More pictures of India can be found here:

Today was our second day teaching here in Kolkata and I was still nervous before I stepped up to teach but far less than yesterday. Ronnie started us off and he did a great job. He, “brought the fire.” We’ve now had some time getting to know the pastors and we have begun to build rapport. We are seeing pastors begin to think bigger and dream bigger than they ever have before. The conference has been a huge success.

Shane, Brad and I left the conference for a few hours to visit a missions hospital. We were able to get a tour from the hospital chaplain and see the various floors and departments. It was so touching as we saw young babies too fragile to be held by their mothers and parents sitting with their young ones as they got blood transfusions. I could’t help but think of the blessing the hospital is. It is one of the few places where the poor are cared for free of charge.

After our visit to the hospital we walked the streets, saw more idols, dodged more cars and then headed back to the BMS (where our conference is located). Shane made a last minute call to take us to visit the Sisters of Charity. We saw Mother Teresa’s tomb and the room she lived in. It was overwhelming to see the life she lived. It was evident that when she met Jesus he must have told her ,”well done my good and faithful servant.”

It was a long day but what day isn’t long here in India. It’s so nice to head to bed with hope, knowing the love of Jesus and seeing how he is transforming this poor city.

Travis

Day 1 of the Pastors Conference was fantastic with 110 pastors and church leaders in attendance for practical teaching and tools that will assist in their various ministries throughout the state of West Bengal.  Pastor Ronnie and Travis did a great job both teaching the concepts and facilitating discussion.  They were warmly received by all in attendance.  They began a whirlwind schedule at 9:30 am which lasted until 4:30 pm.  It is no wonder that their eyes were so heavy tonight at dinner after waking up at 3:00 am due to jet-lag.  Please pray for them to get a good night’s rest so that they are well refreshed for tomorrow’s teaching.

Brad Gleason and I spent the day at a leprosy camp scouting the needs for future ministry through NorthPointe Church.  It may well have been the most eye opening experience I have ever had.  I’m finding it difficult to mentally process the tremendous need in this place.   My heart aches for the people that live in such devastating conditions.

The leprosy camp is about a three hour drive from our base in Kolkata.  It is a community of several hundred people confined to a reservation and quarantined from the general public of West Bengal.  These are families (men, woman, children, parents, grand-parents) living in slum conditions only worsened by the debilitating affects of leprosy.  The horror of babies born to such conditions is intolerable.  I am so unsettled over what I have seen; I’m not quite sure how to write about it. It was my great privilege to talk, touch, laugh, and hug these beautiful hurting people – many without limbs, appendages, severe skin deterioration, malformation, cracking, bleeding and oozing.   People are without any aid from government, social service, and even most churches.  These are the untouchables, segregated, missing, forgotten, and dismissed.  Think I’m exaggerating?  Think again!  A local hotel owner a couple miles from the camp wonders why we would choose to enter such a place.  “Do not go in there”, he says.  “These people are on their own!”   A wall separates their camp from the rest of the community at large.  I’m comforted by a single thought that enters my mind.  “Jesus is in this camp.   He lives here too.  These people are not alone.”  A few minutes later, I met a man baptized a week ago.  He committed his life to Jesus Christ.  These people are not alone!  Some are my bothers and sisters in Christ.  They are in community; my community!  They are the church. Suffering, yes, but not alone.

These people present a new opportunity for ministry through the church.  I am looking forward to seeing how God unfolds our connection to these wonderful people.  I anticipate good things.

Shane

Today we toured the city of Kolkata and found that today is the start of a 3 day celebration of  Diwali (doo-VALL-ee) also known as “the festival of lights,” The city is really getting into this holiday as they are putting lights up all around the city and setting off fireworks. They also are selling these really beautiful flowers that you see everywhere. It’s been fun interacting with the people (we get the people who are trying to sell us any and everything to, to the people who have not had much interaction with westerners and so they stare at us). We were able to take Pastor Travis and Brad (a NorthPointer) to see the slums and that was emotional for all of us as we see such unexplainable poverty and filth.

