Saturday 8 September 2018

Photos from the Week #9

In our evening bible studies at the children's home we have finally finished our study on the life of Joseph which has proved to be a great encouragement to all and a challenge to live out a life pleasing to the Lord just as Joseph did.

I have given the children five memory verses to remember from our studies and I plan to test them all on Sunday afternoon. They sure are keen to learn the Word of God and I have no doubt that everyone will memorise the verses as they genuinely want to and maybe because I promised a small piece of chocolate if they do.

The verse below is one of the memory verses from when we looked at Joseph revealing himself to his brothers. Joseph understood that it was not because of their sin that he was in Egypt but because of God's plan and purpose. Amazingly he could say that God was the one who sent him to Egypt so that he could bring about a great deliverance for his family from the famine. The parallel to this is that the Lord Jesus Christ is our great deliverance from sin and death.

“Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.” - Galatians 1:3-5

Inside a large wholesale warehouse in Mysore
Inside a large wholesale warehouse in Mysore
On Thursday and Friday me and Raju made two trips to Mysore which is a large city an hour away from the Children's Home. Unfortunately I find it very difficult to do any shopping in India as the whole journey of getting to the right place and back again becomes very stressful. However we are praising the Lord for the relatively successful time we had in being able to purchase various items for the Children's Home. Some of the items we got were: pillows, bed sheets and pillow covers, plastic chairs, bible bags and photos.

Everyone watching intently at a short movie on Joseph
Everyone watching intently at a short movie on Joseph
This week I took a special bible study just for the older boys and then another one just for the older girls. We looked at specific bible teaching to men and woman and what God expects from us. It was a very encouraging time to be able to talk freely through some issues they were having and to steer them in the right direction for the Lord. There certainly is great potential in these children to grow up to be strong mature Christ-like men and women who will no doubt lead the next generation in a right manner. I think they are really privileged to be in such a fantastic environment for spiritual growth.

The boys cutting the grass to level out the ground
The boys cutting the grass to level out the ground
The weather has changed and it is now heating up quite a bit as each day has an average of around 30 degrees. The rain seems to have stopped and I don't think it will start back up again for quite some time. I am thanking the Lord that my health appears to have improved as my cold is only very mild now.

On the first Sunday of every month the assembly in Hunsur have a big shared lunch which they call 'fellowship meal'. There are around 50 people from the surrounding villages and 60 people from the Children's Home that attend the meeting each Sunday. Over half of them would be under eighteen years old. I think there are about three other Christian meetings in Hunsur however they appear not to be very strong in their bible teaching.

Hunsur has a population of around 350,000 people over an area of 900km squared with a 60% literacy rate. According to the Indian census 90% of the people in Hunsur are Hindu but Raju thinks this is less due to people hiding their Christian identity because of persecution. 

Sunday shared lunch at the Hunsur assembly
Sunday shared lunch at the Hunsur assembly
Everyone brings a different dish to share - Mainly rice dishes
Everyone brings a different dish to share - Mainly rice dishes
Some of the children doing their homework after school
Some of the children doing their homework after school
At the back of the Children's Home they are getting ready to plant new crops
At the back of the Children's Home they are getting ready to plant new crops
Next week will be my last full week in India as I plan to fly back to New Zealand on 18th September. There still a lot to organise at the Children's Home before I leave and I am hoping everything works out in time and I can pass on my responsibilities. 


Praise the Lord.

No comments:

Post a Comment