Nepal was hit with a 7.8 magnitude earthquake
Saturday April 25.

Nepal (MNN) — Rescue workers from around the world are converging on Nepal. Saturday’s 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit the country just 50 miles northeast of Kathmandu, damaging an unknown number of buildings, killing many, and injuring thousands.

Survivors say it was like trying to walk on a boat during heavy seas.

Gospel for Asia has work in Nepal and workers on the ground. GFA President KP Yohannan says the death toll isn’t going to be good. “Our leader said to me, ‘It’s going to be in the thousands.’ And usually the information only comes later because there’s not communications. It’s a remote mountainous region.”

The earthquake hit just before noon local time on Saturday, April 25, the day Christians attend their weekly church services. Yohannan says, “We have 450 congregations scattered around the country. But between Kathmandu and Pokhara where the earthquake hit, that is one area where we have a significant number of churches and [20] Bridge of Hope Centers.” Bridge of Hope Centers are places where GFA workers assist poor children.

Yohannan tells MNN that early reports indicate five churches have been damaged in the quake, but he told us he wouldn’t be surprised if that number increases. He is very concerned. “How many churches [were] damaged: that is another major concern.  Every church that was destroyed means there were people in the church worshipping.” That could mean an increase in the number of Christian casualties in Nepal.

“People by the hundreds were worshipping…in those churches. And so, we are seeking to find information. Our leaders are walking and talking, trying to find out how many are dead or other churches affected.”

In terms of emergency response, Yohannan says GFA workers were prepared for this. “We have training going on continually for crisis. That is the reason why immediately our people could be mobilized right there in Kathmandu, reaching out to the suffering people.”

GFA relief workers are already delivering water, food, clothing, and more. Yohannan says Jesus is mentioned as people begin asking questions about why they are helping. “God is a god of compassion, mercy, and caring: for the suffering, for the widows and orphans. I think our response to the suffering world is very significant, and this is how they are going to see that we care for them.”

As Christians offer help and compassion, Yohannan believes it will open doors for the Gospel.

Between 30 and 40 of Gospel for Asia’s missionaries serving in Uttar Pradesh, an Indian state bordering Nepal, are headed toward the quake-ravaged area to help.

In the meantime, prayerfully consider donating generously to the work of GFA. Your support will help them provide much-needed physical aid and provide a platform to tell victims about Jesus, the only One who can give them eternal comfort.

If you’d like to help, click here to get prayer requests, updates, and to support GFA.

Hindu radicals burned hundreds of vehicles used by Christian individuals and ministries. (Image courtesy Global Council of Indian Christians, caption courtesy GFA)

Gospel for Asia founder KP Yohannan visited the region shortly after violence began in August 2008.

“I witnessed the beatings and abuse and suffering of so many people,” he says.

Radical Hindu swami Lakshamananda Saraswati led an assortment of militant Hindu groups in Orissa. One of them was the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), or World Hindu Council.

“This is the Taliban in Hinduism,” Yohannan explained in 2008. “These people believe India must be a Hindu nation. All else must go.”

When Saraswati was assassinated by Communists on August 23, 2008, his death was quickly blamed on Christ-followers. Hundreds of Christians were killed, over 1,000 homes and nearly 30 large churches were destroyed when radical Hindus went on a rampage.

Fast-forward five years.

“The government promised they would find the culprits and punish them, and do whatever it takes to help,” recalls Yohannan. “Still, it’s a long, long wait.

Anti-Christian sentiment is still thriving. Believers who survived the 2008 violence continue to face harassment and assault. In 2012 alone, Yohannanan says, between 30 and 40 young girls were raped.

“There is really no closure to this thing,” he says. “Thousands of people are living in the slums in the capital city Bhubaneswar.”

GFA teams are showing them Christ’s love in practical ways.

“Some of our missionaries go there and work with them and care for them, and do what we can,” says Yohannan. “I think that is the part, the job, of the Body of Christ no matter where we are.”

Why isn’t more being done to help them?

“The answer is very simple,” says Yohanna. “Jesus said, ‘I am sending you as sheep among wolves.’

“In any of these communities where Christian faith is seen as the enemy…there’s lots of persecution, suffering, and there’s no justice.”

According to Christian Solidarity Worldwide, the conviction rate in Odisha is around 30-percent, much higher than the national average. However, most of those convicted for 2008 violence are now on bail.

