We apologize for the months of seeming silence here, but want you to know that the mission and work of Bibles for Mideast continues apace. Following is a brief update on some of our boldest and bravest missionaries and their activities. All need prayer to keep going, and in some cases, to stay alive.

As reported a few months ago, our Pastor Ashwin had been hospitalized after a brutal attack by radical Hindus (Hindu festivals always mean trouble for converts from Hinduism: Please pray for Pastor Ashwin in India). After sixteen days in ICU and a week or so in a regular room, he was finally released in mid-May. He thanks all who prayed for his recovery!

Not to be kept down or out—and not that he had anything to prove but God’s goodness and saving grace—our indomitable Pastor Ashwin was soon back in frontline ministry.

In June we got the tremendous report that he and his team had ministered in a small rural village in western India, and the entire village came to faith in Jesus! With your help and prayers we are trying to supply him with the needed Gujarati language bibles for the many new Christians.

Rejoicing unfortunately soon turned to more struggle when the team began feeling sick with what they at first thought was simple stomach flu. Unbeknownst to them, the village they had just spent time ministering in had been in the midst of a cholera outbreak. Their symptoms turned out to be cholera as well, and the pastor and two of his team ended up needing hospitalization. While they were released a week later, by then Pastor Ashwin’s children had also come down with cholera and likewise spent a week in hospital.

Being the prevailing warrior he is, the recent trials have only strengthened Pastor Ashwin’s will and determination. He has returned to ministry with even more spiritual power, proving yet again the amazingness of our ‘upside-down Kingdom’.

Intense monsoon rains across India have caused heavy flooding and landslides in many areas. Nineteen of our Bibles for Mideast families lost their homes but thankfully, managed to escape to the safety of refugee camps. With much prayer, fasting and hard work, church members—including Pastor Paul and his family—rebuilt the homes within two weeks. All the displaced families have now returned to their restored homes.

We have two more urgent prayer requests from this past week. Pastor Subhash, one of our pastors in North India, was brutally attacked by extremists while sharing the gospel with a group of villagers. They then handed him over to the police, who charged him with ‘forcefully converting people to Christianity’. The officers refused to allow him to be taken to hospital for proper treatment. It took Pastor Paul three days (while church members prayed and fasted) to get the police to finally release the pastor, who was then admitted to hospital. He, his family and his church are all poor—please pray for them.

Our Pastor Ram Behadur in Nepal has also suffered a brutal attack and been hospitalized. He had actually been praying for the sick, sharing the gospel and giving away New Testaments in a Nepalese hospital when a group of Hindu militants caught wind of it. Enraged, they grabbed him, dragged him outdoors, tied him to a tree and ruthlessly beat him. When someone let the police know, they fortunately had pity on him and brought him back into the hospital. Please pray for this brave pastor, his church and his family. He is still hospitalized.

Please also keep Pastor Paul, his wife Mercy and myself (Susanna) in your prayers. We all have had some health challenges but know God hears the prayers of faithful friends like you.

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“But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me.”
—2 Cor. 12:9, Berean Study Bible

“I can do all things [which He has called me to do] through Him who strengthens and empowers me [to fulfill His purpose—I am self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency; I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him who infuses me with inner strength and confident peace.]”
—Phil. 4:13, Amplified Bible