Spending this week with Anna was yet another facet of happiness.  Her church in VA has long been associated with JVI and Jeff Pankratz, as well as Freeset & Sari-Bari, and so it was really great to have our 2 churches linked this week so that we could brainstorm future trips, more projects, better ways to support & fund Freeset and justice ventures like it.  (Please, when you have 6 women who love to shop sharing a room and talking together all day, what did you think was going to happen?)  It occurred to me in the middle of the week that as much as I10 was God’s gift of awareness to us, it was also His gift of intimacy to our churches — that even while the 8 of us were on the ground in Kolkata, He was doing a bonding work on the East Coast, creating a line between VA & NY along which His Spirit can travel back & forth in power and love.  Isn’t He something?

After sending Anna off, we prayed together once more as a team, and emerged to the happy welcome of so many NHFers.  Thank you all for coming out to meet & greet us, to help us with re-entry.  Some of the most dark & hurtful things we felt in Kolkata was an apparent lack of looking out for each other; whether this is actually true or not is not for us to judge, of course.  But our general feeling was: there are so many people; there is so much poverty; there is so much dirt, diesel, soot, noise in the air; there is so little clean water & so few resources . . . self-preservation and just moving forward each day was enough on its own without having to look out for anyone else.  What a stark contrast to arrive home to a beautifully motley crew of men, women, children & babies who just wanted to love on us because we were us, and who just wanted to share a meal with us for the sake of good company, and who just wanted to take a little time out of their mornings to display love!  Makes us so happy to be here, so happy to be in your company . . . and so sad for those who have no taste of this, who have no idea what it’s like to be on the receiving end of such unsolicited, extravagant, selfless care.

Familiar smells, familiar tastes, familiar comforts . . . aren’t they wonderful?  We really, really thank God for them.

All of us who were so ill in India, are now back to about 90% or better now.  We joked that our miraculous healing occurred as soon as we entered international airspace.  But one can’t help but wonder if there might be some meat to the joke . . . . Kolkata was a spiritually dark place.  Hinduism, a religion of 3-million gods . . . . even though not even the greatest of these has the ability to deliver any sort of sucker-punch to our great and only real God, one has to be concerned about what happens when an entire people opens itself up to false gods.  That’s 3-million doors opened to the enemy, inviting him to come in and muck things up, and boy, he sure has — we’ve seen the effects of spiritual impoverishment with our own eyes, and believe us, it’s unlike anything we’ve ever seen here or anywhere near here.

Our team never felt abandoned by the Lord.  We were always aware of how very much the Spirit was with us, how very closely He was covering us, how very dearly He was holding us close to His chest this entire past week.  At the same time, it wouldn’t be a surprise if what befell our team in the form of sickness & exhaustion was a sign of what was going on in the spiritual realms.  Or, as one teammate put it, what if God wanted to give us a more visceral glimpse of what these people’s lives are like without Him?  Dark.  Feverish.  Malnourished.  Dehydrated.  Cramped.  Aching.  Just not right.

No, this is not to say that the Lord has geographical boundaries, and once we hit Dubai, His healing kicked in.  Of course that’s not how He works . . . and if there’s anything we’ve learned this week, it is that His Light is at hand for Kolkata, and His favourable time for that city is now.  So we continue to insist, “Come, Lord Jesus!” . . . . but whatever He wanted to teach us this week in our sickness, infirmity & discomfort . . . well, we just want to learn His lessons well, and inscribe them on our hearts.  Not for our own sakes, but for the sake of our prayers for Kolkata, and places like it.

Our stories started emerging over the lunch table.  At first, we didn’t know how we’d be able to tell anything of value.  Thank you for not asking, “How was it?”  That question would’ve broken our hearts.  Thank you for just listening, as we’ve learned to do this past week.  We sat & watched & listened to Kerry, Annie, the FS staff, the wonderful FS women . . . and we learned.  We hope we can transmit their stories & their lives accurately to you, and that you will feel the Spirit captivating & enlivening you just as we were captivated & enlivened.  And as the stories flow, we hope you’ll be able to picture FS & its women, a small but strong flicker in the middle of Kolkata ready for the fueling breath of God to blow it across the city to cleanse, purify, refine.  We hope you’ll be able to see & smell the dirt, the poverty, the misery, the deadness . . . and moan with us the groaning cries for Jesus to come and redeem & repair.  We hope you’ll join with us in carrying FS & Kolkata on our hearts.