“We cry out to the government and officials, and the courthouses, but justice is never given to the followers of Christ,” says Yohannan.

In the face of such persecution, Yohannan says GFA’s direction is clear.

“Our job is to keep on talking to the government and file reports to the government and the police stations,” he says. “The judicial system is the only thing there is if there’s going to be any kind of protection.”

Yohannan has spoken with some of the new government leaders in Odisha, and says their intent to help is sincere.

“In some places, yes, they are helping us,” he says. “But the anti-Christian communities and the fundamentalists still continue to create problems.”

Ongoing anti-Christian sentiment, anti-conversion laws and the continuation of radical Hinduism point to a bleak future for Christ-followers in Odisha.

“We do not think persecution is going to be going down,” says Yohannan. “No, I think it will be more in the days to come.”

He’s calling on believers in free nations to act.

“We need to understand this and be praying, and to sympathize, and do everything we can to relieve the suffering [in] whatever way we can,” says Yohannan.

There are many ways you can come alongside GFA to help survivors in Odisha.

“Learn what is going on and be engaged in prayer,” Yohannan encourages. “We are always looking for brothers and sisters [to] not only pray, but share their resources so that we can continue [to] help bring hope and relief for the suffering.

“Information should never satisfy us, but it must drive us to do something about it.”

In addition to food, locals received blankets, tarps and raincoats to keep them warm and dry. (Image, caption courtesy GFA)

“Personally, I think the 6,000 number they’re saying is not even accurate. I think it is way more than that,” says Gospel for Asia’s KP Yohannan.

GFA’s Compassion Services teams are on the ground bringing help and hope.

“They said the number of people missing are thousands more than what we are hearing,” Yohannan says.

What could be causing such a variance in the reports?

“You know, it’s not like the United States. Many of these countries, they do not want to let out the real crisis information,” Yohannan states.

“Eventually, in a few months’ time, maybe more and more news will come out and say, ‘This was much bigger than we realized’.”

It’s not typical for the government to work alongside Gospel for Asia. But right now, officials are flying GFA workers into remote areas to deliver relief aid.

“Unlike some other times in the past, the local government is very much involved in helping, and we are very, very happy and grateful,” says Yohannan. “The government officials actually are locating their government helicopters to our missionaries and workers to bring in help: food and clothes and all kinds of things.

“Without that, our people could not get into some places; there was no way.”

Yohannan says flood survivors need more than physical relief like food and shelter. They need someone to talk to, someone to listen and provide counsel, hope, prayer. And that’s exactly what GFA teams are doing.

“It’s very, very complex when you think about the primitiveness because they lost everything,” he states. “That is the condition of literally hundreds of thousands of people at this time.

“It will be another six months or a year work to bring any kind of normality…for these suffering people,” Yohannan continues. “This kind of situations only compels us to be more active toward praying and bringing help.”

Although GFA is doing all they can, the need is bigger than their supply.

“We need financial help, if people will designate, and every penny of that will go towards helping these people,” states Yohannan. “The need is a thousand times bigger than we are able to do…but I am glad through this, many will experience the love of Christ.”

Click here to lend a hand. Most importantly, pray.

“Pray that through all this, somehow, people will find hope. Our task is [to] continue to share the love of Christ and point people to Christ, who is the only hope,” Yohannan says.

“Pray that many will turn their hearts to the Lord, even during this sorrowful time.”

"Personally, I think the 6,000 number they're saying is not even accurate. I think it is way more than that," says KP Yohannan with Gospel for Asia.

GFA's Compassion Services teams are on the ground bringing help and hope.

"They said the number of people missing are thousands more than what we are hearing," Yohannan says.

What could be causing such a variance in the reports?

"You know, it's not like the United States. Many of these countries do not want to let out the real crisis information," Yohannan states.

"Eventually, in a few months' time, maybe more and more news will come out [indicating] this was much bigger than we realized."

It's not typical for the government to work alongside Gospel for Asia. But right now, officials are flying GFA workers into remote areas to deliver relief aid.

"Unlike some other times in the past, the local government is very much involved in helping, and we are very, very happy and grateful," says Yohannan. "The government officials actually are locating their government helicopters to our missionaries and workers to bring in help: food and clothes and all kinds of things.

