I am in the Amsterdam airport having just arrived from India. Both Edie
and I were able to get a couple of hours of sleep on the plane so we are
thankful. We are quite tired from a long three week training trip. But at the
same time we are overjoyed with what we experienced along the way. At each stop
we were increasingly encouraged by the progress of the trainers. The new young
guys in the NE made great progress. The men in the South showed real progress
from the last workshop and continued to improve during the present one. They had
worked so hard passing on the training to others, five groups in all. They also
want us to connect with groups they know in Sri Lanka. We are investigating
how we can partner with them to initiate this training there as well. Then in
Ahmadabad we were blown away with how well the students did. They really
understood the material from last time and worked so hard together and seemed to
master the present training as well. The training they did over the past four
months in three levels covering about 1500 pastors, seemed to go well also
according to all accounts. The pastors and potential pastors they trained were
excited about what they were learning and most had talked about taking the
training on into their churches as well. Mike and I are having a blast teaching
together. We fit well together and can easily insert ideas and comments to each
other's training that are helpful. I count it a great privilege to have the
Gundersons training with us.
The ladies experienced many blessings working with the women as well. It
was a bit harder for them since the training process was new to both Edie and
Linda as well as to the women who came. Only three women participated in the
first site, one with a baby, and they covered two workshops in that week. That
was challenging but seemed to go well. At the second site, the opposite was
true, 20 women came and most had been through the first workshop. It is really
hard to work with that many women with our system. They had some translation
problems as well. But all in all the training went very well, by God's grace.
In the last site 7 women participated and none had previous training. This
seemed a bit more normal and Edie and Linda had two weeks of practice behind
them, but they were also very tired. Through dependence upon God they persevered
and He helped them make good progress. In all our training sites the schedules
changed significantly from what we thought so flexibility was key.
There is a new possibility for future training with one of the largest
denominations in India. We will be working on that in coming months. This
group has been weak theologically and weak in the Word. Having an opportunity
to influence them through our training in the Word could have huge impact. Pray with us
about this.
Our days have been long and wearing, but full of joy and thankfulness for
what God is doing. We were especially thankful that the weather was pleasant in
all three places, we had expected it to be quite hot at least in the last venue,
but it was almost perfect, inside anyway. The Indian experience is still
challenging even after many visits here. The food wears on you after a few weeks
and the brokenness of the culture is hard to see day after day. But the delight
of working with such vibrant brothers and sisters in the Lord balances out all
costs. The traffic continues to amaze me. One night on the way home we got
stuck in a "jam". No one could move except some on scooters squeezed through
tight spaces to keep going. When an opening occurs everyone jams forward. No
one waits for anyone else, but in the end it seems to work quite well most of
the time. I do not know if I will ever get used to it.
I am hoping for a shower here in the airport lounge before we have to run
to our gate for our plane to Minneapolis. Only 16 hours or so and we will be
home. We commented that it is a relief to be coming home but at the same time a
hard thing to say goodbye to all our dear friends in India. We are encouraged
that we will be back soon. God is doing really amazing things through our
ministry both with and through us and sometimes in spite of us. The fruit of
what we are doing will last generations. Thanks for your help along the way!
Al
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