Greetings in Jesus’ name!
Hi Dear friends,
I hope everybody is doing well with all your wonderful works and getting ready for a brand new year. Just thought to write to you and let you know what happened with me and with our mission trip to India.
We arrived in India on 23rd Morning by Air India Express flight. We had three hours delay but finally we arrived at Chennai International Airport. My friend Pastor Rajah came to meet me at the Airport and it was wonderful to see him after one year. Then he took us to the place where we stayed, which was a Christian place and a good quiet one.
That evening we had our first Children’s program at one of the AOG churches in Chennai. It was their annual Christmas program and we were invited to do a 30 minutes program for them. We did some games with them and also introduced them to Toffa. Sis. Shanthi shared the Christmas message and it was wonderful. They were really happy about what we did. Praise God !
Then next day we were invited to have lunch at Pastor Rajah’s house. It was such a beautiful lunch and his wife had prepared so many nice meals for us. Thank you pastor Rajah for your delicious lunch. So 24th Evening we started our great journey to Chandigarh from Chennai. We had a big problem with our train tickets but we prayed for that and God answered our prayers. It was nearly a 40 hour train ride and 26th Morning we arrived at Delhi. 
From Delhi to Chandigarh we went by bus. It was a great journey and God protected us from everything. It was a great experience for all of us. Especially for my other friends who joined me. This was their first trip to India and first experience in the Train. We missed the Christmas celebration this year but we had so much fun on the Train.
We arrived at Chandigarh around 3.30 PM and Sis. Anmol and YWAM members came to meet us at the bus station. It was wonderful to see all my friends in Chandigarh after one year. They had booked a nice guest house for us to stay and we all went there. Then that evening we all went to Sis. Anmol’s house for dinner. We had a nice time there. It was our first night in Chandigarh.
Sunday school teacher training seminar
On 27th we started our first program in Chandigarh. It was our Sunday school teacher training program. We had 40 teachers and leaders from different churches and from YWAM. The YWAM team was also there from Bangalore and they also joined us. This was a new experience for them because they never had a training program like this before. 
God worked throughout the program and touched so many people. Sis. Shanthi took the key sessions of this and Dhanushka, Dulanjalie and I took two workshops each. Dulanga helped everybody. God changed the view they had for children ministry before.
Thursday evening – Open Meeting
That Thursday we had the evening open meeting and Sis. Anmol asked me to share the message. This is something I didn’t expect but I believed that God wants to say something through me and that’s why she has asked me to share the message. I was sharing about the Armor of God and I encouraged them that this is a really good time to look back to past year. After the message we had a ministry time and God poured The Holy Spirit among the people and touched so many. The Bangalore YWAM team was really touched by the ministry time. They were not only people who were blessed by The Holy Spirit, so many other believers were also touched there. Praise God !
Here is what Ruth shared with us on how she blessed during the ministry time:
“My name is Ruth and I am from Nepal but brought up in Shimla, India. I accepted Jesus as my savior when I was 8 years old. After that I got baptized in 2004 but I did not really receive The Holy Spirit. I struggled a lot in my life. I had a lot of problems regarding my family and friends. I was away from my parents as I grew up in a children’s home. My life for me was very disappointing, so I tried to commit suicide many times but I was always saved by God. Maybe it was because he has a big purpose for me.
I used to see Jesus in my dreams and in my dreams God used to show me bible verses. But I didn’t take it as a serious matter. I really want to thank God for this year, 2007, that he sent brother Asela and his team so that I would receive the holy spirit and know God more deeply.
Thank-you Sri Lanka!!!!...I have really been blessed by your love and care. God sent you here to touch the lives of millions and I am glad that I was a part of it!....I want to serve the Lord. Please pray for me. May God bless you and be with you forever. Jesus has great plans for you guys. You all are doing a get job. “
The 27th was our second day at the Teacher Training program. We believed that God was going to touch these teachers in a very special way on this day. At 8.00 AM we had our morning devotion and we prayed to God that we needed to see something new . As we asked God, there were so many special things that happened that day and God touched everybody who came for the program. I realized that I am an ordinary children’s minister but He called me to be extra ordinary with the help of The Holy Spirit. Thank God! It was our first experience in an English program like this . Praise God ! God used us to touch the leaders here and used us to glorify his name.
