Jonathan Stewart, Fr. Bart Devlin , Sr. Bernadette Mastroni, Sr. Mary Francis Stapinski, Sr. Rose Stapinski, Sr. Maria Brandon, Fr. Dominic Brandon, Br. Luke Silady, Sr. Abigail Deutl.
The group met at JFK Airport on Saturday, October 17th and left for Mumbai, India. We arrive in Kochin, Kerala on Mon. Oct. 19th and were driven to Fr. Augustine Pallikunnen’s church and Retreat Center (Tabor Nagar) in Thodupuzha. We spent a few days visiting with Fr. Augustine and the sisters that serve there and learned about this ministry which is a home for mentally and physically disabled orphan girls. We also took a trip into Kochin and visited Jew Town, the first Jewish community in India.
On Thursday, October 22, we flew to Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh and were met by our host, Lee Ruud and his wife, Praveena. We spent time at Abundant Life Care’s girls’ and boys’ home performing Bible school skits and songs. This coincided with an Operation Christmas Child distribution of gift boxes to the orphans and all the children in the surrounding community that attend Bible school there.
We left on the Machilipatnum Express the evening of Saturday, October 14th and traveled by train overnight arriving early on Sunday morning. We were greeted at the train station by Uncle Deenabondhu and his ministry team. They allowed us to check into our hotel and get changed and then we were sent out two by two to several of the churches in the area to bring the Word, song, prayer, and fellowship. Several of the 18 or so churches are new construction since the tsunami and were built by missionaries from Australia.
Tuesday evening is Bible study in Machilipatnum and again we all had the privilege of being sent out again to bring the Word and pray with the people. Monday through Thursday during the day, our team participated in ministry to the children at Kamsalipalum during their holiday break. We performed skits, sang songs, prayed and many of us shared testimonies with college students nearby. Jonathan and Fr. Bart brought the Word to college groups and also to the parents of the children served at Deenabondhu’s ministry.
All of this took place in the midst of determining where our missionaries, Sr. Bernadette and Sr. Rose, would be living during the next few months in Kamsalipalem. It was decided that a room near Deenabondhu’s church, office, and school would be their home so work began on securing the windows and door, cleaning, and purchasing beds and supplies. The new room was blessed with a Mass of Dedication on Thursday, Oct. 29th. Deenabondhu marveled at the Word given at this Mass as it was the exact same Word given to his father when the church there was first dedicated some 40 years ago. Surely, this is the house of the Lord as our new mission house (room) is the place where the original church began at Sharon Ministry in Kamsalipalem.
We said good-bye our missionaries later that evening and returned to Hyderabad by train and spent a final day with our hosts, Lee & Praveena, then returned to JFK via Mumbai on Saturday, October 31st.
