last pics

Monte, Bob and Gary with Pastor Sam Stephens whose father started IGL

Hospital built on the IGL campus is one of 18 throughout India that has a ward for cancer patients.

How can you resist?!

Monte made a great charge to the SriLankan pastors and had everyone humble themselves before the Lord

More pics

A woman with leprosy filled with joy (and some food!)

The school on the IGL base which enrolls over 400 children.

Pastor George and wife who pastors the village Rolling Hills is adopting

A view of the stage from which US pastors taught over 1500 Indian pastors

Some Indian friends we met

Some Pics

Some of the boys praising the Lord at a church service we attended

Gary with children using some of the puppets made at Rolling Hills

Monte greeting students at the IGL base

The three "amigos" with people from the village

Construction of a nursing school at IGL base - everything for the construction is made on the base

My Final Thoughts

As Monte is working on a posting, I am going to share some overall things that have impacted me these last two weeks. When I get back, I will go through and put some pictures up so you can at least see some of what we have talked about. These will be random thoughts and not tons of detail - but hopefully will give you a taste of what is jumbling around in my soul.

* The power of the persecuted church: The pastors here know God at a whole different level. They are forced to depend - to cry out- on God. We talk about "Abide to Abound;" they live it!
* 80% of the Christian resources are found in the United States yet 80% of the children live outside the US - what's up with that?! They are so grateful to get a cd of the songs and are so grateful. We (yes I realize I will fall into this category!) go to conferences and buy tons of materials to learn more yet our churches are stagnant or declining and theirs are booming. (See Monte's blog today)
* Puppets are universal. Thank God for planting this in me when I was a little boy.
* The Body of Christ is global. They need us, but we equally need them. Monte and I have learned tons from these people about living for and serving Jesus. Americans don't have all the answers.
* "How can I serve?" putting these glasses on, continually seeking the Lord as to who and how I should serve those He would serve. Also means I need to have that quiet time with Him to hear His still small voice.
* "I deserve nothing" - everything is a gift from God and I need to be thankful. Got tested big time on this very thing while I have been here. Boy was it hard, but when I said thanks to the Lord - a tremendous peace came over me. Can't wait for more times like this!! :o)
* I am only as useful for the Kingdom as I am willing to serve God where, how and when He asks. I need to be where He wants me to be. Be still before Him so I can move out boldly from Him.
* Seek to serve a life of no regrets.
* Some verses I read this week that were significant:
- I Cor 9:26: run straight to the goal with purpose in every step. (WOW!)
- I Cor 9:? : find common ground with people to reach them for Christ. (You
need to live life with them)
- Psalm 138:8: The Lord will work out His plans for my life for your unfailing
love, O Lord, endures forever. (Not I will work out His plans,
or the Lord working out my plans. Also, endure means hardships
are inevitable or His love will endure because of my stupidity
at times!)

Thank you so much for your prayers over these last two weeks and prior. God has been faithful to us all and specifically giving me some next steps in what He has called me to. That's what I asked for - just the next step - not sure if I am ready to know the whole thing yet!! :o) Besides, I would probably try to do it myself and then say it was Him - how silly is that?!

ps: Since Monte has mentioned this, I might as well too. Montezuma has been my friend all week and I am ready to leave him behind - if you know what I mean!

One more from the road - Monte

United States - here we come!

After a good nights rest tonight (hopefully!) we'll be headed for home first thing tomorrow. Please pray for our connections and for the quick passing of time during our long layovers!

The Pastor's conference finished strong here today, what a wonderful sight to see these Pastor's, so appreciate for this opportunity, enthusiastically taking hold of the vision to Arise, and go forth.

