Leprosy, Asraya and Village Outreach (= Par-tay!)

We had a crazy-busy day today!

We served breakfast to 5 communities of people who suffer from leprosy (they all arrived this morning at our doorstep. Will eventually post pictures of the tents that were put up on the road in front of and the "lawn" across from where we are staying).

After breakfast, we then went to spend one more afternoon with the women from Asraya. We were really excited to be able to share our hearts with them again, but also to be able to give them some small gifts (pictures of themselves, perfume samples, and bracelets).

We had a very quick stop to purchase some "Punjammies" -- these are the pajama pants that the women make in cooperation with the Princess Project (I think that's what it's called) in order to make a living. They can only sell the things that they make overseas since no one in India will purchase items made by women who were once prostitutes.


Afterwards, we raced home, took a quick bathroom break, and then travelled (I'm guessing it took about 1.5 hrs) to a village where we dedicated a well (funded by Jolene's church in Brantford), enjoyed some dinner, and then celebrated and shared the Gospel with many of the people who live in the village.

Honestly, the bus ride was one of the highlights for me! Our team + the Harvest India staff all crammed into one bus and somehow started a sing-along where we would sing something in English and the HI staff would then sing something in Indian for us. There was one song in particularly that we all really enjoyed and after some (but not too much) convincing, Ravi agreed to teach us the actions (as well as the meaning) of the song. We were then able to "perform" it for the village (while our Harvest India staff sang the words). So. Much. Fun!!


Last night was also a lot of fun. After having spent the afternoon with the Mother India youth, we eventually made our way to Suresh and Christina's house for dinner. It was Diwali yesterday (google it), so we celebrated with copious amounts of (dangerous and often unpredictable) fireworks! Whoo! I had as much fun watching the guys as I did watching the "crackers"! They were hilarious. They were having so much fun playing with the fireworks, running around, squealing, giggling and literally jumping up and down with excitement.

The food was AMAZING; the people were wonderful... definitely a great way to celebrate the festival.

We also enjoyed serving dinner to the boys from the Quarry school -- my goodness, children eat A LOT.


Can't think of anything else but mostly wanted to let y'all know that we will not have Internet access after tomorrow. Please continue to keep us in your prayers. We have two days to spend with the women from House of Grace and Freedom Centre (similar to Asraya), as well as three days of a women's conference that we are hosting. Please ask that we would continue to see God moving! We are also trusting that we will remain safe as we travel to Peddapuram (not sure on the spelling) where we will be staying until it's time to head home / out on independent adventures.


See you in a few weeks!

Mother India

Have you heard of / watched the Mother India documentary that came out a couple of months ago?

We met the "stars" of the show today and were excited to be able to serve them some food and then to hang out with them and to hear some of their stories.

In (VERY) brief -- this is a community of kids who live on the streets of Tenali (near the train station). The documentary was put together by a couple of guys who wanted to see what it was like for kids on the streets in India. The people putting together the video did so originally with no intention to DO anything to change the way that the kids live, but when they saw that there were two very young children who had recently been taken in by this group, they contacted Suresh at Harvest India. As a community, these kids wanted to stay together, but with their blessing, Harvest India is in the process of adopting the two youngest children who the group felt would benefit more from being in Harvest India's care than from remaining with them.


Sarah and I were chatting while walking back from this encounter and we both agreed that one of the highlights of this adventure was how low-key the whole thing was. We were able to just sit and hang out with these kids for quite some time after we'd all eaten.


One of the women (you can see in the picture below) is pregnant now (she's standing beside her husband in the photo). Cathy (who works at a pregnancy centre at home) and Mel (who used to), took this woman aside and were able to speak with her (through a translator) about her pregnancy and about Jesus. We are so excited because this girl has not only agreed to come in for regular health check-ups with the Harvest India doctor/nurses, but will also begin to attend church on Sundays because... drum roll... she made the decision to ask Jesus into her heart and life. Whoo!

