Wrap Up

We left Victor Samuel's in Pithapurum during the early afternoon of Friday 3-19. After 30 plus hours of travel via Vishakhaputnum, Hydrabad, Mumbai, Seoul, and Seattle We got back home in Wenatchee at about 5 PM local time Saturday 3-20. Try somehow to grasp the concept of the International Date Line - I dare you, particularly when sleep deprived.

During the course of this trip we dedicated two new churches, Tim laid the cornerstones for three new buildings, we participated in one wedding, danced with tribal villagers (well, Jordan and I did - and I'm sure that video will be seen at New Song Church sooner or later!) and worshiped with Indian believers in numerous indoor and outdoor services. We literally prayed with hundreds of individuals, both Christians and Hindus. Aside from the specific prayer requests that were communicated to us, such as for physical healing or a blessing for their school exams, we generally prayed for God's increased revelation in their lives, that He would meet the personal needs He was well aware and that He would be glorified in their lives. I have no doubt that our presence with the Indian believers during this trip provided them with encouragement and the support of knowing there are fellow believers in the United States who love them, pray for them and are unified with them in their faith in Jesus Christ.

However, Paul says in his book to the Romans that he desired to visit with the Roman believers in order that, "you and I may be mutually encouraged by each others' faith." We know, as Paul did, the encouragement the Indian believers gave us was equal to or greater, I'm sure, then the encouragement we brought to them. We get too insulated in our American Christianity and I firmly believe exposure to other Christian cultures is vital for us to understand our place and responsibility in the Christ's Church.

We in America need to pay attention to the parable Jesus told in Luke 16; the Rich Man and Lazarus. We in the United States, are the rich man, and Lazarus is at our door. We have to dismiss the mentality that we are somehow entitled to the consequences of the economic structure we were born into, the opportunities we therefore have and the fact that we can, if we so chose, prosper in a manner commensurate with our education, hard work and our cultivated abilities. The alleged "blessings" of being an American will only be blessings if they are so used for others, not to establish our own comfort and well being. If used solely for ourselves, the "blessings" we have come to take for granted will become a millstone around our necks.

Jaideep needs $2,000 to re-bore and expand his well, which during the current drought, does not currently provide enough water for his mango trees or to irrigate the property he has for rice and other crops; crops he both uses to feed his family and which provide needed income. For many years Pastor Samuel has needed a vehicle to allow him and his team to visit their large system of outlying village churches and continue their outreaches into the tribal areas of the interior. For years they've been hiring vehicles for this work; they need their own. With a concentrated effort here in our community these needs could be met and we would be participating in a valid effort for God's glory on the other side of our world.

Something else for us to consider. At the church we dedicated in Annavarum a woman was made to leave the service by her husband and then beat up when she got home, so we were told. After we left the country, in retaliation for Tim's baptism of an upper caste woman at Jaideep's campus when we first arrived, other upper cast Hindus attacked the driver of one of Jaideep's school buses, damaged the bus and later, we understand, also attacked Jaideep. We've been advised that the situation is finally under proper investigation but this incident reminds us that the price we pay for the public confession of our faith in our society is embarrassment at the most for many of us. How would we respond to outright persecution demonstrated by physical violence?
I say these things only to help us think, to consider the expression of our Christianity and to ask ourselves what we, as Christ's representatives on earth, in the social and economic culture in which we live, can do with our resources to promote the cause of the Church and to glorify God? Thanks for reading. Until the next trip . . .

Our last day of any ministry . . .

We left late this morning for a wedding - Pastor Paul, one of the pastors involved in Victor Samuel's El Shaddai Ministries, was getting married to a young woman named Kumari. Tim basically officiated with Pastor Victor Bapu (who wore an official looking white robe with a red stole-I told Tim he needed one like that!). The church was packed and the ceremony was fairly similar to our weddings with the main differences being the adorning of the bride's foot with a toe ring and the absence of the final, "you may now kiss the bride." In Indian culture, evidently, PDAs, public displays of affection, are verboten. Tim reminded me that some time ago Richard Gere got an Indian co-star from one of his movies in trouble by kissing her during a televised awards ceremony, something like that. After the wedding we, of course, briefly attended the reception.

