The trip is drawing to a close.  I have learned a lot.  I have been able to see some of the impact of TREC's partnership with the local church in Siliguri.  From the children's home to the school to the church planting.  It is amazing what someone whose sole purpose is to proclaim Jesus to those who do not know Him can do.  Not to suggest that it is all Pastor Jiwan's doing, but it is evident that God is using him and his wife Esther.  Their ministry to the Nepali people who live in NE India and Nepal is reaching people and changing lives.  You can read more about the ministry and follow Jiwan's updates at www.trecmud.com. 

I challenge you to come on a short term mission trip of your own.  Jeff would say,"Get your faith dirty".

Another thing I have experienced is the chance to be away from the hustle of my schedule and let God's word do some much needed work on my heart.  It's not chic today, seems especially in the Christian subculture, to admit that you have any issues or hint of failings (funny though, those closest to you are painfully aware of them).  God has definitely been revealing areas of my life that are not yielded to Him.

India Update

I am learning what it means to pastor here.  Jeff and I went with Jiwan this morning to visit some families and a widow.  We prayed for them.  From what I saw these visits could be the some of the only chance for these women to learn more about Jesus and fellowship.  They do not have transportation to get to church.  In fact, they had very little.  It gave me a good sense of Jiwan's ministry here.  In addition to the children's home, he pastors and tries to develop other men to start works in other towns.  It is easily more than a lifetime worth of work. 

Met in another home last night.  We had a Bible study and some singing.  Then we stopped to pray at someone's house.  A lot of Jiwan's (the national pastor) ministry involves visiting people and praying for them.  It is very powerful to pray with people.  As Philip Yancey says, "...in developing countries (Christians) spend less time pondering the effectiveness of prayer and more time actually praying.". That's a lesson I needed.

Thank you all for praying for me and supporting me.

Mike

Leaving Balasan

The people here are so hospitable.  Every home you visit you are served tea and biscuits or whatever they have.  You get their best.  Today we left the church in Balasan and stopped in Sonada where Menosh and Baku live.  Most homes are two rooms.  A kitchen and a bedroom that doubles as a living room.  There are no restrooms in the homes we visited.  We had tea and biscuits and prayed with them for the work in Sonada and Balasan.  Menosh pastors the church in Balasan and is starting a work in Sonada.  So far they have one believer in the new work in Sonada.

Last night Jeff shared on grace, mercy and peace.  He talked about God's grace, mercy and peace for us.  Today we shared a brief conversation and talked about whether we are gracious, merciful and peaceful.

We returned to Siliguri and met in a home Bible Study.  Jeff shared and we sang and prayed.

India Update

Yesterday we worshipped with the believers at the church here in Siliguri.  I was able to give the message and the pastor translated to Nepalese.  Jeff led the communion part of the service.  It was a special experience to remember the sacrifice Jesus made with fellow believers right in the middle of a land filled with idolatry.  Many of the homes here have mini-temples out front with Hindu idols.  I don't recall ever seeing such visible idolatry before. 

We are staying at a children's home that Pastor Jiwan and his wife Esther run.  They have a school behind the home and are starting to reach out to the community through the school.  There are presently 13 children and two women who live at the home.  Many of these children either do not have parents that are living or who are able to care for them.  Here they are loved and taught.  They are also taught about the love of Jesus Christ.  The ministry here truly is a light shining in a dark place. 

Today we are headed up into the mountains to Balusan to visit the church and have fellowship with the believers there.

As an aside, I am reading "The Jesus I Never Knew" by Philip Yancey.  I highly recommend it.

Thank you for praying for me.

In Christ,

Mike

Leaving Today

Dear Friends, I am leaving today.  To say I would appreciate your prayers would be an understatement.  In many ways this trip is shaping up to be more about what God is doing in my heart than what I will actually be doing while I'm in India.  I have been meditating on James 4:1-3 lately, ¹ What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? ² You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. ³ You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures."  This is a bit of my continued realization that I am addicted to comfort.  Last Sunday we were reminded that "we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them." (Eph 2:10).  Please pray for me that I will be willing to do the things that God prepared beforehand for me.  Thank you for praying.

A Glimpse in the Mirror

I have been wrestling with how transparent to be in my blog posts and so have not posted in a while.  On the one hand, I want to share my honest struggles in hopes that it might encourage some of you.  On the other hand, the current Christian culture seems to me to be one in which we are to put up a façade.  Dan Schaefer’s book “Faking Church” addresses this issue and the subtle way in which hiding our true selves often results in a gradual sliding away from both the Church and our relationship with Christ.  I recommend this book.  You can get on his website http://www.danschaeffer.com/.  I also want to avoid managing my “public image” for the consumption of others.  The truth is that I often feel like my Christian walk is somewhat a walk of confronting my own failures punctuated by glimpses of God’s hand working in my life.  Lately I have been struggling with how best to parent my older children as they transition into young adulthood.  I found myself wondering why they could not be more grateful only to be confronted by the Spirit about my own lack of thankfulness.  As so often the case God is using my children to work in my own heart.