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!!!

A LONG DUSTY DAY
We left the hotel at 9am this morning into a dust and smoke filled day. The air pollution is bad today as we can see haze in the hotel lobby. Our team’s first stop was St. Micah Christian School. Our program was outside and we made a little too much noise with the kids and the neighborhood residents began to crowd the outside gates to see what the children were shouting about! OOPS! Crazy, loud Americans….. Our clown was the hit of the day. 600 Indian children of all faiths attend this school, receiving a good education and the good news of the Bible.
We slowly crawled across town in bumper to bumper traffic to our second program at Brother Kumar’s after school Bible Club. Seventy slum children were packed into the "pink room", eager for a fun-filled program. Kumar oversees 60+ children clubs with an average of 50 children per club. Each club meets for two hours a day, five days a week. Last summer, Kumar oversaw a Vacation Bible School program that was attended by 20,000 children. Wow!
On the way home, we did a little bit of shopping for cool Indian clothing, but several of our team member wrapped scarves over their mouths and noses as the air pollution was bothering their throats. We are half way through our missions trip with high spirits, seeing the joy of the children as our reward. Thank you for your prayers today.

Tour India

WAKE UP!!!
We all woke up early, really early and left the hotel by 4:30 am. We had a day in Agra. We visited the beautiful Taj Mahal and The Red Fort. We can't wait to show you all the amazing pictures! We were blessed to have the company of three college students from KULPAHAR Kids Home (supported by Santa Cruz Bible Church). It was a long day, but we enjoyed it. We look forward to being with the children tomorrow. Be blessed and thank you for your continuous prayers.

Superwoman.

Sister Suda is on the frontlines of Christian ministry to the poor of India. Hidden deep in the dusty clamor of India, Sister Suda's orphanage and slum outreach gather in high risks children who has a slim chance of education, a healthy future, or hearing about Jesus. Her ministry is a "faith based ministry", which daily relies on God for their every need .
Our team was deeply moved by today's visit, join our team and remember Sister Suda in a moment of prayer as she does the hard work of caring for the needy and the poor.

up and running

We've hit the road RUNNING!

Today began our first day of children's ministry programs. It is difficult to explain how our visits are received: The excitement of the children makes the air hum as we enter the room packed wall to wall with shiny dark eyes and black haired children all focused on our colorful clown. These Christian ministries rarely have visitors from the west, so our arrival is a BIG DEAL! Our hour of laughter, puppets, songs, magic tricks and testimony will be talked about by the children for many months to come. Today's program was ended with Lynn Halverson sharing her trust in God in spite of losing her husband this year. The children of the orphanage were deeply moved by Lynn's story and then asked if they could pray for Lynn! ( Hummmm, so who is receiving the blessing here?!) Eighty -five orphans all said prayers of blessing for the Halverson family.
Our team has to drop into bed ASAP as we have to hit the road again for another full day of blessings! Thanks for your prayers. Our trip is going very well. Here is our schedule for the trip:

TEAM SCHEDULES:


2010 SCBS Children’s Ministry Tour India

Tuesday March 2
Morning- Good Shepherd School 60-100 School Children
Afternoon-Grace Center - 85 orphan children

Wednesday March 3
Morning - Ps. Ashish Lal School - 150-200 School Children
Afternoon - Sister Sudha - Slum Resettlement 70 children

Thursday March 4
Trip to Agra - Taj Majal
Lunch with Kulpahar Kids

Friday March 5
Morning - Shopping at Janpath
Afternoon Ps. Daniel Das - 100 Resettlement Colony Children

Saturday March 6
Morning St Michal Christian High School - 150 School Children
Aditya Kumar - 50 Village Children

Sunday March 7
Morning Christian Church of Delhi - Attend Service
Afternoon - Lunch with Pastor Samuel’s Family and visit The Presidential Arcade and India Gate

Monday March 8
Morning Ps. Anil Landge - 120 Strret Children
Afternoon - Emmanuel Orphanage - 120 Orphan boys

Tuesday March 9
Morning Good Samaritan School - 200-400 school kids
Afternoon Aditya Kumar - Colony Children

Wednesday March 10
Morning - St Michael Primary School 150 school girls
Afternoon - CANA - HIV AIDS Affected Families

Thursday March 11
Morning - Shopping
Afternoon - Leave for Airport

Safe arrival in Delhi
A LONG but uneventful flight! We look forward to a day to recover from our travel.
CAUTION! FLYING COLORS! March 1 is a National Holiday called "Holi" it is a fun-filled day of street activities in which ALL of India cuts loose with throwing handfuls of colorful chalk dust on EVERYONE who dares to be on the streets. Our team will observe this from the safety of our hotel grounds (as people with white skin are PRIZED TARGETS!)
WHO IS BRAVE ENOUGH TO BE ON SCBC 2010 INDIA TEAM?
Just regular folks like you! Two school teachers, RN nurse, two hairdressers, graphic designer, Christmas tree farmer. office clerk, and a small business owner. We are mothers, fathers, parents, widow, married and single. Thanks for joining us for this adventure. Now that we have arrived, it is sure to get more exciting. We look forward to keeping you updated and having you be a part of this mission with us.
“I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel……” Philippians 1:4-5a