Sorry about the double post yesterday, I hit the button twice by accident and couldn’t figure out how to delete one of the posts. I have so much to tell today and I won’t be able to do it in one blog. Yesterday was an eventful day; both good and bad. I wanted to write about my visit to the temple. That’s what I planned to write about before I went to my village last night. But I first must tell you what happened there and I’ll save the tourist stuff for later.
After returning to my room from the temple visit I went to lay down and rest before the evening. I was feeling warm and somewhat achy. I hope I’m not coming down with something but several of our group has gotten sick. I woke late and wanted to take a shower before I left and hadn’t eaten since breakfast. The water is only warm in the morning from 7:00 a.m. till 10:00 a.m. so I had to take a cold shower.
I went down to the restaurant to get something to eat and it was 15 min. before my driver was supposed to show up. I hurriedly ate vegetable fried rice and local bread and made it to the lobby just a few minutes late. I was till feeling slightly under the weather. My interpreter and driver showed up and we left.
The permit for our usage of the school site was to be presented to the authorities on Monday to allow us to continue the meetings. I was anxious to find out how it went. When I asked my interpreter about the permit he said it was turned down but I shouldn’t worry. They had located a different site in the village and were preparing it while we were on our way.
I would normally panic but I have learned that God knows about these things and has contingency plans before we are even aware of it, so I just tried to sit back and relax the best I could for the trip.
The problem with relaxing in an Indian cab is the traffic. A normal ride is like a roller coaster experience but today, something got into our driver. He ran a red light and had the traffic cop yelling at him; he almost killed a couple on a two wheeler (motorcycle), and his driving overall for the whole journey was far more aggressive and dangerous than any of the previous days! I literally was praying and holding on for the entire trip. I couldn’t relax.
When we got to the village, once again my interpreter wanted to protect me from seeing the site too early so he took me on a little site seeing jaunt through the village. We stopped into a couple of homes where I had to remove my shoes and sit and talk with the families. Now many people in the cities of India can get by with some English, not so in the villages. The young children are learning English in school and can speak some phrases, but except for the village chief, no one understands spoken English; even though they might be able to read it.
When we visited these homes, I just sat there and smiled while they checked out the white man from America. As a side note, my visits to their homes are extremely significant. They have a hard time understanding why a wealthy white man from America would come to their poor village and to spend time with them. These people are untouchables in their society and this goes against their whole world view.
I met more adults and took lots of pictures which always brought a smile to their faces when I showed them their picture on my digital camera. I told them (through the interpreter) that I would display their pictures on the screen the next night if they would like to come and see them. This was a little marketing ploy to get more people to my meetings.
At about 6:45 local time, we went to the site. To say I was disappointed might be an understatement. Looking at our new site made me feel that the previous one was a 4 star hotel! We were now in someone’s back yard with piles of dirt and rocks; with cows, goats and chickens and no level surface which to set up the equipment or for people to sit. (see picture).
All I could do was pray, Lord you knew this and you are now responsible for the outcome. I’ll be faithful and do what you sent me here to do, but this is more than I can take tonight with the way I feel.
We were supposed to start and 7:00 p.m. but the electricians (I use that term lightly with tongue in cheek) weren’t finished, the chairs weren’t there yet and we didn’t have any place to put up a screen.
We figured out that the back wall of the house would have to work for the screen but then all the sound stuff and power wiring had to be moved to accommodate the new projector location. The chairs showed up and had to be carried from the front yard to the back. I started to go and help, but my interpreter things I’m a soft handed weak white man (J) and he wouldn’t let me. I suggested that we ask the kids to each carry one and he agreed to that.
This was the first time since we began that I actually saw my interpreter get nervous. When we finally got the power up, I started up the projector and computer and he told me we would skip the song service and I should show the daily segment of the Jesus video and we should start the preaching after that. Good enough for me!
We finally got started 20 minutes late but the good news is, we had more people there than we had any of the previous nights! My visitation through the village drew people that hadn’t come before and now we preached the sermon which is one of my favorites. We preached Jesus and Him crucified! We made a Gospel presentation and called people to a decision to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savour. It was great. We had 20 or more hands of Hindus who wanted to accept Jesus as their Lord.
For all the trials and difficulties, for my physical discomfort and emotional stress, God came through in an amazing way. Man could not have pulled off what occurred last night. It was all God. He’s amazing!
I have been told that my village is one of the most difficult areas of evangelism in the area. The local church has been trying to get established in this village for over two years with no results. I don’t know why God keeps giving me the tough assignments, maybe it’s because I was so tough to convert. But my faith is strong and this experience has invigorated me. I still feel on the verge of some illness but regardless of how I feel, God is doing a great work here.
