Trips

December 2009

This Christmas there will be a team of eight of us from the UK ministering in India. The itinerary includes a two day pastors conference and a half-day women's conference, Sunday services and Christmas day services to encourage and build-up the believers, children's ministry, and the baptism of 10 believers.

We will be holding a big Christmas event like last year, presenting the Christmas story evangelistically and distributing Christmas gifts to all the children.

We will be performing a land survey to help us plan the best use of the land God has given us, as well as visiting literacy and sewing centres and sharing the gospel with them. We will also visit and supply needs to the government children's home.

October 2009

In October, Sundar was out in India with a guest speaker, and it was wonderful to see people responding to the gospel after months of planting seeds in their lives. One of our sewing centre teachers (who we spent much time with in August exploring ways of developing new products and helping her family, and who in our October newsletter we had asked for prayer for her salvation) along with eight of her students, came forward to accept Jesus! It was wonderful to minister to them. Though they have made this initial step of faith it is still hard for them to move away from their non-Christian background. Please pray for us as we meet with them this Christmas and encourage them in their next steps of faith, and pray they have courage to keep going. We were also able to baptise 6 new believers with a further ten wanting baptism at Christmas.

August 2009

This trip allowed us to oversee projects and explore options for new developments, in particular the production of items for sale in the UK, discussions regarding medical work and planning for the Home of Hope. We had a dedication on the plot for the planned Home of Hope and FLM headquarters. We also visited many of our literacy and sewing centres, opening one new literacy school and two new sewing centres. We took with us lots of teddies which we distributed to children in the tribal villages.

We once again visited the government home to give aid. The staff were anxious when we arrived as they only had half a tin of milk powder left and many screaming newborn babies to feed. So we were able to provide two crates of milk powder for them that would last a couple of weeks until their help from the government would arrive. It was perfect timing. We were also able to get them other important necessities such as bedding, cots and so on.

December 2008

This special Christmas trip was a great success. It was packed and successful and very encouraging to see the projects progressing. We were privileged to have guests from the UK with us - a trustee and good friend, who were a great help with ideas, insight, speaking at churches, sharing at literacy schools, opening sewing centres and getting a feel for the work in India. We spent a lot of time on the land; working, planning and praying but also using it to reach out to others for the first time.

We held a big Christmas celebration on the land inviting all the local villagers, and around 500 attended. It was the first evangelistic programme on the land and a great and memorable evening was had by all. We were able to present the Christmas story with speaking, music and drama, enjoyed traditional dance and songs together, and we provided a big meal for everyone. We also distributed christmas gifts to all the children. It was the children's first Christmas