My parents-in-law (Ray & Mary) just returned from their first trip to India. Here's an excerpt from their summary letter...The last 10 days in India was a short-term church planting mission with E3 Partners consisting of 21 ordinary people from America to reach out to the Banjara Gypsies near Hanamkonda. We formed 9 teams and went to over 80 Banjara thandas (villages). We had a great time; however, it was very tiring and demanding. We had to get up every day at 4:00 am to get ready to leave at 5:30 a.m. To meet at the Banjara Center for organizing the day's activities and then drive for 2 hours each way to the sites. The driving was the worst and most dangerous I have ever experienced. There was no hot water at the hotel, so we had cold showers every morning, and our food for breakfast and lunch was basically what we brought from the U.S.--- granola bars, Vienna sausage, trail mix, etc. However, we were fortunate that we were able to have dinner each night at a Chinese restaurant (we found Indian food to be too spicy). The good news is, we planted over over 20 new churches and saw over 500 professions of faith in the Banjara thandas. On the last day there, it was a blessing to see people accept Jesus as the gospel was presented on the edge of Hanamkonda in the shadow of a Mosque. Some of the ones who received Christ were Muslims. One Muslim was looking out her door fully clad in the black dress, head cover, and face cover. Jesus was glorified and the Banjara people were empowered and equipped to continue the work of discipleship and church planting using Proclaimers (solar powered audio New Testament in their language) and other discipleship materials we left behind. I’ve attached a photo of the Banjara couple that we gave a Proclaimer to so they can have the new believers meet in their hut to listen to the New Testament...
