Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Matthew 19:26

We say “no way”, He says “Yahweh!”.

If you’ve been following along on our Facebook page, you’ve already heard our modern day Loaves and Fishes testimony.

After winning the Giving of Life $10,000 grant, we excitedly praised God for His provision to provide cataract surgery to 166 blind people in India. That was our vision based on what we knew. 166 surgeries at $60 each = $9,960. Simple math. It is what we relayed to the donor and that is what they expect from us.

But God is able to do immeasurably more than we ever could ask or think or imagine! Eph 3:20

We received word from our partner in India (Depressed People’s Welfare Association) that by the end of the year 2012 (the next 5 months), with this $10,000, we will have provided 15 Mobile Eye Camps, providing treatment at the campsite to a minimum of 4,500 patients with minor eye ailments, provide eyeglasses to at least 300 people with refractive errors, and do surgeries on 500 cataract patients!

FIVE HUNDRED CATARACT SURGERIES???

What do you say to a God like this? Is there anything you CAN say? Or do you fall on your face and worship with sounds barely recognizable as human? Yeh, that’s pretty much it.

My favorite part about LoveManifest is there is no way any of this could be done on human power alone. No way. I am positive the moment we were to take the reigns and say “ok God, we’ve got it from here, and this is what we’re gonna do”, it would tank. So we hang on to Jesus with both hands. We trust He’s leading us where He wants us to go, even when it doesn’t make sense.

This doesn’t mean it’s easy because with every victory there was first a battle, but with every battle I get a little bit more excited. It means He’s about to show up. A Mighty Warrior in our midst!

The Lord your God is in your midst, a victorious warrior. He will exult over you with joy, He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy.
– Zephaniah 3:17

Not to Us – Chris Tomlin

Third in a LoveManifest series on Passionate Youth, meet Chris, a newly graduated senior from Cardinal Newman High School in Santa Rosa, CA. Chris (along with Avery and Tyler in posts 1 and 2) is the final student to tell of his journey with us into India, and how a “project” can turn into a passion when you introduce the human element.

Chris Moreno – Age 17 – Cardinal Newman High School, Santa Rosa, CA

My personal journey began when I met Valerie Kumra, my CBSL mentor, at the service fair in the gym. When she told me about what she does, and how I would get to travel to India at the end of my project, I instantly fell in love with the idea. I didn’t even have to think twice about whether or not I wanted to support Wells for Life for my CBSL project. I have to be honest, when I first signed up to do this project I was pretty excited about taking a trip out of the country, and hadn’t really thought of anything else. So basically all of my excitement towards this project was centered on the trip I would be taking out of the country at the end of the year.

Once I began talking to my mentor a bit more about the project, and what it is like when you get to India, and how the people respond to your arrival, I started having different feelings towards the project. I began to feel excitement growing about seeing the reaction of the people when my partners and I showed up to dedicate the well we had raised money for. I became excited about the idea of changing a group of people’s lives by giving no more than a little bit of my time and two thousand dollars that it would take to build the well. I learned that I really can find joy in helping others. I learned that my partners and I will not give up on a goal that has been set. Throughout the duration of this project, we suffered through many hardships trying to raise money. I thought that I would get tired of failure and give up, but I surprised myself in that I never lost faith or motivation to continue working towards my goal.

This has impacted my life in so many ways. I used to become very upset when I wanted something but couldn’t have it. I used to constantly ask for more, or want more things in my life. I never understood how much I had in my life. This is before I met the people of India. This was a group of people who lived with nothing compared to what we have in the United States. Kids played in clothes that didn’t fit, or were so worn that they left them exposed. Most kids in India had no toys. These people did not have television, a couch to relax on, or even a comfortable bed to sleep on. Even with all these, what we would call hardships, in their lives, from what I saw they were happier than I am most days.

My experiences has taught me to never take anything for granted, and to be happy with what I have because it is so much more than what some people have in this world. I would almost go as far as to say that homeless people in this country have more than people with homes in some of the places where we visited in India. It is shocking to see this, and it has certainly changed my perspective on life.

Second in a LoveManifest series on Passionate Youth, meet Avery Dutton, age 18. Like Tyler, Avery is a student at Cardinal Newman High School in Santa Rosa, CA (graduating just days ago!), and also accompanied us to India in April. This is just glimpse into one day’s events, the change in her outlook on her life and view of how simple acts, fueled by passion, can alter the lives around her.

Avery Dutton – Age 18 – Cardinal Newman High School, Santa Rosa, CA

It’s been two months since we left on our journey for India and I still think about it everyday. The people, the places, and the adventures we got to experience. I have never felt so passionate about something, and now I know that India is supposed to be a part of my life forever.

I remember the day we dedicated the well my partners and I raised money for. It was early evening and we were exhausted and just wanted to get this well dedication over with so we could sleep. We arrived to a small village cheering, singing, dancing, and lighting off fireworks. These people were like any other village, happy to see us, and proud that we were visiting their village. After dedicating the well and before we left, something happened that no other village had done; these people swarmed us and asked us to bless them. At first I felt awkward because I didn’t know what to do and I didn’t want to pray for people that I didn’t know. I didn’t know what to say either, how are you supposed to bless someone? But then I realized that praying for these people gave them hope that I could actually do something to change their lives. I sort of embraced everything going on around me, and blessed the people. It made me feel like I was doing something important, even though it was as little as giving an old man a hug or touching a pregnant woman’s stomach.

There are no words to describe the feeling of blessing fifty impoverished and outcaste people who believe that you can do something to change their lives. To know that a prayer can give someone hope that their lives will head for the better is a powerful thing.

This village had so much faith in us, their village, and with God that it was unbelievable. The people of India taught me something really important about my life in the United States. These made the most of what they had. They didn’t let the big problems and road blocks they had in their life slow them down and keep them from striving for success. Although they were extremely poor, they would cook us their best food and invite us into their homes. I felt the love they had for each other and the friendliness they gave us. Even though each village was outcaste and unwelcome in society, they didn’t act like it, and tried to make the most of what little they had. That’s why I now have so much appreciation of all the opportunities and stuffI have. Knowing that bringing something as simple as clean water or giving blessings to a village could change people’s lives motivated me and I realized that we really can help the poor in India one village at a time.