"Without that, our people could not get into some places; there was no way."

Yohannan says flood survivors need more than physical relief like food and shelter. They need someone to talk to, someone to listen and provide counsel, hope, prayer. And that's exactly what GFA teams are doing.

"It's very, very complex when you think about the primitiveness because they lost everything," he states. "That is the condition of literally hundreds of thousands of people at this time.

"It will be another six months or a year work to bring any kind of normality…for these suffering people," Yohannan continues. "This kind of situations only compels us to be more active toward praying and bringing help."

Although GFA is doing all they can, the need is bigger than their supply.

"We need financial help, if people will designate, and every penny of that will go toward helping these people," states Yohannan. "The need is a thousand times bigger than we are able to do…but I am glad that through this, many will experience the love of Christ."

Click here to lend a hand. Most importantly, pray.

"Pray that through all this, somehow people will find hope. Our task is [to] continue to share the love of Christ and point people to Christ, who is the only hope," Yohannan says.

"Pray that many will turn their hearts to the Lord, even during this sorrowful time."

Nearly 600 are dead and thousands more are stranded following monsoon flooding. Gospel for Asia (GFA) says the rains came earlier in the season than usual, catching the region completely off-guard.

Four days of torrential rainfall in the northern mountainous Indian state of Uttarakhand and then in nearby areas in Nepal have spurred GFA relief efforts there into action.

“This suffering makes our hearts ache because we know that God loves all of us,” said K. P. Yohannan, GFA founder and president. “We must not only feel compassion, but we must also act to relieve suffering wherever we find it.”

GFA relief personnel already are providing clean water and food and meeting basic needs of those affected in the outskirts of the disaster. They are standing by with immediate aid as soon as the government allows them to enter the worst-hit areas.

Pray that GFA workers will have access soon.

The monsoon is being termed the worst natural disaster in India’s history, with government officials calling it a “ghastly tragedy.” Because it came earlier than usual in the season, the monsoon left the region grossly unprepared, increasing the loss of life.

Houses, multi-story buildings, apartments, cars, and one temple were swept away in days of gushing floodwaters that tore through towns. More than 20 bridges and dozens of roads have been washed away, leaving thousands stranded and waiting to be rescued.

There are 46 churches in the region of the worst flooding in India. In Uttarkashi, GFA’s Bridge of Hope center is standing, and the children and their families are reported safe. However, a pastor in Saharanpur reports the anguish of seeing many people weeping as they watched their houses wash away.

With electric lines down, there is no connection with GFA personnel in the worst-hit areas.

The situation is similar in western Nepal, where at least 39 are dead and more are missing. In Bardiya, around 2,000 houses have flooded, with GFA field reports of more than 2,000 people temporarily or permanently displaced from their homes in many villages. Authorities said more than 600 families in Khairichandanpur are at great risk of flood and in need of immediate rescue.

In Nawalparasi, Nepal, as many as 12 villages located close to the Narayani River were flooded, with 12 spurs on the dam swept away. Residents living close to the dam have urged their government to coordinate with the Indian government to initiate immediate measures to resettle them to safety.

“Pray for the rescue of the missing and the stranded and that God would restore good weather in this area,” said Yohannan. “In our Lord's name, we must pray and respond to this situation.”

Click here to support GFA's relief efforts in northern India.

Over one fourth of India's people are known as the "Untouchables" — Dalits who don't even have a place on the country's infamous caste system. This is the population Gospel for Asia (GFA) serves through their Bridge of Hope (BOH) centers.

And, these are the students GFA is empowering for a brighter future.

Last week, over 400 BOH teenage students gathered at a retreat focused on future career growth. Students also learned how to become a positive influence on society. They heard from GFA Founder and International Director, KP Yohannan, as well as various BOH leaders.

At each BOH center, students learn about Christ through Scripture memorization, stories, and songs. In addition to focusing students on their futures, retreat speakers are also building on spiritual foundations laid through BOH.

Around 10,000 students will attend similar events throughout India in the coming days. Pray students will have 'ears to hear' what God is speaking into their lives.

According to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), just over 220 million people in India are between the ages of 15 and 24 years old. As India's youth transition into adulthood, pray they fulfill the Great Commission.

To learn how you can share Christ's love with a child through GFA's Bridge of Hope program, click here.

