Frank’s News update February 2010

[Tue, March 02, 2010 - Frank Juelich India]
Frank’s News update February 2010

“Age is opportunity no less
Than youth itself, though in another dress,
And as the evening twilight fades away
The sky is filled with stars, invisible by day.”
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Dear Saints and Aints.

Shalom.

Wrapped in the black shadows of the new clinic, deep in thought, I stand listening to the kids in the nearby chapel singing – hallelujah. My mind turns to the past. Almost 28 years ago standing at this same spot, though then in daylight, leaning against a big boulder, I uttered the first Hallelujah anyone ever uttered on this piece of Land as I surveyed in wonder and awe our newly acquired property - a flat featureless 18 acre piece of land with nothing to break the monotony but two old palm trees – too old to have dates. That first solitary hallelujah then whispered has now swelled into a chorus of many voices and is certainly not whispered…

The boulder, the two old palm trees and the hut we built, our first home, have vanished making room for other trees, other structures as the boys and I shaped the property to suit our needs; our only qualification for that task - the need for a home. To my friends – madness; to me … I never thought about it I just kept working remembering that people also laughed at the efforts of Nehemiah. Furthermore, were not many extraordinary things accomplished by the labor of ordinary people? True, if not most, many of those accomplishments came at the cost of often great suffering. Those men and women were beset with conflicts and struggles; plagued by depression and anxiety attacks and often lived in great poverty. Theresa of Avila who had a keen sense of humor, once when praying about her many trials and sufferings, thought she heard God say, “But this is how I treat my friends.” Teresa replied, “No wonder you have so few friends.” Besides her keen sense of humor she had tenacity in the face of opposition. This tenacity I share!

Reading the biographical sketches of these Christians who, in one way or the other impacted the Church and the world, though not in their league, I begin to understand myself. Like them I am driven by a force I do not understand; listening to a voice that nobody else seems to hear; following a path that nobody else seems to see and obeying commands that nobody else understands. During all these years God demanded of me – and still does - that He be my sole guide, the only answer to my problems and the only source for all my needs; to trust in anybody else or anything else amounted to idol worship. Peter’s rhetorical question, “To whom else can we go? Is mine! I have come to the place where I simply place matters into the hands of God in the same way a farmer entrust the soil with his precious seeds believing it to produce a crop. The end of March I need a new visa to be able to stay in India. When I asked God what to do, his reply was, “Fill out the forms.” This I did. This precious seed is now in the soil of his grace, mercy and compassion - watered by my tears. Still I crave the peace of faith!

My stubborn refusal to submit to others in these spheres of walking in His way and trusting him alone for guidance has led to conflicts I never neither sought nor wanted, and frequently to isolation from those I considered my friends. I just rewarded myself with a weak grin, “They admire the work but not the worker.”

At times when overwhelmed by discouragement I console myself with the thought that the most beautiful things are often still created from ordinary materials, ordinary substances. Ordinary clay jars in a cave held the priceless treasure of the Dead Sea Scrolls. A stone, the Rosetta Stone, a kind of granite, allowed linguists to begin the process of hieroglyph decipherment. Papyrus fragments with grocery lists or shipping consignments led to the understanding of more important texts ... the list is endless.

My health is still good to judge by the last medical report. I take them with a grain of salt after one doctor placed his stetescope on my cellphone in my breast pocket. He blinked then let it go figuring whatever I had was beyond his ken to fix. My mind too is still functioning well; I have no problems spending many productive hours in front of the computer. The calendar is my witness. As for my spirit; the black pieces of the mosaic of my life at times seem to outnumber the white ones. Though I get the occasional touch of homesickness; I asked God to give me a few more years to help Bapu to be well established. His reply, “Don’t you think I can manage that without you?” What could I say?

I had the pleasure of having Peter and Nita Grainger with us for a few days. Peter was my partner while with Wycliffe, in Nagpur from March ‘72 till September ‘74. Their favorite expression for this place was, “Fantastic!” Nineteen year old Ethan Morden from Ontario was with us the whole of February to the delight of the kids. Terry Kennedy the former librarian of the now defunct Eastern Pentecostal Bible College who is related by marriage to my friend Roger Stronstad spent a day with us. It was refreshing.

Errol and Myrna Desouza, Errol is an executive on the board of Heronbrook Foundation and a former manager in a Canadian Government office came February 20th and will be here through till March 28th. March 7th Clark Hollands the director of the Heronbrook Foundation will visit us at Nagpur and the girls’ home. The same day a team of seven people from “Create International” will come to shoot a professional video of our homes, here and at the girls’ home, and document our story. They will be here till March 28th.

The kids have exam fever… Their approach to study: “If it's heads, I go to bed. If it's tails, I stay up. If it stands on edge, I study.” The 12th graders are almost finished and then quickly the rest will follow.

Over the past few months many kids have developed a keen desire for the things of God; frequently little boys sit together in small groups and pray for each other. One day about a 100 boys decided to fast and pray for their exams. Young people who completed their studies here and now work come for a visit to express their appreciation for what we did for them; others phone expressing the same sentiments. At times I am embarrassed because I feel I did nothing for them.

Though I still remain over all in charge of the homes, I have decided to step down as Director of Prem Sewa Shikshan Sangh in favor of Bapu who will assume that position after our board meeting later in March. While I have no problem continuing the way I live with the continued uncertainty for our daily bread; Bapu suffers from the almost constant tension to have ten for dinner and food for only five … I am not sure what he will do about it but I am sure of this that God will deal with him as Bapu taking into consideration his personality.

Finally, we are planning for Bapu to come to Canada in the Fall of 2010 for three months to present the homes to churches and whoever wants to invite him. So if you consider me a friend, welcome him as you would welcome me; he has worked hard on your behalf among the poor children in this part of India. You will find in Bapu a more balanced person than I. True with his cautious approach to life he could not have created a Prem Sewa but he certainly has all that it takes to run it and – run it well. But, like all of us, he needs friends who are willing to support him without exercising control over him; to not tell him what to do but help him to that which he does - do better. Don’t we all crave that?

Like those young people who express their gratitude to us, I express my gratitude to you. Except, unlike I, you have nothing to be embarrassed about.

May the Lord of all blessings - bless you!

Frank
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