Today, the team went to another village, with plans to serve 100 families. Many more than 100 showed up.

The team was heartbroken that they did not have enough for the extra families that showed up. Bharat said that “day by day the Corona situation is becoming worse and there is no chance to open lockdown.” He fears for “more worse time in the days ahead.”

Bharat said, “those who received relief  items were very much grateful and went with hope of life in them. We talked with several people. Their hearts are open for the Word of God.” He asked for us to continuously pray for them–that God would lead them to search for Him. He said that he was “blessed today for the guidance and His presence among us and the people who were present there. I personally thank the Lord for his awesome work.”

Today, the 12 volunteer members of the WFW COVID 19 CARE TEAM, which included a  doctor, two nurses, one police officer, and one media man, went to a local tribal village.

They had purchased and prepared supplies for 52 Adivasi families. They made sure that appropriate physical distancing was kept…

Taught them to wash their hands with sanitizer…

Checked that their temperature was below 38º C (the average was 37º)…

Made sure they were wearing masks (provided to those who did not already have one)…

And then distributed rice, potatoes, onions, salt, dal (lentils) and oil to each.

Bharat said, “I praised God for His guidance in our activities today. It is all done by His grace…It was a great blessing for everyone who received it. They were very much thankful for it…these people are in a great needs of it.” He said that many talked with the team and are very eager to meet with them later to have a conversation about them doing such a thing.

Tomorrow the team plans to go to another village and hope to serve a hundred families there. Pray that God guides and His love is shown to these dear people!

Here is an update on the COVID-19 Care Team for Adivasi and Poor Families Project I mentioned in my last post.

The Indian government has permitted the creation of the WWF COVID 19 CARE TEAM as an NGO, to distribute food and medicine, under the supervision of the police.

They surveyed two tribal villages, meeting with 125 families who are in desperate need of food, and are making arrangements today. They also found additional families who are asking for help.

The tentative schedule is to purchase and package the food and meds tomorrow and Wednesday; and then the distribute it over the next 2-5 days, as is needed to get it into the hands of those who need it.

The WWF COVID 19 CARE TEAM has asked for pray along the following lines:

• for the safety of the members of the care team who are actively involved in procuring, preparing, and distributing the food and meds. That God would protect them from the novel Corona virus and from those in the villages who might oppose their acts of love.

• the the eyes and hearts of those they minister to may be opened to the good news.

• that the virus may be stopped soon and the lockdown be opened. This has had a bad effect on the daily wage earners in the tribal villages. Pray that God’s hand would are upon them through out the duration of this situation.

I don’t have to tell anyone that the past few weeks have been…interesting…to say the least. For the past six, plus, weeks, I’ve been enjoying a short commute (about 20 steps or so from my bed) to my office away from office. I’m still working full time, but doing it from the comfort of the guest room in our home.

Andy is still working at his place of employment. Chris is living with Cathy’s mom and working full at Bioseal. Cathy kept Children’s House open as long as it made sense, but has furloughed her staff and is working to clean the school and get it ready for when they are ready to reopen, whenever that may be.

For the past 5 or so weeks, our life group has been meeting via Zoom…well, at least a core of our group has been doing so. This has been a great way of keeping in touch, sharing this strange chapter of our lives with each other, and encouraging one another in our faith and walk with Christ.

The past three Thursdays, we’ve had guests join us. Last week was a man Rob Marton met on his first trip to India. The man was Hindu but was interested in the Gospel, and Rob gave him his Bible (complete with a photo of the Marton family). About six years later, Rob hear from him again. He is following Christ now, and even teaching in a local fellowship from time to time.

Two Thursdays ago, our guests were Blake and Dakoda Keller, from their new home in Manila. No sooner did they get moved into their apartment than the city went on lockdown. Blake is not able to leave their apartment complex, Dakoda has a “pass” that allows her to leave to go to the store. They are doing well. Language school is underway, though the delivery method is remote.

Three Thursdays ago, our guests were Bharat and Bandana Pradhan. Bharat is the pastor of Word for the World Fellowship in Siliguri. Bandana is his wife. They are the couple in the lower right corner of the Zoom meeting screen above. Their daughter also joined us at the end. While fellowshipping with them, we discovered that the people living in the tribal and tea villages around Siliguri are not currently working, as they are locked down. This makes their situation very dire. They have no income and are in desperate need of food, medicine, and the love of God. We prayed for one another as we closed that meeting.

The next day, Bharat and I were chatting online and he told me of a possibility of providing food, medical care, and other assistance for about 125 or so families in some of these villages. I shared the idea with TACC’s Mission Team and we thought we would like to use some of the money from our Making Disciples budget line to provide support to this effort. We proposed doing so to the elders and they agreed.

To that end, TACC is providing $3,500 towards the provision of food, medicine for fever and cough, sanitizer and masks for their safety. Members of Word for the World will be acquiring these items and then delivering them to as many families in tribal villages and tea gardens in the next couple of weeks. Please pray for the success of this mission to show the love of God for these dear people!

If you have any questions about this, or any of the things I wrote about in this blog entry, please let me know…

God bless and protect you and yours through the days and weeks (and maybe months) to come!