HBI staff attended a four day workers conference in Chattisgarh with Josh Kallimel, founder of Advanced Leadership Training Center. 50 senior leaders were present and a number of their wives. Each of the leaders has a mentoring relationship with anywhere from 50 to 500 pastors and missionaries. Josh said they represent about 12,000 village churches. The idea is to train them so they can train the pastors who can then minister life to their churches. Through the work of these leaders and many others like them, the gospel is reaching thousands of Indian villages where no churches had existed.
We had the joy of buying bicycles for 21 of the workers, each of whom had connections to 50 churches or more. This simple gift makes it so much easier for them to travel from village to village spreading the good news of Jesus and encouraging and teaching the believers. More bicycles and motorcycles are needed for this ministry and others that we support. We were able to provide one couple with a sewing machine and another with some goats. Thank you for enabling us to bless them in these ways.
There is also a boys’ hostel on the property. About 50 boys from ages 5 to 16 live there. They are full of exuberance. They sing with gusto and aren’t bashful about doing it. Our hearts were touched by their beautiful smiles. They are poor in material possessions, many sleep only on a thin mat on the cement floor. Still they are surrounded by love and are learning to know that they have a God who loves them. We loved it when the boys would come running up to us, shake our hands and greet us with “Hi Auntie, Hi Uncle.” We were able to provide each boy with a new shirt and pair of pants as well as giving them some new sports equipment. Support from friends in the US makes such giving possible.