Mission Accomplished!

The mission finished strong! We give God the glory for how he used our team to serve the people of India and to open new doors for the gospel to be preached in this land. Today four teams (we had one Doctor that remained ill) split in two locations near the city of Hosur in Tamil Nadu. The first two groups staffed the Agape Hospital located on the campus of the Asian Christian Academy (a school, orphanage and seminary) and the two remaining groups traveled to a village near Hosur called Thotagiri. The combined teams saw nearly 500 patients, more might have been seen but today was a national holiday.

We saw just under 6000 patients in four states over the course of the entire Joy India mission trip. We also gratefully acknowledge the prayer support that you have given as a vital part of our success. Our work, our travel, our safety and protection were a direct result of the many who have prayed for us throughout this mission.

Please keep the team in your prayers once again as we travel to our respective homes from Bangalore. About two thirds of the group will travel back to the U.S. on Tuesday morning at 6:45AM Indian Standard Time while a small portion of the group will continue on an extension tour of India.

Thank You again for being our faithful prayer partners in this mission!

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The link below will take you to Today's photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/94059942@N00/sets/72157594481028109
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The link below will take you to the video updates for Joy India team (requires Quicktime): http://www.firstdallas.org/Missions/

An Awesome Day of Celebration

This morning the team divided and conquered attending several Bethesda ministry slum churches across the city. A few even stayed behind and attended an Int'l Expat church that met in our hotel. The team members were able to preach, teach and lead bible studies in several church locations with the assistance of Bethesda ministry translators.

This afternoon gave the team some free time for a variety of activities. Several of the group traveled to the outskirts of Bangalore to see the Bethesda Seminary and to visit a terrific ministry called House of Hope (newarkmission.org). Here we toured the facility seeing what Mr. T Raja has done over the last year, visited Gracie (a cute young girl whose life was saved by an operation funded by several Joy India team members two years ago) and gave gifts to the orphan children. This amazing ministry picks up those who are dying and destitute on the streets of Bangalore then either nurses them back to health or gives them dignity in death for terminal cases.

Late in the afternoon a large portion of the team traveled to the Bethesda Orphanage, run by Pastor Thomas Moses (son of Christopher Moses). Here we sat and watched as the children each gave us their name, their school grade, quoted scripture and books of the bible followed by a time of singing praises to the Lord. Then we gave each of these precious children a bag of gifts prepared by the fabulous Joy India Gifts Committee (Lu, Sue, Pat, Faye, et al).



Last on the agenda for today was an evening praise and celebration service by the entire Bethesda Ministry team (pastors, wives, church staff members, seminary students and orphanage children). We were moved by their genuine gratitude, their desire to pray for us and their request to pray for them as they minister in the slum areas of Bangalore. Our own Dr. Darry (Oops, I mean Barry) Creamer preached a terrific message from Psalm 103 on God's grace and compassion for each of us.

For our final clinic day tomorrow in Hosur our hearts are filled with God's grace and compassion for the sweet people of India. The Lord has done a mighty work in the lives of the Joy India 2007 team and we have been uniquely privileged to be a part of God's phenomenal work in this country.
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The link below will take you to Today's photos:
http://flickr.com/photos/94059942@N00/sets/72157594479186622
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The link below will take you to the video updates for Joy India team (requires Quicktime): http://www.firstdallas.org/Missions/

God's Work Continues Unabated

The day began with a tour of the Bangalore Baptist Hospital. This 160 bed hospital founded by Southern Baptists in 1973 has grown from a small clinic to an advanced acute care facility offering a broad range of medical services for the region of Karnataka.

After completing the hospital tour each Medical team traveled to their respective clinic locations for an abbreviated clinic day. Dr. Barry Creamer is also conducting training here in Bangalore for a group of seminary students. He is covering many topics including Preaching and Theology.

One of our teams had planned to staff a new clinic location scouted out by J. Kumar, another local pastor in this area. Unfortunately pastor Kumar received several threats both veiled and direct regarding his desire to have a Christian medical team support this specific slum area. Although he had submitted his request through the community leaders locally and though they had given him the proper approval to conduct the clinic, forces were present who did not desire this free community clinic to happen in this location today. The team led by Dr. Sonya then shifted to an alternate location and by God's grace still were able to see a significant number of patients.