Last week, we told you about the threat Cyclone Mahasen posed to vulnerable Rohingya existing on Burma's western shoreline. But thanks to prayer on both a local and global basis, Mahasen's force lessened, and it turned away from Burma.

With monsoon season right around the corner, your prayers are needed again.

Last year, Burma saw some of the worst monsoon flooding in years. At least 85,000 people fled affected areas, and some 200,000 people were affected nationwide. Burma's southern region was among the hardest hit, where over 600,000 acres of rice fields were swamped.

This year, concerns are being voiced for hundreds of thousands of stateless Rohingya living in Burma's western Arakan (Rakhine) state. Many are worried that the Rohingya's flimsy tent shelters won't hold up to heavy rains and severe flooding.

"They're barely able to put up some bamboo sticks and put some plastic over it, some shelter. All of a sudden, [there's] the monsoon season and flooding," says Gospel for Asia (GFA) founder KP Yohannan.

"Everything creates such a massive problem."

If things are so bad, couldn't the Rohingya just pick up and move somewhere else? Yohannan says it's not that easy.

"Only a few occasions in my life have I seen the plight of these people," Yohannan says. "When they leave everything, they lose everything.

"Just close your eyes and imagine: old people and old women, little kids, and pregnant wives, carrying little pots and pans on their head, [leaving only] with the clothes they wear…ending up in school grounds and other places."

The Rohingya aren't traveling like this by choice; they're often forced out by Buddhists, the majority religion. Last year, ethnic violence forced over 150,000 Rohingya into hiding.

The lucky ones found their way to makeshift camps–clusters of bamboo sticks barely resembling a structure, covered by tarpaulin, in low-lying rice fields.

"It is like a cattle shed: they are driven to places where normally no one wants to be," says Yohannan. "The suffering is immense; it's hard for us even to imagine."

Immediately following Mahasen's landfall in Bangladesh and parts of Burma, GFA missionaries started delivering food, clothing, and temporary shelter. GFA is preparing for at least six months of ongoing ministry in affected regions.

You can help by clicking here.

Pray GFA-supported national missionaries can show the Rohingya that there's still a reason to hope.

"The only thing that can really bring any kind of hope for people in times of despair is the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ," states Yohannan.

"[In] John 10:10, Jesus said Satan came to destroy and to kill, and that's what we're witnessing. Ask God to intervene; [this is] genuine spiritual warfare."

Early last week, Cyclone Mahasen was expected to bring death and destruction to the coastlines of Burma and Bangladesh.

"Last time we talked, I asked people to pray for the weather to change and for the damage to be minimal," says Oddny Gumaer of Partners Relief and Development. "We were very worried because there were all these Internally Displaced People, refugees, living on the beach in really primitive shacks."

Approximately 140,000 Rohingya refugees living on the shoreline of Burma's Arakan state were facing certain death. In Bangladesh, one million people were evacuated from the coastline in preparation for the storm.

Cyclones are an annual occurrence in the Bay of Bengal. Some communities are still trying to recover from past storms and the damage they've inflicted, such as 2008's Cyclone Nargis. This severe storm stands as one of the worst in Burma's recorded history and killed over 130,000 people in four countries.

As storm clouds approached Bangladesh last week, KP Yohannan with Gospel for Asia (GFA)'s says, "Lots of people were gathering in our churches; people [were] praying for God to have mercy."

Thankfully, "just hours before the cyclone was supposed to hit the shores…it changed direction," Gumaer reports.

Mahasen made landfall in Bangladesh Thursday as a tropical storm. Though half the storm it used to be, Mahasen still managed to cause significant damage in one of Southeast Asia's poorest countries.

The storm surge destroyed thousands of small huts and shacks, leaving hundreds of thousands of people homeless or displaced. GFA says the 13 deaths reported so far may be grossly underestimated, because Mahasen ripped through mainly rural areas.

Trained and equipped for rapid response, GFA missionaries are delivering food, clothing, and temporary shelter. But the real work hasn't even begun yet, says Yohannan.

"The rebuilding process takes a long time, and that's what our people are engaged in," he states.

"It will take a minimum of six months after the waters subside and land is cleared, for these poor people to come back and find out they have nothing left."

That's where GFA Bridge of Hope centers and national missionaries come in.

"People need to hear hope, and that's what our people do," Yohannan says.

