www.maranatha.org - This week, visit the third-smallest state in India, Tripura, which is located in the northeastern part of the country. Seventh-day Adventists in the neighboring state of Mizoram adopted Tripura as a mission field and eventually began to grow small groups of believers there. But without the financial means to build churches, the new Adventists crammed into people’s homes for worship each week.

Then, Maranatha agreed to help by building new churches. But the mountainous terrain prevented Maranatha’s trucks from bringing the necessary materials to the church sites. When the people realized the material couldn’t make it, they jumped in to help.

Today, we pray that your kids will see how anyone can serve God with what they have and consider how we can use our individual talents to glorify God.

Pre-video Discussion Questions
Have you ever been in a situation where you wanted to help make things better, but you couldn’t? What happened? Why weren’t you able to help? Maybe you didn’t have enough money, you couldn’t drive or fly, or you weren’t big enough?

In today’s video, see how church members in India jumped in to help Maranatha when faced with a roadblock.
(Watch Video)

Post-video Discussion Questions
Maranatha’s worker, Sirish Palivela, feels he can serve God by constructing churches, even if he can’t preach about God. What are other jobs you can think of that serve God?
Why do you think the church members were so eager to help Maranatha get the church materials to the construction site?
The church members in Tripura gave what they could offer to Maranatha’s crew, which was their hard work. In the Bible, Jesus pointed out that sometimes the greatest gifts aren’t the biggest. Let’s read about it in Luke 21:1-4: “As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. ‘Truly I tell you,’ he said, ‘This poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in all she had to live on.’” Why was this woman’s gift so special?
In your family, at school, or church, how can you make a difference even if you can’t always help the way you want to or the way other people help? What are some examples you can think of?
God created you with some talents, interests, or hobbies that you do well—what are they? How can you use those talents to show God’s love to people around you?

Prayer Points
Show us ways we can serve God no matter the situation.
Ask kids what they would add to the prayer list.

Did You Know?
Tripura is the third-smallest state in India, and only has around 3 million people who live there. The entire population of India is more than 1 billion people!
Tripura has the highest number of primate species found in any Indian state.
Tripura produces the second-most amount of rubber (the white liquid running out of the trees in the video) out of the entire country of India.