Final reflections:

It’s hard to put on paper ones thoughts and experiences from all we have seen, heard and been involved with. India has no doubt a special place in our hearts and more importantly in the Lord’s. These comments are personal to me and do not necessarily reflect that of the other members of the team.

There is such an obvious change when a non believer comes out from the darkness of this infested land of 330 million gods to the one and only true God who brings light and life and eternal hope! Apart from me there is no other Saviour.  Isaiah 43:11 (para)

Most of the believers we have met express outwardly such a joy and a radiance that is hard to find in the western world (when you consider the burdens and difficulties and hardships they face daily); I have even questioned my own outward expressions at times on looking back on the past, where it has seemingly been difficult to worship in the way in which I should. During some of the services I have seen with my own eyes such beautiful worship from somebody and then later only to find that same person kneeling before me and weeping as I pray over them. How can this be? Why are some of us such a closed book in western culture……? Why do some of us find it difficult to come forward for prayer when given the opportunity…... is our self reliance so strong that we starve ourselves and deny this privilege of ministering to one another?

We have been richly blessed by seeing the Lord touching lives here and there (as so many of our meetings have been small numbers) and then to see amazing responses to the gospel when groups of all ages give their hearts to the Lord. What a sight to behold and if only we could hear the angels rejoicing in heaven! We eagerly await forthcoming testimonies to speak of what God has been doing through us and with your prayer support……..let us rejoice together!!

Not everything goes to schedule and at times we find that frustrating, almost a difficult pill to swallow if you have not been here before! You might be thinking I have rose tinted glasses well that’s not quite true. Sometimes Indian mentality is enough to test the patience of any saint, as programs change to what you think has been arranged, the same mistakes are sometimes repeated, and the chilled attitude towards time can take it’s toll…… when we come from such an organised culture, but we lovingly move forward. Other things like noise and pollution are in excess of our norm, and yet they pay close attention to keeping their houses neat and clean, but outside the home anything goes; even believers do not seem to care about litter outside their personal domain.

I am still amazed how we can turn up in the middle of a village almost an hour to an hour and a half later than planned and ‘church’ just begins within moments. Chairs appear from almost nowhere, people begin to gather and without any fancy PA equipment worship commences!! Even if people are already assembled they patiently wait for us to show up and just continue to worship in song. They are so eager to have fellowship, to hear you speak into their lives and to pray with them that time is not important, only just to be with God’s people!

Believers here have a heart of servant hood where nothing is too much trouble or too difficult. They seem to go to extraordinary lengths not only to welcome you but to serve and they feel it is their minimum duty! In many ways all that we witness is like what we read in the book of Acts. There are many elements that I would love to see adopted into our churches in the western world as there is freedom from striving for perfection and dare I say even military precision which could overtake the simplicity of ‘fellowship’. I realise that this does not apply to all churches as we operate at varying levels; also that here we do not have to be as responsible and accountable for our time as we do in the western world!

Never the less there is a richness here that makes us seem poor by comparison as we perhaps wrestle to live in our own society with such high demands upon our time and energy. God gives us so much in the way of families and friends and church family and yet we seem to strive for better things seemingly, that actually deprive us of spending precious time with the things He considers more important! There is so much to learn, so much to apply and time vanishes before us. The mission for this year is over and it is important we take proper rest as this has been punishing at times.

Already our programs are memories and photos and sadly as we relax in modern hotels in Kerala we see many Europeans (Italians, French and some English) pushing there way around the buffet tables as if there were only 3 spoons of rice left! After spending so much time with the nationals what we now experience is not a pretty sight, and I realise I can be just as guilty if I am not careful. There is beauty in being with our brothers and sisters in India and it’s so easy to make them laugh or smile. Even to relate to ordinary people in match factories who we have never met before just by getting down to their level brings a man or woman to beam a smile without even being able to speak their language! God bless India and bring many more into the kingdom of God!