Bro Andrew Richard & Sis Hanna celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary with grandeur
25th wedding Anniversary Celebration 2018
05-05-2018The dawn of the day on 4th May 2018 at Valachil in Mangalore brought about a sense of celebrations at the Prayer center. The reason being, it was the silver jubilee celebrations of Bro Andrew Richard and Sis Hanna Richard married life. It was a moment of pride for both of them as their two sons Isaac and Moses took the initiative of adding more colour to the already existing weekly prayer service which is attended by many a faithful.
The celebrations started off with a bang as the prayer center itself had gone through a major face-lift recently and this added more colour to the occasion when both Bro Andrew and Sis Hanna walked down the center aisle of the prayer hall hand-in-hand with the page boys and girls leading at the forefront. The congregation ushered them with flower petals being showered upon them. Even though their wedding anniversary falls on the 6th of May, the family, on the whole, decided that they would spend this occasion with the faithful at Grace Ministry.
As it is rightly said that to commence any occasion it is good to invoke the blessing of the Almighty and hence the faithful were led in prayer and worship by Bro.Isaac with his soul touching melodies. As in the words of St. Augustine, “One, who sings for the glory of God, prays twice”.
Bro Isaac Richard also took the opportunity to bring back his vivid memories of the 25 years of the married life of his parents and every word had an apt meaning to the occasion. It certainly was a moment to cherish as one recalls the moments of the past. Similarly, another from the Faithful spoke about the prophecies that Bro Andrew and Sis Hanna had prophesized about his family members and how grateful he was to this wonderful couple. These prophecies clearly show the amount of prayer and intercession that this couple invests for the Glory of God. They have certainly dedicated their lives to the service of God.
Thereafter Bro Andrew and Sis Hanna were invited to come upon the stage for their personal time in prayer with the Lord. The famous quote goes like, “Marriages are made in Heaven” and this is really true in the life of this prayerful couple. Both of them renewed their weddings vows surrendering their lives to the service of God, thereafter exchanged their weddings rings, garlanded each other and put off an already lit candle individually as a mark to end their 25 years of wedded life and together lit a single candle to mark the beginning the 26th year of their married life. Most importantly they took turns to pray for each other’s well-being.
On the lighter side of this celebration and in a filmy style Bro Andrew went on his knees and offered a gold floral rose as a memento of his love for Sis Hanna. This wonderful scene brought a wide smile to many a face amongst the faithful. The wedding anniversary cake was cut to the sound of music and the applause of the congregation and the same was distributed to all gathered for the occasion.
The next most important part of the celebration was the Word of God by Bro Andrew. The Bible in Mathew 4:4 states that “Man shall not live on bread alone but on every word that comes out from the mouth of the Lord”. Bro Andrew in his teachings stressed the values of a married life. He categorically emphasized the importance of family prayer.
It has been widely quoted that “A family that prays together stays together”. Thereafter it was the session of Tithe offering where the faithful came forward to make their generous offering to the ministry. There was also a music worship session led by Bro Isaac. During mid-day, the scorching heat was taking a toll on the young and old and in order to keep the faithful in cheerful mode, there were a song and dance session by Palma Pereira and Sweedal D’Souza.
There was also a special audio session wherein the faithful from all over the world had called in to wish Bro Andrew and Sis Hanna on their wedding anniversary. They were namely: Suzan (USA), Nana (New Jersey), Patrick Pereira (Dubai), Rita Pereira (Hongkong), Rani (Malaysia), Pearl (Mumbai), Veronica (Mumbai) and Denzil D'souza (Mumbai). Also Daijiworld Media Marketing Head Mr. Praveen Tauro (Daiji Tauro) graced the occasion,
The vote of Thanks for the occasion was done by Bro Isaac. He really went into detail and thanked each and every one who in some way or the other were involved to make this celebration a grand success.
During this celebration one of faithful from Bangalore had come with his entire family members for this occasion and when he was on stage to wish the couple, he handed over the keys and documents of one of his favorite cars to be used for Ministry work. On being asked his sudden decision to do so, he clarified that he heard the call from God to do so. All Glory be to God!!!
Lastly, there was a photo-video session with the entire congregation and thereafter a sumptuous lunch was served for all.
Certainly, it was a day to remember in the lives of Richard’s family and most importantly it was a moment of happiness to the Grace Ministry family at large.
Special Thanks to all the Grace Ministry Volunteers and Members for making the celebration a Grand Success.
May God bless us all.