Here is something that Bro. Martin said about the Sunday school teacher training program:
“Dear Asela and the team,
Thanks a lot for coming and sharing your burden and vision for the children. Before the Sunday School Seminar I was praying for a Sunday School teacher for my Church, because I used to think to teach children, a person should have vision and burden but after attending your seminar I got to know deep in my heart that it’s the duty of every leader to invest their time and resources to bring up the children in a godly character. One more thing which struck my mind and I know it’ll never go out of my heart is “Children have more years to take a stand for the Lord than adults; the example of candles was very touching. Thanks a lot for coming and sharing. God bless you and use you in abundance. - Martin, Chandigarh, India.
It was our first program in Chandigarh and I thank God for everything he has done.
Sunday school in Chandigarh
On Sunday we divided into three groups. Sis. Shanthi and Dulanga were one group, Dhanushka and Dulanjalie were in one group and I was in another group. We went to three different churches to do the Sunday school. One group was in Capital church, one was with sector 52 church and I went to a Nepali church. We did the Sunday school program and kids enjoyed it very much.
VBS program – Go camp 28th and 30th December 2007
We really prayed for this program because we knew that God was going to do so many wonderful things among the children of Chandigarh. Our theme for this program was “Run to Win”. I felt that we should teach them to run their life’s race and God’s eternal purpose for their lives. So we prayed and decided to do this camp with “Run to Win” theme.
We had 60 children for the VBS. We stared the program with a time of worship and introducing the theme with a Toffa skit. It was wonderful that children never experienced something like Toffa in their Sunday schools. So they really enjoyed it. Then we shared two Bible stories also as dramas and kids really enjoyed it. In the evening, Sis. Shanthi shared the salvation message with them and so many children opened their hearts to Jesus and invited Jesus into their little lives as their best friend. Thank God! We believe that there was a big party in heaven that all the angels celebrated this beautiful moment with God. Praise God !
We had more children on second day because the children who came for first day had also brought their friends with them. We had so much fun with the games and we had a mini Olympic game also. We shared two more bible stories and end of the day Sis. Shanthi shared about The Holy Spirit. It was such a wonderful time with The Holy Spirit. He touched so many children and they were filled with the Holy Spirit . The Holy Spirit touched them and healed their inner hurting also that day. They experienced God’s power and love on that day for the first time in their lives. Praise God ! God is wonderful and he loves these little ones. We were so amazed with the way God used us. Thank you God ! We all felt so happy because we expected God’s Spirit and it happened and touched everybody.
Youth Fire – Youth program 1st & 2nd January 2008
We had 60 youths for this program. I was sharing about Gideon’s life on these two days and it really touched their lives. I challenged them to be mighty warriors throughout this New Year and showed them that it is God’s eternal plan for their lives. We had so much fun with many games and experienced wonderful worship times in the presence of God.
I was showing the Generation video to these youths and it also touched their hearts. God is wonderful and he changed their lives into warrior’s lives. Thank you, Lord for everything.
Way to Ambala - Rest day & time with snow
On 3rd of January 2008, early morning we started to go to Ambala from Chandigarh. We all felt so sad because we are going to miss this beautiful city and the loving people in Chandigarh. We wanted to see and touch snow and we decided to go to Shimla. It was quiet cold place. But in Shimla we didn’t see snow, and because of that we went a little far from Shimla to a place called Kufri. It was a very cold place. We didn’t see snow falling there but we were able to see the snow and play with the snow. It was quiet a fun experience for us because we never experienced snow in Sri Lanka.