We then made a shopping trip to Kakinada - actually a little more than that. Pratibha discovered our penchant for french fries so she had us stop at a little hotel "fast food" restaurant where we all had a plate of french fries and ketchup. After a little shopping, we headed home for a little rest prior to our last meeting.

When we got home we found Victor and his crew setting up a stage and a seating area across the stree from his house. Although the people started arriving early with the music and singing starting at about ab0ut 7:30 Victor didn't come and get us and start the service until about 9:30. There were over 400 people there, many from the Victor's neighborhood but others from a good distance away. Through Madou's translating I was able to finally speak directly to those who I'd been praying with during my morning walks. Tim preached but he followed Jordan who did an excellent job sharing the word. It was a great meeting, I think we each had about 8 garlands of flowers hung around our necks over the course of the evening. At the end we handed out food for everyone: biryani rice in a plastic bag. 500 of these were prepared and there were only 20 left over at the end of the meeting.

We then had dinner, shared some time with Victor and Pratibha and then went to bed at about 1:00 AM

Even getting to bed late, Kent and I got up early to take one last walk through the neighborhood. The boys thought I had left already and we went looking for them. I had wanted to cover all four streets in the 'hood during this last walk but one of the older boys came to tell us the younger guys (who had found us) needed to go to school so we missed a block or so.

Now, I've got to turn the computer over to Kent who wants to transfer some pictures and music for Victor, and I'll wrap this blog up later.

God bless ya big time!

Wednesday

This morning at about 5:30 or so the power went off; so we sweltered for awhile, about an hour and a half, I think. Then they played the electrical version of "let's mess with their minds;" the power would go on for about five minutes and then go off again. This happened about 4 times. It's been on now for about 15 minutes and I have HOPE!! (uh oh, spoke too soon - it's off again!)It's hot and humid enough so that when the overhead fans stop, you wake up and your sheets and pillow get even more sweat soaked. Oh yeah, the rooster with the weird crow also kicked in about the same time and the unknown woman who does laundry every morning was back at work ("doing laundry" involves slapping your wet, soapy clothes against a stone - right out side our window it seems). We'll, we didn't come here to sleep.
We started late on Wednesday, yesterday, but did quite a bit. Due to getting in so late the morning was spent catching up on rest. We had an INCREDIBLE lunch featuring crab, biryani and mutton stuffed chicken legs. We left for a village with a name I can't remember (and there's no one around to ask) at about 3 PM where Tim, for the third time this trip, set the cornerstone of a new church building. This involved him descending into a chin-deep hole dug for a support pillar and cementing 9 bricks in place. Tim's turning into quite the brick layer. The folks at this church were great; huge smiles, very welcoming and they sincerely seemed to not want us to leave. Our departure, tho', caused our team's first presonality clash (although this was totally one sided) when Jordan had an attack of jealosy when the girls gave me more flowers than they gave him. As much as it pained me to do so, I had to report this failure of Christian charity to Pastor Tim. As Jordan is Tim and Don's intern, I hold them totally responsible.
We then went to Victor Babu's church where we, New Song, sponsored a medical clinic. Numerous medications were purchased and a doctor vounteered to diagnose and prescribe. I think the number of folks who received medical attention was over 400 during the course of the day.
While the clinic was going on Philip, Madou and Anil drove Kent and I about 45 minutes away to take a look at a 135 foot concrete statue of Hunaman, a Hindu diety whom I call "Monkey Boy" (having a hard time with respect for idols this morning). I had seen this statue from the waist down three years ago as we drove by to a jungle church and Victor was kind enough to arrange for us to get a look at the whole thing this time. I read on the internet that this is the tallest statue of this particular Hindu personality - an interesting local sight. Hunaman is popular is this area of India, you see more statues of him around than the other dieties, although Ganesh, the elephant, is also a local fav. There are also numerous statues of famous Indians in most villages and in this area, Ambedkar statues outnumber Gandhi's. Gandhi, I believe, was more active in northern India. Our area also has a large number of the "former" untouchable caste, which was Ambedkar's caste. Ambedkar, or Babu Sahib as he is affectionatly known, was one of the first untouchables to recieve an advanced education, was trained as an attorney in England (as was Gandhi, Nehru and a number of other prominent Indians, later became independant India's first Minster of Law and was the father of the Indian constitution. Interesting man, he and Gandhi didn't see eye to eye.
After the medical clinic we went to Victor Babu's house / church, the place where Tim was ordained a bishop three years ago. As they always do when we have time prior to a service, our hosts gave us a room to ourselves where we could relax and then have dinner; their hospitality is certainly a model for us to emulate. The following church service was really good; I'm just amazed at the warmth and friendliness of these folks.
Today, we'll be attending a wedding where Tim will participate in the officiating. A local pastor is getting married. Later tonight we'll be attending one more open air meeting, our last service here in Andra Pradesh.
I took my morning walk a fdw minutes ago with some of the boys 'cause due to the sleep interruption I couldn't rouse Kent out of bed. As always, folks just eagerly greet me with huge smiles and many want prayer, either for themselves or for their children. One woman came running up, calling for me to stop (at least I think that's what she was saying), came up and hugged me and went on for quite some time in Telegu about something I know God understood; I sure didn't! She seemed pretty happy so I don't think she was having physical issues but after praying with her she went on again for some time, fairly ecstatically about something or other. Who knows?
One last thing - you need to pray for Kent. He is losing it, becoming almost neurotically attached to his, "lungee," or however it's spelled - the loincloth popular with many Indian men. He insists on wearing it here at "home" and is threatening (I can use no other word for it) to wear it to church. Trust me, that is NOT what anyone wants to happen!