While this region appears to be much more open to the gospel of Christ, there are still reminders that Satan doesn't sit idle but actively seeks to thwart the work of the Lord. Please continue to keep us in your prayers for protection, for health and for effective ministry.
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The link below will take you to Today's photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/94059942@N00/sets/72157594476947369
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The link below will take you to the video updates for Joy India team (requires Quicktime): http://www.firstdallas.org/Missions/

First Day in Bangalore

We finally had a semi-leisurely schedule yesterday as we travelled from Bhubaneswar to Bangalore. There are many on the team with sore throats, sinus colds and coughs, although all are well prescribed & dosed it still takes a day or two for recovery - please continue to pray for good health and a strong finish to the mission.

The medical teams finally worked independently for the first time here in Bangalore. The Bethesda Ministries of India organization, who coordinate some of our clinic activity, led by Pastor Christopher Moses, is well-organized and they have 5-6 years of experience working with us. Here we always find ample translators and support staff in all the appropriate languages for this region (Kannada, Tamil, Telugu & Hindi). The most exciting aspect of working in this region is the opportunity to directly share the gospel of Christ and even to pray with our patients. We will report on the number of those that prayed to receive Christ later this week.

Today was an awesome clinic day, our combined teams saw over 800 patients bringing our mission total to just over 4600 to date. We finally received our one lost piece of luggage which contained eye glasses and began to prescribe these today. Our pharmacists will be up late tonight restocking medical bags from a record number of prescriptions over the last two clinic days.

Should be an exciting next few days. Keep us in your prayers as we minster to this community.
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The link below will take you to Today's photos: http://flickr.com/photos/94059942@N00/sets/72157594475118555.
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The link below will take you to the video updates for Joy India team (requires Quicktime): http://www.firstdallas.org/Missions/

Orissa - Well Accomplished!

Despite many challenges faced this week we have completed our clinic work in Orissa and finished strong. Today was our final clinic in this wonderful region of India and the completion of pastor training by Dr. Barry Creamer.

Barry has trained 30 pastors this week in Janla on the "Doctrine of God". He has seen a mighty work accomplished in the hearts of these courageous men. The pastors in Orissa face obstacles of which we cannot conceive in our cozy and comfortable Christian lives. These men of valor face real persecution & threats on their very lives for preaching the gospel and for ministering in the villages & towns of this state. Please keep these men in your prayers!

Today upon graduating from the week of theological training each pastor was given a case of bibles translated in the Oriya language. We should acknowledge the efforts of Dr. Allen Powell, who coordinated the funds used to purchase these bibles. This was a surprise gift arranged by Dr. Janet Merrill as a part of the graduation ceremony. Also, three bicycles were purchased by the Joy India team members and were presented to the three church planters working in the Daltala region of Orissa.

Our final clinic today was sponsored by the Bhubaneswar Rotary Club and serviced a small village in East Orissa called Delanga. As with each Rotary club clinic we began with an opening ceremony where Dr Sonya Merrill & Dr. Ide Trotter gave a short address and a presentation. Our clinic location for all five teams was a small hospital with well equipped rooms and crowd control gates.

Tomorrow we travel to Bangalore. Our flight arrives late in the evening and we start our clinics early Friday morning. Please pray for the hearts of those we will encounter in Bangalore, there we can openly share the gospel in the clinics. Also please pray for the health of the team, long days and short nights are beginning to take their toll on some members. Pray that our travel logistics are smooth and free from obstacles & difficulty.

Thank You for your faithful prayer support of our mission.

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The link below will take you to Today's photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/94059942@N00/sets/72157594471554321

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The link below will take you to the video updates for Joy India team (requires Quicktime): http://www.firstdallas.org/Missions/

Casting our Nets

This morning we started off a few minutes early due to the long journey to Puri. We are again excited about ministering to the physical and spiritual needs of the fishermen who live in these colonies just outside the city. Following yesterdays successful clinics, we were truly excited to spent the day ministering in another fishing village to the South. The inhabitants live in brick and mud huts with palm branch roofs on the edge of the beach, with sand blowing into every crack and crevice, no public sanitation, and few fresh water sources. The fishermen work hard, going out to sea around 5:00 am and returning in early afternoon; many of them live in chronic pain due to the highly physical nature of their work, and they often turn to alcohol to relieve their misery.

