An Amazing Experience

Going to India was an amazing experience....there are so more pictures and stories I could tell... The people were so beautiful and warm and welcoming. The mountains were stunning. The sights and smells and sounds were overwhelming. But the spiritual darkness was very evident. India has one of the highest concentrations of lostness in the world. Thank you for taking this journey with me and for praying for the people I met. Hopefully I will be going back someday.

WKU Spirit

Someone brought their red towel from Western to get a picture with it in the Himalayan mountains. I was surprised at how many from the team had gone to WKU, at least for part of their education!

The hotel staff

The hotel staff was great. They cleaned our rooms several times a day and provided us with great food to help fuel us for our hikes. We took appreciation gifts to them. Hopefully we made a positive impression on them as well. Here are some pictures:

Recent addition

This young team member had not been in country long when we arrived, but she seemed to have adapted and fallen in love with the people and culture very quickly. While our team was there, she received news of some serious health issues with a loved one in America. We were able to pray over her and this situation and tried to support her as she dealt with being so far away during this time. Since our team left, another single girl has joined the team, and they went to language school together and serve with the team.

* Pray for quick acquistion of the language.
* Pray for effective ministry.
* Pray for her family and friends in America.

Special Friends

This couple has close ties to our team in many ways. It was a joy to spend together again and see how God had prepared them for this season in their lives. They impressed us with their knowledge of the language, culture, and people. It was a hard good-by at the end of the trip, but what a blessing it was to be with them!

They were recently in America for a wedding and were gracious enough to come talk to the children at church about their experiences in another land.

* Thank God for their willingness to extend their term an additional year.
* Pray for their continued language learning.
* Pray for them and their team as they continue meeting with and training the contacts we made.

You can have the chance to hear and meet this couple as they come to Living Hope this fall to speak at an annual conference.

Great Leaders

We were so grateful to this family for working out all the details for our trip in-country. They did a great job mapping out our hiking trails and taking care of countless other details. They recently were able to reconnect with the team at a bonfire and Living Hope while they were back in America for stateside service for a few months.

* Pray that they will have a smooth transition to life and culture in India.
* Pray that their hearts will be comforted as they are once again separated from family and friends.
* Pray for effectiveness, health and safety for the team coming from their American congregation. Someone from Living Hope is a part of that team as well.

Young men on the trail

We passed these young men on the way out. Although they were interested in talking with us, they seemed very uninterested in the message we were sharing. Pray that they will see the emptiness of the religion that they claim and that they discover the truth and surrender their lives to it.

Amrit

Amrit was a translator for my team on two different occasions. He was very personable and animated and a joy to serve iwth. There were so many times when I wished I could understand the words he was passionately communicating to his native people. My hope is that they were as enthralled as I was, and that God opened their hearts and minds so they could understand the importance of his message.

Amrit and his wife both felt the call to lave their jobs so they'd be able to serve full time. They hand make cards to help meet their day-to-day needs so they can do this. Some of his cards are available to be purchased in the missions office at Living Hope. You can also contact me if you'd like to place an order.

* Pray for their needs to be met.

* Pray for the health of their family.

* Pray for protection from the enemy.

Short visits on the way out

On the way out, we were able to do some quick hellos and hand out materials to those we passed. Here are a couple of pictures:

* Pray that our brief encounter sparked the curiosity of these families toward the materials we left them.
* Pray that God would reveal their need for a Savior to them.
* Pray that they will search the materials for guidance.