Since I'm leaving this evening, I thought I should send out my support letter. Enjoy.
It will likely come as no surprise to
you that, once again, I am getting ready to leave for India. Even after
spending almost a year there, I have not rid my system of India, and will be
heading back after being in the U.S. for about two months.
This will be a different type of work
than that which I have done during my previous trips. I will be based in
Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, roughly 520 miles North of Ooty. I will spend four
months working with Immerge In, an organization dedicated to planting
culturally relevant churches among Muslim communities. They are working now on
putting together a curriculum they can use to train missionaries to do church
plants. I will be helping them as they design this curriculum.
I will spend 2 months travelling
through various parts of India, interviewing missionaries who have been in the
field, working with the Muslim community for extended lengths of time. I will
compile the interviews, and put them into a book, which will then be used to
teach missionaries who want to work with Muslims.
It was really interesting how I got
this job. I was at an Innovative Initiatives conference for missionaries in
India that was put on by the parents of a friend. They thought after I my job
with Leg Up ended, that I may be able to find something else there. By the end
of the weekend, I had pretty well resigned myself to the fact that I was not
going to find a ministry to work with. Then I was talking to a woman I met
there, and had the thought that perhaps I should ask her if there was anything
I could do to help with their ministry. She said that they had been looking for
some time for someone who would be able to do this book for them. The problem
was that they were looking for a female expat (an expat is someone who has left
their own country to live in another country, usually for an extended period of
time. In this case, they wanted a westerner) who would be interested in the
job, and though they had been praying, and even begging various people to do
it, they had found no one. Well…female and ex-pat. Describes me pretty well…. So
I asked if they would be interested in having me do it. They were over the
moon. All they knew about me at the time was that I was working with a group
that did horse therapy. They didn’t know that I write, and they didn’t know
that I love to travel. So of course, asking me had seemed like a silly thing to
do. But they were thrilled to find out that it was exactly the kind of job I
would love to do. So, with a couple of pastoral references, they decided I was
definitely the person for the job. And I’m hoping I prove them right…
After two months of travelling to do
the interviews, I will spend another two months in Hyderabad putting the
interviews into book form and helping them with any other work they need done.
In October, I have the great opportunity to help start another therapeutic riding centre. There is an equestrian centre in
Pune, Maharashtra, and they have been
wanting to offer therapeutic riding but do not have anyone who can teach their
staff. I will be working with them for a month, teaching them to do therapy and
helping to start their program. It’s really exciting for me because it will be
the second therapeutic riding program I will have helped to start in India in
the last 5 years. It doesn’t sound like that many, but considering the fact
that most people in India think that horse therapy is nonsense, and I never set
out to start any such programs, it’s pretty neat that things are coming
together like this.
Both of these jobs are volunteer
jobs. I will be paying rent and general cost of living while working. While I
am doing the interviews, my travel expenses will be covered (train and bus
tickets), but otherwise, I will be paying for everything. Thus, any support
that I am able to raise would be brilliant. It will be probably about $100 a
month for rent, food, etc. And I just purchased my plane ticket, which was
$630.
I leave the U.S. on February 24th,
and will arrive in India on the 26th. I am looking forward to being
back in India and having a chance to do some more travelling than I’ve been
able to before. There will even be a chance between these two jobs to do some
travelling on my own and explore India (the support I raise will not go toward
my personal travels, only toward my time doing ministry).
Prayer would also be greatly
appreciated, whether you are or are not able to support my trip financially.
Here are some of the prayer points I have thought of so far:
1. Safety-I’d just as soon not have the
plane crash. Or the bus, train, car, motorcycle, etc. Not being injured is
always a plus in my book.
2. Confidence-I’ve never done interviews
before, and I am a little nervous about it. I don’t want to mess it up.
3. That I would honour God in the things I do-Everything I do, even when I am on my own travelling, that I would not just be a dumb tourist, but that even when I am not “doing ministry” I would still be a light. I will be spending about a week in Ooty right at the beginning of my trip,
1. and will be spending time with the
dorm I was helping with last year. I really want to make a positive impact in
the lives of the boys.
2. Wisdom-My plans are still really
loose. I keep telling my folks that I have a schedule, but it is all written in
pencil. It probably won’t be written in pen until after the fact, because I have
no idea what else will come up. There’s the possibility that I will do a
short-term stint with YWAM in Australia in the middle of my trip (when I have
to do a visa run…), and who knows what else. It is very exciting, but I want to
make the right choices.
Thank you for your time and any
support you are able to give, be it financial or prayer.
You can follow my blog at www.dragononmybelly.blogspot.com, or sign up for email updates by
sending an email to lrweb7@gmail.com with the subject line “missions
updates”
Have a wonderful day,
Laura
To donate, there are a couple of
options:
You can send a check to: Or you can go to:
Laura Webster
http://www.gofundme.com/6ifelk
8718 W. White Eagle Rd
Forreston, IL 61030 Feel free to share the
website with anyone you think
may be
interested.
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