Evangelists and Tsunami

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Tsunami Update from Bishop Ezra Sargunam

Tsunami Update:

 

Loving greetings in Jesus wonderful name. The Lord continues to be so

good to us here in the mission field. Every day there are new

challenges and opportunities. In one of the fishing villages near

Nagapattinam, we had this opening in a village of 1700 families

completely wiped out. Since this village was completely untouched by

the relief agencies, we moved in there. We began our operation but

soon one of the Hindu militant groups also landed there and said they

wanted to adopt that village. So our team approached the District

Collector (County Chief), who told the ECI Relief Team as well as the

other Hindu group that we could divide and use half of the village,

while the other Hindu group can take the other half. The ECI team got

in touch with me in Chennai. Knowing fully well that this will not

work, I told our men to withdraw from the negotiation table, since I

knew that this would defeat our purpose. Besides in this area, the

Government authorities do not allow us to provide tarpaulin tents.

Only those relief agencies that are in a position to provide semi-

permanent houses, which costs around $250, are allowed to carry out

their operation. Since we were not quite ready with the necessary

funds, we could not comply with these conditions. But there are

number of other places where we can continue to rehabilitate the

Tsunami-hit victims and get back here later.

 

OUR RELIEF OPERATION IS WHOLISTIC

If we are not able to take care of the temporal and spiritual needs

for the people, we do not want to be a party to any such arrangement.

To many Christian groups who are involved in relief operation this is

not a problem. But we strictly have a specific approach. We also

realize that not in every occasion we may be able to articulate and

share the Word. Our teams are told to use caution as we counsel the

Tsunami victims. Sometimes our actions speak for themselves. On the

whole, in our effort to relieve the physical sufferings, we do earn

our right to share with them about the love of Christ.

 

We told in the previous letter about a 60-year-old lady named Lakshmi

who miraculously survived after an electric post fell on her back and

crushed her on Dec 26th 2004. Our evangelists prayed for her and made

arrangements to admit her in the hospital. Thank God that she has not

damaged her spinal cord though she had injured her back very badly.

At the hospital our believers are visiting her and are praying with

her. Lakshmi has been treated well and receives healing. She has been

able to sit up, put her legs down and slowly walk. She prayed to

receive Christ. Praise God. Please pray for her and daughters for

their salvation.

 

I had gone to Andaman Islands with Dr. J.L. Williams of NDI and

party. In the Andaman Islands, the Car Nicobar Island was the worst

hit since it was so close to the epicentre in Indonesia. Due to

earthquake and Tsunami waves, the entire Island is destroyed. With

the total population of 50,000, it is believed that only 30-40

thousand is survivors. The survivor victims are picked by the

helicopter and through boats brought to the Andaman Islands. They

have been put in rehabilitation camps. We visited one of them where

near by 12,00 are taken care of. 90% of the Nicobar population is

Christian. They are one of the aboriginal tribes of the island.

 

A SECTION OF THE NICOBARI REFUGEES WHO ARE LISTENING TO GOD'S WORD

In Andaman and Nicobar Islands, there are 10 ECI Churches and 3

preaching points. Our believers who are mostly employed in the

Nicobar Islands have suffered a great deal. They have lost their

homes, educational credentials, and money and just about everything.

They have gone through untold suffering. They were wandering in the

Island for more than 3 days, sometimes chased by wild animals and

crocodiles until the helicopters picked them. At a special prayer

meeting held in the Andaman Island at the ECI Faith Cathedral,

several hundreds attended. Some of the Christian victims shared about

their miraculous escape.

 

Thank god none of the ECI believers died. Totally about 12,000

Andaman Nicobari tribal Christians died. A newly married couple were

clinging to each other thinking that their death was imminent and

when they die they want to die together until they were picked by the

helicopter and brought to safety to Andaman Islands. The woman had a

miscarriage after coming to Port Blair. They never wanted to return

back. About 20 ECI families from Port Blair have returned back to the

main land on a voyage by the sea or by air. Nagarajan, his wife and

children are one such family. Through funds made available especially

through OMS, we were able to feed number of families. The earth shook

almost every other hour though we did not face any kind of experience

till we were there. About 5 of the ECI families' house were either

destroyed or partially damaged. We plan to build some of the houses.

