Greetings in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. I am excited to be writing to you en route to Batticaloa, Sri Lanka, where the Vocational Training Centre is being built. We departed at 9:45 am after our PCR results came back negative. Praise the Lord for His will and favor upon us that continues to leap over any stumbling block.
We are extremely blessed to be under the leadership of Pastor Vincent, who has paved the road as a forerunner for us. This training ground has exposed us to the importance of relationships and partnership sustenance, that he has carried over the last decades. We are extremely inspired to follow his lead and ensure the baton is carried in alignment with what he and our local Church have worked so hard for.
It was an honor to meet many of the Pastors who are deeply connected to Blessing Hands Mission and be introduced as the next coordinators and leaders. We had the opportunity to introduce ourselves, connect, and learn new faces with who we will work (in the future) to raise young people as disciples for the nation of Sri Lanka.
Our first stop was in Wellawata where we met Pastor Prince and Pastor Christopher who conduct their services in a small unit in the crevice of a little alley. Given the limited space and resources, we experienced worshippers in Spirit and truth. It was such a humbling moment to see how enthusiastic they are about being able to serve God in any amenity given to them.
Regardless of space constraints or government restrictions on gatherings, these Pastors serve with full ambition for the Lord. We had the opportunity to pray for these Pastors– our first ministry as missionaries. Aaron, our colleague, prayed in Tamil, our mother tongue, which was an extremely wholesome moment. It always means a lot to the people of Sri Lanka when we pray in our shared language. The language congruency enables a deeper level of connection and relation, which helps us be accepted by the host of the nation.
Below are photographs of events that occurred throughout our day. We are just hours away from Batticaloa, but God allowed us to meet several Pastors and their Fellowships to tend to their needs.
The pandemic affected the well-being of many families that attend the churches of these Pastors. Over the last couple of months, God placed a burden in our hearts to raise funds and provide food relief packages to aid those families who are struggling amid this pandemic. Packages include dry food supplies, such as flour, rice, tea, sugar, lentils, etc. We had the opportunity to give these packages to the fellowship of these two cities, Wattala & Negombo as they waited so patiently to receive them in person. We had distributed these packages over the last couple of months to provide aid for families in other districts, but we had the privilege to do so in person with these two fellowships.
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