Good Morning,

We are starting our long journey home. The first leg of our trip is a 17 hour train ride from Raxaul to Kolkata. As we start our journey home, we would like to ask for everyones continued support and prayers. Although our travels back home will be long, it will give us much time to reflect on the wonderful things that happen in the name of the Lord.

Thanks for all your support & God Bless,
GO, India Team

It was an amazing last day. We spent the entire day at the Servlife Center that is 95% done. The children, family and Pastors can not wait to move in. They tried as hard as possible for us to be able to stay there but it is very difficult to get contractors to show up here, it’s not like there are 10 plumbers to choose from, there is 1 and he comes when he wants to. But today was a glorious day as we played and ate and just spent tons of time with the children, family and pastors laughing, singing and just being together. I’m going to have Mike and Marty share with you their impressions.

Marty:

Every day has been so full and exciting to see God working. We began today with morning team devotions. Tony shared about Elijah’s faith and how big our God is. We had an extended and moving time of prayer focusing on Albert, the Das family and the student pastors. We prayed prayers of faith, focusing on how great our God is and how His power can do far more than the power of darkness. As usual, breakfast was good and then the entire Servlife India proceeded to the new building and property. The second we arrived, the children began to run as hard as they could with huge smiles on their faces. We played games, “football”, cricket, and several other activities. At one point, a large bull wondered into the property and began running toward Trudi and Georgie. It was pretty comical to watch everyone scatter as the bull charged toward them and then turned to graze in the green grass. Pushpa (Albert’s wife) created fire pits out of bricks and mud and made Rice, Dahl, chicken, and potato salad. We ate until no one could eat anymore. It was a great time of celebration as we spent the entire day at the property having the first Servlife India picnic at the new facilities. Each of the team members had one on one time with the children, encouraging, praying, and giving hope.

Upon our return, I watched as Ian walked along the path back to the rented facilities where the ministry is currently housed. Two of the little girls eagerly walked holding Ian’s hands with smiles, laughter, and such joy. Upon our return, we prayed for Pushpa, due to pain in her back and her having some trouble with her right eye. When the prayer was completed, Pushpa excitedly stated ALL pain in her back instantly left her. It feels sad that our time is about to close with the Das family, Servlife, the children, the student pastors, and our time in Raxaul. But the night is not over. We will be gathering together with the Das family in a few minutes to have a special time of prayer and encouragement for the family and the ministry. Albert, Pushpa, Camillus, Paul, Tabitha and Abraham seem so very encouraged, uplifted and happy. Camillus told me that we are one of the best teams that visit them, and they feel so blessed and encouraged. The word I think that fits best for the Das family is REFRESHED. It feels great to encourage this family that labors in such a spiritually dark place. Definitely, I see a difference with the Das family’s countenance, from the first day the Crossing team arrived til today. Thanks for everyone’s prayers on the home front.

Please continue to pray for us as we begin our long journey back to US. Tomorrow morning we will board a 17 hour train ride to Kolkata, Then Monday we will travel to Dubai, Then Tuesday begin our flight to LAX, arriving Wednesday morning.

Mike:

This has been an awesome day & a great way to end our visit. The new property is an incredible blessing. After a typical daily life of playing in their room or maybe a couple times per week up on the roof the children have a caged in feeling all of the time. To see them get to ‘cut loose’ & actually play outside ( inside the safety of the tall walls on this large property) was a huge blessing. All the activities mentioned above (it’s futbol Marty) kept them busy with smiles on all. It’ll be great to see the development of the rest of the orphanage, school, pastor training & church. The kids will get to play outside daily like our kids have always enjoyed. God is working here big time.

Thanks for all the support & God Bless, Mike

Listen to the reflections of Christine Brown & Georgie Schwarz on today!!!

