Sunday Fellowship

I got up this morning and after repacking I wrote down a few more thoughts from yesterday which I was too tired to put on paper last night.

...

Yesterday we experienced the joy of a group of new believers; a joy made tenfold by continuing hand of God on them as they experience persecution. These people have been completely transformed, leaving family and caste to join themselves to the name of Christ and His church. Encountering the gift of the Gospel, they immediately begin boldly proclaiming it to everyone they know. God is certainly with these people. His presence makes them courageous and His Word is the bread they live by. 

The passion of the missionaries in their work both encourages and challenges me. One woman said to me, "there is no backsliding in this church, once they have chosen Christ, they never turn back." What a powerful witness!

Lord, challenge us today as we worship with these people. Help us to be an encouragement to them and may we be faithful in prayer for them. Build up Your church, Lord, grow these new believers and continue to give them courage and joy. 

You are the same God wherever we go and Your love endures forever. Thank you for Your presence with us and these people. May Your name receive all the glory and honour. 

...

After jotting down my thoughts from yesterday, Saloni and I repacked and joined the others downstairs for coffee. I thought handbags were annoying but having to lug suitcases around with us is getting old very quickly. 

We headed off to church where we were served a lovely breakfast by the missionaries and prepared to worship with them. 

Again, it was boys on one side, girls on the other. I decided after last night's service that a head covering might be a good idea, so Saloni and I borrowed a scarf each from Robyn for the service today. I was glad I did, as during prayer time, every woman covered her head. This is mostly cultural and I'm certain that we wouldn't have been seen any different if we chose not to cover our heads, but I chose to anyway. I love to take part in a person's culture in every way possible and have seen many times the difference it makes in building relationships with people when you try to respect their traditions. 

We sang (or rather clapped along to their singing), prayed and listened to Bill preach on Nicodemus. Once again we were called upon to sing and we chose "Shout to the Lord", again because it's one we can remember all the lyrics to. This time Keaton and Luke were able to play keyboard and guitar for us as well.  

We greeted the believers after the service and Saloni and I chatted to some of the girls. I find it very hard to remember Indian names, unfortunately. Thankfully God knows their names even if I don't:). 

Many of the people we had visited from the villages yesterday had been invited to join us today. So many people showed up and almost all of them on time, though they had to travel a fair distance to get to church. 

While Bill and Samuel chatted outside, we were asked to run a 20 min youth service. I remembered that we had been told about this but I'd completely forgotten in the busyness of everything else. No worries though. We taught them "I am the Way, Truth, Life" and they taught us "God is so Good" in the local language. First Alex and then Keaton shared their testimonies (both of them did a great job) and then I closed in prayer. 

One of the missionaries looking after us, Shebu, pulled me aside afterwards and asked why I hadn't shared my testimony. You see, somehow, Paul knew that I've been on mission trips before. Yesterday, when we were all introduced, I was was asked to explain briefly where I've been and what I've done. I was a little taken aback, mostly because I hadn't said anything to Paul, one of our drivers, and so wasn't expecting such an introduction. Shebu had wanted me to share my testimony with the youth so he could hear more about the mission work I've been involved in. I just laughed; after all, the youth needed to hear Alex and Keaton's testimonies just as much. 

Last night, we had offered to pay for a fellowship lunch to be provided after church. In order to get this amount of food ready, someone would have had to have gotten up before 4am to prepare it all before church started. They started setting up a table with 8 chairs in the church and we began to wonder what sort of fellowship lunch this was going to be. We asked where everyone else had gone and were informed that everyone else was on the roof eating together and they thought we'd want quiet for eating! We were a little horrified and quickly joined the others on the roof. We sat on the floor and ate with our fingers just like them, otherwise how could it be a fellowship lunch? 

In true Indian style, we washed our hands by pouring water over the balcony for each other's hands.

On the roof, after most people had already headed home. 

I love all the beautiful saris in every colour you can imagine. They are so feminine and flattering but also very practical. 

One of Keaton's little friends :). 

Luke and his guitar is always cause for a gathering :). 

Luke's music is probably playing all over India by now :). 

Soon it was time to leave again. Paul, one of our drivers, works at the training centre for the missionaries which is where we were headed next. His daughter, Sheefere, stays in Chitradurga, however, with her grandparents in order to attend school. They don't get to see each other very often, as it's a 5 hour drive and both of them have very busy schedules. It's a lot for a 13 year old girl to handle and she was crying as we left. These people sacrifice a lot to serve in the  various ministries God has called them to. 

Another 5 hours on the road ahead of us. 

Keaton and Gupal sharing Keaton's earphones, we're still not sure if Gupal enjoys the piano or not :). 

Some of the funny sights to be seen on Indian roads. 

We stopped for a break and more coffee of course. A friend told me once that I say a lot about coffee on my blog. I guess I do enjoy my coffee:). On the road again we bought some papaya at one of the many toll points along the freeway. Keaton also bought peanuts for us to share and we simply threw the shells out the window as we drove along. We wouldn't be able to do that back home. 

We sang more songs and played some games together.

We started playing the game where you begin a story and then pause at a climax to let the next person continue on. As it began to get quite late our story became sillier and sillier. I'll admit that it was mostly my fault, as Saloni and Luke tired quickly of the game and left me and Keaton to let our imaginations run wild. 

We eventually arrived at OTI, the Outreach Training Institute of IEM. Our story had run it's course and we were all glad to be out of the jeeps and stretching our legs. Our dinner was ready and waiting for us. We had curry but they had also boiled up a big bowl full of potatoes. None of us ate the potatoes and found out afterwards that they had been cooked especially for us as they thought we'd prefer them to Indian food. :) Little did they know how much we love a good curry! 

After eating we were all pretty keen to head to bed. OTI has one guesthouse with three bedrooms and also two dorms for the missionaries in training. Saloni and I chose to share a dorm together, with Samuel in the boys dorm across from us while the others slept in the guesthouse.

Saloni broke out in some sort of rash on her hands and feet. We noticed it last night but thought it was just bug bites until it began to look like hives today. Thankfully Robyn has antihistamines with her and Saloni has started taking them. I suspect that it's just a reaction to the bug bites or possibly from brushing up against a plant somewhere, hopefully it will clear up by tomorrow.

 After all our travelling around and repacking all the time we are looking forward to spending 3 whole nights in one spot for once. It has certainly been a wonderfully full Sunday!

Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things."

Luke 24:45-48 (Jesus appearing to His disciples)