Dear NMM Friend,

We have a wonderful opportunity to share with you about what happened to one of our native missionaries, Kesabhai, when he began to share the Gospel in a village.

"You cannot bring this Christian religion and corrupt the minds of our people. If you don't stop doing this, we'll chop you into pieces." Kesabhai received this dire threat from angry villagers when he first started his church-planting work in a remote village in Rajasthan. And things didn't exactly improve when the first villagers received Christ as their Savior. They were hated, branded as low castes and treated as dirt.

The believers were not even allowed to draw water from the public well. This was an enormous hardship for the Christians, especially for the women, during the hot summer months. They had to walk so many miles to get water and carry the heavy pots home on their heads.

In spite of the animosity and terrible opposition, however, their numbers grew. Some 100 to 120 people gathered for worship each Sunday, and sometimes there was not even enough room for everyone inside the hut.

Then, two months ago, God rewarded the faithfulness of these dear brothers and sisters through one of our NMM friends who sponsored the drilling of a Village Well in their village. Imagine the joy of the Christians when they received their own well as a gift from the Lord and from the Body of Christ! And just try to picture the amazement of their "enemies" when the believers invited them to draw water freely from this Well!

It was so amazing to see, within few weeks, the hostile attitude of the villagers began to change. They became friendlier and started to interact with the believers as they drew water for themselves and for their cattle. Most of all, the Well opened the door for Kesabhai and the other believers to build relationships and share the Gospel with those who formerly refused to listen.

Since we started the well project, the Lord enabled us to drill 10 wells for desperately poor Bhil (one of the tribal groups in Rajasthan) and slum communities, often ravaged by drought. You see, each village well has an inscription that encourages those, who draw water, to ask our missionaries for an explanation. The inscription reads: Jesus Christ says: "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst" (John 4:13-14).

In all of these villages, the ongoing impact of these wells is the same: The gift of clean water greatly improves people's health, contributes to the development of their communities and opens their hearts to the love of God. And because we drill the wells near our churches, our missionaries are readily available to share the Gospel with those who come.

But there are thousands of villages where the local church has yet to receive a well, and NMM has committed to drill at least 25 new wells in the next few months. The average cost to drill one of these wells is $800 (depending on the ground and the depth the shaft has to be sunk to reach water), but it can be as much as $1000 in difficult terrain.

Helping fund a village Well is one of the greatest investments you can make for the Kingdom. So I encourage you to pray and consider whether God would have you help drill a village Well for a needy village. It will not only bless the people with clean, safe water but will also provide a powerful testimony that daily points them to Jesus, the Savior of the world.

As you pray, consider this: Jesus promised a reward to those who give a cup of water to one of His followers Today, through a village Well, you can provide a river of life to an entire village in His name!

Would you please include this need in your prayers and in your plans for special projects this month?

We praise God for your generosity regardless of the ability to give towards this project. Because of your prayers and support, lives are being transformed for eternity! We acknowledge the fact that without God’s grace and your partnership, we cannot accomplish this task. Please know that you are a vital part of this ministry.