At dinner tonight we had a great chance to visit with three of the IGL
Pastor's who were responsible for coordinating the conference in Salem
India, and came to help out at this conference as well. I had an
inspiring conversation with Pastor John (I could not even begin to
attempt to write his last name, much less pronounce it). Pastor John
was called to full time ministry 31 years ago. He felt God calling him
to leave his home and go to a very remote area nearly 400 miles away.
So John went, no money, no contacts, no church planting strategy or
plan, just faith that God was sending him. When he arrived at the
village, he told me he immediately had four strikes against him. He was
an outsider, he was a bachelor, he did not have a salary, and he was a
Christian. As a result, he could not rent a room and slept under trees
and in barns for 8 1/2 months! He prayed each night for the village and
for God to open doors for him. Finally one day he was passing out
Christian literature door to door and came to a house where a woman
answered the door. After handing her the literature, she said to him,
"Praise the Lord for you Pastor". He told me he almost fell over. He
then learned that she had recently become a believer at the school she
was attending and had been praying that God would send someone to help
her grow in her faith. This woman and her husband (who Pastor John led
to the Lord) offered him a place to stay and became the first official
members of his church!

Pastor John went on to tell me that a bit has changed over the years. He said that the first 10 years of his ministry were the "persecution" years. He was beaten, thrown in jail and run out of many villages over and over again. He told me the next 10 years were his "sowing" years. Circumstances began to improve, but there was not an abundance of fruit - yet! He went on to say that the last 10 years have been his "harvest" years of ministry as God has
opened many hearts to the Good News of Jesus Christ. Presently, John's
church has over 3000 people, and he believes the Lord is asking him to
plan for over 10,000. In addition, Pastor John has planted so far 473
churches all across Southern and Central India. He is now raising up
Pastor's and training them to go to the Northern part of the country
where people are most hostile to the Gospel. At this point he looked at
me solemnly and said, "They tell me they will go there to die if that
is what is required, I believe their commitment". And to think, John is
but one of the thousands of Pastor's working withIGL all across India and Sri Lanka. As I said before, we were asked to come to teach, but we have learned so much more than we ever could give.

Needless to say, I didn't end up eating much of my dinner. After praying
together, we said goodbye to our new friends. They wanted us to please
ask all of you to pray for them and the ministry God has given them.
With wide eyed sincerity, they told us they would pray for us, our
ministry and our families as well. Something tells me, that's a promise
that can be taken to the bank!

As I sign off for the last time, please let me say again how appreciative I am for your prayers and all of your support. There were times on this trip, like most every
missions trip, that we literally felt the prayers of loved ones all
over the world for us. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

But don't stop yet! We've got miles to go before we are home. Continue to
pray for Gary as his system is still in distress. Pray especially for
his body to cooperate during our long travels. Pray also for us as we
arrive home and begin to synthesize our experiences and as we come
before the Lord asking what He would have us do with these experiences.

I leave you with this final experience. At the end of the conference
today, a woman came up to me to thank me for my teaching and told me
that she had been praying for me and my family during the whole
conference. After shaking her hand and thanking her it dawned on me
once again, we don't even think or pray in the ways the believers here
think. We don't begin to rely on God the way I've witnessed these past
weeks. I plan to make some changes - how about you?

Thanks for coming along for the adventure, see you all state side!

Gratefully His,

Monte

Ministry Island Style!

Hello again from Sri Lanka!

Sorry for not posting more over the past couple of days, we've had an incident take place that redirected some of our time - Gary's health!

Please continue to pray for him as he continues to battle whatever it is that has grabbed his system. Thankfully, some of the effects have subsided, but he began a whole new medicine today. Hopefully this will do the trick as it really helped a couple of others in our group.

As we noted in our last post, life is very different here than in India. The pace is more relaxed, the environment not nearly as dire and there are many more traces of the West here as well. Some of us actually had a hamburger for lunch yesterday, complete with French fries!

We are currently in full swing of the Pastor's conference and are enjoying the experience of worshiping with over 300 sold out servants of the Lord. Due to the continued civil unrest here in Sri Lanka, many of the Pastor's had to go through up to 7 separate checkpoint to get to the conference. The main thrust of the unrest is due to the increasing number and influence of the Tamil people (Tamils were brought to Sri Lanka from Southern India during the British rule a couple of hundred years ago). The Sri Lankan government passed a motion which denied Tamils any kind of work for the government. Apparently this was to curtail the Tamils influence. The government also asked that the Tamils go back to India. In protest, the Tamils began to rise up, and now the more militant arm of the movement is called the "Tamil Tigers". According to some of the Pastor's here, the issue now is one of revenge. Each time one side retaliates, the other side begins planning its revenge. At this time no peace is in sight. I must admit, it is a bit intimidating when you arrive at the airport and see guards with machine guns patrolling, and then see bunkers with guards and heavy artillery lining some of the streets around the airport.

