Muthu is a Bible teacher in an Adventist high school in southeastern India. But his ministry extends beyond the classroom. He takes students and adults to villages to hold Branch Sabbath Schools. Most of the villagers know little about Jesus.

Muthu
Courtesy of GC Office of Adventist Misson

The children come first, gathering under a tree to hear stories and sing songs. Then team members visit villagers’ homes to pray for the sick or discouraged. Eventually adults join in the meetings.

One day Muthu visited a village and discovered that heavy rain had damaged an old mud house, causing it to collapse and leaving the woman who lived there homeless. She had leprosy, and no one would go near her.

Instead of holding Branch Sabbath School, Muthu and his team cleared the debris from the home site. Soon villagers pitched in to help as well. They cut some poles and stretched a tarp over them for a temporary shelter.

During the week Muthu and his team began building a small, sturdy house for the woman. The villagers saw that no harm came to Muthu or his teammates, and they began treating the woman as one of them again. Some gave her clothes and household goods to replace what she had lost.

The next Sabbath the woman met Muthu and begged him to come to her house. There she pointed to two large gunnysacks filled with coconuts. Those are my offering, she said. Muthu was touched as he realized that this woman had gathered about 100 coconuts and carried them, one by one, to her little home. Her labor of love had taken her all week.

Today a large group meets in the village for worship. The village has no church of any denomination, but they welcome the Adventists because they know these people care. The nearest church is three or four miles (five or six kilometers) away, and there is no reliable transportation. The new believers are learning to pray and are asking God for a church in their village.

Thousands of villages such as this one have only a stone god to worship. The people still wait to hear that Jesus loves them and wants to live with them forever. Our mission offerings help make it possible for these people to have a simple church in which to worship God and invite others to worship as well.

Muthu Kutti is a lay worker living in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India.

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