Dearest Friends,
Thank You Very Much!
All during the year I received so many beautiful thank you notes. The following is one that I received after I returned from our most recent trip to Nepal. You were so generous in your gifts of beanie babies and toy cars for the Syrian refugee children! As a result of your generosity I was able to take gifts to the Nepali children.
Our director there received a thank you from one of the principals after we left the country. He said that we put smiles on the children’s faces and ignited hope in their hearts. He asked us to come again next year. Please enjoy my friend’s letter!
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Thank you very much for supporting us through your gifts for the Nepalese children. The gift is very beautiful and the children will love them very much for they hardly get such beautiful gifts in their lives because of poverty, unavailability of such things. Most of our children’s parents have problem in their family life (this is a problem in almost all poor villages) and they don’t buy toys for their children. Whatever they earn they spend in drinks, gambling. The only place these kids can have smiles is in the church.
On Christmas, we are planning to invite all the children and their parents of the village where our church is. Many children of this village already come to our church. We have taught them some action songs, bible verses. In front of many kids and parents our church kids will perform action songs and recite memory verse and also do a skit which we are teaching them. We make sure that all our church kids are involved in it. After their program we will distribute the gifts asking all the kids to come to church. Please pray that that program becomes the time for all the audience to hear the gospel. We are planning to give a good meal as well for these poor kids very rarely get good food in their houses.
Thank you once again for helping us and loving our children. May the good Lord bless your sacrifice (I Cor. 15:58).
In the blessed ministry of our Lord Jesus,
Pastor T.R.Baral
Unbelievable!
Everyone would be very quick to tell you that you cannot go into the areas of Nepal where we went and tell Hindu children about Jesus. However we did go and they responded with wonder and joy to the news that Jesus loves them. There are places in the United States where people always tell me that I cannot go and tell those children about Jesus. However nothing is impossible for God. We recently did five shows in one day at a school. Everyone said it couldn’t happen, but it did. The teachers loved it! Twice the children erupted in spontaneous applause when they heard that Jesus loved them and that they could know Him. God can do anything!
We did a show for foster children as part of their Christmas party. These children have mostly been ignored by their parents and treated badly by the system that was established to care for them. They have deep hurts that only Jesus can heal. We were working with a new ministry in Chattooga county called Transition to Home. So many children and even one adult called on Jesus asking Him to rescue them. Praise God!
We did another Christmas outreach for very poor Hispanic children in Alabama. They were meeting in a metal building with no insulation and no heating or cooling system. They had brought it some portable kerosene heaters but they did not work well and the smell was also quite strong. Our friends had been feeding these children and doing a Bible study with them at a local church. However the church kicked them out because they said they had too many children. I would expect that these people will be very upset to arrive in Heaven and find it crowded with so many children. Jesus was very clear about the attitude we are to have about children. When we fail to do the right thing for these little ones we have failed in our mission as Christians. If we love Jesus we will take care of the children.
As usual, the puppet team did a superior job. I am always blessed by the way they love the children and the way they serve Jesus. Drake really loves God’s Word and did such a good job of telling the children how wonderful the Bible is, that we quickly needed to provide 85 Spanish/English Jesus Storybook Bibles. God supplied the funds.
I also had many people in my during this Christmas season. They came to see the Christmas trees, but everyone heard about Jesus and how He is the real gift of Christmas.
One Glorious Year
This has been one glorious year as we have seen more than 80,000 children, teenagers, and adults hear the wonderful story of God’s rescue plan for them. This coming year will be just as glorious! On January 3rd, I will leave for the Syrian border. Throughout the year we will also visit several new countries. If you would like to take part in our adventure of telling children about Jesus’ love for them, you can donate to The Agape Puppets on our website. You can also send a check to 6550 West Armuchee Rd. Summerville, GA 30747 made out to The Agape Puppets.
Thank you so much for your prayers and your generous giving this wonderful year!!
In Jesus,
Linda