Well today we started with our devotional and then we drove for two hours to get to the Modhuabari village. We got there and to our surprise kids, women and men show up at the bus almost before we could get off. So we decided to do a village program right away. Mary Beth started with music, then Bill shared the Cube, Cathy told the parable of the sower with pictures that Kristie helped prepare for the children’s program. It was beautiful to see everyone in action. Pastor Andrew closed the program with a song. And me taking pictures like crazy.

Then we had lunch with our translators and Themrei and prepared to go door to door through the village. We encountered opposition because people were celebrating the day of their patron saint/idol. So people not very receptive to our sharing. Some people prayed to receive Christ and some others didn’t want to pray. We found lots of wonderful Christian brothers and sisters. So we were able to encourage them to keep following Jesus and be good examples and models of who Jesus is. It was a long day, but it was very rewarding.

We thank you for keeping us in your prayers – continue to pray for us. Looking forward to sending you additional good news.

Greetings from India in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is amazing to be half way around the world and able to communicate so easily with our brothers and sisters back home. Although when Pastor Andrew shared with me that Stanford upset USC in football, well fast communication no longer impressed me. And I think he got a little too much enjoyment in giving me the bad news (from my perspective anyway).

Communication is the name of the game for us here in Siliguri – communicating with the people God wants us to reach and with our translators who serve as our spokespersons. Tonight we meet with all of our translators for a briefing of the week’s planned events. We had an opportunity to go over how we would work with them to conduct door to door evangelism tomorrow (pray for the harvest) and the discipleship sessions we will present for the majority of the rest of the week. It was a great session as we had much fun even as were working. The universal body of Christ was in evidence as Indians, Americans and a Mexican came together to spread the good news.

Tonight’s training briefing followed a great day. Pastor Andrew and Mary Beth were invited to LTC where Andrew preached from Acts to about 150 bible students. Mary Beth reported that Andrew was amazing, sharing and teaching boldly to the gathering there. They also enjoyed much singing and worship and even dedicated a new piano for the church at LTC.

The rest of us had the privilege of visiting the Tirihannah Tea Plantation where a church has been built by LTC in the yard of a family. Though a dark and rainy day outside, the love of Christ shone brightly inside. We shared in singing, prayer and a message from Mark 4 about the sower and seeds. This is one of the parables we are using to illustrate specific discipleship issues with the local Christians. Afterward, Cathy, Bill, Pastor Pablo and I were asked to pray for some of the members of the congregation. An older man, Bimod, asked for healing of his arms and legs which aren’t working in concert right now. Rindu, a very elderly lady, asked for prayer about general sickness. She was very participative in the service and I saw her giving directions to some of the younger women who were quick to obey. Finally, we prayed for Maniel, our translator, who had a special and specific request – for a wife. (He also asked for the welfare of his family and the health of the church in Tirihannah) We happily laid hands on each of these Christians and prayed specifically for healing and that God’s will be done in their lives.

We made an observation of the church in the tea garden that you will also fine interesting and important. The number of men there was about a 1/3 of the total. This is a huge increase just in the year since we visited last and is very encouraging. We prayed specifically that they would be the men God has called them to be and promised that we would pray for them from America. We took a picture of the men as a means of commitment to remember them in prayer. We ask that you would likewise pray for the men of Trinihannah Tea Plantation and of course the congregation as a whole.

We miss you all but are so blessed to be here representing TACC and serving Christ. Thanks for sending us.

I just must relay an experience that I had yesterday while in the second village. It was something that I had never had happen before and I am equally sure it will never happen again.

As we were walking down the path after visiting a believers house we passed by a fairly large elementary school. It appears it was during their lunch break as all the children were outside in the play yard. There was a low wall between us and the children and they could see us coming down the path. I waved and some of them waved back.

