Update from Jeff

Hello from Delhi, Cynci and I and have returned to Delhi after a two day visit to Ranchi, Jharkhand (along with Richard and Toni). We had a very good time as we "officially launched" our first ILA and church planting movement in North India! It was a joy to be with the quality ICCC men who we are working with in yet another state in India. More on that in a minute. First... a catch up on where we've been and what we've been doing. We left Vijayawada very early Saturday am and took the train to the city of Vishakapatnam (also known as Vizag) in northeastern Andhra Pradesh (AP). We spent the rest of Saturday in that city scouting the area as we prepare to move our AP ILA to this city in the coming days. This was a great time in a place of great opportunity along the coast of the Bay of Bengal. The city is sort of a gateway to the tribal lands and peoples to the north and could be a place from which we could effectively launch a church planting (CP) movement among many unreached peoples and villages. All in all a great time in Vizag. One bonus highlight was a trip to the local zoo. Let me asure you, we aren't in America any more! At the zoo they actually let us come back into the cage area where they were feeding the lions dinner (enormous hunks of meat). And we stood where the lions could easily have mauled us with a paw through the cage if we had taken a step or two forward. To make it "more exciting" the trainer kept stirring up the largest male lion and he kept standing, roaring, and trying to attack us through the cage. Quite a thrill! It was interesting... our boys have been repeatedly watching the Lion King 1 1/2 at home and I thought about that as we watched this lion. Let me just say, Disney has NO IDEA what lions are really like. This beast would have literally ripped us to shreds if he could have. Be sure that I visually "checked the cage" about a hundred times as I stood there trusting in this barrier between he and I! It reminded me that God used the image of the lion, in 1 Peter 5, as a picture of our enemey the devil-- looking for whom he may devour. What a vivid reminder of the true nature of our enemy and his hatred for us as God's children. I'm so glad that we serve the one who is sovereign over all! Anyway, on Sunday we flew out of Vizag and on to Delhi with a plane stop in Raipur (which was nice because Raipur is a city in a very rural, tribal area where we hope to soon start another Berean ILA). So it was good to see this area as we flew through. One thing that was really special on this flight was that we flew over the Bastar District of Chhattisgarh. This is special to us because a number of years ago, when Cynci and I were in Scottsbluff, we had the opportunity to fund the translation of the Jesus Film and the taking of the film to the Bhatri people who live in this place. A people who previously had NO WAY of hearing the gospel prior to that time. Today there are believers in that place and we still pray that God will give us a chance to put Berean churches in that District in the future. While we flew over this area Cynci was listening to music on my pda and the song "Savior of the World" came on. This is a song she wrote about the people in that place during the time of that project and one we've used with an India video Dan Roesch created (with Natalie Roesch singing). It was very special for Cynci to be listening to this song at the exact time we flew over this place remembering these people. Pray that God will open doors in Raipur, Chhattisgarh soon and that he will raise up pastors to go into the Bastar District and the other rural tribal areas in this place. We arrived in Delhi on Sunday night. On Monday morning I had the opportunity to call during our LBC Sundayevening celebration service. It was a joy to be a part of that as our church family celebrates what God is doing in these days as we trust Him to use us in India, to start a new church in Lincoln, to begin a leadership training college of our own, and to build new facilities. We were especially glad to be able to "stay on the line" and join in prayer as Roger Sand and the other elders led us in a time of prayer together as a body. All the way, from India we joined in prayer for what God is doing in and through us as a church on that side of the world and over here. Then we headed for the airport and on to Patna, Bihar and then Ranchi, Jharkhand. In Ranchi we were able to travel around the area and go to many villages surrounding this remote city of 2.5 million. There are about 6 million in the district and most of those people live in villages within about an 100 km radius of Ranchi. And the VAST MAJORITY of these communities have NO CHURCH. So it was a such a joy to be able to meet with our new group of pastoral trainees on Tuesday and to challenge them to work hard in their training and be well prepared to go and start churches that will start more churches resulting in a CP movement throughout this region. It is INCREDIBLE what God is giving us the opportunity to do. How do I describe what it's like to drive through village after village after village asking, "Is there a church here?" only to hear, "No church," in reply. But then to sit the next day in our new training facility with our trainers and new trainees and to know that next year there WILL be churches in some of these places. We are literally being used of God to build the Kingdom in unreached places. Wow. Thank you Lord. Friends, we have SO MUCH WORK TO DO as the Body of Christ. Pray that God will raise up an army of pastors to go out and plant churches in Jharkhand. It was also a joy to have other local believers join with us as we prayed and dedicated the training center. I had the opportunity to preach and to challenge the church to pray for our new men and for this work as they join us in reaching out to the unreached villages. Truly a great day. We then got back on the plane and flew back to Patna, and back to Delhi. Here we said goodbye to Richard and Toni Crocker and they flew on to Chennai in South India to join Tom and Janet Walker who are now down in Tamil Nadu doing our graduation and convention in that state. Cynci and I are right now visiting some SIM missionary friends here in Delhi and this afternoon we head to nearby Gurgaon, Haryana where we will interview a group of candidates for the new training center scheduled to begin there in July. Then early Friday morning we fly to the state of Karanataka to do interviews with yet another group of candidates in yet another location set to begin this summer. Finally, we will spend a few days in leadership planning meetings with George Ninan and the rest of the ICCC leadership team in Bangalore. (Walkers and Crockers will join us there on Sunday.) Then on Monday night we fly out on an overnight flight to Bangkok and then on to Hong Kong and then back to home arriving next Wed. pm. So there you have it. Thank you so much for your prayers for us, Crockers, Walkers, and the work here in India. Everywhere we go, more than anything, they desire our prayers. And God is answering in wonderful ways. Please do continue to pray for us and for the work here. Pray also for our wonderful boys who are now in the kind care of George and Jan Cheek (their third care provider, with two more to go!). They seem to be doing very well. Thanks to George for sending us the picture of them-- much appreciated! Pray they'll do well during this final week. Thanks so much! We appreciate you all. Jeff and Cynci