Greetings From India

Pastors and friends,

These past few months have been busy ones. It is hard to believe that our family celebrated our first year in India. It has been a year of challenges, culture shocks and learning curves. But all in all God has blessed us and it has been a great year.

In July we had visitors from Thailand. Our directors Peter and Sandra McIntosh visited with us. Peter and Prasad traveled to Nagpur to take part in meetings discussing the future plans of the PAOI in India.

While Prasad and Peter were away, Sandra and Ashton spent time with us in our home. They were able to visit all of our churches and meet our orphanage children. After retuning from Nagpur, both Peter and Sandra spoke in the village of Singaperman Koill, better known as the 'roof top church' for now.

We want to thank the McIntosh’s for buying shoes for all of the orphanage children and for deciding to sponsor one of the children.

Also in July we baptized three new converts from our church plant in Singaperman Koil.

Recently we successfully built our first temporary church building in the village of Nelambakum. After a lot of threats and harassment the church has been built. There is still controversy over the church; some villagers believe that if we build a church the spirits that inhabit the area will leave. Still we press forward and are holding weekly prayer meetings there.

On August 15th (Independence Day in India) we held special meeting where over 300 people attended. Also in August, two of our churches held there annual three day conventions. The meetings were held in the villages of Kollapakam and Kavanoor both meetings had very good attendance.

The months of September and October were very busy. We had special guests with us from Canada. Carl Verhulst came to be with us and spent four days teaching the book Revelation. Daily we had approximately 35 to 40 local pastors and there spouses attending. The next week he spoke in several different prayer meetings and churches.

Carl also brought with him a suit case of clothes and toys from Canada on behalf of WM and Helping Hands Ministries. Passing these things out to the children in the orphanage was a great blessing for us. The children were so excited to get the new clothes, toys, candy and books.

On October 15th a team form KRT (Kennedy Road Tabernacle) came to visit us and stayed with us for 13 days. What a great time we had together. The team focused on four ministries which were children’s ministry, visiting schools and villages. Medical ministry providing free medical camps and medicine to people in the villages, construction team building our children’s home and our ministerial team who spoke in revival meetings.

Threw our children’s ministry we were able to visit 9 schools. The schools ranged in size from 75 to 650 children. What a joy it was to see the children’s faces light up as the team sang songs and told stories. The team also ministered in 7 villages. In the villages the team was free to talk about Jesus and to share his love openly. During their time of ministry they passed out hundreds of gifts and crafts and after the evening services the whole team worked together and passed out hundreds of t shirts. We pray that the seeds that were planted in the children’s hearts during those 13 days will bare much fruit.

The medical team took part in four medical camps over 200 people were treated and given free medications. Twenty seven people had eye examinations and will receive free eye surgery and glasses. Thanks to Operation Blessing for providing us with free medicine.

After a lot of hard work the construction team was able to complete our children’s home to the half way point. Because of late monsoon rains their efforts were hampered but not their spirits. Rain or shine all the ministry teams labored together in a joint effort to see the home built.

Our ministerial team Charles and Marlene reached many people with the good news. Several responded to the alter call and they will be followed up by our pastors.

It was a great 13 days and we want to thank the KRT team for coming to Chennai. Many of the team members left families, jobs and friends behind to be with us. Also we want to thatnk Charles who resighned form KRT several months ago but made a commitment to return and lead this team. Charles has great leaderhip qualities because he leads with a servants heart. This team really worked hard together to achieve a common goal. We both feel that although they came as the KRT team they left us as friends.

Please pray with us that we will be able to finish the children’s home so that we can move the children in to their new home before the end of this year.

If you are interested in coming to India in 2007 as an individual or as a team please contact us as soon as possible so that we can coordinate a time.

Click on the two different Links on the right side... Samson's PhotoBucket and/or Samson's PhotoFlix (November #1 and November #2) to see a good selection of our new photographs.

"Let my heart be broken with the things that break God's heart" -- Bob Pierce

In Christ Love
Prasad and Dawn

May 2006

"Grace be un to you, and peace, from God our father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ” Phil 1:2

Dear Pastors and Friends,

Just wanted to say hello and update you on the work we have been doing. The ministry is going strong amidst all the testing we communicated with you.

