Dearest Friends,
A DARK PLACE
We have been in another town for the last few days, with no phone or internet access. This problem may happen again, so please pray enthusiastically whether you hear from us or not.
As soon as we drove into this town, we all felt a spiritual change. It is dark and oppressive here. We can feel the battle that is being fought in the hearts of the children.
There are temples here for many different gods; some formed as a half man, half elephant or a multi-armed man or woman. There is even a temple here whether they worship a certain part of a man’s anatomy. It is simply too disgusting to say more. We passed temples where people worship snakes.
In this miserable place, God allowed us to be light. We shared at three very large government schools where almost everyone listened; children and teachers were hearing the Gospel for the first time. It is so humbling for all of us to stand in these places. Hundreds of children and teachers attended every show. The room was always full of Hindis, Sheiks and some Muslims, but at one school a single young man presented himself to us as a believer. He was one among more than a thousand students. Praise God that we were able to connect him to a local fellowship.
Another young man wanted me to bless him. He had decided that I was a holy person. My friend Ravi asked him if he would go to his friend in order to ask his own father for something. He said “No” unless he had a broken relationship with his father. Then Ravi explained to him how he could have a right relationship with God and go directly to him.
Many children at different places ran up to me after shows and tried to kiss my feet or touch them. I explained that I have nothing to give; only Jesus can satisfy. Then they tried to kneel to me. I grabbed them and said, “No, only bend your knee to Jesus”. God is kind to us. He fills us with His love and by His grace, the children are drawn to Him.
Two Village Schools
A very sweet teacher boldly went and asked another Hindu school to join us. They came. Sheila lives in that place and risks much so that the children could hear about Jesus. Please pray for her safety. Two years ago, she came to faith and loves Jesus with all of her heart. She was thrilled that we came!
At the second school, we were supposed to have 35 children. That was fine with us, but the government school heard that we were coming. They invited us to combine both schools and so we had more than 350 students plus dozens of teachers and staff. God’s plan was much better than ours. More, this was an open door that our pastor friend had been praying for a long time. Praise God!
Prayer Requests
Tomorrow, Tuesday, we will teach some Bible students in the morning. Then in the afternoon, we have a 5 hour train ride to Nagpur so that we can catch a flight to southern India on Wednesday morning. We have 25 Sun day school teachers to train and more programs to do.
Please pray for strength. We are tired, but very happy.
In Jesus,
Linda for David, Heather, Nick, Benson and Samson