We are entering the summer season, which seems hotter than last year's.  The schools are gearing up for the final exams and a month-long holiday which  begins April 27.  Although we will close down the two Matilda schools at Mallepally and Devarkonda, we will continue with other Veda  programs.

On Tuesday  30 pastors  gathered from surrounding villages for an evening prayer  meeting and reflection on the theme 'The encounter on the road to Emmaus' (Luke 24:13-32).  "Are you the only one who did not know what happened in Jerusalem in the last few days?" was the question repeatedly asked.  It was a major event in the news channels of Jerusalem of that day and an event  from which the followers of Jesus have yet to recover from.  And this man did not know a thing about it.  The pastors talked about their own encounters on the  road to their spiritual destinations.  For them it was difficult to understand how such encounters can take place out side Jerusalem.  Can it happen on the dusty paths to their own villages?

The Grace children's Clinic is treating about a dozen patients a day.  Mostly children are screened for worm infestation, malnutrition, and Malarial infections. By God's grace no snake bites have been reported, although some snakes have been spotted and killed.  The doctor and the team make regular visits to nearby tribal hamlets to treat patients who cannot come to the clinic.

From January 24-28  Dr. Allan Stuckey, wife Jeannie, and son Jonathan visited our work in the villages.   We were happy to share our house (which they helped us to build) with them for two nights.  They took many pictures on their movie camera.  One evening, they visited the stone cutter's community church.  Many women and children came to see them.  Jeannie taught a song to the younger children.  It was an evening filled with much laughter.

We are planning to take up some youth work this summer.  A team with dandiya (stick dance) skills  will go into villages and tell the creation story.  Villagers like this form of evangelism very much.  They also like to dance.

Project Cow is a new way to supplement the diet of the 40-plus Bindu children.  A Jersey  cow will supply milk and dairy products  for ten children throughout the year.  For each child, a savings bank account will be opened into which earnings from looking after the cow will be deposited.  Any male heifer calves will be sold and the proceeds invested  for the child's future college education.  Female calves will be passed onto other Bindu children.  We appreciate your counsel on this subject.

The construction of the new school at Devarkonda is going at a slow pace.  Many of you have contributed so generously towards this project, and for which we are very grateful.  We still are waiting for the electricity department to grant us permission.  We are buying water from outside since we have no electricity to pump water.

Thank you once again for your prayers and financial support.

Our eldest daughter Esther was engaged to Brent Graber on January 7th on the Matilda school grounds at Mallepally.  Brent is from the AMB Seminary in Elkhart, Indiana, USA.  A team of eleven others from AMBS also shared our joy by being present at the occasion.

Some prayer requests:

1. Release of the electricity permit for the construction of the new school at Devarkonda.
2. A van with which to visit villages and camps and use as ambulance.
3. Multi-vitamin tablets for  free distribution.
4. We have begun to construct concrete pillars for the Nalgonda road Bindu home.  Pray for the completion of the work.
5. Sponsorship for five new Bindu children
6. Janaki Ramulu, an 8th grade student who will go into surgery in May for the fourth time  for his polio-infected leg.
7. Upgrades for our computer lab.  Five  PCs are required.
8. Project cow needs initially four Jersey cows.

God's blessings for this Easter.