March 1985

Dear Saints.

Greetings in Jesus’ name from Nagpur.

We are Poised at the edge of summer. The mercury is straining to see what is on the other side of the 100° F. The grass is turning brown. The dogs are trying to dig up the garden in quest of a cool spot. The flowers are fighting loosing battle against the ever increasing temps. The only ones unaffected by the heat are the bougainvilleas who in royal splendor decorate the landscape. The one next to my door not only blooms but provides shelter for a multitude of birds who on occasions putt their head inside the door and say hello - or whatever birds say to one another...

For the next few month we also will fight a loosing battle against apathy laziness and those things which come in the wake of temps around 115° F. to 120° F. Yet we have been there before and so ...

I spent 10 days in the hospital during Feb. to get my hernia fixed up. The first complication was that I needed a catheter - "earthing wire" as my kids with a profound sense of humor - at my expense, called it. Then the wound turned septic. The doctor blamed this on malnutrition brought about by a protein deficiency. My body did not heal itself, something I had experienced on minor wounds. I feel that it was due to a "metal" deficiency i.e. a deficiency or Gold and silver ...

Upon getting out of hospital, since I favored my right side somewhat because of the wound, I got back aches and muscle aches. It became rather painful and at night it took me 10 minutes to "turn the other cheek" ... Now I am getting better.

While the flowers are drooping their heads ours have been "lifted up" We finally go our minibus. It is a 16 seater, diesel powered and looks gorgeous. I took it on a 1500 mile round trip to Mawchiland with 12 of our gang. It acquitted itself well over roads that had warnings such as; “Careful! GOOD road ahead”! It was great fun and we went through riverbeds and over trails that hitherto had only been mute witnesses to the under bellies of bullocks pulling carts.

Another good news is that the dormitory is being completed. The kids will not get much benefit out of it before going home in April but certainly when they come back in June. The farm building is also completed and now we have ample storage place for our produce and grain We also build a garage but had to put on a temporary roof due to the aforementioned "metal deficiency" ... Yet all considered we are doing well.

David Kimmerle, a young civil engineer from Toronto spent about a month with us. He came to help us to complete the dormitory but found it difficult to communicate with both the workers and the kids since none of them speaks English though some of the Kids manage. We took him on that trip to Mawchiland and he as able to see how rural India lives.

One of the things that have come home to me over the past few weeks is that God is good to me for MY sake, not for the sake of the kids, not for the sake of the work or ministry but simply and solely for MY good. I am not the means to an end of God's love, I AM THE END towards it works. True, "Channels only ..." but channels by choice or divine compulsion to which we may yield or not.

Yet I find that as we pass on these blessing meant for us to others, as we share the good things lavished upon us-God keeps on giving as if constantly to make up the "deficiency" created by our sharing. And He, in His infinite love and mercy fills our larders with good things, covers our bodies with clothes and provides homes and shelter. With increasing troubles He increases our strength to cope with them and with increasing perplexities he gives us a double portion of wisdom to deal with them.

Who, like our God, is so immensely good, beautiful and loving?

Can you blame me for wanting more kids ? In the light of God's dealing with us in the past can we say "no" to another bunch of needy kids ? I believe it is only as we think LARGE that God can enlarge us, only when we think we can do anything with the help of our God do we realize we practically can do anything - or almost anything ... So we decided to take 25 more kids in June. That is about the number of kids we will put in the new dorm ...

What it boils down to is that we are back to square one - we need more dormitory space. More blankets, more plates and glasses more bed sheets more- ad infinitum. But don't feel sorry for us - just pray for us. God will take care of the rest.

There is a good chance that we will get some funds for the farm and we'll buy some cows and start a dairy A boy from Scotland wants to come and stay with us for a while. He is a farmer and will hopefully help us to set it up. After that we will work on a poultry. He has been here before and knows India and, even better, he knows and likes our set up. The fields have yielded a good crop so far and we hope to do much better the coming rainy season, about July.

Well this will be a short note.

Thank you for having chosen to share with us the good things that God had meant for you. Thank you for having become such a great blessing to us. Thank you also for your letters and the many reminders that you care for us and keep us in your thoughts and prayer.

With much love from us all

Frank & Kids.