A STORY THAT NEEDS TO BE TOLD

Official Prayer letter for Jan. 2010—Christine Lindsay--God’s roaming reporter to India.

Well, I’m off. Flew out yesterday the 16th from Vancouver. Won’t be home until the 28th. A fast trip certainly, but one I pray will enable me to capture the story of the Indian pastors and the children of Tamil Nadu. I’m humbled to be given such a joyful task.

Here is the itinerary for the first week:

Saturday January 16 Fly out of Vancouver Airport 1:50 pm
Sunday January 17 Short stopover in Hong Kong
Monday Jan 18 Arrive in Chennai at 1:35 am (early morning)
Train/Chennai to Trichy. Leaves at 12:30, arrives 6:00 pm
Check into hotel
Tuesday Jan 19 Pastors meeting, tour Trichy, temple, Camp Follow Up
Wednesday Jan 20 shopping , sightseeing river dam and various churches and
Follow up program in Budalur

Thursday Jan 21 Tanjore Pastors meeting, Big temple sightseeing,
travel to Thiruvarur

Friday Jan 22 Thiruvarur Pastors mtg, Travel to east coast
Saturday Jan 23 East Coast and drive back to Kumbakonam

I’M PRAISING GOD FOR:

Allowing me to get sick 1 whole week before flying. This way I had a good dose of antibiotics, stopping the respiratory and ear infection before it really got going. So I’m good. All the preparations are done. I’m ready. Like Baloo the bear said in Disney’s Jungle Book, “I'm gone, man, solid gone!!!” I’m pretty sure that phrase is not in Kipling’s novel of Indian folklore.

Again I say ‘thank you’ to those who are praying and encouraging me, for all those helps like—sewing cotton skirts, to sending financial support, to shopping for me. You break my heart with joy.

I want to briefly leave you with a story about the youth in India that inspired me. In spring of 2007 Pastor Antony felt the Lord wanted him to challenge the youth at a large rally. (I’ll be seeing such rallies while I’m in India.) Keep in mind the youth in India can be someone in their teens up to an unmarried 30-year-old. Antony asked them to think of 3 souls who did not know Jesus Christ as Saviour. He inspired them to see these friends saved and baptized by Christmas. Each young person wrote down on a piece of paper who they would lead to the Lord, and gave that paper to their individual pastors . . . By October and November over 5000 people were baptised. Half of those were baptised in the local churches, the other half in various swimming pools, tanks, and rivers by the local pastors. I was told that it was not unusual during those months to see 2 or 3 pastors baptising people in the same river at the same time.

Amazing numbers . . . but then . . . 8 million babies are born in India each year. There's so much more work to do for their youth . . . and ours.



AND HERE ARE MY PRAYER REQUESTS:

That love and friendship blossom between the people of India and our visiting team.

That the Holy Spirit be my interpreter, enabling me to understand the interviewees, and that the stories the Lord wants in this book be conveyed to me.

That our team remains well and safe travelling. The traffic and trains in India are scary.

That I ‘see’ no snakes. I have a significant snake phobia.

And most of all, that I encounter the Lord through all of this, and remain close to Him—that He change me to be the servant He wants me to be.

I'm reading the biography of Amy Carmichael on my travels to India. Like me, Amy was born in Northern Ireland. Between the years 1895 and 1951 she served as a missionary to the south of India (many of the same places I'll be visiting).

"If any man’s work abide?
I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. The blinding flash had come and gone; the ordinary was all about us. We went on. I said nothing . . . but knew something had happened that had changed life’s values. Nothing could ever matter again but the things that were eternal."--Amy Carmicheal



If you would like to support me financially for the following six months to complete the task of writing this book, you may send the funds to:
Children's Camps International,
300 - 571 Main Street,
Winkler, Manitoba R6W 1G3 CANADA
They will send you an official charitable tax receipt if you make the cheque payable to Children’s Camps International. Just slip a little note into the envelope to say that the funds are designated for Christine Schmidtke.