Then about 25 children came over to an opening in the wall to get a closer look at me and hear me talk. We spent a few minutes talking with the kids and then continued down the path to our jeep. I had just gotten in the jeep when a 10 year old girl came to the window with her friends. And then it happened . . . in pretty good English she asked me for my autograph !!! She had a small book that others had signed and she was handing me her pen.

How could I even think of refusing this request – after all it’s been a long time coming and who knows if it will ever happen to me again. All the girls were giggling as I wrote “John 3:16” and signed my name. We then gave her a Bible and showed her where the book of John was located.

I am just getting ready to leave the hotel to pick up the team. And then it is on to our orientation training and dinner tonight. Thank you for your continued prayers.

Today we went to the villages of Naxalbari and Hathiduba. I trust you are all paying close attention to these village names. They are beginning to sound normal to me and I may prepare a pop quiz when I return home. The team will be arriving tomorrow afternoon and while the one on one time with the village pastors has been good . . . I am looking forward to having the team here to share these experiences.

You have probably noticed through the blogs that this trip has been quite different than previous ones. When in the villages we are concentrating on visiting believers to invite them to the discipleship training next week. While we get opportunities to use the cube and share the Gospel, much of our visit is praying with believers for sickness. I told John Adams before I left that the Friends In Christ lessons on healing would be very useful to me in India, and they have been. The faith of the Adivasi believers has caused my faith to increase. Out of all the visits today, there were some that stood out.

We met a woman on the trail to a village that was a believer and she asked us to come to her home and pray for her son. Siduc is about 30 years old has TB and difficulty in breathing. He was sitting on the edge of his bed and we prayed that God would relieve his stress and cause him to breathe easier. We also invited members of his family to come to the discipleship training next week and they assured us that they would be there.

Then we met with a young man and woman, Junes and Karmila, both about 20 years old. He was visiting from another village and she told us that Junes was her brother. However, it was obvious to us that they were not brother and sister. She has been a follower of Christ for three years and he is Hindi. Based on the problems I have seen in the past couple of days with Christian/Hindi relationships . . . I knew that this was not going in a good direction. I asked if Junes would like to know about the one true God and how Karmila was certain to go to heaven. He listened and nodded in agreement as I went through the Gospel – and then he prayed to accept Jesus as his personal savior.

We prayed for Priya and Dali a mother with aches all over and her young daughter that had a fever. We also prayed for two other young women one with back aches and one with headaches. I say again – the faith of these Adivasi believers has caused my faith to grow.

We (the remnant of my Life Group) just spent half an hour on Skype with Bill. He’s doing well and has great reports of the work God is doing. He said that sending someone ahead of the rest of the group was a profitable decision.

He’s got three meetings with ministry leaders in the next two days and looking forward to what God might have in store (or not) for our ministry efforts and possible connections in the Siliguri area.

He’s also looking forward to the rest of the team arriving in a couple of days.

It rains most every morning but usually stops by the time we get to the villages. Themrei picked me up and we went to Rakhamjote first. This was a village that the June team evangelized and it is one of Sanjay’s villages so we picked him up along the way. Here are some of the events of the day.

I shared the Gospel with a young woman that wasn’t home when our team came to her home in June. She had heard the story from her family and was anxious to hear it from me. She listened intently and then prayed to accept Jesus as her personal savior. We invited her to attend the training next week and she committed to being there.

We went to the home of a family that have been Christians for many years. A young girl (20 years old) married a Hindi man four years ago and they haven’t had any children yet. Her husband and in-laws blame the inability to conceive on her and her relationship with Jesus Christ. I asked her if she believed that God was in control of all things and she said yes. So I reminded her that based on that, she would have children when God decides the timing is right. Hard as it is, we need to pray and wait for His answer to our prayers.

Themrei then took us to the home of Ramu and Zanza. TACC had been there before and she was ready to accept Jesus, but he wanted to talk with his family first. His mother said that she had conceived, birthed and raised him and she didn’t want him to convert from Hindi while she was still alive. I asked if I could share the Gospel story with them and they consented. I could see that they were really paying attention to every panel on the cube, but when I asked if they were ready to pray – she was – he was not.