Visiting the Elderly

We were sooooooo blessed yesterday to have the opportunity to visit one of six homes for elderly Indian men and women. These are often people whose families have died or, just as frequently, whose families have taken their property and their money and have then kicked them out and refused to care for them. There is not a space in India for the elderly. Harvest India takes them in (many of the folks they take in are from a Muslim or Hindu background) and provides them with food, shelter and a loving community.

The home that we went to is currently housing 13 men and women. This visit was probably one of the biggest highlights for me so far. There was one woman who reminded me of my own grandmother (my dad's mom) -- she looked pretty frail but was quite strong, she was VERY enthusiastic (when everyone else said "Hallelujah" and raised their hands, she consistently shouted, "Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Haaaaaa-llelujah!!!" and waved her arms around with gusto). After sharing a bit of her story with us, she then started singing and dancing for a minute or two for us. She was funny and moving and sweet -- so many things. Most of us just wanted to take her home with us. 

A few of them shared their stories with us and each time it was very moving to hear just how grateful they were for what little they have (while Harvest India provides for their needs, this is literally all that they have --  a bed, food, and some people around them who love them). Most of them recognize Jesus as Lord after having moved into the homes and so they then become the prayer warriors for Harvest India. 

There was another sweet woman who was pinching all of our cheeks and noses and who thought it was great fun to tickle Brian (for like 5 minutes -- love it!)

At any rate, I absolutely loved the time that we spent praying and laughing with, hugging, and taking pictures of these precious people.

Yesterday afternoon while Chris did some teaching at a local Bible school, some of the girls went shopping and a few of us stayed back to prepare for our next ministry time with the women at Asraya. Sarah and I are really excited about meeting with them tomorrow. She and I, as well as Eva, will be sharing what God has placed on our hearts for them. Please remember us in your prayers! Please pray that God would continue to break down walls that may be in place between us and the women we want to love & serve. We are so grateful that God is with us and goes before us -- preparing our hearts and preparing the women of Asraya for what He will do. Whoo!!

Will try to post an update before we move on to Pedappuram but I can't guarantee that I'll have the time.

We will also be meeting with women at the House of Grace and Freedom Centre which are similar ministries to Asraya. Please pray, again, for Sarah and I as we plan and prepare for our time with these women!

And now... a few pictures (however many I have time to upload...)

Motorcycle rides!

Sewage (it's  not in pipes underground here... this is another reason why flooding can be so detrimental here):

One of our favourite quiet places: 

Marketplace: 

Cow. In the middle of that ^ Marketplace. A few minutes after this, it lay down. In the middle of the road.

Harvest India prayer warriors (woman in front of first image is now commonly known as the "Hallelujah woman"; the woman in blue and green behind her is the one who loved to pinch our cheeks/noses and tickle us... Brian, especially.):

Anything for a photo... :)

Sunday Blessings

It's been a pretty amazing/intense/crazy/exhausting/exciting few days!

I'll try to fill y'all in on as much as possible, starting with today, but we'll see how long I can type before it's time to head to bed...


It's Sunday evening now, and we had a great day today. Our team split up to attend two churches this morning and were then able to spend the rest of the afternoon getting some much needed time to rest! I can't speak for everyone else, so you're stuck (again) with my own take on the day...

I had a bit of an upset stomach this morning (along with a fair number of others on our team -- none of us think it's anything in particular that is causing our discomfort, just a combination of new foods, inconsistent sleep, lots of sun/heat, etc.) but took some drugs and prayed that I would be able to make it through an entire church service without having to run to a bathroom. This was particularly important given that our team was to sit up front for the duration of the service and bathrooms are not as easy to come by in the smaller villages as they are on the Harvest India campus.

At any rate, we arrived after the service had started (apparently this is pretty standard practice) and walked in during one of the worship songs. I absolutely love the Indian-style worship. It is SO different from our music at home, but still very beautiful. I wasn't aware until we arrived that we were visiting the church that is pastored by one of our favourite Harvest India translators, Daniel! He's a pretty busy guy, it seems! He works with Harvest India quite a bit (he's been one of our primary translators this trip), in addition to pastoring this church in his village, teaching at the Bible College, AND to top it off, he (along with his wife and sister) also run a small orphanage in his village.

