LIFE CHANGING MENTORING IN AN INDIAN VILLAGE
So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill. As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, he Amalekites were winning. When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other- so that his hands remained steady till sunset. Exodus 17:10-12
A Story of Hope and Help
Abha had been walking with Jesus for five years, ever since her neighbor Nipa begun to share with her about the love and plan of her heavenly Father in sending a gracious gift in the form of his own Son. Her love and integrity gradually won Abha over, though at first this behavior seemed totally foreign to her.
Nipa had nvited Abha to a “Transformation Group” that she led in their village community in India. Abha had heard of this group before and had been intrigued and drawn to this ever since her cousin had told her about her own experience in being part of this type of group. It seemed too good to be true to Abha, to meet with a circle of women each week and have the opportunity to learn a vocation, learn to read and write and even learn how to manage money. Abha’s cousin had received a small loan as a part of this group and had begun a soap making business that had allowed her to send her daughter to school, a rarity in her village.
Abha marveled at all that had happened in the past five years. Her decision to say yes to Nipa’s invitation to the Transformation Group had literally been the best decision of her life. Through this group she had found and received the life giving love of Jesus Christ and had begun a relationship with him, something she wouldn’t have imagined before, with her Hindu background. She had also learned how to sew, to read and write, to care well for herself and her family and to begin a small curtain making business in her community. With the modest income of this business, she was able to help feed her young family. She had hope and a future that she never knew was possible.
Nipa, and other women in her Transformation Group, had mentored her in life changing ways that had truly begun to break the cycle of poverty that Abha and her family had only known. So it wasn’t surprising that when Nipa asked Abha one morning, over tea, if she would be willing to lead a Transformation Group herself, to help other women gain all the new hope she had gained, that she joyfully responded with a grateful and tearful “YES”! She was eager to be like Moses’ friends who had persevered with him and helped to hold his arms up, when he was tired and needed support. Together the women in her new Transformation Group would learn to live and love and she could hardly wait to see what God would do in their lives
Julie Ryan, Country Director, Egypt and the Middle East
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