Report from Sue in India - June 2008

Report from India...

The town is called Ananthavaram, but is probably not on any map you can find. If you had been with me and met the grandmother who lives in a small room behind a cow stall and had her pray for you, as she did for me, you would not be in a pit. You would be praising God for your home, your family, your clean kitchen and your beautiful clothes. We hosted a dinner for the widows of the village and gave them each a cotton sari. Cotton is grown in this area and also woven locally and often dyed with natural dyes, so they are cheap, less than $2. Grandmother's sari was woven with two different colors of thread giving it an iridescent look. It had a beautiful green border. We went to visit her the next morning and she had SLEPT in it! She is quite bow-legged and arthritic, but ambled slowly to her grinding stone outside to prepare some chutney for us. Roasted peanuts, oil, salt and a few small peppers were slowly ground to a paste requiring about 30 minutes with the ancient stone. Her daughter in law made hot dosas (similar to a thin crepe) and we used the dosas to sop up the chutney. Heavenly!

Grandmother was born Hindu in a village only a few miles away, an extremely poor village. There were many children in the family, so when she was old enough she was married off to a man from Ananthavaram. Their custom is to move to the husband's village and she has been here since. She was only blessed with one child, a son, but he grew strong, became a village and church leader and had four sons and one daughter. The third son, Suresh, is the man I met on the train last year.

Every morning grandmother arises and starts singing and praising God. She sometimes sings for hours, they say. I have promised to return in October and take her to her village to visit her extended family who still live there.

Please continue to pray, as I will pray for you. I am sitting in the Calcutta airport at a small cybercafe waiting to board my flight to Imphal. Only one week and I have already had an amazing time with God.

We are planning a medical clinic for Ananthavaram in October, hope to continue the feeding of the widows and are praying for funds to complete the church. So much already planned for only the first stop in my journey.

My prayer: may God bless you, wrap His arms around you and lift you to new heights in Him. May He send His Holy Sprit to reside in you and guide you and encourage you. May he send Christian friends to your side and, each day, show you His ways.

Sue