Christine:

Awoke to the sound of the little angels on the floor above singing morning worship. The children are up early every morning to sing and clap to the Lord – a good example to me! Devotions this morning focused on grace, that elusive thing that we find hard to believe God extends to us and even harder to extend to others. But the children…the children are full of grace for one another and for us. I haven’t heard harsh words or quarreling among them this week. They play well with others and share their toys and games. For a group of 28 kids living together, that’s practically a miracle. And when we staged a sing-a-long competition with them, they won. They already know, in English, many of the songs we sang to them. Our Hindi is terrible J. They’re beautiful kids, shy, but happy and smiling. Several still need sponsors…

This afternoon was a most outstanding one. We walked from Pastor Das’ home down the major street of Raxaul, over the river and the railroad track, through narrow streets and alleyways, in order to visit and minister at the clinic that serves the lepers in the local area. I’ve known of this disease since I was a kid in Sunday School, but I’ve never witnessed the effects of it firsthand. I confess that I was expecting to see a group of old people, perhaps “leftovers” from the days when leprosy was still a real problem. Imagine my surprise when I looked into the eyes of a woman who was no more than 20 and nursing a little boy. And the beautiful girl who couldn’t have been more than 7 years old.

We had the privilege and honor of praying for each of the 25 girls and women at the clinic, holding their mangled hands, anointing them with oil. We asked their permission and none refused us. We would reach out to touch them and they would lift their hands to ours, and lean in to our touch and embrace. Prayer is a powerful thing, and we prayed for healing and restoration for each of those precious sisters and children of God. It didn’t seem enough, but it was what God had given us to do. Will you please pray for them too? Lepers are still rejected by their families and villages, just as they were in Jesus’ day. These women receive treatment for a time then go back home. Pray for their physical healing, and that God would do a work in the hearts of the families to receive them again. And pray that their hearts may be enlightened by the love that God showed them through us today.

Georgie:

The first week was amazing! We visited the children in Katihar and saw how Compassion International is giving the children so much hope! You can see it in their faces and the way that they play with us. Then we come to Raxaul, a very dark place that took me to a very hopeless state of mind. My heart broke for the people. There are broken homes in rubble, trash and wet clothes and sandals on roof tops, homeless people sitting close to each other to keep each other warm. After sobbing for the broken hearted, God showed me a few things which I don’t have space to share but God gave me hope again in this hopeless city!

Today, we visited the leper colony. Wasn’t sure what to expect! I thought I would fall apart to what I was about to see. But the Holy Spirit reminded me it was not about me. It’s about bringing hope to these hopeless women with hopeless futures. Trudy gave Christine and I anointing oil. Our team had decided to fast today and I’m glad we did! I went to my first patient and looked at this beautiful woman, straight in her eyes with hope and peace and anointed her from the top of her head to the bottom of her feet in Jesus Christ’s powerful name. And I’m talking about touching her! I was not afraid.

These women did not hesitate to receive our prayers. I prayed for physical healing and spiritual healing. The more I prayed the more I believed the Holy Spirit was going to reveal Himself to their hearts and through the natural surroundings outside their windows. I believed that I was going to see them again in heaven and I told them that. There was a young mom who was infected with Leprosy and her two young children next to her on her bed. There was such sadness in their eyes. There were no smiles as you can imagine for fear of what will happen with their mom. But again God gave me hope and smiles and joy for them that even if she doesn’t get healed physically I knew I would see her again in heaven some day. There were 2 girls around the ages of 8 and 11. So young. But God gave me hope again that these girls will be healed physically and spiritually and will come back to share the good news with the women who come into the leprosy colony.

The most beautiful part of this time, was a lady asked me to take her picture. After I took her picture, I let her see her portrait. She had such a big smile on her face. I told her how beautiful she was! Then one by one, each of the women asked me to take their pictures. The whole place came alive!!! There was hope in their eyes. It was the Holy Spirit flowing! There is Hope in Raxaul! I can’t wait to share pictures with you all!! Jaimasih!! Which means Praise the Lord!!

Hello all,

Georgie led our devotion time this morning on Mark 9:17-29 focusing on verse 24 “I do believe, but help me with my unbelief.” Tony had prepared our hearts with some awesome worship songs and the Holy Spirit moved as we shared on all we saw yesterday on our way here and even what we felt as we arrived. It was an awesome start to the day!!!

Then we went over to the ServLife Center. This is our partner in Raxaul. We have been partnering with the Calvary Church in Raxaul to complete this building project. I(Ian) had my first driving experience in India. As some bounced around in the back of the truck we plowed our way through the puddles and mud and navigated our way through the potholes and got as close to the new property as we could and walked the last quarter mile.

