In Service of the Most High Ronnie, Haritha & Fiona Gootam

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1 In Service of the Most High Ronnie, Haritha & Fiona Gootam Newsletter February 2019 Contact Info: Ronnie Gootam P.O. Box 80 Kakinada, AP India Lads 2 Leaders India I am reminded of a memory verse from my days at MSOP from the book of Proverbs, (Pro 22:6) Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. This verse is very appropriate to be called as a motive behind the reason to bring Lads 2 Leaders to India. Phone: USA(H): USA(M): India(H): India(M): ronnie.gootam@gmail.com Find us on the web: Many congregations that have programs designed to have their young ones participate such programs have given a feedback that the local congregation has been benefitted by this program. My brother Ricky Gootam who is also the director for the children home we operate here in Kakinada is a genuine lover of children and looks for ways to encourage them and provide for them both of spiritual needs as well as physical needs. Overseeing Congregation: Hickory Grove Church of Christ 1131 Hickory Grove Rd, Almo, KY Contact Info: Larry Wyatt: (270) Marlin Pierce: (270)

2 The directors of the Lads 2 Leaders program have worked with him over the past 3-4 years in order to bring this to India. The first edition of this program is such a huge success beyond our imagination. May the Lord have all the glory through the labors of His servants. The program was conducted here in Kakinada on the 7 th and 8 th of January The program included not just the children but also the accompanying adults encouraging them to take the lead and present their talents. We started off with a word of prayer from my father Bro. Joshua Gootam. Later, I was asked to preach for 45 minutes (with a two minute notice) to edify the children as well as the adults with the Word of God. I preached from Psa. 119: After all the participating children have arrived their events got started in various rooms in the church building. There was a quiz competition where all the children that attended were divided into groups according to their local village/town they have come and their preacher was allowed to give them the answers but only a child is allowed to answer. A child is reciting from memory the scriptures he had memorized.

3 Over the years many faithful brethren have placed membership at Satyavani and got so much moved by the messages delivered that they wish to build a congregation near to their home and preach the gospel to their neighbors. So far at least 15 such congregations have been started by the former members of Satyavani Congregation. Brother Prabhakar and Sister Suvartha are such great workers for the Lord here in Kakinada. He serves as one of the elders to the congregation as well. They are currently in the process of constructing a church building near to their home. Currently about 8 families worship the Lord every Sunday afternoon in that location, where the building is still under construction. Sister Suvartha helped compile questions and as well as conduct the quiz competition during the Lads 2 Leaders. She is the Head Master in one of the govt. schools. Quiz Time After the quiz was successfully conducted, the girls were given a chance to prove their ability to lead singing (among women). It is customary in India to have more than one song leader for song leading especially during gospel meetings and lectureships and even ladies classes. The boys had their chance after that. Girls Singing Boys Singing Bro. Kiran is a good example to any youngster wherever they are in the world. He was a young Christian when he placed his membership with our local congregation many years ago. Later he had the opportunity to go to Texas and enroll in a pilot training school. While he was there he was active in the church there. Believe it or not, he taught the gospel to AMERICANS in USA and those he baptized have started a small congregation somewhere in Texas. We need many youngsters like our Brother Kiran to take interest in the Lord s Work. We need to Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest. (Matt. 9:38). We need to remember that, The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. (Jas. 5:16b).

4 Bro. Kiran (working as a pilot) We have asked our Bro. Kiran to give gifts to the attendees and he obliged to do so. He was a gracious guest. Gifts to the attendees Some of the attendees wanted to learn more about the bible. We were able to sign them up to the Basic Bible Course. Bro. Kiran took a course for himself. A grooming leader for His church in the future. May the Lord use him to expand His kingdom. He is currently working as a pilot in one of the leading airlines in India. New signups for the Bible Correspondence Course The success of the L2L event in Kakinada would not have happened if it was not for the dedicated children of our children home that helped in many ways to take care of those that were coming from outside of town and would need a place to stay and be comfortable. We currently have about 70 children in the children home and many people are hoping to send their children (orphans) to us for their physical welfare and spiritual welfare. We are constantly praying that the Lord will open doors for us to try to start another children home through us in a different location. Lord Willing, it will be a reality sooner than later.

