With HIM in India - Chelsea and Bethany

We're coming back!!!

2011-06-20T23:21:00.000-07:00

We leave for the airport in 6 hours. We will be back in the USA on Wednesday at 6pm.

Sunday, June 26th, we will be sharing at Graham Covenant Church and having "snacks and stories" after church for 30 or 45 min. If you want to come, we would love to see you!!! The morning service starts at 10:30am and snacks and stories will be 12pm.

Bhongir and Hyderabad - our roaming continues

2011-06-03T23:38:00.000-07:00

This week we have been having a wonderful time visiting Pastor David's sisters, Joy and Grace, and there families. Monday night, we left Nellore by reserved bus (meaning that you purchase your tickets ahead of time and they don't sell more tickets than there are seats) accompanied by Chandana, Rohith, Rinish, and Havilash (David's niece, two nephews, and oldest son). We arrived in Bhongir Tuesday morning at the home of Joy and her three sons, Ranjith (23), Abini (19), and Rokshith (14). After getting cleaned up and eating a delicious tiffin (a.k.a. breakfast) of dosa (very flat pancakes) and groundnut chetni (think spicy peanut butter), we headed out for adventure.

We climbed to the top of a rather high hill to explore the ruins of a fort. The fort was occupied about 1100 years ago by a powerful queen who ruled the town and the surrounding area. The "getting there" was definitely half the fun as we paused frequently on the way up to talk, take pictures, eat snacks, and be silly. We had a great time exploring the barracks, playing on old cannons, and poking our noses into forgotten corners.

Once we got back to Joy's house, we ate lunch and then spread out throughout the house for naps (everyone was very tired after traveling through the night and climbing the hill). That evening we had a great time meeting several of Joy's friends, singing in Telugu and English, and even doing a couple of "action songs." As you can imagine, we were very ready to sleep when bed time came around despite the naps of the afternoon.

Wednesday began early for Bethany and I because we were going out with Joy "canvassing." Joy is the headmistress of a school, K-10th, and since the Indian school year will be beginning in the next two weeks or so, she was taking several of the teachers out to the villages to recruit more students. We went along and provided much entertainment for the villagers that morning. We saw tribal women in their traditional dress and they even did a traditional rain dance for us. We also sang for them and Bethany taught them the actions for the chorus of "Our God is an Awesome God." When we got back to Joy's about mid-morning, Bethany and I needed a second nap, so after breakfast we did just that. We had planned to go swimming that afternoon, but apparently the tribal women's rain dance worked, because the temperature dropped about 4 pm and it poured for a good half hour. Since Bethany and I haven't seen much rain since arriving in India, we were really excited, especially Bethany. We initiated a "rain party," which consisted of everyone going up on the roof and dancing and playing in the rain. Let's just say that we will be remembered in that neighborhood for a long time. That evening, we went over to the home of Joy's best friend, Dr. Sandhya. We had a wonderful dinner and a fabulous time of fellowship. Dr. Sandhya also insisted on presenting us with saris in keeping with Indian tradition. Bethany chose a brown and gold one with green flowers and I chose one that is different shades of blue with sun flowers.

Thursday morning, we packed up our things and went to look at Joy's school. After touring the school, we all loaded on another bus for the short trip to Hyderabad - Joy's three sons also came with us to visit their aunt and cousins. Thursday evening was spent hanging out with Grace and her family, Emmanuel (her husband), Vineela, and Hashita (her two daughters).

Friday, we rented a car for the day and went sightseeing with the whole family. Grace took us to see a very famous park where there is a 40-foot statue of Buddha in middle of the lake. As we rode out to the statue, it started to rain again! Apparently, the rainy season is starting right on schedule. Thankfully, our clothes dry really quickly here. Afterward, we went to another historical site in the heart of Old Hyderabad, Charminar. It was built in 1591 as a memorial to all the people who had died of the plague in the city.

This afternoon (Saturday), we are going our shopping with Grace to some of the well known centers, where we have been told we will be able to find fun Indian gifts for our families very inexpensively. And tonight, we are heading back to Hyerabad.

It's been a long week, but we've had so much fun!!! As we start to wrap up our time in India, please pray that we will continue to be a blessing to those around us and that the Lord will use the remaining time to the fullest in our lives and the lives of all we meet.

A weekend of events - once again written by Bethany and posted by Chelsea

2011-05-30T07:54:00.000-07:00

(I was unable to upload the pictures that go with this blog because of difficulties with the internet. I will try to add them later.)

Good evening everyone!

We’re about an hour out from departure time. This time our toes are pointed west…to Hyderabad! We’ll be spending five days with various members of the extended family: 2 days with Pastor David’s oldest sister, Joy; and 3 days with older sister #2, Grace. We’ll be returning to Nellore early on Sunday morning after a night journey by bus. Then, next Monday morning we’ll be departing again for three days in a tribal village.

