So I know a lot of you have been anxious to know what all we have been doing here in India. Unlike some (or most?) of the teams from H Squad, Team Mosaic and Team River Dwellers have been doing something different pretty much every day, since the needs of our contact are very diverse from day to day. On top of that, most days Mosaic and River Dwellers have a vastly different schedule than each other, so some of the things listed here are specifically River Dwellers’ activities.
On that note, here is a re-cap of the first 10 days of *work and *projects:
Project Esther:
This is a program that operates in the ground level of the building the Mosaic and River Dweller ladies are living in this month. Young Women (especially at-risk) women come and participate in Discipleship Training, while also learning to make jewelry and stitch (sew). We had the opportunity to go spend some time getting to know them and help them make earrings. As you can imagine, making jewelry made my heart so happy! I have been working with the director behind the scenes on some potential future stuff, and giving them ideas for designs, etc. Don’t be surprised if you hear more about them in the future!
Operation Mobilization:
This is an amazing organization that has a variety of programs. Specifically, River Dwellers have spent the last two Friday afternoons helping with a program called TGIF (same as in America, Thank God It’s Friday). This program is for the children who attend the school on their campus to play games, sing songs, and hear about Papa’s everlasting love. River Dwellers played games, sang songs, shared testimonies and *Bread Stories, and simply loved on them.
FAN (Friends of All Nations) Club:
This is a program that Mosaic was scheduled for, but River Dwellers had the amazing blessing of joining in on. This is a program for young adults that includes games, w*rship, fellowship, and occasionally a message. The first Friday, both teams had the blessing of just participating and fellowshiping. This last Friday, both teams were given the opportunity to (together) lead the entire program. We played games, had a brief time of w*rship, a powerful message by Jennifer, a Fire Tunnel, and fellowship.
YWAM DTS Preparation:
YWAM is renting a space for the next round of DTS (Discipleship Training School) here in the city. They needed some land cleared of all the trash, rocks, weeds, and other msc. Things. They also had a bunch of furniture and other msc things moved from a storage facility. Mosaic and River Dwellers spent last Saturday morning helping with both of these.
Girls College:
River Dwellers spent our first Saturday afternoon with a group of young women (young 20s) that are sponsored through Compassion International and are attending College. We taught them some songs, I got to share a portion of my testimony along with the story of Esther and how it could relate to them in their lives. Natalie also shared part of her story, and then they taught us some Indian Dance moves as we fellowshiped for a while.
Church:
The first Sunday we went to the church that our main ministry contact is the Pastor of. It is a small, fairly traditional Indian Church, and the service was predominately in Hindi. While it was very different, it was a cool experience. Anne-Michael shared a powerful message, and we got to assist in the pr@yer time, interceding for the people of the congregation.
This Sunday, we went to a large, English Speaking congregation on the other side of our city. Our head ministry contact gave the message, so we just got to participate. It was a very long service, but again, it was really cool to experience. After the main service, and a fellowship time with coffee and REAL donuts (had a bad street food experience with what we thought was donuts, but turned out to have these crazy spicy peppers in it?!?), we got the chance to share with their young adult fellowship. We spent some time w*rshiping with them, and we all got to share our testimonies of how Papa led us to the World Race. Then we just got to fellowship with them and encourage them with the things going on in their lives.
Teaching English:
We drove out to a village outside of our city one afternoon and spent an hour teaching English at a Government Run Elementary School. We couldn’t talk about Papa or any other type of traditional *program work, but that doesn’t stop us from loving on the kids and sharing the message through our hugs and smiles and actions.
Heart Project:
The organization we are with this month has a program called Heart Project where they subsidize people who need heart surgery. Then after their surgeries, the organization continues to visit them and their families, and sharing the message with them. We visited one of the 3 hospitals that the surgeries are performed at and Pr@yer Walked. Then we visited a former patient and got to meet her family and hear the story of what all Papa has done in her life through and since her surgery. So encouraging.
Gates of [the City]
This is a Pr@yer Tour of the city (fairly similar to what CSM does in their cities). We drove through the city, visited several of the “gates” of the city, pr@ying over the cities that the roads lead to and the strongholds in the different neighborhoods. We also got to visit a Hindu Temple (more on that another time) and Pr@yer Walk in and through it.
So there you have it. Our first 10 days in India in as concise detail as I can manage. I have no clue what our last 10 days in India have in store for us. In true World Race/India fashion, we have not received a schedule for River Dwellers, but we know Papa has big plans for us!
Thanks for keeping us in your pr@yers! While we have had a few hiccups (include the airline losing Natalie’s bag — still not found, please keep her in your pr@yers), and some “mild” sickness (a few upset tummies, digestive issues, colds, etc… no Malaria, dehydration or other hospital/clinic type of sickness), we have been very blessed and favored so far. We claim continued favor and protection over the rest of this month and this year. Your pr@yers are being felt daily, and we are so appreciative!
