New foundations, New beginnings

Last night we concluded our day by meeting in the heart of a community of witchcraft and other dark forces as we had expected to do. All I can say on the blog safely was that the battle began fiercely and dramatically long before we got there! Team members were effected in different ways and this resulted in us stepping our prayers beyond what we even had planned on doing. PLEASE continue to pray and hold us up, our arms are tired and need support, we are doing battle in satans territory, but God is showing people His glorious light!

We arrived to a new bigger church foundations with walls made of curtains and a gravel floor. 'Barefoot walking' had a whole new meaning for the team!

We preached the gospel after Layla had talked to over 30 kids. During the gospel message a few believer felt uncomfortable and walked out , then a few more as the critical time approached!

But praise God from this gathering 6 people made a decision to accept Jesus and so we drove home knowing victory was in the hands of the Lord! That of course only happened after more distributions and LOTS of prayer. Many people expressed with tears there need for God in their lives to deal with their difficult circumstances.

KEEP Praying, we keep preaching and praying for these dear people!

The Lost Sheep

The first service on Sunday was in a beautiful setting with in the 4 walls or 'curtains' of a building made of coconut leaves woven together. As we approached it we heard voices praising God!

Pat was to do the children's message and I was preaching, neither knew what we were speaking on. Pat spoke using large illustrations on the "lost sheep. The kids sat listening intently.

I preached which ended in a gospel response and amongst this small gathering of mostly believers ONE lady stood up and accepted Jesus, how fitting that just one lost soul got saved that day, these are things only God can orchestrate! Praise His name!

Bibles and Saris and teddies, oh and of course pencils were all distributed as tokens of love, and so gratefully received….we do that as normal in church right…?

As we left this gathering of encouraged believers they stood out side waving with outstretched arms and huge smiles!

Giving and receiving

This afternoon had us involved with a baptismal service were I had the privilege of baptising 11 new believers in the most beautiful rural village. 

So many wonderful testimonies as 2 married couple got baptised as well as a family of four! The father, the husband and wife and their son were all baptised this afternoon, what power there is in the gospel! Such a privilege to witness this before our own eyes, such rejoicing among us all as there would have been in Heaven! 

Praying for people, giving of bibles naturally followed during a short service. The team had such awesome experiences in these rural village communities!

Our evening ended up preaching the gospel in a remote village on the edge of a forested hill. Again we did battle as there were some minor disturbances, but then from a gathering of around  40 or so people, 15 + made a decision to accept Jesus!

What a blessing for them and for us, after which the ladies gave saris to the widows present and then individual prayer requests followed  late into the night!

Battle before victory!

What an amazing youth meeting ! 200 young people were expected, but at least 300 turned up and filled this hall! 

A great time was had as we worked through our theme 'God is the builder of everything', talking about physical buildings, building walls, foundations, corner stone, living stone and God building our lives. Loads of props , visual aids all blended together, which enabled many to help participate in different activities.

Just at the crucial moment when the gospel was being proclaimed the enemy sought to throw fiery darts at us, and applied critical tactics mostly with the media controls that meant we stopped and started several times. This resulted in the message being interrupted and repeatedly broken up. I struggled at first to keep focused and almost was thrown off course, but then God took over and intervened and around 70 young people made a decision to accept Jesus this day! Praise God. Then around 100+ believers made a fresh commitment to Jesus and sacrificed the things they were making more important than God in their lives, on a symbolic altar. It was truly a wonderful moment to see young people responding in this way! Keep praying, God is at work but so is the enemy.

Team colours

Met with our precious pastors last night dressed in white shirts who honoured us for being here to work alongside them with colourful shawls.... 

.....then into another outfit ready for youth crusade. what a powerful and amazing time we had with these men of God, we felt very emotional as we experienced the presence of God in our midst as we prayed for 'Mission 13'

Melting snow and hearts

Well, here we go with news of the 2013 India trip:

Thanks for ALL your prayers, with a difficult week weather wise which seem to want to hamper all flight possibilities - even bringing the team together! At least this meant we were focused on praying for the snow to stop and clear! A few of us remember esp. praying like Elijah did to stop the rain and substituted that for snow, scriptures says he was an ordinary man! On travelling to London on Wed, we still battled with the snow in Hereford after a fresh fall over night and approaching surrey were down to one lane on some roads!

The next morning we progressed to the airport and the roads just got clearer and clearer, by the time we reached Heathrow it was virtually non visible! PTL No freezing fog either and the plane took off. 

So good after so much time for us all to meet up in person both in London and on the other side in Bangalore having being met by Past David  (holding banner!) and Peter our driver.

A strange sort of journey partly trying to keep awake and yet open our eyes to India! Coconut stop on the way, …. well what else. 

Now quite tired and having to gird up our loins for our first important meeting of the night, so please continue to pray that with the snow gone, Hearts would be melted towards God

Luggage space at max many cases filled with teddies jam packed ready for distribution!

More soon!

