January 2007 Team Letters and Photos
Saturday, January 6
Dear Friends,
After a 17 hour overnight trip on the train, the team arrived at our first destination and were met by Pastor Isaac Benarjee of India Abundant Ministries (IAM). We loaded all of our luggage and ourselves into two vehicles for the ride to our hotel. There we were greeted by others from IAM with a traditional greeting of large, beautiful garlands of flowers. We had a chance to shower and refresh ourselves before going to Pastor Isaac's home and office for lunch.
After lunch we traveled to the Sheila Tailoring School where 12 young women learn sewing skills in a free six-month tailoring class. Upon graduation, each young women receives her own sewing machine so she can support herself with the skills she has learned. The joy on the faces of the current group of students and the other graduates who were there to greet us was a sight to behold. Their hope for a brighter future was evident in their smiles and laughter.
A student at IAM's Sheila Tailoring School
From the tailoring school, we took a 30-mile ride out to a village where one of the four IAM mission centers is located. We were greeted with flower bouquets, flower petals raining down upon our heads, garlands of flowers and the children singing and dancing. Such wonderful colors, scents and beautiful music! We shared words of encouragement, testimonies, songs and prayers. We gave toys to each of the 150 children and small gifts to the Sunday School teachers. The children were a delight and we would have liked to stay and play with the children longer, but we wanted to make the hour and a half drive back to IAM before it got too dark for driving on the rough village roads.
We gave toys to each of the 150 children
We got a good night's rest and today went to another mission center to join in their worship service. The dirt road to the church entrance was lined with children who showered us with flower petals and the church was filled with songs of praises to God. Some of the team members shared their testimonies and then sang songs for the congregation. We gave toys out to all of the Sunday School children and then worship resumed with a communion service. It was a wonderful reaffirmation of the message that all of us are God's children when, even though we did not know the language spoken, we knew the language of love in the body and blood of Jesus Christ.
Singing God's praises in church
Daniel, Mike and Sally returned to the hotel after worship and took some time to walk around the local streets. Pastor Isaac, Neil and I traveled 24 miles to another village to visit a small congregation that worships in a thatched prayer shed. This congregation is an outreach from the mission center we visited on Saturday. Part of the vision Pastor Isaac has for IAM is that each mission center pastor will reach out and establish congregations in 10 nearby villages. This congregation was small, 20 to 25 people, sitting upon mats on a rough dirt floor, in a thatch roofed shelter (no walls) and they were praising God, lifting their voices in song. The joy and peace Neil and I witnessed in their voices and faces touched us deeply.
As the team sits together for dinner and shares their "highs and lows" for the day, over and over again, it is the joy we witnessed in the people we have met that is our "high" for the day. The lows are few and far between. What a gift from God when a team member says "I can't think of a low, it was a wonderful day."
Thank you for your continued prayers for the team. Our travel has been safe and we are all staying healthy. Tomorrow we travel by day train to spend time at Orphans Faith Home.
Blessings, Donna and the team, Mike, Sally, Neil and Daniel