 

NEXT PHASE OF RELIEF OPERATION

 

Tomorrow we will report about our next phase of operation in

providing fishing boats for $3,000 or build permanent houses for

$1500 or semi-permanent houses for $250. Also we have planned to

provide metal trunks with lockers to store things for $50 and to

provide two weeks of ration for $20 per family for hundreds of

victims we serve. Hopefully by that time the fishermen will be back

into the sea for fishing and things will be somewhat normal. We

greatly appreciate you all for your continued prayers and supports in

this crisis.

 

Cordially in Christ,

M. Ezra Sargunam

 

 

Click here to read a Adobe PDF update on Tsunami Relief in India

 

ECI - Tsunami Relief Today

January 5, 2005

 

SIMON PETER FISHING CORP LAUNCHED! 1300 FAMILIES RECEIVED RELIEF

MATERIALS!!

 

Dear Partners,

 

The rough and the unruly tsunami sea is now quite, calm and serene.

The dead are buried. The victims are still on the streets or

rehabilitated in schools or public buildings or under the shadow of

tarpaulin sheds ECI provided. It is estimated over 10,000 people have

lost their lives in Tamilnadu state of India. At least 5,000 others

or more either dead or lost in the Andaman island (Nicobar).

 

We continue to carry out the relief operation among the victims in

eleven centers of the East Coast of the Bay of Bengal. About nine

hundred families were fed continuously for five days.

 

We are at the second stage of our operation in providing relief

materials and tents. We have so far covered about 2,700 families of

victims including 1,300 families who received help just today alone.

We want to reach 8,000 more families. The distribution was carried

out at the ground floor of the ECI Church of the New Direction,

Ernavoor. Victims from four different affected areas were brought to

the church premises. Dr. J.L. Williams of the New Directions, mission

Pastor of the Providence Church George Tissiere, both our strong

partners, launched this project. There was literally a riot as people

were trying to grab their plastic bucket full of clothings, rice,

utensils, etc. Before the project was launched all the people

assembled in the church, were prayed for and were comforted.

 

ECI's most interesting relief action of the day was the launching of

the Simon Peter Fishing Corporation. The first two boats of the ECI

project had gone to one middle aged man Palanisamy and another young

man Paul Raj. Both belong to the same Ernavoor ECI Church of the New

Direction. Thank God the houses of the both the families were spared

because of the rock fortress built by the government just couple

years ago to prevent erosion by the heavy sea waves. However both of

them have lost their boats along with several hundreds in this region

especially Palanisamy's boat was very expensive. There was no trace

of the boat anywhere.

 

The condition of both families is pathetic. Palani, whom you see in

the picture between George and Dr. J.L. has five daughters and only

last born son. There is a saying in Tamil language that even a king

with five daughters would become pauper! Palani was not a king. He

had a boat and would be out in the sea for days together and his

fishing errand. The entire family became Christian a few years ago

from Hindu faith. Palani is only a "half Christian". Though he

attends the Church but never been baptized. He expressed his desire

to be baptized soon. He was really struggling to build his family.

Palani borrowed a lot of money from the bank and bought an expensive

boat which got lost in the ocean on December 26th never to be found.

He is yet to pay back the huge sums of loan to the bank. Has been

struggling tremendously with the large number of female members in

the family. The boat provided today is going to be of immense help.

 

Paulraj comes from 150 miles Southeast of Chennai near Kadalur.

Though there was no loss of life back in his own village he has lost

his home, boat and everything. He came only recently to live with his

father-in-law's family. His father-in-law and his son died few years

ago. His mother-in-law is a very prayerful lady and has a cell group

in their home of the ECI Ernavoor church. This new boat provided is a

boat of life for this fisher family. Now no one can ridicule either

Palanaisami or Paul Raj's family.

 

I hope to share more human-interest stories and statement of account

from our finance department by my next letter. Again we are grateful

for your valuable support. God has turned around this disaster to a

time of witness in drawing people to Him. The key is your partnership

and the joint-venture here. Feel free to use the story for promotion

and to God's glory. Later on we may assign certain fishing villages

to our various partners like OMS, NDI, SP, etc. as we follow-up and

plant churches.

 

Again we do appreciate your partnership, concern, prayers and support.

Cordially in Christ,

M. EZRA SARGUNAM

Bishop

 

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