Fanci Danci in Samsi !!

After our overnight train ride in the sleeper car from Kokata, we arrived in Samsi at 5:45am. We had breakfast and then we were back in action as we began here by giving a Bible lesson to the Bible College students. There are about 15 who have come from all over West Bengal to attend here. From there, Phil and I were the guests of honor for the Compassion / Partners school. This year marks 25 years since Partners began involvement here. We met with PJ Thomas who is the visionary leader and who has done an incredible job leading the ministry. There are over 250 sponsored children by bothe ministries and they sang for us, did traditional dances and basically won over our hearts. The kids are so happy and fun to be with. We were high fiving them! Afterwards a group of pastors gathered as we was asked to give a message to them. What I am definitely realizing is that I have to always be ready on the spot to preach, teach, you name it!! Thankfully, God has been giving me passages and insights to share and reminding me of the lessons that I have learned. So many of them face incredible challenges so it is humbling and yet inspiring to be an encouragement to them. So, I challenged the pastors and leaders on the subject of not forgetting to feed their often, own forgotten soul. After, we had a time of hallelujah injected worship and we then walked through the surrounding village and met up with some of the families who have sponsored children who have come to know the Lord as well as meeting other families that still need sponsorship. As you can imagine there is still so much more that can be done!

Well, we are off to another village in the area here this afternoon before we go on another overnight train ride to a new area, Gourshanda, closer to Bangladesh, north east of here.

Thanks for your prayers. I am feeling great and health is good...love all the curry and spiced up food.