One Handful of Rice

That Joni Mitchell song is going through my head as I am rejoicing over the fact that my blog is back online. I missed it while it was gone. Now, what to write about to update everyone on the life of the Pierce clan?

Well, Mr. Elijah turned seven on June 13th. It was a Star Wars party all the way from costumes to cake. Lots of fun to see the boys. It’s never long enough though before we have to leave.

Benjamin, Jacob and Elijah

Then it was on to Bonanza, Oregon where our friends are building a lovely home in the middle of ranch country. We helped drill holes in tiles of slate for the outside of the home. I like day labor as long as it is not too many days:)

Home then to get ready for Roger’s trip to India and for me to catch up on some writing assignments. I have the Oregon Christian Writers conference at the end of July and also did a series of devotions for Standard Publishing. The take home paper Evangel is holding some pieces also and I am wondering how that process goes. Since they all work 6-12 months out I am hoping I’ll hear that they are actually using the pieces soon. My research on the Bible Women of India has grown into something kind of unwieldy. I think it is the whole history of missions right now. I need to focus!

We are in the middle of building a support team for our work in India. There have been some really encouraging reports about the couples we support and the work they are doing in forming house churches, taking care of widows and orphans and the handicapped. Nehemiah and Sarah have been asked to take another 20-25 children into their care who are now uncared for in various villages.
There is always more to do than resources to do it. Good thing God is very big. We also heard that our little adopted granddaughter, Akanksha and her husband Kalyan are attending a Bible school somewhere near Hyderabad. We are thrilled to hear that news.

Ending with Wimbledon. We have the luxury of watching matches during the day. I go and play my little lady matches and pretend it is the center court. We eat strawberries and cream on the final weekend. Ahhhh, life is good.

My mind is never far from the people we work with in India. Up north in Delhi our friend Rodrick is soon to return from Indonesia. He is a powerful speaker and teacher and much in demand for training in house church leadership.

It is very hot in India now. Usually between 105 and 110 and that makes it very difficult for the poor who live without air conditioned vehicles and homes. Our friends Uma and Sampath who are building a house church ministry in Karimnagar are dealing with health issues ranging from her broken wrist or hand to his back troubles to continual outbreaks of fever for both of them. It is hard for them to get good medical care.

We’re exploring grant writing opportunities to rebuild the Indian Mission School we visited last trip. That is the school in Peddipalli that has between 700 and 800 students enrolled. We’re learning how to write proposals and find the right foundations to work with. It is all a new area for me and I’m amazed how God is showing me one step to take at a time. Recently we met a couple who are the parents of one of Josh’s friends in D.C. and he (David) is a grant writer. He will be able to give me much-needed information as I move forward in learning the ropes of grant writing.

Roger will be going to India with a church group in Ohio at the end of July. He’ll be able to visit many of our people while there.

Nehemiah and Sarah continue to do amazing work in Anantapur and villages around that area. Sarah just had major surgery and we are praying for her speedy recovery.

Some of our financial obligations are soon coming due as we pay tuitions for a new year of school. The hottest summer months are coming to an end in a while and school begins again. We’re planning on gathering a support team of people on this end of things to help us with our ongoing expenses. That is a special challenge in our tough economic times. We’re excited about the way everything falls into place at the right times and we’ll keep on serving over there as long as the way stays open. When everyone gives their “one handful” God’s work gets done.

Yesterday a group of women who pray together on Friday mornings had the privilege of visiting our friend, Sue. Sue has been battling brain cancer for over five years. She has come to our Friday mornings off and on so we know her struggle, but don’t know her life. She is young–in her 50’s and has a wonderful husband and three children. The battle is nearly over for Sue. We drove to her home and spent time having a kind of party with cake and fruit and deviled eggs which always remind me of a picnic. Sue is paralyzed on her left side now and can whisper, but is so weak that she doesn’t show much emotion. She looks frail. We sang some praise songs and prayed and read out some scriptures to love on her. We held her hand, the right one which can still grip. We gave our best to her.
It was a bit startling to me how the words of the songs and the words in the passages we read jumped out in new ways and with new depths of meaning in that context. Sue has just a short while to live. “Nothing can separate us,” “He will give his angels charge concerning you,” “Because she has loved Me, therefore I will deliver her..” It was all sweet and sad, encouraging and heart-wrenchingly heavy. I felt emotionally tired, but peaceful when we left her. I probably won’t see Sue again. But I’ll dance with her at the marriage supper of the Lamb.

I just got home from a wonderful day in Portland with women in church leadership held at Western Seminary. It was a Network for Women in Leadership event and was both refreshing and challenging. Georgine and Dan Rice led worship. Enough said there–it was beautiful. The two speakers spanned the years of a woman’s life from Heather Thomas of Imago Dei, a young leader, to the delightful and sharp-as-a-tack Pamela Reeve who admits to being in her 90’s. Both women shared from the Word about the struggles of staying the course in leadership. The title of the event was  Ministry:  A Worthy Mess.  Though I’m not leading women’s ministry anymore I relate to all the ups and downs of working shoulder to shoulder with other believers and navigating through disagreements and divisions. There was a lot of wisdom and encouragement shared today. Ultimately the ministry is worthy because Jesus is worthy. It was a good time.

