Celebration of friendship and faith

 

Hey folks!  I wanted to invite all of you to celebrate what God is doing in my life and hopefully what will be the lives of girls rescued from sexual slavery in India.    Through my friends, family and a very generous, wonderful family at Crossroads - I have reached my necessary amount for the trip (Yeah God!!).  Since the girls in my bible study were planning on doing a fundraiser for me, we have turned their planning into a celebration for people who have helped me grow to the faith i have today and have been generous with their time, their money and their love for me.    You are welcome to come at any time and if you still feel called to give to this mission, any additional money will be given to those who haven't yet met their goal.  Keep in mind, however, that this is a celebration and we would rather you came without a checkbook versus not coming at all. Please let me know if you are able to attend so they can figure out how many people to prepare for.   As for me..... Today is the start of exactly 40 days before my trip - which is definitely not a coincidence.  I will be focused on preparing myself spiritually and emotionally - if anyone has good hints for this, i'm always open to suggestions!  I know this isn't my usual jokey self, I’m at a place right now where I feel so blessed and humbled by God and other peoples faithfulness to His call - it doesn't seem reverant for me to be any other way at this exact moment... we'll all be crazy on the 15th, okay?   Much love to you all. Lisa

 

Gift wrapping Extravaganza

i so have to get up early tomorrow to meet with and debrief my new to crossroads team/the mason team but i want to get this in before i forget or procrastinate any longer.

so today was the big gift wrapping event put on by my wonderful, lovely bible study girls. as soon as i get the picts from gina, i'll post them. regardless if we made much money, i think it was a great experience... our first person was a crazy blessing, just because she had so many really great stories about her heart for missions and all the neat things her father does...it was a bit of a bummer when she ran out of stuff for us to wrap!! so, i'm going to put a plug in for the target at ridge road where she is a manager - normally i'm not a target fan but she was cool enough that it made me want to support the store.

really, it was a success because we raised awareness for the situation with the girls in mumbai - because we blessed people who were busy or stressed or needed a little bit of a break from having to do it all. maybe this would be a good annual tradition??

Forward about India I received

This is a forward I received from a friend I volunteer with. I'm glad to get it - it makes it more apparent that i need to go and (this will sound really funny to some of you) it makes me feel more comfortable going to India, knowing so many people are praying for the country. This might make others of you worried for me, which is natural and totally okay. If it helps at all, we are NOT going over to convert people or announce we are Christians (some of the folks going might not even BE Christians since we are a church that is open to people wherever they are in their faith journey) and we are NOT going to the area where all of this occured. We will be in a very large, progressive, metro area. -----Original Message----- Subject: Fw: Please be in prayer about this situation Greetings prayer warriors, This e-mail was sent to me by my sisters. With the up-coming trip to India by our own Crossroads family, let us be in constant prayer for all! Would any of you like to join me for a complete day of praying and fasting for this situation? Let me know. Tuesday, December 2, 2008 Pray for brothers and sisters in India Dear beloved sponsors and friends of Good News India. We have never seen anything like this. We knew that Orissa was the most resistant and hostile State in India as far as the Gospel is concerned. And we brushed off the continuous threats and harassment we faced as we went about His work. But none of our staff imagined that they would see this kind of carnage.... And it seems to be totally under the radar of the Western Media .... Let me explain.... A militant Hindu priest and 4 of his attendants, who were zealously going around the villages of Orissa and 'reconverting' people back to Hinduism, were gunned down by unknown assailants in Central Orissa last weekend. Immediately the Christians were blamed. The cry rose up...'Kill the Christians!' And the horror began.... In the past 4 days, we have first hand witness to hundreds of churches being blown up or burned and many, many dozens of Christian tribals have been slaughtered. For no other reason than they bear the name of Christ. Night and day I have been in touch with our Good News India Directors spread across 14 Dream Centers in Orissa... they are right in the middle of all this chaos. In Tihidi, just after the police came to offer protection, a group of 70 blood-thirsty militants came to kill our staff and destroy the home. They were not allowed to get in, but they did a lot of damage to our Dream Center by throwing rocks and bricks and smashing our gate, etc. They have promised to come back and 'finish the job.' Our kids and staff are locked inside and have stayed that way with doors and windows shut for the past 3 days. It has been a time of desperately calling on the Lord in prayer. More police have come to offer protection. In Kalahandi, the police and some local sympathizers got to our dream center and gave our staff and kids about 3 minutes notice to vacate. No one had time to even grab a change of clothes or any personal belonging. As they fled, the blood thirsty mob came to kill everyone in the building. We would have had a mass funeral there, but for His grace. In Phulbani, the mob came looking for Christian homes and missions. The local Hindu people, our neighbors turned them away by saying that there were no Christians in this area. So they left.. We had favor. The same thing happened in Balasore. All our dream centers are under lock down with the kids and staff huddled inside and police outside. The fanatics are circling outside waiting for a chance to kill. Others were not so fortunate. In a nearby Catholic orphanage, the mob allowed the kids to leave and locked up a Priest and a computer teacher in house and burned them to death. Many believers have been killed and hacked into pieces and left on the road.... even women and children. At another orphanage run by another organization, when this began, the Director and his wife jumped on their motorbike and simply fled, leaving all the children and staff behind. Every one of our GNI directors that I have spoken to said: 'We stay with our kids.... we live together or die together, but we will never abandon what God has called us to do.' More than 5000 Christian families have had their homes burned or destroyed. They have fled into the jungles and are living in great fear waiting for the authorities to bring about peace. But so far, no peace is foreseen. This will continue for another 10 days.... supposedly the 14 day mourning period for the slain Hindu priest. Many more Christians will die and their houses destroyed. Many more churches will be smashed down. The Federal government is trying to restore order and perhaps things will calm down. We ask for your prayers. Only the Hand of God can calm this storm. None of us know the meaning of persecution. But now our kids and staff know what that means. So many of our kids coming from Hindu backgrounds are confused and totally bewildered at what is happening around them. So many of their guardians have fled into the jungles and are unable to come and get them during these trying times. Through all this, I am more determined than ever to continue with our goal: the transformation of a community by transforming its children. Orissa will be saved... that is our heart's cry. If we can take these thousands of throw-away children and help them to become disciples of Jesus, they will transform an entire region. It is a long term goal, but it is strategic thinking in terms of the Great Commission. What can you do? First, please uphold all this in fervent prayer. Second, pass this e-mail on to as many friends as you can. We must get the word out and increase our prayer base for this is spiritual warfare at its most basic meaning. We are literally fighting the devil in order to live for His Kingdom. The next 10 days are crucial. We pray for peace and calm to pervade across Orissa. Thank you for taking the time to read this. Please pass it on and help us to get as many people to partner with us on this cutting edge effort to fulfill His mandate: Go and make disciples of all nations.... Prayer works! Blessings, Chip & Sandy Wanner Col 2:2 MBI Team Facilitators to YWAM