We Made it! I have been watching “The Amazing Race” this season and felt like Andy Finch as we traveled through Beijing and Kunming China. While it was a fun adventure we found it interesting and confusing as we tried to communicate with the officials at the airport. Each flight required us to go through customs collecting our luggage and rechecking which we had not experienced on previous trips.

We finally landed in Kolkata at midnight Wednesday morning and got to bed at about 3am. Today is our adjustment day so after breakfast we headed into the marketplace to walk around and then Doddy took us by car tosome sites. We plan on making it an early evening as Travis and I begin our 3-day conference with 130 Pastors While Shane and Brad head out to a leper colonythat is about 4 hours away.

Thanks for your prayers and we will update you all tomorrow.

Ronnie

We exceeded our goal of distributing 10,000 bibles in the mara. I am very excited to see how God uses that. We also finished priming the girls dormitory at Emmanuel’s school. They have a one week break starting this week so the dorm should be ready for students to move in by the time they go back to school. Before we left the school, we also presented to the kids t-shirts from the last 2 years of NorthPointe VBS. The kids were so excited! They all wore the shirts with joy that day, even the ones that were way to large.

One thought that has been continually coming to my mind on this trip is “the smallest acts of generosity from us to the Kenyans are met with the most amazing displays of gratitude”. Everywhere we go people are models of gratitude. It’s difficult to explain until you come see it for yourself.

Sunday, we went to Maasai church. The worship was amazing. They worship so freely. No one is afraid to sing at the top of their lungs or dance with joy to the Lord. They don’t worry about what other people think about them, they only care about worshiping God with all they have. After a 3 hour church service we headed to a time of fellowship with local pastors. This was one of the most humbling experiences of my life. Many of these pastors were given cows two years ago. Some of them were given proclaimers (the bible in audio) and 10 of them were sponsored for one year by NorthPointers (they were given $50 a month)
For about an hour and a half the pastors shared stories of gratitude and what God is doing in their church. Here’s a super small sample:

Several pastors said the cows enabled them to send their children to school. One pastor said he used the allowance to help two widows in the church and as a result they started coming to the church. One pastor said two years ago when we did hut to hut evangelism someone in the village gave their life to the Lord and started attending the church. Another said the sponsorship money enabled him to adopt an orphan. It was amazing to hear what God is doing here! We have many many more stories.

Monday we did a safari and had a great time. Emmanuel is a safari tour guide and uses the profit to pay teachers and sponsor children at the school. This is such a sustainable way to do charity in the village. I am praying his business continues to expand. He has a dream to eventually start a resort on 100 acres of beautiful land he has purchased as a way of raising money for projects in the rural communities. The mara is one of the most beautiful places in the world. We saw 5 lions, too many giraffes to count, lots of elephants, a rhino and saw the wildebeasts crossing the river.

We left the mara on Tuesday and are now staying just outside of Nairobi with Allison and Emmanuel Kasio. They started a non profit here called missionary village aid kenya. This morning we went to a local school that is really struggling and did sports ministry, bible stories, crafts and music. The kids loved it and we were very encouraged by them. We are going back this afternoon to play sports with the older children who are having a soccer tournament later in the week. I’ll try to post one more blog before we leave on Saturday!

Thanks for your prayers. Jeff is doing great and the team is having a blast. Love you all,

Daniel

I finally found some time today to find an internet connection and write you a LONG blog. Thank you so much for your continual prayers, we can feel them here even on the other side of the world. It has been a crazy few days so far but I want to report that God has been so faithful.

First off, I am amazed at all God has done since we have been here last. I am writing this blog from the school Emmanuel started, Sirua Aulo Academy. Many of you have been involved in donating financially to the school and I want to encourage you that it is making an incredible difference here in Kenya, one that will transform the lives of hundreds of children for generations to come. Since we were here last, two major buildings (the girls and boys dorms) have been constructed and the enrollment has almost doubled.