One of the heavy casualties here is tourism. Before the tsunami and the beginning of the civil unrest, this beautiful island attracted 3-4 million tourists a year. We were told that all of last year netted only 54,000 tourists! The beaches and resorts are empty here. Its a great deal if you don't mind the long trip over (and machine guns!).

Fortunately, the fighting has not caused major setbacks in the work of the ministry here. Even though the Pastor's were subject to the checkpoints, as Pastor's they received special treatment. It is a great picture of the body of Christ to see the Tamil and Sri Lankan native Pastor's here together, loving one another!

I would appreciate any and all prayers for my teaching tomorrow. I've really wrestled over the last couple of days with what to share. I felt that what I taught last week was not for this group. And after seeing the incredible work of ministry here, I kept asking God to show me what it is He wanted me to say. Part of the problem is that we are looked on as such experts, but as we see what they are doing for the Kingdom of God, we walk away as the ones who have much to learn. But I've settled in on my topic and will actually be warning the Pastor's about not losing their first love (Rev. 3), in all that they are doing in ministry as well as heading the Apostle Paul's words of wisdom in 2 Tim 4:1-5. Pray also for my succinctness of speech as here we work with double translators, one for the Tamils and one for those who speak the native Sri Lankan tongue.

The one visit I made this week to see the ministry in action (poor Gary could not venture out) was a travel a couple hours North to IGL's Mission Base. Yet another impressive sight. This base is still under construction (they build as they have funds available to do so). Currently they have children's cottages, and are building a conference center/dinning hall. One interesting note, as we were leaving the base to return to the hotel we saw a major construction project right next to the Mission Base. We asked one of the IGL Pastors traveling with us what they were building. He told us it will be a Muslim base much like IGL's. He went on to tell us that whatever IGL does, the Muslims copy it! He said they have figured out that if they don't they'll lose more and more of their people who after being cared for in the name of Christ, begin to name the name of Christ! It was a mixed emotion moment.

Gary and I plan to do one final post tomorrow as we leave for home early Saturday morning. Pray for our stamina, we have definitely hit that part of the trip where you long for home! Please pray for our travels home as well. As I said, we leave Sri Lanka early Saturday, travel to Mumbai (Bombay India), have an 11 hour lay over, then fly to JFK in New York, then to Atlanta (anther long layover) then home to Portland by 7:30 Sunday night. PDX will never have looked so good!

Oh, before I forget, Gary has been working on his teaching ministry website while he is here, and will have many details relating to his trip back here in March. He plans to have it all up by early next week. Check it out at eachnewgeneration.com.

One final prayer request before I sign off. Gary, Bob and I have been praying and discussing what exactly to do with everything we've experienced here once we return. Please pray for us, that we will have divine guidance!

Well, time to sign off. I need to head back and put on my slacks and tie for the communion and ordination service tonight. As hard as it is to wear a tie in this heat, its nothing when you see these Pastor's who have truly given up all for the call of God on their lives, come forward to be prayed over and ordained as ministers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Some, before receiving the training from IGL, had little or no formalized education. Man is God using the simple things of this world in a powerful way!

Our continued love, prayers and blessings from Sri Lanka!

Monte (for us both!)

Back on line!

We are now in Sri Lanka suffering for the Lord with our hotel on the beaches of the Indian Ocean. But there is another side to this beautiful island. As we were landing, there were tanks and heavy artillary on the runway. There were armed guards around the airport protecting it from the rebels and the warfare going on here. Bu tnow, I am getting ahead of myself.

