Little Artists

Every time I see a letter from one of the sponsor kids (either in my mail or in a picture another sponsors sends me-- excited at receiving their mail), I get to see the beautiful artistry that the children express. Every single letter I have seen has a drawing on it. On the back side, in the corner, wherever they can squeeze it in. My last letter from my sponsor child, he drew me a computer and labeled all the parts! My daughter's sponsor child always draws the most amazing flowers. Another child sent his sponsor a letter complete with a drawing of Ghandi!

When we visited the school last February, that is something we noticed straight away. These children love to draw. Every time we walked into a classroom, they children would bust out their notebooks and start showing us all their creations. "look here, mam!" "mam! please enjoy!" They were proud of their art. And the well should be. Culturally, the arts and visual artistry is something every person seems to appreciate. Man, woman, child... none are afraid to put pen to paper and create something. And its always beautiful.

This is a page from one of our sponsor children's school notebook.
He drew some ladies at the spice market and a woman cooking by the fire. He was so proud!

Yum-Yum Indian Food

This week's Austin Chronicle (print edition) is all about the explosion of Indian Cuisine options all around Austin. I realize not all our sponsors are Austin-ites, but about 90% of you are. The article mentions this is a national trend, not just an Austin thing. Indian restaurants are booming all over.

I issue you a challenge! In the next 2 weeks, I want you to go eat at an Indian restaurant near you!

Try out the yummy dishes that are familiar comfort food to our little bitties over in India. Then next time you write your sponsor child a letter, you can tell him all about it! They will feel so special that you went to eat Indian food because you were thinking about THEM!

In case you are a bit weary of ethnic foods (let's face it, one of the stereotypes about Indian food is that it leads you straight to the toilet-- but that's not true!!), I want to give you a breakdown of some safe & tasty options. Here is the link to a "dictionary of Indian Cuisine words", but here's a recommendation of good dishes we've tried:

• Chicken Tikka Masala (chicken in a tomato-y sauce) 
• Lamb Biryani (lamb over spiced rice)
• Channa Masala (chickpeas in a sauce)
• Saag Aloo (spinach and potatoes)
• Dhingri Mattar Paneer (mushrooms, peas and cheese)
• Vegetable Samosas (fried triangles stuffed with potatoes and peas)

If you are more adventurous, just ask the server what they would eat!

Trip in the Works

Dr Emad Yassa, visiting with some children from our sponsor class on a trip in February. He was asking them what they wanted to be when they grow up, and they were eagerly replying with ambitious plans. 

We have begun the process of planning our next sponsor trip to India and wanted to give you guys a heads up so that as the fall progresses, you can be actively saving money if you think you may want to join us. It is not a requirement of sponsorship... just a perk for those who want to see it firsthand.

We are looking at dates in the first half of February 2013. The trip will last 10 days (including travel). We will be spending time at the Good Samaritan School, in the slums visiting the kids & their families, and we'll throw in a general site seeing day to the Taj Mahal. Our team will be a maximum of 15 travelers.

Here is a breakdown of the ESTIMATED COSTS so you can begin setting aside funds (these costs are out of pocket for the traveler):

• $900-1000 
• on the ground costs (This includes lodging, food, and transportation.)
• $100
• Indian Visa application ($73) and service fee ($15-30)
• $1400-2200
• airfare (It varies widely each time we purchase tickets and I can't figure out the trend. A good example is our team trip from last Feb cost $1400/ticket from Austin, but our team trip this coming Nov cost $2200/ticket from Austin. So I'd recommend preparing for the worst and pocketing the change if it is cheaper)
• $100-500
• vaccines (There are no REQUIRED vaccines to enter the country, however there are several that are strongly recommended, like Typhoid, Hep A/B, Malaria. You can decide what you'd like to get, and the costs will vary depending on where you go-- travel clinic, primary care physician, etc. Hep A/B is a set of 3 rounds of shots having to be spaced out, so if you think you want to go, I'd entertain starting your vaccine schedule in Oct.)

I'll be sending out more info to sponsors once the dates are set... but wanted you to being praying now, asking God if its your time to go.

