The Blessing Editorial Team talked to our senior
retired missionaries Mrs. & Mr. Ponnusamy over
phone and interviewed them. The excerpts are given
below:
Blessing: Can you both tell us about your family
background and upbringing?
Mr. Ponnusamy: I was born in a small hamlet in
Javvadu hills. We were five children and lived as a
joint family. It is an interior hilly area in
Tiruvanamalai district of Tamil Nadu. There was no
school in our locality. But my father wanted to
educate me. So he arranged home schooling for me till
th
I could complete 5 grade.
Mrs. Sarasa Ponnusamy: I hail from the
Southern part of Tamil Nadu from a village called
Alangodu in Kanyakumari district. I come from a
Hindu background. My father was into politics and
was an atheist. I did my schooling in the LMS school at
Neyoor.
Blessing: Can you both tell how you came to the
knowledge of Christ?
Mr. Ponnusamy: As there was no school nearby,
my father put me in a nearby Government hostel. In
the school I was very much impressed by one of my
teachers, Mrs. Annabai Elias. Her life attracted me to
Christ. I studied till 7th grade in that school. Mr.
Elias, her husband, encouraged me to study further
and put me in CSI hostel at Salem. There I could study
till my higher secondary. It was there I came to the
personal knowledge of Jesus Christ in the year 1968.
Mrs. Sarasa Ponnusamy: During those years, I
doubted God's existence because of the financial
problem in our house. One of my neighbours
encouraged me to attend prayer meetings in their
home. In one such prayer meeting, she prophesied
and told everything that was in my heart. Those
prophetical words spoke directly to me and I found
Christ.
Blessing: Uncle, how did you come across the
ministries of Blessing Youth Mission?
Mr. Ponnusamy: During those days, the SMP
(Students Missionary Programme) team used to visit
Javvadu hills for Gospel outreach. I used to
accompany them. I was anointed by the Holy Spirit in
one of the BYM meetings held in 1973. During the
next SMP team's visit to our hills, I participated
enthusiastically. In a village, a boy cried after hearing
the Good News of Christ. When I asked him the
reason, he told that if he had known Christ a few years
www.bymonline.org | May 2020 | page 08
TRAIL BLAZERS, TREND SETTERS Part 2
MEET
the first batch missionary of BYM,
Mr. Ponnusamy.