India 09 | WithoutWax.tv by Pete Wilson
Archive - India 09 RSS Feed

70 Left

April 27, 2009 in India 09 with 46 Comments

The more I learn about Compassion and the work they do the more impressed I am. On our way to the first Compassion project Shaun explained Compassion International is three things: church-based, child-focused and Christ-centered.

Today I saw first-hand how that very mission statement is changing lives!

We visited the Mar Thoma Child Development Center which works with 300 kids. It’s amazing what they’re doing here with these kids. It’s clear they are developing them socially, economically, academically and spiritually. All of these things are made possible because of the generous child sponsors like yourselves.

I personally witnessed how your $32 a month can make such a difference not only in the life of the child you sponsor, but in the entire family.

The highlight of my day was my time spent with Subham Pramanik. Subham, who is 7, reminded me so much of my son, Jett. His family has been through so much but has hope because of the education and health development their son is getting through Compassion. I had the opportunity to visit and pray with this remarkable family which is surviving in the most difficult of situations. Please keep them in your prayers.

Here’s the good news. Some 225 kids are currently being sponsored through this project. However that still leaves 70 UN-SPONSORED KIDS. These children need our help.

If you’re interested in sponsoring a child from India CLICK HERE. You can browse through a multitude of kids who need our help.

Here’s a little video of the kids from our time at the project today. You’ll love the parade they gave us as we walked into the project…


Mar Thoma Child Development Center from Pete Wilson on Vimeo.

One Life Can Make a Difference

April 26, 2009 in India 09 with 78 Comments

We flew into Kolkata, India this morning and after settling in went on a little tour to get familiar with the region. One of the stops was the home/mission of Mother Teresa. I grew up Baptist, so to be honest, we didn’t hear a whole lot about Mother Teresa. However, I’ve always been oddly drawn to her work. While I’ve quoted her and used her example in countless message illustrations I’m not sure I ever really understood the huge heart behind this tiny woman until today.

Mother Teresa's Room

I stood outside of her little humble room and couldn’t help but be reminded that God can use anyone, anywhere, for anything. This was the same room where she wrote so many of the words that have inspired millions. The same little room where she heard from God time and time again and followed Him no matter what the cost. This was the same room where she went to be with the Lord on September 5th, 1997.

And although she’s passed from this earth her ministry continues. Today, I looked in the eyes of hundreds of orphans who are getting love, food, and Jesus because of the sacrifices this woman made. I could never put into words how absolutely heartbreaking it was to look at these precious children. With a lump in my throat, doing everything I could to hold back the tears, I walked by crib after crib after crib of sick orphaned children.

In one crib there was the most beautiful 3 or 4 week old infant several of us just couldn’t get enough of. Angie asked the nurse her name and the nurse replied, “Oh she has no name. These babies will not live long enough to give them a name.”

I don’t think any of us knew how to respond to such overwhelming despair.

How could one woman work in those conditions and experience the weight of that grief for decades as Mother Teresa did? Now I understand exactly what she meant when she said, “I have come to love the darkness.”

One of my favorite Mother Teresa quotes is “I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world. ”

My prayer for this trip is very similar. God you are the author.  As pain filled and tragic as things are in India it’s still your story and I want to find out how I fit into it. God allow me to be your instrument. Allow me to be your bright hope in the midst of darkness. Allow my eyes and the eyes of everyone following this trip to be awakened to your call to action.

One woman followed God’s call and simply loved. Maybe you will too.

If your interested in sponsoring a child in India who desperately needs your love and support CLICK HERE. We CAN make a difference!

In My Head at 33,000 Feet

April 25, 2009 in India 09 with 39 Comments

My thoughts at 33,000 feet..

  • We’re flying over Iceland right now. Wish I had my socks on.
  • The Office is funny no matter how many times you watch a particular episode.
  • Listening to classical music does not help you relax during turbulence like the old lady told me earlier this week.
  • I just watched The Curios Case of Benjamin Buttons. I cried. I think it had more to do with being overly exhausted than the love story.
  • Airplane food is nasty and should only be eaten when you are close to starving to death and even then I would not recommend the omelet.
  • We just flew over Moscow. That’s kind of cool. Makes me feel like James Bond or something.
  • I’ve only gotten up to pee twice on this 15 hour flight. For those of you who know me well I know you’re very proud right now.
  • I’m confused. We left Chicago around 7:30 p.m. Friday night and we’re arriving in Deli, India at 9:30 p.m on Saturday. It’s only a 15 hour flight so what the heck happens to the other 11 hours. I guess they hang in space until I retrieve them when I fly back.
  • I haven’t slept since Thursday night so I should sleep well in Delhi tonight. We wake up early and board a 2-hour flight to Kolkata which, until recently, used to be called Calcutta.
  • Thanks again for all of your prayers!!! Don’t forget the banners below which will help us spread the word.