These past few days have been a constant parade of programs. After returning from Hukumpet village early Thursday morning (26^th at 2am), we cleaned ourselves up, unpacked, and then prepared to attend the 5-year memorial service of our house owner’s husband (this means he died 5 years ago on May 26^th). We are renting half of Premeela-Auntie’s house and she has expressed multiple times that she is going to be very, very sad when we leave because we have become much more than just renters to her. Premeela-Autie spends most of her time alone. Her two daughters are married and have 3 little girls between them, Janu-6, Nemo-5, Smiley-2. Auntie’s son, Havilash, lives with her but is usually only there during the late evenings and nighttime.

The memorial service was a reasonable size (50 friends and relatives attended), and was held on top of the house. Indian homes are built with flat cement roofs that have 2.5 foot walls all around. This provides optimal space for hanging laundry, storing odds and ends, sleeping, and (in this case) hosting gatherings. We were honored to attend this service to remember our dear Auntie’s husband.

Friday morning, we attended a house dedication for Pastor David’s uncle (called Anna-Uncle by the children and us). It is traditional for all the husband’s family and close friends to come and hold a dedication ceremony in the new house. All of the man’s sisters are expected to bring gifts of clothing for the husband and wife. Since we know many of these relatives, we felt very comfortable among this wonderful crowd of people. We were also given opportunity to sing during the ceremony and to take pictures of and with various family members. We are definitely going to miss these wonderful people when it’s our time to leave India.

Saturday evening, we attended another memorial service for the grandma of one of our church members. For this memorial, there was no space on the roof so the meeting was held in the small street and any traffic was routed down other passages.

Come Sunday morning, we were drawing on paper crosses with small group of Sunday School children who then got to learn about the value of Christ, His death, and resurrection from the apostle Paul’s passionate claims. Please pray for these children. We are merely planting seeds, but we can see several of the children (Muslim, Hindu, and Christian alike) being deeply affected by all that they’ve been hearing and talking about over the past several months.

During church, Chelsea was given the great and marvelous task of encouraging and exhorting the believers of the church. She spoke about the parable of the lost son from Luke 15, using the older son from verse 25 as an example. I wish I had recorded this message. Chelsea was able to accurately speak to our misunderstanding of God and the way He chooses to bless “undeserving” people. She then touched on forgiveness and the power of Christ in us which enables us to live with a character that is unoffendable.

-------------------------------------------------------

Seems like every day is a new adventure. I’m sure we will have hours of additional stories to tell when we return home.

Our love to you all!

Written by Bethany, Posted by Chelsea - we're a great team

2011-05-28T10:19:00.000-07:00

(As the Deer) “I love you more than gold or silver only You can satisfy; You alone are the real joy giver and the apple of my eye.”

Christ alone is the real source of joy; and joy is the oil of the Lord, to keep us going. Like a car is able to run smoothly over many bumps if it has a clean supply of oil, so we also can travel long over bumpy roads of life with a continually fresh stream of joy.

Both literally and spiritually, Chelsea and I have been traveling a lot this month. We have seen and experienced such diverse things over the past few weeks that our physical and emotional selves should be entirely worn out. But the Joy of the Lord—which often comes without reason, or comes from identifying the Lord’s purposeful hand in the situations—has continued to energize us so that we are thriving (gaining more life). Certainly, this is the best way to go through life: alive and eager for more, not downtrodden and always looking to avoid.

Spiritually we have also been run hard. Our Lord is a strict and dedicated coach, set on us achieving the gold medal in the heavenly race. “Lord, I’m tired; must I go another lap?” “Yes; and try to beat your time on this one.” And somehow we do; with Him cheering us on. Looking back we see how we are stronger, our responses are faster, our physical and emotional actions are being trained to react accurately and quickly to the spiritual situations.

___________________________________

Sunday night through Thursday morning of this past week was another grand adventure, this time heading far north to the top of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Just below the southern border of the state of Orissa, there is a village called Hukumpet, a small hill station where people of a different tribe have lived for centuries (not the Yanadis tribal groups which HBA is concentrating on).

We reached the “steel city” of Visakhapatnam (nicknamed “Wysak” and known for its steel production) early Monday morning (5:30am), quickly changed our clothes in a very, very crowded lady’s room (during which we were again reminded how public all areas of life are here), and headed off for a morning of official tourism. On an overcrowded train that took us through mountains and tunnels, we met a very friendly Indian family that joined our party for the touring. Arriving in the beautiful (but still hot) Aruku Valley station, we went for lunch at a tribal family’s restaurant.

