Oh, how I miss India!Thursday, March 11, 2010
Sunday, March 7, 2010
India
Travel books are always funny, they have within them a whole stash of information almost akin to a teleportation device that instantly transports us to a country which we happen to be reading about, an instant tour of the Taj Mahal all in the comforts of your own bedroom.
Such was the beginning of my idea of India, the romantic views of the palaces with snow capped mountains in the background, the many wondrous festivities which involves a psychedelic array of colours and of course, the mouth watering Indian cuisines.
With that in mind, off I went on the second day of 2010 jetting towards India with a team of 8 other God fearing, Jesus loving men and women. Upon taking the first step into Dehli International Airport, I found myself viewing at an all Indian tussle involving who to be the first in queue, I was glad to be holding on to a foreign passport. After an exciting, heart pulsating, lane cutting taxi ride (did I mention horn blaring, it is a culture to honk your car in India) we arrived at the train station and after 12 hours, in which we attracted several Indian “fans” during out worship session in the train, we arrived at Udaipur to the smell of the crisp morning air.
Our time in Udaipur revolved mostly with the bible college students. However, the biggest highlight is when we took a trip up the hills to an orphanage where we spent an entire afternoon with the children, the smile on their faces were more than we could ask for, it was that sheer and unpretentious joy on their faces which made me realize on the importance of a child-like faith, unpretentious and joyful simply because of the love of God.
3 days in Udaipur was just the beginning as the next 6 days left us with awe at the grace of God, a skit, which required almost a month's practice, was done up with just a 2 hour practice, guitar players whom have only picked up a guitar 1 week before the trip being able to strum up a storm during services. At Navapur, many burdens were laid within our hearts for the children we were privileged to be able to teach and share our lives with, everything moment we had were like nuggets of gold.
Perhaps the romantic idea I had of India wasn't fulfilled but the experiences and the number of lives I knew I could change and impact was more than enough to cover all the 137 pages of the travel book with each page a story of its own.
The harvest in India is ready for the taking. Are you prepared?
Written by Andre for 'Harvest Herald'
Monday, February 15, 2010
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Relax, TII!
It's been about a month since I've came back from India, and ohh how I missed being there. How I miss seeing the faces that I used to see everyday. How I miss spending time with the team, the kids and the bible college students.
Now, waking up in my room every morning, all I have to see are the faces from the photos that I took that are now on the wall of my room.
But, all the memories, experiences, revelations (etc) that I took back with me will always remain with me! Oh, what an awesome and amazing trip it was!!
Our team organized a missions workshop yesterday evening called Relax, TII (this is India). We shared our experiences with everyone there and just shared our heart. It was a really good time.
I was in charge of doing the slideshows, and as I was looking at the photos, memories just flooded back and my heart was broken once again for these beautiful kids that I met. The things that I have learnt from them are just innumerable and I thank God for each one of these beautiful souls.
I encourage everyone reading this, if you have the chance, do go to the mission field, wherever that might be. Pray that God will give you that burden for nations. He WILL give it to you!
Much love
Now, waking up in my room every morning, all I have to see are the faces from the photos that I took that are now on the wall of my room.
But, all the memories, experiences, revelations (etc) that I took back with me will always remain with me! Oh, what an awesome and amazing trip it was!!
Our team organized a missions workshop yesterday evening called Relax, TII (this is India). We shared our experiences with everyone there and just shared our heart. It was a really good time.
I was in charge of doing the slideshows, and as I was looking at the photos, memories just flooded back and my heart was broken once again for these beautiful kids that I met. The things that I have learnt from them are just innumerable and I thank God for each one of these beautiful souls.
I encourage everyone reading this, if you have the chance, do go to the mission field, wherever that might be. Pray that God will give you that burden for nations. He WILL give it to you!
