2011, here we come!

2011 here we come!


2010 has been a very difficult year for me. As 2011 approaches I began to wonder if we accomplished anything this year. It seems we take more steps backwards then forwards at time. I know this will surprise many of you who feel taking care of 72 kids 365 days a year is a large enough task in itself. To me, I think about the vision more; all that is to come, all the kids who are not here yet, the ones we are not able to take in, the space we do not have. I know I should count my blessing, but this is my real, honest struggle. The God comes along and blows all my doubt right out of the water. So what did you do this year God?

He answered the prayers we had been praying for years...

Since 2006 we have been praying for electricity on our land. In 2010 God answered that prayer. We need about $20,000 for the poles we bought to bring it in. God is listening!

Here are a few of the many poles it took to bring it to our land.

We were able to watch as the workers strung up the wire.

You can bet we bowed our heads and thanked God for answering this prayer.

This same day we are able to see some of the final slabs of cement being poured in the wall. The last section had a border dispute for the past few years. It was cleared in December and the wall is now 99% done. Praise God.

This is a view of the final portion of the wall.

I am so blessed that God chose to show off the end of this year. I now look back and see ALL that He has done and how he was working so much sooner that I was aware of all along. I am blessed to see the progress with my own eyes and be amazed again at how large this vision is, how much faith is required to walk in daily, and how God is our God.

Happy New Year Friends. I hope you have been amazed by our God this year! He is amazing!

RJP

* one of the first things we get to do in 2011 is purchase a tractor to level the land. That is after we move our girls into their new home... we also hope to jump stateside for a little while :)

Update Finally!

Finally I am getting around to an update about the girls home! I am always cautious to post details when I know very few myself! I end up sharing more of what I think will happen then what actually will. Thanks for your patience!

God provided the funding for the entire girls home within 2 weeks of us sharing this need. Actually, we have had enough funds to purchase the neighboring plot of land as well. For now it will remain empty and will be a play area for the girls. It gives us much more freedom with our construction however, knowing we are not tied down to a certain square footage on all side.

The home we have purchased is in the same neighborhood as our boys. You cannot throw a rock, but that is a good thing :)

We are in the process of completing the building construction, adding a larger sewer tank, applying for electricity, digging a well, complete the railing on the top floor, building a compound wall and lastly- painting! This (of course!) is taking longer than planned, but we knew that! We hope to move the girls during the month of January.

Here is a picture of the girls home

Thanks friends for making this possible. The Lord has answered 31 girls prayers from the last 4 years and they are very excited about thier new home!

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!

And the good news is....!!!!

If you have not read the post below, please do so.

Before I even had a chance to post about this urgent and great need, God was already working. In the past month we have received the funding for the girls house! Praise God. For 2011 they will have a new, private home! This is a huge answer to prayer. Thank you friends for your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. We appreciate your generosity.
The home we are purchasing is built, but will need some work done before we can move the girls in. We need additional bathrooms, a compound wall, railing on the roof, and a few more minor things. PLEASE be praying that we will be able to complete it by Dec. 31, when we are suppose to be out of the other house!
Thanks friends! You amaze me with your generosity and strengthen my faith. I look forward to seeing many of you in 2011 so we can share personally about all of this!

We have needs...

God is doing some new things through Crosspoint of India! Although we are very excited about what God is doing, we are also overwhelmed! We are truly seeking him as we step out on faith. We want to take this opportunity to update you on some of the changes. Everyone who has visited our ministry in the past few years knows how congested all of our facilities are. Presently we house over 70 orphans in less than 3000 square feet. Of course, this is no longer working. We MUST make some changes.
We have 24 acres of land located out of the city. We refer to this as the “future campus” of our ministry. It is taking much longer than expected to raise the funding to prepare the home of our ministry and orphanage. We must make some changes as we wait for God’s provision for the campus.
The latest difficulty that we have been working through is that our girls are being evicted from their home in December. This has not come as a surprise, because there are way too many girls in the home (over 30 in 1500 square feet!). We are drawing close to that day though and have only one option- buy a home for the girls.
If you are like us, you may be very frustrated to hear we are purchasing/building another facility that is not on our land. We feel we must stabilize what we have now before we can consider any more growth.
We have found a home that is located about 2 blocks from the boys dorm. It will be sufficient as a home for our girls. It will require some minor repairs and electricity, but is possible to have ready by December.

