“I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” (Phil. 1:3-6).
This declaration made by Paul the Apostle to the community of believers in Philippi carries such a precious weight to me. To thank God for someone every time you remember them is not something to be said lightly. Rather, it is a profound promise. It is a statement that can only be guaranteed by love. A belief that, by holding someone in your heart, you’re able to maintain unity and commitment to the relationship and the work that the Lord set before you together, even if you are separated by distance. Every time I think of our community of believers in India, I thank God for them. My husband and I are intentional to include them as part of our family life. We talk about them by name with our children, who also know them by the Hindi terms for “auntie” and “uncle” (“chachii” and “chacha”). We discuss the projects that we are working on with them and we pray for their families. We make conscious effort to hold them in our hearts.
It can be difficult to call someone in your own office-space a co-laborer, much less someone who is across the ocean. This work that we are a part of together; it is no small thing! The effort of cooperating together on the work that we believe the Lord has called us to do in India requires devotion and a commitment to seeing the work to completion. I have served within the Maternal Health group of our India Regional Team for nearly a decade. The goals and objectives of this group have taken various forms over the years, shifting according to the needs and opportunities on the ground before us in India, as well as the expertises available within our group. Our group has been so incredibly blessed by having Sneha Purti and Rose Chang as two of our most committed maternal health workers on the field.
The first time I met Sneha in 2012, she shared with me about her heart for young girls in India. She wanted her life’s work to revolve around bringing life to the young girls of India - to see them safe, cared for, educated, happy, and thriving. Fast forward to the present, and this is exactly the kind of work that we and Sneha get to be a part of.
Through a collaborative effort between Sneha, Rose, and the women who comprise our Maternal Health team in the United States, the projects that we set out to do together are brought to fruition. Young girls in India are being educated, empowered, and given opportunities to thrive.
Over the years, our group has transitioned from Sneha and Rose being the beneficiaries of our U.S. team’s expertise, to the ones that we rely on to carry out our Maternal Health focused projects and programs alongside us. They have moved from the students to the educators, and we couldn’t be more proud of and thankful for their growth. At this point, they have completed a maternal health certification program, taught dozens of young girls in the classroom, led discussion groups focused on taboo female topics, and held various seminars related to women’s empowerment. We wouldn’t be who we are without them, and trust them with the hopes and ambitions that our group carries.
How does this cooperation happen? Well, a lot of emails. Many late nights on our side and early mornings on theirs, and vice versa. It happens by small sacrifices to accommodate our cooperatives across oceans, acknowledging that our time zones couldn’t be more opposite, but that we can all give a little in order to see each other’s faces on a screen for times of prayer and planning, collaboration and workshopping. It happens by taking advantage of opportunities to go overseas, even if it can only happen in the short window of time between nursing one baby and having another. It happens by seeking out educational opportunities for one another, whether those are certifications or conferences - sometimes attending them together and other times simply cheering each other on until completion and savoring every piece of the update. It happens across google docs and Zoom. It happens by building trust and interdependency, because we each can acknowledge that this calling the Lord has given us, will not reach its potential without the cooperation of one another.
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