Dhanu and Susie Reddy from Peddipalli were just with us for three days. We’re  seeking  grant money to rebuild the Indian Mission School in Peddipalli which we visited on our last trip. We were able to meet with one funding agency in Eugene while they were here and also had time to relax and talk with them learning about some of the history of the missions work in A.P. Susie’s parents were missionaries sent out to remote areas where they were the only believers around. Today Christian churches are scattered all over the area which is still largely Hindu. They talked about some early missionaries who traveled by oxcart from village to village setting up tents and camping out as they conducted Christian services and told the story of a loving God. Today Dhanu and Susie belong to a network of about 16 churches built over the last 25 years. Those churches grew out of a  small home group that first met in Dhanu and Susie’s living room when they were first married. Today Dhanu continues to be a leader in the churches and also the superintendant of the Indian Mission School while working full time for the local coal company.

One Handful of Rice is in the process of designing a scholarship program for students leaving 10th standard at the India Mission School. The scholarships will fund 11th and 12th grade(junior college) classes which prepare students to go on to degree college. Students have to pass rigid tests in their intended major areas before going to degree college in India. The Plus Two, 11th and 12th standards, focus on four different study areas and passing one of those tests is the only way to attend college. The government has scholarships for college but not for junior college. Poor children can only attend government schools to prepare for these exams and usually can’t pass them unless they pay to go to better private schools. The scholarship program will serve as a link for promising Christian students to continue their educations. It costs approximately $300 per year to attend private Plus Two schools. A total of only $600 can launch a bright student on their college career and open huge opportunities to them for future work and lifestyles. The goal is to help Indian people become self-sufficient and I believe that education is one key way to accomplish that.

This has been a crazy busy week, but in a good way. I’m making headway on some writing projects, getting our agenda ready for our next India trips and finally mailing out the newsletter from our January-February trip. This time I added pictures and even though they’re small, you’ll get a better feel for the people we visit and work with. Take a good look at the picture of the Bible Women I interviewed. I was able to meet with six of them and they are really remarkable women. Each one has a lifetime of stories of the people who heard about Jesus through their story-telling, prayer and sometimes preaching. Each one has her own story of how she came to know the Lord in the middle of Hindu practices and teachings.

I’m working now on learning how to write grants as there are big projects to tackle in relation to education and scholarships for promising Indian students. Our friends Dhanu and Susie Reddy from Peddipalli are coming next week for a short visit. Dhanu is the correspondent (superintendant) of the Indian Mission School which we visited and were greatly impressed by in February. One of our big projects is building new classrooms for the more than 700 students attending there.

If I’d known how much fun retirement was going to be I’d have done it a lot sooner!

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Our good friend and sometimes travel partner to India, Mike Monson, was diagnosed with a brain tumor last week. He has been battling cancer for 12 years, but the tumor still came as a surprise. It was also a surprise to see him get the news, be admitted to the hospital within the hour and then go through a major surgery in just a few days time. The medical world can move when it needs to. Mike came through the surgery with flying colors and looks healthier than ever. Literally hundreds of people around the world prayed for him.

The way people rallied to pray for Mike and the way God’s people have shown their love and care is what I’m pondering today. What a safety net God has given us in His people. Just think of those who go through all sorts of trials with very little support. How sad when God’s plan is that we love and uphold one another. Caring people who will listen and pray are worth their weight in gold. God knows what we need to get through hard times. We need Him and we need each other.

Yesterday I pulled a muscle in my back and today I can barely move! I’d like to report that my injury happened in the middle of a tough tennis match, but the truth is that I leaned into a dairy case at Freddie’s to grab a gallon of milk and that was it. Just another reminder of the tenuous nature of our fragile bodies. I hate it. I have things to do–deadlines in writing, a newsletter to get out, tennis games to play and a lot of other things to do and now I’m grounded for a while. To make matters worse my computer crashed yesterday and the “fixers” can’t come until the end of the week. I know I’m supposed to be counting it all joy, but I can’t say that I am. I’m grouchy.

I can just hear Paul saying the same thing. “I just wanted to take a missions trip to do God’s will and, drat, the Holy Spirit said ‘No’.” And to top that off my eyes aren’t working right and I know the Lord could heal me if He wanted to. I’m definitely grouchy.”

Guess not. Time to buck up and redeem the time. Maybe I could sit and read my Bible or pray, or write on PAPER, or………any suggestions? Anyone relate? Anyone?

Two things are on my mind today. The terrific visit from my daughter and her family AND our visit to the Portland Church, Imago Dei. It has been wild and crazy with the family here… in a wonderful way. Once again I’m reminded why God gave babies to young people,the endless energy thing, but in spite of cool and damp spring weather, we’ve had a great time. Each grandson is just right. They are each totally different people with unique personalities. I love that. Yesterday we went letterboxing down by Vancouver Lake and I think that was the highlight of the trip for me. We found the secret hidden boxes and put the stamps in our notebooks. That activity has all the fun of outdoors, clues, orienteering and solving mysteries. What fun!
Last Sunday we visited the Portland church, Imago Dei. I loved it. The second service filled the auditorium of Franklin High School and most of the attendees were youngish- 20’s-30’s. But there were enough gray hairs to make us feel okay being there. The music was low key but wonderful, and the message was very clear. Three days later I still remember it was about reconcilication and how God made the first move toward us. The kids had a good time in their program downstairs too. But the thing I loved the most was the simple addition of beautiful parts to the service. It opened with a poem written and read by a young woman. The poem chronicled her wrestling match with God as she struggled to come to a point of belief. A little later in the service a young man played a piece on the piano that he had written. The lyrics were all about his relationship with God and how they loved one another. The final song was an updated version of Amazing Grace- very compelling beat, but subdued. In the literature given out to visitors I saw that Imago Dei has a strong emphasis on small groups and that some of them are dedicated to people with an artistic calling on their lives. It seems to me that the artistic community often feel they have no place in the church. They did here. Why shouldn’t our places of worship be full of the expressions of creativity that have been given by a creative God?

I loved my week with my family and my visit to Imago Dei.