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.

July Sponsor Reminder Letter

Hey Sponsors!

Here we are, on the 6^th of the month and its time for me to knock on your door for a friendly reminder to write to your sponsor child. Click here to take 5 minutes and fill your little kiddo in on what summer is like in the States. Tell them what you have been up to for fun. And if you’ve been reading in your Bible… tell them what you’ve been reading.

One thing that has come to our hearts this past month is the desire to have a night dedicated to PRAYER for the children at the Good Samaritan School. So, we’ve decided to organize an evening of prayer on Tuesday July 24^th. If you live in the Austin area, you are invited to come over at 7:30pm (until whenever you are done) and pray with us as one big sponsor group. We hope to make different stations and arrange our house in a sort of prayer walk. As you move from station to station, we will provide prompts for different topics of prayer. Everything from the kids & their education, the kids & their families, the school staff, the issues of India, and more.

If you are not in Austin, we will be preparing a little prayer guide that I can send out so you can join us.

Whether you are here in person on the 24^th praying or whether you are sitting at home on your couch, we ask you to set aside the evening of July 24^th so that we will act as one big concert of intercessors to the Lord. From wherever we are… for the children. So, mark your calendar now and let’s get our prayer on! If you plan to attend the night of prayer AT our house in Austin… please let me know if we can expect you in person.

On a separate note... we have 3 sponsors traveling to India July 21-29 to visit their kiddos. Please pray for their trip. I know from first hand experience that these visits are so impactful... for the kids AND the sponsors. We hope you consider joining us on a team in 2013!

Together for the kids,

Anna Melvin

for the Unlikely Sons & Daughters

First Generation Learners

As I mentioned in last month’s email, our kids have now advanced to 4^th grade. We want to invite all our sponsors to pray for their child's encouragement and perseverance in their school work, pray they would study hard, respect their teachers, and be motivated to learn.

When we were in India in February, one of the things we learned about most of these children is that they’re “first generation learners”. When we asked if most of the children’s parents were literate, the staff explained that usually, no, the parents are not literate. But beyond just that, many of the parents have never attended school a day in their lives. Many of our children’s parents do not value getting an education at all (much less a quality education). It would benefit them more in the short term if their children would simply work and contribute to the family’s income & needs. It is difficult for them to see beyond today, to have a vision for how their child getting an education will ultimately lead to a better job & more pay-- and an ability to help the family even more. So going to school is not necessarily a high value to many of them. 

Because of this reality, for your sponsor children to have an adult like YOU positively impacting their life for education… encouraging them to stick with it, to study hard, to learn all they can… this is a unique gift. You have a voice of influence. Use it when you write to your child.

These are mothers of our students who came to an event we invited them to at the school.
Many of these women have never attended school.