One personal thing I noted mid-week . . . every year, the team that returns from Ukraine is noted for coming back with shining faces, looking happier than ever.  That’s because being in Ukraine is easy, it’s great.  There is a vibrant church in Kremenchuk, filled with people who LOVE their city and LOVE the people in it.  NHC is a bright beacon in Kremenchuk, and the Spirit is flooding the streets because of NHC & Pastor Sasha and all of our brothers & sisters there who pour out good deeds, great love, amazing grace upon their neighbours in the Name of Christ.  The U-team members would be dumb rocks if they didn’t come back from those trips looking indeed as if they had seen the face of Jesus Himself!  Kolkata is the utter opposite.  There is no such equivalent church, no such equivalent love, no such equivalent pulsing of the Spirit there . . . . YET.  And that concept of “yet” just reminds me that something is to come, then.  If it’s not there yet, then it will be there sooner or later . . . and so I look forward to watching the faces of subsequent I-team members as they return from trips in years to come.  If the glimpse that God gave us of His heart this week is true — that He hasn’t given up on Kolkata, that He hasn’t forgotten or turned away from this city, that He hasn’t abandoned its people, the very ones He Himself created — then at some point, there will come a year when both our Ukraine & India teams will return with the exact same glows on their faces.  Hallelu-jah!

Well . .  now it’s just tired babbling.  All my other teammates are probably napping; I should be too.

Thank you for your support and for your prayers, everyone.  I wish there was a way to inject iodine into each prayer so we could all see the paths they traveled, how God received them & routed them, and how & when & where they were used by Him to buoy us and preserve us and protect us.  Certainly, we are all feeling much better.  Certainly, we are home safe.  Certainly, we were multiply blessed.  If your prayers did that just for the 8 of us, I wonder what miracles they are doing right now in Kolkata, in FS, in the lives of the women we met, in the nation of India . . .

Please pray, continue to pray for the 8 members of our team: for God’s icing on our healing, for upcoming debriefing meetings, for how we act as ambassadors to you, for how we continue to receive from the Lord His Word & wisdom.  Please pray for FS and all who work there, and for the 10,000 women yet to be rescued . . . and then the next 10,000 after them . . . And please pray for Kolkata & India.

India-2010 concluded.  Blessed be the Name of the Lord.

We’re in Dubai once more, waiting to get on the flight HOME.

HOME.  That word never sounded so good, honestly.

The ratios still don’t look good: 4 out of 4 are still down with one thing or another.  We’ve got some airplane pukies, consistent massive stomach cramping, and all other sorts of things you can imagine might go wrong.  And we haven’t really figured out what caused it all. =(  The other 4 are hanging tough (chowing down on McDonald’s as we speak, actually).  Please continue to pray for all 8 of us.

On the plane & in transit, we’ve had some chance to sit & talk with each other about our week in India.  Being here in the glittering luxury of the Dubai Int’l Airport, the surrealness of our week in Kolkata is even more striking.  And disturbing.  Little things like not having to worry about using the tap water to brush our teeth makes us think, “How do people live with dirty, dirty water?”  And that of course leads to bigger questions of “Why does most of the world NOT have clean, potable water, and how is that right or fair or just?  And what does God think about that?  And what does God want us to think about that?”

This just scratches the surface of the hard questions we’ll be asking ourselves . . . and which our church will have to join us in asking too.  After all, those who sent us, de facto, went with us and shared this experience with us (not all of it, thank goodness, right?  The world doesn’t have enough Immodium for that, ha-ha!) . . . and we would invite you all to seriously take part in grappling with us over the hard things . . . .

We’re boarding soon.  14 more hours and we’ll be landing on home turf.  Tears come to my eyes to think of it . . .  this week has been hard, for many of us, all of us, for a whole gamut of reasons.  We pray that you would be gracious to us upon re-entry, and that God would continue to heal our bodies, our hearts and our spirits . . . .

Pray for traveling mercies for us.  We fly home in the shelter of His wings.

Wow. What a week. What is the meaning of the purpose of God and/or the nature of spiritual warfare, when spiritually, w/respect to FS, we started w/dark vision & ended in glorious light … But our bodies started strong & rapidly degenerated into sickness?   Weird. Still trying to see what God is saying in all of this, and we are still trying to battle strong.

