Isaiah 54: 4-6

"Do not be afraid; you will not suffer shame.

Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated.

You will forget the shame of your youth

and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood.

For your Maker is your husband-

the Lord Almighty is his name-

the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer;

he is called the God of all the earth.

The Lord will call you back

as if you were a wife deserted and

distressed in Spirit-

a wife who married young,

only to be rejected," says your God.

The 7th time through the fire

I was actually lonely here today. Oh well, it was inevitable that it would happen. Life here is just so different from my everyday life. More than anything I think it's the unpredictability and complete and continuous discomfort that comes with having everything be "new."

New places, new people, new food, new smells, new place to stay, new tasks, new dreams, new adventures, new fears, new hopes, new passions, new love, new questions, new let-downs, new trust, new relationships, new, new, new...

It's bringing up new reactions in me as well. Some good, and some not so good. The emotional discomfort stretches and squeezes and some type of reaction invariably comes out. Reminds me of the Scripture in Psalms or Proverbs that talks about being purified in the fire 7 times. That always kinda bothered me. Wasn't enduring once through the fire plenty? Why another 6 times. Because stuff continues to come out. That's how I feel here. Missions is not a "new" thing to me at this point (I figured out this is my 10th overseas trip), but every environment and situation plus my life phase are always different enough to continue purifying. The fire isn't fun, but the result is purity. That's my prayer.

Ministry, Sweet ministry

I love doing ministry. Today I got to preach at an Indian church, and I absolutely loved it. Then I laid hands on and prayed for about 50 people after the service (not added into the info below). That has to be my favorite thing. I've been adding up some of the ministry "stats" from when the team was here. Pretty impressive.

Together we did:

2 Conference Meetings (one for pastors - between 500-1000 people, and one for district pastors - abuot 25 people)
4 Church Children's Homes Services/VBS
2 door-to-door village prayer times
2 village outreach services
3 Church services
1 youth service
3 times at Sarah's Covenant Homes
5 Hope Child Development Center VBS Services
1 open-air "Jesus meeting"

30 testimonies were given
5 sermons were preached
2 evangelistic alter calls were given
15 alter calls for general prayer and healing

OVER 1,500 PEOPLE WERE PRAYED FOR INDIVIDUALLY WITH THE LAYING ON OF HANDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That last one absolutely gets me. Try and tell me this trip wasn't worth every penny to get all these team members out here to India. We will never fully know the fruit that comes from this trip.

Oh India...

Today I took my first shower out of bucket.

I also drank a mocha.

I love cities.


I've been enjoying working with Sarah so much. She is the wife of our main contact here in India and she runs Sarah's Covenant Homes, which are homes for special needs children who were institutionalized because of their disabilities and no one wanting them. She quite possibly has the biggest heart of anyone I've ever met. She also blogs way more than me, so you should check out her blog for more details about what I've been doing. www.sarahscovenanthomes.blogspot.com

The Whirlwind

On the 13th (day after my birthday) we headed back to take the team to fly out for the states. Somewhere on the drive, we got a call that Sarah wanted me to fly up and meet her further north to help with some of the special needs kids who were up there getting surgeries. We got the team a good meal, did some sightseeing and got them to the airport for their flight late that night. I have to say I enjoyed my night in the hotel and a chance to relax briefly. The next morning, I went back to the airport for my own flight to meet Sarah. I'm up here now and spent pretty much all day yesterday at Indian hospitals. There are still 3 kids in the hospital getting stable enough to leave. Medical stuff is a stretch for me, but I am happy to be here to help Sarah and give her some company. The challenge was I had only packed for an overnight that is now turning into a several day trip though. That's ok though, cause it's a bit of an adventure.

When I got here, there was a woman with Sarah. As we could get a few moments of privacy, Sarah filled me in that she met this woman randomly at a coffee shop and she is homeless and depressed after just having lost her mother, who was her only family member. Sarah offered her a position as the woman spoke English and had some other skills, so she was traveling around with us. Only, as time went on, the woman seemed to get stranger and more unstable (for my psych friends, I'm thinking mood disorder plus schizophrenia...Is that schizo-affective?). I think there is definitely mental illness present. After several strange encounters and dreams, we felt it best to part ways with the woman who was getting more and more demanding and was unwilling to do the job Sarah was offering her. We somewhat had to escape from her at a time when she was not paying attention to us. I am hopeful that she will get all the help she needs. It is such a struggle to balance the desire to help others while also maintaining personal safety. She was given many chances and opportunities by Sarah (probably more than I would have had the heart to give, unfortunately) but she did not accept them, and at that point it's hard to do anything else for someone. I just pray she will receive the emotional, mental, spiritual and physical help and healing she needs.

For now we go on to more hospitals....

Random Bits from India

So for those of you that aren't quite sure what to picture in your minds when I tell you I'm in India, here's some random bits about it.

1. There are monkeys here. Real wild monkeys with long tails walking around on the streets and tops of buildings. And they are in the city - not just some remote villages!

2. Men commonly relieve themselves on the side of the road. No matter how busy of a street or how many people are around.

3. The food is SPICY! They love flavor and so all 3 meals every day are full of flavor and spices.

4. People eat with their hands. No silverware. When you are done eating, they bring you a bowl of hot water to rinse your hands in. We like to call them "finger spas"

5. Everybody everywhere wants you to pray for them. This is completely awesome and (although I'm bad at estimating numbers) I would imagine we have laid hands on about 1,000 or more people so far.

6. People are not touchy here. Not even the kids. They don't even usually hug you. There are rare exceptions but you are more often to get a bow or handshake rather than a hug.

7. Women have to wear skirts or sarees and keep their legs, and shoulders covered, and their heads must be covered when in church services or while praying. This makes for some intense heat, considering it's about 110-115 degrees here and extremely humid.

8. The people are absolutely beautiful, especially the women. They love lots of color, so the sarees and churches are covered in bright colors and lively patterns.

9. There is an interesting mix of smells. Gross smells of urine and trash are intermingled with smells of fresh jasmine that the women commonly wear in their hair, and spicy food smells from local food vendors to create an ever changing assortment of aromatics.

10. Jesus is here. I feel more like the church that God created in the book of Acts than I ever have in my life. People are receptive to prayer and the Word of God, and He does miraculous things because of it.

Week one of India

So tomorrow will be a full week down from the start of my adventure. The long plane ride was...long. I was happy to see some familiar faces once the team landed a couple hours after me. They have been keeping us extremely busy here with ministry stuff, which I am thrilled about. We have done village outreaches, where we have gone door to door praying for people with the pastor of the village and then have held church services afterwards. We have been to 2 homes for special needs children that have been so touching. We have done a few children's outreaches as well for kids programs the ministry site here does for kids who are severely impoverished or at-risk. It has all been wonderful.... and so so hot. By far the hottest place I have ever been on earth. But I'm loving it! And the team I'm working with from Sterling has been more than I could ever have hoped for! I will be sad to see them go next week. But until then, we will cram a ton more into one more week while they are still here! Thanks for all the prayers! Keep them up.