Much love
Friday, January 22, 2010
its finally friday!!!
friday is here which means saturday brings with it a chance to rest, relax and spend more time with people. did a workshop on back care with the community ladies today and said good bye to some regular patients. God is good :) got to visit the city palace. India has soooo much history! I was standing there at the highest point of the palace looking out over the city...big houses, small houses, many houses...squeezed together, spaced out, all fit together on this barren yet beautiful land...all of Udaipur lay there, spread out before my eyes and all of a sudden it hit me again. I wondered how many people in this city knew Him as Saviour. I wondered how many homes are alight in His joy. the magnitude of those that do not know Christ. so many men, women, children. and yet Udaipur is ONE city in ONE nation. there are so many more cities in so many more nations. the earth is full of unreached peoples and unreached lands. there is SO much work to be done. SO many people waiting for answers. there really needs to be more people that will leave everything to follow Him into these unreached communities spread out all over the world.
joined a community women's cell group that meets quite often. wow. these are hungry women. women that yearn to know Christ more. from as young as 16 to as old as 60. they were all there for Him. women that have such great testimonies of deliverance. one of them was describing Jesus visiting her as she lay totally sick. Immediately she was healed of her sickness. got to encourage them about being prayer warriors for their families because most of them are the first to believe. had a great time of prayer and fellowship. really want to get to know their families more. can't wait to see their children reached and their relationships restored!
love the walk back from the clinic. I am getting used to the fragnance of cow dung, and i say fragnance because it really is a unique smell that India is incomplete without :) coming back to the base always fills me with much joy. seeing children and students alike scurrying along with their plates to get dinner, others warming themselves by the fire, and yet others studying in the library. this place is so unlike any other. alive with the hope, love and joy of Christ. :) another beautiful night in Udaipur, He dwells in this camp! :)
joined a community women's cell group that meets quite often. wow. these are hungry women. women that yearn to know Christ more. from as young as 16 to as old as 60. they were all there for Him. women that have such great testimonies of deliverance. one of them was describing Jesus visiting her as she lay totally sick. Immediately she was healed of her sickness. got to encourage them about being prayer warriors for their families because most of them are the first to believe. had a great time of prayer and fellowship. really want to get to know their families more. can't wait to see their children reached and their relationships restored!
love the walk back from the clinic. I am getting used to the fragnance of cow dung, and i say fragnance because it really is a unique smell that India is incomplete without :) coming back to the base always fills me with much joy. seeing children and students alike scurrying along with their plates to get dinner, others warming themselves by the fire, and yet others studying in the library. this place is so unlike any other. alive with the hope, love and joy of Christ. :) another beautiful night in Udaipur, He dwells in this camp! :)
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Banjarra basti...
small brick and mud houses squeezed into a tiny bit of space, flies everywhere, cows, goats and chickens sharing the same living space as the humans, smoke filling the air from the many fires lit around the place, some for cooking, others to keep the people warm. this is banjarra basti, which means community of gypsies. they live on the side of a busy road with nothing more than a few possessions. the kids had eye infections, scabies and a whole range of other stuff. the adults seemed to care more about their children being able to make a living rather than going to school. some of the kids were encouraged to beg. one of the little girls was copying something in a book. when we looked closer it was something in english. however she had no idea of what she was writing, how to pronounce it, or even what it meant. it was so heartbreaking. but i looked into her eyes and i must say they were the most beautiful little pair of eyes i have since after having set foot on this land. despite the hopelessness surrounding her, there was a spark, a hope, a tiny flame in her eyes that could someday become the fire of Jesus. her smile so precious. i found a reason to rejoice in that moment, as I realised that the love of Christ can be birthed even in the midst of nothingness. right there, in the middle of their tough circumstances, these children sang us about 4 songs about Jesus and the depth of His love. none of them know Him personally yet, not the kids, not the adults. but they knew the song, they knew the lyrics and they remembered the actions. the greatest lesson that Jesus has taught me this week is that even in a wilderness, springs of water and fruits can germinate. that the hope and love of Jesus is so great, that barrenness is not a barrier. as we were leaving, an elder was ringing a bell in front of an idol shrine. i remembered something i read once. love is the greatest weapon for overcoming the works of the enemy. and today love had been preached. sometimes you cant see how God can or when God will but you just have to trust that He knows these people and He cares for them. and because of that He will make a way for them to know Him in His time. all you can do is plant seeds and pray hard. all you can do is avail yourself to His purposes. the rest of the work is the Holy Spirit's. this has been such a hard lesson for me to learn, to be able to be still and know that He is God in their lives, as much as in my life. as we drove back to the base, i suddenly realised the magnitude of India's population. there are people everywhere. so many. the guy that sits in his shop watching traffic pass, the lady at the side of the road selling vegetables to make a living, the children walking/cycling back from school. such a great magnitude of people. just living. just living without knowing the love of Christ. how do we reach them and the countless others was my question. and the Lord's answer was simple. one by one. step by step. i've always been someone that wants to reach the many without having to reach the one. God is going to teach me to be available for just one in this season. precious lessons.
