India 2012 Day 2

India 2012 Day 2

After a long day on Wednesday, the team took the opportunity to sleep a little late on Thursday morning.  We awoke to a delicious breakfast of boiled egg, toast, nan, and chutney. We had about an hour of devotion time as a team before getting ready to head out on our first full day of ministry.

Out first stop was to visit to a very special place. It is a piece of land about 1.6 acres that the government of India has given to Dr Kumar because of all the social work that he does.  In addition to the orphanage and the mission hospital, they are also very involved in HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention.  A few years back, they were given a similar piece of land to construct a new orphanage, which we visited en 2007, but before the deed was actually in writing, the local hindus took over the land and made a big political stink and spoiled the plans.  I am not sure how this works out legally, but it was a big disappointment.  Now the government has given them a new piece of land, and has also given the deed immediately.  We plan to come back on Sunday to lay the foundation stone and dedicate the land and building.  Dr Kumar plans on naming it after Calvary Chapel.

From here we went straightaway to the mission hospital where we were given a tour of the ministry.  Dr Kumar took a few patients, whom we prayed for their healing.  There were about 30-40 people waiting to be treated.  We were also able to pray over the resident doctor who gave diagnoses and treatment  to the patients.  Then we laid hands and prayed for all the patients in the waiting area, and delivered a short gospel message to them.

The mission hospital is entirely dependent on funds from America to continue.  Up until 2008, they had an average monthly budget of around $25,000. After the economic slowdown, the budget has been reduced to around $750 per month. This is just enough to keep a small staff and afford a few medicines for the sick people.  On my first trip in 2007, this place was very busy, and we actually sat in on an operation.  There were lots of people in the recovery room after life-saving operations, and all three floors were full of activity.  Now they cannot afford to use the operating room or to provide near the amount of care that they used to.  But still, they are faithful with the resources that they have, and do what they can to treat the people who come.

Now that the mission hospital is only using the bottom floor, they are using the second and third floors to house orphans.  The Living Hope orphanage is just down the street, so they keep the boys at the main building and keep the girls at the mission hospital, where they are given more security. They brought all the children to the hospital so that we could spend time with them.

As we entered the building, there were children on the second story tossing flower petals over the balcony and showering down upon us.  It is humbling to be honored in this way, but it is also good to know that they are so happy to see us.  As we entered the room, the children greeted us individually by shouting in unison, “Good afternoon, Daddy!’ or “Good afternoon, Mommy!”  Yeah, it was a tear jerker as you can imagine. We spoke some kind words of encouragement to the children before Jean Mary took over and had them sing songs for us.  We also passed out candy that we had stuffed into our luggage and watched as their faces lit up with excitement.  They exercised great self control and did not open any of their candy while we were there.  Apparently, they like to show each other what exactly it is that they received before they eat it.  Everyone enjoyed the time we had with them, and it was difficult to leave, but we knew we would have lots more time with them, so we went back to Kumar’s place to get some lunch.

After lunch, we returned to the building grounds, where we met up with the orphan children for some games. We played cricket with the boys, while the girls played a variety of games and had a lot of fun together.  We had about an hour or two of fun with them before a thunderstorm moved in and rained us out.  I was immediately concerned about our evening crusade, which was only a couple hours later.  This was a wicked storm, a torrential downpour, complete with high winds and hail.  As we sat in the vehicle to wait out the storm, we prayed for the evening meeting.  But God blessed us and the storm somehow passed by the meeting area without a single cloud.

By the time we arrived at the crusade, it was packed out again with people.  Tonight, Ryan Orozco opened in prayer, followed by a short encouragement by Billy K, then about a 10 minute lesson by Kyle Skinner, and finally a full gospel message from John 3 by Steve Whinery.  As he gave the invitation after the message, the crowd stood to their feet again and called upon the name of the Lord.  Then he gave them some practical instruction on how to grow in their relationship with Jesus Christ, before asking them to come forward for prayer.

People began to filter their way to the front, and gradually the crowd at the altar swelled and became larger and larger, as people came for a touch form the Lord upon their lives.  I was reminded of the new testament when the crowds would come to Jesus and press in, hoping just to touch his clothes.  It is the same today. People are desperate for a real encounter with Jesus Christ, because they have real needs that have no other possible hope of being met than through him.  They were not coming for a touch from us, but for a miracle from the Lord.  The praying continued until midnight.

Heading back to Kumar’s place, we prayed and reflected on the events of the last two nights. Everyone was tired but at the same time, excited to see what the next few days would hold.

Please feel free to leave comments. I will read them to the team.