Babu Kotha and Brian Vaatstra are leading a mission team of 15 people to support and encourage the ZEST Mission from 26th December to the 16th January. Please pray for the team as they prepare to teach pastors, run a holiday club at the school, visit villages, and check out progress on the building of the new school.

The ZEST Committee has secured a suitable block of land near Vinukonda for a new school building to replace the current rented building (which has no running water or kitchen facilities, and is rat infested). Plans are currently being drawn up for the new school. To date ZEST has received donations of $121,000 towards the $350,000 needed to complete the project and enable the school to move towards self-sufficiency. The new school building will give the poorest children living in the slums of Vinaconda a chance to receive an education and secure a better future.

Following the last ZEST mission trip to India in January 2017, the Committee raised funds to assist a number of people with urgent medical needs they could not pay for. $15,791 was raised to assist 23 people needing a range of medical issues including cataract surgery, cancer surgery, a prosthetic leg, kidney stones, and skin disease. Pastor Ebenezer who heads the mission writes, “Thank you for your generous support to send people to the doctors and providing medication for the people. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for making a difference in people’s lives in this way” We still need to raise a further $5,600 to meet the needs identified.