The Beginning in Budhlada in 2007
The Punjab chapter began in May 2007, when the couple went to Budhlada. They served there for about eight months. This was the starting point of a longer journey that would take them through different responsibilities and places of ministry.
The early sequence of their service included Budhlada, an assignment with NYM in Jhansi, the children’s home in Faridkot, work connected with Moga, and the move to Amritsar. Each place forms a distinct part of the family’s account. The experience of Punjab therefore reaches beyond the church-building work for which the Amritsar years would become especially significant.
Budhlada also belongs to the early years of their family life. Their responsibilities as missionaries developed alongside their responsibilities as parents. The demands of both would soon become deeply personal.
Search this documentary ↑Judhson Taylor and a Father’s Long Wait
During the period when Saral Jhansi Rani was away for childbirth, Rev. Y. Justin spent about three months on an NYM assignment in Jhansi. Their son, Judhson Taylor, was born while the parents were apart. Saral cared for him in Chennai during those early months.
Rev. Y. Justin could not immediately travel to see his newborn son. Leave was not available, and about three months passed before he was able to meet him. The birth of their first child was therefore accompanied by a prolonged separation between father and son.
This episode gives a personal dimension to the family’s missionary history. Behind the names of places and assignments were missed moments at home. The beginning of parenthood already carried the difficulty of fulfilling ministry responsibilities while longing to be together as a family.
Search this documentary ↑Faridkot and the Children’s Home
The family’s journey continued at the children’s home in Faridkot, beginning in 2008 in the chronology of their account. They served there for approximately three and a half years. This period belongs to the foundation of their wider Punjab service and preceded the later work in Amritsar.
During these years, their own young family also faced serious concerns. Judhson Taylor developed pneumonia, creating an urgent need for treatment. His parents took him by motorcycle to Ferozepur. The journey carried the fear of a child’s illness alongside the practical difficulty of reaching medical care.
Judhson Taylor recovered. For his parents, his recovery became an enduring testimony of God’s grace. Their account places this experience among the hardships that accompanied their service, showing how closely the family’s health and everyday needs were intertwined with their ministry life.
Search this documentary ↑Illness in the Punjab Winter
The fear surrounding Judhson Taylor’s illness was intensified by the family’s experience of Punjab’s severe winter conditions. Caring for a young child in that setting was a serious concern for the parents. Their anxiety was also shaped by another missionary family’s bereavement.
The oral history mentions that a child of Jatinder Digal had died from pneumonia. That loss formed part of the background against which Rev. Y. Justin and Saral Jhansi Rani faced their own son’s illness. It helps explain the weight this episode carries in their family testimony.
They understood Judhson Taylor’s recovery as a gift for which they remained thankful. In the documentary’s wider story, this period reveals the vulnerability of a young missionary family and the gratitude with which they continued their work after a frightening experience.
Search this documentary ↑The Wider Work Connected with Moga
The family’s Punjab service also included about seven years associated with Moga. The account connects this wider chapter with Raikot, Ajitwal, and Dharamkot. These places represent work concerned with strengthening existing churches as well as developing ministry.
In Raikot, Rev. Y. Justin helped recover a church that, in the family’s account, had been taken over. In Ajitwal, the work included ministry and church renovation. In Dharamkot, attention was given to developing the ministry further. These responsibilities broaden the story beyond the beginning of new congregations.
The early chronology also identifies a six-month period at the Moga office in 2012 before the move to Amritsar. The different Moga-related responsibilities are part of the longer Punjab journey; the oral history does not assign exact dates to every stage of that wider work.
Search this documentary ↑Amritsar and the First Home Opened for Prayer
In 2012, the family moved to Amritsar and began work in its Islamabad neighbourhood. For approximately the first three months, there was no established ministry. The beginnings were small, built around meeting people and praying with them.
Saral Jhansi Rani visited the Railway Phatak area, a community near the railway crossing. She spent time with residents and prayed for their needs. Through these visits, contact developed with the family of a woman named Urmila.
