Bethania Journey

Ten years ago I strolled around the grounds of Bob Granner’s cottage outside of the hill town of Kodaikanal in south India.  Kodaikanal is the hill station where my mother was born and where with other missionary kids she attended boarding school. I came upon a campfire ring and had a vision of sorts: a small group of Mount Olivites having a devotion around a fire while there to visit our Bethania centers. God provides! In several days, a small group of us leave for India. India had its hold on me even before I set foot there. My grandparents, great-grandparents, and even a great-great-grandfather served there as missionaries. Whether it was because of Mom’s incredible stories, the smell of sandalwood and incense (no one else in rural Minnesota burned incense!), the succulent flavors of Indian food which we begged for on special occasions, or something bigger and more spiritual, India got under my skin. When I stepped out of the Mumbai airport on that first trip 10 years ago,...

I can’t remember a time in my life when I haven’t dreamed of going to India someday.  From the time I was a little girl, the country has always mesmerized me and peaked my interest.  That dream became more vivid when I met Gene Hennig and heard of his plans to start a children’s mission there with several other families who were missionaries in India.  Through him we watched Bethania come alive and grow into the successful, beloved mission it is today.  It has been my joy to financially support Bethania and I have always looked forward to learning more of the work they are doing and all the lives they are changing.  I am proud to be a part of a congregation that has consistently found joy in supporting its work, and I now work at Thrivent Financial where Bethania is also well known and supported.  As Christians we are called to love all God’s children and to support and change lives for the better whenever we can.  I look forward to seeing firstha...

India has been on my “bucket list” for 10 years now - ever since my friend, Mark Spitzack, travelled there and came back to tell of how visiting Bethania changed his life.  I have heard this from others - that travel in India is a life-changing experience.  I pray that it is so for me. Bethania Kids is a life-changing organization.  Women and children who may otherwise perish, either physical or emotionally, or both, are given an opportunity,  not only to survive, but to thrive. Mount Olive has been participating in that ministry for more than a generation, and as a Christian, I am called to support the work. Now I  have an opportunity: to actually witness the work, and when I return, to bear witness to that work to all of Mount Olive.  God has blessed me so richly in my life, and God again blesses me with a life experience that will change me.  When the nine of us return - all changed - we hope, by extension, to change all of you and further enga...

2019 Mount Olive Bethania Team (photo courtesy of Paul Nixdorf) For over thirty years Bethania Kids has been one of Mount Olive’s mission partners.  And now, for the first time, a group of Mount Olive members will travel to India to learn first-hand about how this ministry has grown.  We will meet children and teachers at three children’s homes, visit numerous child care and after school programs, help children practice their English skills, have dinner with one of the founders, visit the future site of a new Shalom Home for Girls, and visit a women’s empowerment program as well as a rehabilitation center for the disabled. All of these are ministries of Bethania Kids today. A little history—Bethania Kids ministries are located in the states of Tamil Nadu, Andra Pradesh, and Odisha in southeastern India.   From the Bethania Kids website: “Dayavu Dhanapal, an Indian national, had been caring for poor children out of her back door for years. Her family...