India Update#4

      It is 6:18 AM on Thursday in India.  Yesterday was a 16 hour day for the team.  We left the compound where we are staying at 6:45 AM for a 45 minute ride and walk to the village and the School.  The team is a little tired and down today so we pray aloud together during the ride and then sing hymns and songs of praise while Bill plays the harmonica.  When we pull up to the village we decide to sing the one song we know in both English and Bengali, "This is the Day That the Lord Has Made", from the time we leave the car until we get to the school, first in English, then in Bengali.  This is about a 15 minute walk through the village on a rough dirt path.  It is amazing how many faces already seem familiar to us after only two days. 
    The children love us.  Many want to shake our hands.  Adults come to their doors and stand on the road and watch us walk past.  It is already hot and humid and we are all wet with sweat by the time we arrive at the school at about 7:30am.  The first group of Children, the younger group is already there, as are the pastor's wife, and the two young male teachers.  The children are in two groups facing in different directions in the room and sitting on an orange tarp in neat rows.  They all have some type of backpack or bag for their books.  All of the bags are old and say things like "Spiderman" or "Tom and Jerry".   
   The room is hot and humid with only two fans moving around the warm air.  Not being used to this climate, our team is soon wet with sweat, some more than other.  Today we work on identifying the parts of the body in English, the ABC's, and other things using songs and movement.  I seem to sweat more than the rest of the team and soon I am drenched with sweat and standing in a puddle.  
    Today we also are helping the children make and decorate foam photo frames from supplies we brought with us.  We also took all of their pictures and they will put them in the frame.  It is our gift to them.  Christy tells a Bible story through an interpreter and we all do the Hokie-Pokie, more sweat. 
   The second, older group comes in right after the first.  We work with them, as we can, on various subjects, also do the picture frames, and the Hokie-Pokie, more sweat.  As both groups of children pack up to leave my heart swells with emotion.  This is our last day at the school, but not the last in the village, but the last time we will see some and the last time as a group.  As they pack up we look at the faces.  It is our hope that because of the efforts of the Church, we will see these faces in heaven.  I look at the faces as long as I can and pray, asking God to work in these young hearts and draw them to Himself.  I try to memorize these young faces so someday I will recognize them in heaven.  
   We pack up 13 people in a small SUV that will comfortably seat nine to go to lunch.  The truck is overloaded and the transmission whines and now, the steering is also whining.  We go to a local mall for lunch and enjoy food and fellowship with our host.  On the way out we purchase 27 bottles of water and the security guard walks up to me and started asking me questions.  Nobody was there to interpret so I wasn’t sure what I had done wrong.  I was trying to remember if I had a copy of my passport with me and I was hoping I wasn’t in trouble.  Our driver rescued me and told me that they were upset that I was carrying my own water bottles.  They had a young man carry them to the car for me even though I was about three times his size.  I asked our guide about the situation and he said that they view us as there guest and want to take care of us.  

    After lunch the women held a sewing clinic and then a Henna demonstration while Bill and I Prayer walked the village with our guide, and one of the young men, who we are working with.  The people want to see us.  Some want to shake our hands.  We stopped and prayed and they came in close around us. They want to hear what we are saying.  I was very touched when one of the young male teachers began to pray in Bengali.  It is not popular here to be a Christian and this young man (about 23) boldly professes the name of Christ.  As we walked he shared his testimony.  What an amazing and Godly young man.  We call him and his best friend our young and mighty warriors for the Lord.  Bill says that when he grows up he wants to be like them.  I agree.  Lord, give us a faith like his!

The ladies were able to share with the women of the village as they sewed and did Henna with them.  I believe that I heard that three women had professed faith in Jesus Christ. After the sewing clinic Cheryl conducted a Henna clinic with the local women.  The Henna picture that is used in the clinic is based upon the Biblical story of the woman at the well and the story is shared with the women as the design is painted.  Henna painting will be used by the disciples of the church as part of their evangelistic effort using depictions of gospel messages.