Tuesday - A Loooong Day!!

I may ramble a little bit - we got in at about 2:30 AM this morning and as usual, I can't sleep past the time my body thinks it's time to get up, which was 7 AM. It was a very long but rewarding day yesterday.

We traveled to Satyavaram to one of Pastor Bnejamin's churches to dedicate their new building. The smaller, village streets were packed as yesterday was the Hindu new year. I had a few tense moments when, just before we got to where we were going, we encountered a "religious" festival in the middle of this village. As usual, the drivers here seem to think (as oppossed to the U.S. -note the sarcasm!) that once they're behind the wheel of a car they assume something similar to the divine right of kings. We're in this large Tata van, similar to a Dodge/Chevy type van, trying to literally inch our way through this crowd of humanity with a blasting horn, aggressive hand gestures on the part of the driver and his verbal "encouragement" for people to get out of our way. All I could think of was what would happen if he torked someone off, or worse, hit soemebody, which seemed very likely, and having the whole crowd find us jointly responsible. However, thank God, we passed through unscathed.

This driver was on an Indian scale of manical drivers about a 6-8 out of 10. On the smaller roads he didn't seem to want to ever shift out of the acceleration opportunities offered by second gear and on the way back from the beach where Tim did some baptisms, he made Benjamin, Philip's little boy, car sick. Lots of fun.

But, when we got to Satyavaram the church folks were waiting for us outside their new brick, wood and thatch church building. The pic above was taken from inside the church. Check out Kent's FB site, I'm sure he'll upload more pictures. Tim prayed a dedication, cut the ribbon and we all entered for a brief service.

During the service, tho', some guy stuck his head under the thatch roof and said something to a woman and made her leave. I was watching him - he didn't look supportive. Another woman said something to him that appeared to be, "Get lost pal," (in Christian sort of way of course) and he left. I tried to watch him but couldn't see where he went. We were later told he objected to his wife being in church and made her go home where he beat her up. I share this because of the example of the dedication some of these folks demonstrate in their committment to their Christianity. I know this kind of stuff happens in the U.S. as well, but it's frustrating and very upsetting but at home, I can do something about it.

Less tragic but also revealing is the Indian's willingness to be baptized-they just don't like the water. We went to the Indian Ocean where the sand was clean, the water bath-warm and where Tim and Pastor Bnejamin baptized 8 new Christians. This beach was gorgeous, the day was beautiful and no one but us was there. The Indians don't seem to view water as a recreational opportunity as a general rule and Tim said even Pastor Benjamin was worried about being a little more than waist deep in the waves. But Tim said it was the best place to baptize he's ever experienced here. He did mention as he usually does that for the Indians to get in the water and submit to baptism, being afraid to be in water in the first place, is real evidence of their comittment. After doing so, we did what everyone does at the beach - enjoyed it. Kent and Jordan started a sand castle and as we were getting ready to leave this edifice faced the fate of all sand castles, the rising tide.

