UPDATE ON RECENT LAND ISSUE
This letter came to us just a few weeks ago from our dear brother in India, Pastor Sudheer Mekala. Although we have edited it slightly to clarify the story, his letter gives a picture of the struggles the Mekalas face. Sudheer is Pastor Devadas Mekala's son. He handles most of the day to day operations of the Children's Home, and he's been very active in uniting area pastors.
MY DEAR BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN CHRIST:
Greetings in the blessed name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It is a great blessing to speak with you. I want to share with you a testimony. God is doing amazing things in our lives.
A few years ago when we shared the vision of starting a hospital to helping the villagers with our supporters in America, God spoke to them in a special way and they have responded by raising $25,000 for the Medical Clinic. We praised God and started the work. Our heart was also to start a Bible College and construct a new church as we have no place to gather for worship.
So the Medical Clinic turned into a multi-purpose building with a Bible college in the second floor and the church in the third floor.
We know if we try to build each floor at different times that the construction cost would be doubled. As we have only $25,000 for the Clinic, we searched for a way to finish the whole project at once. That is when we thought to sell some land which God had given us, so that it may be done.
Our family has a property nearby to the orphanage. God blessed us and we were able to purchase the land when it was very cheap, when there was not much development in the area. Over the last few years many export industries were set up and the land prices became drastically high. This was when some of our relatives (four men, including Mommy’s younger brother) became interested to buy a plot of the land. There were other people willing to buy this land, but mommy thought that it would be nice to sell to her brother and his family.
I had some concern, as her brother is not a Christian and I know his character is sometimes not good. But the deal was done and the land was offered to them for a fair price which was lower than the then market value. We took some of the money at the beginning, for construction, but waited to take the rest.
Recently the economy has come down, and the value of the land has also gone down. The people who came forward to buy the land suddenly changed their minds and wanted to walk out of the agreement. They want us to return the money. The problem is that we have already used the money in the construction.
First they started off peacefully and then they started becoming more and more rough. They started calling Mommy and Subhakar daily and started harassing them. They had a heated argument against Subhakar. First they abused him verbally and then they threatened to hurt him. They want Subhakar to show anger and fight, but he stays calm and walks away when he is insulted. This problem went on and on. They also threatened to do physical harm to Mommy.
One day there was a call from a pastor who was also Daddy’s old friend. He heard about the problem with the land, and knew also the men who bought the land, so he asked Daddy to come to his house so that he could help to negotiate. We trusted this person as he was a pastor and a friend.
But when we went there it turned out to be very different as we expected. The pastor had been deceived by the other men, and was working to help them. There were some arguments and in the process of this the men screamed at Daddy and grabbed him to injure him.
One man threw a chair against a wall and broke Mommy’s glasses. He threatened to kill Mommy if we do not give the money back. There was no other choice but to sign a new agreement saying that we have taken this money as a loan and that we would pay back the money within one year. Mommy was so afraid that she begged me and Daddy not to argue this agreement.
Daddy tried to talk to the pastor, and rebuke him. He said to him, “How can a God-servant do this?” He tells Him that God will judge his sin. Mommy herself also pleaded with her family. She proclaimed the Word of the Lord, and challenged them, “You’re trying to cheat us because we are weak today, but I tell you, we have a strong God who will fight for us.”
While they were talking there was one guy who was charging like a bull to come up against me. He tried many times to provoke me to fight with him. He was showing his muscles and saying that he is an experienced fighter. He was raging and the others were making a drama of holding him back. They said if they were not there to stop him, he would surely kill me.
All during this problem, I feel great anger, but the Lord is giving me a Scripture in my heart. He is reminding me of I Peter 2:23, which says, “He did not retaliate when he was insulted, nor threaten revenge when he suffered. He left his case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly.”
This was the word that made me really held my nerve. God was speaking to me and I prayed to Him, “It is you who will judge, Father!” We know that the agreement about the loan is not fair, but we signed it anyway.
We walked out of that place with great sadness, all through our drive all the way back to the Children’s Home there was not one word uttered. Then at that moment one of the board members of Bless India calls us, and says that they are just praying for us about the problem of the land, and want to know if there is any news.
When he said this I knew that God was acting already. I cannot question why this has happened but I know that God knows and He is in control.
All we could do was pray and wait upon the Lord and depend upon Him for bringing us out of this. We know and trust that He will solve this problem for us. Some friends from my old life, when I was not serving God, they came to me and offered to do harm to the men. Also men from Subhakar’s past, when he was a street fighter, came and asked to help us. They are eager to do evil but we would not allow them. We would not go back to our pasts. We tell them we must let God fight for us. It is a great opportunity to show these old friends how God has changed us.
About one month after this day, the man who raged against us met with an accident. His head was injured and his wife had fractures in both legs. Also the pastor who conspired against us, he found he had cancer. He lived only four weeks after leaning that he had cancer.
We really wept at the feet of the Lord as we still have love for our friends and for our family. Even though they hurt us, we did not want bad things to happen in their lives. We got on our knees and started interceding on their behalf. Some of the men against us, they came and begged forgiveness. We embraced them and freely gave forgiveness.
Daddy preached at the funeral of the Pastor who betrayed us. He did not speak of his sins, only gave testimony of his work for Christ. We have given comfort to the family as we are able.
Through these tragedies, everyone involved—and many people in their villages—have come to know the fear of the Lord. They know this is the hand of God and fear for their own lives. We ask you today, please pray for the safety of this family. Ask Him for mercy and to protect those who have tried to do evil against us.
They soon forgot what had happened, and in the last few weeks, they have started harassing us again and demanding the money. It is not a small sum for us to give it so easily, and we are still not able to pay it.
We are trying to think of another way to pay the money, but every option we look at seems to be a closed door right now. Only we know that we have a great hope in Jesus, and God is preparing us for something wonderful. Nothing is impossible to the God whom we serve!
We see that He has already been using this problem to proclaim His power and glory to the people in this area. He has fought for us before and we know He will never fail us.
In HIS Service,
Pastor Sudheer Mekala