Sunday Crowd

Today was the first service at our new location for Grace Baptist Church, our house.

We thought maybe the numbers would be down today, since we moved to a new location.  We had 60 in the morning service!  Some even walked the 1.5 kilometers from the building where we used to meet, because they were too late to ride in the church vehicle.

We had a teenage girl leave our church in anger a couple of years ago.  She said, at that time, that she would never set foot inside our church again.  Last week, she came for the service.  This week she and her cousin walked the 1.5 km to church, and she raised her hand at the end of the service for prayer.  It is a blessing to see God changing someone who seems (to us) unchangeable.  Please continue to pray for God to work in hearts at Grace Baptist Church.

A House Warming

Recently, one of the members of the Chandigarh fellowship (ZCFC) was married in Manipur.  Brian was able to travel to Manipur to attend the wedding.

When the newlyweds arrived in Chandigarh we had a house warming and welcome fellowship.  Here are some photos from our evening of fellowship.

Looks like trouble...

Too nice...she should have made him wear a little frosting!

Congratulations Gainingam and Janpuina!

Melody is 10!

On March 4th, Melody turned 10 years old. 

Melody has spent most of her life in India.  We were in India for a year, and then returned to the US for a few months, because of some political problems in the country.  While back in the States, we found out I was expecting, so decided to stay in the US for her birth.  At that time, honestly, I was not comfortable giving birth in any of the hospitals that were available to us near our home in India.  Since then, things have obviously changed, since Melody was the last of our children to be born in the US. (Ethan was born in Kerala, and Kara in Punjab)   Melody was 6 weeks old when we returned to India.

Happy Birthday to our tenderhearted 10-year old, Melody Joy!

Praises

Things have been busy around here, and we so appreciate those that are praying for us!  A couple weeks ago I posted some prayer requests, so I thought I would give a short update on some of the answers to prayer we have seen recently. 
       We have been praying for a couple months for a new place to meet for the church, because the rent went way up, and we just were not able to handle it financially.  It came down to the last few days, and every place that we checked out, fell through for one reason or another.  Brian went to talk to landlord of the house that we live in to let him know that we would be moving out of the house and putting our things in storage while we went to the US, in order to save money on rent.  He was so upset at losing us as tenants that he agreed to let the church meet in our house for the time that we will be in the US. So, we will store our stuff in one of the bedrooms and the church will use the hall for meetings.  This is actually a double blessing, because we really did not want to move out of this house (especially me!)
         This week we were able to purchase the tickets for our trip to the US.  Also, Brian talked to a friend of ours in the US, who told him that he is buying a full size van for us to use during our time on furlough.  This is a great blessing, since their vehicle is a missionary family's second home while on furlough
          Continue to pray for us, as we are very busy with both the Mohali and Chandigarh churches.  We have 2 1/2 more weeks of school for this year, and I have started organizing and packing up the house, so things are very busy at home as well.  So thankful for the prayers and support!

BBQ

Brian has been wanting our college students to experience an American style "BBQ".  So, on the first Saturday in February we invited them all over to our house for a young people's fellowship.

Food preparation

There were about 25 who attended.  We only have a tiny gas grill that hooks up to my cooking gas cylinder (which can take a week or more to get refilled), so we knew we had to come up with a better solution to cook for so many people.  Using cast off bricks from a neighbors building project, a couple of oven racks, and some coal, we got a good system that easily cooked all the meat for our crowd.

Brian and Pastor Dubish were the "BBQ masters".

The girls and I made coleslaw, potato salad, and desserts.  Some of our brothers and sisters from Manipur made fish and pork in their style, and since this is still India (American BBQ or not), we made some rice!

Cooking the rice

Naomi and Pooja chowing down

Kara and her friend sitting on the wall

Looks like everyone is enjoying the BBQ!

Hmmm..not sure if Blessing and Alex are enjoying or not!

We had the BBQ on the roof of our house.  Since we don't really have a back or front yard, this was the most convenient place.
After everyone enjoyed the food, we had a short message, and then watched the movie "Courageous".  It was a very enjoyable time!

Prayer requests

Please remember these requests in prayer....

Pastor Mangibabu in Manipur was inured in a motorcycle accident.  He has quite a bit of damage to his face.  Pray for his healing.

Brian is in Manipur right now.  He will be visiting a village next Tuesday where there are no known Christians.  There are over 100 families there.  The lady from Manipur with cancer, who we were praying for passed away last week, and this is her home village.  He visited the family once already, and they are very open and asking him to come back to pray for them.  Pray that the Gospel will touch the hearts of these people who are living without hope.

Pray for Grace Baptist Church, we are still searching for a new meeting place.  The rent we are paying now is too much to handle.  Pray for God to open the right doors and lead us to the place where He wants us to meet.

We are planning to be in the US by May.  Pray for the rest of the needed finances for our flight.  Also, for the need of a vehicle while we are in the US, and for increased support, as we have lost some supporters in the last few months, due to financial problems in various churches. 

Naomi is 12!

On January 10, Naomi celebrated her 12th birthday.  As the saying goes..."Where has all the time gone?" 

Here she is on her birthday, still sporting a bandage from her head injury the week before.
Naomi was born while we were on deputation, preparing to come to India.  She was 7 months old when we moved over here.
She is a very talented girl, who sings, and plays the piano and guitar.  Schoolwork is a breeze for her, and she has recently started occasionally speaking with a British accent  (quite effectively too!), but that is only when she is speaking English.  She speaks Hindi and Punjabi with an Indian accent.  Happy Birthday Naomi Starr!