An interesting day. I’m sorry I don’t remember the name of the first village we visited today, I think it started with Ord…but that might not be right. Anyway…my interpreter wasn’t there when we left the bus so I tagged along with Anna and her interpreter (see the picture I posted with the AM post.) If I heard correctly both the young man and his dad (the two sitting with backs to the house) confessed faith in Jesus!

Jageswar then caught up to us and we first visited the home of a man, named Naresh, who was a Hindu and liked the gospel and wanted to go to heaven, but needed time to consider whether or not to forsake his Hindu gods and follow Christ alone. We asked him what his Hindu gods could do for him – if he knew what would happen if he were to die this day – he said he couldn’t know – and agreed that none of them offered him salvation from his sin or eternity in heaven with God. I asked if I could pray for him and (putting as much gospel in the prayer as I could pack) asked God to silence the lies of Satan, who had created the false Hindu gods to confuse this man and keep him away from faith in the one true God. Asked the Holy Spirit to reveal the gospel as the truth and to give Naresh faith to believe it and to put his trust in Christ alone for his salvation. I took his picture and let him know that I and my small group would be praying for God to give him the faith to believe (please do so-even if you aren’t in my small group. I’ll put a photo of Naresh at the end of this post.)

We then went to the home of a lady who was Roman Catholic. I went over the cube with her to make sure she understood the gospel and then let her know that baptism and the eucharist and praying to Mary couldn’t save her. She agreed with it all. Please pray that if she was just agreeing with what I said to be polite that someone talks to her and leads her into the true truth of the Gospel.

Then it was time to head to the entrance of the village, where we did our short program with magic and stories and introduced those there to the pastor who would be caring for that village. (we had to shorten this program to fit into the half hour lunch break the children got from school.)

We piled into the Gospel Bus and ate our sack lunches as we drove, basically across the road, to the Tirrihannah Tea Estate. Here we spent about an hour and a half in homes. Jageswar and I spent time with a lady and her three children and either a friend or another family member. They all liked the message but the mother said her husband wouldn’t let her not be a Hindu and disappeared. The children stayed and, believing the Goood News, prayed to confess their sins and committed to be followers of Jesus Christ. We made sure they knew that if things got tough because their parents and possibly friends were Hindu, that God would give them the courage they needed to cling to Him and the love to share the gospel with their friends and family. Their names are Sima and Sangita. Please pray for these two young ladies (17 and 14 years old) that they will stay faithful to God, find that He will faithfully provide for them (including their faith) and that the pastor and the other believers in the new church starting in their village would encourage them and help them stay strong in their faith. I’ll put their picture below too.

In the last house we visited in this village, we talked to a young man, named Satyam, who is also a Hindu and really likes the gospel but isn’t ready to give up his gods. When I got about halfway through the cube, he started finishing the story for me (his English was pretty good and we only needed Jageswar to interpret a little bit in our conversation). Someone from our church had shared the gospel with him two years ago. We talked for a bit, the same sort of stuff as with Naresh, and it felt like we got close, but he had to go back to work. He is personal friends with the pastor of their new church and we are giving his name to him for followup. I have his picture too – if you’d like to pray for him, please do so

Once again we met by the bus and did magic, stories, singing. Pastor Bob shared the gospel in a minute and then I gave my 2 minutes testimony. We sang a couple more songs and then waved goodbye to the kids – telling them we’d see them again on Sunday as this is the village where we will be having our big gathering on Sunday. Pray that I will get another chance to talk to both Naresh and Satyam when we go back on that day.

Katie and Gary and Jarrod took Anna and Marcia an I to the HongKong Market where we shopped till we dropped (taking a three-wheeled, lawnmower engine-powered cabs there an back – not as “fun” as rickshaws but interesting nonetheless…maybe we’ll get the pleasure of a rickshaw ride before we leave.)

Internet connectivity is spotty. Even at the Appolo, even when we have WiFi, we don’t always have Internet. So, our apologies for sometimes delayed reports and approving of comments (which only needs to happen after your first comment.)

Today we’re going to two different villages. One in the morning and a second in the afternoon (all together as one group/team though.) I won’t say what villages because yesterday we deviated from the schedule and am not sure if that will happen today or not.

