So, it's been a little while...

I've decided to fire up the old India blog to tell you...

I'M GOING BAAAACK! Yay! Below I've included some excerpts from my support letters that I've mailed out below to give you some more details on my exciting return to India, and how you can help!

"While in India, I fell in love with the people and culture! The hospitality, smiles, and yes, even the food, had me hooked from the very beginning. However, as I began to meet and fall in love with these people, so many of which who came from strong Hindu backgrounds, my heart began to break. As we began to meet people and present The Gospel, the majority of the people we met had never heard it.

In India, with a population of over 1 billion people, over 88% of those people are still unreached with The Gospel, and less than 2% of the population is Evangelical Christian. While on my trip, I began to see this statistic as so much more than just a number—but as real people that desperately needed to hear about Jesus. The more people I met, the more God continued to place a burden on my heart for the country of India. I came back from my trip with a stronger sense of urgency to share The Gospel with those around me, but also with the burden to continue partnering with ministries in order to take The Gospel to India. I knew that I would have to go back--it wasn't an option not to. 

With that being said, I am so excited to share with you all that God has opened up the door for me to go on short-term missions trip back to India in October. Myself, along with eight others, will be leaving for India on October 10th, where we will spend the next ten days partnering with local  missionaries and church planters in building relationships with people in the hopes of making Jesus’ name known. While there, we will host a medical clinic serving the surrounding areas, and various other trainings geared towards discipleship and evangelism.

I am writing this letter first and foremost asking for your prayers. Please pray that myself along with my team members will surrender this trip completely to The Lord, and allow Him to use us however He sees fit, both while we are traveling, and while we are on the field, and that we would see people come to know Jesus in a real and personal way as a result. Pray that God would already be preparing the hearts of the people we are going to come into contact with, and that He would lead us to them. Also, please pray that God would bless the logistics leading up to our trip as we apply for our visas, make travel arrangements, and begin our support raising endeavors!

Secondly, I ask that you would pray about possibly supporting my trip

financially. I am trusting that God will provide!" 

I am beyond excited to be returning to India, and cannot WAIT to share with each of you the amazing things I am confident the Lord is going to accomplish as a result of your prayers and financial support.

I you would like to become a prayer partner, or contribute financially to my trip, you may find instructions on how to do so by clicking on the "Become a Prayer Partner!" and "Give here!" tabs at the top of the screen.

Here I am, Send me.

In 2011, I had the extreme pleasure of serving on summer staff at Crossroads Worldwide. While serving on staff, I was able to learn of a ministry in Central India that Crossroads sends teams to each year. That summer, I was able to build relationships with amazing, Godly staffers who had served on one of Crossroads' India teams, and was so blessed by the stories they so passionately shared with me.

Each week, a Crossroads staff member would tell the campers about the ministry in India as they encouraged them to prayerfully consider what their role with missions would be:

Pray. Give. Go.

As I sat and listened to this presentation each week, I found myself growing more and more interested in the ministry in India. I committed to praying for India throughout the year, specifically the ministry I had grown to know so much about.

Within a week of being home from serving at Crossroads, my interest in the ministry going on in India had definitely peaked. Just praying for India was not enough anymore. I wanted to go. I WANTED TO GO NOW!

As I prayed about applying for an upcoming trip to India last year, God made it very clear that due to school and everything else that comes from being a senior in college, that it was not in His timing to go to India. As a result, my role was to pray.

So, Pray I did.

In the past year, I have found myself falling in love with people I have never met, and a country I have never even been to. As a result, my prayer to the Lord when it came to India became a very simple,

"Lord, Here I am, Send me."

I would be lying if I told you that this year has been a consistent period. There were times of disobedience. There were times where I allowed my own desires to cloud what God had in store for me. But through those moments of repentance, God continued placing India on my heart through His Word, His People, and the time I spent with Him in prayer.

With all this being said...

It is with EXTREME delight and rejoicing that I tell you I am officially a member of the 2012 Crossroads Christmas in India team.

December 15th (days after my college graduation...best way to end my college career EVER!), I will be leaving to travel to Central India to serve for two weeks with the same ministry I learned about over a year ago. God is so good, my friends.

I have created this blog to keep you all updated, as well as to give you all a means to support this trip and ministry through both contributions and prayer. Feel free to subscribe to my blog! I plan on updating it pretty regularly as I prepare for the trip with prayer requests, worries, excitements, etc.

To give financially, click the "Give Here!" tab at the top of the site.

To become my prayer partner, click the, "Become a Prayer Partner" tab.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at: ameliafutch@gmail.com

Thank you all in advance for your support!

Each and every one of you are a blessing :).

-Amelia