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!