VBS went very well and ended strong! We are still blown away and blessed beyond belief by the opportunity to work with the Indian church members. Such a great experience getting to be The Body of Christ together with new friends on the other side of the world.
Boys showing off their cups of snow. Jesus' blood washes us white as snow!
Auntie Cooweesta helping do crafts.
Moses and Santosh helping out two of the kiddos.
Mattie and Lynn representing from Virgina!
Look at the Joy in this "old" woman's face! They say you're only as old and you act. and being willing to traps across Asia keeps you young in my book. ;-)
Mom and little Gopi!
Such a cutie!
Russ. Keeping us in line and manning one of the many cameras. Looking good!
My new little brothers. Aaron, (Dad,) Samuel, and Moses.
(Both Moses AND Aaron are smiling in this one! I told you I'd get one!)
Thursday night after VBS wrapped up we were honored by the church members we had been working with all week. When we arrived at the church we got to watch a special song and dance they had prepared just for us. It was neat seeing the dance and choreography including a giant India flag and balloons! After the dance Babu said some special words of encouragement about each one of us and they "garlanded" us with huge, beautiful, and very sweet smelling flower garlands. Next came a "Traditional Indian Love Feast" with many many dishes that had been prepared to give us the chance to taste many Indian dishes. It was very special and reminded me of when Paul's tells us to outdo each other in honor... we were defiantly out-done that day. It was so very very special!
Note: This footage is very raw. Just wanted to show a quick taste of the evening.
The whole team with Pastor Babu and Dr. Sujatha.
Front: Alice, Russ
Back: Len, Mattie, Karen, Albert, Cindy, Cooweesta, Sharon, Suji, Babu
Friday was the realization of a long-term dream for Pastor Babu, his wife (Dr. Sujitha) and the entire church. We were able to celebrate the opening of a medical clinic that will be run by Babu's wife. She is going to provide very low-cost Family Health care to the people in the area of the city near the church. They have big plans and big dreams for the clinic that are very God-sized and will be effective in bringing people to Christ.
Suji told me in an interview that the clinic will point people to Christ who can heal their hearts while He grants her the wisdom to heal their bodies. God connected the resources of AIM with the faith and dreams He has given this little church in India. It was so cool to be a part of this day and I am looking forward to how I can be a part of the expansion of this ministry!
Ready to begin the Ceremony.
Such a big day in this families life! Isn't it cool when God asks you to have faith and then comes through in an awesome way?!?!?!!
These two shared a touching moment during the ceremony. After praying for his wife, Babu said some encouraging, "Can you believe this actually happened?" and "You will do wonderful things in the name of the Lord!" type-things to Suji. She then stood up and said, "They say that behind ever successful man is his wife, but behind my success is this man of God, my husband."
CELEBRATE!
Dr. Sujatha
The first patient! Many of the church members were there to celebrate! Suji gave anyone who wanted one a check-up and afterwards many of them pray for her or gave her a hug or a gift.
An actual patient. This woman and her husband live down the street. They saw the commotion and wanted to come see Dr. Sujatha. They are a Hindu family and Suji was able to do an initial consultation and set up a follow up appointment. Then Suji asked if she could pray for the woman. She agreed and then asked, "Christian?" Suji, beamed! "Yes! Christian!"
We then said our goodbyes with a birthday party for Suji.
Fun story: Indian traffic is crazy, and we are in "pre-monsoon" season (Monsoon officially starts this coming week.) Last night during the hardest rain I've even seen in my life we loaded up into the van for what was supposed to be a 15 min drive to a nice restaurant. Apparently somewhere near our hotel a large tree fell over a main road and stopped traffic.
TWO HOURS LATER... we made it to the restaurant just in time to order before they closed the kitchen! After dinner we went back to the hotel with Babu's family and enjoyed cake and ice cream at 12:30 in the morning.
I am currently on a plane to Kolkata somewhere over the east coast of India. I'll post this as soon as I'm somewhere with wifi and have a chance to pull out some pics. We're all pretty exhausted and are looking forward to the chance to rest today and some of tomorrow. I am excited to meet Pastor Pareesh and see what all we will get to be a part of in this city. I'm also excited to take a tourist excursion to Mother Tereasa home, order of nuns, and grave. I think it will be a neat experience.
"Thug Life Alice!!"
Yeah, we're all pretty pooped!
We've heard about the storms and tornados back home and have been praying for safety for everyone. Mom says that if our house blows away... would someone at least send us a text or fb message so we can know before we get there?" Ha! So glad she's my mom!
Be sure to check out the post below titled "Meet Shanti" to read about an amazing woman and one of my many new friends.
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