MINISTRY TRIP TO INDIA
To India with
Love!
FEBRUARY 2008
Lorien and I left on Valentines day, Feb 14, 2008 and flew through from
Boston to Amsterdam, then to Hyderabad and on to Vishakhapatnum in
Andhra Pradesh. The flights were all good and there were no problems. I
was delighted at the quality and professionalism of the personnel at
Kingfisher Airlines inside India. I had been a little concerned, not
knowing what it might be like.
In Hyderabad there aren't real gates, just a room with two doors and
you go to the correct door and get on a bus to go to the airplane. That
was a little scary since it's all done by announcements that aren't
very clear. You hear "May I have your kind attention." And then you're
not sure what they said until the end where they say "thank you". But
it all worked out and with a little help, we got to where we needed to
go.
Feb.16th We arrived Vishakhapatnum and settled into a "lodging
house" near where Santhosh lives. It was on a busy main street so the
noise was pretty constant. In India the horn is used constantly to tell
other drivers that you're coming through, and they have developed
distinctive horns with all kinds of tunes and sounds, but it all
results in a lot of noise all day and most of the night too!
We had a chance
for a long visit and supper with Santhosh at their house.
Feb. 17th I preached Sunday morning at Santhosh's church, the
rest of the team Connie & Bill Wilson and Kaye Beyer arrived in the
afternoon. We had church that evening and there were more guests from
America who had been in country and they were leaving the next day.
There was a sewing center graduation and we had the honor of passing
out graduation certificates and gifts. We all had supper together at a
restaurant after church.
Feb. 18th It took packing up two Jeeps to get us all to Pangidi. As we
were leaving Visakhapatnum we went to Iruwada to visit the new campus
that is being constructed. Santhosh is in need of $75,000 more to
complete the church, orphanage, and the school buildings. They had
enough money when they started the project, but there were some delays
with the construction. In the meantime, China has bought up the steel
and construction supplies which has caused prices to increase
dramatically. Please pray for provision for them to have the finances
to finish the construction project.
Then we traveled the 4 hours to get to the campus at Pangidi which is
near Rajahmundry.
Feb. 19, 20 and 21 The Pangidi Conference started on Tuesday
evening.
We had come to do a Women's conference but there was also a Pastors
conference scheduled in another location which didn't come together.
So, instead of a women's conference it ended up being a conference with
three women's meetings. A brother from America preached all three
nights. I also gave a short message on The Weapon of Joy the first
night, Kaye gave testimonies of what the Lord had done for them on the
2nd night and Connie spoke the 3rd night. We had a morning session with
the ladies on Wednesday morning, but because we had so little time with
them, we asked for a Thursday afternoon session as well Thursday
morning. At the Thursday afternoon session, we anointed (and splashed)
the women with water that Connie brought from Elisha's well in Jericho.
Feb 22 was a day just to rest at the campus in Pandigi. Connie
and Kaye went off with a friend from Israel who was working at an
orphanage a couple of hours away. They were delighted with the love
that was there and they were given sari's and dressed in them by the
girls that were there.
On Feb 23, we started visiting villages in the East and West Godavari
districts.
In the afternoon we went to Malaka Palli, the place of “Papa’s” home
where where he was raised. Both generations were garment merchants and
tailers and had been the only merchant shop in the area. The family had
been converted to Christianity from Hinduism by Lutherans from Germany.
We handed out graduation certificates at a Sewing Center
graduation; There is a children’s home on the bottom floor so
some of the children were present as well.
We did a very late evening meeting in Penakanametta which is close to
Pangidi. We were late getting there and then they insisted on feeding
us before we went to church. They just kept singing with the sound
system going out over the village until the speakers got there.
On Feb. 24 Sun. AM we packed up our things in Pangidi to spend
overnight out in the field and we went off ot Sunday morning
worship in Rajahmundry. I preached on the glory and during the
ministry time, Connie started to pray for the Baptism of the Holy
Spirit for some teenage boys and they exploded when they received the
Holy Spirit.
2/24 Sun. PM - After a long, very scary ride to
Allavaram, we all shared some at the church service, we passed out
saris to the widows and the poor and we handed out graduation
certificates for the sewing center graduation. About a dozen girls
crammed into a three wheel taxi after the service, proving that there
truly is always room for one more in India.
We had to pray in a motel room because we found out that there were no
rooms where we were going. We sang "We need just one more miracle, We
need just one more miracle, We need just one more miracle, We need just
one more, one more, one more miracle!" And God was good and gave us a
miracle! A very nice hotel late at night with rooms for all of us! And
it had a western toilet and hot water! It was a miracle!
