KISSING THEIR SCARS
by a PIONEER in India

Checking BBC today, I saw that Slumdog Millionaire swept the Oscars, taking eight awards including best picture. I went to see it in Delhi and was astonished at both the brutality and beauty of the poverty and people that the movie portrayed and that we see around us every day. Two of the children in the movie are actually from a slum in Mumbai. They were there on stage at the Oscars, flown to L.A. among all the glitter and lights, fame and fortune. Their family and neighbors watched the ceremonies on TV and celebrated their victory. A neighbor said, "We feel happy that two little children who live such difficult lives in Garibnagar have been given such an honor." That is why so many people stopped work today to watch our stars on TV. But soon the stars will be coming home, back to the slum, and back to the life that they knew before the cameras and fame.

I walked out of the movie feeling helpless. How do you make an impact in a country this large, with over 1 billion people and so much suffering? What do you say to a child who has tasted wealth and power and fame but not known the security of a permanent home? Are we just deceiving ourselves into thinking that we can really make a difference?

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IN THIS ISSUE:
• Praise: Spiritual Hunger
• Give: Rescue
• Learn: India on my Mind

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SPIRITUAL HUNGER
by a PIONEER in Amazonia

The hike was only four days but we had to wait for the river to recede after it rained. This was a blessing because we were able to rest our weary bodies and were able to minister to the spiritually hungry villages. A spiritual leader came up to me and asked me in broken Spanish to teach him how to preach. I pointed him to my colleague who was able to talk with him some. He later came up to me and told me, "I want to play guitar to praise God for my people." This man had very little knowledge about God or His Word, but he was hungry for the Truth. He learned to play the guitar faster than anyone I have ever taught and within an hour was playing chord sequences and working on his technique. I encouraged him to write songs to God in his heart language to lead his people. Their spiritual hunger encouraged my fellow PIONEERS as they are learning Caquinte, the local language, to teach them the Bible.

RESCUE

Slumdog Millionaire has exposed the world to rampant poverty existing in India. Such a movie has made it impossible for the public to turn their faces from this enormous problem. One team of PIONEERS is already moving in and reaching out to the street children in their region of India. Many of these children have been orphaned or abandoned, have run away from abusive situations, are trapped in addictions to drugs. The RESCUE home has sprouted in the midst of such needs as a place of refuge for these children--where they able to meet Jesus through the provision of their physical and emotional needs and through the invaluable exposure to and training in the Truth of God's Word. Would you consider reaching out to India's needy children by enabling the brothers and sisters of RESCUE to be the hands and feet of Christ? $18,078 is needed to keep the RESCUE home operating for the remainder of 2009.

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INDIA ON MY MIND

India on my Mind, a 100-page full-color book by PIONEERS-Australia's Mark Syn, is designed to entertain you, stretch your concepts of the world and challenge you to live life in a way that makes a difference to at least one person's life in the Third World.

Mark writes, "It is a book of the unusual things that have caught our attention in our travels through India--things which have made us laugh and cry--and also give us a different outlook on life."

India on My Mind makes a great gift and is available for $18 plus postage. For more information or to place an order, contact Supplies. All profits from the book go towards micro-loans for the poor in North India.