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Ten years in India
May 10, 2009
Shalom bro. and sis. in Mashiach, This is Tony B. Suckla writing
from India where I have spent the last ten years. In Mt. 28:18-20 Yahshua
Mashiach commanded us to go and teach all nations and immerse them in the Name
of the Father, and of the Son and Holy Spirit. I first came to India 12
years ago in 1997 then I came back again in 1999 and except for a one month
journey to Nepal I have been here since 1999. I last wrote Aug. 1, 2008.
So I will give an account of what has happened since then. Festivals I kept
Sukkot/Tabernacles of 2008 with Pas. K. Moses in a village called Manchili.
There were about 130 people that attended through out the festival time with
about 40 to 50 on any given day. Together with donations collected from
the local Assembly members and help from Moses’ son, John Babu, they built a
beautiful prayer hall there of about 40ft x 25ft. A few other pastors
attended such as N. Mani Kumar, D. Karunakar I had planned on keeping the
Pesach/Matzohs 2009 festival with another brother near me, named M. Madhu Babu,
in a rented marriage hall in his area that would comfortably hold about 300
people, but before the festival we discovered that between the two of us that
there would be about 400 people attending and the marriage hall would not be big
enough. Madhu Babu agreed it was best for each of us to hold the feast in
our own areas. So I and other pastors, M. Hariem, D. Karunakar, G. Samson,
V. Abino, B. Prabhu Dass, and K. John Suresh kept the festival joyfully at the
school site in my local area of Kambotlapalem. About 200 people attended the
opening night for partaking of Yahshua’s Memorial supper. We had a
blessed time during the festival with many brethren from many areas
attending throughout the nine days. That night of the memorial Supper
service five young men decided to take circumcision, a doctor from another town
performed the operation in the room I rent as they laid down on a wooden school
bench. The doctor charged $15.00 to do each man. During the festival time
nine people took water immersion in Yahshua Mashiach’s Name. In the last
three months before the festival we had several things stolen from the school
and also some amounts of money, then during the festival time one elder had his
cell phone stolen. So I made an offer of 1000Rupee reward ($50) to anyone
who could tell us who took the cell and finally a young lady at the feast
overheard two of our school children talking about the thefts and she informed
us and we have now through diligent inquisition discovered who has stolen all
our items in the last few months. The cell and other items were recovered,
and the parents of the children are in the process of paying back for the money
their children stole. A.Y. English Medium School this year we had about
180+ children that entered our school from classes’ nursery through seventh
grade. Here, in my state of India, the government schools are open on the
Sabbath day and they are only in the Telugu medium language. Plus many
times the government schools will have too many students and classes per teacher
to give proper education. Because of this many people seek out private
schools if they want their children to have a proper English based education.
About two years ago we purchased about half and acre of land in my area
for the purpose of constructing a school, we are in the process now of
constructing a fifteen room school building. At present five rooms are
just about complete and within a few weeks the concrete slab roof should be
completed on the other ten rooms. I do not have the money to put up the
walls so we will put up dividers for the next year. For bringing the children to
school we have one mini bus, one three wheeler auto and a 100cc scooter.
But next year many more children want to enter and we will need to purchase
another bus to accommodate them. I noticed that the meals the children
were bringing to school with them were highly insufficient, usually white rice
and some spicy, salty, oily curry. So I started an afternoon lunch program
were we serve a nutritious meal each day of brown rice, lentil and vegetable
curry, and a raw fruit or vegetable, then once per week I will give them an egg
and a whole wheat tortilla. I recently read in the newspaper that 51% of
Indian children are stunted in their growth because of lack of proper nutrition.
At present our school staff includes 10 teachers, two drivers, three cooks and
cleaning ladies, and one overseer. To pay for the staff, food, and
transportation I charge a fee from the students of about one third of what it is
costing to pay the expenses. At present the amount that I receive in
donations from abroad is not sufficient to make up the rest of the expenses and
so for most of this year I had to use the amount I had brought with me from the
US of my personal funds to help meet the expenses. I had brought with me
about $6400.00 of my own personal funds from the US that I obtained from the
sale of my mobile home and car, and now have about $3000.00 remaining. Next
year, unless I get extra sponsorship from abroad, I will have to raise the fees
the children pay in order to meet expenses. But if I raise the fees then
the common poorer children, orphans, poor assembly member’s children will drop
out as they will not be able to afford the higher rates. Our school has a
good name and so I feel we could raise fees to meet the expenses that we are
having and we would really not need much sponsorship from abroad to meet our
monthly expenses but then mainly only the upper class children would be able to
afford to come, and I desire to make our school affordable for the common man in
my village also. In my village the average wage per day is about three
dollars for a man and one and a half for a lady. It cost an average of about 11
dollars per student per month to pay for their transportation, food and school
fees, after we deduct the children’s school fees of about three dollars I
still have to pay 7 or 8 dollars per student. If any are able to sponsor
at least seven dollars per month per child we will be able to continue to
educate the children at the low fees. This program is not a “hand out”
to the poor but a “hand up” as they are paying some amount and it is
educating them so that they will be more productive in the future. In
addition to giving a quality education, by Indian standards, I also have the
children recite the Ten Commandments each morning, sing various Biblical songs,
they also say Yahshua’s prayer each day and the majority of them come for
Sabbath worship each week. I have told the students and the staff that
they are not required by me to come for Sabbath worship but that the Almighty
wants them to come and most freely come of their own accord. In my area it
is hard to find English speaking Christian teachers. But I have only hired
Christians or Yahweh worshippers for the teachers. Being that about 90% of
the people in my area are Hindu, Christian English speakers can only be found
outside of my village. When we hire a teacher from outside we have to find
a place for them to stay and make sure they can adjust to the environment here.
Most educated English speaking Indians from larger cities are not willing to
come to a small village and teach. So it is a challenge to find proper
English speaking teachers. This month on May 24 my visa expires and I
have to return to the US. But another brother from Pennsylvania, named
Alex Jay, will be coming and overseeing the school in my absence. Alex is
a father of eight children with three still living at home and I have made plans
for him to look after the financial aspect of the school and other works, he
will be a great blessing in the physical aspect of running the school. I
have already purchased my ticket to return to India on Oct. 18 after the
festival of Sukkot 2009. Any donations that anyone sends for Pastor helps,
poor helps or school helps can still be sent to the same addresses as now and
the money will make its way to India as it always has. Each month I send
pastors helps to many pastors in my state and beyond and beyond my state, and
many poor Assembly members and widows are helped on a monthly basis. Every
month I make up a Treasurer Report on all financial transactions and the
Treasurer Report is sent to any donor upon request. I have a website at:
http://geocities.com/ftwm_1999/main
this site has our school newsletters and many other articles and pictures of the
work I am involved with here in India. While I am in the US I can be
reached at my mothers address below. Donations for the school or pastors
can be sent to one of the addresses below. Please specify when sending how
you would like your donation used.
Tony B. Suckla or Finish the Work Ministry
C/o Charlotte Lanier (my mother)
1409 Milner Rd.
Irving, Texas 75061
Tele – (972) 438-5829
Email – charlotte.lanier@juno.com
or
The San Antonio Congregation of Yahweh
c/o Jessie and Marilyn Vicknair
7945 Green Valley Rd.
Marion, Texas 78124
(830) 625-4963
or
Agape Fellowship International, (501c3 organization)
c/o Jason & Amy Pletz
P.O. Box 95
Bernville, Penn. 19506
(610) 488-8342
pletzjak@comcast.net
Do keep the work of Yahweh in India in your prayers. Tony Suckla