As we walked through the gate, the 5 of us who were here last year were blown away by what we saw. We shared the story of how we partnered with them to acquire this land, build the wall around it and the building we were now looking at. Albert shared the master plan for the property and then we got a tour of the building that is about 95% complete, it is just waiting for the final touches on the plumbing and electric before everyone can move in. You really have to be here to understand the difference it will make for this move to finally happen. The current building they are renting is surrounded on all four sides by Hindu Temples, it has very few windows and is very dark on the inside, it feels like a box or even a cage to some degree. The area at this rented place is directly off a main road, there is nowhere for the kids to really play outside except on the roof/patio. This new center will provide them with not only a home that is full of windows and light but a huge walled in piece of property to run and play.

For the full vision of this place to be complete there are numerous phases to go through. Just getting onto this land and having this facility will give the church here a much better opportunity to invite others in and reach out to the surrounding community!

This afternoon we spent about 3 hours with the children. We presented them with gifts from their sponsors, taught them a few songs, played all kinds of games with them, connected with their unique personalities and enjoyed all the amazing smiles. Steve and Mike made balloon hat creations, Tony played Bible trivia with some of the pastors in training, I headed up Candyland, Georgie made bracelets and necklaces with the girls, Christine took photos and went from place to place, while Trudy spent time with Alberts wife and daughter praying for them, ministering to them and blessing them.

In the early evening we spent a few hours with a couple that pastor Albert is training, hearing their stories, dreams and what they are learning and hoping to do when they are done with their training. We were especially inspired as one 18 year old shared the vision God has given him for Nepal. He told us how his Hindu family came to Christ after he was healed at age 13 through the prayers of a pastor. This young man spoke with such passion, and zeal he was animated and totally pumped about where he felt God is leading him. I think it got us all thinking about where we are when it comes to our passion, vision and commitment to serving God and believing he can do great things if we just have the faith to step out and GO for it.

It has been a great day!!
Ian Stevenson

Hello all,

Today I want to start with some reflections from TRUDY WILLIAMS about yesterday.

In spite of all the opsticals to get here, I am so blessed to see the Lord work. The highlight for me yesterday was spending time with 50 mothers and their babies, all a part of the Child Survival Program run by Compassion and Bethel Church. They shared their hearts about how life was for them before they were part of the program and how it is for them now. They told us about their likes and their dislikes, they had many questions for us about the things we like. The greatest joy of all was when I asked if Christine Brown and I could pray for them and their babies. To our surprise they were all so anxious that they all started running up at the same time. We announted all 50 of them with oil. Prayed with and for them and their babies. Their big question to us was, “Will you please come back and see us again?” In closing what you need to know is that at least 60% of these women are Hindu. It is such an honor to be used by God to show and share his unconditional love to these women in the name of Jesus. I believe that through the great work of God through Bethel Church and Compassion these women will come to receive that love completely and their lives will forever be transformed.

Last night at 11:20 p.m. picture the eight of us lugging our 16 bags up and down 100 stairs at a crazy train station in Katihar, with some of us guys making multiple trips up and down the stairs and all of us moving as fast as we can to franticly get all these bags on board and in place before the train left the station. Thanks to some help from Provashish from Compassion and some of our new friends from Bethel Church, we made it. Eventually, we all settled into our bunks and slept as best we could for the next 6 hours until we arrived at Muzaffpur station where it was raining. We had 10 minutes to get all our bags out of the compartments and onto the platform before the train took off, then it was up another 100 stairs where we stood on the railway walkway so we could see over the whole station and see when our cars arrived.

We waited for a little more than an hour and observed the mass of humanity that would come and go in the midst of this filthy station where a crazy lady spent a good 15 minutes yelling at us and making faces as we waited. It was truly a very sad place to stand and see all the depravity around us. The beggars, the poverty, the needs, the smelly the garbage… it is hard to explain but this is the un-kept land of Bihar, India, the poorest state in the land with a corrupt and weak infrastructure.

Once our cars arrived it was all about tying the luggage onto the roof. Mike and Steve went on top, I threw the bags up and we all tied them down and took off as the rain started to fall. For the first half of the ride it was on a new road and I was blown away because I remembered my last experience here on the roads. My memory did not fail me as we soon started bouncing and banging, swerving from side to side to avoid the potholes. Along the way we saw 2 Elephants, encountered a turned over bus, that apparently ran a jeep off the side of the road. We saw a herd of wild cows, lots of wild hogs, a herd of camels, had to wait for 2 trains, there was a tree down across half the road, lightening and rain most of the way.

