I just read the following in the prayer letter of a missionary from/to India whom I recently met. I thought I would post it here as something of a follow-up to my earlier "160 Million Untouchables" post - and to help connect us with one more tragedy that is on God's heart.
"For many years we have been praying for a Dalit community called Musahar (Mush = Rat, Ahar = food). They look after the grain fields of high caste [people], kill the rats to protect the crops, and [then] eat those rats. Interestingly when they dig the rat holes to find rats, they can take the rats, but cannot take the grain (some rats collect almost a kilo or two in their holes). They are one of the lowest of the low in the oppressed society, extremely poor, and suffering. 1.3 million of them live in Bihar and and one million in Eastern UP. We have a very few Christians from this group and no pastors."
There is a world of pain and suffering out there. I confess that I haven't even begun to understand the reality of this. One thing I do know, though, is that labourers (Luke 10) like you and me are needed.
Read more about the Musahar rat-eater Dalits at the BBC website: here or type "Musahar" into Google or Google images.
1 Sat eve ~N's b'day party 2 Sun 4pm Malkutha Bible mtg 3 Mon (1) 9:30am VT prayer, (2) 8pm ph call (NC in Australia) 5 Wed 1pm lunch (M/KW) - Mississauga 6 Thu (1) 11am mtg (JSh), (2) 1pm funeral (An.; JeNY staying over) 7-8 Fri-Sat w/ boys (~J working Fri and at shower in Oshawa on Sat) 9 Sun (1) Church, (2) poss. lunch (PY/AC) 10 Mon Kids Kapers party (stat. holiday) 10-16 Mon-Sun holiday - Collingwood (GV passed away 14/Apr) 16 Sun baby dedication - Scarborough 21 Fri MVT board mtg 22-24 Sat-Mon Winnipeg ministry trip
MAY
2 Tue 2:40pm med appt 3 Wed 12:30pm l'ship mtg 4 Thu 2:30pm video mtg (Ppls,JBau) 5 Fri time w/ TW; ~Ch dropoff/pickup (~J working) 6 Sat eve special dinner for Som/Saj 9 Tue 3:30pm video mtg (AA) 10 Wed (1) 8:30am Int'l steering mtg, (2) 12:30pm l'ship mtg 11 Thu 11:30am brunch (JMy) - Newmarket 12 Fri 8pm ~J w/ friend (NaG) 13 Sat SL w/ boys 14 Sun (1) Ppls Church, (2) 4pm neighbourhood Bible mtg 15 Mon (1) 9:30am VT prayer, (2) 1:30pm video med appt, (3) 3:30pm hosting ORU students, (4) 5:30pm dinner w/ JY/L + dessert w/ others 16 Tue (1) 11am mtg (KBr), (2) 7:30pm prayer mtg 17 Wed 12:30pm l'ship mtg 18 Thu SL w/ ~Ch 19 Fri 3:15pm ~Co's b'day party 20 Sat ~Co's b'day 22 Mon SL w/ ~J/C/C, Som/S, MG, Mp+ 23 Tue (1) 11am video mtg (Saj/I), (2) 12:15pm ph call (AA) 24 Wed (1) 9am video mtg (SM+), (2) 12:30pm l'ship mtg 25 Thu 3pm video mtg (JSh)
27 Sat (1) 11am Commencement speaker at R. University, (2) ~3pm+ time w/ V/AR+ 29 Mon (1) 9:30am VT prayer, (2) 3pm mtg DerCh - Mississauga 30 Tue (1) 10am ph call (AA), (2) 5:30pm video mtg (IsTan), (3) 8pm neighbourhood prayer mtg
JUNE 1 Thu (1) 11:30am Zoom mtg (LM), (2) 4pm mtg (VS,KBr) 2 Fri (1) 10:30am ph call (PVDW; SL w/ boys; ~J working) 3 Sat SL w/ boys and MG 5 Mon (1) 9:30am VT prayer mtg, (2) 2pm Europe call, (3) 5pm mtg/walk (YM) 6 Tue (1) 11:30am lunch (GD) - St. Jacobs, (2) 4pm mtg (AF) - Cambridge, (3) 7:30pm worship night 9 Fri ~J's b'day 10 Sat North Bay trip 13 Tue 11am mtg (DAy) (~J school trip w/ ~Co | text BD) 14 Wed 9:30am time w/ BD 15 Thu 4:30pm video mtg (Paul T.) 16 Fri (1) 9am video med appt, (2) 15-km run (Prayer Journey "warm-up") 17 Sat Prayer Journey (my own: 50km GTA bike-ride; Jessie's: 5KM) and speaking at GTA after-party 23-25 Fri-Sat poss. SL 26 Mon 2pm Europe monthly call 29 ... July 7 Thu-Fri poss. holiday in Arkansas
JULY ... 7 Thu-Fri poss. holiday in Arkansas ~8-17 SA+ in Toronto; P/H Bell likely visiting too 15 Sat aft+ baptism (Saj; NaB may be coming) 17-21 Mon-Fri Kids Kapers camp 24 Mon 2:45pm med. appt 26 Wed (1) 11am video mtg (SM), (2) 3pm Zoom mtg (SMa,SB), (3) 7pm ~J speaking at Greenhouse/Zoe - UofT downtown 27 Thu 10am video MVT board mtg 31 Mon 3:05pm med. appt July/Aug CCWM board mtg / AGM
AUGUST 2 Wed 11am video mtg (SM+) 6-12 Sun-Fri Cottage w/ O/DN+ and UB/AC - Windermere; plus Muskoka 19 Sat poss. ~J fam beach day - Brighton area 25-29 Fri-Tue MoveIn staff retreat - southern Ontario
2023+ Sep 21 Thu - MVT board mtg Sep 23 Sat poss. date of GV memorial Sep 24 Sun ~Ch's b'day Sep ~26-28 Poss. time in Lushnjë, Albania Sep 29 - Oct 6 MoveIn Europe Conference+ - Durrës, Albania Oct 21 Sat poss./unlikely date of GV memorial Oct 21-27 Dollar-a-Day week Early Nov Poss. fundraising event - Niagara Nov-Jan Poss. time in India - Goa; Philippines - Manila+; Indonesia - Jakarta/Bali; LA/San Diego
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