EOE Missions

Mumbai Project Day 10 (April 2nd)

I got a wake up call at 5:30am. I was told to meet Omega downstairs at 7:00am. I got slowly out of bed…stretched…and was amazed that I felt like a new person! I have a complete freshness! I had worked on my sermon, praying and reading until about 8:00pm…and then fell asleep…but the prayers of my friends where answered fully and I got up with a “fresh wind and fresh fire” for the day.

I got downstairs at quarter to 7:00 just as Omega was walking up to the Hotel. We grabbed a rickshaw and headed to the train station. Omega was very worried about me, the last time he saw me he thought I was “sick to death”. He was relieved that I was feeling better, but also very concerned that I was just presenting my “better face”. We arrived at the station with plenty of time to purchase our tickets and head down to the platform…and there we waited. I was to preach at 9:00am a little more than an hour away from where we currently were currently waiting for the train…and it was not coming…we waited and waited…no train…it was getting fairly desperate when the train arrived. We knew that God was in complete control of the schedule. We both shot prayers out to the Father for peace.

God delivered for me immediately. I had peace that He was in control and I would either preach the sermon I prepared the night before, or I would not. It was His call and I was good with that. I pushed myself onto the crowded train and grabbed hold of an overhead handle. We had 50min +/- to our station. At the next stop (or so) a Muslim man boarded the train and squeezed into the space next to me. Some of you to don’t know what I look like…I have a red beard with no mustache…to this Muslim man it looked as if I too was Muslim! So we started talking. The few Arabic phrases I learned on my missions work in Oman warmed the man up to me immediately. Omega and I go to talk to him about Jesus (Esa) all the way to our station! AND…he got off at our station and asked for us to pray for him and with him that he would know the Love of Jesus that we speak of! So right there on the platform I laid hands on the man and prayed for the Holy Spirit to grab hold of him and regenerate his heart, give him the fresh insight he needed to give his live to the Lord…our tardy train was a divine appointment…and my work in Oman that I never though had any fruit, showed the first buds of promise right there on a slow local train from Bombay toward Washin…PRAISE GOD!

So, needless to say, I opened my first sermon with that story!

We arrived at the church building 30 minutes late but could hear the worship from the street level. As I mounted the steps I realized that the power was out in the building again! EEEK! I wrote the message on my laptop! I have an old laptop, 3-years old, and the original battery normally only holds a 15-25min charge. I was expecting to go for 30-40min. I shot up another prayer and put my confidence in the fact that I would leave my self open to the voice of the Spirit and not rely on my notes if need be…

I greeted the crowd with a traditional Indian way, “I greet you in the name of the our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Na Me Stay.” This greeting, as promised, endeared the crowd to me and got their undivided attention. The message went very smoothly, my computer shut down right at the invitation! EXACTLY when I was done with it! We had around 40 people come down for the alter call! Many wanted special prayer for problems, wanted to re-dedicate their lives, wanted prayer for family members, children, parents…we laid hands and prayed for people for over an hour. It was very moving time.

They had plans to have me have lunch with the pastor and his family, but I had noticed a bike shop down the road and wanted to purchase some bikes for the orphanage and some other toys. It was heavy on my heart to try to use what money I had left to equip the orphanage with adequate playground equipment to assure the kids would all be able to play and be kept busy. They really lost everything but their lives in the flood last year. So they agreed to take me, and after some considerable haggling, we were able to purchase two large tandem tricycles and a carom board set. You just need to take a look at the pictures for yourself to see if they hit the spot! So I spent two hours with the orphans playing and sitting with them before heading over to the pastor’s house for a quick, late lunch.

The meal was quick and good. The pastor is the editor of Promise Magazine, a twice-monthly Christian magazine that is circulated all over India. He asked me to commit to writing for Promise for one year, supplying him 24 articles! So I jumped at the opportunity! He said that if we want opportunities to minister in India, Promise would make the ministry a “household name” and could open many doors…Afterwards, four of us, the Pastor, the Orphanage director and my translator all headed out for Washin. Washin is a peaceful and beautiful town an hour north of the orphanages. There were some really cool homes there. Big beautiful and clean homes, next to 100-year old mud and thatch huts. The town had a very cool vibe. The church there meets in a home that has a large meeting/living room.

I met the family who would be our host and they had some younger kids (8 year old boy and a 14 year old girl) who wanted to know about my family. So I had some videos on my computer that I had forgotten about and showed off my kids and wife. All the videos had my music as the background and the kids enjoyed it…so I played a bunch of different songs for them and we had a good time talking about music and what I do in America.

The service started with around 25 people there. We worshiped (congula, harmonium, tambourine, and triple drums) and as the singing went on, the room quickly filled to capacity+. For the first time this trip, Omega got up to introduce me. He gave a 15 min introduction! I have no idea what he really said, but he told me later he was just telling them about the ministry we are doing and encouraging them to pray for me every day until I come back.

The sermon went well. I had people there read the scriptures for me instead of the translator doing all the work. That seemed to work well to get them involved…I almost wanted to hold a “sword drill”! After the sermon we had an invitation and all but two people stood up and asked for special prayer. I prayed individually for them one at a time, praying whatever came to my heart as I laid hands on them. It was a great time of leaning on the Lord for direction and feeling people release things to Him. When the prayer was done, I brought a woman up front who has cancer and asked that the elders of the church join me in laying hands on her and praying for God’s will in her life. They wanted me to pray for healing, but I felt it was very important to pray for God’s will…

It was a very good evening, perfect for a last night in India!

We road the train back to Bombay…arrived around 9:00pm and headed over to Diwakar’s for dinner. I met up with Ken and Sean there and heard about their days. Got to talk with Stuti and Enshala (Diwakar’s wife) for a while.

We walked back to the Hotel promising to be ready for them to collected us at 8:30pm the next day…

posted by Chainsaw Weasel @ 9:23 AM