Update from Crossroads

I know that many of us have been keeping close tabs on what has happened in Mumbai and continue to wonder how the terrorist attacks will affect our trip.  While we have been addressing your questions on an individual basis, I write today to address it broadly with our team.  

Yes, we are still planning to travel to Mumbai in February 2009. 

After discussing this situation with Crossroads and IJM leadership, as well as our trip leaders, we remain committed to this trip.  While the terrorist attacks can certainly induce fear in us, our families, and our supporters, we are choosing not to react out of fear.  We believe that our calling to love girls rescued from child prostitution has not changed and therefore we are moving forward with this trip. 

We certainly won't make rash decisions about traveling; we will prudently pray, ask, and consider before we travel.  This includes monitoring the relations between India/Pakistan, keeping abreast of what the US State Department advises, and listening to IJM at their Washington, DC Headquarters as well as the field staff in Mumbai. 

We have heard that security in Mumbai, and specifically the Leela Hotel where we plan to stay, has been improved.  We will take appropriate security measures in our planning as well (more to come on this).

We are choosing love over fear, while pursuing wisdom throughout this journey.  It seems that many of your supporters may appreciate this sentiment, as we've had thousands of dollars flow in for this trip in the last couple of weeks.   

Please let us know if you have any further questions/concerns.

Christine (on behalf of the leadership team)

 

Andrew's arm

So, my e-mail went through and that’s pretty darn exciting (aside from the weird space at the bottom).  I’m going to try Ap’s arm to see if that will work J

 

Greetings from the e-mail

This is an exciting event – a test to see if when I e-mail something to the blog it will post!  Why is this exciting?  Well aside from the fact that it’s a technological milestone for me (seriously, stop laughing) it will be ten times easier for me to post if I can just send an e-mail.  Maybe too I will let go of this complex I have about only posting perfectly special things to the blog.  So, now you are wondering how I would consider previous posts that perfect or special?  Me too, but it’s too late now! 

 

Much, much more on the India trip to follow - I promise!  I have tons to tell you all

 

 

 

 

Processing current events

How do you even start this? I've started typing and have had to delete what I've written about four times now - as my little brother would say "i struggle".

there is a different world than the world i am in - right now some smooth operator is crooning about love, i'm enjoying free wifi with a overpriced, overroasted cup of coffee thinking sitting by the door has made me a little too chilly. Seriously, what is wrong with me? This is insane, this american mentality. so, really, there is a different world. there is a world that my heart breaks for. Yesterday, I listened or watched live feed of CNN India for hours, just sick.

The problem with being so american is that there is a part of me that i detest that is mad about all of this because i feel somehow entitled to this trip. i want to go to india. i want to have this experience, feel like it's my last chance to be myself before it is gone, swallowed or lost. of course this makes no sense and totally makes me into a monster - and actually that i can't even blame on being american. this is a teeny, tiny part of me - a part that came out right away when i heard the news, right before i started to pray for the people that were, are and will be still affected by this. so, now you know how ugly this can get.

there is a neat different part too - the part that watches coverage of disasters with sadness and pity but a disconnect nonetheless. this part was missing the last few days. i somehow feel this huge bond with the people of mumbai, the people of india. i am angry about this attack, i take it personally as someone who has attacked people i care about, people i love.

(this was all written on saturday - it's now monday and i realized i forgot to post it - i think i wanted to add a little more... i'll write more tonight hopefully, my thought process and some other things have changed my initial reactions)