The Miracle of Nandiwada Continues
Sep 7, 2015 1589
Some of the Hindu men from the community who came together to start the building of the Good News Children’s Care Centre. Pr Joseph is in the striped shirt the left of the middle.
A Hindu man has miraculously donated land in the village of so-called “untouchables” in Nandiwada, Andhra Pradesh for the building of the Good News Children’s Care Centre. Within a few days, Pr Joseph was ready to make a start on building. First, the land had to be cleared and leveled. But I will let Pr Joseph tell us in his own words,
“There are 200 families in the S.T. backward Class Colony, Nandiwada, Andhra Pradesh, India. From the time of their great, great grandfathers no one in this colony has education, so those families who live there now don’t have any education either. Even until today, they do not have culture.
Working on the land. The mason, who will supervise the building of the mud-brick structure, is on the right of the picture, in white.
The people in this colony catch rats, fish, snakes and other animals like those in order to survive. They have to do this because they don’t have money to buy proper food. They don’t know how to cook properly either. Their life is always a struggle and they families work very hard to try to feed their children.
The Holy Spirit of God led me to do something for the children in this place so that they could have a better future. On 12 July 2015 I rented a house in this colony and have started the Good News Children’s Care Center. This has brought hope to the families here, and happiness to the children.
One man even brought a truck!
At the Good News Children’s Care Centre, I teach the children to pray, we read the Bible, we give them education in basic subjects, and we give them food every day, as well as pens, books, and bags. The families see what we are doing and they are full of happiness. They said, “We have never seen anything like this before, in the way that you serve us in the name of your God Jesus Christ.””
When the Hindu man donated the land to the Good News Children’s Centre, I went to the parents of the children and I asked them to each please work for three days, preparing the land and bringing the mud to the land. This is because the building will be made from mud bricks, and the mud is very far away. The building must be made now during the rainy season because now there is mud.
Gathering mud by hand for the mud bricks.
These families, who are all Hindu, were all very happy to help. One man said to me,
“We are very, very happy to help you for three days. It is great privilege and honor for us to help you in this way. By helping you like this it is only a little thing that we can do, since you have been helping our children in many ways.”
Another man said,
“You know our families’ situation and how we live. Please pray for us in your daily prayers to your God Jesus Christ.
One Hindu man in the village even brought a truck to carry the mud!
After the three days of working, the men and women said to me,
“This is the first time we have ever done anything like this together as a community before. Although we are Hindus and do not know about Jesus Christ until now, but we have helped Jesus Christ for three days.
Now we are very much interested to know about Jesus Christ in the coming days so that we can change the situations of our lives.
Thank you for giving us the great opportunity to help you in this work. Our great, great grandfathers all died without knowing about Jesus but now our families and our children will come to know about Jesus through this Good News Children’s Care Center.
We have been living like this until now because we are the untouchables in society. But you have brought honour and shown respect to us and our children in the name of Jesus Christ.”
And so, the miracle of Nandiwada continues…
We praise God for what he does for the rejected and the forsaken in our world. We thank you also, because it is through your prayers and support that Good News Unlimited can bring the share the good news of Jesus Christ so that people and their communities may be transformed through the grace of God.
– Eliezer Gonzalez and Joseph Usala
Leave a Reply