Yesterday was a busy last day in India. We went to an IGL church service in the morning and participated in their enthusiastic worship and then our team did the teaching and the prayers. Their taking of the offering brought me back to the story of the widow's mite - these people who have so little giving what they can to the Lord. They are so appreciative of people from the West coming to minister to them - that they matter in the Kingdom of God. What a privilege to be part of that. Back "home" for lunch and then a quick packing of luggage in the van, saying our good-byes to those not going with us. How hard that was - in just a few short days, you become like family. We're then off to a rural church to dedicate their new church building. We were greeted as honored guests and participated in dedicating the building to the Lord for it to be used for His Kingdom purposes in their community. It is amazing to be so far out and yet still have sound systems complete with a wireless mic! Again, the people are so appreciative for the church in the West to be part of the whole Body of Christ - to provide the resources, training and what it takes to come to their church service. When we were done - it was off to the hotel by the airport for our last night in India. But what a final day it was - 9 hours on the bumpy roads of India - experiencing every part of life here. A ride we won't soon forget!

This morning we had a quick 45 minute flight to Sri Lanka and you would think we were in a different world - I guess we are! No animals on the road, no garbage or litter, everyone driving on the right side of the road, washing machines, dryers and tvs being sold in the airport! You gotta love it.

Conference starts tomorrow - pray for the speakers - that they would be inspired by the Lord and not depend on what they taught last week. Pray for these pastors who needs lots of encouragement. As of right now, we don't know what our role is but we both are anticipating that God has something here for us (and not just a time to relax by the pool!)

Hopefully we will be back on tomorrow as we have to go to a cafe to get internet access. We can't tell you how much we appreciate your prayers and support for us!

gary for the two of us
(sorry Bob you had to miss this!)

A Jesus moment today...

Hi all (Monte here)

Today was a moment that could have easily been recorded over 2000 years ago. We came to a spartan building where over a hundred lepers sat on the floor waiting. Some of them brought their small children, even a new born baby. They came for something, we thought food, but as we entered the building and began our ministry for the day we would find there was much more for us to learn and for them to give.

IGL has been caring for lepers in and around the area for more than 20 years now. Sam Stephens Dad (the founder of IGL) began to minister to the lepers at a time when such a thing was unheard of in this culture. Their ministry now spans medical coverage, medications, health care programs, micro economic development (promoting self sufficiency) adequate housing within their own villages and special feeding and assistance programs like the one we participated in today. We are told that leprosy is now 95% contained in India, but that the government has suspended all but a few of the programs benefiting the rest of the inflicted population. Thank God for IGL!

Once the meal was ready to be served, and a prayer of blessing was given, a couple people from our team begin to pass out banana leaves to each person. These leaves which we set directly in front of each person served as their plate. Several of us then began to personally give out portions of rice, salad and some sort of local onion concoction to each person on their banana leaf. For myself, and at least some of the others in our group, the rush of emotions brought tears to our eyes and what felt like grapefruit sized lumps to our throats. But what happened next I was not at all prepared for. As I scooped out each serving of food, and softly prayed that Jesus would use the food to nourish them physically, emotionally and spiritually, my eyes would meet with theirs. And there it happened. The almost unfathomable sparkle of joy and thankfulness came close to seizing my whole body each time. How could this be? In the most despairing conditions I have ever seen, missing limbs, fingers, eyes and more, the sparkle was there each and every time. Oh Lord, I prayed, don't let me ever loose sight of what I am seeing here. How your touch of grace in their lives is ministering to me. The Gospel right then and there jumped right out of the pages of scripture and hit me like a professional boxers right hook! And to think, this is where Jesus was, this is who He came to set free - totally and completely. My friends, I saw that freedom today like never before.

After the feeding (and by the way, if anyone wanted more to eat - they got it! In fact some tucked handfuls of rice in little bags they brought, or pockets or whatever else they had - and it was all OK!) we then distributed bags of rice, a blanket, and 10 rupees (the equivalent of 25 cents) to each person as they left the building. IGL would then begin the task to returning everyone to their village.
At this point, Gary and I decided not to ride back with the rest of the team but to take the short hike together back to the building where we are staying. Just needed a little decompression time. We decided on the walk back we had enough ministry for one day!

