I had the opportunity to spend time with a very special young girl named Muskan. Her mother who lives in a slum just a short walk from our Joshua Mercy Centre school brought Muskan to our school five years ago. Our team immediately recognized that Muskan was different than the other children. She had both physical and mental handicaps as a result of a birth defect. She was still crawling at an age when other children were running and playing. She also had not developed in areas of speech and reading. Our team began to pray for her and work every day with her.

Fast forward five years, Muskan is able to walk to school on her own and she is continuing to learn and develop along with her classmates. Muskan loves school so much that she doesn’t want to leave in the afternoon.

We recently received a donation of school uniforms for this particular school location and we gave the very first uniform to Muskan. We were also able to buy her new shoes for school and play. Her parents are unable to pay tuition fees and other school expenses for their children and are so grateful for the support of the Joshua Tree. They never dreamed that Muskan would ever be anything other than an invalid that required constant care but now through faith, hope, love and the power of Jesus they are watching their daughter grow up with the hope of a productive life and future.

Muskan still has a number of challenges ahead of her. It's our plan to send her to a specialist to evaluate issues with her neck and back which prevent her from walking properly and will also look into some mental health evaluations to determine the extent of her birth defects.

It is an honor and privilege to serve Muskan and the rest of the children that attend our slum and leper schools. Each child is unique and deserves the very best help that we can provide.

As always, we rely on the generous prayer and financial support of our Joshua Tree partners and our dedicated staff in India who work so hard to serve these children in need.

On behalf of Muskan and all of our Joshua students and staff we say thank you for your support!

CLIFF WHITE
CO-FOUNDER

Are You Shiny?

shin·y
ˈSHīnē/
adjective: shiny; comparative adjective: shinier; superlative adjective: shiniest

(of a smooth surface) reflecting light, typically because very clean or polished.

If you are like me and you have been watching the news this past year it seems as if nothing good is happening on our planet. The news is filled with stories of war, terrorism, famine, drought, economic crisis, Ebola, ISIS, corrupt politics, earthquakes, severe storms, global climate crisis, and on and on it goes. With all of this bad news flooding the airwaves it’s easy to see how people can become discouraged and depressed and to feel like darkness is covering the earth.

When Jesus explained the parable of the wheat and the tares He said that evil and good would be allowed to grow together on the earth until a harvest at the end of the age and “then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the Kingdom of their Father” (Matt. 13:43 NKJV).

Also in Isaiah 60:1 the Lord spoke through the prophet and said, ”Arise shine for your light has come and the Glory of the Lord is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth and deep darkness the people; but the Lord will arise over you and His glory will be seen upon you. The gentiles will come to your light and kings to the brightness of you rising”(Isaiah 60:1-3 NKJV).

So my question for you is, are you shiny? Are you a light in a dark place bringing love, hope and truth to people living in darkness. If not, would you like to become shiny?

This past year the Joshua Tree India volunteers and staff were a shining light to children and families living in extreme poverty. Here are a few ways that we were shiny this year;

We provided hearing aids to a leper man who now can hear his family when they speak to him.

We rebuilt a home damaged by an earthquake for a leper family.

We provided support for a community of lepers that was struggling to keep their school open and to feed their families. We provided school supplies, hired a teacher for the children’s school, supplied the families with rice, and provided toiletries.

We provided Vacation Bible School programs for approximately 18,000 children this summer teaching them about the love of Jesus, worship songs, and how to pray the Lord’s Prayer.

We continued to operate and expand our slum school program providing free education for children who cannot attend government schools due to their extreme poverty.

We shared the love of Jesus with approximately 15,000 children attending private schools teaching them biblical principles like honoring their mothers, fathers, teachers and government leaders. We also taught them about prayer and worship and the good news of salvation through the death and resurrection of Jesus.

We put a down payment on Pastor Joseph’s first car. He now can transport the slum school teachers safely throughout the community, provide emergency transportation for members of the leper colony, deliver food and supplies to the poor, and travel throughout India for summer VBS programs.

A light will always shine brightest in the darkest place and now is the time for you and I to begin shining to people living in darkness. We all have family members, neighbors, co-workers and friends who are going through hard times and it is up to us to love them, provide them with hope and encouragement and above all to share the message of salvation through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

As always, we are so grateful for the prayers and financial support of our Joshua Tree volunteers. We hope that 2014 was a year of blessing for you and we are praying for each of you to have a prosperous and blessed New Year for 2015.

Our goals for 2015 include paying off Pastor Joseph’s ministry vehicle ($8,000), providing free lunch for all of our slum school children ($750 per month), hiring a new children’s pastor to support our school programs ($400 per month), and hiring four more teachers for our leper colony and slum school program ($160 per month).

Are you looking for a place to shine in 2015. If so, please consider a monthly gift of $10, $25 or more to help free a child from a life of poverty and despair. Please contact us at info@thejoshuatreeindia.org, if you would like to become a Joshua Tree India partner. We need your financial help for 2015 in order to continue to be shiny for these beautiful children in need.

For more information on our ministry you can visit our website at: http://thejoshuatreeindia.org.

Peace & Blessing

Cliff, Amy, Pastor Joseph, our staff and all of our India children.