Finally another update!

I know it has been a long time since my last update, sorry! We have been incredibly busy! 

I have met with my Dgroup girls twice since I last updated, and let me just say it is going GREAT! Last week I had planned on talking about Gds love for his daughters and how our relationship with Him is not dependent on anyone but Gd… but 30 minutes before our meeting, I changed my mind! OR should I say, He changed my mind. He reminded me of this passage in Romans 12:9-21 that I had read a few days earlier. It speaks very straightforwardly about how we, as His followers, should react in all situations. So I quickly got some guided study questions together and went to the hostel to meet my girls! One of the big themes of the passage is persecution, and that spoke straight to the hearts of 3 of my girls. They are experiencing persecution from some other girls in the nursing school. Gd used this passage to speak life into their situation and encourage them! It was so clearly a work of His hand because I hadn’t even prepared what I was going to talk about, but He knew how to use it! Then we met again earlier this week. I taught them a method called SPECKA (look it up, it’s pretty good!) because I wanted them to be able to duplicate it later on when I’m gone. We Looked at John 4, the woman at the well. The girls were very interactive and spoke up a lot during our discussion, which is an improvement! They are getting more comfortable with me and that is definitely an answered pryer!  I also shared more of my vision with them concerning Dgroup and that my pryer is that once I am gone, they would continue to lead it. They (surprisingly) accepted that challenge and said it was something they felt Gd calling them to! And one of the girls volunteered to lead it next week!! So… yeah, Dgroup is going well!

2 weeks ago we got a visit from Kyle. He is the head supervisor who organized all of the summer projects like mine. He leads orientation and debriefing.  It was a great visit because he met one on one with each of us to ask us about how the summer is going, any problems we are having, what Gd is teaching us, and all that good stuff! It was great to share with him the things Gd has been teaching me and the way I have seen Him move already this summer! (It’s always exciting to share that kind of stuff with others!) Then we all went out (research team, “frontline” team, and Kyle) and had a “fun night” which was relaxing and much needed! 

Last Sunday, Ashley, Gabrielle, and I went with a local pastr to a village HC! It was great to experience the way Indians wrship in the village and to join them! We left at 8 and drove about an hour. We arrived at this tiny house packed with people ready to hear the Word! We sang many songs (mostly in Telegu, so we mostly listened), read the Word, proclaimed the works that Gd has been doing in our lives, sang some more, and the pryed for each other! It was about a 4 hour service, but it was GREAT! Then we dorve about 20 minutes to an actual Chrch bldg where 5 brothers and sisters were getting dunked! The “pool” was literally underground and it was an amazing sight to see, let me tell you! After that, we went out to this big field where the Aunties cooked us all lunch and we ate picnic style. Then we drove home, arriving around 4:15 pm! It was a long but wonderful day!

On Tuesday (which is our afternoon off to go out into the city with the “frontline” team), Ashley, Gabrielle and I went to a mall hoping for a divine appointment! We were all feeling overly timid and a bit intimidated by all the girls we saw! So we huddled together and pryed for boldness and the words to speak, and then we headed to a table of 3 girls that we saw sitting at McDonalds. We just started chatting about some touristy things and then a group of girls walked in wearing burquas. Knowing what they were, I asked the girls “we’ve seen a lot of girls wearing those things, what are they? Why do they wear them?” And that started us off on a great discussion on religion, tradition, and culture! Over the next hour and a half we were able to share the entire gspl and present it in the context of their religious worldviews. The 3 girls also shared their beliefs. To our surprise, one was Muslim (but not wearing a burqua), one a Hindu, and the third an atheist. We had a really good talk and were able to exchange contact info with them. Hopefully we can meet up with them again! 

That night we went to the hostel for one of the nursing student’s birthdays! Ashley brought a cake and we were able to celebrate with her! That was really fun and encouraging for her because the students aren’t allowed to leave campus at all, ever. And she, otherwise, wouldn’t have had any sort of celebration for her birthday! 

As far as work goes, we are getting A TON of stuff done! Our boss told us the expectation for the summer and we have already far exceeded the work he expected us to finish! But he still seems to fund plenty to keep us busy, haha… so we are still there M-F. Today we got to leave early to rest before we leave tomorrow! Our boss and his family (wife and 4 kids) and then the three of us are going to a village for the weekend! We leave at 6 am and will return Sunday evening. The plans are very tentative (as are all attempts at planning in India) but I think we will be doing 2 services, one Sat night and the other Sun morning. We are going to talk about the parable of the sower and do some skits! That will be fun. We may get a chance to do some sight-seeing as well, but nothing is for sure. 

Next Tuesday (on our afternoon off) we get to meet up with some friends we made a few weeks ago! We planted the seeds with these 2 girls and now are trying to hang out with them as much as possible while we are here and pry for the seed to take hold! They have had exams for the past 2 weeks but are finally finished, so I am excited to see them on Tuesday! Also on Tuesday we are going to pryr walk in some Mosques which will be great, I can’t wait for that either!

 OK, I think that basically sums up my life! I know it was long, but if you made it to the end, congratulations! Haha And thank you so much for your willingness to read this whole thing!

Continue to remember my Dgroup girls, my team, our m!n!stry, and our health! (I am feeling sick)

And please pry for my dad who is also sickly. And if you can, go hug him for me! This girl misses her daddy (and the rest of her family)!

Love Love Love

Molly Kate