5 Children Home children that helped We also had drawing competition among the attendees. We have given them a choice to think of any biblical event and put that in a drawing and submit to the judges for a prize. I was asked to judge and it was a tough one. All the children poured their hearts out. I could not decide how to break a tie between two well-chosen and well- drawn drawing. So I didn t. It was tie between creation and crucifixion. Youngsters were also given the opportunity to preach the word of God. They did a wonderful job preaching from the scriptures. A preacher in the making The highlight of the event is a young man from a nearby village congregation who traveled for a few hours to come to the location and recite from memory about 430 verses in Telugu. Many of you might be thinking he did an exceptional job memorizing 430 verses and must be happy reciting them but he was not. He said, I

6 memorized 800 verses and I feel sad that I only recited 430 of them. He was awarded a laptop for his effort and his father could not have been more proud for his son but our young brother in Christ still went home upset because he did not glorify God fully. His father later called us and told us that on his way back he recited all the 800 verses he memorized. A college student (blue shirt) recited 430 verses from memory (his proud parent accompanied him) All the attendees to the event with the Gootam Family About 500 children from 20 villages attended the first ever Lads 2 Leaders in India. The Christian Chronicle, a paper of the brotherhood in USA has published an article in the February 2019 issue. Please make sure you get an issue of the article.

7 A New Mission The success of the L2L in Kakinada prompted me to think to nurture the children in the children home to go beyond in their learning than they have gone before. I have taken it upon myself to train them in memorizing scriptures. I have taken the permission of the Elders to appoint me as their tutor with a purpose to memorize both Psalms and Proverbs a total of about 3400 verses in one year time. At first the elders were skeptical but we soon learnt not to underestimate the learning ability of a child when it comes to memorizing scriptures. My new found goal was put forth in front of the children home children and the congregation. We started on the journey the last Sunday of January I expected only a few to show up but as you can see in the picture a lot more showed up to learn and memorize the two books of the Old Testament. I have asked them to memorize 4 verses per day and told them while we were in MSOP, if we are on schedule for that day s work we were late. They got on the idea. One of the boys Ramesh (seen in the picture wearing yellow shirt) is in the 9 th grade. He lost his father 4 years ago. His mother struggles to take care of him. He initially said I cannot do anything in life. But when I started tutoring him, he memorized 50 verses in one week and on his way to memorize 100 verses. He wanted me to tell his mom that he is doing something wonderful and make his mom proud. I did. When she received my call she was terrified thinking Ramesh did something wrong, but when I said he memorized so far 86 verses and promised to recite 100 by Sunday morning she was thrilled. She cried and said, please guide him to be a good man in the Lord. Ramesh heard it and was in tears. He told me his father s death was a sudden blow to his family. He wanted to do something and make his mom proud. But very young to do anything. He wants to be the guy winning the first prize in memory work next year and make her proud. He does not have a personal copy of a bible as yet. He says he can t afford it. So he borrows from another child in the children home and studies in it. He was able to recite from memory about 12 Psalms. There are many such Rameshs in our children home. Lord Willing, the Lads 2 Leaders program is going to change their knowledge of scriptures and increase their faith in the Lord and make them to be great warriors for the Lord in the future. I pray that my personal supporters to consider supporting this cause here in India in our children home. Visiting Nearby Villages If you are Gootam there will not a month that goes by where you are not invited to preach in the villages. A preacher who serves the Lord in a small village has invited us to celebrate with him, tenth birthday of his only son. This was right after we had a tiring two days of Lads 2 Leaders. But I was reminded of Paul saying to