2/25 Mon AM - We prayed in the
Spirit for a long time as we traveled in the car and although the
village of Yallavanigaruvu and the church were small and obviously
poor, it was the most
Glory that I felt the whole trip. I had the strong impression that it
was a strategic command post for angelic host and so I taught on
honoring the anointing. There was an excellence about the church that
was impressive. We also cut the ribbon and dedicated a new sewing
center at that church.
We traveled into a larger town, Palkol to one of the church member's
home and had lunch there. Their home was clean and orderly and
everything about them was done in excellence.
We traveled a ways to Attini where we visited some family members of
Shubaka's in the afternoon while we waited for folks to come in from
the rice fields. Their place was across the street from a water pump
and women were filling their containers and taking them home. Some old
ladies came in to the front room and sat with us and we gave them each
a sari and then children came as well to check out the foreigners.
We stopped by Tallapalem and prayed for a new church
and pastor's house that was being built in a small village. The pastor
at this church was the worship leader for the conference. He's very
anointed for worship and we encouraged him to sing prophetically and to
start to write music. The need about $2,500 to complete the building
and another $2,500 to finish everything off.
We went to Kotapally which was the place of
Santhosh’s visitation when he died and was taken by the angels to
Jesus. We were just stopping by to see the place and first the children
came, and then more and more people came and sat with us. We played
with the children, listened to them sing and gave saris to the elderly
women.
At
Kondruprolu we had a night street meeting in beggar’s village. Most of
the church were children although Bill prayed for a man who was a leper
and another man who was blind. There was a church building, but it had
been demolished so we worshipped in the street with the people sitting
on
mats. The sound system with a large metal speaker attached to one of
the homes. There was one microphone that was attached to the home. The
sound wasn't great but the noise went out over the village and more and
more people came.
We thought that there was a church in Tadepalligudem where the pastor
lived. They started a meeting in the street with singing and people
came out of their homes and sat on the mats in the street by the
pastors home. I knew that not all of the people were saved and some
were just standing on their front steps listening. Lorien had a
wonderful prophetic song over them and I preached a short message on
the love of God.
Shubaka invited me over to pray for a man with a bad back,
and the Lord healed him, which increased faith. I prayed for a
lady who had very bad knees and she said that there was nothing that
the doctors could do. The Lord healed her knees and she went off like a
rocket
- jumping and screaming and yelling. (Indian women are very quiet and
when I prayed for them I often didn't know that anything was happening
unless there was a little crying.) The lady going off like a rocket
increased
the faith on the street even more and the Lord healed a Hindu man who
had a pain in
his back, hip and down his leg. He asked the Lord into his heart that
night. We found out the next morning that there had been no church
there but
now a new church had been birthed.
Tuesday, February 26th we went shopping for a couple of hours in
Rajamundry. We went into a fabric store that was four floors of saris
and material, not a single sari different from the next. It was big
business and overwhelming! Shabaka's
wife, Ruth was with us and she told a jeweler that we were here doing
ministry and both the shop keeper and his assistant asked us to pray
for them, right there on the street. We then drove the 4 hours back to
Vishakhapatnum. We went to a motel that had a
guest house for overflow when the motel was full. It was delightful
because there were three bedrooms and a living room that was just right
for the 5 of us. Our house boy Ramu said that his brother
was a Christian and he also received prayer from us. We had a very late
supper at the motel. We were the
only white folks in the motel and it was the only place
that I actually felt a little uncomfortable because of all the looks
from other customers.
Wednesday, February 27th Connie, Bill and Kaye had to leave to get
across the border into Israel before Friday sabboth. Lorien
and I spent 4 hours just sitting and talking and having lunch with
Santhosh. When we left the guest house I thanked Ramu for what an
excellent job he had done. I blessed him when we left and I asked
Santhosh to translate so that I was sure that he understood what I was
saying. We moved over to the motel from the guest house and we were
delighted to have not only hot water but a TUB! With lots of love
and gratitude the atmosphere totally changed and by the time Lorien and
I left, all the staff were talking to us and smiling. Before we left I
made a special point of taking to the general manager and telling him
what an excellent motel he had.
Thursday, February 28th Lorien and I took a taxi to the airport and we
were met by Santhosh and Mani and some of the young men. Then we flew
to Hyderabad and then to Mumbai and onto Amsterdam and into Boston. We
were blessed with a half empty plane on the last leg of the journey, so
we could spread out over three seats! That was wonderful!
It was the best mission trip that I
have taken yet - to see the spiritual growth since last year, to
develop relationships more, to watch the Lord move with healings and
ministry, and to hear from the Lord for a different word for each
church and location! It was just an awesome experience and I look
forward to going back again.
