Right Hand Ministries
RHM: PO Box 12385 Oklahoma City, OK 73157 rhmhope1@gmail.com
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A Garland Instead of Ashes
November Update
Dear RHM Friends,
Greetings, always in the Precious Name of our Lord JESUS.
"The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives...to grant those who mourn
in Zion, giving them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning..." Isaiah 61:1-3
THIS is the ministry of our Lord JESUS, not only while here on earth, but today also through His Body, we the Church. We are so thankful that He would deliver us from our corruption, then give us HIS desires to do HIS work. If we read the entire 3 Verses, we can see the fear of the Lord, preaching freedom from sin and the kingdom of GOD. But it's obvious that the main focus of His ministry is deliverance, comforting, healing. Pray for us, as we want this ministry to be fully carried out with the minstry to the widows, elderly and children.
Some fairly big issues: 1. We need wisdom about how to inspire more people to open these emails, and to go to our RHM website Blog to get more regular info about the ministry. When sending out the October Update, only 16% of our mailing list opened the email, with about 2% actually clicking onto any links. Some people seem to think that Facebook exposure is the key to success, but that has not at all been the case in our experience. And because of a poor internet signal here, loading our Facebook page is a painfully slow process for me. I'm not a techy guy, nor skilled in marketing techniques; just trusting in our Father to touch hearts to join us in this precious ministry.
2. Sadly, our donation page has continued to be a headache for some of our donors. So thankful for those who have weathered the storm, eventually making a donation. We're in the process of changing over to a new donation page. Unfortuanately, we may have to ask our donors to participate in the process of getting their recurring donations set up again. Sorry for the inconvenience, but we're hopeful that in the end we will have a more functional donation page which everyone is able to easily understand and use.
3. We continue to struggle to get funds here to do the ministry, except at HOPE. I can't disclose all the reasons for this, but pray that the Lord will help us to establish dependable ways to get funds here. If any of you are willing to come here and visit, we would like you to bring funds with you, which helps us a lot.
CHRISTMAS is right around the corner. Please pray about joining us in our Christmas Project this year, which would benefit some elderly, but mostly the children of the 2 girls homes and the HOPE boys home, as well as the HOPE School and village ministry children. I cannot say how much we need offhand, but would guess $3-4,000 more.
Pray for Brother Wesley and I as we plan to leave on Monday for Kolkata (perhaps better known as Calcutta, but the name has changed). There's a brother doing ministry there in the slums, and it's been in our heart to go check it out. Especially we're thinking about helping some of the widows in this slum area. Should be back by sometime on Friday.
Scroll down to see some great photos with captions, filling you in on some of what's happening in ministry here. And check out the BLOG, bookmarking it so you can see what's happening here on a more regular basis. Bless you.
Brother Dan
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ABOVE: A "prayer house" (church) in the village of Jampalavaripalem. Thankful the Lord has connected us with short and easy to pronounce town & village names! In this village there are two different colonies for those of 2 different castes. Yes, the caste system is still very strong, and controls much of what people do here. Both colonies have widows or elderly we are assisting, and they all gather in this prayer house when we meet with them a couple of times a month.
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ABOVE: These are widows/elderly in Thunagunta. This time Brother Wesley and I were there only to share the Word of GOD. For the most part, they seem to be very needy and weak people.
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ABOVE: Yosebu (Joseph) at his home in Kothapeta. He's about 75, has eye and leg problems, unable to work. His wife is still able to work some. They have one son who is working in a city as a daily laborer, but so far hasn't sent money to help them. The son probably also is poor. Because Yosebu is affiliated with a different political party, the ruling party is not giving him the government pension for the elderly.
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ABOVE: Brother Wesley playing the drum while the elderly (9 widows and one woman whose husband abandoned her) in Jampalavaripalem, the same church as the first photo.
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ABOVE: Brother Wesley and the pastor of the church walking in Cheemalapenta, where we assist 4 women (3 widows and one woman whose husband is alive, but he can't work). No, this is not the church, but the main Hindu temple in this village.
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ABOVE: This is Narayanamma at her house in the village of Thunagunta. She's about 80, her husband dying around 2006. Stays with a son, who helps her some as a daily laborer. She's been coming to the church for one year or so, mostly seeking the Lord because of her many health problems: allergies, breathing problem (asthma?), poor eyesight. Pray for her.
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ABOVE: I'm on Brother Wesley's motorcycle. This is common everyday we travel to the different towns and villages for ministry. Although sometimes difficult to determine the difference between a sheep and a goat (spiritually also), I was told these are sheep. Up ahead are water buffalo also crossing the road. Needless to say, the roads are not very clean.
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ABOVE: Brother Prasanth looking at the medicines of Kamalamma in the village church at Paliboinavaripalem. She's actually from a nearby village called Thulasi Nagar. She's in her 70's, her husband dying more than 30 years ago. She stays with her only son, a drunkard. Even he is not supporting his own wife and children properly, so Kamalamma is considered an extra burden to him. She came to Christ JESUS about the time her husband died many years ago.
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ABOVE: Precious HOPE girls Yamuna (left), Keerthana and Sravani, doing one of their favorite activities: SHOPPING! If someone will take them to the "bazaar" to get a gift, drinks and snacks, it lights up their world and gives them much to talk about for a while.
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ABOVE: Perhaps a little scary for some of the HOPE girls, but the last time we went to the beach (Bay of Bengal), a policeman came and gave very strict instructions not to go deep in the waters. Apparently it is a normal thing that careless or unknowledgeable people are dying, as probably many hundreds, and sometimes thousands, go to this beach daily about 6 miles from HOPE. Sister Buelah and I were happy for his warnings, helping the children to understand that there really is a danger.
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ABOVE: HOPE girl Mary (13, left) leading Sunday School in the village of Devuni Manyam one Sunday night. Here the DM village children are singing: Divya (left), Hepsiba, Sandhya and the little girl (don't remember her name).
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ABOVE: Girls home children giving birthday wishes to Suvasmitha (to the left of the brother who runs the home). This is in the area which we label as "Helping Persecuted Christians".
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ABOVE: Sibani (left, maybe 15 years old) with Suvasmitha. Don't know if you remember, but this Suvasmitha (then she was called Arpa) almost died of malaria a couple of years ago. The doctors also did not have much hope for her. But the Lord had a testimony in His mind to place within Suvasmitha's life.
"I will not die, but live, and tell of the works of the Lord." Psalms 118:17
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ABOVE: Pastors meeting, girls home children also attending, in this area we consider more volatile to our Christian faith.
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ABOVE: A pastor leading praises with widows in an area far north of HOPE.
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ABOVE: Girls home girls doing a dance. They love to dance! Pray for the last girl in the red, Priyanka, maybe 11 years old, who fell a few days ago and fractured her arm.
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"Whatever you do, do all things to the glory of GOD." 1 Corinthians 10:31 |
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