Shifting gears, we said goodbye to Bob today. He loaded up in a van this morning and began the trip for home. We leave Sharon Gardens tomorrow after the morning church service and will head South for a church dedication service in the afternoon. We then will fly to Sri Lanka Monday morning. Given our schedule over at least the next two days, we don't expect to have access to the Internet. God willing, we'll try to update early next week once we get settled in Sri Lanka.

We thank you so much for your continued prayers for us. Pray specifically for both Gary and I as we now transition into our second week. We've seen and experienced so much this week, we wonder with anticipation what next week will bring!

Until we are able to join you in cyber-space once again, we send our love from India.

The boys - minus one!

A week in review...

It is hard to believe we left a week ago!

Here are some highlights that have had an impact on us this past week:

First, it is a really long way to get to India (and after being here 5 days we are still wrestling with jet lag).

They sure know how to pray here.

We are all toggling back and forth between being inspired and being convicted.

Every time we think we have a grasp on the span of the ministry taking place here, some new facet is introduced and we are newly amazed.

We witnessed a new form of Indian transportation in the form of an Elephant during rush hour in downtown Salem (a city of 1.2 million).

Cattle always have the right away here, and whether they get it or not, the drivers deserve hazerdous duty pay (getting shotgun is not a problem!)

We are learning more and more that what is taking place here in India through IGL is a model for us to learn from, we have a lot to learn!

They know no limits, and everyday they believe a great big God will show up in a great big way - He always provides.

The people are forced to depend on Him, as they themselves do not have the resources.

We have been so impressed with the overall integration of the ministry, as it is so vast but equally effective.

The believers are persecuted but persevere, and with great joy!

The ministry here is self propigating, self governing and self supporting once it becomes established.

In March IGL will conduct their annual Childrens Leaders Training Conference through out India and Sri Lanka. The leaders attending these will return to their home states to train young adults who will conduct the Childrens Gospel Clubs (this year alone the leaders will train 25,000 club leaders to conduct 7000 Childrens Bible Clubs reaching 500,000 kids. Gary has committed to be part of training the leaders and praying for others to join him (any takers?).

When we met the Pastor of the village (Pastor George) we adopted as a church, the very first thing he asked for was to be prayed for - DAILY!!!

We discovered that Pastor George and the church in the village will be serving as many as 8-10 thousand people scattered through out 15 surrounding villages. We thought the church would be serving the main village only which has around 400 people!

Everything regarding time is referred to "ish". Which seems to be acceptable within a 30 minute time band.

The grounds here at Sharon Gardens (the name of IGL's first Mission Base where we are staying) act as an oasis for the believers in the area as well as a huge testimony to the many non-believing workers here, and the recipients of the ministry (a majority of the children served by IGL here are Hindu).

The local Hindus worship 330 million different gods. We have seen many of these gods on the variety of temples we've seen dotting the countryside.

A few personal challenges/epiphanys:

Gary - God is faithful to provide when you are doing what He has asked you to do! The kids are sure cute around here. A smile is a universal language. God wants our worship more than just our knowledge of Him.

Monte - The simplicity of the Gospel and its power to tranform lives in even the darkest areas of the world. We have so much to learn and such an opportunity to partner with our Brothers and Sisters here - we need them every bit as they need us! The beauty from ashes that God has created in the hearts of the believers, their passion and thier perserverence.

Bob - I learned a lot about the working and power of the Holy Spirit, it is so much more evident to me now. I want to know more about how He wants to work in my life.

God willing we will continue to bring our ramblings before you as our journey continues. However, Bob's time has come to return home. Reluctantly, he leaves tomorrow for home. Gary and Monte will leave for Sri Lanka on Sunday.

Thanks so very much for your continued prayers for us - please keep them coming!

His peace and grace to you all,

The boys

On the Mountain Top

We had another super day in India. We started off with an inspiring and encouraging devotional from John 11 which Monte delivered at the pastor’s conference.