will be going back to this community every tuesday as of next week. have also been quite busy helping out at the clinic that the church runs. it provides free services, except for some medicines, which are mostly subsidized. the walk there is short but quite dusty. nevertheless very beautiful with the mountains as a backdrop. being a translator is quite interesting. you always have to phrase your sentences before you can speak em. but i am learning the art :) many precious people have come in for treatment. most expect to be instantly cured. but i constantly have to explain to them that peter is just a bone and muscles person hehe. there have been many opportunities to listen, and share the gospel, especially with those that have little or no hope from being cured of stuff they have had all their lives. a particularly sad story was that of an old man who came in totally limping, with really bad posture. he said not a single word as we tried to speak to him. we figured his diet wasnt adequate and his joint pains could be because of his old age. It is only later that we found out he was from a village, where his daughter in law regularly beat him and hardly fed him. she beat him until the point where he had to have an operation to stop him from going blind. this is just one story. there are so many unheard stories. so many untold stories. everyday someone, a child, a mum or a father dies in these little communities and villages. sigh. but there have been rays of hope too. one old man we saw on the second day came in to see us again today to do a follow up on his exercises. it means so much to know that we really are making a difference in someone's life just by doing some simple exercises with them. it makes me think again, there is so much in the west we take for granted. please pray for us as we minister to people that come to the clinic. there are some we have seen that are heavily oppressed. please pray that we'd be able to bring the presence of Jesus into this clinic and into such lives. that we'd find favour in the eyes of the community surrounding the base, so that they can open up and trust us with their lives. pray that we'd have open doors to share the Gospel with each one who comes, how the Spirit leads. an encouraging testimony is that a lot of the muslim folk come to the clinic. this really could be a way of reaching out to them. in fact i'm sure it is. this clinic is in a neighbourhood full of muslims and God has such a great heart for these people. pray that we'd be able to build some solid and strong relationships with the muslim men and women and especially the children, so that Christ can draw them to Him through us. a young muslim man who was bound to many addictions decided that enough is enough and wants to live a new life. he's been coming to the church. oh the joy of victories :)
over and out from Udaipur! :D
ps: life here really is incomplete without a hot cup of chai! :)
will be going back to this community every tuesday as of next week. have also been quite busy helping out at the clinic that the church runs. it provides free services, except for some medicines, which are mostly subsidized. the walk there is short but quite dusty. nevertheless very beautiful with the mountains as a backdrop. being a translator is quite interesting. you always have to phrase your sentences before you can speak em. but i am learning the art :) many precious people have come in for treatment. most expect to be instantly cured. but i constantly have to explain to them that peter is just a bone and muscles person hehe. there have been many opportunities to listen, and share the gospel, especially with those that have little or no hope from being cured of stuff they have had all their lives. a particularly sad story was that of an old man who came in totally limping, with really bad posture. he said not a single word as we tried to speak to him. we figured his diet wasnt adequate and his joint pains could be because of his old age. It is only later that we found out he was from a village, where his daughter in law regularly beat him and hardly fed him. she beat him until the point where he had to have an operation to stop him from going blind. this is just one story. there are so many unheard stories. so many untold stories. everyday someone, a child, a mum or a father dies in these little communities and villages. sigh. but there have been rays of hope too. one old man we saw on the second day came in to see us again today to do a follow up on his exercises. it means so much to know that we really are making a difference in someone's life just by doing some simple exercises with them. it makes me think