Day 5
Today is Sunday, and we have a full schedule with 3 different churches to speak at. Our first service is at the village medical clinic, which also serves as a church. It is about a 2 hour drive from Kumar’s home, and the roads are not the best leading to the clinic, but it is well worth the effort to get here since these believers rarely get to see foreigners and hear their encouragement. Last year, in this area, there was a small crusade being held and the local hindus got upset and came to the meeting place to stop the preaching. Luckily, the altar call had already been done and many were turned to the kingdom of God. Sadly, the hindus were not satisfied to see the people dispersed and they beat one of the pastors very badly, and he wound up in the hospital. We were humbled to be in the same place, providing encouraging words from the Scriptures to give them strength in the face of persecution.
We delivered the message and laid hands on every person and prayed for them.
After the meeting was over, we toured the grounds of the medical clinic and Kumar showed us the future vision for this place. There is a very big foundation in the ground which they began about 10 years back. The building project, when complete, will be a cancer center wh
ere they will house the many cancer patients they treat. Because of low funds, the building has stopped at the foundation, but God has been at work and they have a plan to finish the building. A very generous woman from Finland has donated the land and also provided funds to start a teak tree plantation on the property. In about another 10 years, it will be ready for harvest and will be worth about $500,000 USD. Then, they will be able to build the hospital and also a church building on the site.
We discussed the possibility of holding the pastor’s conferences and crusades in this place the next time we come.
The next church was about another hour’s drive even further into the jungle from here. There were about 65 people huddled into a 15×20 shelter. It was very hot, but the people we eager to hear the word of the Lord from us, so we were took strength from their anticipation and preached God’s word. After the service, they all came forward for prayer and almost all of them had their own bottle of anointing oil for us to anoint them in the name of the Lord. Many people came forward with all kinds of sickness and disease. They were desperate for a touch from God on their lives, and we were happy to pray for God’s blessing on them.
We took the long drive home, each of us recounting our experience to each other on the way, rejoicing in the Lord and his mighty power.
After getting some food and taking some much needed rest, we went to the evening service which was at a roadside church in the city of Rajahmundry. 6 years back, the pastor was beheaded as he prayed before the people. A hindu man was very angry with him and warned him to stop preaching the gospel, but he refused and after a short time, the man came to the church and approached him from behind as he prayed and took his head. It was a humbling experience to be standing on the blood of martyrs as we preached the gospel to them.
After the service we laid hands on everyone and prayed for them before heading back to Kumar’s place with another full day of ministry under our belts. It seems that our time has been eaten up so quickly because we have been so busy.
Thank you brothers and sisters, for standing with us in prayer. God is continuing to work miracles and blow our minds apart. Looking forward to coming home and sharing the excitement with you…