Dear friends,
We want to start our update by wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year. The rainy season has arrived in Southern India. Days of scattered showers and heavy rains a week can pass without seeing the blue sky. Children look forward to rain days just as kids in Canada love their snow days.
Just a few weeks ago we finished with our last team from Canada. A total of four teams this year. Each team was a blessing to us and to the people we minister to. We are now gearing up for the busy Christmas season.

On Oct 23 we welcomed the WM team to Chennai. This team focused on women, children and widows. The team was led by Sandra Gill WM director for Canada. In just a short 10 days the team visited 3 three schools and entertained, educated and blessed over 1400 children. In the evenings we visited our widows a total of 75 over a period of 3 days. On Saturday Oct 30th we held a one day WM event with over 200 ladies attending.

School children learned about life in Canada they also had a special visit from Joy the clown. Joy talked about creation and how God created everyone special and beautiful. The team planted seeds of hope and love in these Hindu children’s hearts.

In the evenings we visited our widows, some nights visiting them right in their homes. This gave the team a look into the life that these desperately poor women live. Left alone and often abused having the team visit them is an event these ladies will never forget.

One night the ladies walked more than a KM through the mud and rain to hold a meeting for our widows. Slipping and sliding all the way the ladies finally arrived. Between the showers Sandra blessed the ladies with a message and then each widow received a new sari and a bag of groceries.
Flourish! That was the theme for the WM event. You are beautiful, you are worthy, you can grow and flourish. Much needed words of compassion and love to these ladies. The WM team reached into the hearts of ladies and encouraged them blessed them and gave them hope.

We want to thank each and every member of the WM team for choosing Indian and for all of the hard work that was done. A big thank you goes out to Sandra Gill and to Donna and Dan Davies that helped co lead the team. They overcame many challenges along the way but lead this team with grace and love. We also want to thank “Covered by Love” quilt project and Sandra Morton who brought us so many beautiful quilts.

As we look to the New Year we can’t help but wonder what God has in store. Early in the year the new addition to the children’s home will be completed and we will be able to accommodate many more new children.
Our church plant in the town of Avadi will soon be finished and we will be able to hold services inside a brand new building.
Christmas brings challenges being stretched in many different directions and the distance between family and friends always feels a little further at Christmas. At the same time it’s a honour to serve those around us.
Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas,

Prasad, Dawn, Hannah and Asha