again, there is so much in the west we take for granted. please pray for us as we minister to people that come to the clinic. there are some we have seen that are heavily oppressed. please pray that we'd be able to bring the presence of Jesus into this clinic and into such lives. that we'd find favour in the eyes of the community surrounding the base, so that they can open up and trust us with their lives. pray that we'd have open doors to share the Gospel with each one who comes, how the Spirit leads. an encouraging testimony is that a lot of the muslim folk come to the clinic. this really could be a way of reaching out to them. in fact i'm sure it is. this clinic is in a neighbourhood full of muslims and God has such a great heart for these people. pray that we'd be able to build some solid and strong relationships with the muslim men and women and especially the children, so that Christ can draw them to Him through us. a young muslim man who was bound to many addictions decided that enough is enough and wants to live a new life. he's been coming to the church. oh the joy of victories :)
over and out from Udaipur! :D
ps: life here really is incomplete without a hot cup of chai! :)
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Peter's update (part one)
I left Perth at 6am and arrived in Kualu Lumpur (Malaysia) in good time. After checking in for my next flight I realised that the plane to Kolkata was delayed by about 2.5 hrs so I arrived in Kolkata just as my flight to Mumbai was due to leave. Fortunately nothing in India departs as scheduled so I ended up making the flight and having about another 2 hr wait. I got out of the airport for a short walk and smelt the smells of India. The air is heavy with woodfire smoke, petrol fumes, refuse and an indescribable mixture of unique smells. I also managed to purchase the most precious of rare commodities in India- a coca cola. The flight to Mumbai was great, awesome food and awesome service and I ended up landing in Mumbai at about midnight before the experience of a 30 km ride into the centre of town in a taxi. This was my first experience of the Indian roads and my driver was both extremely skillful and extremely crazy. There don't appear to be any road rules and people overtake and cut each other off with only centimetres to spare. And there are bikes and motorbikes everywhere sneaking into all the little gaps in the traffic they can find. It seems that the most polite thing to do while driving is honk your horn as much as possible to let everyone know that you're coming past. You don't wait for a gap in the traffic to turn or pull out from the side of the road but just pull out and expect the other drivers to slam on the brakes or swerve to miss you. I must admit that instead of being scared by it I was actually thrilled by the risk and skill displayed in the very quick journey. Upon arriving in central Mumbai I found a hotel for a few hours sleep.
I was woken in the morning by the sound of the 5am call to prayer blasting from a loudspeaker just outside my window (the sound came in via the air-conditioner which in my drowsy state had me confused for a little while). There was no sleep after that and I made the short trip to the train station at 7am ready to board the train to Surat. It turned out that the train had been delayed for 5 hours so my taxi driver took me to see the Gateway to India which is just outside the hotel that was bombed last year. He was a nice guy and was going to take me to see most of the sights in Mumbai (and probably make a lot of money from it) but I really had to get to Surat asap to meet Ziech so I could join the rest of the team. So it was back to the station where I managed to buy another ticket for an earlier train which took about 5 hours to get to Surat passing through some beautiful country but also some slum areas. It seems to me that there are very few buildings in India that have finished being constructed. Most building either look half finished or in a state of disrepair. I wonder what will be left in another 10 years from now. My train trip was kept interesting by the constant stream of vendors walking up and down the carriages selling Chai, different foods and weird odds and ends like toys and locks. I also managed to be propositioned by a couple of transvestites and a group of child beggars sat next to me for half an hour tapping me on the arm and pressing their foreheads against my legs after I gave one of them some money. I had paid a little bit extra for a 2nd class sleeper ticket but most of the time different passengers came and sat on my bed so the few minutes when I could lie flat were a luxury.