It’s difficult to overemphasize how incredible this is. The two things that will help this community the most are sharing the gospel and educating the next generation. The school does both. Not only that, but it’s an incredible ministry to orphans and as Emmanuel taught me, since orphans are near the heart of God any ministry that truly advocates for orphans will be blessed. I can now testify to the truth of that statement.

Emmanuel had time to share the full story with me of how he came to care for orphans. I will give you the super-abbreviated version but I wanted to share it: When he was a young married man with two small children he moved to Nairobi to go to the university. He was so poor that he had to live in the slums and even in the slums he had to go into debt to stay there. Finally, a door opened up for him to work a job that could support his family. The job was at an orphanage near Nairobi.

During his time God opened his eyes to the needs of the orphan. The orphanage was a Christian orphanage run by pastors and Christian leaders. They fed the children, clothed them and gave them a place to stay. Still, Emmanuel came away from his work there so frustrated because he knew that even though they were keeping these children alive, he knew that without a family and without proper education they had no future. Simply stated: orphanages are no place for children to live. Period. But especially when they have no access to education! None of those orphans would ever be able to get a job or be a leader in their community. They were basically settling for survival.

That birthed the vision for the place I’m now writing from: Sirua Aulo academy. In addition to being a top school in Kenya and a place where children hear the gospel, it’s also a place where orphans receive opportunity and hope. They can live here and go to school alongside other children who aren’t orphaned. If you were here you wouldn’t know unless I told you who is orphaned and who is not because they are all doing so well at the school.  Many of them will go onto study in the university, start their own family and break the cycles that caused many of them to be orphans in the first place.
Now for a few comments on all that has happened with Jeff (if you haven’t hear his surgery was very successful…praise the Lord!)

Paul reminds us in the book of Romans that God works ALL things out for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose. And by the way…”his purpose” that he talks about in that verse is clarified in the next verse when Paul tells us that God’s purpose is to conform us to the likeness of his son. In other words, God uses all things even the crazy, unexpected, bad things to make us more like Jesus.

This is definitely the case with what has happened to Jeff. It has been incredibly difficult and none of us would ever have chosen it to happen, but God has already used it to do so many incredible things…he has been teaching Jeff lessons of patience and faith. He has been bringing the team closer together. He has been forcing us to trust him more. He has brought into our lives Christian doctors and allowed us to see an amazing ministry in action that we never would have even known existed. He has made people pray harder then they ever prayed before. He has allowed Jeff and I to spend extra time with Emmanuel which has resulted in God giving us some incredible ideas for ministry here in the future, things way beyond what I could have imagined on my own. My list could go on and on but suffice it to say that God is still good. He is good all the time. And He uses all things for His glory.

So please keep praying for Jeff, he still has a long recovery ahead and we need to make many more decisions about how and when he can travel safely, but be encouraged that God is in control. We will keep you updated on how he is going as well as all that is happening with the rest of the team. Following this post, I had Luke DeGroot write a blog about what the rest of the team has been doing the past few days since Emmanuel and I have been driving back and forth visiting Jeff in the hospital most of the days. I hope you enjoy! We miss you all and are excited to share more when we return.

Blessings,
Daniel

While Daniel and Emmanuel have been travelling daily to be with Jeff and ensure his comfort, the remaining five of us have been following through with our original plan to visit schools and distribute bibles. We partnered up with the local representative for Gideons International, Pastor Daniel Kipsinga, with the goal of giving bibles to10,000 students here in the Mara region of Kenya. Monday and Tuesday we visited seven schools, and at each location, students from nearby schools would gather. They would welcome us and sing songs of praise, then we spent time meeting the childrenand making sure nobody left without receiving the Word of God. As I write this onWednesday morning, I can report that we have distributed Bibles in either Swahili orEnglish to over 3,000 students.