I asked him if he had known of any friends that died before their parents died. He answered yes. Then I asked if he were to die before his mother would he want to go to heaven or hell. He wanted to go to heaven and I told him that he wouldn’t go there without accepting Jesus. He then asked me to pray for him and his wife to have Jesus as Lord of their lives. They said that they would come to the discipleship training next week.

We went to many other homes and invited them to next week’s training. These have been incredible experiences and opportunities to lead families to Christ. Two more villages tomorrow and then we pick up the rest of the team on Saturday !!!

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.

The weather was not too bad today. It rained really hard between 1am and 4am, but most everything was dry by sun up and the temperature stayed in the eighties. Today I met with three leaders from LTC and five of our pastor/translators. There were two items on the agenda.

First – Document our total work in the villages – I had prepared a spreadsheet of 45 villages and during the meeting we went through the list and started filling in the missing information. The results are as follows:

We discovered that eleven villages were not on my list – now 56 villages

We have done door to door evangelizing in 38 villages.

There are a total of twelve villages that have church buildings.

Nearly all the villages we have visited have small house churches.

I expect to gather additional information during the next three days as I go to about eight villages. My purpose is to find believers and invite them to attend discipleship training in their village next week.

Second – Review the first year of the cows, sows and chicks project. LTC/SAS leadership call this the TACC project. I explained to them that this was their project and that LTC brought the proposal to us. Our expectations are based on what they told us they would be able to do.

Last October we left them money to buy five cows and 54 pigs. By January they had purchased four cows, 54 piglets and 100 chicks. I will have an exact accounting by the time I return, but based on what I was told today the project is doing well. The chicks are sold every 45 days with profit being reinvested. The cows are being milked and they sell a daily average of seven litres per cow. Nine pigs died and the remaining 45 average 100 pounds and will be sold in October.

So that’s a wrap up of my first full day in Siliguri. Overall, I would say that I received a very encouraging report.

I left Dubai at 10pm on Sunday night and arrived in Delhi three hours later, but with the time change it was 2:45 am. When I went to check in for my 6:40am flight to Calcutta, I was told that it had been cancelled and that I would need to take the 9:40am flight. The problem was that there is only one flight a day from Calcutta to Bagdogra and the 9:40am flight wouldn’t get me there in time.

This is when your prayers really kicked in – I get a full refund on the cancelled flight and found another flight that goes direct from Delhi to Bagdogra. However, because this flight is with a local carrier . . . my two checked bags were overweight. This is where my prayers joined with your prayers…the ticket agent looked at me, did a head nod and said “no problem.”

Also, it was really handy to have an Indian cell phone with me. I was able to call Themrei and let him know I would be arriving on a different airline one hour later. While I was in the airport, I also confirmed our hotel reservation for the trip home. I had a bad experience with Delhi once and I don’t want to have it happen again.

Okay–everything went well in the final flight and it is now about 6:30pm and I am ready for a good night’s sleep. My meetings with LTC and SAS leadership and pastors will take most of Tuesday and then I will be out in the villages on Wednesday through Friday, inviting believers to next week’s discipleship training.

Thank you for praying.

The check-in and security lines were very short so it didn’t take long for me to get to the gate and find a comfortable seat to wait for my 4:45pm flight. The plane wasn’t crowded so there were some empty seats around me.

The flight was uneventful and really wasn’t all that hard. I just got on the plane, took my seat, and then 15+ hours later I got out of my seat, off the plane and shazaam . . . I am in Dubai!! Now it’s just a hop, skip and a jump and I will be there.

I have a couple of hours here and then go to Delhi, Calcutta and finally Bagdogra. I will arrive at the Hotel Appolo in Siliguri at about 2pm on Monday. (That will be 1:30am Monday for you.)