We set out on this trip with a mission to serve and bless people, but we feel like they were a greater blessing to us.
Now we pray that the Lord would keep them until we meet again and we seal His wisdom for how we should act. As Diann said multiple times during the trip, "We are His hands". He has chosen these weak vessels for His service. A reoccurring thought while in India is that I cannot tell these people "be warm" and not give them a blanket or "eat and be well", but offer no food.
I have always prayed for God to feed the nations and have heard incredible stories of His provision, but someone's hands set out the food that fed the homeless. God's work in someone's heart set their hands to motion. Being at Good Shepherd was to glimpse behind the curtain of that process. The man who prayed for the blanket and received one from our hands that night, and Praveen feeding countless homeless people from his home at the mission are just a few examples.
These people are being God's physical answer to our prayers for the lost, the orphan, the sick, the outcast, and the starving. I am overwhelmed by the need, but have also been given focus for where to begin. I cannot save the world. I wasn't meant to play that role. The world will find its savior in Christ, but I want to be His hands and feet.
I love Good Shepherd Ministry's desire for people to know Christ as the only way to salvation, while caring for their physical needs. If this sounds like a shameless plug for Good Shepherd, it is.
If you feel the Lord tugging at your heart-act.
Good Shepherd is in the early stages of becoming a registered federal nonprofit organization. This should open more opportunities for grants, loans, etc. For now they depend on generous donations given through Calvary Church of Mohnton (for tax reasons-also several other churches are linked to Good Shepherd--Wyatt Park in St. Joseph Missouri and GlobalNim) to feed/house over 150 children and elderly, offer free medical care, medication, pay salaries, run medical camps, support local churches, feed and clothe the homeless, house and care for aids patients, and maintain/ repair vehicles and buildings.
They have done so much on so little! How can we help?
We had some meetings on the porch with Henry to discuss the mission's needs.
URGENT: a new vehicle. The engine on the other vehicle they had recently died.
Repairs to the van: as mentioned in the blog- this vehicle is desperately in need of repair. (as much as I enjoy watching the road go by through the floor.)
*** Sponsor an orphan, elderly person, or aids patient for about $30 per month.
*** sponsor a nursing student to go to school. $500 for 18 months of schooling to complete course.
***sponsor an evangelist and help pay his salary. (they serve local churches and villages)
***get a few friends together and sponsor free meds for 50 people. $125 per day.
***pay for a Hysterectomy $300
***Cataract surgery $15 to give someone the gift of sight.
*** $175 to host a special night of feeding and giving blankets to the homeless.
*** sponsor entire hospital for a day. $200.
***send money or ideas for beds at the girl's hostel. Henry is thinking of something like a bunk bed with a work station beneath it.
****You can send any amount of money for general needs or designate how you want it used specifically.
GO: Pray about taking the trip with us next year. (we are hoping to go again next year) bring a friend or two :) the mission is always able to use more hands on deck. Nurses, doctors, maybe a mechanic to fix the van, carpenters to build beds for the children, or people without obvious skill (like me).
For more information, or with ideas, contact one of the team members or Diann Connor at (610) 921- 0815, Calvary United Methodist Church in Mohnton (610)777-8441, Wyatt Park in St. Joseph Missouri, or GlobalNim.
The need is great but our God is greater. He is Lord of every nation.
Overwhelmed and overjoyed,
Team 11 in '11