The medical clinic was supposed to be from 5pm  to 7pm but went from 5pm to about 9pm.  During the clinic I had the opportunity to share the gospel, through an interpretor, with two brothers who are Hindu.  The people here are very willing to talk with you about God.  There are no atheists here.  People of the Hindu faith have no problem with Jesus.  They do not even have a problem with Him being God.  It is just to them, He is just one of many gods, with a little “g”.  A man here told me that there are over 300 million Hindu gods.  The problem seems to be with them accepting Jesus as the one true God.  The pastor we are working with,  always calls Jesus the living God when he speaks or preaches.  I believe that he is trying to firmly establish a contract between the God he worships and the gods they worship, gods made by human hands, of straw, clay, plastic, or plaster.  During the medical clinic we got to witness a ritual at the Hindi temple across the road from the school.  A woman was performing a ritual where she put the plaster and straw gods to bed.  All during the ritual several of us stood outside and prayed that God would reduce the power and influence of that temple in the village but changing the hearts of the people.  We are praying that the temple would go away and that the building would become part of the school.

We came home tired but blessed and looking forward to some rest time in the morning.  Please keep praying for us. 

God Bless, from the India Team

Peru 4th Update

For hours the children kept coming. In the end there were 52.

Day 4 - Our team served in the squatter village of Pamplona again today.  We were amazed at having 18 children yesterday for a VBS - type of program for the children.  Boy, were we even more surprised today when the children kept coming!  By the end of the day we had over 50 children in a room that was basically 10" by 10"!  I don't know how the team managed it but they provided a wonderful program for everyone.

     In the evening, we showed the Courageous film and then had a time of discussion and reflection.  Seeing a movie is an enjoyable experience for most of the residents in this very poor community of Lima and we were thrilled to provide such a strong family-oriented movie for them.  We trust this will encourage each of the parents to think about their own family values and priorities and seek to have a strong foundation in Christ Jesus to help them through some of the difficult times in their lives.  We were overflowing again and pushing the little church on the side of the hill to its capacity - praise God!

Inviting the villagers to come to see Courageous.

The team continues in good health and is looking forward to our last day of ministry in Pamplona.  Five team members leave Lima late tonight and travel over to Uruguay to meet that team for another week of ministry.  Please pray for both teams.

Team Peru

Peru 3rd Update

Children's completed pictures from Bible Study.

   

     Everyone continues to be in good spirits and good health except the Pastor.  He had to go to a health clinic because he was not feeling well and had a fever.  Please pray for him so that he will be able to lead us in ministry. 

     Day 2 - This was our second day of ministry in Villa el Salvador and involved children's ministry, sewing ministry, door-to-door evangelism, Bible study, and a worship service.  The medical team performed check-ups for about 70 people and two ladies decided to give their lives to Jesus during these check-ups!  One was a 20 year-old mother who has endured such awful hardships that no 20 year-old should never experience.  Many of which we inflicted on her by her "church leader" father.  She has major trust and forgiveness issues. 

In just two and a half years, the Baptist Church of Villa el Salvador has grown from meeting in one of the member's home to a very nice church building nearby.  They are trying to complete the second floor for Bible study classrooms and are just now completing a baptistry.  It is a wonderful building and God is continuing to show His favor on this local church.

     Day 3 - We traveled to an extremely poor area called Pamplona where our missionaries have a house church.  A team from N.C. finished out a small church where this new group of believers can gather for worship and Bible study.  While some of our team provided a program for children, others went door-to-door inviting the residents to the evening's activity (Magdalene movie) as well as activities for the next two days.  We had 16 children cram into a very small space for crafts and a Bible story!   

Women's Bible Study

Later on we had 12 women, and their children, come to watch the movie and then discuss how Jesus treated women and to encourage them to trust him even when they felt abandoned by their earthly fathers and husbands.  Many of the women experience physical and verbal abuse on a regular basis and our ladies were able to encourage them through their testimonies. 