Here’s a short clip of the scary cab ride…

Here WE Go…

April 24, 2009 in India 09 with 39 Comments

We’ll I’m less than 24 hours away from boarding the plane for my trip to India with Compassion with THIS INCREDIBLE TEAM.  If you read this blog often you know I don’t ask a lot of you guys but I want to ask you to do a couple things for me over the next 10 days.

1) Please Pray: Pray for wisdom, safety and guidance. As you know India can be a country that is not always welcoming to Christians and our message. I read the other day about certain groups that offer $250 to kidnap and kill pastors. Clearly, I’ll be carrying about $255 with me.

I really believe this is going to be a life changing trip for me. You guys know my passion to reach the under resourced around the world and I feel I’m going to get a big piece of that vision on this trip. While there I’ll also be looking for a project for Cross Point to establish a long term partnership with.

2) Help Me Get the Word Out: I feel Compassion has taken a risk with me and our blog community here at Without Wax. There are some wonderful bloggers with massive readerships going on the trip. However,  they believe in what God is doing here and think this is an important blog to share the vision of what Compassion is doing in India.

PLEASE CONSIDER PUTTING THIS IMAGE ON YOUR BLOG FOR THE NEXT 10 DAYS! It’s super simple – just copy and paste the code.  The first image will link back directly to my own view of Calcutta and the stories I’ll be telling. If you’re a geek, you can enlarge to 380px wide by changing it in the code.  Please just help us spread the message of the hope and love in Calcutta. The second image will send people directly to compassion where they can sponsor a child from India.

=====

LINK TO STORIES ON WITHOUTWAX:

Code to copy:

LINK TO SPONSOR A CHILD:

sponsor-a-child-india

=====

And while I’m in the air for the next day or so I’ll leave you with this fun little video detailing some of my adventures with Anne leading up to the departure. I can only imagine the trouble we’re going to get into over there! God be with us.

Blogging For Transformation

April 18, 2009 in Church Leadership, India 09, Religion with 22 Comments

There are a lot of different reasons I work so hard to form community via this blog and twitter. However, all of them revolve around my personal life vision statement based off Galatians 4:19 Oh, my dear children! I feel as if I’m going through labor pains for you again, and they will continue until Christ is fully developed in your lives.

I simply want to help Christ be formed first in my life and then in the lives of the people I do community with.

We just finished the 28 Day Challenge where I asked you guys to read a chapter from the book of Matthew each day. I’ve had a lot of you ask me about another challenge and I plan on doing another one shortly, but thought I would give you guys a break and let you do some personal reading on your own.

Anyway, here’s an email I received this week after the challenge. This is why I blog.

Pete,

I have been meaning to email you for 28 days now.  Life gets in the way sometimes but I am getting it done now.  I have to let you know how the 28 day Challenge has impacted my life.

I really enjoy easy bible reading instruction.  This challenge was great…I mean really what is one chapter a day.  Well, what it ended up being in my life is a way to get my husband and son thinking about the Gospels.  My husband has the normal yucky church childhood experience and has not followed me on my journey with Christ.  He was forced to participate in a very legalistically strict church as a child and hasn’t been a regular attender since. He basically hasn’t read his Bible or meditated on the word in years.

He is a good man, a wonderful provider, an amazing father.  He has just not seen Jesus in the light of love, until now.  My father in law has been in the hospital for weeks.  One day I was sitting in his hospital room and I had accessed the book of Matthew on my Blackberry via YouVersion.  I was reading to myself when Jon asked me what I was doing.  So I explained your Challenge.  Jon asked me to read it to him.  That was the 3rd day of the challenge.  Everyday since we have read the chapter of Matthew.  There have even been a few days where he is the one reminding me that we need to do our reading.  This is truly blessing me.

A few days ago I asked Jon what he wanted to do after we were finished with Matthew.  I asked if he would like to start another book of the Bible or if he would be done for now.  He stated that he would be interested in more reading.  So I have picked Acts.  Tonight we have started to read that with the intention of a chapter a day.  I have been praying so hard for a praying husband, I have been patient, not making comments or demands and I can see the Lord answering these prayers.

I know that this challenge was through God but I need to thank you for doing it.  For making it a reality instead of a just should have done.  I also know that a lot of people only contact Pastors and other authority figures when they need to complain.  It has been on my heart to let you know what an impact on my life your challenge has had.  May God continue to work mightily through you!

So thank you guys for your contributions and comments here on Without Wax. I love the way we live out Hebrews 10:24 which says 24And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.

I really appreciate you guys!

Page 2 of 2«12