Jagu's Testimony

I was born and grew up in India.The Hindu faith was my birthright and we worshiped in the temples and we prayed to many dieties as all Hindu's do. I didn't even know that there were any other religious beliefs in the world. At the age of 18 I came to New Zealand to get married to Bipin. Our marriage was arranged by our parents. After about a year of marriage we purchased our home and decided to start a family. We had many problems though. After finally conceiving I had a miscarriage and was unable to get pregnant again. So for many years we were not able to have children at all. We tried everything we knew to do.

We went to a specialist for eight years and spent a lot of money. We went to India and our families they took us to many temples and prayed with us and for us so that we could have a child. I was told that if I gave up something I needed everyday, I might get pregnant. I gave up rice for 3 years. (Because I am a vegetarian it was a major part of my diet.) A doctor in India taught us accupressure exercises. My mum sent me an iron anklet that I had to wear on my right ankle and all these things were supposed to bring us a child. We were faithful to do everything they told us to do. We were desperate for children, we would have done anything at this point. But after 3 long years we remained childless.

Finally, after trying for 8 long years I became pregnant. We didn't know why. It could have been the acupressure, the iron anklet, or our gods finally answering our prayers. We were grateful and very excited when our daughter was born in November of 1992. We named her Puja because in our language it means "prayer". We believed that she was a prayer answered. About 18 months later we had another child. This time a little boy. We were very happy. We now had a boy and girl. They were doing very well. They were both happy, healthy children.

One day she just stopped talking and started crying all the time. We had a dog that she laughed and played with all the time, and we had to have him put to sleep. He had been with us for 14 years. It was after this happened that we noticed she had stopped talking and was crying all the time for no reason. We thought that maybe she just missed the dog or was upset because Bhavik was born. But it just got worse and worse. We were so desperate to find out what was wrong with her that we even put her in the hospital for tests. They could find no reason for our daughters constant crying and lack of communication.

We put her in a daycare center when she was about 2 years old, and I am so grateful that we did. For this kindy began to help her respond. But to add to our worries Bhavik, our son, was having problems walking. The specialist told us that he had cerebral palsy of the legs and that he would not be able to run properly and would need help to walk when he was older. He was only 15 months old then. We were very upset! One side we had Puja and on the other side we had Bhavik. Where were my gods I cried in despair!!! But I helped Bhavik, spending 3 hours every day massaging his legs and taking him to therapy 3 days a week. He began to do really well. But still Puja was making us worry. She still cried all the time, she did not talk, and she looked scared all the time, even after all this time.

A Hindu lady told us that Puja was cursed and to fix the curse we had to go to India. So out of desperation for our child, we sold our business, left everything we had and went to India for 6 months to get her help. We took Puja to many Hindu temples and had the priests pray over her. We went everywhere we could for prayer. We took her to Indian doctors who did accupuncture on her as well. We did everything we knew to do and everything we could do to help our baby. But the gods did not hear us. Puja only grew worse.

We came back to New Zealand and one day Pastor Keith from the Kindy heard Puja crying at the daycare center. He asked Bipin if he could pray for Puja. At first we said, "No." We had been told that Puja would talk within 3 months after coming back to New Zealand and we believed that she would. She didn't! Praise God, Pastor Keith asked us again in 3 months if he could pray for her. This time out of desperation we said, "Yes!"

After the very first prayer Puja changed! For four long years she never would look us in the eyes, and she did after he prayed for her. About this time there were some Indian Christians who asked if they could pray for Puja also, we said, "Yes!" to them as well. It really amazed us because no one had ever asked to pray for Puja before and here were these complete strangers asking if they could pray for her.

Pastor Keith and Pastor Andrew came to our house to pray and saw all my Hindu stuff. They told me that if we wanted to see Jesus work we must remove all of it. I was not very happy because this was what I had believed in all my life, but I was desperate and I got rid of all of it. I was willing to do anything that it took to make her well again.

After they prayed in our home we noticed that she was settled down more, but at times she still screamed, especially at night. We tried praying over her ourselves but she would never settled down. Then when the pastors prayed in the Name of Jesus, Puja always settled, it was amazing! We asked Pastor Keith why this happened amd he explained to us that we must pray with faith. We had to learn what this meant. This learning took over 9 months.

We were amazed at Pastor Keith's patience with us. One day Puja said 3 words at kindy. She said, "God Made Me." We have no idea why she said those 3 words and not, "lolly" or something else. We were overjoyed at the progress she had made. That evening after asking Pastor Keith a lot of questions about what was happening to us we gave our lives to the Lord. That was on November 11, 1997. It was an awesome experience! Later we followed the Lord in obedience to His word and we were both baptized on February 2, 1998.

We have come a long way in only 10 months. I know that we have a long road ahead of us. We are the first in our family to become Christian and it is very hard for me. I had a faith I had believed in all my life and to change was a big thing for me. It was like asking you to turn away from Jesus and become a Hindu. That was what it was like for me. But I thank God that He did save me and my family. I thank Him for bringing Denise, Pastor Keith, Pastor Andrew and this church into my life. Actually it was Denise who let Puja into the kindy here even though the kindy was full. I thank God He brought Puja's teacher aide, Trish, and her boss, Jan, into my life. She has been with Puja for more than 2 years now and I know that Puja is the better for it.

I would like to thank everyone who has prayed for Puja and for my family. I know the Lord has answered those prayers. One thing that amazes us is, because of Puja, we have come to know Jesus, so in a way all the hardship has been worthwhile. Praise God Puja is doing very well now and is improving and healing a little every day. She is a miracle in progress before our very eyes. We still have our problems but we have faith in Jesus now and He will help us all the way.

If you would like to let Jagu know how much you enjoyed her testimony please email us and we will forward it to her. She would love to hear from you.