After a few very long days of travel, my team arrived in Sikaria, India on Wednesday morning. Sikaria is located in the Bihar region of Eastern India, which is approximately 50 years behind the rest of India in technology. The electricity is extremely unpredictable & everything at our ministry site is run on generators/ solar power. We have been settling into our new home on the GEMS (Gospel Echoing Missionary Society) campus– a 23 acre campus, including:
- children's polio home
- primary & secondary schools~ both Hindi & English
- men's Bible college
- young women's Christian training center
- hospital
- 2-year nursing school
- evengelism & church planting
- tailoring unit (takes young girls off the streets & teaches them a trade)
- media & publication departments
- & much more.
GEMS tailoring unit, where all of the school uniforms & costumes for plays/ church performances are made
in the process of making a new pair of leg braces for a child at the GEMS polio home
boys at the GEMS English school
GEMS takes every available opportunity to share the gospel with unreached people & non-believers. We have so many opportunities in our everyday lives to tell people about Jesus, but don't because it's either (a) not at the forefront of our mind or (b) too uncomfortable. The GEMS staff literally takes every opportunity they have throughout the day to share the gospel. For example, their hospital is open to anyone, so many people travel from surrounding villages to receive medical care. The majority of these patients are Hindu, but from the moment they step foot in the hospital, they have the chance to hear about our God. There are Christian comic books sitting in the waiting room (illustrating the Gospel for those who are illiterate) & Gospel-based movies (which GEMS filmed & produced) playing on the television; when the patients are being cared for, the nurses and doctors share about Jesus. When patients return home, GEMS contacts missionaries who live in the area to visit & encourage them.
The majority of the students who attend the GEMS schools are Hindu & some are Muslim, but their parents still send them to live & learn at GEMS because of the quality education. They accept the fact that their children are also being evangelised to. In many cases, the children come to know & accept Jesus~ sometimes their entire families are led to Christ, spreading the good word to the home villages of students from near and far.
The GEMS staff has the strongest faith I've ever seen in a group of people. One of their main guidelines for operation is that they never ask for support in the form of donations; GEMS only accepts donations if someone seeks them out or specifically asks how they can help support the organization. They trust in God alone to provide for their ministry, and he has blessed their work abundantly. I am praying for continued provision and support for this incredible organization, so that they may continue to grow and spread the love of Christ throughout India and neighboring nations.
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Our People Project school
Neighboring brothel
Yesterday, we visited 2 sites for Our People Project, a GEMS project for providing underpriviledged children with education. One of the schools sits directly across the field from a prostitution village/ brothel & is solely for the children of these prostitutes. Most of these children are the products of prostitution and do not know their fathers. Most of these children, ages 3 & up, grew up in homes watching their mothers service men in one room & watching pornographic movies in the next room. These children are broken & troubled. But they have HOPE because they have come to know Jesus. At Our People Project, these children (who would most likely otherwise be forced to follow in the footsteps of their mothers or end up as drug addicts) are being given the opportunity to receive an education & learn about a different way of life. They are fed 2 meals a day at school and are only left to return home at night. My heart breaks for these kids. Please join me in praying for them~ that God will send angels to protect them each night, to shield their little eyes and ears from the terrible things taking place in their homes, that he will whisper to them who they really are~ beloved children of the Most High, & that they will continue to grow in their relationships with the Lord & have a successful and happy life away from this village. The director asked us to pray specifically for these needs: regular attendance for the kids, holy lifestyles for the kids despite the outside influence, and salvation for their mothers & families.
A story of praise that the director of this Our People Project school shared with us:
On Good Friday, he gathered with the children in the little chapel on the school grounds and began to lead the children in prayer. As the children prayed and worshiped God, the Holy Spirit entered the room in a real way that everyone sensed~ more than 20 children were anointed with the Holy Spirit. The kids were so excited and overcome with faith that they began to share their experience with the children in another nearby village. Since then, Our People Project has been able to carry church services to this neighboring village for these new believers! Although the children are not aware of this part of the story, the director told us that on that day many children were healed of HIV. The doctor's visit following that Good Friday with the Holy Spirit, previously HIV-positive children tested negative! None of the children currently attending this school are HIV-positive!
