Village Outreach #2 - Diamond

The second village outreach was smaller and more subdued, but still a wonderful time and anointed. I spoke about faith, and doing whatever it takes to get to Jesus. I used the story of Zaccheus and the man who was lowered through the roof to be with Jesus. Such good time of ministry and prayer.

My favorite part though, the ultimate highlight, was having James' mother Diamond there to translate for me. This mighty woman of God has done so much for the Kingdom, and I love to soak in all I can whenever I am around her. She is like the female Billy Graham or equivalent here, and I am so humbled by HER coming to translate for ME. Seems almost backwards. She should be speaking, and I should be serving her. But the Lord uses the weak to show His strength. After the service, she told me that she had gone into a village the night before to share and had used the exact same story of Zaccheus. She said it seemed the Lord was speaking a word to the villages about faith. I was thrilled that I had discerned this as well. I love getting confirmation!

She also gave me quite the compliment at dinner - told me I eat well with my fingers (an important thing in India, with no silverware - plus I here she is the Queen of Manners, so I must have been doing something right.) :)

Village Adventure #1 - The Locusts

Ok, so I'm going to do my best to recap each of the village outreach services, as they have all been special and unique in their own way.

The first night was probably the most awkward in many ways, as it was my first real ministry venture without the team under the fearless leadership of Doug (main contact for teams here). Doug flew back to England, and so I was venturing out on my own... Not quite on me own, though. Me and 8 Indians (7 ministry people plus driver) piled into one car and set out for the village. Only 2 of them spoke any English, but it was pretty minimal (humorous considering one of those two is my translator! haha) About 3 hours and many bumpy roads later, we arrived at the village. And if you know me at all, you know my bladder is pretty small, so I did what we did when the teams were here and asked if there was a "sister" who could take me to the bathroom. Next things I know, I'm wisked away to a hut where the WHOLE pastor's family came out (I guess to witness the white girl who needed a bathroom?) and the pastor's wife took me by the hand, put me in the car and we (me, the pastor's wife, a male staff member and driver) all set out on an "adventure" to find me a bathroom. We drove to some "houses" and were walking all through people's homes and property, all the time hand-in-hand with the pastor's wife, until we landed at an actual squatty (better than the side of the road, or a field, which was what I expected)). Then, wisked back to the car and back to the church, where I walk in and notice...

(look at the wall and floor - this was after a ton were swept out)

BUGS! Everywhere! I notice first because they start landing on me the second I walk in! And not little bugs - these were small grasshopper type bugs. I think they were locusts. And I think the plague in Egypt had come upon this church, as they were ALL OVER. Good thing I don't have a fear of bugs. (A few of you would have freaked!) Good thing also we have to wear head scarves. Never quite been so happy to have that hot fabirc covering my head as at that moment.

The service went really well though. Ministered are treated with such honor here in India. There are men who carry all my belonging for me. I am brought sodas everywhere I go (not my fav, but the gesture is sweet), and they typically present guest ministers with a flower garland to wear around their necks. It is made of fragrant fresh flowers, and is beautiful and heavy! This church thought that Doug would be there, so there were two garlands. Because of his absense, they gave me both. I felt like my little body was weighted down with flowers. Haha... It worked well though for my sermon illustration about taking Jesus' yoke rather then our heavy yokes, because his is easy and light (see Jonathan? I do listen when you talk about making things culturally relavent! :0) ).

At the conclusion of the service, probably 15-20 people resonded to the altar call for salvation. Hallelujah! And then I was able to pray for everyone individually (I just love this part!). I even held it together as I felt bugs crawling up my legs under my dress. Talk about practicing your poker face...


(these were the people who stood for the altar call)

And then, they always want to feed you after the service! :) This was probably when my awkwardness came out the most because I didn't have anyone's lead to follow. And since I am the "honored guest", I am served first and expected to eat first, etc. So I was hoping not to make too many large faux pas. I think I did a couple. haha. Oh well, as Sarah always tells me, we get away with a lot since we're white. :)

village services

I just got back from another village service. The last 3 nights I have been in different villages preaching and praying for people. I have 4 more nights of village evangelism and then it's off to Hyderabad to help Sarah with more surgeries for her little ones, and I fly to Thailand from there on the 4th of June. Hard to believe that my time here is coming to a close. I feel so at peace and fulfilled here that it makes me sad to think about leaving. I don't know what all the Lord is doing in me, but He is definitely stirring some things. I will share more when I know more and when I feel a release in my spirit to share. I'm gonna put more about the village services, but for now I go to bed. :)

My morning surprise

I got up this morning, looked outside, and look what was there to greet me!

Monkeys! How crazy is that! For all of you that asked me to bring you back a pet monkey, I think I got pretty close to making it happen this morning! haha. Wait a minute.... do monkey's eat lizards? If so, I think I may have found my lizard repellant I've been looking for! :)

Ministry Update

So, I asked if I could do some more ministering in the villages while I'm here, and my prayer has been answered! Starting tomorrow (Sunday), I will be speaking in a different village EVERY NIGHT for the next SEVEN nights! I am so excited, but I also realize this is a lot! I am asking that you will pray for the Lord to fill and prepare me for what I need to share, and also that miracles, signs, and wonders will happen, as well as many people coming to the Lord as a result of this. I will be praying for the people at the close of each service, and will be giving altar calls each night. Let's believe together that the Lord will do many mighty things in this next week!

Leave me your comments and encouraging words (you don't have to have a blogspot account to leave a comment) as you are thinking of me in the next few days.

I'll report back good things! :)

Life is in the Details

So I've discovered one of my personality traits that works well on missions. My tendency to get really excited over really small details...haha

Like:

- Having clean clothes (which I now have! such a good day!)

- The Beach (which we went to when the team was here...ahhh, my favorite thing in life)

- Eating a piece of chocolate (which I got to do last night)

- The Indian Fair. Yes, Lorianna, I went to the fair in India. Jealous? Well, don't picture the FL State Fair or anything, but a cultural experience none the less. And I even rode a couple rides, and live to tell about it. :)

- Coffee and tea (which is always readily available, and I take advantage of often)

Sidenote: Are there any countries that really don't like coffee/tea? Because everywhere I've gone, it has been a big thing. It's always been a little different each place, but always good. This has become my number one comfort item while traveling. :)

Random tidbit: So when people here Chai tea, they think India, right? But if you go to India and order Chai, you will just get normal tea, because the word "chai" means tea. If you want what we as Americans think of as Chai, you have to order "masala chai" which is more of the spiced tea we are familiar with. (This might only apply to the part of India I'm in, but is still interesting!)

Isaiah 54: 4-6

"Do not be afraid; you will not suffer shame.

Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated.

You will forget the shame of your youth

and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood.

For your Maker is your husband-

the Lord Almighty is his name-

the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer;

he is called the God of all the earth.

The Lord will call you back

as if you were a wife deserted and

distressed in Spirit-

a wife who married young,

only to be rejected," says your God.