Our ministry plan is to plant two churches a year. We have been working on two different villages (Nallambakam and Singaperuman Koil) and we are ready to plant churches in both villages. We baptized new converts and there are at least 8 more asking to be baptized. We have bought land in Nallambakkam and yet to buy land in Singaperuman Koil to build the church. If your church has a building team help build churches in the mission field, we would like to invite you to come to India to help us build these two churches. The church buildings we are planning to build will cost approximately 10 to 15 thousand dollars. If you would like to help us financially to build one of these churches please contact us and we will give you all the details that you may need to allot the funds.

We had our first Open Air meetings in March and April. Many were healed, delivered and ministered to. The meetings were powerful. Please take a look at some of the pictures that were taken in the meetings. (see photos below..)

Two weeks ago we played the Jesus movie in one of the villages where we have a church. The results were excellent. Over 20 people accepted Christ as their personal savior.

In April we had visitors from Canada. One special visitor was Kelvin Honsinger, from ERDO(On line http://www.paoc.org/- click on ERDO), with his son Jordan were here. While Kelvin and Jordan were here we had 3 days of special services. Kelvin ministered to the congregation for two days and we had our first youth service with Jordan as the special speaker. At the end of the youth service there was an invitation for anyone who felt a call to the ministry to come forward. Four young people came to the altar and dedicated their life for full time ministry.

By now most of you have heard about our car accident and how one of our staff got hit by lighting. Amos is improving but still has some trouble walking.

Dawn’s finger is improving; there is no more infection or swelling. The doctors recommended that they operate and remove the nail but we have decided to wait and let nature take its course. We thank you for your prayer covering.

Thanks to the Child Care Plus Program you can now become a sponsor one of our orphanage children. If you would like to sponsor one of our children please contact Child Care Plus by going online at http://www.paoc.org/ and clicking on Child Care Plus. Please specify that you would like to sponsor a child in Chennai, India.

Many of you will remember when we made a special prayer request for Pastor Paul Daniels and his wife Elizabeth, when their two year old son Philip passed away. It was announced a few weeks ago that Elizabeth is pregnant. God is good! Continue to keep this family in your prayers, we are praying for a safe pregnancy and delivery and a healthy happy baby.

Please continue to keep our family in your prayers. We are in the process of trying to enroll Hannah and Asha in a Christian school. Also in June we will be traveling to Bangkok, Thai Land to attend our regional retreat.

Every Blessing.

In Christ Love,
Prasad, Dawn, Hannah and Asha.

"God uses men who are weak and feeble enough to lean on him." -- Hudson Taylor

Praise the Lord! February 2006

Praise the Lord! It has been a long time since we have spoken to you. We sent out a few small updates, but ministry wise there has been a lot that went on since we arrived here. Please don’t forget to check the pictures below.

I am not sure where to begin but I think it will be appropriate to start giving thanks first to God and then to ERDO for sponsoring the flood relief work in Chennai, India. Ever since we came to India in the beginning of October the monsoon rain pounded Chennai up until the end of December. Heavy rain and floods swept away houses and killed hundreds of people and animals. One of our churches (please see the picture) was the victim of this flood. Some of our church believers lost their homes. There were relief work being done by other churches and charity organizations. We contacted ERDO to see if we can do something for some of these victims’ on of behalf of ERDO and PAOI (Pentecostal Assemblies of India). ERDO immediately sent some financial aid and during the first few weeks of January we were able to give away over 400 10kg bags of rice to the flood victims in 5 different villages. We also gave a small amount of financial aid to some families whose house was damaged by the flood. Many thanks to ERDO for making the relief work possible.

In December we helped the widows of our churches with saris (Sari is a kind of dress women wear in India) and put a small amount of money in their pockets for Christmas. These widows here basically have nothing. There isn’t anyone to take care of them and no financial help or pensions from the Government for them. One amazing thing is when we stretched our personal funds to do this and ran out of money for one church, A Hindu man who owns a company in the city heard the story and was moved by what happened. He bought 80 saris for this church more than enough for the widows in that church. God is so good. Now Dawn is writing to her friends and other ladies to see if we can support these widows with a small amount of $10 a month.