First the good news: THERE IS NO MALARIA.  Catherine got a blood test & it came back negative – praise God!  (Good thing too, b/c she threw up her malaria antibiotics.)  However, half of us have dropped like malaria-free flies. James is weak, feverish but okay … (As you might expect, his good humor & ability to keep a safe eye on us hasn’t waned much.). Jen stayed home today w/ symptoms similar to Catherine’s – chills, fever, aches, diarrhea.  Anna also went down with stomach ills & fever late in the day. And Catherine is still touch & go. Please, please, please keep praying – we’re trying our hardest to fight but man, we need all of you backing us up, or even standing on the front lines of intercession for us.

Becca has been an absolute gift. We’ve been calling her our Nurse Nightingale, though we know she is far more than that. Her soft-spoken care for us, administration of meds, surgical procedures on James, etc. has really helped our team keep our sanity.  And we feel so loved. At the end of the day, that feeling blankets us in comfort.

Christina, Sharon & Robert were powerhouses today. Christina, in particular, handled all the administrative work today, buying more FS bags (new designs!) & FS tees.  (Next India trip team leader, anyone? She’s already raring to come back!)   Sharon was instrumental in helping to pick the nice designs that our congregation would like, and in spearheading the shopping for saris for each of the FS women – our gift to them. Robert was the all around soothing presence, as he always is, and this evening, upon our return to the guesthse, he even cleaned our bathroom of gross bugs that had gathered there. Our hero!!!

Each team that NHF sends out, we’ve seen that each person plays a specific, wonderful role. This team has been no different. No number of hours spent in the bathroom, no gallons of soot & diesel we inhaled, no mountain of dirt & inconvenience can even begin to eclipse the gem that each member of this team has been.

New Hope, the FS women are beautiful. That word is bandied about so often, has it lost its meaning? But … They truly are. Some still have lost looks in their eyes, and one is scared to let his/her imagination go down the road to the reasons why. Some are bright & bubbly, whipping out an easy laugh & a quick grab of your hand to invite you to sit by them during tea-time. Others are initially reserved, holding their flash of white smiles for just that right moment of eye contact.  My goodness, what amazing beautiful women… Kerry says they laugh & giggle & chatter b/c they have to – life goes on & they have not the luxury of moping, therapy, depression. They make “life goes on” seem not like a fatalistic gesture, but a declaration of hopeful promise. I may never shrug my shoulders and think such a throwaway thing again…

Tomorrow, we’ll gift the women with their saris. PLEASE pray hard for our team – we want to be 100% so that we can be @ FS together, to spend this last time together.  We’ll also be meeting w/FS’s atty to see how we can properly give the surplus I10 funds to the FS Trust. Thank you, again, for your insane generosity. Pls take the time to imagine the REAL FREEDOM of a young girl who doesn’t have to stand on line anymore. She is FREE.

Please also pray that our flight home will be safe & uneventful. STRONG HEALTH for all! If you’ve never believed in or seen divine healing before, START NOW, and please join us in praying IN FAITH, that fevers will break, muscles will strengthen, cramps will cease, bowels will regulate, stomachs can digest, bacteria will disappear, chills will abate and joints will not ache. Let our faces shine upon landing (yes, 1st stop: Korean food in Flushing!), and let our greatest memory of Kolkata NOT be illness, but the beauty, the need, the fullness, the emptiness, the hope for this place. If it is true that Light shines brightest in the darkness, then Kolkata is RIPE for His Light to just burst forth here!!! Isn’t that AWESOME?  If Kremenchuk is going to be the birthplace of revival in Europe (and I still belive this will be), then might not Kolkata be the place where Christ’s Spirit first begins to pour out over India? Oh dear Lord, I shiver just to imagine it (and that ain’t the fever talking!).

Anyway, so please pray for our FULLY RESTORED HEALTH.  Let us be tales of miracles.

Also, b/c of the exhaustion of the team tonite, it’ll be difficult to have proper re-entry debriefing. That will be hard for us, both while we’re still here & as we re-enter home territory. Please pray for our spiritual protection as a result. We’ve been distracted by much – Kerry said he’s never seen a team drop like ours. But we agreed, if the enemy is attacking us thus, then us being here w/ FS must mean something good, right? YES! The Lord is pleased w/our exploratory journey, and we want to continue to please Him w/how we process things @ home, and we put our new education to good use for the Kingdom. So please pray for our re-entry, and the talks, debriefings we’ll have upon our return…

Please keep the FS women on your hearts. They are precious. We will see some, many, all of them at Home (we hope).  What glory it will be to be able to thank them for allowing us to play a role in their freedom.

