Oral and Alicia Anderson Prayer Letter: Christmas Day Baptism

New Violins

A few months ago, the Women’s Missionary Society of First Baptist Church of Hammond, Indiana, donated some violins to our ministry. While we were very thrilled to have these additional instruments, there was a problem: we did not have anyone who knew how to play or to teach us how to play them. Violins are not very common instruments here in our country; therefore, finding a violin teacher proved futile.

Michael and David were both anxious to learn how to play and started using tutorials from YouTube. I am happy to report that after about six months of practice, they were able to use the violins during our Christmas program—a little scratchy, but they made music nonetheless! Thank God for their willingness to give what they have to the Lord. By the way, if God has blessed you with the ability to teach the violin and you are willing to offer your talents to our ministry virtually, please let us know; we would be delighted to have your help.

Christmas Day Baptism

Verona Singh, an elderly lady, trusted the Lord as her Saviour a few weeks ago. On Christmas Eve, she committed to being baptized the following day. Well, we do not have a baptistery at the church, so off to the ocean we went on Christmas Day. As we reached the site, it was evident that the water would not be cooperative. The high waves, strong currents, and dark water were just some of the telling signs. We were also warned of a jellyfish presence in the water. Concerned about the dangers, I explained to Ms. Singh that she could choose to have her baptism another day, to which she responded, “Pastor, let us do what we came here to do!” Hardly able to keep proper footing because of the waves and current, we went down into the water, and she was baptized. The Lord protected us from those nasty jellyfish also. Her obedience proved better than convenience.

“Sweet” Salvation

Alicia visited Viveen’s house some time ago, with the hopes of presenting the Gospel, but to no avail. This past Christmas Eve, she and Ashley, our youngest daughter, were out sharing sweeties (our word for “candies”) with some of our neighbors. They ended up at Viveen’s house once again.

When they arrived, Viveen was busy sprucing up and painting her house for Christmas. Their conversation was initially about the sweets and Christmas plans, but Alicia steered the conversation to explaining the true reason for Christmas. Viveen listen to the presentation of the Gospel, after which, she “sweetly” got saved! It would have been hard to guess that Ashley’s sweets would have been able to “sweeten” the conversation for the true gift of Christmas.

Van Ministry Need

The community where our church is located is a small, rural town, and it is also a major hub for many smaller, more rural communities. Some of these communities are within a 2- to 5-mile radius, but the journey is much farther because of the very winding roads through these hills. Accumulated, our town and these communities account for approximately 19,000 souls.

We have done evangelism work in many of these communities. However, many of the folks do not come to church because they prioritize their small income for essentials instead of using it for taxi fare to church. We have been using personal vehicles for transportation for three of these communities, making multiple trips on Sundays and on Wednesday nights. However, having a vehicle/vehicles with a higher seating capacity (14- to 18-seater) would be much more ideal and would give us the ability to expand our ministry. Our mid-term goal is to have a fleet of five vans to effectively reach these communities. However, our immediate goal is to acquire just one.

We are very thankful to a friend of our ministry, Tom Olson, and some of his friends who donated $4,200.00 towards our $37,000.00 goal of getting our first van. Many of you have told us that you have been praying for that need, and we want to express our gratitude. Please continue to pray, and feel free to contact us if you would like to help us reach our goal.

Thank you for your continued partnership as we serve the Lord together.