"A whole week in one post?!.. How did she do it?"

Did you know: children of all ages love to act out Bible stories?

We have found this to be our most successful method for teaching Sunday School to a group of children ranging in age from 6 to 16 years old.

This week’s story: Jesus calling the first disciples – Mark 1:16-20

Bethany and I have been sharing everything in common (Acts 2:44) since we arrived – clothes, jewelry, food, thoughts, sleeping quarters, Bible studies, intimidating moments, cultural “ahs,” learning Telugu, looking foolish, and, this week, being sick. Praise the Lord, we made it 2.5 months (yes, this is the end of the 10^th week) on the mission field without actually being sick. For those of you who want the gory details: I spent most of Sunday afternoon and evening, Monday, and Tuesday in bed feeling very nauseous, running a slight fever, and being generally uncomfortable. I was feeling significantly better by Tuesday evening, so Bethany felt the need to take for me Wednesday by trying to faint as we walked to the weekly church fellowship gathering nearby. She spent the rest of the night and most of Thursday running a fever and arguing with her intestines. I am pleased to report that as of right now (part way through Friday afternoon), we are both doing very well, our bodies are regaining any lacking strength quickly, and we are praising the Lord for His faithfulness while we were dealing with changing climate or strange food or whatever caused this short interval of sickness.

While my bosom friend was lazing about in bed, I had to tromp around to the far reaches of the earth by myself! (Ok, we didn’t go that far, Pastor David was with me all the time, and I was also accompanied at times by one of the evangelists and his wife and Havilash and Nathan.) Here is the story of my adventures:

Wednesday night after the Cottage Prayer meeting, I checked on Bethany to make sure she had everything she needed and then piled into the jeep with David and Joshua (one of the evangelists) and his wife and we drove about 15 miles to one of the villages where HBA has planted a church. There we joined a Fasting Prayer Meeting already in progress. These meetings, where the believers gather in the evenings for singing, prayer, and teaching, some fast for a meal or day before hand, some do not, are fairly common in India. Because of the distance and the normally scheduled weekly gathering in Nellore, we were only able to be there for the end of the meeting, but it was well worth the trip. One of the highlights of this trip for me so far has been to meet so many of my dear Indian brothers and sisters. Though there is a language barrier and I am unable to communicate with most of them directly, it is a great joy to worship our Almighty God together and know that one day we will be able to speak and share the great things that the Lord has done in our lives! The overwhelming joy on the faces of these men and woman as they gave up not only food but also so sleep, the meeting when until about 12:30, filled my own heart with great joy. It was my great delight to be asked to sing in Telugu (something I have done many times now, but never without Bethany-EEK!), encourage them to know Jesus Christ – not only His name, but who He is – from John 16:23-27, and to pray for many of them. It was a wonderful and encouraging night, but I was very glad to go to bed when we arrived back at the church at 1:30am on Thursday.

The Fasting Prayer Meeting

The busyness of Thursday continued for me soon after I got up. On March 24^th the Baptist church here in Nellore celebrates a Missions Day. The Day commemorates the great work which has been done internationally, and focuses particularly on missionaries who have spent their lives working in India. I (as a missionary) was invited to sing a missionary song (meaning one in Telugu) and to share the story of how I ended up here in India, both of which I did heartily. In addition to my contributions to the program (which only lasted about 10 minutes), there was group singing, other special music, an opportunity to share about a missionary who the attendees knew of and light candle for them, and David brought a message.

After a few hours of rest, I was off again – this time to a “house opening party” (David’s words) with David, Havilash, and Nathan. In the States, we would call this a house warming, but the idea is a little different here. First of all, the family hasn’t moved into their new home yet, which is a good thing, because there definitely was not room for furniture with all the people! Second, there was a huge meal served – which was very delicious. Third (and most impressive), the new house owners where completely draped in flowers. I don’t know if this was a family thing (because I was told the flowers were gifts from the wife’s brothers) or an Indian culture thing, but it is very remarkable! Check this out:

Within ten minutes of arriving, I was adopted by a slew of girls. (Ok, there were only 6… or 8… or 10, I’m not actually sure how many there were.) I had a great deal of fun with them – telling them about my family, what I’ve been doing since I’ve been here, where I live in the United States, and such other information. Some of them didn’t speak English very well, so there were several times when I had no idea what information they wanted. One of the girls asked me at least 10 times if she could come home with me to America, she was only about 13, so I kept telling her she would miss her family. They also told me all about the food I was eating and made sure I had everything I wanted. While it was a little overwhelming, I really enjoyed meeting them and learning a little about their families.

Here ends the record of my adventures for this week.

Needless to say, after all the excitement in the last day and a half, I was very thankful that today has been pretty relax before we dive into another whirlwind next week (check the post about the schedule if you need clarification-click here).

Grace and Peace to you all!