Two of our teams were located in a small church building, a third was set up under an open thatched roof adjacent to the church, and the fourth began the day at a local hospital but moved to the front porch of a building right at the water’s edge. Hundreds received medical help, and many had never before seen a doctor. With today’s patients we exceeded the 3000 mark after only 5 days of clinics. The teams continued to display resourcefulness and flexibility while we reshuffled team assignments in Ravi's absence.

Please continue to pray for good health and stamina for the team. The days that involve a long commute plus a full day of clinics are quite taxing on bodies of ALL ages. ;-)
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The link below will take you to Today's photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/94059942@N00/sets/72157594469830181
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The link below will take you to the video updates for Joy India team (requires Quicktime): http://www.firstdallas.org/Missions/

Fishing for the Lost

Today we drove to the Puri region of Orissa (near Konark) to a new fishing village location for us called Chandra Bhaga situated on the coast where all five teams spread out through this active vibrant village and setup our clinics. We saw some of the most dire medical cases that we have experienced so far on this trip and people with the greatest health & personal needs overall. Days like this make us feel both rewarded and insignificant. While there were a number of short term needs that we meet, we had a sense that these villagers did not have access to even "less than" adequate care.

We were excited to learn that there was a church in this village (one of the teams used their facility as a clinic location) and that it had been in existence for 30 years. We pray that our medical work with this village exalted the name of Jesus and gave the local ministry a springboard for further outreach.

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The link below will take you to Today's photos:

http://flickr.com/photos/94059942@N00/sets/72157594467230640

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The link below will take you to the video updates for Joy India team (requires Quicktime): http://www.firstdallas.org/Missions/

A Day of Rest

We took a day off from clinic work today to support several local churches in Bhubaneswar. Some attended the Union Baptist Church and a small group attended a home church called Calvary Grace Fellowship in a village near our hotel. The Union Baptist Church was started by the father of Dr. Ide Trotter (or Gandhi as we like to call him), when he and his wife Lena lived in Bhubaneswar in the 1960s. Today this church is a hub for some of the mission work supported in this region. The CGF church currently meets in a home ministering to the immediately community around them and several slum areas that are nearby. They have purchased property and are raising the funds necessary to construct a church building. Dr. Barry Creamer spoke at CGF church and also administered the ordinance of the Lord's Supper.

The rest of the afternoon offered many options including resting, shopping or touring the many temples of this city. Bhubaneswar has more temples than any other city within India and Orissa also makes this claim among the states. This evening most of the team visited the home of Dr. Patra for a time of fellowship and dinner. The Patra clan were gracious hosts. They served an authentic Orissan meal and we enjoyed their hospitality. We have a few team members that are suffering from sore throats, congestion and mild flu symptoms so please keep them in your prayers. We will also reshuffle the teams a bit this week as Dr. Ravi Vallabhan and his wife Sheryl will be visiting family for a few days in Mumbai, pray for their journey. They will rejoin us in Bangalore.
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Below is a picture archive of today:
http://flickr.com/photos/94059942@N00/sets/72157594465170648
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The link below will take you to the video updates for Joy India team (requires Quicktime): http://www.firstdallas.org/Missions/

Long Commute but Eternal Impact

Today our journey to the clinic location North of Bhubaneswar was a considerable distance. Our commute was a lively rough and tumble two hour & thirty minute journey each direction to the Dhen Kanal region of Orissa. Here we served a wonderfully affectionate group of people from area villages. Our venue once again was a school compound and here all five teams (again working together) had much room to spread out and to setup our medical camp.

There were many children to be seen and because we were a great distance from the nearest town some of the cases were a bit more severe. Our Bhubaneswar-based translator team was top notch and we were also assisted by local village pastors and their families.

Tomorrow we will support several local churches in Bhubaneswar and the entire team has been invited to a dinner at the home of Dr. Patra tomorrow evening.
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Below is a picture archive of today:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/94059942@N00/sets/72157594462882139

A Significant Answer to Prayer

Wow, the Lord has given us a terrific first clinic day here in Orissa. All five teams combined in a remote village in the Daltala region at a high school compound. Our friend the Hindu holy man, the Sadhu, was on hand to greet us and to direct a brief opening ceremony. Dr. Sonya participated in this special occasion for the villagers by lighting an oil lamp then we all went to work seeing over 750 patients collectively.

