India 2012 Day 9

India 2012 Day 9

Today we have another pastor’s conference with about 120-150 different pastors in a different area of Chennai, where we had held a conference previously last year.  The rest of the team will be taking 13 of the gypsy children to the zoo and having a blast with them while Steve and I spend the morning and afternoon having a blast with a bunch of pastors.

Those going to work with the gypsy kids left at 6:00 again, in order to get to the day care center in time to bathe the kids, clothe them and have breakfast with them before taking them to the zoo.

Steve and I left with Josh around 8:00 and made our way through the city to pastor Christudas’ church, where the pastors meetings are being held.  Steve did all the teaching again, as he is our most valuable resource to bring wisdom and experience to them.  The teaching was very well received by the pastors, and at the end of the conference several of them came to the front and shared what God had been speaking to them through the lessons.  Some of the pastors were so overcome with emotion as Steve talked about the purpose of suffering that they openly wept, and one pastor, who sends out a monthly Christian magazine to over 1000 pastors, asked if he could have a copy of Steve’s outline so he could translate it and publish it.  Of course, Steve had no objection.

Then we met the rest of the team back at Josh’s home and talked about how the day went at the zoo.  The Chennai zoo has a lot of animals.  Lions, tigers, giraffes, snakes, white tigers, lots of deer, elephants, etc.  Some people were even able to get a ride on an elephant.  The kids were very well behaved and had a lot of fun.  These are kids who are very wild by nature.  The gypsies are a group of vagabonds who live in wild places. They set up their tents and settle wherever they can find a piece of land. They make beads and trinkets to sell for some rupees, but most of their food is what they can catch. Anything that moves is considered food to them, so they are hunters.  None of them are educated at all, and there is a lot of incest, since they do not marry outside the gypsy camp.  The kids we are ministering to are a group whose parents have deserted them just over a year ago.  The local villagers came and destroyed the gypsy camp and beat anyone they could get their hands on, including the women and children.  So, the next day the gypsies broke camp and split, but they left their kids behind with Caleb’s church since they had been working so closely with them for several years. They have no hope for a better life as long as they remain in the gypsy camp, so they gave up their children in the hope that they will be able to get some sort of education and eventually break the cycle of poverty. It is a sad thing, but at the same time we believe God will turn it around for their ultimate good, as they are now in school and are being taught the Bible and how to follow Jesus.

In the evening, we had another small crusade in Sithalapakkam, the same village where we held big crusades back in 2010.  When we realized we were going to have a surplus of funds, pastor Rajendran asked if we could do a crusade on his church grounds.  There were about 100-150 people there, among whom were many hindus.  Ryan Orozco gave a brief introductory message on the importance of sincerity in worship, and Steve preached the gospel, expounding out of John 4 with the woman at the well.   At the altar call, he asked those who wanted to become Christians to come forward and stand before the altar to pray.  About 50 people came forward to receive Christ.  After the prayer of repentance, Steve presented the pastor to them and encouraged them to begin coming to the church and fellowshipping with the Christians.

We laid hands on and prayed for almost everyone there. People come forward for all sorts of reasons, whether they are sick, poor, in need of deliverance from addictions, having family problems, etc.  Most of the young people come forward asking for wisdom in school to get good marks, and the young girls come asking for a good husband.  We are happy to stay as long as it takes so that everyone can receive prayer.

We now have only three days of ministry left before we fly out of India.  Please do not stop praying for us as these last three nights will be our big crusades and we are expecting lots of opposition.  Please pray for the message to come in power and for many lost souls to come to Jesus Christ. Pray for God to confirm his word with signs and wonders.  When there is lots of opposition, there are great things about to happen, and we all have a sense of expectancy as to what the Holy Spirit is about to do.

Thank you for your support!