Dearest Friends,
You will Not Believe What Happened
As I write the words, we are high over the Atlantic Ocean headed for home. We almost missed our flight because Nathan and I were delayed by airport security. When they scanned my briefcase that Nathan was carrying, they became very concerned. I told them that I was a missionary coming home, but in the end they called the bomb squad and shut down that part of the airport.
Josh and Teresa were caught in the security delay. They saw us standing at the side and at first did not realize that we were being detained. As understanding dawned, Josh said, "Mom, did you cause this?" By this time all of the security people had cleared the immediate area and 200 plus aggravated people were standing in line unable to reach their gates.
Finally, they realized they had made a big mistake. I thanked them for giving Nathan and I a great story to tell. Gratefully, we boarded our plane. Thank you for remembering to pray us safely home. As yet we are unable to ascertain the identity of the questionable item because they were too embarrassed to tell us.
Prayer and Praises
We leave India with hearts full of joy, delighted by the adventure of serving in India and blessed by all that we have seen God do. Enjoy the following list of prayer and praises and just some funny things that made us smile.
1. Praise God for the thousands and thousands of children that we were allowed to tell about the love of Jesus. Most were Hindu, some Muslim, all in need of hope.
2. Thank God for Joy and Leela George and their real faith, which God uses to touch people all over Asia for the Gospel. It is an honor to call them our dear friends!
3. Praise Him for the Asian Christian Academy students that we were blessed to train in child evangelism methods. They came from all over India, Burma, Nepal, and China. Their enthusiasm for starting a student led puppet team with the equipment they received was boundless.
4. Thank God for Sam Shaw! When we were asked to do 3 shows in full sun, Sam told the stories. The heat was simply too much for me so I opened each show introduced the beginning to the story. I am so excited to see what a great storyteller Sam has become! Mike would be very proud of his Irish son!
5. Rejoice with me in the joy I had on this trip from having my oldest son, Josh and his wonderful wife Teresa with me! Their consistent walk with God and their desire to serve Jesus honors their father’s memory. God used them to show His love to so many.
6. Thank God for Hadia’s consistently sweet spirit as well as her amazing ability with puppets. I am equally grateful for Nathan’s work and hope he will join us again.
7. In order to reach some places we had to rent vehicles. They were always owned by Hindus and decorated with Hindu gods. One even had a little plastic god that sat on the dash and flashed different colors. Imagine a Christian puppet team arriving in such a fashion!
8. Many villages had village gods, usually a man holding a weapon standing between two brightly painted horses. He was believed to protect the village. Please ask God to show the village people who is their true strength and true refuge.
9. Praise God for the joy of doing puppet shows in 4 different languages and even being able to tell a story while it was signed for deaf children. I am so grateful for all of the fine young men who translated for us!
10. I am especially grateful for Manoa, a godly young man who translated many of my stories. He walks humbly with His Lord and blessed all of us. In my heart, God has given me my first Indian son. Pray for Gods provision and blessing in his ministry.
11. Remember to pray about the overwhelming poverty and desperate need of so many. Ask the Father to not let us forget what we have seen and heard. May we remember that of whom much is given much is expected!
12. The wonder of seeing children kneeling in the dirt and calling on Jesus caused all of us to praise the Lord.
13. Praise the Lord for 10 sets of equipment that fit in backpacks for the seminary students to use on their summer ministry trips across India. It was essential to develop a tool that could be portable and lightweight, as they will be ministering in very difficult places.
14. Please continue to pray for Immanuel who is believed to have died when the Hindus burned the church he was in. We still hope that he escaped and we ask you to remember his mother and grandmother in prayer.
15. Please begin to pray for the trip to South Africa as we leave March 15th.
In Jesus,
Linda for
Sam Shaw
Hadia Jackson
Nathan Light
Josh Summer
Teresa Summer