We then returned to the second of Pastor Benjamin's churches (many of these pastors have the responsibility of more than one congregation). The four of us had a chance to rest for a little while, Tim was able to wash and change into clean clothes and we then had a large, outdoor service. Kent and I both shared a little bit, and Tim did the main message. Pastor Victor had mercy on us; he asked those who wanted prayer to kneel and wait for us rather than coming up front. I hate to say it but it did make praying for everyone go a little faster, otherwise we might still be there. Why would that be bad, I ask?

Thankfully there is A LOT less traffic on these little streets coming back at night then heading out, so the trip home didn't seem that long. I know we don't have anything on today until sometime this afternoon so maybe I'll get a nap.

Nah, don't think so . . .

Monday

Monday morning again saw activity outside our door: our front "porch" was again a food prep area and a cooking tent was being set up across the "street." A pastor's training conference was the event: about 60 pastors were scheduled to meet and worship together, be trained by Tim in "Goal Setting" and "Finishing Strong" (sessions 10-13 in his 13 leadership development series for pastors). These sessions started in the morning and finished later in the afternoon. At one point, Tim was talking about being unable to come to India for the past 2 1/2 years and his desire to come more often and the pastors broke out in spontaneous cheers and applause. After the training was finished, Tim ordained 5 new Bishops, about 10 Pastors and a few dozen men as Reverends in El Shaddai Ministries, Pastor Victor Samuel's organization. In this organization a Reverend is in charge of one church, a Pastor serves three churches and a Bishop supervises a number of Pastors.

Pratibha has been making a few jokes at our expense, which is fun 'cause she's evidently loosening up around us. I told her we were making her into American woman and it was clear she didn't want THAT happening. She doesn't have her new clothes washer hooked up yet; I think they're waiting for a plumber and an electrician.

After dinner, after 9 PM, we left for Pastor Solomon's church, in a small viallge not too far away. I taught on the historical significance of Christ's blood and we were home at about 11 PM, early for us. I think Victor, Pratibha and the other Indians were also happy about the early night; they had had a big day with the conference.

The four of us, frankly, have been getting along too well. We've been laughing way too much for being on a (serious) mission trip. Tim and Jordan go at it so bad at times I tell them they need to be seperated. We're going to be pretty hard to bear when we get home with the plethora of private jokes we're going to impose on you.

Tuesday the plan is to spend that day, startying with travel at about 11 AM, at a church cornerstone laying service, some baptisms and an evening service, being back here after midnight.

Sunday - and this morning

I just got back from my morning "prayer walk." The last time I was here I went for a walk with the boys (the orphans who live at Victor's home) and what I thought would be a little excercise turned into a prayer crusade. Lots of the folks, Christian and otherwise, evidently felt that the white guy (me) should pray for them so they'd come out to the street or invite me into their homes and ask for prayer. Initially this was embarassing - but I realized that I was only Jesus' representative and if He were here, He'd certainly pray for them (He'd do A LOT more than that I'm sure) so I did what they asked-offered prayer. Sometimes the folks would be able to indicate what they needed; moms would ask for prayer for their children, they'd indicate a physical issue or some of the younger ones would let you know they had pending exams. Today was only the second time I've been able to go during this trip, Some nights we've been getting home so late by the time I wake up, it's too late to go. Victor won't let me go unless some of the boys are with me and after about 7 AM or so, they have other things to do Victor almost nixed this morning 'cause the boys all had chores but he let one of them go with me. Pretty cool; I do love praying for the babies and the little ones.

Yesterday we worshiped first at Philip's chruch right next door. The pic above is from that meeting. Then we went to the nearby village of Chitrada where Victor has the church he pastors. After that service, Victor and I went to Kakinada in a motor rickshaw ((my first ride in one) to buy groceries, while the others rested. We then went to another open, air, in-the-street meeting at a village about 12 klicks away. This church is in the process of building a new building; some of the pillars and re-bar are in place and we prayed for the blessing of this project.

We all, of course, introduce ourselves and bring greetings at every meeting. Tim introduced me one day as "Maddog" and after our translator, Victor Babu thought for a moment, we learned that the Telagu translation for this sobriquet is (phonetically anyway) "pitchy-koka." I've started hearing this phrase working it's way into Victor's intros as well. Like I told Tim, any publicity is good publicity!