Photo's

Here's a few pictures of Rod and Kym's trip this year but also from past trips:

'The Last Post' - geddit??!

Today after our second pastors meeting we travelled back to Madurai ready for the start of our onward journey home. This is always a sad moment and I hate saying goodbyes.

Once again we have been made so  welcome by our Indian believers and also so many rural village people. There is no doubt in my mind that their attitude to work and hospitality is given such great importance. Their faith is generally so strong and is carried throughout the week with a heart for fellowship with other believers. Nothing seems too much trouble and often make sacrificial contributions. 

Kym was bowled over at one meeting when two people gave her an offering. Whilst risking criticism, I believe we have not always grasped in the West, the the real vibrance that we see in the early church of the new testament, that we see here often replicated in India.  We seem to be so busy with meetings and attempting how to 'do or organise  church', that we sometimes miss out on living out our lives and blessing one another, and being dependant on God. I realise this is a general statement and there will always be acceptions of examples in the West, but the reality of living out ones faith in India has to be personally witnessed to make these comparisons.

There are of course many frustrations and issues that we in the West have to overcome and that is part of embracing the culture. each time we learn new things and new ways, which all makes for future improvement. None the less we always take back a sense of being loved and appreciated.

There is always the stark reality of the poverty, corruption and cruelty that we see and experience, mixed alongside some beautiful sites that are blended with the simplicity of rural life. On our way home we had a big wake up call as we came across a tragic accident where a body lay in the road having been presumably hit by another vehicle. It was a very graphic site and made us appreciate how much  God is merciful to us in all our travels and has faithfully answered all our prayers.

We leave with saddened hearts but better informed and blessed by God as we have served Him during these two weeks. Thanks for your support and also a special thanks to Dave for doing the Blog and Juergen for circulating email updates

Power cuts and Power holidays!

After the 2 services we then conducted a baptismal service and 4 new believers were baptised with many watching on this event, again I count it pure joy and a privilege to conduct this aspect of our ministry alongside the pastors.

After this we held our second women's meeting in the evening which was well attended albeit interrupted with power cuts which we have become accustomed to. Locally called a 'power holiday'! These women made special efforts to come and listen immediately after coming home from work, they are willing to make great efforts to learn more about the bible

Orphan time was had by all (say it in yer head!)

A very busy day as this involved four services/meetings, very punishing in one sense but rewarding as always. We are here on a mission and people are eager to hear and receive bibles and saris and for prayer.

Our first service at a small IVCM church Kym took which helped me conserve my voice and it culminated in 4 people make a commitment to Christ. This was so encouraging for the pastor and fellow believers, we could see growth from 2 years a go.

The next service was at the church where our own orphans are based. This church had expanded in terms of the congregation and many improvements had been made. The orphans made a special effort to greet us and line up with a guard of honour holding reed crosses. Again we were blessed as 5 new believers made a decision to accept Jesus. Each received new testaments (see pics with bibles).

The orphans were so happy to spend time with us, and we gave them cuddly toys/pencils and tooth brushes. Also we had funded to provide new matts to sleep on. what a privilege to spend time with these well cared for young people and they seemed so  responsive and grateful for your gifts.

Seed produces fruit....

Yesterday was a long day and demanded much of us as this involved much travelling. We started at 8am and got back at 11.10pm exhausted but very satisfied.

The morning was the second youth meeting, which was well attended and they appreciated our teaching which involved participation. They seemed very responsive both adults and young people. There was a strong response to the call at the end of the meeting where over 50 young people made a decision to accept Jesus. we trust that the good seed sown will grow and develop into something beautiful, please pray for these new believers.

In the evening we held an outdoor Gospel meeting in a rural village. This was also well attended by some 300 people. Many were still coming from work after we started and enjoyed sitting and listening and watching. To start with there was no power, and we had to use a generator but this would cause problems with using the projector and media. However just as we started the power came back on , and then again at the end within 5 minutes the power went off! How about that for timely intervention! Many people asked for prayer at the end and some for healing. However 27 people mostly adults but some teenagers came forward at the end to accept Christ.

Thanks for your prayers, please do continue as we are flagging a little as we near the end. god has been so good and sustained our very need. Keep praying as we make the most of these opportunities.

Rural ramblings..

This evening we took a long journey to get to some tribal villages where the gospel is infrequently heard. Some children however from another village attended who knew some Christian songs came along and really enjoyed singing with our worship pastor Kumar. We loved the way the children responded to praying.

These places are different to the rural villages as things seem more primitive and definitely more remote, open fires, deep wells and stone or brick buildings to cope with the lower temperatures.  

Many work in the tea & coffee plantations on the slopes around. Despite some chaos at times (various interruptions from the enemy) 9 adults made a decision to accept Jesus which was a wonderful close to the evening. After this we gave out pencils and some toothbrushes and soft toys the pictures of which say it all!

Many people came up afterwards for individual prayer as can be seen, we needed torches to walk back through the forest paths late at night....quite an experience!