Dear Praying Friends,

After hearing an account of the spiritual needs in India, [it was] remarked: “There is a gold mine in India, but it seems almost as deep as the center of the earth. Who will venture to explore it?”
“I will go venture to go down,” said Carey, “but remember that you must hold the ropes.”

The man who uttered those words was William Carey, a poor cobbler whom God called to the mission field. He spent much of his life serving the Lord in India and God used him to spread the light of the gospel in that land. Yet, Carey, like so many missionaries after him, understood that it wasn’t just him going out alone. There were people “back home” that validated his work of missions abroad by their faithful uplifting in prayer.

I am humbly asking all of you reading this to “hold the ropes” as well.

Tomorrow, I will be boarding a plane to the country of India. God has graciously opened up the door for me to travel with a small team from my home church to the city of Bangalore in south India to spread the gospel to the people there. I wanted to make you all aware of this so that you could be upholding us with your prayers.

We will be working with a small, growing Reformed church within the city of Bangalore. We are looking forward to leading a Vacation Bible School with the children in the area, being involved in outreach ministry, developing relationships with the people (particularly the young adults), and assisting the host congregation as they settle into a new facility… as well as being open to whatever else God would have for us to do. It is my prayer that this team would bring spiritual encouragement as well as open our eyes to how we can best serve Him in this context.

I truly covet your prayers as this team embarks on this mission... as it is God alone who can turn any feeble effort on our behalf into something wondrous for His glory. Please be praying …

• -That our Father would be preparing our hearts spiritually to serve Him joyfully, to share Him boldly, and to surrender all the results to Him.
• -That He would use the gospel that goes out from the evangelistic programs and VBS to plant seeds and that many would respond by putting their salvation in the only God who is able to save.
• -That we would be a source of encouragement and blessing to the believers there, so that they might be encouraged in the Lord and strengthened in their faith (in spite of religious persecution that they may face in the future)
• -That above all, Christ would be highly exalted, as the ends of the earth come to praise Him.

God has impressed these verses on my heart as a theme for this trip.

There is none like You among the gods, O Lord,
Nor are there any works like Yours.
All the nations you have made shall come
And worship before You, O Lord,
And shall glorify Thy Name.
For You are great and do wondrous things;
You alone are God.
Psalm 86:8-10

In a country that is full of gods, may these precious people come to know the one True God as they see evidences of Him and understand His saving work of forgiveness and grace. In a country where there is much spiritual darkness, may they come to see the God who is to be worshipped and glorified as their Creator. As we travel and live there, may we come to see our God in a whole new way as He does things far beyond what we could ask or think.



For the next several weeks, this blog will be a travel log for the team. Be sure to check both the blog and the "updates" section (on the left sidebar), and I will post as often as I am able. Thank you so much for praying!

~ Beth