Carla the butterfly is back home in Santa Cruz safely.

Thank you very much to all the Supports and Prayers.

Lynne’s Special Day
Today was our last ministry day to visit any children’s programs. We all have had so many feelings of sadness for the end of our program and the special times with so many children. Our morning program was with pre-school and early elementary kids at St. Michael Primary School. The afternoon program was with a group of kids from HIV/AIDS affected families.
But at lunchtime, Peter had a surprise for us (again!). We all thought it would be an extra program squeezed in after yesterday’s "surprise" third program. Instead, he arranged a very special lunch with Pastor Daniel Das and his family. Our team had gone to his program the day I was sick, so this was a wonderfully special occasion for me. In 2008, Scott and I had helped support Pastor Das with building one of his churches in Delhi. He, his family and congregations were so faithful in their prayers and support for Scott during the time he was ill and dying with cancer. I was so frustrated that I might have come all to India without being able to see him and greet him; but God knew the right timing, and I am so thrilled we had some extra time to spend with these dear, godly people.
Tomorrow our team will wrap things up, maybe do a little shopping, have dinner, then head to the airport for the very long flight back which leaves in the middle of the night. We’re due back mid-morning on Friday, so we’re not likely to have another opportunity to send a note here on the blog. Rob and Terry will stay another week to visit Kulpahar Christian School, but they will not be keeping the blog.
Thank you to all who have followed along with our adventure, and supported us with prayer. God bless you all.

Lynne

A BIG SURPRISE DAY!
Just when we thought we had figured things out, we got thrown a curve ball…..Today’s planned schedule was to visit TWO children’s programs; BUT we were surprised with a THIRD STOP, a school for 600 slum children! YIKES! This VERY LARGE, VERY EXCITED group was waiting for us in one large room and ROARED to life as our team walked in. The Good Samaritan School offers high quality schooling to the poor children of Delhi, giving thousands of children an opportunity of stepping out of the grip of poverty with a solid education. Our team was blessed to bring our program to them.

From BIG to TINY. Our third stop was a hole in the wall 15 x20 room jammed packed with poor street children who attend this after school Bible club. We sat on the floor with the children as there were no chairs, no fans, and no windows. The room was HOT and STUFFY; but it was a very intimate and personal time with these children. We met the young girl name KALPNA , who was mentioned one of the earlyer blogs. She is a serious young girl, hardened by her family’s day to day struggle for food, clothing, and shelter. Her wage is $1.50 dollars a day, seven days a week.
"PLAN B" The gift boxes have not arrived from port, so our team went on a shopping spree, and purchased pencils, candy, soap, toys and other items to make gifts bags for the AIDS children group at our final stop on our final day. We had a gift bag packing party tonight at our hotel and then all trundled off to bed, tired but happy from a BIG SURPRISE DAY.

Mira Parivar
Our morning visit was to an informal education program for the local children. Along with education for preschool to fifth grade, the school supplied bread and milk in the morning to each child, and a banana in the afternoon. The true blessing was that we performed on a day that happened to be "Women’s Day." The school called Mira Parivar, My Family, also has a women’s sewing program that takes place six days a week. On this day they were honoring the women who had been coming to the sewing classes and bible programs. After our program, which we performed on the roof top, the women in our group were asked to share with the Indian women. We each shared from our heart different things such as testimonies, stories, insights and blessings. It was so amazing to experience the common bond that we as women have with one another, no matter the culture or how far away we live from one another.

God Is With Us
Our Afternoon: Emanuel Home. I don’t know who had more fun, us or the 94 orphan children that we visited at their home. We traveled to a very rural area of India, where we passed farms and dairies. The orphanage was in a gated compound that felt very safe for the children. After our program, we stayed for about two hours and "played". Our clown, Lisa had a line, that never got shorter, as she made balloons for all the kids. Terri, Maribel and Larry learned Indian dancing from a group of very enthusiastic and excellent dancing children. Maribel was taken on a tour of the kitchen by the head cook. Peter and Rob were surrounded by a mob of boys wanting to learn magic tricks. Joan was given a personal tour by a group of girls of their very own bedroom and Liz took lots of pictures and helped the kids play with Peter’s two marionettes puppets. As we left we hung our heads out the windows of the vans blowing kisses to the many waving and smiling children of Emanuel Home. As we drive back to our hotel, we reflect on the small room of 94 orphan children all praying at the same time, their own personal prayers for us, from the three year olds all the way to the 17 year olds. What a day!!! Praise the Lord!!!

TERRY’S BEST DAY
What a great day to worship and fellowship. After attending Pastor Samuel’s Hindi speaking church we were invited to their home for lunch. What a treat!! The fellowship with this family was wonderful. We got to see a video of their wedding and hear about their arranged marriage. Then after 5 years of asking, we finally got to go to Peter’s home and meet his mom. What a lovely lady.
We are still awaiting the release of the OCC boxes. So, if our day wasn’t exciting enough, already, we went shopping for supplies to fill 60 gift bags to give out to the HIV/AIDS group.. We bought crayons, notebooks, pencils, erasers, sharpeners, cars, masks, balloons, potato chips, candy, toothpaste, toothbrushes and soap. We’ll pick up a couple more things tomorrow and then we’ll have a packing party where we can pray over the bags and then give them out on Wednesday. Can’t wait!!!

GOT SPACE

Who's in your home ?

Imagine owning a 1200 sq. ft. house, bottom floor is your living space; the upstairs is one room specifically built to a church and meeting hall. Pastor Daniel Das and his family had giving up their personal space for the work of God and host a GREAT PROGRAM for the poor children of the resettlement colony.

For today's program, the upstairs room was packed with almost a hundred children and not to mention the parents and youth. The walls shook with laughter as we share our puppet / magic show with them. Are them is "butterflies" and we did a simple craft of a closed pin butterfly to remind each child that God sees them as a unique and a beautiful creation.

THIS IS GREART NEW!!!