Mission Of Mercy Magazine

Wishing You a Blessed and Prosperous New Year January 1, 2009

Dear Friend in the Lord, Now we are standing on the threshold of a New Year, a decade after the turn of the millennium. The burden for India and now all of Asia is as fresh in my heart as when the Lord spoke to me 36 years ago in a remote village in India, and gave me the Master Plan for India. When I saw the suffering people on that first missionary trip to India, I was especially moved at the sight of sick, suffering and homeless children. They were not responsible for their lot in life. And as I looked into their eyes, I know that I could not leave them in such a wretched state, knowing that children on America were loved and pampered so much. I am the youngest of ten children, and during my youth my parents gave me so much. But they also taught me that “to whom much is given, much shall be required.” They by example showed me that we are to obey the Great Commission, and minister to the needy of the world. In that context, God spoke to me a message that I will never forget. I was in a small village near the Bay of Bengal in the southeast part of India. I was lying on my bed —a 5-foot wooden frame woven with sisal twine for a mattress. The Hindu man next to this building worshipped rats as his gods, and fed them. There were dozens of rats running in my room, and a young boy stayed near my bed, and with a 5-cell flashlight, beat the rats off my bed. The message I heard from the Lord was that if I would care for these homeless children, house them, clothe them, feed them, and love them in the name of Jesus, that He would save them, and call them in the ministry to reach their own people. At the time, I was the pastor of a small church and was heading a Missions organization. But my salary was small, and I was raising a family, with little money to spare. In spite of this, the Lord moved me to pledge support for 25 homeless children in that village. A young pastor named Rakshananandam agreed to operate a children’s home in a village called Mori. His parents had recently passed away, and his family home was used to house the children. Now 35 years later, after thousand of children have been reared in our Homes by loving Christian workers, and so many are involved in the ministry, the burden is still as fresh and clear as the day the Lord commissioned me. So again, I thank you for being my partner in this Mission of Mercy. I pledge that I will continue until the Lord calls me Home. May 2009 be the best year of your lives as we serve a Higher Cause.

All for Jesus, Dr. Johannes Maas, President