Urmila’s home became the setting for a small worship gathering. This was an important first opening in the Amritsar work. A household that welcomed prayer provided a place where the couple could begin meeting with people regularly. The early history of the ministry is rooted in that relationship and in Saral Jhansi Rani’s visits among the community.
Search this documentary ↑A New Opening in Raja Sansi
The work in Islamabad provided a beginning, but the couple hoped to reach additional communities. The existing gathering offered scope for pastoral care, while the wider missionary purpose encouraged them to look towards another area. Raja Sansi became the next place of ministry.
There they developed a relationship with the family of a man named Pola. The family had heard the Christian message but was not yet fully involved in church life. Their daughter Anju was experiencing a severe affliction, understood within the testimony as spiritual oppression.
Prayer for Anju became part of the family’s account of deliverance and an important moment in the relationship. Worship began in a small hut whose floor lay below the surrounding ground level. From this modest setting, the gathering gradually developed. The Raja Sansi story began with a family, a place to pray, and sustained contact with the people there.
Search this documentary ↑Mallunangal and a Growing Congregation
During the same period, Jacob opened a connection to Mallunangal. He, his father, and two or three families were already worshipping together. Rev. Y. Justin and Saral Jhansi Rani joined in strengthening this existing gathering.
Within about two years, the congregation had grown to approximately thirty to thirty-five families. Regular worship became established, and attention turned towards providing a church building. The development of the congregation came before the effort to construct a permanent place of worship.
This growth depended on relationships with the people. Visiting homes, showing concern for those who were sick, and praying with families were central to the couple’s way of working. Mallunangal illustrates how a small group already meeting together could become a stronger congregation through continued local cooperation and missionary support.
Search this documentary ↑Opposition and the Building of the Mallunangal Church
The proposal to purchase land and build a church in Mallunangal met serious resistance. The family’s account describes opposition from influential villagers and an independent pastor. Complaints were made against Rev. Y. Justin, and repeated police inquiries placed pressure on the work.
For about three months, restrictions and disputes obstructed progress. The congregation became discouraged, and the couple faced the possibility that the ministry they had worked to develop might weaken severely. The account also includes a direct threat of physical violence if Rev. Y. Justin returned to the location. Despite that threat, he continued to stand with the work.
In 2016, during the Akali Dal government, a meeting with a minister helped open the way forward. With the minister’s support and protection from more than thirty police officers, the foundation was laid and construction proceeded. Church-building work in Raja Sansi took place during the same period. These two churches became significant milestones in the family’s Amritsar service.
Search this documentary ↑Albin and Franklin and the Blocked Third Church at Khasa
In 2016, Rev. Y. Justin also worked towards establishing a third church building, this time in Khasa. Land-purchase applications and related arrangements were underway. The intention was to provide another permanent place of worship alongside the churches developed in Mallunangal and Raja Sansi.
According to the family’s account, Albin and Franklin opposed the proposed church and did not allow the initiative to proceed. The account attributes the failure to complete the land purchase and construct the third church to their opposition. Their own explanation of the disagreement is not included in the family’s testimony.
For Rev. Y. Justin, Khasa remained an unfinished part of the ministry. The disappointment concerned a specific proposal that had reached the stage of applications and arrangements but did not result in a building. This chapter therefore belongs alongside the completed churches: it records the limits and internal disagreements encountered during the same years of service.
Search this documentary ↑Saral Jhansi Rani and Ministry Among Families
Saral Jhansi Rani’s contribution runs throughout the Punjab story. Her visits in the Railway Phatak area helped open the earliest household connection in Amritsar. She continued in outreach, women’s gatherings, and prayer with families as the wider work developed.
Much of the ministry took place in villages and remote areas. Within this setting, concern for sick people and attention to individual households formed an important part of the work. Her service was closely connected with the personal relationships through which people encountered the ministry.
At the same time, she carried the concerns of a mother whose children were growing up away from home. The account of her work and the account of her family life cannot be separated. Her outreach continued through periods of worry, separation, and physical recovery, making her a central participant in the history of these congregations.
Search this documentary ↑Fasting Prayer and Cooperation with Local Workers
The couple worked alongside local evangelists and their families. A monthly fasting prayer, held on a Wednesday, brought the workers together. At one stage, three or four evangelists participated with their families.
