Mosque Tutoring & Art Consultation

Tutoring at San Gabriel Mosque
Janis has begun tutoring at the San Gabriel Mosque every other Tuesday evening for 1 hour. She has been finding it very rewarding and helpful in understanding - in a practical, experiential way - what life is like for Muslims, particularly Muslim children.

Two brothers (ages 7 and 5) she tutors asked her last Tuesday, "Do you know God?" They seemed quite surprised when she replied, "Yes. Yes, I know God, and I love Him very much." She then asked them, "Do you love God?" They seemed quite pleased to be able to reply, "Yes, we do!" A very interesting exchange with much food for thought for all concerned.

Art Consultation
Saturday night (3/24), Janis, Restoration Art and Transform World L.A. hosted another consultation exploring the role of art in advancing God's Kingdom. Milcah Yupanqui (now, Anderson) played instruments and music from Peru; Nick Huang, an artist who attended the first consultation and is from Lake Avenue Congregational Church, shared a mixed-media art piece; and Joby Harris, Art Director for Mosaic, and an accomplished artist in a variety of mediums as well as experience with Walt Disney Imagineering, Universal Studios, Warner Brothers, and experience on "Alias," "Bruce Almighty" and "Solaris," spoke on the creative process in advancing God's Kingdom.


Joby encouraged artists to be listening to the conversations God is having with other people, and then to allow art to be used as a prophetic voice in revealing the secrets of the heart as a way to graciously draw all to Him.

About 30 attended. Each was given a chance to make something from clay, and then all the individual pieces were assembled into a collaborative piece. See the photos below:

























India Update:
Well, some plans are moving forward: we have our tickets, scheduled to depart LAX July 2, and arrive in Delhi July 3. We will try to acclimate a couple days, then begin Intensive Conversational Hindi classes on July 9.

Some plans are still tentative: before we depart, we will try to make a trip through the North West the first couple weeks of June. The dates and plan are still tentative. Tentatively we plan to travel North on the east side visiting family and supporters in Central California, Nevada, Central Oregon, and Eastern Washington. Then we'll cross over the Cascades and basically return South on the I-5 corridor visiting family and supporters in Seattle/Tacoma, Portland, Eugene/Springfield, Roseburg and arriving in Santa Cruz area for a week conference with Band Barnabas June 24-30.

Some plans have stalled due to organizational procedures. These are actually becoming significant and may have an affect on the plans above. As this part of our journey emerges, we'll keep you informed.

"God's Heart For The Nations" at New Heart

Sunday, March 11th, we completed Janis' 6-week series entitled, "God's Heart For The Nations," at New Heart, the church our son and his family attend in La Mirada. The lessons incorporate art and storytelling from various cultures in communicating God's truth and His desire to see all peoples come to Him.

What a delight! The kids were enthusiastic, receptive, responsive, and creative. This was another chance to pilot this curriculum Janis is developing to use art in creatively advancing the Kingdom of God.

Here are the students hard at work on a project:


















Here are some of the students displaying their color wash - cut out in the shape of their hand - and a bead bracelet. Several of these "hands" will be given to students in India this summer during Raki, a special festival when bracelets are exchanged especially between sisters and brothers.































On a personal note, as good grandparents, we happen to have some very cute pictures we'd like to show you of our grandaughter. However, we won't bore you with having to watch them with us, but you can see them for yourself at: http://elindley.blogspot.com

News Flash!!! Our departure date for India has now been set for July 2!!! Things are developing verrry fast!

Update on Restoration Art/April Trip to NW Cancelled

Apologies to everyone we talked with about a possible trip to Tacoma/Seattle in April - Thursday night (3/8) we heard from leadership in India that they would like us there sooner than we had planned. Consequently, instead of two short trips to Tacoma/Seattle (April and June), we will plan an extended trip through the North West in June. Our tentative target date for India departure is July 15.

Restoration Art

The winter series (6 weeks) of Restoration Art concluded at the end of February. The spring series (also 6 weeks) of Restoration Art began last week. Below will be some samples of the art work produced by some of Janis' students. A few are experienced artists, but most are newcomers. May you also enjoy the delight they experienced in discovering how creative they can be.










Most of these are "Master's Studies," where a student follows the pattern of a master painter.


[this one, a portion of Rembrandt's Prodigal Son, is Chuck's]

























On March 24 another Transform World/LA region Art Consultation will be hosted in the Restoration Art Studio. Included in the evening will be a musical presentation by Milcah on the Andean pipes; a multi-media presentation by Nick, one of the young artists who attended the previous consultation; and a short message by Joby Harris an accomplished artist (worked for Disney, Warner Bros., Columbia Studios, and worked on "Alias," "Bruce Almighty," "Star Trek") and currently on staff at Mosaic. Photos and report will follow that consultation.