Indeed it was Mr. Toads Wet ride, but we made it to the Servlife center and were warmly welcomed by the Das family and the Children from the Arunoday Childrens home that is part of the ministry. The children gave us the traditional flower lei and sang for us. It was so great to see them all again, having come here now for 8 years I have seen some of the boys turn into young men and girls into young women. It is exciting to start imagining how God is going to use these children who are obviously growing in their love for God and others.

We had an amazing lunch made by Pushba, Alberts’ wife, and a great tear-filled conversation over lunch as Albert shared the story of this place. We were humbled by the sacrifices made and challenges that have been persevered through, by the family. After a bit of rest from our traveling and hanging up our clothes that got wet from being on the roof of the car in the rain, we got our schedule for the next few days, a tour of the place and another great meal prepared by Pushba.

It has been quite a day and now the team is excited for how God can work in and through us these next few days here in Raxaul. Continue to pray for us as we spend time with the children, Pastors, Das family, do a prayer walk in Raxaul, go to the leper hospital and do what we can to be a blessing around here. Everyone’s health is doing well, so also pray that no colds, flu, or anything else gets a hold on anyone.

Thanks again for your interest and support!!

In His Strength

Ian Stevenson

Hello all,

Today was our final day at the Compassion Child Development Center. Saying goodbye is not always easy. We have come to know not only the children but the staff, caregivers and the mothers involved in the Child Survival Program.

The tasks of the morning were, digging out holes to put in poles for a volleyball court, preparing a garden, planting roses, building a fence out of bamboo and planting some mango trees. What made this special was doing it with the children, some of the staff, and volunteers. Having the same task to focus on and work on together is such a great way to connect, breakdown language barriers and build relationship. To me it is a microcosm of what we are really striving for in developing these church to church partnerships. As we both remain focused on the common vision of advancing The Kingdom of God in our given contexts and work to help each other accomplish that, relationships will grow and we will do more together than we could have ever done alone.

While the guys were working, the ladies were visiting. Georgie went on two more home visits into the villages to meet the families of 2 of the sponsored children and her friends sponsored child. Trudy and Christine were with the CSP (Child Survival Program) moms, connecting with them , learning about how the CSP has impacted their lives, families and community and then praying together. You must remember most of these women are from Hindu villages and homes, they are being exposed to the love of Jesus here at the CSP and learning and hearing about Him for the first time. Since the Child Development Center started 5 years ago, 50 + of the 304 children have accepted Christ, and many of these moms are now attending church and learning about Jesus in a safe place. The CDC & CSP really are an amazing outreach of the Bethel Church.

All through the morning Pastor Samuel, Albert Das who arrived from Raxaul last night, and I were able to talk and share with eachother. It was exciting to see the connection happen between Samuel & Albert. As it turned out they were both married by the same pastor, Albert knows Samuels brother and there were just some amazing connections. Although they are very different in terms of personality, it is so cool to see how they engaged with eachother and have now begun a friendship. This has been a huge thing I have been praying for on this trip. God is SOOO Good!!!

We then served the children and moms a big lunch, and then sat down ourselves to break bread with our hosts. We then went on a quick drive down the road to see another one of the Bethel Church sites that is very close to the CDC. When we got back to the CDC they were all set up for the closing ceremony where the children sang, danced and we said our good byes. As the time ended, we had the entire CDC staff and all the Bethel Church leaders get together. Our team surrounded them and we prayed for them. It was a POWERFUL time where the presence of God was so real and the sense of family that has been created here over the past 4 days was confirmed.

Ian Stevenson

Today we were at the Compassion Child Development Center (CDC) that our partner church here in Katihar runs. The team had another amazing day of engaging with the children leaders, staff and even got to visit their sponsored children’s homes. We were there all day long, ending it off with the visits into the villages where these children walk to the CDC from. As everyone returned from the visits and we all sat around at the CDC with the staff telling the stories of the visits the energy was through the roof, Georgie, Tony & Marty were all blown away by the visits they had and what they experienced as they were among “the poor”. They were touched, moved, humbled and encouraged like they never imagined. Here is Marty’s account of our day!!