It’s an early evening for us… Please pray good rest for us this night…

Today of all days, we love you & miss you.
His peace to you,

I10

I feel like we have gotten a lot done because we were able to experience something about people’s lives here, and especially to see the Hilton’s ministering to the women. That is the most remarkable thing. Also, everyone feels inspired to try hard to support the work here which is beautiful and noble….’

From James and Robert:

Cathy and Jen are both sick. Please pray for their quick recovery, so that they can continue their work and also able to fly home on Saturday.

They had a great morning conference call / morning devotions with Jeff, Santosh (JVI lawyer), Kyu and Tom Kim . . . learned a lot about JVI & how it works in relation to FS and other justice ventures.  They were really impressed with Santosh, a Brahmin Indian who married 2 castes below his own, and was practically disowned for it.  Even now, the 2 families don’t get together, and when they do, they eat with different sets of cups, plates, etc. According to teammates, Santosh is really something, born & bred here in India, but just really living out the Gospel in so many important ways.

The team then came over to FS, and were able to spend time getting some things done “around the house.”  Heather & Steve Pound moved here about 4mos ago, and the construction team is working on setting them up in their new home inside the 2nd FS building.  They & their 4 kids are so …. inspiring, amazing, cheerful.  Sharon is helping Heather pick paint colours for their new home.

From what else I gather, some discussions were had regarding FS t-shirts and how to support this new, budding market within the FS system. Some teammembers hauled cement buckets for the Pounds’ house.  A lot of talking happened, good conversations with FS staff and friends.  James had injured his finger, so he had to coddle it a bit.

In the late afternoon, James & Robert came back to the guesthouse to get me & Becca, in case I was feeling up to hitting Sonagacchi with the Hiltons.  But I just couldn’t (after having vomited some more and having recurring fever).  James also wasn’t feeling well at this point — some exhaustion, I think?  So Robert came back to FS by himself, and he, Christina, Anna & Jen went with Kerry and Annie to walk the streets of Sonagacchi.  They came back with shining faces, much like Sharon, Becca and James the night before.  Last night, our conclusion was that the hope of Christ is really prevalent and bright here.  We started this week with such heaviness & darkness & sadnes . . . and as we near the end of our time here, we feel lightness and light.  Praise God that He always shines brighter.

This morning . . Jen is at home b/c she has what I had . . . please pray for her.  Christina, Sharon, Becca & James are heading to the outing with the children.  Anna is geared up for some construction work.  Don’t know what Robert & I will be doing; frankly, I still feel extremely questionable.

Please pray for our team.  Please pray for continued protection, quick healing, full recovery.  How we need the Spirit’s blanketing of us right now….

We’re planning to buy more FS bags and tshirts.  Get ready, NHF — the vision is big, our actions have to rise to meet it. =)

We miss you.  Frankly, we miss clean water and Caesar salads. =) But we miss you too.  We can’t wait to see you and tell you, share with you all.  May God prepare our church body to hurt together, grieve together, feel the pain & poverty together . . . then come together in faith, action, hope & light.

God came thru today.

A lot of the rage of yesterday (sorry, there was hatred of men going on), depression, heaviness… A lot of the black cloud that sat on our heads & tried to suffocate us … It dissipated today. God rested His steely self on our team & carried us thru in peace, laughter, and a little bit of much-needed lightness.

The day was spent working with the women – dear church family, you have to know exactly how beautiful these women are.  They are BEAUTIFUL.  How can we accurately describe their glowing gorgeousness to you? Come & see for yourselves…

We had a pretty productive marketing meeting with FS & JVI reps… There is so much hope for the future! Exciting! C’mon people, we’re gonna shop the heck out of FS – this is the ONLY way to free more women from the sex-trade (and I’m sorry, but no matter what anyone says, NO ONE in Sonagacchi chose to be there, and unionizing or legalizing or enforcing condom-use among girls who were STOLEN to work the line is senseless & counter-intuitive & wrong. Only freedom is the answer. Only Christ is the way.). So NHF, get ready for more bags – you ARE going to shop your hearts out!

