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MINISTRY: INTERNATIONAL/INDIA

In January 2004 I had the privilege of going to India on a trip to encourage our brothers and sisters in the Lord. If you look at the first picture, you see Keith praying for one of the Pastor's and his family. Encouraging the saints was a regular activity. As we prayed for them, the Holy Spirit would direct our prayers, often praying with an interpreter present and having no possible way of knowing specifics about the individual's situation, the prayers still would be specific and personal. The family vehicle for this husband and wife with four children is a Honda motorcycle. It was amazing to see entire families traveling around on one motorcycle.

Here in the second picture, we are enjoying a meal with Yessupadam and his Canadian born wife, Monica. The plates you see are the usual in India, stainless steel with a lip around the outside edge, and the utensils are your right hand, always the right hand. Every meal had curry and rice, some had potatoes, we often had hard boiled eggs, and for us, as special guests, we also would have chicken and once or twice we even had beef. This meal was taken at the end of a day of work, 1:30 in the morning. The schedule was grueling and it was hard to find a proper body rhythm. The air was so bad in India that after my first night, my bronchial tubes were completely congested. I really needed God's grace to carry me through.

Third picture, speaking of food;we went four hours into the mountains to a village. We were met with the majority of the village singing and celebrating God's grace to them. We were treated very well, but we were not revered above other people, and this was good. The entire village was invited out for this meal, as there were special guests. Here our plates were banana leaves and the food was excellent. This first man is Bryan Mcrea, from Tekoa Georgia; we met in India but our friendship has really grown. He boldly speaks declares God's word.

Fourth picture, this was close to the village where we had the communal feast. This young lady was getting baptized upon the confession of her faith in Jesus Christ as Lord. Just the year before, she had been so tormented by demons that she would rip her clothes and run around on the hills and had no control over her activities. When Jesus came into her life, the demons left and it was amazing to see the gentle Spirit in her!
Fifth picture, this was still in this village. My assignment was to pray for the dedication of this new church building and after I was introduced, Yessupadam gave me the mike, they had loud speakers everywhere. On the trip up I was asking God what I should say when I would pray, and I sensed Him telling me to not concern myself with that, He would give me the words.

Sixth picture When I took the mike, the Spirit of the Lord overwhelmed me, all I could do was weep, and I buckled over groaning under the weight. I sensed an awesome peace and warmth. Then I sensed God tell me that His love flowed for these people and I was standing in the flow of His love, and that is what overwhelmed me. After I had prayed, I sensed the quite hush of the Lord throughout the village.

Seventh picture The truly humbling thing was to go into the church and see the painting on the back of the wall. There was an eight foot artists rendition of the face of Jesus, with tears dripping down His face. I sensed the Lord tell me that He had shown the people how much He loved them and He had brought me here to be a physical example for them; all very humbling.

Eigth picture Here a plaque hanging outside of this building, you can go there and check out if I am telling the truth.

Ninth picture Now we see the commercial kitchen. The dishes are being washed, the dogs are in the background getting their fill, and the girls are washing the pots and dishes that we just ate out of and would eat out of again later. The grime on the back of the wall was in all the kitchens we saw. Although this seems dirty, the food was all well prepared, clean and never made us sick; you just have to be able to look past the grime.

Tenth picture I heard the story from the girl in the yellow dress. She came from a Brahmin family, this is the highest rank in the Indian caste system and here family was very wealthy as well as influential. When she accepted Christ as her Saviour and was baptized, her family had a funeral service and declared her to be dead. I wept as I heard the story and she asked why would I weep for her? I said she had lost so much. Her comment was that it was nothing compared to what she had gained in Christ.

Final picture Here we have a view from the third floor of the building we were staying in. This is a most typical scene in India.

For a full account of this trip you can go to India Journal.