Anyway. So that was an exciting surprise. Daniel had us introduce ourselves, and then the kids sang some songs for us (SO CUTE!!). One of our team members shared a brief testimony and Brian (!) preached a short message. It was quite the service! I was supposed to pray after Brian's talk but was finding myself overwhelmed (and unsure if I could stand long enough to pray without either throwing up or passing out -- not sure if it was the heat, the food, or if it was just God informing me that I wasn't meant to pray) so another of our team members prayed instead :)

We (and all those in attendance) were then given a handful of this crunchy, salty snack food (delicious!) after which we walked out and prayed for / blessed each person in the church. I love how much these people love to be prayed with / touched. They are such beautiful, precious people. Just before we got up to do that, however, this one little girl walked up to me, took off the necklace that she was wearing, and proceeded to tie it around my neck. Whoa.

It was such a strange moment -- on the one hand, it was so incredible that this little girl would share something like that with me. On the other hand, it was also very difficult to accept, knowing that this was likely something very precious to her. At any rate, I was totally overwhelmed.

After we'd prayed for the people in the church community, we were able to enjoy lunch with who I assume are the leaders of the church. SO GOOD. We were also honoured in that one of the menu items was beef (which they would have had to have killed in secret at some point -- beef is rarely served here as it is quite expensive and difficult to obtain). To top things off, just before we left, Daniel and his brother presented each of us with a beautiful wooden cross to hang in our homes and remember him and his church by. Definitely couldn't keep the tears in at that point.


I just can't get over the generosity/servant hearts of the people we meet here. I feel like we are walking away with so much more than we could ever hope to give. I'm grateful, however, that we are seeing God at work and are constantly being reminded that none of this is about us.

I had a brief conversation with one of the men (Peter) who we see a lot around the house where we're staying and he told me that he was an orphaned child (at the age of 1) who was adopted by Suresh and Christina (they run Harvest India). He then told me (very excitedly) that he has his own family now. A wife and two children -- a son who is three and a daughter who is a year and a half. He has finished Bible College through Harvest India and is serving with them until he is called by God to pastor his own church.



So Sunday... we went to church and by the time we were back at the guest house where we're staying it was about 4pm. I took a nap, we had some time to debrief once the other team arrived back (around 4:30), and otherwise we were able to spend our evening just relaxing and continuing to get to know one another.


Saturday (yesterday), the highlight was definitely visiting the Mercy Camp. Harvest India provides food for the poorest people in this area every Saturday morning and so this week we were given the opportunity to serve that food. We were then introduced to the doctor who provides free health care and medication to these people and to pray for him and for those who were in the health centre while we were there. What an amazing man!


On Friday we spent the morning playing games with the children at the elementary school. I was super excited to find out (afterwards) that the game Heather and I taught (human knot) was a totally new game both to the children and to the translators. We'd thought they would like it (they really love to touch and be touched...), and were happy to hear that we were right! The kids were so sweet -- we really just had a TON of fun spending time with them. I also had a great time taking pictures!!! It's soooo much fun taking pictures of people who really want to have their picture taken! Kids were constantly coming up and saying, "one photo? one photo?" which really meant "as many photos as I can convince you to take of me?" I can't wait to post 'em for you! It'll have to wait 'til I get home though. Internet is reliable but not particularly fast.

In the afternoon on Friday we spent time with the Asraya (pronounced Ash-ray-ah) women. The most touching thing, for me, was when one of the women, as we were walking from their sewing room to the courtyard where we would spend our time together, grabbed hold of my hand (with both of her hands) and just would not let go. She held on to my hand as we walked, and as was sat down, and for pretty much an hour seemed to want nothing more than to continue holding my hand. Again, I was just overwhelmed by the ways in which love is so often expressed in something so seemingly simple as seeing, hearing, and touching.


I feel like words don't come close to doing justice to what we've experienced so far... But God is alive and active in India and we are so so so grateful for the many opportunities that we've had to be witness to what He is doing here in and through Harvest India.

