Dear brethren in Christ,
I bring greetings from Visakha Valley Bible college to you in the precious name of Lord Jesus Christ our saviour. Hope this message finds you all good. First of all let me thank you all for your prayers, God has been blessing our efforts in this time of growing opposition to the Christianity in India.
It has been a long time since I have written a full length report about the preaching school activity in Visakhapatnam. First of all we are thankful to God for blessing us to run this preaching school.
Jerry Bates Visit:
We had a great visit of brother Jerry Bates, it was good two weeks of work we had. As usual he has done a tremendous job of teaching the Master’s Class students for these two week. While he was here, we were bit concerned about how the government/Intelligence would react, thankfully nobody had showed up at the school checking on them.
Master Classes:
We had more students this time even though a couple of students were absent. We had 13 students who regularly attended classes for these two weeks. It was great time of learning and fellowship. All the students really admire brother Jerry Bates’ patience and his simple way of teaching those students who are not eloquent in English. Most of the students had turned in their due work, this inspired rest of the students start working on their assignments as well.
About the Van our Gospel Chariot:
Attached are some pictures showing the Van and how it is being used. Recently when Jerry stayed with us, our van was the mode of transport. We have brother Nageswara rao who is a recent graduate is helping to drive this van to transport students to attend gospel meetings and bible classes in the city area. It is a greatest blessing to the School. We thank the elders and mission committee at Lake Houston for helping us to purchase this van, we admire brother JY Brown for encouraging the congregation to provide for this need.
Trade Education:
This new trend of Preacher Training we implemented first time at our school. We have discussed about it earlier after seeing the possibility and adjustment of time and other things we finally have decided to provide some time for the students to learn a trade. Our students have started learning Tailoring as part of the Trade Education. This program has brought a new spirit of learning in our students; for four days in a week, one hour each day the tailoring instructor would come and teach a theory class, followed by a practical class.
Also we found one of our graduate who is capable of teaching basic computer education to our students, with that he is able to help our students to teach how to use computer and make a word document.
Need:
Mega phones are a big time need for preaching in rural areas and also motor cycles, we pray that that our Lord provides this need to help our graduates who working in very remote areas where there is bus facility. Kindly pray that our Lord provides.
We are need of more books, if you find anybody those who are interested to share their books with us, we would be glad to have them. We are thankful to all those who donated their books, they have been a great help for the Masters Class students. Our students have been learning to do more research, certainly it is an accomplishment, hoping that it would continue and reach the highest point of making it as a habit.
Gratitude:
We always thank God for giving such a kind heart to the brethren who are behind this preaching school. Strickland church of Christ for overseeing the work and Lake Houston church for considering to help regularly to run this preacher training school. We appreciate your kind support also for your prayers. We hope and pray that our supporting churches would continue to support our mission spot for the years to come.
From all of us at Visakha Valley Please convey our greetings to your families and Church families as well. We pray for you daily..!!
In Christ,
Samuel Raju Muppidi, Director
John Dean M, Dean
Visakha Valley Bible College