Thursday

This morning we visited a special Village and met with many of the women and children there. We were introduced to the local leader of the group that meets in the Village.

A Unique Village

He is a very enthusiastic leader with a lot of compassion for the people he meets, referring to the villagers as ‘his children'. We were struck by the poverty yet the joy on the children's faces during our time their. Mark had the opportunity to share with the children who weren't part of the school through the wordless book.

Quarry Village

This is a village set immediately beside a working quarry. We were able to visit the building which was being used for meetings and also as a training centre for women. The women were in the last month of a three month tailoring course and were keen to show us what they were producing. We also saw the sanitation in the village which had been built specifically for women. Next we went into the quarry and met many people breaking hard rocks and stones with hammers. Husbands and wives work together for long hours, this is heavy manual labour in the intense heat of the day. Finally we visited another settlement adjacent to the quarry. The leader clearly has a good relationship with these people too.

Meeting - Special Village

For many of the team this was the highlight of the trip. We returned to the Village after dark to join with the people in their weekly worship service. Around forty people gathered including women, children and a small number of men. We sang together in the local language Telugu and then James and Katie led some songs in English. James gave an inspiring talk and Mark also shared and it was clear that the group were really engaged. We all felt really blessed in this place. It was hard to leave with so many people wanting to shake our hands and see photographs of themselves.

Prayer Points

• Pray for the work of Leader and his wife as they work in both these Villages.
• Praise God for healing - the whole team have been fit and well today.
• Pray for our time tomorrow as we go into the school and share in lessons with the children.
• Pray for our time with the OM leaders as we feedback on our experiences of the week.
• Pray for guidance for how we, as a team, best communicate to HRBC when we return. In particular, ask God to speak clearly as to where best to focus our resources to assist the projects we've seen this week.

Thanks for your continued prayer,

Phillip, Trevor, Katie, James, Esther, Jennifer, Gail, Mark and Andrew.