Hey everyone, this is Marty sharing. Wow is the word I want to start off with. This is a day I will never forget as long as I live.

The day began with my sharing of a devotion, about God’s heart for children, during breakfast. We then visited the Child Development Center. When we arrived, there were close to 300 children standing in rows waiting to greet our team. I immediately began to search the crowd with my eyes for my sponsored child Yadesh. He is seven years old and has was very shy and nervous at our first meeting on Saturday, as well as at church on Sunday. Our eyes met, and I knew Yadesh was carefully watching me. Throughout the day I had several opportunities to connect with Yadesh.

I was asked to share a short Bible story to the children. I told the children about the miracle of Jesus feeding the five thousand and How Jesus used a small boy to bless the crowd with five loaves and two fish. When the children’s morning devotion was finished, the leader asked if there were any volunteers from the children who wanted to pray. Yadesh, my sponsored child, raised his hand. The cool thing about this is that Yadesh is new to the Child Development Center and is from a Hindu background. Yadesh has been so very shy and has never prayed before. He was so nervous, but I felt like a very proud Papa as I watched this little guy say a short prayer for the very first time.

The team was then asked to observe the classrooms while the children were in school. I observed about 30 children learning English and memorizing the names of the days of the week in English. We then provided arts and crafts and sporting games with the children. I was asked to assist with the arts and crafts. It seemed like I tied hundreds of bracelets made out of colorful pipe cleaners. Every child had to have one.

We finished today with the best of all. I will NEVER forget today! I had the privilege of going to Yadesh’s village of about 700 people. This shy little boy was so excited when we arrived. Yadesh took me by the hand and led me to meet with his father and mother. It seemed like most of the neighbors arrived to watch this lifetime event. Yadesh was so open and happy. He and I even danced before the villagers together. The parents expressed their gratitude with tears in their eyes. Yadesh and his father took me by the hand and led me into their house, which was a simple mud home with hand made carvings in the mud walls. They then led me by the hand to see the family’s prize water buffalo that the family sells milk from. The home was surrounded by mango and fig trees. We watched as the family prepared a special meal.

I was so touched by the look in the eyes of the parents...it was a look that expressed such sincerity and gratefulness. The tears in their eyes moved me like nothing else. The family allowed me to pray for them, and I prayed for God’s mercy, love and blessing to surround this family. I was invited to come back any time. I left, feeling so humbled and knew that this day was holy, and God was in our midst. I sensed a Holy God at work in the midst of this village and with this family. Please pray for Yadesh and his family to come to know the Lord.

Ian Stevenson

WHAT A DAY!!

It started with breakfast and devotions then off to church where the action started! The whole team was engaged and amazed as the place filled up and was packed out with the poor, the rich, the middle class, all from different casts, and classes here in India. The young and the old, 100 boys from the hostile that the church runs and a selection of young people from all over the community.

Trudy was asked to pray for the sick and requests that were given on paper, she started of by leading the whole congregation in ALELUIA'S.

Tony played his guitar and sang "Mighty to Save"

Christine shared her testimony and challenged the people in their relationship with God.

Ian preached on Exodus 15:22-27 and Pastor Samuel said it was exactly what they needed to hear and how it encouraged him.

The worship was complete with the drums, guitar, keyboards, and a sound system. Raja, pastor Samuels son lead the worship. They also had a team of boys sing a special song and then 4 girls sang a few songs in English. In Hindi they sang "How Great Thou Art" and as we sang the words in English it felt like a taste of Heaven.

The team also broke out into 3 groups and spent 40 minutes each with three different groups of various ages. Each group had about 25 or so for each class. They taught them, sang with them, played with them and connected in an amazing way.

After church we spent 30-40 minutes with about 30 of the young people in the church just getting to know each other and asking each other questions, it was a very cool cultural exchange.

Then after and amazing lunch with the leadership of the church, we headed over to the hostile where the 100 boys live that have been taken in by the Bethel Church. This is where the energy really cranked up. Let me have Steve Cooper fill you in on his perspective!!!

An Afternoon of Joy, Salt & Light.

We visited this Boy's home the day before for an hour or so. 100 Boys ages 6-18 live, eat, and go to school at this home. So the "ice" had been broken the day before and we were greeted this afternoon with big smiles, songs, and every kid wanting to say hello and shake our hands.