Then Jeff took us down to one of 2 Sari-Bari locations (near the Kali Temple – Kali is the goddess of destruction; isn’t it something that there’s an entire temple dedicated to a goddess of destruction, and people pray to her out of deep-seated fear? There is no such thing as a loving God here; fear drives everything…). At SB, we met Beth, who directs the SB operation, which is almost an identical model to FS, but uses old saris to make blankets, bags & scarves. Amazingly beautiful …

Last night, before Kerry took 3 of our group into Sonagacchi, he reminded us that Jesus is already there, in that district. We heard the echoes of his words today as Beth told us that their 2nd SB location is in the heart of the trade district, on the worst, most crowded street there, where the most “in demand” girls work. Yes – Jesus IS already there, and we anticipate all the joyous ways His light will radiate out from the darkest place …

After SB, we walked by the Kali Temple, and then to Mother Teresa’s hospital for the destitute & dying. They stand right next to each other; the entire plaza littered w/homeless and poor adults, elderly, kids, babies, stray dogs. When MT said she was going to set up shop there, there was massive protest & rioting by Hindus who were offended by the affront to their goddess. So she said, “ok, YOU guys take care of these ppl then.” The protests stopped & they let her do her thing. Sigh … But praise God for her …

We had a weird dinner @ Tollygunge Club. Basically, an old British relic for the rich & elite. We hated every moment of being there & are thankful that we’re here at this humble guesthouse. TC wouldve been bad for our souls, bad for our team, bad for relationship building with FS…

Home. We closed our day quickly, with brief sharing, and praying healing over James & Jen. It is good to lay our heads down and rest … It is good to trust in the Lord who gives us rest … It is good to be children of the Most High God … It is good to be saved by Jesus Christ.

If I could add a personal prayer request … It’s about 11p India time, and I’m about to go to sleep with nausea and an increasing fever. The sisters prayed over me; so I rest in His healing hands …

Please continue to pray for us … please, please, please. Pray for the FS women, pray for the women still working the line, pray for this city… Just pray; just open your mouths & let the Lord fill it with words …

We NEED you to lift us up & fight for and with us… We NEED Jesus to be lifted high among us, by us, and over this city.  These people NEED love, compassion, worth, identity, light and life.

All for His glory. ALL for HIS GLORY!

With love and missing you all,
I10

Thanks for your patience in our backlog of daily reports…

First, the bad news:
- Catherine got hit by a cab.
- James slammed his finger in a cab door badly. Twice.
- Bob & Anna were interrogated.
- our group was detained by the Metro stationmaster.
- we’ve got our first case of food-related icks.

And now, the good news:
- it was just the cab’s side mirror that whapped Catherine.
- James’ finger is on ice, and trust us – his irreverent humor wasn’t bruised in the process.
- Bob & Anna were trying to resolve a Metro ticket issue, and they had to simply endure the Kafka-esque bureaucracy of the Indian system that kicks in anytime anything goes wrong & needs to be fixed.
- same thing happened with our entire group 24hrs later, and we argued our ways our of it by simply refusing to pay an exorbitant “penalty.”
- the ick might be all out, and is being treated w/antibiotics; still, pray for healing & strong immune health for all of us. Germs begone, in Jesus’ Name!

Ok, in all seriousness … These past 2 days have been … (There are almost no words.)

Yesterday … After a.m. devotions, we headed over to Freeset for devotions again with the FS team and others. There is a team here from New Zealand doing construction on the second FS bldg. There are also other folks here: admin, computer, design, accounting staff. We met them & shared a word from Matthew w/them. Then we went downstairs to share a.m. devotions w/the FS women. It was something to see Annie (Kerry Hilton’s wife) lead 170 women in praise and singing. It’s hard to know who is singing in faith or not … But surely, if there is power in Jesus’ Name, then singing it back to Him even unknowingly stirs Him up, knocks on His door, invites Him to come & enter into the place He most desires to inhabit – their hearts.  That is our prayer for these women: that they’d come to know Him, truly Him, only Him.

After lunch @ this awesomely cute place called Ricky’s (Indian), we came back to meet & work alongside the women.  We walked around the 3 floors of FS, watching women sew, screen-paint shirts, cut patterns, trim threads & pack bags for shipment. Fans spin overhead, busy hums of sewing machines thrum the air, chatter & joking & laughter punctuates frequently. “Namuska,” we greeted each woman as they looked up from their work to say hello to us … At the end of our tour, we agreed: how could they have come from where they’ve come from, and still smile these wide, shining smiles that DO reach the eyes? What could bring this change? Freedom for sure. Come, Lord Jesus.

