Chhattisgarh is a state with illiteracy to the tune of 38%. People are living under abject poverty and ill health. BOAM India teams are involved in reaching the lost in many Hindu villages here where the Gospel has never been preached. As we preach and teach the word many turn to Christ. Because this is deep in fanatical Hindu country, as people trust Christ for their salvation in some cases they are denied access to the village school and face isolation from the community. God enabled us to purchase a property last year to address such issues. We plan to build a school in this property to educate the children whose parents face such threats. The building construction is on the way. This also helps us to educate the children of our own staff as they also live under constant threats.

Our center is located at Pamgarh block of Janjgir Champa, district of the Chhattisgarh state. Our center immediately caters to the needs of the following villages. Pamgarh, Kayyappara, Chandipara, Rozandih, Donga Karod and Samaria Dera with a population over 500,000. We have our believers in these villages who face difficulties. The need is great and we need to do something.

The children will be helped through a feeding program during the day with supplementary nutrition, a medical check up, school supplies and uniforms.

I grew up in a Roman Catholic home in the town of Windham NH. At the age of 14, my oldest sister Maria bought me my first Bible and began to have Bible studies with me. It was at the end of one of these Bible studies that God opened my eyes and I prayed to accept Christ as my Savior. My relationship with God turned from fear to friendship. Two years later my mother and father got saved and all three of us were Baptized at Fellowship Bible Church of Chester, where we became members.

During the summer of my freshman year at the University of New Hampshire, I had the opportunity to go on a short-term missions trip to Honduras. God showed me in His word what it meant to truly have compassion for the lost. The truths of John 5:1-9 & II Corinthians 4:18 were firmly planted in my mind and I felt God call me to missions fulltime.

Becky grew up in a Christian home and accepted the Lord as her Savior at age 7. Her pastor gave a message on a Sunday morning and the thought of not being saved and going to hell frightened Becky. Later that day she talked with her mother who explained to her how to be saved and that is when Becky called out to God to save her.

I knew it would take a special woman to want to be a career missionary. Becky's parents owned and operated a Christian camp on the foothills of the White Mountains (Camp Victory, Wentworth NH). There she had the opportunity to hear God's word preached by many different guest speakers. This touched her heart and she dedicated her life to missions as a teenager (II Corinthians 5:15). It is awesome to see how God called us both separately to missions. And it is to God's glory that He brought us together to better serve Him as a family. We met on the same path and began to walk together. We were married January 3, 2004. On May 24, 2005 we were blessed with the birth of our first child, Josiah.

After graduating from the University of New Hampshire in 2003 with a degree in Anthropology, I attended the Northeastern School of Theology and Missions in Dracut MA (formerly the Burlington Bible Institute) and earned a Foundation of Ministry Certificate in 2004. God also opened up a door for a one-year pastoral internship at the Fellowship Bible Church of Chester in March of 2005. After much prayer and seeking wisdom from our Elders we applied and were accepted into Biblical Ministries Worldwide in January 2006.

Ed grew up in Newton, NH attending church and Sunday school with his family. While living without a father for ten years beginning at the age of nine the Lord drew Ed to Himself; Ed responded to the Lord?s calling for salvation and direction for his life. Since 1986 he has attended Fellowship Bible Church of Chester, NH where he has been able to get valuable ministry experience. He graduated from Burlington Bible Institute in 1990 and Evangel Bible Training Institute in 1992. He was accepted by Biblical Ministries Worldwide in 1996 after having served a year of cross cultural internship in the Chicago area. Ed served with BMW in Argentina from July of 1999 until August 2003. He was involved in training leaders, teaching Bible studies, doing Evangelistic ministries using his drawings, teaching in the Christian school and in the Bible Seminary, and preaching weekly in the prison & church services. He oversaw the work of two churches in Corrientes to complete the final stages of making the churches completely independent.

Ministry - as of June 2005:

Ed is serving in Honduras alongside Clifton Bullock in the rural area of Copan. He assists the national pastors, whom Clifton has been training, in evangelism, teaching, and preaching. He encourages them with counsel and instruction. He is also involved in church planting in the region of Florida.

Michael was raised as a Roman Catholic. At age 16 he met Christian scientists from the University of California who believed in Adam and Eve. They challenged him to read the Bible, a book he had been mocking. He saw soon after that his problem with God was not intellectual, but rather of a sinful heart. He believed on Christ as his Lord and Savior. At age 14, Sandy began searching for answers and a better direction to life, and finally received Christ at a home Bible study at the age of 17.

Ministry:

Michael is involved with itinerant ministry to Cuba and other Latin American nations during the two years of residency in New Jersey, USA. His emphasis is on leadership development and teacher training. Sandy is teaching at Lake Park Christian Academy in Indian Trail, North Carolina.

