Thoughts by Craig on GOA, CALCUTTA, & Native Missionaries

Written by My Brother, Craig: :) :) :)

Well Ericka and I made it safely to Calcutta last night. What took us 10hrs by train took us 1/2 hr by flight, going from Goa to Bombay (Mumbai), and then catching a connecting flight to Calcutta (Kolkata). One of Viju's friends brought my suitcase back to the airport, which was delivered his house earlier that week...so I got my luggage. It's funny what you can do without when you don't have it readily available, but it was good to get some things back :)

Some Praises to our Lord and Savior:
Internal plumbing is coming back up to speed. The past week I have done some pretty crazy things in attempts to get things flowing, including drinking liquid dish soap :)
The rash on our lips are beginning to be subside. Ericka went to a doctor that was trusted by the YWAM staff and she diagnosed it as some sort of virus. Continue to pray that this gets totally removed from our bodies!
We reached our living quarters without any problems through the chaos of Calcutta. Driving in Calcutta was pretty interesting. Lots of people, lights, billboards, shops, taxis, huge tank-like buses that put out thick exhaust, bicycle ric-shaws, dust, and honking. Ericka said that it reminded her of China. It was night, but I think we drove over the Ganges River. We found our place we are staying without any problems (thank-you Lord).
The Lord continues to provide us with connections and very understanding and gracious brothers and sisters in the body of Christ to welcome us in, house us, feed us, give us the advice from the local perspective, and love us. Pray that that continues. While in Calcutta, we are trying to volunteer with Mother Teresa, Houses of Mercies. Connects with members of the local body of Christ would be an immense blessing.

So the past week Ericka and I spent hanging out and helping with staff from YWAM in Goa. Ericka primarily was helping out between the pre-school (3 - 5 yr old) in the morning and then the after school care (7 - 10 yr old) in the afternoon. Initially it looked like I was going to be able to help out Luciano (one of the staff) with a soccer camp for some of the boys in the slums, but b/c fields weren't available that didn't happen. Soccer one thing that I have seen shared across many different cultures around the world...a great common bond if you want to a connection without using any words. I had the opportunity to shadow Vinod who ran 2 medical clinics in the slums. We stayed in the clinic some mornings during visiting hours, administered medicine, and prayed for healing for those who came with illnesses. One day Vinod took me around to do "house calls". As we weaved, ducked, and hopped our way through the narrow maze of single-roomed homes I passed many woman doing their laundry in the "alley", children carrying jugs of water from a common spigot back to their homes, and toddlers running around naked. In most place, you could walk on cement blocks that covered the open sewers, which were no more than drainage ditches. The rains helped keep thing flowing. I'm not sure how things are when it is not the rainy season. (It is common practice to remove your shoes before entering into someone's house) Anyway, we came to this one house where Vinod introduced me to the first woman to become a Christan in this particular slum. We were invited in & greeted warmly, seats were cleared away for us to sit on while they sat on the floor, and given tea and crackers. She told me part of her story of how she was kicked out of her father's house for becoming a Christian, how God has provided for her and her family, how wonderful God is, and how blessed she is to be one of His children. As Vinod translated, I sat humbled and amazed. Here was a woman whose hope was far from here, but has found joy in today in her Lord and Savior, but in a place where by my standards of living would be appalling and I would be pleading for deliverance, focusing on myself and totally blind to, and hence missing out on, all that God has blessed me with (as she had discovered). She knows God as her faithful Father, protector, and provider, and is deep appreciation and love for Him. She was telling others of the wonderful love of Jesus Christ to her friends and family in the slums, and from her witness, many have come to trust in Christ!