At Christmas time we bought Christmas gifts for the Orphanage children here. This was the first gift they had ever received. The joy they had when they received the gift brought tears to all 4 of us. It was definitely worth it all to see their eyes when they received those in-expensive plastic toys and school back packs. My children Hannah and Asha decided that they will buy some toys next Christmas for these children from their own money (I know it will come from our pocket to their little purses anyway). In December also Peter McIntosh (South East Asian Director) visited India. We had a meeting and members from all 5 churches attended the meeting. Peter spoke and we were blessed.

In January over 20 people got baptized. Praised the Lord! Please see the pictures below.

Last Sunday February 5th I was invited to speak in a church. God showed up with His Spirit. It was powerful. After the service many people reported seeing a wave of anointing during the service. I am still receiving some amazing testimony from the people what happened and what they saw that day! May to God be all the glory and honor. Several people received the baptism in the Holy Spirit and received the gift of speaking in tongues. Several got delivered. This experience made me so humble and I have been praying early in the morning ever since this happened, asking God to help me to be more sincere if you are going to continue to use me in this way.

We have been complaining to you and to the house owner that the house we rented when we fist arrived had a lot of problems. Water, plumbing, electricity to name a few. Finally we moved on February 1 to a new house. This was our third move in six months.
We are looking forward to the months ahead with a lot of activities though we are not looking forward for the hot days ahead. It is February now and we can not stand outside for few minutes. We may be scrambling our eggs using the suns heat saving our cooking gas!
Special Prayer Request:
A few weeks ago we added a new Pastor to our staff. His name is Paul Daniels. We are asking for special prayer for Phillip who has Sevier heart complications. The doctors have told them that there is nothing more that they can do for Phillip and that he cold die at any time.
Please pray for this precious child that God would do a complete healing in his little body. Also please pray for this young pastor and his wife that God will encourage them and give them strength. We will continue to keep you updated on the situation.
(Before we could publish this news letter, baby phillip has gone to be with the Lord. Please see the updat below)

Update on baby phillip:Last week we sent out a email to you asking for prayer for baby Phillip. So many of you responded and we are so greatful to you.
I wanted to let everyone know that on Sunday at 6:30 PM Phillip went home to be with Jesus. His funeral was held Monday morning at 10:00 AM.
Please pray for Phillip's parents Pastor Paul and Elizabeth Daniels and their family as they grieve the loss of their only child. Pray that God will comfort them in these difficult days ahead.
Thank you again for your prayer support.

We will continue to update you what is happening in India.

Please visit our Web Page at http://www.samsonweb.org/ for more photos.

In Him
Prasad Dawn Hannah and Asha
“You are either a missionary or a mission field”
---Nugget Notebook

The Stresses of Moving are Great

We have not been able to spend much time on the Computer lately. We have been very busy with moving. Not yet unpacked but that will happen over the next few weeks we hope.

The following are a series of photos of recent activties that we have been involved in.

Thank you again for praying for us. We are very much aware of God's wonderful guidance and presence.

Prasad and Dawn, Hannah and Asha

Above is a photo of Prasad being welcomed to a church. The custom is to present the guest with a gift.

These two photos following are of an outdoor service. Dawn is speaking in and I am interpreting for her. This is when your wife can tell you what she really thinks - and you have to receive it. The second photo shows Hannah and Asha singing in this outdoor meeting.

Asha found a new pet - a grass hopper - a little bigger than the Canadian kind!

January 1, 2006

Happy New Year to each of you! May God bless this new year for all of you. We are continuing to pray for each of you. Thank you for praying for our family.

Christmas this year was very different from the Christmas holidays we remember in Canada. What is the difference? NO SNOW. No Cold and no ice to slip on. We miss it - a little.

The warmth of our new home does not require a furnace to repair nor windows to keep out the cold. How can we possibly describe the warmth, the beauty and the wonder of this country. You will definitely have to come to visit us!

For Christmas this year we were able to have all of the Orphans come to our home for a meal. We bought Christmas presents for each of them - stretching the personal budget to some degree - but it was worth it all. What joy to have them in our home. In the near future we hope to be able to have you help us with sponsoring these children.

The PAOC World Missions department is helping us set up the sponsorship program for these children. It will be such a blessing as you join us in helping each one. We are your hands and arms in India as God allows us to minister to each one on your behalf. Please begin praying about sponsoring a child in 2006.

We would love to hear from you soon. Our email addresses are prasaddawn@hotmail.com OR psamson@paoc.org