Happy Birthday Jodene!!! Yes, she was our girl of the day. We had cake during our prayer time in celebration. It was a day of hard work though with morning meetings, afternoon logistics including preparing presentations and printing, then an evening forum at 5:00.

It was a very early morning for Errol and Neville who finally got in at 5 am after cancelled flights and a long delay in Dubai. God took great care of them there with some much-needed relaxation time in preparation for our venture.

It was also an early morning for Virendra, Lyn, and John who met over breakfast with Jayakaran a pastor of a church called Powerhouse. They have a congregation of about 120, primarily in their late 20’s and early 30’s. Several of them will be attending the sessions in the coming days. Jayakaran’s input is that a lot of organizations come and deliver theology, but what they really want to hear is how the equip venture can affect their bottom line. They also struggle with such questions as, “Do ethics and success have to be mutually exclusive?” For example, in a society where bribery can be commonplace and a way to get business done, how can Christians conduct business successfully?

India is experiencing a boom in business with so much work moving here from the states and elsewhere. The people are working very long hours, much like many of us did during the dot com bubble. While they are very interested in the equip messages, they don’t want to miss out on the current boom and may find it hard to commit the necessary time.

The evening session was a wonderful success! We have appointments set up for next week including an opportunity to visit a Garment Factory and to speak at a CBMC meeting on Friday night with many others to be confirmed. The people who attended were beautiful, inspired, and very encouraged and challenged by the message. We were scheduled to end at 7:00, but I sit here writing this at 8:45 and there are still several people here in deep conversation. I spent quite a while talking to two young women who are beautiful, very bright, and on fire for the Lord. They are very interested in equip, but one major challenge for both is that their families are Hindu and they are not able to be open about their faith. On Sundays they have to use excuses to go to church or there will be repercussions. Their families have seen the major changes in their lives including peace and joy, but the societal pressure is very high against following a different path.

Lord bless these beautiful people of India!

— Dianne Eckloff

Prayer requests:

• God will continue to raise up the right people and put a burning passion in their hearts for equip
• Good connections with the right people; opportunities to follow up
• People would invite their friends to hear the equip message
• Continued safety and extra measure of physical strength (as we write this too late at night)