Then, Mina sat & talked w/us.  Mina is a woman, perhaps about 60yrs now? Hard to tell b/c her face is both hardened by horror & by strength. (Not incidentally, that is the way of most things in this city: this awful thing AND that beautiful thing; they always go hand in hand, & it’s confusing as all get-out…) She was grabbed as a little girl from Bangladesh, trafficked into the Sonagacchi red-light district, “rescued” by the police b/c she was legally too young to “walk the line” (stand on line to take sex customers), then grabbed again by someone who came and bought her back from the police. For who knows how long, she worked in the trade … Somehow she “married” (unclear whether this was an actual marriage or a long- term boyfriend who used to be a loyal customer (he was, after all, about 20yrs older than her)) … But this man would break down the door of her brothel to try to bring her out & home. He died just a few months ago, and her grief for him is still raw, chafed often by the fact that his family rejects her for being a former worker.

Mina thought up FS before the Hiltons ever landed here from NZ. She used to go back into Sonagacchi, trying to educate the young women about HIV/AIDS, etc. She envisioned a BUSINESS model that would give these women womething to do other than sex-work. She desired education, a wage, pension, health insurance, childcare for these women. She has a goal of 10,000 women to rescue from Sonagacchi. And then the Hiltons came to Kolkata, managed over 4yrs to earn her trust, and she’s been w/them ever since. She, to this day, goes into the district to talk w/ the girls, tell them about FS, and bullies the Hiltons to do more, try harder, sell more bags. We said to her, “we are so inspired & encouraged by FS,” and she said to us, “then sell more bags for us.” Mina is something else, truly.

Kerry let us know that tho she didn’t give all details, her coming into the trade was horrific. One can only imagine what happens to a new, virgin 12yo girl when the brothel is trying to initiate & desensitize her. Yes, for a moment, let your imagination go to that awful place & let the bile rise to your throat & taste it – we all did.

Yet, tiny little Mina stood before us, a giant among humanity… Personally, she reminded me of Anna the prophetess who believed & believed that she would see the Christ before she died. And she did, in faith, see Him enter the table as a little boy- her waiting paid off. And so Mina believes & believes, and I suspect God will show her amazing miracles before He brings her Home.  Her faith right now is weak & her anger at Jesus for taking her husband is strong. But surely, the Lord will honour her grief; He can handle her anger; and His patience for her to re-see His grace is endless. Please pray for her tonight … Mina …

Mina has no children. But she has an endless number of daughters here @ FS. They actually would not exist but for her.

In the evening, James, Becca & Sharon went w/Kerry & Mina into Sonagacchi to see for themselves. The good news: they saw clearly the difference b/w the women now @ FS & the women still working the line. The bad news… Only 1st-hand descriptions will suffice.  But don’t worry – Kerry & Mina are powerhouses of protection, guarding us very well. Moreover, we prayed for the 3 that went out, and will do so for other groups that go out tomorrow evening.

An overarching pain & darkness: there is a distinct lack of looking out for each other in this country. And especially in men’s eyes, there is something that looks like a lack of soul. Even when they stare at the women on our team, and stare at our body parts, it’s almost like they don’t know what they’re looking at. A person here, for whatever reason, simply doesn’t have enough value such that people recognize that that set of breasts belong to a human being; that that being crawling on the mud is a human being; that that one who could be helped with a relief program, caring volunteers, a social-work system if anyone cared to start one, is a human being. It is frightening to be in a land of such empty darkness.

We’ve determined that it is a spiritual issue.  We talk a lot about spiritual warfare, praying for nations, etc. That has never been more of a reality than now, here. Oh please, please, if you’ve never had an interest or a care for India before, GET ONE NOW. And pray!!!!!!!!!!! This nation, this city NEEDS JESUS’ LIGHT like no other we’ve known or seen.

Last night was hard. Exhaustion was heavy on us. Even after all these words, there are no words… Please take the care to ask us when we return, ok?

Onto day 4 …

We just finished evening prayer and are back in our room eating beef jerky (o, the irony) and unwinding from an intense day, intense evening, intense prayer time.

Worshiped this a.m. @ Carey Baptist Church, the church that William Carey built way back when. Walking unto service & hearing familiar songs being lifted up in praise made the world shrink in a millisecond. Love when that happens! And to finish off worship w/ How Great is Our God… Awesome!