And, on April 28, Janis has been invited to exhibit her "Door Series" in a show at Fuller Seminary in Pasadena. Below is one of Janis' door paintings in progress, plus some of her previous works in charcoal and acrylic.

India Summer '07 Information:

Chuck will be Director of East West Educational Foundation (EWEF) a "Christian NGO [non-governmental organization] begun in 1997 and registered as a not-for-profit group under the Societies Registration Act. It specializes in cross-cultural education inspired by the teaching of Jesus Christ that 'many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.'" For Chuck and Janis this is a long-term commitment (minimum, 3 years).

Current EWEF activities include:
1/ East West Language Institute (specializing in teaching Hindi and Urdu to foreigners, and in teaching English as a second language [ESL]);
2/ Metro Delhi International School (MDIS) a Christian co-educational school providing a college preparatory education with an American curriculum;
3/ Hindustani Publishing (specializing in making the Gospel available to Muslims in India); and
4/ Cross-cultural seminars and consultations.

Following are some of the photos available from the MDIS website (http://mdis.net):


MDIS has recently relocated to sharing the YMCA building in Greater Noida, a satellite city of Delhi.


A group of students attending MDIS this year.


Not only is the student body international in composition, but so is the Faculty and Staff: 9 from India, 3 from South Africa, 3 from the U.S., 1 each from New Zealand, Iraq, S. Korea, and Australia.







As you can see, MDIS has an art program.

This is, of course, something Janis is very interested in, though she will concentrate her efforts in research and perhaps some in the Restoration Art and Art Institutes that she has been piloting in recent years.

Consultation (2nd), Band Barnabas & WCIU Faculty

Following will be a sampling of some of the "prayers" that were painted during the Art Consultation in January.






An additional part of our life now is being part of Band Barnabas, a fellowship desiring to "expand the edges of God's Kingom by catalyzing self-initiating and self-propagating movements to Jesus among people groups farthest from the current reach of the Gospel." Below we attend Core Training this week, 2/7-2/9, with some of our brothers and sisters.





This is a small gathering of WCIU Faculty as Chuck presents a Faculty Committee's final recommendations for beginning to deliver our curriculum and program online. The next day, Chuck also presented a brief summary of these developments to EXPLORE, a group of people seeking God's leading on the possibility of joining the Frontier Mission Fellowship community.

Art Consultation

Saturday night, January 13, from 7:00-9:00 PM, 15 people attended an Art Consultation co-hosted by Janis in the Restoration Art studio on the William Carey International University campus here in Pasadena. These were contacts from Transform World, Mosaic, Restoration Art, and several informal personal relationships. Here are a few of the interested participants:








On another note...we have heard from several of you that our picasa photos mentioned in our last newsletter were not accessible. So, taking a helpful suggestion, try this link (if it doesn't work, you may have to copy and paste into your browser. If it doesn't work and you want a "hot link," email me at chuck.lindley@wciu.edu, and I will email the picasa invitation - which also includes information on how you can use picasa):

http://picasaweb.google.com/lindley.chuck/TWHyderabad

Post Holidays

Christmas and New Years Holidays have come and gone. So have our visiting family members (Janis' mother from Paisley, OR, our daughters Elisabeth & Heather from Seattle, WA, and our youngest son Brandon from San Clemente, CA).

It was a great holiday, perhaps the last family gathering in a while since Chris, Nicole and Esther are scheduled to move to India late this summer or early fall. We had 4 generations present in a delightful family celebration of Christmas. (thanks to Nicole for the following photos!)

Great Grandma Joy and Esther



Esther, whether she liked it or not, was often the center of adoring attention. Esther with Grandma and Grandpa Lindley



Esther with Aunt Heather, Aunt Elisabeth, and Uncle Brandon in Chinatown.



New Years Day we spent with Nicole's family playing "Yut," a traditional Korean game of chance and strategy.



And, announcing a red-letter New Year Event...
Janis witnessed her first ever, live, Rose Parade! And our youngest daughter Heather accompanied her.

Now, after the holidays are done, and all the family have returned to their homes, comes the routine...or not!

The USCWM/WCIU/FMF community is undergoing some reorganization that may prove to be more significant than many are expecting.

Janis is resuming Restoration Art activities with a full load of class offerings in addition to her usual teaching responsibilities at Judson International School and George Mueller Academy. She is also co-hosting, with a Transform World facilitator, a Los Angeles regional Art consultation January 13th in the Restoration Art studio.

I am continuing to explore the online delivery of WCIU's Masters program. I have declined an opportunity to direct one educational program, but am seriously pursuing another that would lead us to relocating in Delhi, India, within the next year. Additionally, we're exploring other possibilities that would lead to relocating to various diverse locations in Asia.

What was that I said about "routine?"