Some of the good news is:
1. It is located near the boys so we will be able to maintain and staff one kitchen for all the children.
2. All the kids could possibly be in one or two schools next year instead of 4 like the present situation.
3. We would no longer have to transport the girls back and forth for church and prayer times. They could walk! This would free up 2 jeeps and drivers!
4. They have an entire field in front of their house that is an open area to play in. Presently, they have a very small rocky area.

We are hoping to make a down payment on this house THIS week (Oct. 6th). The total cost of the home is $25,000. We need all the money before the end of November. Can you help?

10 ways you can help!

10 ways you can help!

Pray! You can always pray for good health of the children, for hearts to be open, finances, for the staff and on and on…we can never have too much prayer!

Give! If you would like to give towards any specific area of the ministry we always have needs.

Volunteer! We can always use volunteers to assist with construction, help with VBS, teach in our women’s ministry, lead Sunday school, etc.

Sponsor an orphan! Invest in the children, one life at a time. Please contact us by email for more about sponsoring a child.

Sponsor a Bible Student! Put a village leader through school. This is one investment that will have incredible benefits for the Kingdom!

Use your talents! Can you sew, crochet, play the guitar, teach, preach, speak English, share stories, teach crafts, clean, pray? We could use you!

Encourage! Life is tough. Send a letter of encouragement- or some scripture. It gets us through some difficult seasons. Please feel free to do the same for the staff, students or kids as well.

Throw a party! A Titus Women party! Who does not like handmade things from India? Gather some friends and help us raise funds for the ministry by selling our great stuff!

Fundraise! Help us raise funds for our minstry by selling T-shirts, having a bake sale, carwash, whatever you think! We have a lot of need for the campus, help us get out there.

Donate Miles! We have Frequent Flyer Miles with Northwest/ Delta! Donate miles and help us cut travel costs!

Thanks friends for helping us make a difference in India!

Lots going on...here are some of the highlights!

A's dad, B.B. had a good visit to the US. 2 weeks of relaxing was good for him. He attended a revival at my mom's church as well as saw all the scenic stuff, which in my town means he did a lot of hiking. Thanks to my Mom and Dad for hosting him and showing off our wonderful western NC!

We took in 7 new kids this summer. Desperate situations. The orphanage is now up to 72. The Bible School girls will move out of the girls dorm this week into another rented facility...we NEED to move on our land! The orphan girls dorm may also be making a move this year. We do not have any idea where, but are praying for a location- and funding...

Bible School started this week and we have a full- house this year already! We have a teacher joining us from the US . They will be joining us from KY in October. Please be praying for this class as they start out. Praying they all finish!

The building on the neighboring plot next to our boys hostel has all 3 roofs on all 3 floors, now we just need to do the sides. This will be used for office space, classroom and staff quarters as soon as it is done. You can see recent pictures on facebook. Thank you for continuous construction funds!

The wall around the land is 3/4 of the way done. We hope to complete the top large square within the next 2 months. It will be complete with gates and roads in. The strip heading down to the main road has a few gaps for now. (there is a map located in our website under this link: http://www.crosspointofindia.org/news_article-1401/ ) We will be completing it as we confirm boundary lines and a water way dispute. What we need done it almost complete. Thanks for your prayers and generous support!

RJP

Send the Light...the gospel light

March 13th was our 10th Graduation and Dedication Ceremony for Nagpur Training Center! What an amazing service we had.

The ceremony began with the students marching in to the words of "To God be the Glory." We use this phrase often , because the ministry has really grown to be so much more than WE could have done. God has been and is in it! We look forward to what HE is going to do through us in the next 10 years.Nikki Clifton, who was a volunteer teacher this year, read a portion of scripture as a challange for the students. We will be living with us for a total of 6 months before she returns to the US in April. We praise God for her willing and flexible heart. She has been a joy to have serve with us.