Blessings, friends!

WiFi @ Harvest India

We have arrived at Harvest India's main campus and are settled in (and now just about ready for bed!). We were pleasantly surprised to discover that there is indeed wireless Internet which means that we'll all be able to touch base with friends & family back home on a pretty regular basis (that said, power is not always the most reliable or consistent thing -- it is often out for full days at a time).

Our travels today went well -- we began with a slow morning of breakfast (a little spicier than my usual breakfast food but the chai tea was AMAZING) and then met together as a team. I was super excited about this first meeting together because for the first time it felt like we all really started to open up and connect with one another. I'm looking forward to getting to know the rest of the team and am excited about how the diversity that we bring to the table!

Tomorrow we will be visiting the elementary school in the morning and then spending time with the women at Asraya in the afternoon. We'll also have the opportunity to be fitted for some Indian-style clothing.

Please pray that we will all get a good night's rest (and seriously praise God for the A/C that all of our rooms are equipped with!). Most importantly, please pray for the children we'll be visiting at the school and for the women of Asraya. We are asking God to help us to love them well and to reveal himself both to those we are spending time with and to us. We are so excited and have felt very blessed so far by the incredible hospitality of our Indian hosts (we were all honoured with lei's -- think Hawaii but instead of plastic, they're made with a LOT of real leaves and flowers which smell sooo good).

I've learned one word so far... "Vun-dah--lam-ah-nu" is how it sounds. I have no idea how to spell it. It means THANK YOU. I found myself saying it so frequently that it didn't make sense to not ask how to say it in their language.

Anyway. It's super late now (like 1am) and so off to bed I go!

Arrival!

*we will continue to try to post as frequently as possible but we will have intermittent Internet access, at best. Thanks for your patience!

It's just before noon on Wed., Nov 7 in Chennai, India and our whole team is here, alive and mostly well! We've all had at least a little bit of sleep (Sarah, Brian and I were able to get a full night's because we arrived several hours earlier than the rest of the team... whew!) and some food (Indian breakfast appears to me to be about the same as Indian lunch and dinner -- delicious, but a bit weird to wake up to). We're feeling a bit tired, but otherwise it seems that everyone is otherwise healthy and happy to be here! No lost baggage either... Praise the Lord!

We were pleasantly surprised to have Wi-Fi at our hotel -- so as I type this there are 7 of the 11 people of our team crashing in Sarah and I's room where both the A/C and the wi-fi are working :) Party time!

We're looking forward to our 7-hour train ride this afternoon and I don't know about everyone else, but I'm actually kind of looking forward to trying to pee through a hole in the bottom of the train (aka the bathroom). We've been warned that food not prepared by specific places (i.e. Harvest India, our hotel, etc.) is not always safe but most of us remembered to pack enough food to get us from here to Tenali where we'll enjoy dinner together with our host family (Suresh, Christine, et al).

Please pray for our continued safety as we travel from here to Tenali. There was a cyclone here about two weeks ago and it's still the rainy season; this has made the tracks less than ideal. Kishor (the guy from Harvest India who is escorting us) says that we're aiming to take the train this afternoon at 1:30-2pm (arriving around 9pm) but that our timing will be flexible because of the rains and how they affect the train system.

Think that's about it! I've been psting pictures to my personal facebook page but will try to post them somewhere more publicly accessible from this point forwad... Will post a link soon! Thank you for your prayers! Feel free to comment on here for Sarah and I or for one of the other team members and I will pass your messages along as I get them!

Blessings,
Shannon

Leaving on a Jet Plane(s)

We're leaving soon... In 2 hours, to be exact! We'll catch our flight out of TO at 6:35am this morning, at which point we can both breathe a huge sigh of relief -- we're on our way!

A few quick things that we'd appreciate your prayers about...

- Chris has come down with a cold and is losing / has lost her voice. Please pray for healing and continued good health for her and for the rest of our team!