You can support either of those ministries by clicking the hyper-linked words above, or click here to visit GFA.org.

In neighboring Burma, Partners is engaged in the recovery process, too.

"We are now in the process of bringing all the thousands of people back into their camps from the places they were evacuated to," Gumaer explains.

But they're not coming back to home sweet home.

"Even though the storm didn't wipe them out, they are still in a very, very difficult place," says Gumaer.

"They do need a lot of help, they need a lot of prayer, they need a change to their situation. And the government really needs to get involved in helping these people."

Click here to send help through Partners Relief and Development.

Yohannan points to Cyclone Mahasen as a lesson for the Body of Christ.

"[In] any of these situations around the world, when we see earthquake or war or cyclone or tsunami, we need to engage in prayer. God does intervene in the affairs of men."

"The country's going through a huge amount of crisis," says Gospel for Asia founder and president KP Yohannan. "One of the major things we must pray for is: formulating the new constitution."

An interim constitution penned in 2007 still governs the country. That same year, Nepal's Constituent Assembly was allotted the task of drafting a new constitution by May 2010. It's a deadline they've pushed back time and time again.

Part of the constitutional rewrite includes a re-drafted penal code that looks an anti-conversion law. It could be part of an effort to block the Good News.

"The extreme radical Hindu fundamentalists are actually having huge influence into the country of Nepal, trying to cause problems and put any roadblock and hindrance for the Gospel and preaching the Gospel," Yohannan stated.

Despite resistance, GFA has seen the establishment of 500 congregations in Nepal. By consistently showing the love of Christ through their Bridge of Hope centers, GFA has earned favor in the eyes of once-resistant Nepalese.

"The very people who opposed us began to become our people to protect us," said Yohannan. "My hope is that we'll start two dozen Bridge of Hope centers.

"Children who would never have the possibility to get an education will find hope."

Yohannan says the door is open for the Gospel. Pray that GFA can keep helping the poor and sharing the Good News.

Learn more about GFA's Bridge of Hope centers and child sponsorship by clicking here.

Ongoing fighting has put over 90,000 people in refugee camps. A UN expert recently called the Burmese government to intervene and bring peace to the Rakhine state. According to KP Yohannan, president of Gospel for Asia, your prayers are needed.

"Maybe, finally, democracy will come into the country, but these kinds of ethnic conflict and unnecessary killings of hundreds of people only complicate the matter," says Yohannan.

"I think the Body of Christ all over the world needs to pray that the possibility of the nation being free for the Gospel will come to pass."

Yohannan says the ministry's headquarters in Burma has set up safe havens for children

"Our hearts are grieved for the children who are left helpless," says Yohannan, "and we established one more Bridge of Hope center for the kids out of this crisis and conflict."

GFA has also mobilized missionaries in the Rakhine state.

"They're doing everything in the world to provide shelter, food, and counseling and help people,"  says Yohannan. "Of course, that all calls for financial resources."

GFA's Compassion Services deliver aid not only to victims of natural disasters, but man-made disasters too, such as ethnic conflict. Click here to support their efforts.

"Every penny people send, either for Burma or Bangladesh or refugees, goes to help the people," says Yohannan.

Thousands of people fled to Bangladesh seeking refuge from the ongoing ethnic tensions. Even though Bangladesh closed its borders to Rochingya refugees in June, GFA teams are still trying to help.

"Dozens of our missionaries in Bangladesh actually are actually trying to minister to the people who are refugees," he explains. "But…the government has established such tight control over these refugee camps. They actually are allowing the Muslim priests to go into these communities and convert these people who are not Muslims to become Muslims.

"If they don't consent, [refugees] face huge difficulties getting their rations, getting their help, and all those things."

Even though GFA missionaries in Bangladesh come with help-in-hand, they're usually denied access to the Rochingya refugees.

"Our difficulty is to get into the refugee camps, even with the food and clothes and help, because of the blockade that is created by the hardline Muslim fundamentalists," explains Yohannan.

"But in a few places, by the grace of God, we were able to get in–not [only] to bring physical help, but also to minister to the people. And when they hear about Jesus, there's hope, regardless of who they are, and we are able to pray with them and lead them to Christ."

Pray for safety and respite for ethnic refugees in Burma. Pray for open doors for the GFA missionaries to deliver relief aid and the Good News of Jesus.