If I thought the beggars on the train were bad the beggars at the station in Surat were terrible. I had about a 45 minute wait for Ziech who was coming by bus and a crowd of young kids crowded around me poking at me and touching their fingers to their lips asking for food. The tragedy is that most of them will be working for someone else so any money you give them will go straight to someone who is making a lot of money. I gave one of them some popcorn and was shocked at their cheek when they said that wanted my coke as well! Anyway, Ziech arrived soon enough and we just made next bus to Navapur which was about a 3 hour drive. The bus driver was nuts. We were driving on a road with one lane in each direction and at one point he overtook a car which was overtaking a truck with oncoming traffic. Imagine three vehicle side by side heading in the same direction on a road with just two lanes and with cars and buses fast approaching from the other direction. Ziech and I were thankful that the driver was in the worst position but there were many times that he just swerved back onto the correct side of the road with a split second to spare. This is driving with no margin for error. We were spooked after passing a truck on the side of the road with the whole front end buckled inwards but we made it to Navapur safely. Ziech was due to preach that night in a village church and we were running late so we quickly got in a tuktuk (a small 3 wheeled motor-rickshaw that is less powerful than my little postie-bike) and made the 10 minute journey to the little village where we were staying. Almost immediately we were on the back of motorbikes and heading to another village where the rest of the team were already leading worship. During the 15 minutes on the bike there was a stream of tears flowing from my eyes which I don't know whether to attribute to the smokey, dusty air or a sense of peace from God knowing that I was in the right place with a group of beautiful people. Although we were late Ziech and I had to have a cup of chai with the village pastor before joining the team for the last worship song. The team then did a drama performance (the Lifehouse 'Everything' skit) before Fenny and Cindy did a dance to Casting Crown's 'Who am I' telling of how unworthy we are that we have a God who cares for us individually. Then Ziech preached an awesome message challenging the local believers and encouraging some of the non-Christian visitors. It must be hard to be a non-Christian in the villages surrounding Navapur because 90% of the villagers are Christian and strong and passionate in their faith. More than 30 years ago there was a great revival so many of the Christians are second and now third generation believers.
We went back to the village where we were staying in a school bus so I had a change to catch up with all the happenings of the rest of the team. Then it was time for dinner and planning for the next day which was a Sunday. We were splitting up into three groups and preaching in three different village churches whilst also running the childrens churches. I was teamed up with Andre to preach in the local church so I definitely had some preparing to do. We were staying in a grand buliding owned by the missions organisation with three storeys with high ceilings and wide corridors. It stood out from the bark and clay huts that make up the village houses and the rough unfinished concrete building that was the local school. The building housed an orphanage and a bible college and we had rooms on the third floor where my room had light and power during the day but nothing at night. So after dinner I headed back to my room got out my computer and started preparing a message to follow on from what Andre was sharing. I planned to share about continuing on in faith and being like Caleb who at 80 years of age was still just as willing to fight for God as he was when he returned from scouting the promised land with the other 11 spies and encouraged them to be obedient to God and take the land. Unfortunately I fell asleep almost as soon as I started preparing and woke in the morning totally unprepared with my computer on my lap. In the 30 mins I had before heading off to the church I wrote down some scriptures and when it came to my turn to speak I just spoke as I was led and everything seemed to fit together. There were about 200 villagers packed into the little church which had a ceiling draped with most beautiful cut paper decorations of every bright colour imaginable. So beautiful. The message was well received and afterwards we went back to the college for lunch where gradually the rest of the team arrived back.