- It's cyclone season in India! The school on the main Harvest India campus was recently damaged by a cyclone. Please pray that God would provide the funding and resources to fix the damaged wall and that the negative impact of the damage on the students, teachers, etc. would be minimal.


We are not sure how much Internet access we will have while we are with Harvest India, so please be patient with us if our updates are infrequent, at best!

Generally, please continue to praise God for his provision (for us and for the rest of the team as well) in terms of both prayer and financial support!

When you are praying for us, please keep in mind:
- Our team! We are asking God for unity as we love and serve together with Harvest India.
- Safety (from cyclones, malaria, etc.)
- Harvest India staff. We are trusting God that they will be blessed by our visit and that we will, in turn, be encouraged / challenged as we serve with them.
- Pastors and pastors' wives who come to the conference that we are hosting. May God fill them up with his strength, joy, hope and courage.
- Women at Harvest India's Asraya house and Freedom Centre. We are asking that God would continue to bring them hope, healing and restoration through Harvest India and that he would give us opportunities to be a part of this process!

Counting Down

"Are you excited yet?"

This is the question of the day/week/month.

I can only speak for myself, but I'm the kind of person who gets excited waaaaay in advance. In the 1-2 weeks directly leading up to the start of an adventure, I'm usually stuck in list-mode -- what still needs to get done, and how can I get it done in time? Once I'm on the (plane, train, automobile), what's done is done and since the rest is out of my hands, I can get excited again (and/or take a nap).

So that's where I'm at these days. Sarah and I both appreciate your prayers for us as we tie up the last of the loose ends -- mostly, we just need to make sure we remember to take all of our immunization meds at the appropriate times and to make sure that things on the homefront will be taken care of in our absence.


At any rate, it's been a month since our last update and God has been SO active!

In case you haven't heard yet, one of us recently got engaged! I'll give you a hint... It's Sarah. We're both pretty excited (her a bit more than me) about this new development. Praise God for Sarah and Pete and please pray with us that God will have his hand of blessing and protection over their relationship, and that he would be with them as they look ahead to several months of planning both for a wedding and for their eventual move to L.A.!

Our dinner fundraiser went WAY better than we could have hoped for, and we left feeling totally overwhelmed both by God's provision and by the love and support of our friends and COTR family.

Since then, we've continued to be blessed with prayer and financial support and are super excited (and maybe a little relieved too) that we've not only met, but exceeded our fundraising goals! We were excited to be able to put a little bit of the extra funds (with the blessing of the rest of the team) towards purchasing a polaroid printer (+ paper) that will be used to bless the women we will be spending with at Harvest India's Ashraya home and Freedom Centre (these are both ministries which provide support and training to women who have been rescued from prostitution). Please pray with us that the printer would arrive on time (i.e. before our departure date!). If you are still interested in giving financially, you can still give to either of us, or you can give directly to Harvest India here: https://harvestindia.webconnex.com/general. Either way, any additional funds that are raised at this point will be transferred to Harvest India.


In addition to praying for Sarah and I, please also continue to lift up the rest of the team. We are a pretty eclectic group of women (+ one man) and are looking forward to see how God will make us into an effective community who will live, love and serve well together.

There are so many opportunities that await us in India, but both Sarah and I feel our hearts being drawn toward the women of Ashraya and the Freedom Centre. Please lift up these women and ask that God will reveal himself to them in very tangible ways in the days and weeks to come. We are believing that God is going ahead of us (just like Pastor Dave's been speaking about in the last few messages on courage!), and are asking that he will give us ears to hear and eyes to see these women as he does. Please pray that we will be open and obedient to God's shouts, nudges, and taps in India so that we can be his hands and feet.


On a personal note, I've been feeling challenged by God lately to remember that I have nothing to offer these women other than the hope that comes from Christ. I need to remember that while many of them have probably lived through situations more horrible than I am capable of comprehending, it is not my pity that they want or need, but the hope that comes from knowing that they are deeply loved by God. What good is pity, when these women have so much still to live for? Through Christ they are loved, redeemed, and healed. May they experience the peace, joy and purpose that comes with knowing God. Please pray that each one will understand that nothing has or can separate her from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus:

"neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation"  (Romans 8:38-39)

My prayer for these women is the same as Paul's prayer for the church at Ephesus:

"For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen [them] with power through his Spirit in your inner being so that Christ may dwell in [their] hearts through faith. And I pray that [they], being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that [they] may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." (Ephesians 3:14-21)

We're IN!

