Miracles Lead the Way for the Good News Children’s Care Centre
Sep 2, 2015 1917
Some of the children of the Good News Children’s Centre, Nandiwada, India
During our recent trip to India, Duncan and I visited a place where miracles are happening right now – the Good News Children’s Care Centre. We told a Bible story to the children, and we gave them copies of the book “Jesus Only” by Desmond Ford, for their families (although some of the children did not accept the book because their families could not read.) We were impressed that here was a ministry worthy of support.
The Good News Children’s Centre is shown on the right of this photo.
“They were eating rats and snakes…”
But the Good News Children’s Care Centre didn’t just happen. God made it happen.
It all started when Pr Joseph heard that there was a remote village called Nandiwada where there was great poverty. When he visited the village, he found that the people were so poor that some of them caught and cooked rats and snakes in order to survive.
The village people told him that they were worried about their children, because, as Pr Joseph says,
Eliezer and Sandya
the children were not happy and were not going to school and they were disobedient to their families and the elders of the village.
Immediately, Pr Joseph felt compelled to help the children. He hired a one-room building and a yard with his own meager resources, and commenced the Good News Children’s Care Centre.
The village Nandiwada is a strongly Hindu village, and there was only one Christian family in the village. Their daughter, Sandya, had just graduated as a teacher, and when she saw what Pr Joseph was doing, she volunteered to help.
The children holding up the ‘Jesus Only’ books they had just received as a gift from Good News Unlimited. Pr Joseph and Eliezer are at the back.
The children have been learning to pray and sing
Every day Pr Joseph and Sandya gather approximately 30–40 children together for two hours in the morning and three hours in the afternoons/evenings (outside of school hours). There, they feed the children, teach them English and mathematics, and most importantly, teach them the gospel. Pr Joseph says,
The children are very, very happy and they have been learning how to pray, sing and discipline. I have given four Bibles to these children, because that was all I had, and still they need 30 holy Bibles.
A number of the families are now interested in Christianity
Many of the parents stand around outside and listen to Pr Joseph teaching the Bible and the gospel to the children, and a number of families are now interested in Christianity. Pr Joseph is planning to soon start another congregation in this village.
Santa giving the children some snacks. Duncan Wood standing at the back. Note the Hindu parents standing on the right, and listening to the meeting.
Here are the words of Pr Joseph,
There has been a lot of change within a short time in the lives of these children. This has only been accomplished through prayer and the teachings of the holy gospel.
Pr Joseph relates the story of one boy called John,
One boy John, who is from a Hindu family, came and asked me to pray for his mother who has been suffering from stomach pain. Then I prayed for his mother and next day the boy told me that his mother was fine and the stomach pain had gone. I really thank Jesus for the great miracle.
Last week Pr Joseph contacted me and asked me to pray because he was having a meeting in the evening with a man in the village whom he knew had a block of land. Pr Joseph asked me to pray that the man would donate the land for the Good News Children’s Centre. And so I prayed and I put the word out through Facebook so that others would join us in prayer and a miracle might occur.
God has answered our prayers!
The next morning, Pr Joseph contacted me and said, “God has answered our prayers! The man has donated the land!
The man’s name is Narayanna Rao. He went with Pr Joseph before the village elders, and declared that he was giving the land in perpetuity to the Good News Centre, in order to bless the centre and so that it may grow. And then this is what he said to Pr Joseph,
Pr Joseph Usala (L) and Narayanna Rao (R), standing on the land that Narayanna has donated for the Good News Children’s Care Centre.
I am very inspired by the activities of the Good News Children’s Care Center, and that it is giving a good education to the poor children, whose parents are also very, very poor. The care that is shown to the children is wonderful.
Although I am Hindu and even my great, great grandfathers were Hindus, I am so much touched and moved by what the children’s centre does in the name of Jesus.
One day I happened to see the Good News Unlimited TV programme where I heard Pr Joseph preach. I am so happy about his great works that he does for God. Now I am slowly accepting Jesus in my life. So I request you to please pray for me and my family daily.
I am so happy that I have been able to give this land! I pray for this land daily so that it will be blessed and so that the work will grow so that many more children will be given a good life in coming days. Thank God.
These children must become servants of God!
With such clear signs of God’s leading, Pr Joseph has great plans for these children. He says,
My aim is to teach these children to trust in Jesus Christ, and to understand what is the meaning of faith and the power of prayer. In the future these children must become servants of God. They must spread the Good News very fast in all the world.
Now Pr Joseph is praying that God will provide the means to build on this land, and to be able to continue to feed the children once a day. He said to me,
“Now I will start building slowly, as God provides the means.” Pr Joseph is a man of faith. He had no means to start this in the first place. But God had a plan…
– Eliezer Gonzalez and Joseph Usala
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