Please pray that God goes both before us, and with us. That His Good News would be clearly heard and the Spirit of God would melt hearts and draw them to Him.

We haven’t told the, that you are praying for no rain. They really want it to rain. We are prepared and where not prepared, willing to suffEric while serving God and the Adivasi. So while I won’t go as far as asking you to pray that it does rain, it’s ok to stop praying that it doesn’t.

The bus is here, so I need to sign off…

WOW!

We were in a Tea Village called Lohagar, which was only about 3 kilometers or so from the Nepal border. Jageswar did an EXCELLENT job of translating for me – I’m completely convinced that he filled in any and all holes I might have left in my presentation.

He and I only got to two homes this morning, and in the first home all but the father were already believers. Needless to say, they really wanted us to stay and present the gospel story to him. His name was Ramesh and he now believes and trusts in Jesus to save him from his sin. Please pray that he allow the Holy Spirit to do His ministry of sanctification in his life. While we were there, I prayed for his grand daughter, who has been ill for about a month. I’m not sure how you spell her name but it is either an Indian or Nepali female version of Elijah the prophet. Please pray that God would heal this little girl (a toddler) and bring her to full health so that the villagers there would know that the one true God is greater than all the false gods of Hinduism – and want to follow Christ.

In the next home we went was a woman, probably the matriarch of a larger family, who’s name was Birsi (their hut was multiple rooms.) Another lady joined us and then a gentleman who I think was her son came home for lunch. All three of them prayed to confess their sins and to trust in Jesus to forgive them and committed to follow Him only (neither of the homes we visited were Hindu, nor did anyone worship idols or other gods.) The son of this woman had learned about Christ in school when he was a child, and he had several questions about Roman Catholicism and Protestantism and Jageswar and I answered them (thank you Holy Spirit, for the right words to say…)

Please pray that all four of the Adivasi who confessed their sins and committed to following Christ in these two huts made sincere confessions/committments and that they will live their lives as Christians well – finishing strong.

After these two homes, Jageswar and I joined up with the rest of our team for lunch and then we did a little “program” in the center of the village. Anna and Katie lead the children in some songs (though it took a little work to get them to join us in singing – we actually had to teach them to words to one of the songs…) Then Gary did some magic. Marcia told the story about Jesus and the disciples on the sea, when Jesus slept and the storm threatened to wreck the boat. Bob gave the gospel and introduced Jarrod, who shared his testimony. Then Andrew introduced their new pastor to them, told them when and where their church would be meeting and the pastor prayed for him. We then got back on the Bible Bus and headed back to Siliguri (dropping off the interpreters we had picked up on the hour or so drive to this village along the way.)

OH, don’t tell Mike Wojtanowicz, but we saw, not one – but two, count them 2, elephants on the drive home from this village. (and a bunch of monkeys too…)

After breakfast and devotions (aptly lead by Gary) we climbed aboard the Gospel Bus and headed down the highway to the two house churches we were joining for services this morning.

Anna, Bob, Marcia and I went to Atal Tea Estate where we joined about 27-28 Adavasi brothers and sisters in Christ for worship. Actually, I think they’d already been going for 45 minutes or so by the time we arrived. We sang three or four songs and then Sanjay introduced us to this congregation (one of the few he is the pastor for). I then gave the first sermon of my short preaching career. Nobody threw anything at me or boo’d or hissed, and I didn’t faint or lose my breakfast. I didn’t notice anyone falling asleep. I was nervous but let God lead and hopefully the Holy Spirit spoke to some hearts. Besides, Bob (the double-palindrome), came up after me to fill in the blanks for the stuff I might have missed.

Then we got picked up by the other team, who had gone to Tokoria to meet with a different house church. You’ll have to ask Andrew, Gary, Jarrod or Katie for the details of their experience. Together we went to Merry View Tea Estate to meet with our interpreters and to share teaching about the church that Bob is going to preach next Sunday at the BIG gathering (and that we will be sharing with our discipleship groups later.

They fed us some lunch and we came back to our base camp, the Hotel Appolo. We’re getting cleaned up for dinner and I’m trying to get some photos and an audio clip sent for TACC worship service in a few hours.