After that we went see the Monkey Temple. This is related to an ancient Sri Lankan story of Rama Rawana. These people worshiped Hanuman. They believe that Hanuman is a god. But it’s funny because it was just a monkey. But we felt that there are so many dark powers inside this money temple. I prayed to God that God will reveal his power and break all the dark spirits in that area.
Finally at around 9.00 PM we arrived to Ambala and we reached Sanjay’s beautiful children’s home, “Jeewan Jhothy Ashrama”. I was really happy to see my friend Sanjay after one year. So many things changed in his place and now it looks really beautiful.
Teacher Training Program – 4th & 5th January 2008
Sanjay invited some of his friends and church members to this program. But on the first day we had only a few people for the program. Because it was a Friday and many people had to go to work. But we knew that God is faithful to complete what he started in us. So by faith we started our first program there. Sis. Shanthi shared all the key sessions and Dhanushka, Dulangalie and I did some workshops there. Praise God ! God touched the people who came there. 
But on the second day we had a lot of people for the program and many new faces. Again Sis. Shanthi did the key sessions and we did the workshops. We had so much fun with the new games too. They enjoyed our games and they told us that they never tried fun games in their Sunday schools. 
At the End of the day we had a ministry time and we prayed for everybody and prayed for the children they are ministering to. I really thank God for the opportunity he has given us to share our hearts with the children’s workers in Ambala. We believed that God touched many people there and in the very near future we can see the results of our work there. Thank God for everything.
Sunday school program – 6th January 2008
This was our main program in Ambala. Because we knew that Sanjay and Puspa were running a Kids church and they have a big Sunday school there. We were expecting so many children and as expected more than 100 children came there. Our theme was “Run to Win” for this program too.
Dhanushka and I introduced the camp theme using Toffa’s skit. It was really good and the kids really enjoyed it. Dhanushka did a great job as Toffa and he explained to the children that God wants us to be winners.
Then we had a praise and worship time with the children at Sanjay’s Sunday school. We shared Bible stories as dramas which the kids really enjoyed and not only enjoyed but they were really touched by the stories. We provided morning tea, lunch and evening tea also for the children.
We made two crafts for the children. One was a wall hanger and the other one was a 2008 calendar that kids could color and decorate. 
Sis. Shanthi talked about The Holy Spirit at the last session of the program and after that we prayed for the children. They asked us to pray for their prayer requests and they shared what was deep inside their hearts with us. We knew that God has done something really wonderful in their lives. We prayed for them and we blessed them in the name of Jesus.
I really thank God for giving us this opportunity to reach children in Ambala and giving us a opportunity to minister to them. Praise God ! God is good all the time !
7th of January 2008 we rested in Ambala. Sanjay took us to the Ambala city and to the Ambala Bazzar. We were able to do some shopping there. Dhanushka, Dulanjalie and myself bought new mobile phones for ourselves.
Then in the evening we packed all our bags because next day we had to leave Ambala to Chennai. So 8th morning we left Ambala and in the afternoon we reached Delhi. We had our train at 10.20 PM from Delhi railway station to Chennai and we decided to have a round trip in Delhi. We visited some shopping malls there but didn’t buy anything as Items were quite expensive.
Anyway at 10.20 PM we started our last train ride to Chennai. We felt a little tired there too. Anyway after a 40 hour train ride we arrived in Chennai on 10th January.
Pas. Rajah came to pick us from the Railway station and he had booked a nice guest house for us to stay at that day. We did some shopping at Chennai for our families and for our friends. Then we came back to our place and packed our bags and got ready to leave the India.
Next day early morning we came to Chennai international airport and by Air India express IX 671 we arrived to our mother country after 20 days of our trip.
We really thank God for taking us to India and blessing us to be a blessing to India. God used ordinarily people like us to do the extra ordinary things there. Praise God for everything he has done. We need to thank you for all your prayers and support towards our mission trip too.
Praise God !
Thank you very much!
Asela Jayarathne from Sri lanka