I have been riding what seems to be a rollercoaster of emotions these days. I can't speak for Sarah, but I'm fairly confident that she's in a similar place. It seems that both of our lives lately are consistently filled with lots of small but significant stresses as well as some pretty sweet blessings.

Please continue to lift us up in prayer as we both strive to:

"Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for [us] in Christ Jesus." (1 Thessalonians 5:16-17)

and to:

"not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present [our] requests to God. [So that] the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard [our] hearts and [our] minds in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:7-8)

Today, however, I'm confident that I speak for both of us when I say that we are feeling very, very blessed.

In the midst of the planning and prep for Saturday's dinner, we were finding ourselves increasingly anxious given our lack of experience cooking ethnic foods, or for that matter, cooking any foods for large groups of people. Some of our help had also fallen through and so while we felt confident that everything would get done (we weren't totally on our own, and we had still managed to borrow enough crock pots and/or rice cookers!), we were both continuing to ask God to provide even just one person to help us. We were praying specifically for someone to step up who a) knows something about cooking Indian food, b) knows something about cooking for large groups of people and/or c) would be available to help prepare at least one of the dishes that we are hoping to serve.

I received a phone call from Sarah around 9pm this evening (yesterday evening, I suppose, given that it's technically Friday morning now...) informing me that God had totally come through for us in the form of one AMAZING woman who a) knows a LOT about cooking Indian food, b) knows a LOT about cooking food for large groups of people, and c) is willing to help us with the preparation of the main dishes--and even the grocery shopping-- tomorrow (er, today). Oh, and she's offered to help with some of the setup and prep that we'll be doing on Saturday too.

Can I get a "Hallelujah!" or a "Praise the Lord!"? Amen.


(Also, you better believe that this is going to be one fabulous Indian dinner. You should totally come.)



But wait! There's more. A few updates re: official stuff.

We have BOTH been officially approved for our VISAs to get into India! My passport + VISA arrived via Canada Post yesterday and Sarah's will be delivered via her parents in the very near future.

We are both almost entirely immunized! I say "almost" because, as it turns out, we both need Typhoid and, while Sarah had hers a couple of weeks ago, when I went to get mine this afternoon, I was informed that a) it is currently on back order and b) there was a recall on it very recently.

Please pray that Sarah's Typhoid shot was not one of the lot numbers which was recalled or that if it was, it will be a relatively smooth process should she need to get a second immunization. For me, please pray that the immunization will be made available again prior to our departure in November. Let's be honest, I'm totally praying that it will be available WELL before our departure.

Of course, we're also praying that God would continue to provide the funding that we need to get to India!

We're about 3/4 of the way there, and feeling pretty excited about how God has been affirming this trip for both of us through the encouragement and support of our families and friends, especially over the last week or so.

Want to hear more? Come out for dinner on Saturday!

Crossing our T's and Dotting our I's...

We had a great meeting with the rest of the team about a week ago and are excited to be receiving something of an itinerary very soon! The purpose of the itinerary is for us to be able to share with you how we might be serving on any given day so that you can pray along with us for the duration of our trip.

That said, please keep in mind that whatever plans are in place prior to our arrival in India will be VERY flexible and are subject to lots of changes!

"You can make many plans, but the LORD's purpose will prevail." - Proverbs 19:21 (NLT)

We are currently in the process of applying for our VISAs and getting our immunizations, etc. and we would SO appreciate your prayers that both Sarah and I (as well as the rest of our team) will be approved and that our passports (with VISAs!) will be returned to us quickly.

