Greetings from our family to yours!

We are nearing the end of this year and we are working towards an ending full of celebration. Christmas is the time of year when we can without reservation or opposition share the true reason of the season in our Buddhist dominant area. Therefore we will be sharing about the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ with our community in a variety of events.

On another note the last few months have been full of highlights and lowlights and we want to just share some of those with you. Because you are part of our life and ministry even if its from afar.

Family life

Overall our family is doing really well. The kids continue to homeschool and spend their afternoons with us at the Bud Centre. We have had some bouts of sickness especially Kyla, but overall as a family we are flourishing and thankful for the life God has blessed us to live.

Highlights – Our family traveled to Jaffna a few months back to explore part of the country we have never gone before. We traveled by train, as we are still facing fuel challenges. But it allowed us to really explore in a way we never have before.

Lowlights – Our organization had a regional retreat in Indonesia that we were scheduled to attend but we were unfortunately unable to because the country would not allow Sri Lankan passport holders to obtain a visa in response to the crisis in the country. It was disappointing having this restriction placed upon us.

The Bud Centre

We are running at full capacity at the Centre. We have 4 full time national staff members as well as the two of us. On average we have 50 to 80 kids in attendance. Thanks to your faithful support we are providing a much needed meal every day for the kids. Every other week we have a moms group that has a fruitful time learning and fun activities.

Highlights – We are thankful everyday that the centre is back as it was intended to be. With two years of closure we count each day as a blessing. We are also praising God that many of our youth are now going to youth group at church. Pray for their salvation.

Lowlights – We experienced a crisis that ended tragically and had some other challenging situations in the last months. One young girl who attended the centre pre covid ended up drowning to death on a very storming day. We were some of the first responders in the area of counsel and comfort to those involved in the incident. We had to bring the tragedy into our conversations at the centre as it shook families and kids to the core. It was a challenging time for us knowing the precious life was taken much too soon but God is so faithful to bring us hope in hard times like this.

Church Ministry

We serve at Lanka Faith Mission Church and attend there as a family. It’s pastored by our brother and sister in law. We share the word once a month and oversea the Sunday school. We also provide a meal each week for the congregation and its a nice time of fellowship following the service.

Highlights – We are thrilled to come alongside this ministry in close proximity to the Bud Centre. We always had it on our hearts that the centre would bridge the gap to the church. Many are asking and curious about what church is all about and we have had many good conversations and invitation opportunities.

Lowlights – Its a challenge to see people take the step to enter the church as often it will change every aspect of their life. Most often the Buddhist temple, village leader, school teachers, and even family members will deter their hearts desires. Therefore its a very challenging matter that requires more prayer and trust in God’s perfect time.

Future Plans

We had hoped to visit Canada earlier this year but we had a lot of complications with Kyla not having a Canadian birth certificate. Praise the Lord we finally obtained it a few weeks ago.

Nishanthe still has not received any update on the status of his permanent residence application in Canada. This is something we need to take care of once we do get back. However the getting back requires a visa to come as well as the unknown time frame leaves making plans a bit tricky.

December we will have our uncle from Prince George BC with us. We are very excited about that. He Pastors a church that has supported us over the years. January our parents will visit us and its a visit so long overdue. They will finally meet our little Kyla for the first time.

The months of March and April will be full on with two missions teams serving at the Bud Centre. And once all that is done we hope to be getting on a plane and touching our feet back on Canadian soil after 4 1/2 long years.

In closing we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your love, prayers, and support. We close the year financially on track with our ministry budget. God has met our every need and then some. We did a couple food hampers distributions this year due to the crisis in Sri Lanka and feeding the kids at the Bud centre did some major increase to our finances. However we have never been in lack as many supporters reached out in times most needed.

If you have it on your heart to help us with our Christmas gifts for the Bud Centre kids, the food hamper distribution and the Sunday school Christmas program please make your donation to the link:   https://paoc.org/donate/NishantheKandangama
May God bless you and keep you this holiday season!

With much love from the Kandangama’s

“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer.”   Romans 12:12