We then boarded the bus for the much anticipated visit to the village Rolling Hills has adopted. This involved a true trip to the mountain top. The village is about 1 1/2 hours up a one lane “hair pin” road above the Sharon campus. The good news is that it is paved with the exception of the last 8 km or so. It was great to have a Jeep! On the way up the mountain there were many monkeys beside the road. The area is largely dedicated to coffee plantations and pepper – the harvesting of which provides employment. Land is owned by absentee landlords. It is beautiful and once you get to the village, it is refreshingly cooler than the valley below. There are several tourist hotels on the way up for those that want to beat the heat of summer.

Our adopted village S. Puthur has a population of 425. It is 99.5% Hindu with only 4 baptized believers. It consists of 116 families with a family income of $225 per year. It is rather isolated for them in that it is a 13 km or 8 mile walk to the closest bus stop. The Life Center we will be building will serve a larger network of 15 small villages totaling 8,000 people. The pastor is a 20 year veteran with India Gospel League in church planting.

We were able to see two of the villages. We were greeted warmly in both with the pastor and our guide from Sharon explaining the nature of the difficulty of preaching the gospel in this un-reached area – despite the proximity to Sharon. There is significant economic pressure to conform to the Hindu way of doing things as Hindus own the land and provide the only jobs “in town” despite the rather meager $1 per day wage rate for men and half of that for women; this picking coffee beans – bean by bean - on steep mountainsides all day long. The closest health clinic is also Hindu. Our visits to both villages were centered around the children and Gary did his thing in a wonderful way with the children getting their first exposure to “Jesus Loves the Little Children” and “May the Lord Bless You” in English, puppets and high fives. There were five or six attached to him as we boarded the bus back to Sharon! We did get an inkling of the significance of what a commitment means to this village when Monte prayed over and inaugurated the day care center while we there.

On our return Gary and Monte participated in the ordination of 50 pastors at the conference. It was very humbling for them as they came to grips with what it takes to be a pastor for these barefooted men serving over 30 villages. Puts a lot of things in perspective. Our first communion in India was a great way to end the day – remembering what life is truly about.

We will provide some additional detail on Adopt a Village in a subsequent edition as it is kind of late!

Keep India and us in your prayers. We miss you and have you in ours.
Bob for the boys

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Where do we start for an amazing day? Gary’s session/devotion went very well – at least that’s what everyone said (guess who’s writing tonight?!!). Garrett, you have to come and be the tech guy – the sound goes out at least once in each session! Afterwards, we were whisked away to go to one of the two children’s homes we were to visit today. Gary certainly got his kid fix!

The first one was an hour bus ride from Sharon Gardens. No ordinary bus ride – you know what I mean if you have ever been in a third world country. Your travel gets interrupted by goats and cows on the road, no sense of any lanes and lack of pavement to travel on. The first shelter was dedicated just a year ago and has 65 children living there. Most of the children are orphans, but there are some who have lost a parent or the family is so poor that they have to give up their children just to survive. When you visit a home, the children greet you with streamers and flowers and make you feel really special. We should have a special class at church to train up our children to greet us this way when we come home from work! Getting back on track – the programs usually have songs, dancing, memory verse recital and a skit. At this first home, a young boy – probably about 10 years old gave his testimony of receiving Christ. When he was 4, his dad died of alcoholism, at 8 his mother committed suicide. He came to the home where he eventually accepted his loving Savior. “At last I have found someone who loves me and won’t leave me.” Who knew we needed Kleenex to visit a home! The next child brought on the challenge of all challenges: he recited 32 verses in 2.5 minutes. Amazing! Gary wanted to bring one boy home – I figured he was easily under 50 pounds and could fit in the luggage. Monte said no! Puppets were brought and candy distributed, not to mention the teaching of giving high-5’s to the delight of all the children.

Back “home” for lunch and then off to another home which was the first home founded by Sam Stephen’s grandfather. Besides the special features of the previous program, we had the opportunity to teach the children some songs in English. The kids did great at “May the Lord Bless You” which is an echo song and then there was “Head, Shoulder, Knees, and Toes.” Oh my, did they love that! Back to home base driving through rush hour in Salem. We never want to hear another complaint about rush hour traffic from any of you – nothing compares to this!

