Mission Statement:
To reach out to Indo-Canadians for the LORD through friendships, discipleship, through ESL, and through training the committed Christians.
Vision Statement:
To reach out to most of the Punjabis living in the Abbotsford area
Salvestina’s Personal Testimony:
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” (Isaiah 6:8) This is my favorite verse. I believe God chose me to serve Him while I was still a little child. And now I find myself serving Him. Since childhood, I wanted to be a missionary.
My dad was a Muslim by birth, but was later raised in a Christian orphanage after the death of his parents. His faith was very strong. Every evening we sang hymns, prayed, and read the Bible. Every morning, our mom would tell us to say our personal prayers before coming for breakfast. It was in this environment, at a very young age, that I accepted Jesus into my heart. After graduation from a medical training school, I started working in the Public Health Department. of a Christian Hospital.
My love for Jesus soon led me to start an evening prayer group where about 40 people gathered for Bible study and prayer. Soon, every house on my street began taking turns hosting the prayer meetings. Later we started a choir for the second service in our church. Observing my passion for Christ, my oldest sister in Bellingham, WA encouraged me to come to Canada to work among the Punjabis. Guided by God’s leading, I left Pakistan in 1998 for Abbotsford, BC and began attending Columbia Bible College. All the time, I felt God calling me to work among Indo-Canadians. During my internship with the Alliance church, a few Punjabis opened their hearts to Jesus.
As a result, I started a Bible study in my home. I have seen God’s hand guiding me by my hand. He led step by step. Right after I received my BA in Biblical Studies, I was invited by the Mission’s pastor at Sevenoaks Alliance Church to work with him as an intern. With God’s leading an ESL program was started and its main aim was to reach out to our Punjabi neighbors. Our ESL program not only invited Punjabis but also students from many nations.
Today this is one of the very successful programs at Sevenoaks Alliance Church and many students have accepted Christ through it. We also had our first Christmas outreach to our Punjabi neighbors through our church. A service for Punjabis and a Kids’ club started soon. God brought many volunteers to help us with ESL, children clubs, outreaches, and other aspects of the ministry. My internship at Sevenoaks ended in January 2003. And then I was hired as a Pastor to of South Asian Ministry.
In 2009, due to financial reasons when the ministry to Indo-Canadians was let go from this church, God provided us a place for three years at Emmanuel Baptist Church. God knew I needed finances therefore he worked in the hearts of many people of Sevenoaks church. They wanted to financially support the ministry. So under the leadership of Dan Chapman who was the director of Baptist Missions, I was accepted as a Missionary to Indo-Canadian people and through them I started receiving funds every month. God is great. I just wanted to be faithful and He did His work. There we reached out to our neighbors for three years. In 2011 I gave a little talk at Clearbrook MB Church about how to reach out to their neighbors. There was a big group of seniors who seemed very interested in knowing how to reach out. And, I thought this church seemed to be ready in reaching out. And I brought my resumes there. After about one year I was accepted as a Missionary for South Asian Ministry. It was the understanding that I would raise my own funds and the church would help with some.
However, the church has been more than generous and provided me with one a monthly salary which included donations from individual donors. Eldon DeFehr worked hard to encourage people to donate and now quite a few them are continuing with their support. Also, Pastor James from the Bakerview church asked me to become their missionary. They have helped me with reaching out to our neighbors for more than 5 years.
At the Clearbrook MB Church, we held ESL program, Bible Studies, Sunday Services, programs for kids and teens, and three outreaches per year. Last Christmas 2019 we saw about 250 people attend our Punjabi Christmas Outreach. Praise the LORD. We have had three baptisms during the last two years.
In July 2019 I sensed that God wants me to leave this church. I have shared this with our leadership. I sense we should go where we are surrounded by our East Indian Neighbours and where people would like to get involved in reaching out. Right now with the partnership of another pastor, we are holding Weekly services on Saturday in our houses alternatively. And we are praying that God will place a burden upon some churches who would like to work with us in reaching out to their lost Punjabi neighbors.
We are also praying that the LORD will provide enough donors who would support the financial needs of our ministry.
