The mission begins....

An awesome day !!!! We had a great youth revival meeting (or at least that's what the banner was headed) and the Lord was at work... thanks sooooooooooo much for all your prayers!!

We had 3 sessions of praise and worship interlinked with teaching and practical periods followed with prayer. Almost double the expected numbers came approx 130!! Not into stats as such but for those of you that are around 20 people gave their hearts to the Lord this morning awesome !! Praise God..
We concluded with those that wanted to rededicate their lives and make a fresh commitment to Christ, almost 85% stood up and we prayed for them!

We are kinda blown apart in seeing such an overwhelming response today's meeting. This is real stuff and it's so encouraging and such a blessing not only to us but the team of pastors.All new believers had new Test. given freely which we just managed to get.

Tonight I baptised with another pastor 10 people (young and old), amazing that only a few hundred yards away was an Indian shrine. what a mind blowing reality that in one place there is the Kingdom of darkness and just a few hundred yards apart people are making publicly there dedication to Christ. They have been waiting to make this public declaration due to the troubles, but tonight was there moment. We are here in the heart of rural India and people are being saved by the Grace of God.

The evening service that followed we gave out saris to widows and bibles to those who needed...again awesome.

Please continue to pray for all our meetings, I probably cannot express everything well as time is short between meetings but I wanted you to be encouraged.

Stage two done!

Arrived in Bangalore's new airport 4 hours late due to fog in Bangalore on the outbound flight. A very different place from what we knew before .....again the 'metallic look; then headed south for about 6 hours to get to our destination in the South.

This evening we held a prayer meeting with all the IVCM pastors in this locality. It was an awesome time of fellowship and were introduced to two new pastors ! We gave them all new T-shirts with IVCM logo that we had embroidered in the States, what a delight to see their faces!

We encouraged them and shared communion and prayed for them , (group photo to follow); somehow this seems all so worthwhile and valuable. These guys are doing a sterling job in very difficult circumstances with very limited resources. We hope we can continue to bless the team as the Lord 'melts us together'. This kind of ministry is so rewarding and it takes such little effort to encourage their hearts.

Pray for us 'ALL' as we commence the first youth meeting tomorrow....

Stage one!!: We've reached the airport!

Feeling a little weird as we have been at a such a pace for so long that it's time to move on! (There's a sermon in that phrase!...... in fact after spending weeks of preparation there seems to be a sermon in most things if you look hard enough!). Have been up early and late to bed for so long, then all of a sudden we find our selves at an airport with 6 hours to kill and with not much to do except browse for stuff you can't afford or don't want! Even tried a few sniffs of diff aftershaves and came out smelling like somebody that fell into a Pot-Pourri bowl!! Oh how we long to be with our friends in India!

Kym being the positive one says a later departure will suit our body clocks better, so am enjoying the benefits of an exec lounge and eating ourselves silly and trusting that the Lord has a purpose in this (not the eating silly of course!). Terminal 5 I have come to the conclusion (after the 5th visit) is a land of space and escalators.... strange metallic almost space age...slightly unwelcoming place. You are constantly going up and down escalators to get to where you want to go, and returning back to where you were but from a diff angle... surely this could have been designed better !? (waiting now for the critics who like this place a lot!)....sorry still not sure.

Well I guess it won't be long before the sounds, smells and serious noise of Bangalore will be real to us, and that I was actually glad of the air-con lounge in Heathrow. speak with you later.... that is assuming you don't get get disenchanted after reading this first clip?