Every nation, tribe, and tongue

From Jennifer
Today part of our team got to experience Christian worship Indian sytle. Jennifer, Sandy, Deb, John, and Dana went to a service at pastor Job's church and it was absolutely amazing. Words could not describe the energy in the room. Jennifer took a short video of the worship. John gave a short message before Pastor Job's sermon. Afterward we were all greeted by everyone that was in the service and some other people in the village. Many of the children gave us bracelets and told us that we were their "forever friends". It was an awesome way to start this journey before we go into the villages to do the work we came here to do. Tonight... we celebrate!

Church time

From Jess and Nate:

This morning Barb, Jim, Nate and Jess went to Pastor Dhanapaul's church in the small village of Suramangalam. Three of us crammed into an auto-rickshaw, while Nate hopped onto the back of a motorcyle with Anand. This was our first experience with India traffic...quite the site! What an incredible experience it was to worship in the 10x13 cement room filled with the 30 other believers, the only Christians in the village. Their passion for God, their praise filled songs, were more than touching. Their sole purpose was to give God the praise and honor He deserves, their humility in that was inspiring. All of us then had a chance to share part of our lives, our stories with them. It was an unbelievable way to begin our time here in Salem....let the adventures begin:)

Settling in in Salem

From Jim:

Just a brief post to say that the Salem team took showers and naps, and then met with Anand and Thiyagu to go over details of the coming ministry projects. Very helpful. Team is in good spirits and headed off to bed. Tomorrow, we split up, some going to Pastor Job's church and some to Pastor Dhanapaul's (and Suresh's) church. Hey, you won't believe this, but we had a choice between an 8:00 and 10:30 service! Feels like home.

From Barbara:

Today, we went to see Suramangalam. We will help start three small businesses here and do a health camp. It was really sobering to walk the streets with Anand and pastor DhanaPaul and hear the story of this village. It’s people are such a low caste that others don’t even want to enter this village. There is such poverty here that they sell their children for a period of five years to a master that abuses them. Approximately 70% of the men are alcoholics or drug addicts. The suicide rate is very high.

And then we met DhanaPaul and Suresh. They had smiles on their faces, hope in their eyes, and joy to have us meet their friends and family. DhanaPaul’s father was a Hindu priest. There was a plague in their village and DhanaPaul was dying. His father prayed to their Hindu god and nothing happened and then he prayed to God and said, “If you are really the true God, heal my son and I will serve you.” And his son was healed and their whole family is serving God. A Hindu priest is at the top of the social circle, he lost everything to serve God. As we met various members of their church, they would greet us with “praise the Lord” and we would smile at each other and know we were connected in Jesus even though that was all we could understand to say to each other. DhanaPaul is now the pastor of a church and Suresh is his assistant. DhanaPaul is the man standing next to the vegetable stand.

One of the Christian families greeted us when we walked into their home and honored us by giving us this red scarf. It is a custom of honor. It is so humbling to see how they give from the little they have.

Suresh (seated in the center) is going to be starting a tea shop. His father was an alcoholic, so from a young age he supported his other 10 brothers and sisters and mother. He wants to get the business up and running then hire a couple people to work there so he can work as a pastor in this village full time.

This picture shows three women making rope from coconut husks. If they work very hard all day, they will make $2 a day. The lady turning the machine is Lydia. Her husband committed suicide and she has a 6 yr old son and 15 yr old daughter. To be a widow is to be alone with no one to take care of you. Right now she is working for someone else making rope. We are going to help her and her mother-in-law start their own rope business.

When it was time to go, we hopped into an auto rikshaw (a small, yellow, three-wheeled cab with open sides). As soon as we sat down a thunderstorm popped up. It had been a warm afternoon and we were happy to be getting splashed as we were driven home.

Anand then joined Prema in the bus that will drive 6 hours to pick up the rest of our team in Bangalore and then turn around and drive back. We will see the team tomorrow around noon. Pray for Anand and Prema as they work so hard to take care of all of us and plan for the next thing.

We were left to fend for ourselves for dinner so Jim went downstairs and pointed to something on the menu (they speak very little English here) and it was delicious.

That is our story for today. God is a faithful God. One of the older widows that we met told us, “I am alive only because God has taken care of me. My sons have abandoned me, but God is taking care of me. I have no illness.” She will be helping Lydia in the rope business.

Blessings, Barbara

Arrived in Salem

from Jim:

We arrived uneventfully in Bagelore this morning, and Prema and Anand met us with a driver and small bus. They had driven up the evening before, and then slept in the bus 5 hours, while they waited for our flight to arrive at 4:45 AM. We then drove to Salem, about 6 hours with stops, and saw some beautiful scenery along the way. Unfortunately, I didn't have fresh batteries in the camera, so we don't have any of that to show you.

We checked into our hotel in Salem, slept a couple of hours, and went to have dinner, prepared by Prema and one of the ladies who cooks for the training conferences for the church planters and pastors (pictured to the right). This blue house is also the one the Salem team will be staying at, when the rest of us arrive on Saturday. These ladies really put on a feast for us, with all kinds of fruits and vegetables, omelets, french toast, tea, soft drinks, and whole wheat tortillas (well, that's what they were, although they aren't called that in this culture). The kindness and hospitality continues to amaze us.

All of this food was prepared for the two of us, and yes, that is a whole watermelon behind Prema's arm!

Salem team

The Salem team has prepared for the trip to India, with focuses on conversational English, micro-enterprise, and community health. While some members of the team have prepared to work in more than one area, we plan to deploy as follows:

Conversational English - Jessica Stemm, Debbie Thompson and Jennifer Archer will be working in the government school, helping the children to improve their vocabulary and pronunciation of English. The more English a child learns, the greater the opportunities available in the future, and that is incremental. It may mean getting a better job in a restaurant or hotel, or it may mean being able to go to college, which is taught in English.

Micro-Enterprise - John Baldwin and Nate Stemm will be working with budding business owners, helping them learn basic business principles. The businesses they'll work with are a flower shop, a breakfast shop, and a petty shop (mini-convenience store). Women in India are not empowered in ways that American women, and are more vulnerable to various kinds of abuse. If a woman can run her own business, she is freed from some situations which have the potential for abuse.

Community Health - Sandy Morris, Dana Anglund, Barbara and Jim Blechl will be working to help educate the people in the community regarding diet, health and hygiene. Sandy is a nutritionist, Barbara a registered nurse, and Dana and Jim are physicians.

All of these efforts have the common purpose of coming alongside the local pastor (Job), to elevate his status in the community, and to assist him in his ministry to the needs of the community.