Mamta Singh was Born in Gujarat, India in a strict Hindu family. She moved to the United Kingdom as a child, this was her first exposure to Christ. She moved to United States and went to high school. She started experiencing an identity crisis. She went to college and started to think about life. Is God real? What do you want from me? Why am I so lonely? She tried to do variety of things such as studies, shopping, relationship, and family but her priority focus is relying on God.
After 2nd year in college, Mamta was selected for a special program called Institute of Government (1 of 28 students in NC). While she was there in Raleigh, Someone invited her friend Carol to a Bible study at NCSU. Carol took Mamta with her. She sat listening as the sisters did the Word of God study with Carol. Mamta was fascinated and wanted to know more about God. She was baptized in the Triangle church at Raleigh, North Carolina.
Mamta read the Bible for 2 years in KJV and skipped reading Chronicles and Kings. She was attracted to the teaching of Jesus: especially, ‘Do not store up treasures on Earth’. She read in New Testament about baptism. Mamta didn’t have anyone to baptize her so she baptized herself in the shower.
God must have smiled: she graduated and moved to Raleigh, met Carol, and studied Bible. Twenty one years ago was the best decision of her life. Her parents were unhappy when Mamta became a disciple, she moved to London. Mamta grew in her convictions and has great friendships in the church. She was experiencing severe persecution such as being locked up, beaten and chased with a knife.
Mamta managed to escape and moved to Georgia. In 1995: God called her to join the ministry in India. She never lived in India as an adult. She was challenged to break up a guy she was dating . Her thoughts were,”I had to go to India because I kept thinking, If I don’t go I’ll never know”. At New Delhi, during the first night, Mamta realized she left her whole life behind and she don’t know a single person here. But God is great!! She learned the language and their culture.
Mamta had an opportunity to go on a four person mission team to Pakistan. It was the most faith building time of her life and also very challenging. In Pakistan, women were not allowed to go out alone, they eat separately from others. There were frequent strikes. She was even attacked several times. She came back to India and got engaged that same week. She was married a month later. In India, we have arranged marriages even in the church. Mark and Nadine Templer arranged their marriage to Moses.
For their honeymoon, a month later, Moses and Mamta went on another very small mission team to Dhaka, Bangladesh. They were there for a year and a half six months at a time. They learned the Bangla language.
Eight months later, Mamta was sent on the 3rd mission team to Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. This is Moses’ hometown. There, they speak the king’s Hindi. She had to learn how to read Hindi so that she could study the Bible with women. It was an incredible 8 years in the ministry: an amazing journey.
Mamta understood why she experienced persecution. Almost all the women that she studied with in India, Pakistan and Bagladesh were persecuted. She was able to give them strength and courage. God blessed her with lots of fruit. She studied the Bible with so many people who became Christians in these three countries. Now, there are two churches in Pakistan and two in Bangladesh.
“God blessed me with a great husband and 2 daughters”. Both Megha and Manvi were born in India. In 2003, there was tragedy in her family. Mamta’s sister lost her husband and her 18 year old son in a boating accident. Moses & Mamta decided to move back to USA so they could reach out to her family. Mamta got a job as teacher. They started a church in Greenville, South Carolina, her hometown.
In 2012, Moses lost his job. God brought them to Rochester, NY. They have started a church there called Rochester International Church of Christ. The church website link is www.ricoc.org. It was just Moses and Mamta. Now there are five disciples after one year. They found out there was a huge Deaf Community at Rochester. Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) has a great program for deaf students. They started to reach out to some students. It was difficult to communicate with them. Even though, Mamta is National Board Certified teacher, New York requires her to take additional classes. They said she needs a foreign language. She told them that she speak 5 languages, but they didn’t accept that. So she thought, she should learn ASL. This way she can reach out to the deaf students from RIT.
Mamta was also really inspired by the Deaf Ministry from the 2012 World Discipleship Summit in San Antonio, TX. “It was so great to see them worship”. She loved to see the songs being signed. She was inspired by Joe Cepeda, who is so dynamic and positive. Joe spoke to Moses several times and has initiated to help us start the Deaf Ministry at Rochester. Hopefully, God will continue to help us grow and one day we will have a Deaf Ministry in Rochester.
Mamta have been really enjoying learning ASL at a community college and has a greater appreciation for those who are deaf. She can share how she grew up to people in ASL and can hold a little conversation with someone deaf. Mamta had fun teaching her daughter who has taken a great interest in sign language. They sign at dinner, since it is not good manners to talk with your mouth full. It is acceptable to sign. She is excited about learning more sign language and her goal is to be able to study the Bible with someone in ASL.
Mamta’s favorite book in the Bible is Esther. God works so powerfully and yet is never mentioned in the book of Esther. She feels like Esther in so many ways. God took her to India to help save her people. When Mamta was appointed a Women’s Ministry Leader by Carol George (Women’s leader in India), she was given the name Esther. Her favorite scripture is Jeremiah 29:11. She feels so special that God has great plans for her. “The current chapters of my life are being written as we speak”. She don’t know what the future holds, but she can honestly say “laugh at the days to come”. There are no worries, God has even better adventures planned for her.