I (Shannon) dropped off my application at the Indian consulate in Brampton this afternoon in a process that was both quick and relatively easy! Sarah, on the other hand, has to apply through the U.S. (given that she's a citizen of the U.S. and not of Canada) and has, as a result, come up against a number of small (but still frustrating) hiccups along the way. Please join us in asking God to overwhelm her with His peace as she waits for the safe return of her passport (sooner rather than later!) along with the approval of her VISA application.


Finally, we have raised just over half of the funds that we need to raise and are looking forward to hosting a delicious dinner (Indian food!) on Saturday, Sept 29 at 6pm, at the Church on the Rock building in Hamilton (2149 Upper James). Please pray that God would be with us in the planning and preparation for that night and that He will help us to effectively share our hearts and our vision for this trip with those who attend.

If you are interested in attending the dinner, please contact us at GoingToIndia2012@gmail.com!

Thank you so much for your continued  prayers and support!

Booked!

Flights are booked! We are thanking God for some decent prices and good scheduling to boot!

Sarah and I will be flying out of Toronto on the 5th of November (around 6:30pm) and arriving in Chennai just after midnight on the 7th -- a mere 2 hours before the rest of our team will arrive!

Our next team get together is in a couple of weeks. We're looking forward to re-connecting especially now that pretty much everyone else has also booked their flights so our team is more or less finalized!


On a personal note, please continue to pray for me as I have just under a week left to wrap up my MRP and am feeling pretty overwhelmed by the process. Specifically, I'd appreciate your prayers for motivation and for self-discipline and/or focus!

On a happier note, I've been blessed with THREE unsolicited part-time-flexible-hours-work-from-home job offers in the last couple of weeks. I was a bit anxious about finding work in the fall given the uncertainty of where I'll be in January (Ontario or British Columbia) as well as the time that I'll be needing to book off for this trip in November but I'm feeling pretty confident that God's got my back on this one!

Booking flights!

It's funny how something as simple as booking flights can be both exciting and nerve-wracking!

We're booking our flights this week and the process of finalizing the dates changes things -- it makes things more real. We really are going to India in November!

We are thanking God as he continues to provide financially! We are also grateful for the abundance of personal and prayer support from close friends and family.

I'm still wrapping up my MRP, so in addition to the excitement of finalizing flight details, I'm also feeling both anxious and relived about the final few days of writing. Please pray for continued motivation, clarity of mind as I read and write, and for general sanity as I move closer to the light at the end of this tunnel!

With regard to India, please be praying this week for the children in the orphanage that is run by Harvest India. We are asking that God would reveal himself to these kids in some very tangible ways and that as a result, they would know that they are deeply loved and cared for.

Energy!

Over the past couple of weeks both Sarah and I have found ourselves feeling a bit overwhelmed! Please ask that God would renew our strength and fill us with energy as we press on with our fundraising and our respective "to-do" lists, both India-related and otherwise. We are so grateful for the ways that we have already seen Him at work and are trusting that He will continue to reveal Himself to us in the midst of the craziness that life throws us.

We had a great opportunity about two weeks ago to meet with the rest of our team and to get to know each other better! We are praising God for these fabulous women and asking that he would continue to draw us together as friends and as sisters in Christ as we look forward to serving together in November.

Details

November seems far enough away, but there's plenty to keep us busy between now and then! Please pray that we'll both be able to get some of the details sorted out without a hitch as we prepare this week and next by researching / getting the necessary vaccinations, VISAs, updated passports, etc.

Provision and Peace

As Sarah and I begin our fundraising, please pray with us--we are asking God to move in the hearts of our friends and family members. We're asking that God use us to shed light on the needs that Harvest India is called to help meet in India. We're believing that as God taps shoulders and opens hearts and minds to those needs, that those he taps would be excited to support us both financially and in prayer.

This week, we're looking forward to meeting and engaging with the men and women whose lives have been and/or will be touched by God's people in India and ask that he begin, even now, to prepare the hearts of the pastor's wives who will be attending our first conference/retreat. May God keep them safe, encourage them, protect them, and overwhelm them with his peace as they love and serve, with their husbands, the people they are called to minister to.