Sometimes it is difficult to see the impact that this has, because we see so many faces, shake so many hands, and pass out so many Bibles. But when we stop and listen to the head teachers and school leaders, they pour out thanks and blessings. Many of them tell us that it has been their prayer recently that God would bring himself to the students in a real way, and for almost every one of these children, this is the first bible they have ever owned. God is at work here in Kenya like I have never seen before. We have two more days of bible distribution, then we are going to spend time at Emmanuel’s school painting the new girl’s dormitory. Continue praying for us as we connect and share God’s love with the people of the Mara, Kenya!

-Luke DeGroot

I know that I can speak for everyone when I say that this has been a life changing experience.  The COH intern team was amazing…it was great to talk with them and hear how each one has set aside 3 months to serve the poor and to seek God for direction in their life. It was such an encouragement to me and our team to hear their stories and how God has brought them to this place of total surrender.

The Blachey Family is AMAZING. They are doing such a great work in the city of Davao. They put in countless hours each week ministering to over 5,000 kids. They have a heart for the people here and desire to see people come know know the Lord. In a place where people are poor and lack very basic things like food, clean water and medical care they are loving people in a tangible way by providing these things and a regular basis. They are the hands and feet of Jesus. This family is loved and respected in their community because they are not just preaching the gospel…they are the gospel!

It was an honor to serve with both groups this week.

Many of you may know that this team was scheduled to go to Haiti but because of the political unrest we joined COH in The Philippines. At first, I was unsure what God was up to with all the changes and ambiguity of the trip but now on the other side of things I am thanking God for his faithfulness and his hand in everything. Everything about this trip was perfect. To be in God’s will is the best place to be.

I am so proud of our team…They did great!! They worked hard and gave 110% EVERYDAY. They constantly looked for ways to serve one another and the people of Davao.

So is this the end of the journey….or just the beginning? God did some significant things in the life of the team members and I am excited to see how things unfold as they continue to seek after Jesus, the author and finisher of their faith!

So I leave you with this request….. please keep this team in your prayers as they travel home and think about what this trip means in the big picture of their life. What is God asking them to do? What is the next step? Please pray for each to hear the voice of God have the courage and boldness to RESPOND! We were created for a purpose…a purpose greater then us. Please join with me in prayer for what this means for NorthPointe. Some of you know that a few people have been experimenting with gardening and praying about what it would look like to use that to serve the poor and those that are struggling. This is also a new area of ministry for Convoy so the possibilities are endless. So at the end of this trip my head is spinning with ideas and thoughts for the future. It’s in time like this that I grab hold of the truth found in Gods Word…”Trust in the Lord with all your heart, do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take” Proverbs 3:5-6

So Lord we will seek you and we will trust you!

See you in about 36 hours!
-Kim

NPCC and COH

Tonight will be our last night here in Davao City but certainly not my last visit.  I have fallen in love with the people and the culture and feel so honored and privileged to have had the pleasure of serving here.  The things we have been able to be a part of will forever be in my heart. We have made many friends and extended family who will be greatly missed.

Today the team continued digging the hole for the new fish pond, planting in the garden, sorting through tiles to use on the garden pathways, and we helped to fill and tie bags full of Tang to freeze for popsicle’s for the kids that will be returning on Saturday and Sunday. At the end of our work day we went on a walk through the area next to the Family Circus. No matter what circumstance or situation we encountered, everyone greeted us with a smile and a warm greeting. The children were excited to receive the candies we had stashed in our pockets and also the coloring papers as well. I have noticed that the reception we have received here in Davao is like no other. Everyone is polite, welcoming, and eager to say hello. It has been a life changing experience for me and I am excited to share it with everyone back home. Tomorrow will be very difficult in saying goodbye not only to our friends at Family Circus but also to our friends with The Convoy of Hope. We all share a very special bond that can never be broken.

Thank you all for praying for us and our journey and I ask that you continue to pray for the COH team as they will remain here in service for another five weeks. In closing I also ask that you include the children of Davao City in your daily prayers. The need is great here.

Major progress on the hole for the fish pond.

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