10 September 2010: Team uses henna to share the Good News

OM team members in the south are using their skills and talents to help displaced people in many creative ways. One of the ladies used special henna designs to share the Good News with illiterate women. At this time of the year, it is customary for ladies to decorate their hands with henna as part of the Eid celebrations. The OM team member created special henna designs that include Bible stories and the message of God's love. She tells the ladies the stories as she paints the designs on their hands. In this way, poor women who are not able to read or write are reminded of the Bible stories every time they look at their hands. In one day, 116 women received henna decorations and heard the Good News.

Local churches provide help

A local church has taken up the challenge to help flood-displaced people by providing 100 families with food and 250 school children with new books and school bags. In one southern area, food distribution and medical treatment was done in a 150-year-old church built by British Indian Railway officers.

Homeless again

The OM team in the south spent all night preparing 160 aid packages. This food was urgently required for displaced people living in a local school. This temporary shelter is no longer available, as the school must be vacated for the start of the new academic year. These people had no food and now have nowhere to go.

Alongside relief activities, the southern team has conducted a survey of affected areas to estimate the possible resettlement of displaced people. The team leader shared, “There is still 2-3 feet of water standing in different areas. The city looks like the ruins of a ‘lost city’; the devastation is enormous.”

To date, OM teams have distributed food to 4,393 families and treated 3,452 patients.

Prayer Points

• Praise God for the teams’ opportunities to share the Good News with people in creative ways.
• Please pray for those left homeless by the floods.
• Please pray for wisdom for future resettlement plans.

OM’s role in the Church is to mobilise people to share the knowledge of Jesus and His love with every generation in every nation. OM pioneers and leads initiatives to redeem lives, rebuild communities and restore hope in over 110 countries.