January 12, 2009

News From India

Hello friends and family. It's been a long time and I apologize for my neglect to keep this updated. I will try and do so more frequently as we hear from Pastor Dan and our friends in India. I'd like to start by talking about the recent events in India; the terrorist attacks, the flooding in the north, and the killing of Christians in Orissa which have been going on since we left. I'm sure that India has been in your prayers as it has been in ours, as well as the countless other places around the world where these things are occurring. No one who we encountered on our trip has been killed or otherwise hurt in these events which is a relief but does not lessen the tragedy of the situation or our fear for those who we are all now more closely connected to.
As some of you know we have heard updates on the chicken farm which your contributions helped to start. The bad news is that one night a cat broke into the chicken coop and killed 400 chickens, but the good news is that there are still more than enough chickens left to ensure the sustainability of this venture. When we last heard from Pastor Daniel the chickens had grown to 3 kilograms each, just one away from the goal of 4 kilograms at which point the chickens become extremely profitable to sell. We have written Daniel and are currently waiting for a further update.
We got more good news from India in December when we recieved a package from Pastor Daniel and the girls at the orphanage. They have each drawn a picture and written a thank-you note to everyone who helped support our trip and impact their lives. Since that refers to all of you as much as it does us I have included pictures of a few of the notes so as to pass along the thanks and greetings.
That's all I have for now, but as I said earlier I will keep you all filled in better as we hear from Pastor Daniel. If you have any questions about India or anything else feel free to e-mail me at "peterj7@spu.edu". Thank you for your continued interest and prayers and know that they are being answered and have a huge impact.