Some of the most distinguishing features of these tribal people are their ornaments, their style of clothing, and their facial structures. Women wear two to three nose rings (both sides of the nose and the middle) and snake-like earrings on the side of the ear. These women also tie their saris in a different style with the older generation often not wearing anything underneath the cloth. The men are easiest to identify by their high cheek bones and by the upper/lower jaw bones that are slightly larger than the rest of their facial proportions.

Watching these people interact with the bustling, “modern” society around them I saw very sharply their struggle of being in this new, invasive culture, without being allowed to be a part of it. People are fascinated by their ways of life; but only in museums with live models. Having to share your bus seat or conduct business with them is less favorable. However, the church in the tribal hill station of Hukumpet does not treat these people with contempt. There we saw these people being accepted, loved, and pulled into the truth of Christ through the hands of an elderly couple who moved to the area and have ministered there for years.

Back in Aruku Valley (with our train-friends), we got to tour Borra Cave, a large and famous cavern that was nice and cool inside. On the way out, a flock of monkeys (is that the correct term?) came down to greet us. One even attempted to climb on Chelsea’s back and watch as she took pictures of the other monkeys. A quick stop in the tribal museum, the souvenir shop, and a long wait at the bus station, and we were on our way to the point of destination: Hukumpet.

--------------------------------------------------

The week-long conference we were joining was put on by the same group of pastors and friends who held a conference in February in another village that we had participated in. This made the trip very fun, because we were seeing a lot of old friends.

There were many wonderful speakers there, so Chelsea and I were not needed to fill the program. Our participation was primarily: singing, recording and taking pictures, and entertaining the children. On Tuesday morning we made friends with a bunch of the little village children who then sat with us during the late morning service and made quite a ruckus. We attempted to keep them quiet and out of trouble by supplying pens and paper and utilizing the universal pointer-finger-over-the-lips gesture. They were a lot of fun overall and will probably never forget the day the white girls played with them.

Tuesday morning we had explored the village by ourselves. So on Tuesday afternoon, two of the boys—Hyde and Vijay—took us a kilometer out of town to the river. We happily splashed our feet in the water, leapt across the boulders, admired the wild hills surrounding, and generally made quite a spectacle of ourselves. On the way back we stopped at a house and had our first papaya ever…and it was fresh off the tree in the yard! While eating, we watched the neighbors goats scale the rock face of the hill behind the house.

That evening, after a fiery sermon from Pastor David Dayasagar on fellowship and unity within the church, the five Sunday School girls performed a beautiful traditional-style dance wearing miniature saris, jewels, flowers, and makeup. We recorded the dance, so you can watch it at home if you’re interested!

After a late, but refreshing night of sleeping in the cool mountain air, we prepared to say goodbye to all our new and old friends. Looking back, I’m sure the impression we left with these dear people was not one of dignified American ladies. The whole trip, from the train rides to the touring, and from singing and socializing to playing and roaming, we were like small children set loose on a beach for the first time.

There was a joy and excitement about everything spilling over us. We were quick to laugh and smile; took everything lightly as though the future was not ours to consider. There was no bitterness or anger within us towards anyone or anything; there was no worry or fear within us towards our futures or surrounding situations. All these things are in the hands of our great Lord. “Though you have not seen [Christ], you love Him; and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls” (1 Peter 1:8-9).

--------------------------------------------------

The train ride home was quite an adventure. This is traveling season and the train had about twice as many people as seats. For example: at one point I was seated in an 8-person area and there were 13 men all crowded in the bunks above and the benches next to me. Fortunately, none of them seemed able to speak English and I was spared from the usual Indian interrogations. At another point during the day-trip part of the journey, Chelsea (and later I) were given space among the extra luggage stored on the top bunk where we happily folded ourselves up, ate a snack, and dozed.

At night the consideration for others grew as strangers squeezed into bunks together to make room for numerous displaced passengers (incl. us) to sit or lay. Throughout the night we were counting, and at one point we reached 19 people (incl. us) sleeping or sitting in our single 8-person area. Looking down the aisle, it looked like seaweed washed up on a rocky shore (only the rocks were luggage and benches, and the seaweed was people sleeping). We saw a family of six members (mom, dad, 4 little boys) sleeping in one cot. This was accomplished by the dad and two boys laying on top of the 2-ft-wide cot, the two littlest boys sleeping under the cot with their feet sticking out, and the mom sitting on the ground with her head on the corner of the cot.

Our final resting place for the journey was on the edge of a cot where an elderly woman was sleeping. Chelsea, me, and the woman’s grown-up son formed the fourth wall of her bed chamber; a prime spot for us to sit and observe the comings and goings of the various passengers. The young man could speak basic English and helped us and other passengers negotiate room for our luggage and limbs.

At one point I turned to him and said, “Thank you for letting us sit here.” I knew that if we were not there, he would probably lay down on the edge of the cot to rest. “Oh! No problem; no problem,” he said and looked away again. As an afterthought, he glanced back at me and just stated “I’m Indian.”

