News from Bombay and Viju

Our dear friends,

MUMBAI 7/11: The pictures are gory and frightening; reminders of 9/11, the London and Madrid train blasts. The insidious hand of Jehadi inspired terror has reached into Mumbai once again. Seven trains were hit within eleven minutes of each other. .Terrorists have aimed once more at the economic hub of our country. We have had a series of bomb attacks in 1993 and then again in 2002 and 2003 before these blasts.

No one in our circles have been injured or killed in the blasts. However our Accountant was in the train that had the blast at Borivili Station. Several others were close by to the blasts. The most horrific sight was Naidu’s, who works in our Bandra office on his way home when he saw the ghastly sights of dismembered bodies at Bandra .station. Memories do not go off easily. He was trembling all night!! Hospitals were overflowing with corpses and the injured.

1. Pray for God’s help and protection over the city and country. Ps.127: ‘Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen watches over it in vain’ is true for us. The Government has uncovered elaborate plots by terrorists with networks spread around India organized from Pakistan and Bangladesh and even reaching out to Dubai and Saudi Arabia.. Pray for a frustration of these plots as well as wisdom given to the government in handling security. We have been plagued over the last two days with bomb scares and bomb hoaxes. The heightened security is enough to paralyze normal life.

2. Pray for peace between the Hindu and Muslim communities. There is a lot of anger among the Hindus and it will take just a spark to set off sectarian strife. These can be very bloody. Today a political rally addressed by the Gujerat chief minister Narendar Modi has those probabilities.

3. In the past two weeks we have had a series of disasters. Floods, a political riot followed by vandalism and now the train blasts We are attempting thorough the Mumbai Transformation Network (a network of Christian leaders) to prepare the church in Mumbai for disaster management and alleviation. This could be in early August. Pray for strength and compassion to respond effectively.

Warmly in Christ,



Viju and Valsa Abraham