The rest of the 3 days that I was with the team in Navapur went by with a rush. We were busy with so many things. Each morning different members of the team would wake at 5:30 and do devotions with the orphanage kids and one morning I joined Andre for his sharing to the boys and ended up telling them the story of Jonah and the big fish. We also did sharings with them during the day and one time Fenny felt lead to teach them about how Jesus washed the feet of the disciples so then we washed the feet of all the kids who were old enough to understand. It was really hard because so many of them objected to letting us wash their feet because it went totally against their culture but we finally managed to have about 25 pairs of clean feet and were then blessed when they washed our feet in return. On the last night in Navapur we were invited to the birthday party of the young daughter of the overseeing pastor of the Bible college. We sang some songs in Hindi and then sang some of our loudest and fastest English Christian songs before Ziech shared a challenging message about going where God has called and taking advantage of the gift of our youth. It was an awesome evening and an interesting introduction to the Indian Christian culture of sharing a message during a birthday party. Afterwards back where we were staying we had a worship and thanksgiving session to give God the glory for what had happened during the trip. On the final day in Navapur Fenny, Simon, Cindy and I made a trip to the local school and taught a geography lesson and a back-care lessons to two of the classes. Fenny did a great job with the back-care lesson she had prepared. Later I was lucky enough to hear the last message in a three sermon series on evangelism that Esther had prepared for the Bible college students. We also had the opportunity to pray for them as they were coming to a time where they needed to decide in which area they were going to serve the Lord and they returned the favour and prayed for us as well. I then managed to find some time to explore the little village with Ziech and Andre before heading back to my room to pack and preparing to leave.
The kids in Navapur were so beautiful and really made it hard for us to leave but after some group photos we piled into two 4WDs and made the trip back into Surat where the team were boarding a train to Delhi. It was a fun trip for a few of us in the back seat who sang songs and made a nuisance of ourselves most of the way. On arrival to Surat the 4WD carrying Gagan and me had a detour to visit a local pastor who had booked us some bus tickets to Udaipur on the overnight bus. We made it to the station about 20 minutes before the train was to leave but there was a short lived scare when we got an incorrect report that the train had been delayed for 6 hours. Even though it was now about 7pm the child beggars were making a nuisance of themselves and again weren't pleased with the food that Gagan gave them. The team made if off ok but not before a brief moment of panic for Gagan and myself when she suddenly couldn't find the tickets for our bus trip. I made a decision to never let Gee look after any tickets or other valuables while we were travelling :-) Anyway, she eventually found the tickets and we were dropped off at the bus stop where we were constantly comparing the number plates of the buses arriving with the number on the ticket. We caught our bus easily enough and I had a sleeper compartment which is a 1.7 by .7 metre compartment with just enough room for me to lie flat with my feet touching one end and my head a couple of centimetres from the other end. Gee had gone budget and just had a seat so while I managed to get 9 hours of sleep during the 10 hour overnight journey she didn't get much at all. The streets in Udaipur were quiet when we arrived early in the morning and we quickly found a tuktuk who took us to the Bible college here and overcharged us a lot for the pleasure. Most people were still asleep so we sat on the verandah outside the main building softly playing guitar as it became light and people started appearing. There is such a peace in this place. It's hard to think that it's the hub of an organisation that has planted over 1500 churches throughout northern India. It's like a little oasis in the craziness that is India. And it's such a blessing to be here.