One question asked of the team during our travels was: “What has overwhelmed you already?” The responses were many and varied but here is what God is already doing in our hearts:
Monte: Spiritual battle before these people; how the base here at Sharon Gardens is an oasis in the midst of a decaying world.
Bob: the courageous nature of these 1500 pastors that are before us. The environments they are serving the Lord in and what it took for some of them to even get to the conference. One pastor is from Kashmir and it took him 4 days by train!
Gary: What God can do through a man (in this case Sam Stephens) who is willing to surrender his life to further God’s Kingdom.

A big highlight was the closing song for the conference tonight. As they continued to sing the song, you could tell the Holy Spirit was filling each person as the worship kept crescendoing, filling the auditorium with a magnificent sound. Here are the words to the chorus:
King Jesus goes before us
Let us sing Hosanna
Let us move forward quickly
Hosanna, victory is ours.

Pray for Monte as he is giving the devotional in the morning. He has a great word to these pastors who experience hardships, persecution and fatigue. Tomorrow we will be able to report on the village that Rolling Hills is adopting as we travel there later in the day.

We love you all – thanks for your prayers and devotion to us and the work of the Lord!
We’re off to bed.
Bob and Gary

A note from your world traveling friends!

Greetings everyone!

Well we have had quite a day. After receiving a first rate tour of the IGL campus, we were able to see a "Life Center". For those of you who are not familiar with a Life Center, or for that matter IGL, let me explain.

IGL (India Gospel League) is being used of the Lord in a mighty way to take the Good News of Jesus Christ to the outer most parts of India. At the center of their ministry is a passion to reach the unreached of India and Sri Lanka. One of the main avenues for reaching a rural village is to build what IGL calls a "Life Center". A Life Center is designed to become the hub of a village, meeting both spiritual and physical needs at the same time. After the Gospel is taken to a village, and new baptized believers begin to increase, that village qualifies for a Life Center. When a Life Center is built, it serves as a church, a literacy training center, a job training center facility, a day care and brings clean water to the village. As a church, Rolling Hills has committed to partnering with IGL to build a Life Center in a rural village in Southern India. We will be traveling to this village on Wednesday.

A big part of what is taking place during our time here is the semi-annual Pastor's training conference that is taking place here at IGL's Mission Base. Over 1500 Barefoot Pastors (Pastor's who literally walk barefoot from village to village spreading the Good News) have come to be trained, encouraged, and uplifted by each other and the work God has called them to. This evening marked the kick-off of this event and each of us was asked to say a few words to this auditorium full of indigenous Pastors. To say the least, standing in front of all these Godly men, speaking in a language totally foreign to them, is not for the tame of heart! But God is so good, and we felt His presence in us and in the room. The conference will continue on over the next three days. Tomorrow Gary will begin the day by leading the first session. Pray for Gary as he is diligently preparing this evening.

We are all amazed at the work that is being done here. Allow me to share a few recent statistics that may help frame the scope of this ministry:

Churches planted to date: Over 60,000
Life Centers currently operating: 65
Barefoot Pastors: Over 40,000
2010 Church planting faith goal: 100,000 new churches!

Not bad given the political and cultural persectution these Pastor's face on a daily basis!

We so appreciate your prayers for us! We would ask specifically that you pray for us that God would give us His eyes to see what He wishes us to be involved in as a church. As well, that He would help us to discern amidst all the bombardments filling our senses (not to mention still trying to recover from major jet lag!). Pray as well for the teaching sessions. To say the least, the schedule is fluid! Pray that God will speak through Gary in the morning, and through the rest of the speakers this coming week and into next weeks conference which is taking place in Sri Lanka.

Above all, thank you all for your love. We really do see God at work here through IGL, and in our lives and we know your prayers are propelling us.

Until we are able to enter cyber space again, God's peace and grace to you all!

Monte & Bob (and Gary who is preparing)

We made it!

Well, after 28 hours on the plane and 4+ hours in the van, we have finally made it to Salem and Sam Stephen's home. We don't even know what jet lag is as we missed a whole day somewhere. There was a 3 hour delay in New York (yes, that is after the 8 hour layover) which put us out of JFK at 1:30am and so all of Saturday was spent on the plane and we arrived Sunday morning into Mumbai. Got a few hours sleep in a hotel, went for a muggy, sweaty walk around "town" and proceeded back to the airport for a 2 hour plane ride to an airport in the south which we can't spell or pronounce, and then we travelled back up to Salem. Had a great dinner with Sam and family.

