God's Been Busy Here

We have seen God do some incredible things in Silvassa this past week. As most of you know, we came to India to do mission work. We had no idea what God wanted us to do except move to India and He would show us the rest as He saw fit. Well, He is beginning to show us His plan for our ministry. We have been praying for a year that God would use us to help the people in our remote area both physically and spiritually. We got here and immediately got involved in working with the Red Cross Mobile Dispensary and teaching English at a local school but it still did not feel like these were where God wanted us. So we continued to pray.

One morning as I was going out to visit a children's hostel in another city I was approached by a man who works at the hotel we live in. He had heard that I was a Christian and trying to do "social work" (the Indian term for mission work). He told me he too was a Christian and he had friends who had started a ministry in a region 1 hour from Silvassa. He asked if I would like to meet with the Pastor of the ministry and,of course, I was thrilled. In the meantime, we prayed that God would show us if this was part of His plan for us.

We met with Pastor Saji and could not believe all that he and his people had accomplished in 5 years. He is originally from Kerala in southern India but knew God was calling him to sell everything there and move very far north to reach the tribal people. He and his family moved to Valsad in the northern state of Gujarat. He established the Fellowship Ashram Church of India (FACI). A true Bible-teaching, preaching church focused on improving the physical and spiritual lives of the Indian people. (Sound familiar?!) In 5 years God has built an English-medium school with over 700 children and a hostel that houses 75 children. They have a Bible Institute to train missionary leaders, 150 home churches in tribal villages, and started an English-medium street school. Learning English in India is vitally important to get out of poverty. Only educated, English-speaking people are able to get jobs. The problem is that all schools that teach English are expensive--including govt. schools. The mission of the FACI schools is to offer English lessons to all. If you can help by paying any small amount that is great but you will not be turned away if you can't. They believe God will supply what they need and He has done so amazingly. They cannot explain how they have been able to cover the costs at times except that God miraculously provided in time. One of their biggest investors is a Hindu! Unheard of!! Goes to prove that what God's Word says about Him turning the hearts of ALL people to do His Will is true. God even uses the non-believer to accomplish His Will. LOVE THAT!!

I cannot tell you how excited we are that God has lead us to the people of FACI. After meeting with them several times we believe God is leading us to partner with them and believe God for GREAT things for the people of Silvassa. There are so many wonderful stories I could share with you about what God is doing here. One that really pertains to us must be told! Pastor Saji and his wife Janet have tried 5 times to get a visa to the U.S. They made the necessary appointment in Mumbai and were turned down by the consolate all 5 times for no real reason. It can be very difficult for Indians to get a visa. It is totally up to the one person you meet with at the consolate. It still blows my mind that the fate of your travel visa can be in the hands of one person! Can you imagine? He can deny it for any reason. I'm sure most visas are obtained by bribs since that is such a basic way of doing things here. Pastor Saji has gotten visas to many other countries and just recently returned from the UK but God kept shutting the door for him to go to the U.S. Pastor Saji told us that he prayed and told God that if He did not want him to go to the U.S. then bring some Americans to him!! That was the same time we were praying that God would introduce us to true believers in India. Did I mention we are the first and only Americans to live in our region!!! Now you tell me that isn't God!!!!!!!
He WILL work all things together for our good in His time and according to His Will!

Needless to say, we are overwhelmed and humbled that God wants to use us to do something very big here in Silvassa. The schools that FACI has are about 1 1/2 hours from Silvassa. We have felt all along that God wanted us to start some type of school and mission here in Silvassa. Pastor Saji has prayed for a long time that he would be able to start a school and missionary work here as well! No telling what God is going to do now that He has joined our ministries to work together. Please pray that we will all listen and follow God's direction for this new project. I know in my heart He has something HUGE planned and can't wait to see it happen!

Our website for New Beginnings India is still under construction but you can go to the website for the Fellowship Ashram Church of India and check out what God has done there. It is
www.feaministry.com

Keep praying for us! God answers prayers!