Monsoon rains force many to flee (REUTERS/Jayanta Shaw )
India (MNN) ― Northern India's monsoon flooding has stranded one million people. Many roads are washed away, and railway lines are impassable.
Tens of thousands have fled into Nepal for relief. It will take days before the floodwaters recede enough to reach survivors with aid supplies.
Floods do occasionally disrupt ministry. However, the people accept the situation matter-of-factly, says JP SundarRajan representing Audio Scripture Ministries. "We try to meet their needs, but the challenges we face every year are the same. When there is flooding, we cannot get out to the field, so we kind of have to wait for the government to come in and do what it has to do to make the roads accessible again and things like that."
Although several of their serviced areas were battling heavy rains, as opposed to floods, there were concerns for the headquarters of partner World Cassette Outreach in Bangalore. The nearly-century-old building is no longer adequate, and the team is raising funds to construct a new building.
While the headquarters usually faces high waters, SundarRajan says this time the pumps managed to keep up with the rains, and the building wasn't flooded. This is good news, considering the water damages they've already sustained.
The team expects the calls for audio resources to start coming in soon. Calls to the India office are typically not for aid. Many are from churches or church planters who want to replace resources lost in the floods.
SundarRajan says this is reflective of something greater. "When there is adversity of any sort, people then turn to us and want us to provide them audio Scriptures. We just don't have the resources to meet the needs of all of the people. We really would like to provide more of the spiritual nourishment that people are seeking, and we just don't seem to have the resources."
Pray that God would touch those who can financially support the project, allowing the building to begin soon. Praise God for the good beginning (one third is raised). Pray that the remaining funds would be raised as well.
