city of villages

I set out to prayer walk at least a few times each month. It's an amazing time to spend with the Father asking for His hand to move throughout M-town.


He takes this time to show me new places and to meet new people. Sometimes I find myself on a University campus and sometimes I find myself in a field; sometimes He leads me to neighborhoods of middle-class people and sometimes He leads me to the slums; sometimes I walk through busy intersections and sometimes I walk along a dirt footpath.

Last week I set out to prayer walk and found myself walking into a little village. It was a little village right in the middle of M-town.


India is a country of villages. M-town is a city of villages.

This village had such a sweet spirit. The men, women, and children were quite curious of these two foreign women walking along their paths. A crowd of children began to follow Cathy & I. I spoke to them and they giggled as they respectfully replied.

We walked by gates and saw women completing their daily chores. Many of them chose to come close to the walkway to see what was happening. These sweet women invited us in. They were not harsh, they were not rude, they were merely curious and hospitable. They offered all that they had, their time, and possibly a cup of tea.

A village is a small area in which a concentrated number of people live. These people live in tight community. They operate often as one large family.

What an amazing couple of hours is was to be welcomed into this village. It is my prayer that the Father would allow me opportunities to build relationships with those in these villages, that I would have the opportunities to share His stories, and that His stories would ignite and spread rapidly from village to village, calling these precious men, women, and children to know Him as Savior.

~Heather

*Ask the Father to lead me into villages who are open and willing to hear His story.
*Ask the Father to allow communication to flow easily and that His story would be shared in a way that is understood by all those who hear.
*Ask the Father to soften the hearts of the people of M-town and that they would choose to follow only Him.

a teacher's heart

This teacher's heart often longs to return to the classroom, even if only for just a little while. Actually, any teaching could lessen the longing.

I am in language classes three times a week, but learning isn't nearly as enjoyable as teaching!

I recently spent a day with a lady, Anna, who has around 30 children who come to her house each afternoon for school. The families of these children can't afford schooling. They range in age from 5 to 12 years old. Anna doesn't have any teaching experience, but she does love these children and they in turn, love her. I have returned to Anna's home from time to time to interact with the children and to assist her a bit in teaching. Now, rest assured, Anna doesn't speak any English, so our communicating is often a bit comical.

Anna recently had a baby. The baby is just beautiful. I had planned to make a school visit on Friday. Anna knew I was coming. As I arrived, a bit late due to a long bus journey, I saw the children seated in rows on a large mat on the dirt yard, but I did not see Anna. I asked Anna's husband where she was and he reported that the baby was sick and Anna had taken the baby to the doctor's office. The children were waiting for me to arrive, to teach them.

I froze. I didn't have a lesson plan. I didn't know these children's names. I don't speak the language of these children well. But, I was there. They were there. So, away we went into unknown territory for us all!

As I taught, they often looked at me with confusion. They sometimes didn't respond. But, as I began to affirm their answers and to give them my undivided attention, their little faces lit up with a sense of accomplishment.

My Hindi has such a long way to go. But, my heart lept with joy. I was teaching. Children were learning. What could be better?

~Heather

*Thank the Father for this amazing opportunity for my teacher's heart to be satisfied.

*Ask the Father to continue to increase my abilities to communicate in Hindi.

*Ask the Father to allow opportunities to share His story with these children and their families.

*Ask the Father to draw these families into a relationship with Him.

the quiche is in the oven, well, almost

It has been a difficult week, to say the least. It hasn't been a bad week. It has just been full, and exhausting. It has been one of those weeks that has been all encompassing, there have been sweet times, stressful times, disappointing times, and refreshing times.

Guests are wonderful! I have had so many guests! It is so nice to get to have guests in my home. I have been visited by people from here, there, and everywhere!

Thursday, guests were coming and I planned to bake a quiche for lunch. I was pretty excited to try something new. Now, I didn't have a pie dish, and had unsuccessfully searched for one, but decided to carry on the search. On Wednesday evening I did in fact find a glass pie dish for purchase.

Now, the electricity is turned off from around 8am every morning until 1pm every afternoon. This usually isn't a factor, because typically guests come for dinner, but Thursday's guests were for lunch. Since I had planned to serve quiche and had indeed located a pie dish, I was determined to continue on with this plan.

I decided to get up at 7am on Thursday morning and bake the quiche. I would just serve it at room temperature. However, I was up quite late on Wednesday night cleaning and preparing for the coming day, so Thursday morning I was not thinking too clearly.

Just before 7, the alarm clock sounded and in my groggy state, assembled the quiche in my new glass pie dish. I placed it in the preheated oven, and closed the door. Well, I almost closed the door. The oven door wouldn't close by 2 1/2 or 3 inches. The glass dish was too big!

What to do? Well in my foggy state of mind, I decided that if I covered the opening in the oven door, it would bake just fine. Out of sight, out of mind.

So, I just draped a towel over the door and went back to sleep while the quiche baked. I got up and turned it once just before the cooking time had passed. The electricity was turned off a little early, so the baking time hadn't even had time to lapse. I just had to hope for the best!

I served the quiche for lunch and it was quite a hit. Necessity is truly the mother of invention! Who knew that eggs would indeed bake in an open oven! Just one more adventure to add to the list! Life in India is never dull...

~Heather

hope

"Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." Romans 5:2-5

for the children

Please join me in pleading with the Father to draw the children of M-town unto Himself.

~Heather

"The Bible So Song"

Yesterday, I spent the day with a precious little boy. His name is Maddon and our days together usually include taking adventures or being creative. I love that.

Lately, I have been wondering how I could weave Christ's love for Maddon into our day. And, let's blame it on the seminary training, I have been wanting to communicate to Maddon the deep theological truths of our faith. How do I bundle everything that is so great about Christ, so necessary to know Him and so fascinating to be obedient too? How do you eat a theological elephant?.... One small truth at a time. While driving, I was reminded of a simple song; and, as Maddon and I drove back to his house, I began to sing:

Jesus loves me this I know;

For the Bible tells me so;

Little ones to Him belong,

they are weak but He is strong.

Yes, Jesus loves me.

Yes, Jesus loves me.

Yes, Jesus loves me.

The Bible tells me so.

There is was, everything I wanted to introduce Maddon too. The authority of God's Word, the love of Christ, the strength found only in Him....all in a song I learned when I was two. Maddon loved it! I must have sang those lines 50 times. Fifty times of telling this sweet little boy that the God of the universe loves us and he can know that because His Word says this love is so.

Yesterday started out as an average, creative, adventurous day, with Maddon. The day ended with the Lord reminding and allowing me to share in His work, to invest in a life for eternal purpose. With one little song, containing several Truths, our afternoon went from typical Maddon and Sarah Jacks fun to creative didactic.

Oh, that we do not get so caught up in ideas that we forget to sing a song....

~Sarah