I was woken in the morning by the sound of the 5am call to prayer blasting from a loudspeaker just outside my window (the sound came in via the air-conditioner which in my drowsy state had me confused for a little while). There was no sleep after that and I made the short trip to the train station at 7am ready to board the train to Surat. It turned out that the train had been delayed for 5 hours so my taxi driver took me to see the Gateway to India which is just outside the hotel that was bombed last year. He was a nice guy and was going to take me to see most of the sights in Mumbai (and probably make a lot of money from it) but I really had to get to Surat asap to meet Ziech so I could join the rest of the team. So it was back to the station where I managed to buy another ticket for an earlier train which took about 5 hours to get to Surat passing through some beautiful country but also some slum areas. It seems to me that there are very few buildings in India that have finished being constructed. Most building either look half finished or in a state of disrepair. I wonder what will be left in another 10 years from now. My train trip was kept interesting by the constant stream of vendors walking up and down the carriages selling Chai, different foods and weird odds and ends like toys and locks. I also managed to be propositioned by a couple of transvestites and a group of child beggars sat next to me for half an hour tapping me on the arm and pressing their foreheads against my legs after I gave one of them some money. I had paid a little bit extra for a 2nd class sleeper ticket but most of the time different passengers came and sat on my bed so the few minutes when I could lie flat were a luxury.
If I thought the beggars on the train were bad the beggars at the station in Surat were terrible. I had about a 45 minute wait for Ziech who was coming by bus and a crowd of young kids crowded around me poking at me and touching their fingers to their lips asking for food. The tragedy is that most of them will be working for someone else so any money you give them will go straight to someone who is making a lot of money. I gave one of them some popcorn and was shocked at their cheek when they said that wanted my coke as well! Anyway, Ziech arrived soon enough and we just made next bus to Navapur which was about a 3 hour drive. The bus driver was nuts. We were driving on a road with one lane in each direction and at one point he overtook a car which was overtaking a truck with oncoming traffic. Imagine three vehicle side by side heading in the same direction on a road with just two lanes and with cars and buses fast approaching from the other direction. Ziech and I were thankful that the driver was in the worst position but there were many times that he just swerved back onto the correct side of the road with a split second to spare. This is driving with no margin for error. We were spooked after passing a truck on the side of the road with the whole front end buckled inwards but we made it to Navapur safely. Ziech was due to preach that night in a village church and we were running late so we quickly got in a tuktuk (a small 3 wheeled motor-rickshaw that is less powerful than my little postie-bike) and made the 10 minute journey to the little village where we were staying. Almost immediately we were on the back of motorbikes and heading to another village where the rest of the team were already leading worship. During the 15 minutes on the bike there was a stream of tears flowing from my eyes which I don't know whether to attribute to the smokey, dusty air or a sense of peace from God knowing that I was in the right place with a group of beautiful people. Although we were late Ziech and I had to have a cup of chai with the village pastor before joining the team for the last worship song. The team then did a drama performance (the Lifehouse 'Everything' skit) before Fenny and Cindy did a dance to Casting Crown's 'Who am I' telling of how unworthy we are that we have a God who cares for us individually. Then Ziech preached an awesome message challenging the local believers and encouraging some of the non-Christian visitors. It must be hard to be a non-Christian in the villages surrounding Navapur because 90% of the villagers are Christian and strong and passionate in their faith. More than 30 years ago there was a great revival so many of the Christians are second and now third generation believers.
We went back to the village where we were staying in a school bus so I had a change to catch up with all the happenings of the rest of the team. Then it was time for dinner and planning for the next day which was a Sunday. We were splitting up into three groups and preaching in three different village churches whilst also running the childrens churches. I was teamed up with Andre to preach in the local church so I definitely had some preparing to do. We were staying in a grand buliding owned by the missions organisation with three storeys with high ceilings and wide corridors. It stood out from the bark and clay huts that make up the village houses and the rough unfinished concrete building that was the local school. The building housed an orphanage and a bible college and we had rooms on the third floor where my room had light and power during the day but nothing at night. So after dinner I headed back to my room got out my computer and started preparing a message to follow on from what Andre was sharing. I planned to share about continuing on in faith and being like Caleb who at 80 years of age was still just as willing to fight for God as he was when he returned from scouting the promised land with the other 11 spies and encouraged them to be obedient to God and take the land. Unfortunately I fell asleep almost as soon as I started preparing and woke in the morning totally unprepared with my computer on my lap. In the 30 mins I had before heading off to the church I wrote down some scriptures and when it came to my turn to speak I just spoke as I was led and everything seemed to fit together. There were about 200 villagers packed into the little church which had a ceiling draped with most beautiful cut paper decorations of every bright colour imaginable. So beautiful. The message was well received and afterwards we went back to the college for lunch where gradually the rest of the team arrived back.
