Dearest friends,
THE MOUNTAIN
We drove forever today to climb the top of a mountain so that we could do a program for children in a tribal area. We were working at a catholic school that has been serving the mountain children for generations. When we arrived, the priest asked me what I was going to tell the children. Usually these conversations do not go well. However, he was very happy when he heard that I would tell the children about Jesus. As the show went on, he became more and more enthusiastic. He invited us to lunch and offered us many other invitations to do programs. There are so many opportunities that we can say yes to now on the mountain. Best of all, we heard so many children asking Jesus to rescue them.
Afterwards, the children wanted to thank us. As we were leaving the priest wanted to bless us and said something very funny to me. He said, "May the grace of God go with you as you are a great preacher." Don’t worry, I only talk to children. We felt very blessed! On the way up and down the mountain, God blessed us with monkeys lining the road. It was a glorious time!
STICKS
There is a law in India that forbids teachers to hit children in the schools. Many teachers ignore this law and continue to hit the children. At our second program today, we arrived to a room full of sticks. One man had a piece of bamboo that was over three feet long and he was hitting the children. I stopped him, grabbed his stick and broke it over my knee. The children began clapping and cheering. He was a mean man who proceeded to beat the children with a rope. I stopped him again. Now the children were really happy. They were especially pleased as I gathered up the remaining sticks in the room, all eight of them. My friend Kumar said, "you will always have the support of the children, but not always the teachers."
Wonderful things happened at this show. One of the teachers whose stick I had taken said in front of the children, "this lady loves children, you should listen to her." The children did listen and many prayed. All of the tecachers whose sticks I had taken but one came and thanked me after the program. I am so grateful to God for the way he poured out His Spirit into the show. Without His Spirit, I would’ve been writing you a different report.
Sadly, this was a Christian school. It is easy to see the children could not hear about Jesus from teachers who are hitting them. However, I have a question for you that I have been asking myself. What do we do that keeps people from hearing about Jesus?
THE VILLAGE
We arrived at a small village late in the afternoon and were immediately surrounded by a crowd of children. They all wanted to touch us and stand near us. I shoke one little boy’s hand 24 times. We walked to the center of the village, to the place where we were going to do the show. We were especially delighted at the place the village elders had chosen for our program. We were told to set up directly in front of a Hindu temple. I took pictures of the team doing puppets with the Indian gods directly behind them. It was amazing!
When we gave the invitation, we only heard a few children praying in small whispers. Still, the entire village seemed to come to the program. In the story, I quoted many of Jesus’s words. I know there is power in His Word. Please pray for God to show himself to this village and deliver them from darkness to light. Everyone listened and everyone had a good time hearing about Jesus. This is a wonderful thing!
PRAYER REQUESTS
Please pray for our last two shows in this area which are tomorrow morning, Thursday morning. Please pray for us as we drive back to our home at ACA tomorrow afternoon. Please pray for me as I start my journey home Thursday evening. I will arrive back in Atlanta on Friday afternoon in time to bring a Misson report at Midway PCA in Atlanta. We will also be doing a puppet show and need your prayers. Please pray for Colleen as she will be remaining in India and volunteering at a local hospital.