The younest girls of the orphanage did a skit to "Seed to Sow" for the graduates. The older children did a powerful drama to "Arise, My Love" for Easter. ALL the children sang "For the Children of the World" as they marched in carrying thier Home flag, with Nagpur Children's Home written on it. They all did such an amazing job that they were invited to do all 3 for a large youth meeting in the city in April! Praise God!
Pastor Ken Pruitt from TX brought the challenging message to the students. It was powerful as each one stood up to accept the challenge to take the light into the darkness- no matter what the cost. We praise God for our 179 who have been taught and sent into the harvest field.

The year is over, the ceremony done, and Sunday afternoon we said goodbye to all our graduates as they left with suitcases in hand, and packed their sewing machines into auto rickshaws. The boys rode their bicycles miles to the train station- with a smile on their face the entire time.
Please pray for these young people as God lays them on your heart. We sent out 17 this year. They left with a fire in their hearts and I can almost be sure before their trains, buses and jeeps even reached their villages- they were sharing the gospel…now before I cry, let me post this.

Thanks to our Student Sponsors who help make this possible. You are their hero’s, and ours to.

RJP

2010 VBS Idea!

Does your church do a Vacation Bible School? Do you take up an offering for mission? Looking for for a mission to give to to make a difference? We have a project!
We have been raising funding for a home for our children for several years now. We have had many churches give their VBS offerings regularly for several years now- and we appreciate it!
This year we are asking ALL churches who take up an offering in VBS to consider helping with this need.

2010 VBS Goal

We are raising funds for 1 orphan cottage - $40,000. This home will house 25 children and house parents.

Please consider how you can help! Together we can do this!

For more information you can email me at: rachelpawar@crosspointofindia.org

February 2010

I admit, I do not use technology to the fullest. I have friends who blog about family and friends and what God is teaching them. It is not high on my list of to-do’s, but I do need to do better at updating through this way! Is it to late to set a New Year’s resolution? I am just in time in India, where everything is extremely late!

I will keep this short and sweet!

Our church grew by 4 members this December! A growing church is a good sign they say- and we had 4 babies born in our church in December alone! All of them were born to young women who have been through our Bible School, several of them married young men from the school! Vilesh and Anita are both our graduates. Vilesh still works on staff with us. They had a daughter the first week of December and asked Amol and I to name her. We named her Sarah! Last Sunday ALL 4 babies were dedicated to God- PTL!

Construction is coming along. We are about ¾ done with the wall and hope to complete it by summer. After that we will need to level the land. This will cost thousands of Dollars. We would prefer to buy a tractor and are asking for God to provide for that urgent need right now. Please help pray with us and give if you are able. After the land is leveled, we will use it for crops and for a lot more construction to come.

Nagpur Training Center is about ready to send out our 10th batch of students! On March 13th we will have our 10th graduation. We have 19 students graduating. Please pray for them as we take them a step further in laying their vision and making plans as they head out for ministry. Pray for their safety. (14 Pastors were killed in Orissa, India just last week!)

Nagpur Children’s Home is doing well. We have stopped growing for a little while. We are trying to care better for those we have instead of adding right now. Honestly, we are way over-crowded in our dorms. We will not be able to take in more children until we can expand to our land. The children had a wonderful Christmas. Crossroads Worldwide sent 2 teams over December that brought backpacks, tye-dye T-shirts, pajamas, school supplies, toys and MUCH, much more for the kids. They had another blessed Christmas. This is a group picture taken on Christmas Day.

Amol’s parents are doing well. Mummy has recovered from her accident almost 2 years ago. She does let her cane keep her from doing anything. She is very active in the ministry and has officially retired! PTL! Daddy’s health is well. He will be traveling out of town this month to attend a seminar and will be refreshed a bit with a break from all the ministry.

My (Rachel) parents are visiting. This is their second time to come and see the ministry in Nagpur. They leave tomorrow and we have enjoyed having them here t help with the homeschooling, cooking, shopping and visiting friends and family. They traded lots for snow days for 83 F days! The weather sure is heating up!

Thanks for your prayers and support. 2009 was a great year, God really restored what Satan was attempting to take- mainly joy from us leaders. Your prayers for our growing family is always appreciated. We love you!
A&R
So much for short and sweet- there is so much to say! Medical camps and circus news coming in the next one, as well as our boy who graduated 1st in a class of over 300- wonder who?