The people of this village were extremely genuine and friendly. Their medical needs were much greater than those we saw in Delhi but we know their spiritual needs are of paramount importance. Through your prayer support the crowds were very manageable today which kept us organized. It is so exciting and humbling to know God has placed us in this region for a specific purpose. We were excited to meet the three new church planters who are working in this region as a result of the Joy India 2006 team "Opening the Door" last year. It was also amazing to hear our friend, the Sadu, actually make reference to the Lord. He is seeking the God we serve, please keep him in your prayers.

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Below is a small picture archive of today:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/94059942@N00/sets/72157594461068875

Arrived in Orissa!

One of the most thrilling moments on our mission trip is to hear reports of how God’s hand has moved among the people in the areas where we have conducted medical clinics in the previous year. This evenings report was no exception. Soon after we arrived in Bhubaneswar a meeting was held to discuss the mission plan in Orissa, here we were reunited with Dr. Satyananda Patra (our local coordinator here in Orissa). He is General Secretary of the Orissa Baptist Association. He gave us a terrific report that brought tears of joy to many eyes. Last year in the Daltala-Dinger region of Orissa we worked in the village of a Hundi Religious leader, a "Sadhu". This was an area that had not been accessible to local Christian work for many years. Since last year through the power of God’s amazing providence three church planters are now permanently placed in this region and 21 prayer groups (each with around 10 families) have been started as a result of their work. PTL!!!!!

We are also equally excited about the opportunity to begin a pastor training conference that will be conducted simultaneously here in Bhubaneswar for 30 area ministers that have been specially selected by the local Baptist Association. Dr. Barry Creamer, our fabulous Joy India team pastor, will lead these daily sessions.

We had a delay departing Delhi this morning but arrived safely this afternoon in Bhubaneswar airport to a wonderful greeting from our hosts in Orissa.

For tomorrow please pray that the number of people will be manageable and that we remain sensitive to what God has in store this year. Crowd control was a logistical challenge for us last year in Daltala but God still moved in a marvelous way.

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Below is a small picture archive of today:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/94059942@N00/sets/72157594459452672

First Clinic Day - A Great Success!

We thank the Lord for giving us a wonderful first clinic day in Delhi. Dr. Satish Rao worked with local government leaders to plan for this medical mission camp based on last year's successful clinics conducted in the Rohini section of North Delhi. This year we worked with the Noble Human Welfare Organisation to conduct a combined clinic (all 5 teams together) in the Bansal Bhawan Community Hall. It was an exciting opportunity to minister to the neighborhood and build strong ties with local community leaders for future medical mission opportunities within the state of Delhi. We were also privileged to have a visit from the Industries Minister for the state of Delhi. Dr. Janet Merrill guided him on a tour of the clinic and hosted high level meetings to discuss future cooperative opportunities for medical missions in the area.

Before seeing the first patient each team prayed for God to do a mighty work today enabling each of us to show the love of our Lord, to enable His healing power to touch these wonderful people and most importantly to allow each of us to demonstrate His love for this community. Praise the Lord! We can report with great excitement that we saw every patient that came through the clinic door which totaled nearly 400 over a 5 1/2 hour span.

It was also a terrific opportunity for the new teams and team members to get to know one another. At the conclusion of the day the Noble organisation members gave our team a wonderful departure ceremony and each team member was given a gift.

Please be in prayer for us tomorrow as we travel from Delhi to Bhubaneswar, Orissa. We begin clinics in the Orissa area on Friday, January 5th.
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Below is a small picture archive of today:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/94059942@N00/sets/72157594457012979

Hello Delhi - A Foggy Arrival

Although dense fog at the Indira Gandhi Airport delayed some flights, all team members have safely arrived in Delhi.

This afternoon following our first team meeting we set off for a brief tour of Delhi. Our first stop was the Sikh temple "Gurudwara Bangla Sahib". Among many things for which this temple is known it feeds approximately 15,000 people daily from a large publicly staffed "soup kitchen". It also contains a large pool of holy water in which devotees drink and bathe.

We also toured a local souk near the Jama Masjid mosque where we were treated to a bicycle rickshaw tour through the amazingly crowded narrow passageways.

Tomorrow we begin our first clinic day. All the teams will work together in the Rohini section of North Delhi. We will setup in a local civic center for the day.

Pray that all weary travelers get rest this evening and that all logistics go smoothly as we begin the 2007 Mission.

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Below is a small picture archive of today:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/94059942@N00/sets/72157594456983959