Tom Davis in Austin

Tonight at 7pm at Westlake Hills Presbyterian... join THE UNLIKELY SONS & DAUGHTERS in welcoming Tom Davis to our town. He's coming to share about India... trafficking, poverty, and HOPE. Andy & the band are leading worship. Tom is sharing about his experiences in the global fight for justice. 

Through this event, we hope to raise awareness, participate in a concert of prayer for the children who are often victims, and recruit more advocates to care for the children at the slum schools in India. Bring a friend.

We have 30 children from our group of 4th graders that need sponsors. Join me in praying that tonight EVERY CHILD finds a sponsor!

SEPT 5th-- Teachers Day in India

Yesterday was TEACHER'S DAY in India. And so we'd like to encourage all of you to take a moment to pray for the teachers at the Good Samaritan School.

Here is the list of ideas of things to pray for teachers that we used for our July Prayer Night:

·      Pray for the protection of the staff as they commute to and from work. Some live in the communities, but many commute up to 2 hours every day in India’s traffic to get to work.

·      Pray for the families of the staff members, as they work long hours away from home and their loved ones.

·      Pray for the staff to be encouraged in their work. Help them to remember daily why they do what they do. Ask God to allow them to see some fruit of the fruit of their impact in the children’s lives.

·      Pray for the teachers to have passion for their jobs and the children. Pray they draw their inspiration from God, and they He endures them as they work.

·      Pray for the teachers to be patient with the children.

Two wonderful teachers from the Madanpur Khadar school.

·      Pray for the staff to be an encouragement to each other and find comfort in the community they share with one another. Pray for unity among the staff.

·      Pray for Dr. Ananthi Jebasingh, the founder and director of the school. Pray for her endurance in the ministry. Pray for her compassion and vision to be contagious to other leaders in the school. 

3 Sponsors Traveled to India in July

Three Unlikely Sponsors -- Preston & Skipper McWithey and Jorge Cordova -- had the exciting privilege to travel to India in July and MEET their sponsor kids! Preston & Skipper led a team from their church (in hopes of mobilizing more sponsors from their home church).

Never having been to India before, these three were deeply transformed by the experience. Witnessing all the challenges that daily life in India present were hard to digest. And yet one thing that stuck out to them was how completely joyful the students were at the Good Samaritan School!

Preston, Skipper, and Jorge were able to meet not only their sponsor children-- Asad & Subhodeep, but also their families during an afternoon visit to the slum area. They were invited into the homes of their sponsor kids and now understand more deeply what life is like for them.

Preston & Skipper at the home of their sponsor child, Asad (center, front).

One fun thing they did on the trip was to plan a carnival day at the school over the weekend. They brought water balloons for a fun activity which were a HUGE HIT (literally). The kids had never seen water balloons before and had a blast learning to have FUN.

They ended their trip update to friends & family by saying this: "We are committed to this school and area and plan to continue to partner with them for years to come!" I know this feeling well... to hear about something, and even to connect with something (like through writing letters), it becomes even more real when you have first-hand sights, sounds, smells, and stories to go with it. Stay tuned for news of our next Sponsor Trip!

There's always room for FUN on a sponsor trip... Preston & Skipper visiting the Taj Majal.

A Night of Prayer

On July 24th, we set aside the evening to pray for the kids. For those of you who came, we believe it was an impactful night of solitary, guided prayer. And for those who prayed at home, I heard from you too that it was a treasured time of intercession.

Here at the house, we set up 6 different prayer stations:

1. Setting Yourself Right With God (with a communion station)
2. Prayer For The Students
3. Prayer For The Staff
4. Prayer For The School
5. Prayer For The Slums
6. Prayer For India

This was the "Pray for the Students" station. In addition to praying for your individual sponsor child, we laid out the profiles of all children that we still need to find sponsors for. All 30 of them! And we asked participants to pray that God would bring sponsors for all 30 kids.

Each participant worked their way from station to station at their own pace. And were able to record Scriptures God inspired them to pray on a Scripture "wall" at each stop.

I hope we do this again in the future. In the mean time, email me if you want a copy of download the notes we used to make our prayer stations. You can use them as a tool whenever you choose to pray.