WorshipCentral

Today was our 'rest day', so as we wanted a quiet one, we visited: (1) a slum outreach ministry, (2) a world vision school for street children, (3) a refuge for blind children, (4) a home for children with mental disabilities, (5) Gandhi's Ashram, (6) an amazing temple-like well built in 1493, (7) the local bible society, (8) our Co-ordinator's office, (9) a Christian Marriage reconciliation centre, (10) our Co-ordinator's family home for supper. Here is the bumper update...

(1) Slum Outreach Ministry This amazing project was run by a couple who live in the slum, they educate young children who are from the poorest section of society, providing healthcare, teaching them to read and write and sharing Jesus with them.

Here we were met by a bunch of kids who sang bible songs, led prayers and gave us garlands.

James had managed to bring a load of pens out from his work and we handed them out to the kids.

(2) World Vision school for street children Here loads of kids who have run away from home and live on the streets get taken in and educated up to GCSE level. They've got about 150 kids in education, and have even had one kid achieve the highest score in the state at the final exam, which is like saying the brightest kid in Britain. These kids come from drug-addicted, street backgrounds and it was incredible seeing their dignity restored. One guy we met has decided to become a teacher, so he can help others. Another is going to be a nurse.

(3) Refuge for blind children Blindness is a huge problem in the rural areas, with poor access to clean water. When a family give birth to a blind child, they can't support them and they are often left abandoned. This amazing pastor has started a home where he and his family look after about 20 young children from the age of 0-10. We spent some time hanging out and playing with them. Once they began to trust you they would hold your hand, feel your face and hang onto you. We were able to give them some chocolate bars and although it was utterly heart-breaking, it's awesome to see the love of Jesus in action. The pastors are teaching them to read braille, which will mean they will be able to make a start in life and attend a proper blind school and have the same chance as everyone else.

(4) Home for Children with mental disabilities This was an amazing place run by a lovely guy working with kids with mental disabilities. He's doing an awesome work in a tiny house with loads of kids - about 80 at the moment. They house, feed, educate and love these children who otherwise would be totally rejected by society. The astonishing thing is that this is the only project of its kind in the whole state. News has been spreading through the neighborhood and many of the locals have been coming to their weekly prayer meeting, and coming to Christ. The lady who showed us round was a Hindu who worked at the centre and met Jesus through the work and almost all the workers are the same. The pastor has a waiting list now of 250 children, but cannot fit anyone else into the centre. They need a new building, a new site etc to expand the work.

(5) Gandhi's Ashram Ahmedabad was the home town of Gandhi - if you don't know anything about Gandhi, I recommend renting the DVD of the Ben Kingsley film as it's a good summary of his story, but he is India's founding father and based many of his principles on Jesus's life. He read the bible every morning, and famously once said that if the Christians would only put into practice the teaching of Christ, there would be no need for evangelism as the whole world would follow Jesus. It was great to see the simple Ashram (retreat) where one of the greatest political agents of the last century thrashed out his ideas. His thinking on non-violent protect, simplicity and justice inspired Martin Luther King Jr, Nelson Mandela and countless other social reformers. He is remembered here as 'The Great Soul' and 'Father of the Nation' and the church hold him in great esteem.

(6) The Seven Wells This extra-ordinary structure is built like a giant underground shopping mall, with seven levels of intricate stone terraces following an underground well down into the earth. The size of the thing is incredible. We clambered through secret staircases and along vertigo-inducing ledges to peer into this bottomless well. It was all built by a King in 1498 and is in perfect condition even after the massive earthquake that devastated the region in 2002.

(7) Local Bible Society Imagine the HTB bookshop being the only Christian resource centre for the whole of the UK - well that's the Ahmedabad Bible Society shop. They had lots of great books, even some Alpha resources, loads of Bibles in the Gujarati dialect. They had a load of Indian worship CD's and stuck in the middle of them all was Johnny Park's album!!!! Nice one Johnny!!!!

(8) Our Co-ordinator's office This is the base from which Alpha is being rolled out across Gujarat, and this is Jimmy and his friend who are running these conferences.

(9) Christian Marriage reconciliation centre Jimmy is going to be running the Marriage Course here...

(10) Our Coordinator's family home for supper We were invited to Jimmy's house where is mother and sister had cooked an awesome meal for us. It was so sweet, they'd gone out of the way to not cook spicy food, buy in Pepsi and bottled water for us and generally treat us like Kings & Queens. After supper, we went through to their living room and Jimmy's sister (who is learning guitar and wants to be a worship leader) brought out her guitar for us to play her a song. We asked her what her favorite song was and she started to sing 'Here I Am to Worship'. We all fell off our chairs, and then banged out our best version. It was so sweet!

Now we've headed home to hit the sack. We're all exhausted and are feeling the strain health-wise! There have been a few nasty episodes involving Imodium...