Vinod then took me to the outskirts of the slums, near the ocean. He said that this used to be a high traffic area for prostitution, but the government of Goa came in a couple of years ago and demolished all of the brothels. But, some of the prostitutes were returning and their pimps could be seen underneath a tin-roof awning. AIDS is a common problem in the slums, spread by the residing prostitutes, and other ways. One needle could be used as many as 100 times on different people in the government run hospitals. Another hardship that people in the slum face is that as the rainy season (monsoon) continues their homes get destroyed from waves, or high winds. One day there was a storm that had about 30-40mph winds, and we were without power and water for about 12 hours. The following morning it was reported that 57,000 people lost their homes in Goa (a small state, like Rhode Island) during that one storm. As I rode the bus that next day I saw many trees up-rooted and 8ft walls blown over. Evidently, the mortar that they use for cheap construction jobs (houses in the slums, and walls) are weakened by the rain to the point where a person could push over the building by there own strength.

Throughout the week Vinod shared his experiences with me. He was born into a very high family in the caste system (family of priests). When he trusted Christ to be his salvation, he kept it to himself for a couple of years, but then the Lord convicted him to tell his father. His father disowned him, and kicked him out of his house. His uncle came home drunk one night and pinned him down and poured acid on face for disgracing the family name. For a few years he was a math teacher, and then God called him to leave everything and go to a place where He would show him. He went through YWAM's primary health care training program (6 month training course...in no way extensive), and then moved to Goa with his wife Rica with 30 rupees (40 rupees = $1) in their pocket six year ago. There used to be a doctor on rotation that would volunteer every few days to serve in the medical clinics to diagnose and prescribe, but have since moved away. Vinod is responsible for not only raising his financial support for his own living expenses, but is also responsible for funding the medical supplies/equipment/expenses for the clinics. People that come to the clinic will pay what they can, and when they can, but they are from the slums...so 1 rupee here, 1 egg there . Dispite theses conditions, he has some tremendous testimonies of God's provisions and blessings! People come to the clinic and after application of basic medicines and prayer get healed! It turns out that many of the patients have been to the hospitals around before coming to the clinic and are not cured. Vinod says that he doesn't believe in the medicine, but he believes in Christ working through the medicine...it is Christ that heals, not my skills or the application of medications. They live in a fairly descent apartment, with simple but modest furnishing, all have which have been given to them. They continue to live by faith for their various needs. It is Vinod's hope and dream to come to the United States (when the funds for a plane ticket become available) and raise funds and recruit staff for the medical clinics. If any of you have a desire to go on a medical missions, or if you know of anyone who does, Vinod would love to welcome you!

Another thing that was changed was my understanding of the global economy. In YWAM (Youth With A Mission), the staff are encouraged to pursue and start programs that the Lord places on their hearts to minister in various ways. They are responsible to raise their own support and support for their programs. Many times, the staff go unpaid during their formidable years of their programs, putting all of their fund raising towards their program. Manoj, one of the staff, has a vision to start an AIDS / HIV clinic that helps and supports children who have been affected by AIDS (either who have it b/c of their parents, or who have been neglected b/c their parents have AIDS) from meeting their physical needs (feeding and clothing), to educating them, and sometime in the near future to creating a live-in hospice for the children that are homeless. This is a huge need in the slums, and there is presently nothing like in Goa. Manoj is in the process of initiating his program...he has recruited a staff of two other men (a lot of prayer went into that), he looking into a location that he can use as a base. As he was describing the program to me he said that his 5 year budget that he would have to raise was around 1 million rupees (which roughly translates into $30,000). When I saw that, I said, "hmm...that's not bad, especially over a course of 5 years." He said, "Are you kidding? This will take a miracle! To raise that kind of financial support in India is next to impossible!" This definitely struck me...I thought, if I budgeted wisely, I could easily fund this whole project with my "meekly" teacher's salary contributing $6,000 a year. Before, when missionaries would come to church and ask for donations, I honestly would give disgruntly, thinking, they are just coming over here to milk us for money...(confession). But our salaries can finance things that are unfathomable in other countries. This was another humbling experience.

If any of you would like to give towards either of these ministries (the medical clinic, or the childrens AIDS program) or would like more information, just let me know, ministries of the native YWAM missionaries from Goa, India. Manoj has actually put together a full 15 page explanation and plan of implimentation of this program.

God bless,
Craig
smileycraig@gmail.com