These meetings provided time both for prayer and for planning. The group considered the needs of the ministry, discussed how to develop the work, and prepared for the tasks ahead. Cooperation with local workers was an important part of reaching communities across the area.
The account also includes changes and losses within the team. Two local workers joined for a relatively short period, and their involvement later ended. One worker, Harjit, died from a heart attack. Such experiences are part of the human history behind the ministry’s growth. The work depended on people whose service, presence, and loss mattered to the family and the congregations.
Search this documentary ↑Church Elders and Young People
Developing local leadership formed another part of the ministry. The family’s account records the raising up of thirty-two church elders. Young people also became involved, with a group described as numbering roughly ten to twenty.
The development of elders gave the congregations local people who could share responsibility for church life. The participation of young people added another generation to the work. These details help show the ministry’s growth beyond the number of meetings or buildings.
Rev. Y. Justin and Saral Jhansi Rani placed importance on cooperation with the local evangelists as this work progressed. The congregations were communities of people with their own developing responsibilities. Leadership, youth participation, and shared prayer belong together in the account of how these communities were strengthened.
Search this documentary ↑Nine Congregations and an Expanding Area of Service
The Amritsar work extended into Khasa, Hoshiarnagar, and other locations. Its reach included Ajnala, the Attari border area, and the area towards the Jalandhar boundary. The family describes a ministry spread across several communities rather than centred on one location alone.
Their account records nine congregations established during the Amritsar period and more than 2,400 baptisms. These figures belong to the family’s testimony about that particular phase of service, which ended shortly before five full years had been completed.
The expansion gave the couple responsibilities across different gatherings while they continued caring for individual families. Their account places the growth within a life of visits, prayer, local cooperation, and perseverance through setbacks. It also expresses their conviction that the opportunities and spiritual fruit of those years came through God’s grace.
Search this documentary ↑Four Gospel Melas
Four Gospel Melas were held during the Amritsar years. The first took place in the Islamabad Railway Phatak area, within approximately the fourth or fifth month after the couple’s arrival. Organising a gathering so early became a notable part of the ministry’s beginning, and it drew encouragement from Sanjay Kumar Hero.
The second Mela was held in Mallunangal. The third and fourth were held in Raja Sansi. The final gathering drew more than 3,000 people in the family’s account. These events brought people together on a scale larger than the regular household and village gatherings.
Invited ministers and MLAs also attended some of the Melas. Relationships with public representatives later provided support when difficulties arose. The gatherings therefore form part of both the spiritual and community history of the work, alongside the smaller meetings from which the ministry had grown.
Search this documentary ↑Support During the Mallunangal Mela
The second Mela in Mallunangal faced a serious challenge. Complaints were made to the police in an attempt to prevent the gathering from taking place. In the family’s account, the police came intending to arrest Rev. Y. Justin.
At that moment, Sanjay Kumar Hero and Anand Raj intervened. They went to the police station so that Rev. Y. Justin could remain and conduct the Mela. Their action allowed responsibility for the police matter and responsibility for the gathering to be handled at the same time.
This episode shows the importance of support from fellow workers during a crisis. The event continued because others were willing to stand alongside the ministry. The testimony identifies their help clearly, preserving the contribution of people whose involvement made a difference at a difficult point in the work.
Search this documentary ↑Ordination and the Diocese of Amritsar
Rev. Y. Justin received ordination in 2016. Photographs and a certificate from that occasion are part of the family’s record. The ordination stands as a distinct milestone within the Amritsar period.
A close relationship developed with the Diocese of Amritsar. The bishop encouraged the ministry and referred to its growth as an example when challenging other pastors to be active in their work. Opportunities followed for Rev. Y. Justin to speak at pastors’ gatherings and share the experience of developing the ministry.
He also participated in monthly diocesan prayer meetings, where he was given opportunities to share. These relationships connected the village work with the wider church community. The support and encouragement from the diocese formed a meaningful part of a period that also contained opposition and discouragement elsewhere.
