India 2011 Days 8,9

Day 8

We began the day by going to a small pastor’s conference in the village where we had the crusades last year. About 30 pastors came to the meeting. It was great to worship, fellowship, and enjoy good solid teaching with them. Most of these pastors are not educated and have small congregations, so we wanted to provide them with encouragement to continue the good fight and not to grow weary in the work God has called them to. It was so hot in this place. The building has a tin roof, and the fans inside did nothing but draw the heat from the roof down onto us. It was the hottest part of the entire trip, by far.

Zach Smith received a great word for them from Acts 3 and 4, about how the word of God went out with power, even though the disciples were not educated men. They had simply been with Jesus. Then Zach Lamberson gave instruction on our responsibility as shepherds and what that is supposed to look like. I followed them with and encouragement to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and keep an eternal perspective in all that we do in ministry and in the world.

After leaving the meeting, we all dressed down into more comfortable clothing and made our way to the gypsy community. This is a place near Caleb’s church. They began to reach out to these people by taking their children in to a day care center. They would bathe them, clothe them, feed them, and teach them basic elementary level school. We came here last year, but since then the gypsies have moved on. Some of the young men in the local village tried to force themselves on one of the gypsy girls, and this caused a fight to break out. After a small skirmish, the villages banded together and came to the gypsy colony and beat them severely. They did not spare the women or children. They completely destroyed their tents and their homes. Many of them were put into serious condition in the hospital. After picking up the pieces, the gypsies moved on to find another place to settle. Sadly, many of them left their children behind in the hands of Caleb’s church because they have no other hope of a better life outside of their help. So these are the children we came to see and spend time with.

We played some cricket, had lots of hugs, taught them Bible stories with our own animation, and listened to them sing songs that they had been taught. None of us wanted to leave, but we still had a full plate of ministry left before the day was out, so we gave out candy and said our goodbyes.

We headed straight to the leper colony from here. When we arrived, there weren’t many people moving around. I don’t know if its always that quiet here or if it was just because of the heat. So, we walked up and down the streets of the colony, stopping by people’s homes and asking them to come to the community center. This place is a picture of utter despair and complete lack of hope. I could not imagine being in their shoes. Most of them will never leave this place of suffering until they are dead. It was a long walk down those pitiful streets.

But we brought good news. As we gave them bags of rice and medical supplies, we also told them about the only hope available to any of us, Jesus Christ. It is so important for us to come here. Nobody else will ever show them any love. Only the Christians will come to help them and offer their compassion and service. Some of the pastors come here every week to share the love of Jesus with them. We laid hands on and prayed for all those who came forward and asked for it. It was a blessing to be able to be there for them and touch them. Imagine being locked away in a place of suffering like that, and no one will help you or touch you in fear that they may contract the deadly disease. Then come the Christians, full of love and support, telling you about a God who loves you and wants to give you life in a place where there will be no more suffering, pain or death. It was a powerful and moving experience, not only for us, but hopefully for the lepers as well.

From here, we went to visit a group of vagabonds called irrulars. They make their living by catching snakes from the fields of farmers, and then selling them to hospitals for the anti-venom. I was hoping we could see them do the snake-charming thing, so we could get some pictures of a real live cobra, but we got there too late in the evening. As we walked down the row of huts that they called home, we were introduced to the only Christian in the community. She was healed by God of cancer, and got saved. Then, the believers who led her to Christ began visiting the village and providing food and other provisions, so they now consider her to be good luck, even though they are very hard to reach with the gospel. Zach Smith shared a great word with them and explained the gospel in a clear, simple way. Then I pulled off a little bit of amateur magic for the kids to get them excited. We gave out bags of rice to each of the families and headed home for the evening.

It was a pretty long day, but we have another full day of ministry tomorrow. God has been doing His work through us in mighty ways, but at the same time, I see him doing great work in us as well. Until the next post, may God richly bless you for your continued prayers.

Day 9

First on our agenda for today is to go to the biggest pastors conference in Chennai. It is at pastor Christuldas’ church, and about 100 pastors came to the meeting. We arrived an hour early, because we were supposed to go to the Saint Thomas Mount, (believed to be the place where the Apostle Thomas was martyred) but we never went because the traffic leading to that place was a nightmare. We knew of we tried to go, we would be very late for the conference. So we skipped it for now.

Zach taught first and delivered a great message on shepherding. It was the longest I have ever seen him go. Then I got up and taught about humility and love in our service. We handed out copies of The Shepherd’s Staff, a publication that has been designed as a pastor’s handbook for distribution in third world countries.

In the evening, we went to another orphanage and visited the children there. We played with them and polished up our acting skills with a few skits. We also passed out candy and even did the magic show again. Kids love it. We also passed out blankets that a group of students back in the US made specifically for them.

The children in this orphanage all lost their parents in the tsunami of 2004. It is such a blessing to give them love and spend time with them. They are all so excited to see us and want us to hold them. Every one of them wants to shake your hand. They have such big, beautiful smiles. I try not to think about their situation and the hard life they have ahead of them. It isn’t hard to ignore their plight when they are so cute and rambunctious. It was another moving experience for all of us on the team.

Tomorrow is Good Friday, and we have plenty of things going on, so its off to bed at this point. Until then, God bless you.

Please remember to pray for us!