Pastor Kevin
After returning to my room from the temple visit I went to lay down and rest before the evening. I was feeling warm and somewhat achy. I hope I’m not coming down with something but several of our group has gotten sick. I woke late and wanted to take a shower before I left and hadn’t eaten since breakfast. The water is only warm in the morning from 7:00 a.m. till 10:00 a.m. so I had to take a cold shower.
I went down to the restaurant to get something to eat and it was 15 min. before my driver was supposed to show up. I hurriedly ate vegetable fried rice and local bread and made it to the lobby just a few minutes late. I was till feeling slightly under the weather. My interpreter and driver showed up and we left.
The permit for our usage of the school site was to be presented to the authorities on Monday to allow us to continue the meetings. I was anxious to find out how it went. When I asked my interpreter about the permit he said it was turned down but I shouldn’t worry. They had located a different site in the village and were preparing it while we were on our way.
I would normally panic but I have learned that God knows about these things and has contingency plans before we are even aware of it, so I just tried to sit back and relax the best I could for the trip.
The problem with relaxing in an Indian cab is the traffic. A normal ride is like a roller coaster experience but today, something got into our driver. He ran a red light and had the traffic cop yelling at him; he almost killed a couple on a two wheeler (motorcycle), and his driving overall for the whole journey was far more aggressive and dangerous than any of the previous days! I literally was praying and holding on for the entire trip. I couldn’t relax.
When we got to the village, once again my interpreter wanted to protect me from seeing the site too early so he took me on a little site seeing jaunt through the village. We stopped into a couple of homes where I had to remove my shoes and sit and talk with the families. Now many people in the cities of India can get by with some English, not so in the villages. The young children are learning English in school and can speak some phrases, but except for the village chief, no one understands spoken English; even though they might be able to read it.
When we visited these homes, I just sat there and smiled while they checked out the white man from America. As a side note, my visits to their homes are extremely significant. They have a hard time understanding why a wealthy white man from America would come to their poor village and to spend time with them. These people are untouchables in their society and this goes against their whole world view.
I met more adults and took lots of pictures which always brought a smile to their faces when I showed them their picture on my digital camera. I told them (through the interpreter) that I would display their pictures on the screen the next night if they would like to come and see them. This was a little marketing ploy to get more people to my meetings.
At about 6:45 local time, we went to the site. To say I was disappointed might be an understatement. Looking at our new site made me feel that the previous one was a 4 star hotel! We were now in someone’s back yard with piles of dirt and rocks; with cows, goats and chickens and no level surface which to set up the equipment or for people to sit. (see picture).
All I could do was pray, Lord you knew this and you are now responsible for the outcome. I’ll be faithful and do what you sent me here to do, but this is more than I can take tonight with the way I feel.
We were supposed to start and 7:00 p.m. but the electricians (I use that term lightly with tongue in cheek) weren’t finished, the chairs weren’t there yet and we didn’t have any place to put up a screen.
We figured out that the back wall of the house would have to work for the screen but then all the sound stuff and power wiring had to be moved to accommodate the new projector location. The chairs showed up and had to be carried from the front yard to the back. I started to go and help, but my interpreter things I’m a soft handed weak white man (J) and he wouldn’t let me. I suggested that we ask the kids to each carry one and he agreed to that.
This was the first time since we began that I actually saw my interpreter get nervous. When we finally got the power up, I started up the projector and computer and he told me we would skip the song service and I should show the daily segment of the Jesus video and we should start the preaching after that. Good enough for me!
We finally got started 20 minutes late but the good news is, we had more people there than we had any of the previous nights! My visitation through the village drew people that hadn’t come before and now we preached the sermon which is one of my favorites. We preached Jesus and Him crucified! We made a Gospel presentation and called people to a decision to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savour. It was great. We had 20 or more hands of Hindus who wanted to accept Jesus as their Lord.
For all the trials and difficulties, for my physical discomfort and emotional stress, God came through in an amazing way. Man could not have pulled off what occurred last night. It was all God. He’s amazing!
I have been told that my village is one of the most difficult areas of evangelism in the area. The local church has been trying to get established in this village for over two years with no results. I don’t know why God keeps giving me the tough assignments, maybe it’s because I was so tough to convert. But my faith is strong and this experience has invigorated me. I still feel on the verge of some illness but regardless of how I feel, God is doing a great work here.
Pastor Kevin
1 comment:
I'm praying for your health Kevin!
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