India - Tuesday, September 22 (Rob)

Dear Friends,

It has been an incredibly rich, but very hot and humid, day today. The heat, humidity and full schedule are having a tiring effect on all of us but experiencing firsthand what God is doing in this place is renewing our energy and our spirits. We are humbled to be hosted by such amazing Kingdom servants.

This morning, we ate breakfast and gathered with the staff, Bible College students and Nursing School students and hospital staff for Devotions. Normally they meet separately for devotions but came together so we could join them. (Wait until you see footage of the "dancing nurses.")

We then visited several areas of ministry here at CICM. We began with Dr. Indu Lall (the boss according to Ajai. He says he practices Indu-ism). As we entered her office, we were immediately were drawn to one entire wall covered in photos of children. CICM has a child sponsorship program that provides for 3000 children (although roughly 200 still lack sponsors). These children are cared for through the churches in 12 states and 3 other countries. It includes 700 kids that have been rescued from slavery. Parents can't afford to feed their children so rather than watch them starve to death they sell them into slavery.

Through this program at CICM, 168 of the children through the 25 year history have become pastors and 4 are currently enrolled in the Bible Academy. One young man, Tiharu, was rescued from slavery and is now an evangelist who has started three churches and baptized many.

Indu also oversees a food distribution program for local children. Basically, she provides 2 kilos of rice meal for 185 families each week. This amount of food won't feed them for a week but it provides assistance. They also give the children vitamin A and other vitamin supplements. Indu uses food distribution as another opportunity to share the gospel and teach children Scripture.

After 25 years, Indu is still so passionate about her ministry to these kids. Just to put it in context, there are more children in India under the age of 14 than the entire population of the United States. She said, “we are not building Taj Mahals, we are building lives”.

We also visited the Nursing College where the Principal and Assistant Principal gave us a tour. There are over 100 nursing students currently. Second year and fourth year students spend time serving villages in the region. Fourth year students spend a month there providing medical care to the village residents. As large as the Indian cities are (millions), 70% of the population lives in 600,000 villages.

Daniel, and his wife Mona oversee the publications department. CICM is the largest publisher of Christian materials in all of India. Over the past 17 years they have published 38 titles in Hindi. Their magazine is distributed to 183 cities and is read by over 5000 readers. They told us of one people group in central India known as the Bundeli people. There are 28 million Bundeli people with no Bible translated in their language. (India has 18 recognized official languages.) CICM just finished a translation in partnership with Pioneer Bible Translators which is nearing distribution.

We are staying in the CICM children's home which currently houses 70 children, who are the most precious children. We have played with them and listened to them singing and seen huge smiles that overwhelm even the darkness in their past. These kids are infants through eleven years of age currently. Most of the kids are orphans or were abandoned at birth on the streets or at the hospital. As we met these kids, they stole our hearts. One little girl Rya was found in a bag on the side of the road. Her cord was still attached which led to a terrible infection down into her intestines on top of low birth weight (less than 2 lbs), syphillis from her mother, and lots of other problems. The doctors said she won't live more than a couple of days. The picture of her when they found her and took her to the hospital are ghastly. But now through medical care, love, and most importantly God's grace, Rya is now three years old and running around with the other toddlers here at Bal Bhavan (children’s palace). 6-7 of the kids are children of CICM evangelists. When these guys go off into regions of intense persecution and they are told their children will be taken if they continue preaching there. They do whatever is necessary to provide safety for their kids and yet continue the work to which God has called them.

We also were privileged to meet 4 young women who are residents in a home that CICM now provides for unwed mothers (as young as 13) who were pursuing abortions but have consented to deliver their babies. Some of the women provided for in this way decide to keep their babies while others give them to the children’s home at CICM.

We also just finished spending some time with two snake charmers and their 8-10 cobras. Several of our team (Fred Parker, Tom Moen, and Patsy Wells) actually posed with cobras around their necks.

Thanks for bearing with my lengthy tome.

Another day of excitement tomorrow as the medical team heads out to a village for a clinic while the rest of us present ministry and leadership seminars for 400 pastors from all over India. Please continue to pray that God would work in us and through us.

Exhausted but with a full heart,

Rob and Team