Thursday, December 1, 2011

Happy Holidays Everyone!


Happy Holidays Everyone!

Between America and India we are working through about 15 different holidays in these last 2 months of the year, so it seems very fitting to say Happy Holidays during the months of Oct and November in India! It has been awhile since we have sent out an email newsletter. We are working on cleaning up our address book and apologize if you receive this more than once. If you can let us know by a simple reply we will correct that in the future. Very soon we will be sending out monthly newsletters to better connect our worlds and lives. If you are interested in receiving one you MUST reply and let us know. We cannot add you without your permission. Hope you want to continue hearing about what God is doing through Crosspoint of India in central India!


Here are a few updates:

We now have over 80 children at Lighthouse Children’s Home. We changed the name of the orphanage this year to better reflect our vision for the lives of these children as well as prepare for the day we move out of our city and onto our land! We do not have a departure day set yet, but you can help us make that possible through your continued support throughout 2012. Our oldest Vikky is in his second year of seminary in south India and our 3 youngest Joel, Sakshi and Prem are just 3 years old! We want to thank our orphan sponsors who make this home possible.

The kids got some early Christmas gifts!- playground equipment...

and sweaters for the coming winter!


We are over half-way through the 12th year of Bible School. We continue to lack space for this area of ministry, but continue on because it is the heartbeat of everything we do. Graduation will be March 10, 2012. Will you pray about coming and sending off these students with your prayers and encouragement?
We are becoming a lot more seasoned to construction at this point. In 2011 we built a new building just next to our blue boys dorm (that was completed in 2007). We dedicated and opened our Head Office on 11-11-11! Once we make that final move the ministry will no longer rent any facilities! This really is amazing since 3 years ago we rented 5 different buildings. Our family is next! Prepare to hear about our personal home construction coming in 2012 as well.
The ministry campus has made progress this year. We are ready to put in a septic system and begin building some children’s homes! Your continued support for this area of our ministry is a great need. We appreciate all those who have given generously to the future home of our orphanage. God is working and we are moving forward!
Our church continues to grow. This year we have really encouraged our believers to take on the task of sharing the good news. They have given out over 100,000 tracts this year! We are thankful for their zeal and passion.

The Titus Women group has grown to over 70 members, with over 120 women passing through our group in 2011! This has been an amazing amount of growth. Each of the women are learning the word and worshiping with us weekly. It is exciting to see the potential through this group of women. Thank you for your purchase of the Titus Women merchandise. It has been a huge blessing this year!

Let’s finish out this year well! We are in need of your support to complete a few unfinished projects as well as close out accounts for the year. Please pray (but not for too long!) and consider giving a tax-deductible donation before the end of the year.

Ways you can help:

·         Head Office interior construction- $5000
We are making inner interiors and will be purchasing desks and furniture. This is a great need. We have not had a proper office in years and this keep us from hiring the staff we need and being able to send out updates, etc.( Thank you for your patience in this area!)

·         Back up Battery Invertors for the children’s dorms $1500 each. We need 2.

·         5 new Computers for the office and a network system, printer, etc. $10,000

·         Christmas Celebration Outreach $2,000
We will be feeding over 500 people Christmas day lunch as well as putting on a Christmas Program and renting vehicles and caroling for 3 days!


Your undesignated donation will be used wherever it is needed the most. Thank you for your continued support for the past 12 years !  

We love and appreciate each one of you! We are so thankful for the opportunity to serve on behalf of you in India!





Tuesday, September 27, 2011

This week I was looking back through some old pictures and thought you would be just as facinated as I was to see how much our kids have grown.

Mangesh came to the orphanage in 2003.

He has been with us 8 years and is now 17 years old!

Mangesh is one of our older boys and has learned to play the guitar and is responsible for evening devotions in the dorm. He also plays for our Sunday morning service.

His brother Manish is also at the home. He is 16.


He has also grown a lot through the years- and is pretty trendy as well!

Ritik came when he was just 3.


Today he is 9!


We care for these children long term. They have a home now, and a Father! Thanks for your support for each and every one!



Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Written by July visitor: Lorah Young


"At the end of life we will not be judged by how many diplomas we have received, how much money we have made, how many great things we have done.
We will be judged by "I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat, I was naked and you clothed me. I was homeless, and you took me in."
— Mother Teresa

Friends, If you knew all the stories behind each child’s face you would be so in awe of God’s amazing love and provision for each precious child’s life. They have had to overcome things that no one could imagine at such very young ages. Begging for food on the streets, searching for shelter and food on the railroad tracks, and being put into child prostitution. They have lost parents, grandparents, been abandoned, watched people set on fire, lived on the streets by themselves-- basically seen things that I can't even imagine. But I know why those things happen. We live in a world controlled by sin. It is broken. People suffer. Innocent children suffer. What blows my mind is that despite everything these children have been through, they can smile. They can laugh. They can love. They can worship. Every time you see them smile, laugh, love and worship with all their hearts you see a miracle first hand.
We are so blessed and have so much to be thankful for. We have not had to search through trash to survive. We have not had to sleep with rats on the train tracks hoping to get food from the train. We have not had to beg on the streets for food. We have been so blessed and we are blessed to be a blessing.

I have heard stories of India for years now through my friends R & A who live there, and even my Pastor and his wife have both gone and shared even more. I thought I was prepared and had a good understanding of what I was going into…yet I was so wrong. No amount of stories or pictures could have prepared me. When you are talking about a country that is much smaller than ours yet has 1.8 Billion people which over 80% are Hindu and only around 2% are with HOPE, you have just stepped foot on a very dark nation…and very hopeless nation. Every face outside of the organization that I saw was so hopeless. Look at the faces of these children who are living in a village miles outside of Nagpur. Look and see what I see and I saw over and over..Hopelessness.