8 Romans, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! (Rom. 10:15) and my commitment to the Lord Here Am I send me. We went the next day. Preaching in a village meeting With the Birthday boy Selfie time with the village children Fiona s hospital stay Fiona had been hospitalized for a couple of days for an infection in her lungs. She had been nebulized 31 times during her short stay of 48 hours. The nurses and doctors were very graceful towards us and took care of her during that time. We sought prayers from the church and the fervent prayers of the righteous have been heard by the Lord. She is doing fine now. Arrival of the first shipment of the bibles for the year After the event L2L was successfully wrapped up, we got a call from the local shipping and Delivery Company about the load of boxes of bibles that have arrived to be delivered at the church building. They were confirming if anyone over 18 will be present at the location to receive the bibles. This happened during Fiona s hospital stay. These bibles were sent to us by the Bible society on credit. There has been a 10% increase in the cost of the bibles as well as freight charges. We have never paid such high bill for the shipment of the bibles. About 2,000 bibles have arrived. The total cost of bibles was Rs. 4,60,000 (approx. $6,500) and the shipment cost was Rs. 64,128 (approx. $950). As the bibles were sent on credit we are obliged to pay the Bible Society of India the total amount ASAP. The invoice and shipment bills are in the pictures below for the consideration of the supporters to help us pay off this bill. A special thanks to the Elders at East Hill Church of Christ Pulaski, TN to have approved to help us $3,500 towards the purchase of these bibles. We appreciate their thoughtfulness of our needs and the promptness with which they have thought of helping us. They promised to disperse the funds soon to Hickory Grove Church of Christ. I am happy to report that about 50% of the bibles that arrived for the first time this year have already been dispersed these few days to the graduates of the Bible Correspondence Course. Many are coming to our office to pick up their gift upon completion of the course. We have enrolled 1,000 people per week through 2018 and sent at least 135,000 courses through the year. Also we mailed about 10,000 Bibles to that many people that have completed the Basic Bible course with us either in Telugu or Oriya languages. Some 270 People are reported to have obeyed the gospel in various villages and towns that we have not had a chance to visit. We baptized one young lady on the 31 st December after church service. There are a lot more people obeying the gospel but not every congregation reports that news back to us.

9 Arrival of the Bibles About 35 Boxes of Bibles Bibles Invoice Delivery (Freight) Bill Baptism of a precious soul in Kakinada Baptism of bible course graduate in a remote village A Special Thank You A few months ago, I have request help for mom s surgery bill of $12,122 needed to be paid and Hickory Grove elders have agreed to collect the funds on our behalf. We thank you so much all those that opened their wallets and contributed for the cause. The bill has been paid in full and we are debt free from her surgery. Mom continues to do well from those ailments she had before the surgery. Your generosity was overwhelming and we have raised more money that was required. The clinic returned some of the funds as well to Hickory Grove Church of Christ. I have already asked some of the donors if they be willing to have the funds that were raised in excess be used for her regular medical procedures, medicines and other health related issues. Thank you so much those that have responded with affirmative. If you have donated to Hickory Grove for the medical expenses of mom please let them know if you are OK for those funds be used here in India for her ongoing medical needs and expenses please let them know.

10 What are our current needs? A. Since prayer support is so important to the success of this mission, please pray for us fervently. We are constantly reminded as written by James, The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. (Jas. 5:16b). 1. Fiona had been sick for a few days and had to be hospitalized. Please pray that she will be of good health continuously. 2. Please pray for our continuous smooth running of our ministry. The government of India is making up laws to try to stop mission works in India run smoothly. B. Sufficient funds are required for us and for the Lord s work. 1. We are about 40% short of monthly budget for the intended mission work. 2. We are seeking monthly commitment from individuals and congregations that are serious on spreading the gospel to the whole world. C. Need for Bibles. 1. There has been a 10% increase in the cost of the bibles from January a. Souls that are edified and are saved due to our efforts require bibles to continue their growth in the Lord. b. Each month an average of 1,000 bibles are mailed/given away each month for free. 2. Currently there is a burden to pay $7500 (approx.) for the purchase of the bibles. a. We already have $3,500 promised by East Hill Church of Christ, Pulaski TN. b. We are in need for another $4,000 to pay off the purchase of the bibles. 3. Please help us meet the demand for a soul that would ask for a bible. D. Outstanding expenses from PTP and L2L. 1. I have reported earlier that we are about $8000 short for the expenses incurred for PTP in December, a. No funds were received so far to pay off the dues. b. The elders that oversee the PTP have asked us to raise our funds for the event. 2. The recently concluded Lads 2 Leaders has an outstanding bill of $3,000. a. Please encourage your congregations to be a part of our Lads 2 Leaders ministry here in India. b. We had over 500 children from 20 villages attend the first ever Lads 2 Leaders here in India. How can you help? A. If you know of any good congregations or faithful Christians that have a heart to give for His work please recommend our works to them. B. Please send your regular contributions to our overseeing congregation and make a note saying, India Mission Work Ronnie Gootam. C. Plan a visit to Kakinada, India to do mission work with us. God Bless You All.