Tea time at the conference

Small group sharing

Ah! The Sari Shop!

How many school girls can you get into a tuk-tuk?

Leadership Training Day

This morning, we met at IGL offices to greet the employees and be a part of their Wednesday morning EPT (extended prayer time). The employees pray together for the many needs of IGL, it's global partners and supporters, employees, children in their children's homes and schools, and other students, volunteers, and of course those they are working to reach and help. Pretty amazing.

The rest of the day was a Leadership Training Day just for Pratti's local leaders, about 45-50 women. She has other leaders in different areas of India, but this day-long session was specifically for these local women. I was very excited and humbled to put together this training and present all but one session. Talk about feeling unqualified and inadequate! But man, did I have fun! This is what I was created to do!

These women were precious in their vulnerability and zeal to lead other women in their villages and communities and were all about identifying, training and nurturing new leaders under them. We had one session devoted to small groups where each woman shared her strengths and gifts as a leader and then areas where she feels challenged and stretched based on what they learned today. Oh my, I wish you could have heard their hearts! One woman said because she is uneducated she fears she will be rejected as a leader in her village (of other uneducated women!). It was the perfect time to challenge her toward education if she desired, and to encourage her with reminders that God chooses and equips those who hear His call and follow His leading regardless of their education. (He chose fishermen to carry out his mission, right?) This woman's wisdom and intelligence more than made up for any schooling she lacked.

What a great day getting to hear the hearts of these women who are just like us in their hopes and dreams, fears, doubts, rebellions and even their areas of pride! I LOVE these women!

Of course a hard day of speaking and sharing and pouring out our hearts requires a fill-up, so Pratti took us to our favorite shopping spot- THE SARI STORE!! I can't even start on what that place does to me. The colors, the designs and the fabric are like nothing you've ever seen, and are completely irresistible! Enough said. (You might want to check the charge cards, honey!). I'm a happy girl.

Tomorrow is a rest day where we tour the Mission here in Salem. It is Sam's vision to have 12 Mission bases throughout India and Sri Lanka, and so far there are 4, either completed or begun. Since 85% of India's 1.2 billion people live in rural areas, and since there are many other great ministries working in the cities, Sam has chosen to target the villages and rural communities where the greatest need is. The mission here has, on the property, a children's home and school, a high school, a community college, a nursing school, a hospital (one of the few cancer hospitals in all of India), a dairy farm, a tailor school and shop (they make school uniforms, what else?!), a metal working business, a concrete block facility, a paint shop and a church. Needless to say, they have made a tremendous impact in this area by training and providing jobs and income to many people here in South India.

Well, I'm off to bed and will try to update again tomorrow. By the way, this blog is brought to you by Jocelyn who has been cutting and pasting my emails and pictures into my blog dashboard, since Internet is SO frustrating here, even though they have it (sort of). Part of the issue is that (like most 3rd world countries, if you've ever been), the electricity goes off at LEAST 5 times in the evenings. That always manages to happen right when I'm ready to hit "publish"! So, this just seems to be foolproof, albeit expensive on the old phone bill! So, thanks, Josh! Love to all, and please keep praying. While we are nowhere near the Delhi bombing today, September 11th looms.

On that happy note, Good Night!