EOE Missions

Mumbai Project Day Five (Tuesday 29th)

Our plan for the day was to go minister at the day school in the Slum District of Mumbai and speak at a church that evening, giving testimonies and a sermon. We made it over to the Wankhede house early for breakfast, which was a wonderful spicy scrambled egg dish. As we were getting ready it appeared that we were going to have some difficulty with our Jeep. So after a quick diagnosis, we pulled the battery…if you have a warranty for an item in India, they come to you to “fix” it, which in this case means coming over to tell you to bring it to the shop for a replacement…

Long story short…we ended taking “Rickshaws” which are large three wheeled scooters…well Ken Morris, Omega and I took the Rics…Sean got to ride on the back of a motorcycle! You could not wipe the smile off his face to save you life…

We arrived at the Slums and to our surprise; they looked very different from what we expected. They were just a little lower than the normal city living conditions we had observed so far…they had running water, some electricity and I even spotted a 18” satellite dish wired to a bamboo stake poking out from a rusted tin roof. The major difference was the narrowness of the streets, just enough room to walk two abreast, and the diminutive size of the buildings. Even many of the doorways were smaller than normal…the homes looked to be make of recycled building materials…but the same warm smiles greeted us…the same smells of curry and saffron or cardamom and chili wafted out through the open glassless windows…

After a brief walk down a maze of narrow streets we arrived at the day school run by the Church of the Nazarene in Mumbai. Diwakar had the students sit in neat rows and recite from memory the 100 Psalm in (Merahti) and the Lords Prayer…we then got to meet the kids and “help” while they were served lunch. They all sat quietly and patiently waited for what could be their only “square” meal today…a small serving of dhal and rice. These children are of the lowest casts and have the least chance for acquiring the tools for success: access to the Gospel and reading, writing and mathematics skills. Access to all four is provided to 45 students through the day school program there…another major benefit is that the kids are kept out of the clutches of those who would abuse both physically and mentally as well as out of the hands of those who would put them to work as a rag picker or street hustler. (The average wage for a child under 14 is 20 Rupees per day…about $0.50…enough to make sending them to work an attractive alternative to many parents)

Diwakar is trying to raise the $7000.00 US needed to add a second floor to the school. This addition would allow them to minister to an additional 45 children (pre-K to 1 grade aged). We did the stereotypical Western Missionary activity…passing candy out to the kids…it was wonderful! I wish we had brought some toys and some crayons and some Bible story coloring books! I would love to equip each kid with a small backpack and the tools needed for learning…

We were introduced to “Kari” who is an orphan living in the slums with other “relatives” she is 11 years old, beautiful as any child on earth and HIV positive. Both her parents died of the AIDs virus since her birth. She looks wonderful and healthy, they are making sure to meet her nutritional needs, but that is all they can do for her…PRAY for HER! She needs a loving home that can meet her special needs…

We walked down another few hundred meters to the Tailoring School run by the church here. They train young women without a trade or salable skill how to mend and make clothes so they can start a small cottage business in their own homes. The program not only trains them, but will “loan” them the money to buy a sowing machine! The student pays back the loan from her proceeds over time. The church also runs an emergency fund, which is really a cookie jar bank for the local women who do not have access to a real bank, but need the discipline and security of knowing that they are saving for their future and for their children’s needs…wonderful system that is rescuing people from the poverty and injustice that has trapped families in India for 40 generations.

On our way back to our waiting ric’s, we stopped to meet a young mother who the church had helped buy a spice-grinding machine for. She is running her own business from her one-room hut…and she has already paid back the fund! She was so proud to show us her machine! I felt such overwhelming guilt and selfishness at how shallow I am and how much I have that goes to no kingdom good…Pray for this young lady, she is not a believer yet, but all this unconditional reaching out to her has exposed her to the truth of the Gospel! PRAY for the LADY WITH THE SPICE GRINDER!

We headed back to the church to prepare for the evening services. We were going to have a guest church with the regular church to hear our testimonies and received encouragement from us. Pastor Ken had a word ready and you could sense, from the headaches, sicknesses, tiered bones…that this was going to be a pivotal night.

The music was very good tonight! We had a good triple drum player and someone who knew how to play a tambourine! Normally the tambourine is just a gangly racket to my ears, but this brother new how to keep time and added to the music tremendously. Stuti played some guitar and it was very worshipful…even if I could not understand the words, worshiping in Spirit and Truth was awesome for the whole team.

Pastor asked for me to start, and I felt inclined to open with prayer, prayer for the people in the room, that they would not be slaves to sin any longer, but would accept the free gift of salvation from their loving God. I was asked by Omega to give my testimony again that evening because he had brought 5 persons who where involved in spiritism and occultism. Since the first night I testified about my sister’s death and my mother’s involvement with the occult, I have had a whole new perspective on how God called me. This evening I could sense that the people gathered where very interested. At the end of my testimony I gave a “pre-alter call” not even knowing what Ken had planned.

Ken then got up to give a full sermon. His careful and measured style is just perfect for use with an interpreter and Pastor Ken did a wonderful Gospel presentation…our two presentations tied together so perfectly! I was just amazed at how God works…

At the end of the sermon the final alter-call was made, and at first no one went forward, then Sean go up and just felt like he should be up there praying…then another…then another…then before I could raise my head from prayer over a dozen people where at the alter praying and asking for prayer. A young woman “Jodi” later gave her testimony and did a full confession of her sin, of her feelings of shame, guilt and pain at how she had failed God and failed herself…tears of repentance just flowed down her cheeks in rivers, it was such a wonderful sight to see the burden of her sin lifting from her physically!

When the service was over I grabbed Jodi by the arm and lead her to Stuti and we prayed with her, that spoke truth into her heart that the Lord had forgiven her, we addressed her confession that she is not worthy and is not good enough by praying that she will be able to stop trying to earn God’s love and forgiveness and rely upon the Grace of a gracious and merciful God to sustain her. We spoke the truth that she would be forever held captive to the imaginary bonds of guilt and shame until she let go and received the forgiveness that had already been extended…You could feel the weight lift off her as we prayed, the sobbing changed and life seemed to actually flow into her eyes! It was an amazing experience to see this hurt and damaged young lady being restored!

We ate dinner with the Pastor’s family (he cancelled out plans to take them out to eat…again!) and then headed back to the hotel...set the alarm clock for 4:30am wakeup call and hit the sack…

posted by Chainsaw Weasel @ 9:19 AM