Hope Home.”
• Pray for the ministries: Orphanages, Elderly Homes, Bible Colleges and Pastors, Churches, Villagers in water well areas, Women still in the Red-light District and those who have come out through the Ashraya Project, Leprosy Compassion, Mercy Camps, Outreaches and Food Distribution and reaching the lost in India.

Follow Us

• Online at www.HarvestIndia.org, sign up to receive our quarterly newsletter, and view our blog
• Join us on Facebook (Search: Suresh@harvestindia.org and join our Cause: Harvest India)

Share the Vision? Be a partner

• Sponsor a child, bible college student, or pastor online at HarvestIndia.org
• Invite Suresh to speak at an event or gathering
• Visit Harvest India and come see what God is doing through the ministry

Have a speaking opportunity for Suresh while he’s in your state? Please contact me at john@harvestindia.org for details.

2010 Travel dates:
Arizona – May 16-May 31
California – June 1-July 15
Oregon – July 16-July 26

Thank you all again for your continued prayers and support. We rejoice in the blessing of serving God’s Kingdom in India and to the ends of the earth. We can do nothing apart from God and we truly believe that through your faithful prayers the ministry will do even greater things in the days to come. Continued Blessings, The Harvest India USA Team