     Please pray for this new church plant that God will raise up Godly men who can lead the men in this community in loving God and their families as God intended.  Two years ago, the church in Villa el Salvador had virtually no men in their house group and now have a strong core of men reaching out to the men in their community.  That is our prayer for the church in Pamplona!     Peru Team

INDIA - Update#3

We have had two amazing days of working with the people from the local Church and school. It was an amazing experience for us to walk about 300 yards into a slum with unimaginable living conditions only to find a school offering hope to the local children. This school is a one room building and children who attend are between the ages of 5 - 16 years old. The pastor of this church and his wife, are both tireless workers and are discipling an amazing group of young people. These young people have touched our hearts. They are all between the ages of 16 and 23 and they invest limitless hours into the work of the church and the school. They all boldly profess the name of Jesus Christ in a place where it is very unpopular to do so.
Today (Wednesday) we had a sewing clinic scheduled from two o'clock to four o'clock and then a health clinic from 4 to 7. In the morning both of the nurses on the trip, Bill and Alison, were ill with what I suspect was Delhi Belly. There would have been no way for us to do the medical clinic without them. We prayed, first for Alison, who was ill first thing in the morning, and later for Bill, who took ill on the way to the school. Praise God that both were able to complete the clinic in some very trying conditions including 98 degree heat and 60% humidity.
Today was also my and Cheryl's thirtieth wedding anniversary. The team offered to allow us to leave early to go to a nice restaurant and celebrate but we just did not want to leave our team when there was work to be done. The pastor and his wife surprised us with a cake and a celebration. We were touched deep in our hearts. These people have so little and give so much. They work long hours everyday in very harsh conditions. That they would honor us was overwhelming to Cheryl and me. We will never forget this anniversary or these people.
We have a great team here. Bill and Mary are good and wise leaders and really look out for the team. They are also excellent examples of Christlike service and give selflessly of themselves. Christy actually lived in the Middle East for a time and her experiences there have been helpful to us here. She is a very strong person and has done whatever it takes on this trip. Ellen is our songbird and she also has an amazing rapport with children and young people. They flock to her and they seem to communicate in spite of the language barriers. Alison is younger than the rest of us but does not seem to mind hanging out with the old fogies. As our only female nurse she is indispensable. She is also a trooper and, through the power of prayer, made a great recovery today and performed about 28 examinations in a dimly lit concrete room with no ventilation. Way to go Alison, Then there is my lovely bride of 30 years, Cheryl. God first put this mission on her heart and she patiently waited for Him to put it on mine also. God has used Cheryl to show women here how to use something from their culture, Henna painting, to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Don't tell her that I said so but this woman just constantly amazes me. I am a very blessed man and thank our Lord for my Proverbs 31 woman, "A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies.
Tomorrow is a very long day and will be the hottest day since we have been here. We are teaching in the morning and the the ladies will be doing a sewing clinic in the afternoon and then we all will do another clinic from 4 to 7.
Please pray for us and ask our Lord to sustain us and for our efforts to honor Him, the one true and living God. Blessings from the India Team.

Peru- Update 2

Prayer walk through Pamploma

The team was blessed with some time to rest this morning after a long day yesterday.  The afternoon and evening were filled with planning with the Pastor and his church and then the team divided up to prayer walk the nearby neighborhood.  We had several wonderful interactions with folks and we invited them to the week's activities at the church in Villa el Salvador.

This evening our team worked with the ladies in the sewing ministry.  This was a great time of fellowship and discipleship.  Three teams made home visits to church members who were not attending regularly.  During one of our visits, a family member who was visiting made a decision to follow Christ!  We are so thankful for this new brother-in-Christ.

Please pray for our medical personnel as they prepare for the medical clinic tomorrow.  Other team members will be engaged in door-to-door evangelism, sewing ministry, and children's ministry.

Peru Team

Peru Team arrived on 6/25

Just a quick update letting everyone know we arrived safely last evening. One of our teams had their first flight cancelled but got into Lima about 11:30 p.m.  We are up now and about to start our first day of ministry.  I'll send another update this evening.  Keep praying for the ministry and the team.

India1- Monday

It is now the end of the day on Monday.  We have been here three days and have met some very amazing people.  We attended two churches yesterday.  The one we attended in the morning meets in a English/Hindi language church that worships in both languages.  They meet in a rented martial hall and on Sunday they had 16 kids and 24 children, including our team of seven.

