This is Megan Stephens. She's a recent graduate of Belmont University, and currently serving in Siliguri, India as a teacher to a missionary family's 15-year-old daughter. I had the privilege of meeting her on Tuesday morning and enjoying a nice 2 1/2 hour breakfast at Cracker Barrel hearing her share her story. It was pure joy to sit and share my love for India with someone who understands. She is headed back there this afternoon, and I can't help but be a little jealous...

Even though she's not serving in Hyderabad, Megan had the chance to visit there last October and attend a youth festival that was hosted by Baptist Church Hyderabad. Here is an excerpt from an e-mail I got from my dear friend Chuckoo about that day...

Leigh Ann, October 2nd event was a huge conference, and on that day I just gathered all my senses to witness what God was doing through the ordinary youth group in Hyderabad. Earlier when the sun rose that day there was a continuous heavy downpour and everything was getting damp... But deep within us there was a hope that the rain would stop, but our hope was not even the size of mustard seed...

When the clock struck 9, there were hardly 15 people in the sanctuary. I was dumbstruck to see that and could not even question myself looking at the situation. The food was prepared, the arrangements were made, but the downpour was still on.

Later, the rain grew intense but people started to come. They got drenched, but they kept coming. Their feet got wet, but not the path, and within 2 hours the whole sanctuary was filled with young people from all over the state. There were more than 90 churches that participated in the concert, and the registrations were more than 5000.

I realized that my faith was to stop the rain, and the Lord showed me that even rain cannot stop His people. We served a delicious Biryani to all the participants. For the first time we hired a ground to serve them food...

We promised to give the first 2000 registrants a free t-shirt and a free 2gb pen drive. While distributing, there was almost a stampede, but we could control it. It was a leap of faith for me to see the providence of God. Because, as I told you, the church did not give the funds for the youth, and all the burden was on Pastor David to raise such a huge amount. Initially our estimated budget was only Rs. 800,000/-, but the Lord has given us more than Rs.1,200,000/-

There's more, but that's enough for a good snapshot of how God worked through my friends to make a huge impact in the city of Hyderabad that day. It should also give you a glimpse of why I love these people so much.

Anyway, my new friend Megan had the opportunity to be there for that event, and in turn fell in love with the same people who have so captured my heart. She ended up going back there for a couple of weeks in December and spending a lot of quality time with them. Chuckoo and his mom went shopping before she left and sent back some gifts with her for me and my family. I'll take some pictures of the kids in their Indian garb and get them on here. The dress for Bailey is unbelievably gorgeous. Looks like she'll be wearing Indian for the second Easter in a row!

I sent back some things with Megan, but I have no idea how long it will be until they arrive. She has to ship them from Delhi when she gets there. I wish more than anything I could deliver them in person. We are currently praying for God to show us a way if He wants us back there. We've formulated a few plans, but lots of prayer is needed to know if He has the same plans. I'm daydreaming about being there for this year's youth conference. We shall see...