Day 12
Wow, twelve days of full on ministry blow by pretty fast. We are all stunned by how quickly the time went, but also very anxious to get home to our families. 15 days is a long time to be away from your wife and children, and although we have had a lot of good times and great fellowship, we are all feeling pretty lonely and are eager to get on the plane. Extra special thanks to Josh and his family for opening up their home and hosting our team for 6 nights. Here you can see Josh, his wife Dorathy, son Elijah, and his parents.
Its Easter Sunday, and we have sunrise services to be at. Josh and I dropped Brice and Bill off at a church at 5:00 am and headed to his church for the early morning service. I spoke here last year and had a great time and met a lot of people. They were in the beginning stages of expanding the church building last year, and we stood on the foundation of the addition and prayed for God’s blessing on the project, so I was excited to see what had happened in a year.
It was encouraging to see the walls and roof up. They have different building styles and practices in India. It takes a long time and a lot of hard work to build. I could see that they had been working all year on it.
Zach L and Zach S were picked up from Josh’s around 7:00 to go back to Caleb’s church and finish firing off part two of his electrifying sermon series, so when we returned, they were just getting started. We took some much needed rest and waited for them to arrive. We all packed our bags because we would be heading straight to the airport from the evening 
crusades.
The crusades went well again, with a lot of new faces. There were many non-Christians coming out every night. When the call to repentance was made, the majority of the crowd stood to their feet to call upon the name of the Lord. It was wonderful to see so many people forsake the bondage of Hinduism for the salvation that is found in Jesus Christ. We were able to pray for many people once again and show them that we really care for them.
In the three nights of crusades we held in Vandalur, we packed the building out. I have no idea exactly how many it would hold, but I am guessing between 400-500. Each night, many lost souls were coming forward for eternal life for the glory of God. How awesome it is to be used as a tool in his mighty hands. We prayed and praised God together with Caleb and his senior pastor before leaving. The team is totally fired up and ready to come home and testify to the hand of God on this trip.
Seeing all this incredible fruit puts things into perspective for us as far as all the fundraising went. Sometimes we sure got sick of selling those donuts, and I am sure some of you got sick of eating them, but now that we have seen how far one dollar will go in a place like this, it makes it all seem like it was too easy. What an exciting trip we had! We are eager to come home and share it first hand with you and answer all of your questions.
We did have a glitch at the airport. Thank God for our dear brother John. He is Josh’s brother –in-law, who works at the airport. He met us at check-in and helped us through. It was a good thing, too because Lufthansa had somehow lost all of our information and did not have us on the flight at all. If it had not been for John, I am not sure we would have gotten on the plane. He really went to bat for us and they ended up calling headquarters at Frankfurt and printing us boarding passes. It took a long time and we began to seriously doubt whether or not they were going to get us out of India on Monday. But, after about a half hour, they came out of the back with our boarding passes printed up.
Then, good ole John marched us right through the long line at customs and put us in the diplomat line, so we cruised right through. We followed him all the way to the executive lounge reserved for first class passengers and he got us inside, where we enjoyed complimentary drinks, snacks, and internet service. When our flight began boarding, he marched us straight through the first class line so we didn’t have to wait, and then as I gave them my ticket, they pulled me aside and offered me a business class upgrade. Wow! Praise the Lord! I remembered when we were having trouble at the check-in counter that I was telling the guys it was a blessing in disguise, because perhaps the Lord was going to get us free upgrades because of the inconvenience, but they were a bunch of doubting Thomases. I rebuked them (playfully, of course) and told them they needed to dream big with me. Then, what happens? God blesses me with an upgrade! I am quite certain that my good buddy John had something to do with it, but I believe it was ultimately from the Lord. I walked down to the plane with the biggest grin you’ve ever seen. 10 hours is a long time to fly in a coach seat, but even as I write this we are descending for landing and I can say I could sit here for another 10, no problem. May God pour out a massive blessing on John!
We are almost home, and I can’t wait to see my family. I am also excited to bring our testimonies to all of you who have stood with us financially and in prayer. We are forever grateful to you, and I am fired up for you and the treasures you are building in heaven. Thank you brothers and sisters. This wouldnt happen without your support!
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Until the nets are full,
See you on the streets!