First Day of Clinic

Monday morning began with breakfast at pastor Daniel's house...which is always delicious!

The clinic began with a beautiful ceremony from pastor Daniel and Elizabeth. We were each given a neck garland by different members of the church and then Elizabeth led us in song. Sister Sandy was then asked to cut the welcome ribbon to begin the clinic. We were blessed by pastor Daniel and then we were off! 

Since we began a little later, the clinic started out slow (which was good for us rookies). However, it quickly picked up speed and we had a healthy stream of people coming through the line. The people were wonderful and had so much joy when they could finally see! 

I personally had a wonderful time watching one of our translators, George, be silly with his wife while she was getting fitted for her glasses. 

Everyone just seemed to be having so much fun and I loved learning the different words in Punjabi. However, my most favorite part of doing the fitting was a couple of times the people would use their newly acquired bibles to test their new glasses. What a wonderful way to see for the first time! 

The total number of people that received glasses today was 161, with 192 pairs of glasses being given out. Many more came in to have their vision checked, but glasses were not necessary. Still they saw the love of God through our work. One person came to faith and decided to come to pastor Daniel's church because of this clinic! ਪਰਮੇਸ਼ੁਰ ਦੀ ਉਸਤਤਿ ਕੀਤੀ! (Praise God!)

We closed out a wonderful day playing with the local children, watching the sunset and showing the ladies of the house how to tie scarves Sarah style :)

 Sarah Urbahns 

Back to Acts

After two 8 hour flights, 3 continents, 1 Taj Mahal tour, and approximately 17 hours in a bus ( van ), at 8 am our team arrived at our hotel in Dasuyaokk

I. We had enough time (barely) to get to our rooms, shower, change our clothes, get back in the van, and go to church. God is good and has blessed us in so many ways with this trip... from on time flights, to customs and security being cooperative, to having a bus driver able to 'safely' navigate the roads and get us to each destination in one piece.

After meeting the team in the lobby, Pastor Daniel picked us up to take us back to his house for breakfast and fellowship  before  church. Elizabeth, Pastor Daniel's wife, is an absolutely amazing cook!  While we were eating, we could hear the church service going strong right above our heads. We went upstairs to join the service....absolutely amazing! 

When we went in, Wittness was leading the music ministry. He is truly amazing to watch. The  sermon was like  beng transported back to the time of Acts. These people are on fire for the Lord. 

Several stayed after to help us set up for the eyeglass clinic (which starts tomorrow (Monday). Because we were able to get set up early, we had Elizabeth and pastor Daniel go through the clinic and get some free eyeglasses! 

I saw some boys playing cricket in a nearby lot. Since we were done with our work for the day, I decided to go observe. As soon as I walked around the corner they stopped playing and scattered as if they were in trouble. I went back to the entrance to wait for the rest of our group. When I turned around there was one boy from the cricket match standing there staring at me. I smiled, said "hello", and put my hand out for him to shake. He giggled and shook my hand. The next thing I knew there were 6 or 7 boys running to shake my hand. I took a selfie with these boys then asked if they would throw me a pitch and let me bat with their cricket bat. They did. It was quite a moment. Not just for the boys, but for myself and the part of our team that was present. I thought I was doing them a "favor" by being friendly and outgoing. But it was I that saw and felt the love of Christ every bit as much as they did for those brief moments we were together.

Tomorrow is the beginning of the eyeglass clinic, so it's off to bed for the first full nights sleep in a bed for us since we left. You are all in our hearts, thoughts, and prayers!

Jason Urbahns

The Taj Mahal

I'm starting this post from the back seat of our packed bus ... Loaded with people and luggage (much of which is strapped to the roof). It's been a long couple of days, but they have been filled with adventure and blessings. 

We arrived safely in New Delhi Friday night and God made our path through customs completely clear. It was wonderful. Pastor Daniel and Wittness met us and we loaded a shuttle bus to get out of the airport. We transferred to our rented bus and drove to our hotel for the evening. We made it to our rooms around 3 am and did our best to grab a little sleep. 

We woke this morning and met for breakfast at the hotel ... There were some interesting choices for breakfast but we all had our fill and then loaded into the bus for our long day of travel.  

Our travel adventures took us through the streets of Delhi to Agra, and there was much sight-seeing from our seats. From the many people piled into vehicles and motorcycles to the people harvesting in the rice fields to the monkeys, camels, elephants, and various other animals.  The best part of the journey was seeing the many people and the culture that is so very different from our own. 

While being amazed at the crazy traffic, we were able to navigate to the Taj Mahal and pick up a tour guide along the way. He told us all about the history of this wonder! We walked about and were struck by the beauty and craftsmanship of this huge monument, all hand-made. 

We stopped at kfc for dinner ... We know this isn't exactly traditional Indian food ... And then got back in the bus for the long journey to Dasuya. We are planning to be there in time to worship with our brothers and sisters of everlasting life church. 

God has been so good to us and while we are all exhausted, we know that we are so blessed to be here and are all looking forward to setting up the clinic and serving people. 

Thank you for your continued prayers. 

With much love from India,

Your mission team

1/2 way to India

We had a short stay here in Paris and are getting ready to board our plane headed for New Delhi. Thanks for the continued prayers for our safe travel! 

Having a little devotion time .... Spending time together and time with God. 

And we're off!

We are so grateful for your prayers. We have already seen God working. We are al checked in and boarding and headed for our first stop in Paris. I'm not sure if we will have wifi in Paris, but we will check in when we can! 

Blessings!

Your India mission team 

Commissioning

Today was the commissioning for the St. Matthew team. We are grateful for the support and prayers of the "senders" of our church family.

This is the 11am service as they lift their hands to pray for us

We also prayed over the glasses that were collected by all of you. To date, you've brought in around 2,000 pairs of glasses. What a wonderful way to support the mission and to share God's love to the world. You are providing a means for them to see with their eyes and also to have their hearts opened to see Jesus as their Savior. 

Thank you for your love, prayers, support, and encouragement. We are excited to be able to share with you all of the ways that God is working in India. Please continue to pray for us, as well as Pastor Daniel and Everlasting Life Ministry, as you follow our adventures through this blog.

God's peace,

Your 2016 India Mission Team

This is our 2016 India Mission Team. We are leaving for Punjab, India on February 25th. Our mission will be to test vision and provide eyeglasses to the people of Dasuya and it's surrounding communities. Ultimately, our mission is to shine the Light of Jesus. We are grateful for your prayers as we embark on this adventure. We know that God has big plans.


If you'd like more information on what we will be doing, visit http://www.mostministries.org/eyeglass_ministry


Please check back often, as we will be updating this blog throughout our trip.


God's blessings,
Team 1607