May 15, 2011

Dear Little Flock Friends,

The children at Little Flock have all completed their annual examinations and are on their summer break. Summer starts early in India given that the months of April and May are the hottest. They will be back in their classes in June.

Last year we had several teams visit Little Flock and serve at various times during the year. The children were delighted to hear that a team was coming during the Christmas holidays. They were not disappointed in their expectations. The Calvary team from Los Gatos showered the children with love, and gifts and lots of activities. It was a memorable visit for the children and the team.

Lynette LaQuay (Calvary Church, Los Gatos CA.) :
Every year that I go to Little Flock is such a blessing to me. This past December it was a Flock. We were able to share stories of Christ's birth with the kids and do fun crafts with them. On Christmas day all the kids and staff received wrapped presents. This brought a whole lot of smiles! It was especially fun seeing them all in Santa hats! It is my privilege each year to build on these relationships with both the kids and the staff and I love them all dearly! The moments I share with them will forever be etched in my memory and I thank God everyday for each and every one of them!

Every year Twin Lakes Church sends a medical team to serve our children and the community surrounding Little Flock. This is a great way to serve our neighbors and to build good relationships with them. The village lacks any medical care and villagers have to travel many miles for good medical care. Many have expressed their inability to pay for quality medical care.

Laurie Schlaepfer (Twin Lakes Church, Santa Cruz) :
Twin Lakes Church sent its sixth medical & dental team to Little Flock in January 2011. We were blessed to have three dentists, a dental hygienist, five nurses, and eleven support staff. It was our privilege to run a dental and medical clinic for the people from the nearby villages.

Each trip to Little Flock has its defining moments. This year, we felt the work of the previous trips really started to pay off in terms of our relationship with one of the nearby villages. Because many of our team members have been on multiple trips, the people recognized them as returning friends. We brought them photos we had taken of their families last year. When we brought a photo to one family in particular we discovered their young daughter had passed away during the year. The family did not have any pictures of her, so they were elated to have this one photograph. Our team sensed that this particular village had open hearts toward us, so we brought Pastor David, who has been at Little Flock for about six months.

He also sensed an openness and has made plans to visit them more regularly and bring some of the Little Flock kids.

In our clinic, one moment stood out. An old woman came to the dental clinic with severe pain. She told us she could no longer eat because of the pain, and we weighed her in at 87 pounds. Our dentists were able to remove the problem teeth, and when they were finished she wept with joy and put her hands together over her head in gratitude. There weren't many dry eyes in the whole clinic!

Of course we also thoroughly enjoyed being with the Little Flock children and staff as well. They are truly our family in Christ!

The needs of our world are enormous but together we can make a difference in the lives of those the Lord brings to us. Little Flock is truly blessed by the partnerships of churches like Calvary and Twin Lakes.

During my visit in April I was glad to see several women from the village of Kondamagalam enrolled in our certificate course in tailoring. We had graduated 11 last December and currently 20 women are working towards their certificate program.

The children and staff of Little Flock are enjoying the bounty of summer harvest. We had about 200 mangoes from our trees and lots of vegetables. Milk and eggs are in good supply along with our sheep and ducks.

This summer we will have two teams and 14 students and staff from Westmont College at Little Flock College from Santa Barbara CA. The teams will work on the compound wall, fixing up the cottages, murals, English coaching for the children and other projects.

I will be teaching a course in Missions and Social Justice for the students from Westmont College. They will be read biographies of people who impacted change in India. The service components of their study will be at Mother Theresa's mission in Calcutta and Little Flock in Chennai. They will work with children at Little Flock and in the village children teaching them English Language and songs along with crafts and games. They will also do some language learning in the village and work on cross cultural bridges with the villagers.

Summer at Little Flock will be busy and exciting. Our days begin with prayer and devotions so that we can serve out of the overflow of what we have received from the Lord and not out of our own strength.

I would like to direct you to our website for news, photos, and videos. Thanks to Jonathan Schlaepfer for creating and managing our website, you will soon have new ways of connecting with the alumni of Little Flock.

Thanks for your continued prayers, gifts and support of Little Flock. May you be blessed by that knowledge that you are making a difference in the lives of our children and the community surrounding Little Flock.

In His name,
Viji