Sunday afternoon and into the evening we attended worship at a house church. The first part of the service was for children up on the flat roof of the house.  There were about 30 children, aged 4 - 12, and they were taught by an amazing group of young people.  Some of these young leaders, in their early 20's, have been rejected by their families due to their conversion to Christianity, but they serve with such dedication and joy.

In the second worship service we started out on the roof where they completed the children's service, where about 35 children were in attendance.  After the children's service the adult service was also to be held on the roof but it started to rain so everybody patiently move downstairs and inside.  The room was crowded and dimly lit but the worship was powerful.  Even though we could not understand the language, we could feel hearts of prayer being poured out to our Lord.  The singing was amazing even though, with the exception of one song that was sung in English; we could not understand the word.  We could however hear the joy in the voices and see it on the faces as they praise our Lord.  We were reminded of the passages in the Bible that speak of many tribes and many languages and we knew that we were seeing a small example of that.

We are greatly humbled and in awe of the things that people will do and put up with here in order to worship and serve the Lord.  If anybody ever hears me complain about the church being too hot or cold they have my permission to kick me.  The hymnal we used at the morning church were typed and put together in three ring binders.  At the house church the hymnals were hand written in beautiful hand writing and there were Hindi, Bengali, and English sections.  The songs of praise were accompanied by a rhythm section consisting of a drum head, a tambourine type instrument with a handle, and a pair of small cymbals and of course accompanied by rhythmic hand clapping. 

We have quickly grown to love these people.  The Spirit we share helps us overcome the obstacles of language and culture.  They treat us like we are so very special and seem not to understand that we are in awe of them and their faith and service.  We need to stay focused to not allow ourselves to begin to feel special.  It is not about us, it is about Jesus.  We have not come here simply to do things for people; we have come here in obedience to our Lord.  We believe that, and have found from past experience, that when we step out in obedience, our God will bless us in ways that we cannot imagine and beyond our ability to comprehend.  Never have I been so thankful for toast with jam and butter and McDonald's (yes - believe it or not, there is McDonald's here but only chicken and fish, no beef). 

I fully expect that we will all find ourselves changed by our God in ways that we cannot imagine and beyond our ability to comprehend.  God so loves all of the people of the world, every color, every tribe, every culture, every language, and yes, even those of other religions.  They worship a god with a little "g".  We want them to know and experience the one true God.  The pastor, in his sermons, calls Him the living God. 

We covet your prayers and look forward to sharing with you our stories, pictures, and experiences.  We are your missionaries, we were sent forth from you and by you.  We represent first our Lord here, and then our family of faith. 

We love you with the love of our Lord, praise be to His name!

India1- We've arrived!

The team arrived safely to the airport in India at 3:30 AM after traveling for about 26 hours.  An early morning journey through the city with one car and two cabs, to carry the seven team members and the luggage, allowed us to see the sights and sounds of our city as it awakens.

It seems that before 6 AM that traffic laws do not apply (so far I am not so sure they apply too much at any hour) so we randomly rode at times on both the left and the right side of the road sometime into oncoming traffic.  Cars, cabs, bicycles, mopeds, motorcycles, light rail, buses, and pedestrians all share the limited road space and all jockey for position.  Car horns are constantly blows but not maliciously, but more like "Hey, I am here", or "Look out, here I come".  Amazingly, we saw, and experienced a few close calls but witnessed no accidents. We also saw traffic briefly stopped by a herd of goats, and slowed a few time by wondering cattle, things you do not often see in Norfolk.

We had a planning and briefing meeting with our resident friend and a local pastor.   We were given a few Bengali phrases and greetings and talked about culture, dress, and the multiple religions that we will encounter.

The afternoon was spent shopping for Indian clothing for the ladies and Bill and I purchased man-dresses that neither one of us ever plan to wear out of our bedrooms.  While shopping we had the change to share with a shopkeeper. His mother was Christian and he had relatives who were Jewish, Hindu, and Buddhist, so he had a very pluralist view of God. He respected that Jesus was our path to God but only one of many paths.  We shared with him the words that Jesus spoke on this subject when He said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life.  Nobody  comes to the Father except through me.". We left with an invitation to return for more discussion.

All in all, a very eventful day.