June 1996

Dear Saints and Aint's.

Peace to you from the old saint, saintlet Yohan and assorted saintlets ...

We are in the midst of the Nagpur summer. The day time temperatures hover around the 45 Celsius mark. Then there are the nights ... Pain in my hands wakes me from a fitful sleep. Drenched in sweat I lie there gently massaging my swollen hands - the victims of vicious mosqitoes attacks. The heat in my little room is palpable and, through the open, screen-covered windows, comes more heat. The fan, unable to provide but a minimal defense against the mosquitoes, dries out throat and nose. My eyes, gritty and burning, focus reluctantly on the alarm clock; it is 2.00 A.M. Slowly I get up and make my way to the bathroom for the second, or is it third or fourth time - who counts ... I let the tepid, soothing water wash off sweat and cool my burning body. Then come the few delicious moments under the fan where coolness envelops me as the water evaporates. The bed looks singularly uninviting. Yet...

Returning to my bed, in the light filtering through my windows from some lonely lamps, I carefully rearrange my bed sheet to cover me as completely as possible and, pursued by weariness and worries, seek sleep - haunted by - What ifs … A night invented in hell. I awake as the morning sun, partially blocked by trees and shrubs, paints patterns on the wall of my room. My own mind resembles these - a kaleidoscope of conflicting thoughts and emotions. I am back home - a foreigner in the country I love and call home and - felt a stranger in the country of my citizenship ... Hugging a cup of coffee, I gaze absent-mindedly over the sun-bathed, deserted playground.

The kids, with the exception of a very few, already left for their homes in towns and villages or - back to the slums. The few still left will go once I give them money for their homeward journey. For a moment I had the cheerful thought that maybe our creditors too left ... The bad news: They didn't... Maybe the outcome of my short furlough will be a reduction of our ever increasing debt - mainly for food and wages. We pay 20% extra on our food bills ... But, as I have never been good at asking for money, that might not be the case ... But then, raising funds should be God's work - after all, I am employed by Him (and which employee ever should worry from where his boss gets the money to pay him? His job is to work - something I certainly do) and so I believe, if God feels He can afford 20% extra on His food bills, who am I to argue? Nevertheless ...

During my short, about 85 days, furlough to Canada I attended some 45 meetings in churches and homes; had breakfast, lunch and supper with still more people; stayed in oodles of different homes; drove some 16,000 - 18,000 km going to places as far away as Kitimat in BC and Edmonton in AB. A month into the furlough Yohan had an appendix operation and was admitted at the White Rock (BC) hospital ...

Another significant event was my ordination on March 24th at the Abbotsford church. I am probably the most irreverent reverend in the movement ...

Back home, what now? It seems that God did not want to deprive us of all that Paradise entailed and so - He created the concept of home - a place where the sweetness of that blessed, now lost place - still may linger in a multitude of small acts of kindness towards one another ... and where a smile is still considered legal tender ... Where within its confines we find safety and shelter. A home, our home for certain, is a wondrous place.

Though Yohan and I are struggling with the heat and resulting weariness, with readjusting from well-prepared meals to what-ever-is-available, from the plenty to the scarce, - we are very glad to be back home. For the next two months we plan on completing the buildings we have. We also will try to get school materials ready for when the kids come. The technical school should by then also be functional. Of course, a lot of - hope and faith - is involved in that ... We employ several ladies for the tree nursery and expects some revenue from that endeavour.

Yohan decided to stick to 1200 kids slightly increasing the number of girls to 50. He and David Dickson and Moses, my friend, who is Senior financial advisor to a huge Government undertaking, are working on streamlining our budget and make a computer analysis where we can save and how best to run the different places. Yohan will exercise tighter control over the whole thing. He will have to make some hard decisions about our future course of action. We simply can not keep going deeper in debt; it has to stop somewhere. This will either be due to getting more funds or taking less kids. Those who are not faced by the terrible need all around us, will opt for the latter, while we dream of the former ... It will certainly not be easy. But then, what good things in life ever are?

He has surrounded himself with some good advisers from the local community which certainly should help. I am amazed at the change that has come over him since we returned. It is a delight to work along side him. I will continue to work with our pastors and small churches. The Pentecostal Assemblies of India is registered but will need a lot of care and nurture, at least in the Central District - and I - a lot of prayer. The PAOI consists of pastors who have joined voluntary and decided to work under one umbrella believing that mutual encouragement will be beneficial to all.

The New Hope Ministry, a small group of some seven churches, which are financiall supported by one church, whill be absorbed in the PAOI within the near future.

While on furlough several people approached me about sponsoring a child. Yes, the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada, through ChildCare Plus, gives you a chance for $25 to sponsor one of our children. Your sponsorship would be a great help to us to help a kid to have a home. We have less than 250 kids sponsored out of 1200 ...

In closing let me thank you again for your friendship and your help. We, Yohan and I, enjoyed ministering in the various churches and basked in your love and kindness. But I regret having not been able to meet the many friends I had hoped of meeting. But the time was simply too short and I was really stretched.

In His great love - Frank, Yohan, Staff and kids ...