The rest of the 3 days that I was with the team in Navapur went by with a rush. We were busy with so many things. Each morning different members of the team would wake at 5:30 and do devotions with the orphanage kids and one morning I joined Andre for his sharing to the boys and ended up telling them the story of Jonah and the big fish. We also did sharings with them during the day and one time Fenny felt lead to teach them about how Jesus washed the feet of the disciples so then we washed the feet of all the kids who were old enough to understand. It was really hard because so many of them objected to letting us wash their feet because it went totally against their culture but we finally managed to have about 25 pairs of clean feet and were then blessed when they washed our feet in return. On the last night in Navapur we were invited to the birthday party of the young daughter of the overseeing pastor of the Bible college. We sang some songs in Hindi and then sang some of our loudest and fastest English Christian songs before Ziech shared a challenging message about going where God has called and taking advantage of the gift of our youth. It was an awesome evening and an interesting introduction to the Indian Christian culture of sharing a message during a birthday party. Afterwards back where we were staying we had a worship and thanksgiving session to give God the glory for what had happened during the trip. On the final day in Navapur Fenny, Simon, Cindy and I made a trip to the local school and taught a geography lesson and a back-care lessons to two of the classes. Fenny did a great job with the back-care lesson she had prepared. Later I was lucky enough to hear the last message in a three sermon series on evangelism that Esther had prepared for the Bible college students. We also had the opportunity to pray for them as they were coming to a time where they needed to decide in which area they were going to serve the Lord and they returned the favour and prayed for us as well. I then managed to find some time to explore the little village with Ziech and Andre before heading back to my room to pack and preparing to leave.
The kids in Navapur were so beautiful and really made it hard for us to leave but after some group photos we piled into two 4WDs and made the trip back into Surat where the team were boarding a train to Delhi. It was a fun trip for a few of us in the back seat who sang songs and made a nuisance of ourselves most of the way. On arrival to Surat the 4WD carrying Gagan and me had a detour to visit a local pastor who had booked us some bus tickets to Udaipur on the overnight bus. We made it to the station about 20 minutes before the train was to leave but there was a short lived scare when we got an incorrect report that the train had been delayed for 6 hours. Even though it was now about 7pm the child beggars were making a nuisance of themselves and again weren't pleased with the food that Gagan gave them. The team made if off ok but not before a brief moment of panic for Gagan and myself when she suddenly couldn't find the tickets for our bus trip. I made a decision to never let Gee look after any tickets or other valuables while we were travelling :-) Anyway, she eventually found the tickets and we were dropped off at the bus stop where we were constantly comparing the number plates of the buses arriving with the number on the ticket. We caught our bus easily enough and I had a sleeper compartment which is a 1.7 by .7 metre compartment with just enough room for me to lie flat with my feet touching one end and my head a couple of centimetres from the other end. Gee had gone budget and just had a seat so while I managed to get 9 hours of sleep during the 10 hour overnight journey she didn't get much at all. The streets in Udaipur were quiet when we arrived early in the morning and we quickly found a tuktuk who took us to the Bible college here and overcharged us a lot for the pleasure. Most people were still asleep so we sat on the verandah outside the main building softly playing guitar as it became light and people started appearing. There is such a peace in this place. It's hard to think that it's the hub of an organisation that has planted over 1500 churches throughout northern India. It's like a little oasis in the craziness that is India. And it's such a blessing to be here.
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