End of outreach

Hey All!

I'm writing this from chilly Adelaide, safely back from outreach. 

I believe the last I updated this blog was in Chennai, so I'll go from there. We spent a good 2 weeks in Chennai, which was probably my favorite part of outreach, especially going into villages to share with people there. God spoke to me a lot during that time, and I was thinking a lot about my future, so it was a really good time. 

After our 2 weeks there, we planned to 

leave on Thursday to go to Kolkata (Calcutta) by train. However, because it was monsoon season in Kolk

ata at that time, the tracks were flooded and all trains were cancelled. Like so many other times, though, we saw God provide, and just that morning we had enough money to be able to fly to Kolkata instead.  So, we flew on Friday and arrived to the last leg of our journey in Kolkata. 

The first thing we did 

was travel (again) to a village about 6 ho

urs away. There, the Kolkata YWAM staff was putting on a youth retreat for about 120 students there. Most students were from a Hindu back

ground, so it was amazing to be able to share with them. Though language was a barrier, we had several opportunities to pray for them, and they all wanted to accept Jesus as their savior. The most exciting part of that, though, is that the school principal wants YWAM to come back twice a year to run a similar program, so we know that the kids will have good follow-up and continue to hear about Christ. 

After that, we returned to the city for our final 2 

weeks, where the other half of our team joined us after being in Bejing. We did lots of different things there, mostly working with kids' ministries. YWAM has 2 different houses where homeless kids can come to shower, play, receive love from the staff, and a hot meal. We had lots of fun working with those kids and being able to support the staff that work there full time. I think my favorite, though, was one afternoon going to the street where lots of those kids live and see their families - some people played guitar for them and we provided medical care for those who needed it. Helping people in need like that really hit where my heart is at, and I can see myself doing something like that in the future. 

We also worked for a few days at the Mother Teresa ministry. The ministry has several different homes for different people - I worked at a home for boys with disabilities, which I loved (of course). We went in the afternoons and played with the guys, fed them, and helped 

out the Sisters as we could. It made me really miss my job back in MN! 

All in all it was a really good time - very challenging and different as staff. The team got along well and were all excited to see what God was doing. We saw God provide for us so many times - we so often had just about no money and didn't even know where the money for our meals would come from, but we never actually ran out, and always saw God provide. I know that all of us will be coming out of this trip knowing first-hand that God is faithful to provide for us. 

We're home now - basically unscathed. Several of us picked up some parasite friends along the way, and are still not 100% healthy, including myself, but we should be alright after visiting the doctors here. Actually, through a few interesting events, (which included receiving $250 in exchange for my stool sample...) we met a great travel doctor in Kolkata who saw many of us, and he was great - definitely God's provision. 

Thank you so much for your prayers for my team and I during our time away. I'll continue to keep you up to date with what I'm doing in Adelaide - I know that God still has a lot for me here! God bless each one of you!!!

Caitlin