SERVE India

Dear e-pray friends,

We are so thankful for your prayer! We need it!

Please take a moment right now, if you can, to pray for the teacher training school process to move forward so it can be completed. The paperwork has been held up in one office for months now and there is one guy, who happens to be the director of the department, that will not go through with sending the approved paperwork to the next office. John and the two men who will be managers of the teacher training school have met with this man several times and he has told them to go ahead to the next office, which is about an 8-hour train ride away, and that he will call the office and tell the director there to go ahead with the paperwork. So, they have bought their tickets and made the trip, but when they arrive in the office the director there had not heard from the other director so he could not move forward with the next step of the paperwork process. This same thing happened several times!

We do not know why there is this hold up. The director has been acting like it will happen, but not doing what needs to be done for it to happen. Last week John and the two managers were able to attend an event where both of the office directors were present so they thought that it would make it easy for the one to give word to the other to go ahead with the paperwork when they were all there together. When they approached them the main director felt very uncomfortable and left quickly, without giving the go ahead!

Please pray that John and the managers will have wisdom in how to handle this and what next steps to take. Please pray especially that whatever it is that is preventing this from moving forward will be dissolved or that we will clearly see if it is the Lord Who has a different plan, and then what to do next.

Thank you for praying! Praying is often the one thing that will win the battle!!

Please also keep praying for the dear ones who we were able to spend time with during our last trip, for them to continue to be drawn close to the Lord, feeling valued and loved by Him.

Thank you for continuing to pray for our AllNations ministry! We really enjoyed visiting with all of you who were able to stop by at the Open House last week! It continues to be such a wonderful blessing! We still have opportunities for you to be involved if you would like. Please let me know if you are interested in helping to provide the Friday night meals, tutor, mentor, provide funds, and/or pray for specific names of students. Thank you!

We are so grateful for our work in this together with you! We hope you enjoy a little more insight from a few more team members who have shared thoughts from our trip with you, included below.

Blessings!! His joy, Love, The Nanda’s

Thoughts from Jean…

This year was my 8th trip to India. On this trip I realized just how deep my relationship has developed over the last 8 years with the people we serve in India.

On Thanksgiving Day my brother was killed in a tragic accident. My family was devastated by the loss. I was still feeling the profound effects of this loss when I left for India on December 28th. A couple of days into the trip I found myself alone with our driver Isaac. We have gotten to know Isaac well over the years. His English isn’t very good and communication can be a little difficult. Isaac looked at me and said “So sorry about brother”. “Very sad when John told us”. “We praying for you”. I was so deeply touched that Isaac, the Leaders and their people were praying for me.

There were key Verses I turned to in the days following my brother’s death for strength. I was given the opportunity to share at some of the gatherings about my loss and the strength God gave me to persevere. One of the opportunities was at Jeeva Jalem, where we visit the community affected by leprosy. We visit this community every year and it is always one of the high points of the trip. I love getting out of the vehicles and seeing people hurrying to greet us.

As I told my story I remember looking around the room at the faces of the people. The looks on their faces will be forever etched in my memory. I had no doubt how deeply they loved and cared for me.

These people are my brothers and sisters. We have a have a love for each other that surpasses all understanding. I am so grateful that God placed these people in my life.

I can’t wait to see what He’s got in store for me and the team next year.

Thoughts from Travis…

India was great. It’s amazing to see first hand what John and Terri and the workers are doing over there. I used to feel like SERVE India was mostly Terri and the team that goes every year, because that’s who I was around and that’s what I saw, but now I see we are just one small piece of the puzzle. John is really doing great things over there. He works very hard. The local workers are genuine and are excited about serving the Lord and sharing the Good News.

The culture of India is so much different than here and our lives are so much different. We have so many things and have so much space! In India there are people everywhere and it’s noisy with roosters crowing, horns honking, people talking, trains going by, people cleaning pots and pans outside, etc. The traffic alone is crazy. It’s like a hallway full of middle school kids when the bell rings… It’s chaos, but somehow people manage to get were they’re going without running in each other all of the time. I was prepared for India be hotter and dirtier. While it was dirty, it’s not like you’re rolling around in the streets. It’s like camping with access to a shower… you get a little dirty, but once you take a shower you’re good to go again. I was able to shower every night and that was somewhat unexpected. There are some long travel days and cramped rickshaw and van rides, but I think that’s part of the experience. The food wasn’t as bad as I had expected either.. and I brought plenty of snacks!

Thoughts from Matt…

It was my first time in India and it blew my mind! People are everywhere and were always happy to see us. The traffic was insane with cows and water buffalos walking down the middle of busy city streets. When I first arrived, I was shocked to see a family of four buzzing down the street on a motorcycle but by the end of the trip, that type of travel didn’t even warrant a second glance. India is such a gorgeous place with awesome mountains, busy chaotic cities, and beautiful remote villages.

It was great to experience firsthand just some of what SERVE India does. What an incredible operation! We assisted with medical camps in the slums, a leper colony, and a remote fisherman’s village on an island in the Indian Ocean. We visited an orphanage, a home for abandoned widows, and the new teacher’s training center that John has worked so hard to get established (pray for that final approval!).

We were able to meet plenty of the leaders in the different cities and villages that are part of the SERVE India network. Their stories of a calling and a mustard seed faith are what sticks with me the most. The leaders’ testimonies are all so different but they tended to have the same characteristics of being called, persecution, hardships, being sent, teaching, unexplainable coincidences, increasing numbers, challenges, miracles, supporting one another, etc. Incredible stories that would be too much for an e-pray!