From Bill Petersen – September 12

First Day in the Villages

Today I had the opportunity to go to some of the villages the team will visit next week with discipleship training and the free medical camp. While the purpose of our visit today was primarily to invite believers to the training next week, I also had the opportunity to share the Gospel with two women. They prayed to accept Christ and said they will attend the discipleship training next week in Lohaghar.

Motey has been a follower of Christ for four years. Before that he lived in the jungle because he had mental problems and would have violent fits of anger. When he accepted the free gift of God and became a Christian – the fits subsided and he was able to move back home with his family. He asked me to pray for continued health and permanent relief from the mental problems. He will be coming next week and I asked him to share his testimony with the group.

There was a woman that was sick in bed and unable to speak. Her five year old son was scared and crying as the woman was thrashing in bed. Sanjay and I were asked to pray for her. I placed my hand on her, and her son, and we prayed. You could feel a calmness come over the household as we prayed and Sanjay started singing. When we left the woman was sitting up and saying “Halleluiah Amen – Halleluiah Amen”.

Ranjeet has been a believer for six years. He will be attending the discipleship training and asked us to pray about a girl he wants to marry. She is Hindi and her parents want nothing to do with Christians. Themrei and Sanjay spent a lot of time explaining the problems of being unequally yoked. I told Ranjeet that I knew it was hard to hear these words and asked him what he felt God wanted him to do. He paused for quite awhile before admitting that he knew the marriage would not be a good thing for him or the girl.

Today was a preview of what the team will experience next week and it looks like God will be giving us many opportunities to share His love with the villagers. Tomorrow I will be with Themrei and Ruben as we visit other villages.

It was a particular blessing to hear from Doug Keller that there will be teams at home praying for the team in India. Thank you to all that are praying for us and the villagers.