Bob & Robin spent most of their lives in New Hampshire. They were both saved as children and grew up in Christian homes. Since they were married in 1985, they attended Fellowship Bible Church in Chester, NH. There they were trained and mentored in many areas of ministry and Bob had the privilege to serve in leadership. Bob worked in sales and business administration for most of his life. Robin is a homemaker and home-schooler of their children.

Ministry:

The Hastings arrived in the country of Guatemala in August 2004 and serve as missionaries there with AMG International (Advancing the Ministries of the Gospel). Bob's role there is to serve in the administration of the various programs that AMG provides including Christian Education for Children, Bible Correspondence, Medical and Nutritional Education Programs, Church Planting and Development, etc.

Just weeks before Jack and Jennifer?s wedding in 1974, Jennifer got saved through the witness of her sister. Jennifer then witnessed to Jack who claimed to believe all she said, so she went through with the marriage. Jack, however, was not saved at that time. In March 1987, during some financial and legal struggles with his career, and tensions at home (due to being unequally yoked) Jack surrendered to the Lord as his wife once again shared her faith with him. At that time, he became a Believer.

In 1996, God led in the establishing of Grace Dental Mission, a non-profit local church oriented ministry through which we seek to minister to the dental needs of missionaries and their families.

Our ministry is one of direct dental care to missionaries and those nationals who they minister to in an effort to be a help to the church planting ministry of the missionary.

Shimeles Jiru Bedane is from a small town about 40 miles from Addis Ababa. He was raised in an Orthodox church, but attended the church where the Emmanuel Mehaber reformations began. This resulted in his being introduced to evangelical Christianity and he was converted from his Orthodox background. He quit his government job to work in the church.

He was trained in the Baptist Mission of Ethiopia Leadership Training Center in Nazareth. This is a two-year, half time Bible School. He would attend school every other month, and work in his church in the intervening months. He graduated as an evangelist.

After his graduation, he was assigned to work with the start-up churches in Addis Ababa, and particularly in the Gulele area northwest of the city. This is a strong Muslim area which means much persecution and suffering for Christian evangelists. Despite his troubles, he and his co-workers have brought over 400 people to be baptized, and have started 12 cell groups in the last 3 years.

Shimeles and his wife Amarech live in a small rented house in the Gulele area. They are dependent on the local buses for transportation.

Gezahign Eshetu Otoru - Ethiopia:

Gezahign writes in his testimony: "Before I came to Christ, I [did not have] a corrupted or rebellious life...because I came to Christ when I am a child. I remember that I was sick. Severely and going to die. One day when returning from hospital with my small brother, I heard singing from one house across the road. Men of God were worshiping. I stopped and heard a voice from [within] to enter that house. It was Salvation hour. I entered with my brother. I [was] transformed in that day.. .not only me.. .also my families. Jesus is Lord."

"As David served God in his age, serving God is also my zeal. Because He delivered me from great death. So the rest of my life is not mine. It is His. God assured me... that I have to serve before His people inside [the church] and before [lost people] outside in the harvest. Confidently I am a tested servant."

Brother Gezahign is 22-years-old, and is being mentored and trained by an Ethiopian national evangelist. His ministry includes: open air evangelism, church planting, and literature distribution, praying for the sick, home visitations, and helping to lead a cell church that he helped form last year.

Steve is a 3rd generation missionary. His father first came to Utah in 1955 when Steve was just 2 years old. He accepted Christ as savior at age 6. Rhonda grew up in Londonderry, NH and accepted Christ at age 10. She looks back now on all the preparation she gained by attending Word of Life camps and working at Camp Wildwood. Steve and Rhonda met at Grand Rapids School of the Bible and Music in Michigan. There they both majored in Christian Education. They were married in 1976 at Manchester, NH. In 1978 Rachel was born. That same year they made the move to Utah to work and help as laymen in a small mission church.

Steve and Rhonda did not come to Utah originally to be missionaries. The call came 10 years later as they worked with the youth group in their local mission church. In 1988 they begin looking for ways to be free to run camps all summer. In 1989 Steve sold the electronics repair store which he had started years earlier. They saw God's direct leading in this. In just 30 days the business sold and they went from being in business to being in full time camping ministry.

Ministry

Pioneer Bible Camp (established in 1989) is a typical Christian Camp open to children in grade school. The camp sessions are a week long, Monday - Friday. The counselors share the gospel with the campers, teach Bible lessons, do devotionals with them as well as have fun with the kids with typical outside summer recreational activities like boating & swimming. Many of the campers are Christians, some are Mormons, and others attend no church at all. The camp is an independent ministry - owned by the Ransoms.