Dear prayer partners,

Greetings in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.  Thank you for your prayers, encouragement and your mails that help us to move forward as we enter 2009.   

God enabled me to give time in Chennai work helping Chennai Transformation Network, National Prayer Network, Mission Educational Books and Christian Institute of Management.  I was able to finish some reading, which accumulated this year.

14-16 December, God enabled me to fast and pray for three days, to do evaluation of my personal life, family life, and ministry.  God has encouraged me to set new goals in the coming year and I was afraid to do so.  However, on 17th God confirmed the goals by providing signs that He is moving forward. 

I           India

1.         Two women raped every hour:  Every 60 minutes, two women are raped in this country. What is more horrendous is that 133 elderly women were sexually assaulted last year, according to the latest report prepared by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).  A total of 20,737 cases of rape were reported last year registering a 7.2 per cent increase over the previous year, with Madhya Pradesh becoming the “rape capital” of the country by topping the list of such incidents. Going by the NCRB statistics, two women are raped in the country every hour.  Madhya Pradesh accounted for 14.5 per cent of the total cases (3,010), with West Bengal following with 2,106 such incidents. Records of high incidence in other states include Uttar Pradesh (1,648), Bihar (1,555) and Rajasthan (1,238).