Tim preached at all three meetings on Isaiah 6, Isaiah's encounter with God and how this compares to our coming into God's presence. I know that Kent has been uploading his pictures on FAcebook, so check out his page for visual record of what's been going on.

Today, I'm not sure what the plan is but they are erecting a tent across the street so obviously some sort of meeting is planned. I did hear Victor tell Tim that he was going to ordain the pastor of the church we visited last night so I assume this will happen here. More later, love ya big time!

Saturday

Our evening schedules here in Pithapurum: we eat late, usually around 8 PM. We then leave for a meeting around 8:30 - 9:00 PM or later. Tim said the villagers work all day and don't get home until 7 or so; hence the late meeting start time. We've been getting home about 12:30 - 1:00 PM and although I get in bed right away, the others usually take a little longer. In any event, we're pretty wired and no one gets to sleep right away. The heat and the mugginess also make for some difficulty in falling asleep.

On Saturday, yesterday, there was a youth meeting that started at about 11 AM. The area right outside our front door was used as a food prep area so we were pretty much restricted inside. We went over to the meeting at about noon: it was held in the church right next door to Victor and Pratibha's home. I'm going to guess there were 150 kids from kindergarten to high school age; as usual sitting cross-legged, Indian style shoulder to shoulder. I don't know how to explain their welcome when we walked in without sounding like a pompous, self centered egoist: but what can I say? They were excited to see us, warm and exuberant. Tim gave a message and then I spoke; the second sermon, right before lunch. I'll let you figure out for yourself how that went. However, our two messages went well together; Tim talked about David and I talked about Jonathon, both of us giving a different view on knowing and doing what God wants us to do. After lunch I spoke again on Micah 6.8; the difference between living by faith and by the law and that seemed to go better. Jordan also spoke - it's funny to see the younger girls start to giggle when he gets up and introduces himself. But the kids like him, that's evident.

After lunch Tim, Kent and Victor took off to drive back to Rejurla for Jaideep's "Annual Day" at his school. The parents of the kids show up(and remember, his school has 450 students) and they have a time of speeches and activities - I'll have to wait until they get up to let me know how it went. I have no idea what time they got back. They left at 2:30 PM and Rejurla is a 3-4 hour drive.

Jordan, Pratibha, Philip and Maudo (SP? - Victor's brother in law) and I went to a village meeting where they were dedicating a new church building. I spoke on the historical significance of Christ's blood and Maudo, who translated, told me later, "I'll report to Pastor Samuel that it was good, solid teaching." That's me, good and solid. We then cut the ribbon and enetered their beautiful new building, another New Song Community Church in Andra Pradesh, India.

And of course and as usual, after the service a good number of folks came forward for prayer. Sometimes they indicate a physical issue they'd like prayer for or somoene will get it across to us that a young person wants prayer for their pending educational examinations (these exams are important as their result determines whether or not they go on to university). I've developed a pretty standard prayer - I don't mean to sound like it's a rote process, believe me, it's not, but as I want to pray God's will for them and having this indecipherable language barrier I generally pray that: 1. God will continue to reveal Himself to them (I figure this works for the Christians as well as the non-Christians who do, I understand, sometimes attend these meetings and come forward for prayer) 2. That they would be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit and 3. that their lives would glorify God. As you can see, I'm trying to cover a lot of bases here but always in the back of my mind is that God is fully aware of each of their needs and can springboard off my prayer in the direction He needs to go. But right before we were leaving I took a faith hit - they brought a woman to me who they said was "barren," she was unable to have kids. Immediatly numerous thought came to mind; do theyknow her falure to conceive is her issue, or have they checked hubby as well? What other issues could be involved here; stress, diet, water problems, that could be effecting this? And besides, praying that for the "opening of a womb" struck me as a heavier, more serious issue than the others we've prayed for but I sucked up my faith and prayed just that; that God would open her womb; and let Him handle the details. That will be my continuing prayer for a long time; that this unknown woman in a little village in India that I couldn't find again if mylife depended on it would have a child.

More later on Tim and Kent's trip after the wake up. I'm going to see if any of the boys want to go for a walk.