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India Trip 2009
Once again, for the 5th year running, a team of 6 people, both from Gabalfa Baptist Church and from Heath Evangelical Church, were able to visit India for 3 weeks. The time was busy and there were many highlights – here is just a brief report of each of the places we stayed, and also some prayer points for each ministry or church.
Agra – Once again we stayed with Emmanuel Lodge and were able to visit a few of the places in which he is ministering. It was sad to hear as we arrived that due to financial difficulties, Emmanuel’s wife Archana is working back in her home town, which is a fair distance away from Agra. One of the encouragements of the trip was to visit the 5 street children, who Emmanuel is now looking after in the building that used to be his church. Work with street-children is something that is close to Emmanuel’s heart, and we were also able to see a plot of land where he is planning to build a larger children’s home so that more children can be taken care of – we look forward to developments in this. The highlight of Agra, and possibly the whole trip was a village we visited with Emmanuel. It was just outside a city where there has been persecution of Christians in the past, and when we arrived we were meeting in an open space – anything could have happened. We held the meeting, sang some songs, a couple of short messages were preached, and then we were taken for some food. While sitting and eating, we were invited to go to the house of the chief of the village – again, it could have been anything. However, as we were sitting there the chief started writing a letter to us on his headed paper, and this is something of what it said – ‘we want to thank you for bringing us the message of the true knowledge of God, and of Jesus Christ, and me and my family want to follow Jesus for the rest of our lives!’ What a privilege to read that letter, and who knows what will now take place in this village, but God was certainly at work in that place. Please pray – For financial provision, more co-workers, the village who responded to our message
Varanasi – Once again, our time in Varanasi was a great time to see all that is going on in that place. We were able again to visit a village, and a couple of fellowships in the city, and also a home run by YWAM where they are looking after widows (who are treated as outcasts in Indian society). We were able to witness 7 baptisms of new converts, and were also involved in church services during the time we were there. Possibly the most exciting part of our time in Varanasi was a time we spent with some of the young men who desire to serve in the area of church planting in the city with Patsy David (who we stayed with once again). It was a great time of fellowship and sharing with those who are feeling God’s call on their lives, and we look forward to all that God will do through them in the city, where there are already a number of church fellowships springing up in different areas Please pray – For new fellowships in the city, for the village churches, for a potential Bible School
Narsipatnam – Of all the places we visited, our hosts in Narsipatnam worked us the hardest of all. There was hardly a spare moment as we travelled to a number of the villages where they are working, and also held meetings entitled the ‘festival of blessing’ in both the morning and the evening. Many people came to the meetings and they were a great time of fellowship and teaching from God’s Word, but the highlight of this time was all of the villagers who we were able to visit and share the Gospel with. The stories of the sacrifice that has gone into planting the churches in these places is humbling – sometimes a village took 8 pr 9 years to respond to the Gospel, and yet Sundar Rao (the founder of the work) and now the team that works with him never gave up, and are now ministering in a large number of villages and looking to expand the work. We are just as blessed and challenged in our time in India as those who we minister to, and we look forward to renewing fellowship with all those we were able to visit. Please pray – For all the village fellowships, for financial provision for the work, for more workers to join
Samalkot – The final leg of our journey was once again in Samalkot, and once again we were given the opportunity to speak in some large meetings where a large number of Hindu men and women came to hear from God’s Word. We were also able on our last 2 nights to go and serve a couple of smaller fellowships in nearby villages which was again a great privilege. It was encouraging for us to see the prayer centre that we have supported the building of, that will hopefully be ready for us to stay in if we return next year and it was also encouraging to hear of the opportunities that have opened up on the TV for Suvartha Raju (our host) to speak on his own programme that is received in a large area of Andhra Pradesh (ironically enough, not in their own village of Samalkot!). One of the last meetings of our trip was the most encouraging for Suvartha, as he organised a short time that we were able to speak to some of the local pastors in the area. It was a time of great blessing, and as a result of this time it may well be that if God allows us to return next year, we will run a few days of Pastor’s seminars, the idea being – if you touch a pastor, you also touch many people through him. Please pray – For the completion of the prayer centre, for financial provision, for the new TV opportunities
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