Search this documentary ↑Judhson Taylor and Jasmine Angel at Santhosha Vidhyalaya
Rev. Y. Justin and Saral Jhansi Rani were blessed with two children: their son, Judhson Taylor, and their second child, Jasmine Angel. Both children shared in the sacrifices that accompanied their parents’ ministry.
Judhson Taylor was admitted to Santhosha Vidhyalaya in Dohnavur when he entered first standard. Jasmine Angel was about three years old at that time. Later, while the parents were still serving in Amritsar, she too was admitted in first standard and joined her brother at Santhosha Vidhyalaya.
Their education and stay away from home supported their parents in continuing the ministry in Punjab. This arrangement carried a significant emotional cost. On the return journey after leaving Judhson Taylor at school, Saral cried and did not eat until they reached home. Rev. Y. Justin also wept, though he did not openly show his tears. When both children were away, the parents continued their service while carrying the pain of separation.
Search this documentary ↑The Distance Between Parents and Children
Regular telephone contact with the children was not always possible. Difficulty reaching them increased the parents’ worry and emotional strain. The separation affected family life as well as the private feelings of each parent.
Judhson Taylor and Jasmine Angel’s part in this history deserves recognition alongside that of their parents. Their childhood included time away from the family home so that the ministry could continue. The family’s account asks that this sacrifice be remembered as part of the full story.
These experiences deepened Rev. Y. Justin’s concern for missionary children. He continued to advocate for children being able to remain with their parents and for parents having a meaningful role in decisions about their education. Through difficult years, both parents wanted their children to feel loved, protected, and well cared for, even when the family could not be together.
Search this documentary ↑The Motorcycle Accident in Mallunangal
On a rainy Sunday in Mallunangal, the family was involved in a motorcycle accident while travelling together. Rev. Y. Justin fell into a drainage ditch. Saral Jhansi Rani suffered a head injury that required stitches and other painful injuries to her body.
When she regained consciousness, her first concern was for the children. Judhson Taylor and Jasmine Angel were on the grassy area nearby without injuries. Both parents had been hurt, yet the children were safe. The family understands this as an experience of God’s protection.
The village community came to their aid and helped take them to hospital. Jacob’s mother washed their clothes. During the following month, Rev. Y. Justin cared for Saral and applied medicine to her injuries. The account connects the period after this trial with further blessing in the ministry. The accident remains linked with gratitude for the children’s safety and for the practical kindness of the people around them.
Search this documentary ↑Financial Pressure and Difficult Relationships
The family also faced ordinary financial demands. In Raja Sansi, monthly house rent was ₹4,500, while the housing allowance was ₹3,200. They paid the remaining ₹1,300 from their own funds. This recurring expense formed part of the cost of maintaining a family home while continuing their service.
Within the Raja Sansi congregation, a member gathered relatives and some believers to begin another church. The separation was painful for the ministry. Rev. Y. Justin’s response, in the family’s account, was to continue without hostility towards the person involved.
Difficult relationships with some leaders added to the strain. A transfer came three months before the completion of five years in Amritsar. The family experienced that move as an early end to a period in which further work was still possible. Their account holds together the churches and congregations established, the support they received, and the disappointment of plans left unfinished.
Search this documentary ↑Nineteen Years in Punjab and Ministry in South Bangalore
Across about nineteen years in Punjab, Rev. Y. Justin and Saral Jhansi Rani served through different assignments and seasons of family life. Budhlada, Faridkot, Moga, Amritsar, Raja Sansi, Mallunangal, and the other places named in their testimony each hold a part of that service.
Their present ministry is in South Bangalore. This is the next chapter of the same commitment to serve God and people. The years in Punjab remain with them through the relationships they formed, the responsibilities they carried, and the experiences that shaped their family.
Preserving this history gives Judhson Taylor, Jasmine Angel, and the next generation a fuller understanding of that journey. It honours Saral Jhansi Rani’s work, the support of fellow workers and villagers, and the family’s perseverance. It also leaves room for the difficult chapters. Together, these experiences form the story of a family that continued its ministry through joy, disappointment, sacrifice, and faith.
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