Walked in broiling humid heat to – wait for it – KFC for post -church lunch; the weekly ritual of the Hiltons & Pounds.  Had soda with – wait for it – ice in it! All are well; apparently these fast-food places use filtered water.  (But keep praying for our health: if it’s not a GI thing, then the heat will be the thing that wrecks us…)

After a brief rest back @ the guesthse (mercifully a/c-ed rooms!), Kerry Hilton took us to the Howrah Bridge (and across 4 lanes of insane traffic) and while in that area, Becca had opportunity to care for a teenage boy who’d had the front half of his foot cut off somehow.  As she ministered, we held her up in prayer, asking for the healing anointing to fall. There was so much oppression & darkness on this boy & all who gathered around in curiosity … It was actually quite hard to pray in the Spirit …

Back over the bridge, and to Freeset & the Hiltons’ home for more filtered water & tea. Had a great talk w/them. Then great Indian dinner in a “nice” part of town (we are quickly learning how very much all things are relative), and back home for prayer, rest, shower & hopefully sleep. It was difficult to swallow down mouthfuls while infant babies slept on the sidewalk outside. On the one hand, we’re so thankful for God’s provisions and we determine never to take food and bed and water for granted ever again. On the other hand, the injustice, the inequity, the utter wrongness makes one want to flip the tables in anger & protest…

Praises today:
- safety & protection: so thankful for God keeping watch over our bodies with good, plentiful food and clean water; for Murray, 1 of the NZ team here doing construction on the new FS bldg – he took us all over the city; and for James & Bob who really expended themselves to keep us safe from prying eyes & wandering hands – they hemmed us in on all sides; we felt we were in loving, capable protective hands.
- morning worship with Indian believers. Every glimpse of Home is a gift and we treasure it even more as points of light in a very dark place.
- sense of hope that always manages to burst thru, even when we feel like we’ve been kicked into a pit by all we’ve seen. Surely God is here w/us, and more importantly, w/Kolkata. He hasn’t given up on or turned away from this city, no matter its darkness – we think it must be b/c where it’s most dark, He gets to show Himself off more. We’re thankful He is a glorious God worth showing off.
- each other: it is unimaginable to be here alone. In our collective weakness, He makes collectively strong. We wake each morning determined to be a wall of light.
- the fact that FS is here: words can’t properly describe what a continuing & impending miracle they are here. God’s will on earth…
- Bob reminding us in our sadness, anger, hopelessness: God just needs us right now to be willing to try to cross 4 lanes of impenetrable traffic, to know that exhilaration & sense of “I did it! I can do this!”, and THEN to take next steps of bringing transformation. Just cross those 4 lanes & see where He takes you …

Prayer requests:
- protection, protection, protection: if we are not on guard as well as being guarded nonstop, the darkness & oppressive environment is overwhelming, easily threatens to suck us under. May we be held up by Him and may we continue to be strong in Him for each other.
- soft hearts: even here, it’s easy to become jaded, angry, frustrated, hopeless. Since this is not what Christ calls us to, we want to be obedient.
- our Monday here: we’ll meet the FS women for the 1st time and spend the day there; perhaps also venturing into Sonagacchi, the red-light district to meet the working women there.
- cont’d good health & physical safety, and physical / mental stamina for those who watch out for us women (James, Bob, Murray, etc.)
- wisdom for Bob & I as we try to watch our own souls & keep jealous guard over our team.
- protection & guidance of our dreams tonite as we sleep & seek replenishment of all that’s been drained out today.
- that God would truly give us what we can handle: everything here is intense & overwhelming. We are often confused, geographically, spiritually, emotionally. But, we don’t want to shut down or become hard-hearted. Lord, show us more of You and help our unbelief!

God has shown His favor to our team. We continue to ask that He’d show favour to this city & all here, especially the most poor, the most hungry, the most beat down, the most hopeless, the most deadened …. There are so many millions of them; only His favour would suffice.

We pray for you in thanksgiving. We send you His grace, power, love & mercy, and ask that u lift them back up to the Lord in praise, that He would yet pour forth in double upon Kolkata.

His peace & strength to you,
I10

He loves India so; THAT is what I felt the moment I got off the plane – not darkness but hope. May He sustain us this week, as individuals AND as a team, and may He give us more glimpses of His hope today…