Tomorrow we get to visit the campus and see it all in the daylight. Thanks for your love and prayers. We did make it. Hope you have a nice Sunday - ours is over as we are off to bed. (We are 12.5 hours ahead of you - don't ask us where the 1/2 hour came from)

- Monday we will be touring the facilities here at India Gospel League, visit the village, dedicate the new children's cottage here and then have the opening cermonies for the conference
- still some unanswered questions as to who is teaching what. Monte and Gary decided that Bob needed the experience and so he is threatening to go home - but then we posed the question: "Which is worse - speaking in front of 1500 pastors or another 52 hour ride home?!!

Our team cherishes your prayers!

We're Off

The bags are packed, many questions are still left unanswered, yet we are confident that we are right where God wants us - waiting expectantly for Him to do His work IN us so He can be lived out through us. No better place to be. Pray for us that all our senses would be open to truly learn about a people so different than ourselves but loved just as much by our Savior. Pray that our love for our brothers and sisters would grow even deeper as we come to know them better. We also understand what this prayer means, the price that will need to be paid. Undoubtedly we will experience a greater joy, but our hearts will be broken as we embrace more of Christ's heart and be part of the Indians' pain and suffering.

Here is an itinerary, as we know it as of today, for you to follow our travels. We treasure your prayers.

Friday 11/2: Fly to New York and onto Mumbai - arrive Saturday evening
Sunday 11/4: Fly to Coimbatore and drive to Salem
Monday 11/5: visit the village Rolling Hills is adopting; conference begins
Tuesday 11/6: participate in the conference - not sure how yet, but God does!
Wednesday 11/7: visit children's home and Children's Gospel Clubs (Gary gets his kid fix!!)
Thursday 11/8: Visit S. Puthur (Huh?! One of those unanswered questions!)
Friday 11/9: IGL events including a children's program
Saturday 11/10: Children's cottage dedication and leprosy feeding (I can feel the heart breaking already.)
Sunday 11/11: church dedication
Monday 11/12: Fly to Sri Lanka
Tuesday 11/13: Visit Puthalam mission base
Wed - Fri 11/14-16: Participate in conference in Sri Lanka (The Lord I am sure will have been preparing Gary
and Monte on what they will be teaching as we have not been told yet)
Sat 11/17: Begin the journey home as different men experiencing God in a whole new way.

We will update this blog as often as we can. Thank you so much for your prayers and support. We go together with you as the Body of Christ.
Grace!

Prayers for our Trip

Bob Ervin, Monte Schmidt and Gary Strudler are getting ready for a two week trip to serve alongside the India Gospel League (IGL). Unsure of exactly what the Lord has in store, all of us are confident that this will be a life changing trip. Why go at this time? IGL is beginning a month long series of pastors' conferences to enrich and equip thousands of pastors throughout India. We will be in southern India - Salem - and then on to Sri Lanka. The first conference will be very close to a village that Rolling Hills Community Church is adopting. We will have an opportunity to visit the people and the pastor of a small church in this village. Gary hopes to get his "kid-fix" during this time!

Gary is going at this time to meet with the leaders of the childrens' conferences to be held in March 2008. IGL plans on reaching 18,000 - yes that is thousands! - of leaders who will then go back to their home towns and villages with the goal of reaching 500,000 children this year for Jesus Christ! And yes, that is 1/2 million children! Gary will be venturing back in March to be part of some of these trainings.

We ask for your prayers concerning:
- Being prepared spiritually - that our hearts are right before God. That we become more open to the Holy Spirit's leading.
- Openness to be used however God sees fit. Though we do not have specific teaching assignments, we want to serve where
needed.
- Protection for our families while we are gone.
- We make the necessary connections as to our involvement in the village and for Gary's teaching March 2008
- Open to learn the cultural differences and how to minister in their culture, in their way, and not the American way