I would be overwhelmed at thinking of ways to reach the people of India ..Yet God has given A & R clear vision and direction on what they are to do. They have vision to take in 1,000 orphans. They have vision to keep putting out into the nation of India workers each year equipped to win souls and plant c's. Out of the over 28 million orphans in the country- and that number is growing daily- just housing a 1,000 seems like a small number but I have seen that first hand that is much bigger and way more significant than you may think.
Thank you for investing into the kingdom with your giving. While I was there I was able to share with the orphans and the women’s group. I was able to a part of the dedication of the new building; the college guys dorm, offices and a large meeting hall.

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Update, Summer 2011

Hi friends, this is a guest post to update you on all that has been going on. The Pawar’s returned from a visit to the US at the beginning of this month. They enjoyed a few months spent visiting friends and family, but are now settled back into life here and ready to get back to work. 3 of R’s friends returned from the states with them to help them get settled back in and I’m here till the end of the month.

Here are a few of the things that happened this summer:

The girls moved into their new home near the boys’ hostel. They now have much more room for everyone and 6 bathrooms! Before all the girls shared 1!


All the girls in front of their new home.


About 10 new children joined LCH over the summer and all the kids are back in school now. They have started at a new school in the city, which they are very excited about. The school bus comes all the way to the hostels to take them to school every morning.


We dedicated the new meeting hall next to the boys’ hostel last week. Construction is nearly complete, except for a few finishing touches, and will be ready for the Training Center students to come at the end of the month. This building will house the offices, Training school men and a larger meeting hall for the church. On my first trip to India, this building was just in the beginning, the first floor was barely complete, so it is very exciting for me to be able to be here to see it completed.


Construction on the land is continuing. The wall is nearly complete all around the property. Workers have been leveling the land and the next step will be planning the sewage lines and beginning construction on that. Pray for provision so that construction can continue!


This ground has been leveled and the wall completed.

Electricity is at the gate. Just waiting for the funds to bring it the rest of the way onto the land.


That is all for now!! ~L

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Graduation

Promised Pictures...

Friends, I am unable to share too many details about these exciting times, but I did want to share some pictures.
Our 11th batch of 30 students graduated on March 5th. Total we have sent out 205 in the past 11 years. He has been good to us!



Students leave on the bikes there were given as a graduation gift. This is a tool for them as they go. As you can tell they can carry plenty on a bike and move from village to village faster then by foot!
Sending out with prayers

Lighthouse Children's Home prepared a drama to the sing "Burn Us Up" (Shane & Shane) These are the 3 who would not bow and Ritesh (the king) sends them to the fire...


Bicycles and books given as graduation gifts.
We would like to thank Oak Leaf International for giving to make these gifts possible. During the last week before graduation they have given to make these gifts possible this year. Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Thank you friends.



This is a very good feeling :)





Friday, February 11, 2011

Details, what details?

Oh Friends,
How I wish I could share with you all that is going on! There are so many things about to happen, but not quite yet. I do want to share a short update about the girl's dorm

We have purchased and now own the girls home. We have been unable to buy the neighboring plot of land next door as we were hoping. It is not impossible, but is going to have to be a God thing. We ask you that would pray with us that God will make a way for us to buy the emtpty plot of land. It will be a play area for the girls and we hope to build extra bathrooms in the space.
Presently, we are delayed in moving in the girls because electricity has not yet arrived. These things take forever here. I am still learning this. How long can it take to run 50 feet of electric line in a developing neighborhood....a very long time.
In the mean time we are taking the time to make all the renovations we want to on the home before the girls move in. We have laid stone on the floors this past month and presently they are polishing them! They will look so good by the time they move in. We also built an additional 6 bathrooms for them and added a porch, closed a few extra doorways that were not needed, etc. I know these pictures do not explain much, but for those interested...

There is 6 rooms total in the house

bathrooms in the back
The view of the house


The plot holding all the stone in this pictures is the one we are praying to purchase. Please be praying about this with us. Thank you!

Other things you will hear about soon...
  • purchase of a tractor to level the ministry center land
  • the office/ church/ boys dorm building completion
  • Nagpur Training Center's 11th graduation program
  • Orphan girls home change
  • A&R's visit to the US
  • A home for the Pawar's

God is doing lot's of things! Thanks for being such a great part of the work here. God bless you!!!

RJP








Thursday, February 10, 2011

More TW pictures

The last post would not allow me to add any more pictures, so here are a few more. Read on for all the details!
Indian colored keychains
The quilt design that we will eventually raffle

painting paper beads during a class demo
fabric colored headbands

teaching about waiting on God and not giving up on our dreams. Ironic.

Women and more women

Titus Women Update

This past week we had a wonderdul women's meeting at our fellowship. Over 60 women attended, most of whom are regular's at our Titus Women meetings. It was a great time of fellowship, worship, teaching, crafting and eating! We even got them to run a bit and play some games! Our main teaching was some quiliting that we are beginning. The women are creating a quilt that we will be raffling off by the end of the year. We learned many other things as well!

Here are a few shots of the 2 days of fun!


flower printed journals

ready to teach a crafting session

We had 2 crafting circles going on at a time! One was inside and one was outside!

The day after the retreat ended 2 women came to my house and shared some answered prayers. One said she returned home to her husband waiting for her. He said he had received an increase in his salary. This had not happened in 3 years and was an answer to her prayers!
The other shared that her husband (who we had been praying for since his motorcycle accident in December) had walked for the first time that night when she got home.
What awesome ways that God showed his power to these women AND so quickly. We are thankful for the oppurtunity to not only inspire and encourage them, but pray and sow seeds into thier lives. What a great group of women. I am so proud to lead them.
RJP