On a mission to spread Christ's word

The son of a Brewster-area couple, Caleb Sonneman, will leave for India next month on a mission to help the needy and educate about Christianity. An auction will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. this Saturday, Dec. 8, at the Brewster Grange Hall to raise money for his mission. The following is a copy of the letter Sonneman wrote to garner support for his trip and his team.

"Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.'"

Matthew 25:37-40

I am so excited to share with you what God has been doing in my life and this amazing new door He has opened for me. As many of you know two years ago I applied and was accepted to Impact195 (i195.org) - the Rock Church's yearlong discipleship school. God took me to a whole new level in my faith and broke my heart for the lost. Through out my year at i195 God gave me a ton of opportunities to live out what I was learning on weekly outreaches, across the oceans in the remote villages of Asia and now, this coming January, in India!

Did you know that the country of India is roughly one-third the size of the U.S.? However, it is the 2nd most populated country in the world with 1.22 billion people, 78 million of which are homeless, enough to populate the states of California, New York, and Florida. India also has the world's largest orphan population at 35 million children. You could populate the state of Texas just with India's orphans. In addition there are over 2,338 people groups that are considered unreached. Ninety-three percent of the people in India are unsaved.

On Jan. 7, a team of 18 others and myself will head to Coonoor, India. Once there we will work with the local orphanage and hospital, feed the homeless, and begin to build relationships through teaching English as a second language. Our focus will be to disciple local believers, and begin to plant churches among the unreached. Our vision is to reach the unreached in India. Our mission is to reach the lost, disciple new believers by facilitating a discipleship-training program, and empower local believers to go out to other parts of the country and plant churches as a way to reach all of India.

I know God is going to do amazing things in and through us in India and I want to invite you share in the fruit of everything He is going to do. There are two ways you can partner with me - through prayer and financial support.

If God puts it on your heart to join our prayer team, please drop me a line via e-mail at caleb.sonneman@gmail.com. I will be faithful to update you regularly on specific needs for our team and those we are getting to love. Specific things you can pray for now are for God to tear down the strongholds of Hinduism, Islam and Buddhism, for God to soften the hearts of the local government people to His gospel, that our team would have unity, health and safety, and that daily I would abide with Jesus and be a strong support to the team and locals.

If God puts on your heart to support me financially - here are the numbers you should know. One-time fees I will incur including round trip airfare, a visa and housing will run about $5,850. Reoccurring costs including monthly expenses for ministry, housing, food and transportation will be $650 a month. Our team also must raise $36,000 before we leave to purchase vehicles once there.

If you decide you would like to support, please mail to 3247 Mission Village Dr., San Diego, CA 92021. For tax purposes please make checks payable to "Impact195," leaving the memo portion of the check blank. Attach a note along with any support that says either, "Caleb Sonneman" if you would like to support me or "India Team" if you would like to support the team. All donations are tax deductible. If you would like to make a reoccurring gift, or simply give online - please log on to www.mogiv.com/rockmissions/calebsonneman.

Thank you so much for your time. I am praying for God's abundant blessings for you.