JOY is the best word I can think of to describe the afternoon. About half the kids had on the soccer uniforms Mike Gordon brought the day before and were very excited to go out to the soccer field to play. Ian was obviously a "pro", and Steve, Mike, and Tony provided comic relief for the kids at our attempt to keep up with 14 year olds (our team lost), the 10-12 year olds (we lost a heartbreaker 2-0 again), the 8-9 year olds (I think we lost), and the youngest group where we finally managed to win 2-0. But the thing was that no matter the score, both we and the kids had a few hours of absolute Joy. This was in spite of the periodic cow wandering onto the field and balls hitting cow pies on the side of the field. Imagine 100 handsome boys and 8 American Adults smiling like idiots for an afternoon and into the evening. While soccer was going on Marty, Trudy, Christine, and Georgie kept the other fifty boys at a fever pitch of excitements playing with a single 17 foot rope. Jump Rope, Limbo and several games invented on the spot were a Joy both for the boys and us. 61 year old Pastor Samuel got so excited he wandered through the soccer game taking pictures started jumping rope with the kids. He commented at the end of the day, that this was one of the most wonderful days for the kids he had seen. All it took was a ball, a cow pasture, and a single rope.....and oh yes 100 kids with an attitude of gratitude who had been given the basic care we take for granted back home.

It is stunning to see what a simple Boys home, decent food, caring staff and teachers can do to turn children from very very poor families into healthy kids we would all be proud to call our own. They are all polite, inquisitive, hard working in their schoolwork, diligent in their chores, growing devoted Christians, and full of life. On the way to the Boys Home we passed by miles of families housed in straw sided mud floored huts smaller than an American bedroom crammed together side by side housing a complete family along with livestock. Most of the boys in the home come from those families. What a difference!

After the soccer and rope games we walked back to the Boys Home. We were supposed to depart as the sun was going down. We were all having so much fun (us and the kids) that spontaneous games and activities broke out back at the Boys Home. Mike started lift up 2, then 3, then 4, then 5 kids as 40 others shouted and crowded forward to get lifted up by Big Mike. Tony engaged about 30 screaming kids in some sort of shouting march from room to room and throughout the courtyard. The rest of us played various games made up on the spot, took pictures, sang songs (Indian Hindi and American English) complete with pantomime for most songs. I am pretty sure the whole thing would have looked ridiculous to a stranger watching from the side, but for that afternoon and into the evening we were all filled with JOY, just being together. JOY JOY JOY was the excited comment each of us had on the ride back to our hotel. Georgie commented, "I felt like I was 12 year old again". I wonder if Heaven is a bit like our afternoon? I think so.

Ian & Steve

Hello all,

Today was an awesome day for the team. After arriving at our hotel, we went to the Bethel Church Association where we were met by Pastor Samuel as well as his sons Rhajan & Rhana who also work for the ministry. We were able to tour their church, the pastors home & a school they run on the property. We had a brief discussion and were introduced to more of the staff. It was truly heartwarming to hear his testimony regarding the accomplishments he made during his 41 year ministry. This ministry has been working alongside the Lord to spread the Word to almost 4000 people in the area and open a school. They also have worked with The Compassion Development Project & a hostile that houses & educates 100 poor & orphaned young boys.

After a delicious lunch with them at their property we went to the parking lot & played a soccer game involving our team & everyone from the pastor himself to some of the young children. One of the biggest blessings we could have hoped to witness was getting to watch Georgie, Marty & Tony getting to spend quality time with not only their sponsored children but the children that are sponsored by some of their friends from home. It was amazing to see these children who at 1st were very shy, then open up & start building lasting relationships that will bless both themselves & the sponsors.

Just when we thought the day couldn’t get any better, we took a drive to the hostile. It was amazing to see how these 100 boys varying in ages from very young to early teens were being raised & educated in such a loving environment. They were very well groomed as they sang to us but the biggest thing we all noticed were their tremendous smiles. Even though they’d been dealt and experienced such tough lives, they were truly happy. We’ll play soccer with them again tomorrow.

God Bless,
Mike Gordan

Please pray for the India team as they begin there travels to India. They begin there trip Feb. 8th arriving in Kolkata on Feb. 10th in the morning.