“I’m Indian”

What a lot that one phrase communicates. He was telling about his culture and upbringing. I’m Indian: I grew up in crowded places; my comfort wants can’t/won’t always be met and I’m okay with that. I’m Indian: I’ve been taught to respect, value, and serve those whom I view as equal or better than me. I’m Indian: I’m exposed to so much need that either I am hard and cold to all needs or meeting needs is second-nature to me.

If I turned to someone and simply stated, “I’m American,” what would that communicate to them? What if I looked at someone and said, “I’m Christian”? …………………

In many ways, a lot of Indians can appear very blunt, very pushy, or very rude; but it is situations like these where we see the brotherly bond between strangers come out and the generosity, servanthood, and concern shine through.

Traveling, traveling, traveling...

2011-05-21T09:51:00.000-07:00

I know that we're a bit behind in our blog, so let me catch you up in one great big swoop. Ready? Here we go...

Last week, May 14^th – 18^th, we were in about 3 hours south in Chennai visiting a friend from the Honor Academy in Texas. We took the train down by ourselves (so much fun!) and spent a wonderful 4.5 days hanging out, cooking and eating yummy food, talking about the great things the Lord is doing in our lives and the world, and doing a little bit of shopping. It was such a blessing for us spend this time with friends, new and old, and hear about the things the Lord is doing.

We started out bright and early on Saturday morning and narrowly averted getting on the wrong train (Pastor David rescued us in the nick of time). Lesson learned: always check the sign placards on the side of Indian trains to make sure they are going to the place the announcer says they’re going. After safely landing in our seats, the Indian countryside flew by as we chatted with our seat buddy, a lively young Hindu girl who told us about her family, school, Chennai, and many new things about Indian culture.

Three hours later, we arrived in Chennai. We met up with our hosts for the weekend, Melissa, our HA friend, and her fiancé, Daniel. After lunch at Subway, a very special treat and a good deal (75 rupees for the sub-of-the-day), we headed back to Melissa’s apartment and spent the rest of the day resting and hanging out.

Here we are at church on Sunday morning…

Highlights from Our Trip

Eating foods we haven’t had in four and half months

Getting to try new modes of transportation by ourselves

We arrived back in Nellore on Wednesday (May 18^th), a little tired from the travel, but safe and sound. (We got on the right train, no problem.) As we chatting with David and his family, telling them about some of the things we’d done while we were away, we found out that we had been invited to attend a the betrothal ceremony of a distant relation of David’s the next day.

So Thursday morning found us back at the train station, this time with David’s whole family plus his sister and two of her children. Here’s everyone but David (he’s taking the picture):

We had a great time on the train with the family. We rode in the sleeper car because during the day it’s not as crowded. The boys enjoyed climbing up and down and all over, and I (Chelsea) got to take a nap on one of the top bunks. Yes! We were hot, tired, and hungry by the time we were all hot, tired, and hungry by the time we got to the end of the trip. But that was soon taken care of, as David’s extended family gave us a delicious lunch and then sent us to rest in a nearby hotel with an A/C unit. It was a cool afternoon for us as we napped and waited for the evening festivities to begin.

We told you about a betrothal ceremony we attended in February. This one was very similar. Family and friends gathered to wish the young people well as they parents formally announced the arrangement of their marriage. I wish so much that you had been able to witness this event and others like it for yourselves. I feel like I am running out of words to tell you about everything we have seen and learned. I can’t wait to be able to show all of the pictures and tell you these stories in more detail! For now, here are a few pictures so you can have an idea of the young man and woman we had the privilege of meeting.

Friday morning we rode the bus back to Nellore and after a short rest, we headed back out. This time we were going to a village about 2 hours away, where five of the HBA evangelists and 30 or so of the tribal believers had gathered for an all night Thanksgiving Meeting. These meetings are often held to celebrate the good things God had done in the lives of our brothers and sisters here. This one was specifically for Remesh’s young son, who God had healed of a serious infection in his finger a few weeks ago. We were also privileged to here testimonies from many others of how God has proved himself faithful to them. What a delightful time! We were asked to share the word as well. Starting in John 15, I talked about abiding in Jesus Christ and what that means and how we can abide in Him by loving others. Then Bethany shared about our need to forgive others and how unforgiveness divides us from God. We left the meeting early, about 11pm, because we had been traveling for so many days in a row, but the others remained until morning, worshipping and praising God for the good things He has done.

Just in case you’re wondering: there are 20+ hours of traveling – by bus, train, auto, and jeep – represented in this post.

Please pray for us in the coming week. We are leaving again tomorrow for a village where there is a conference being held. Ask the Lord to be with us as we travel and to prepare our hearts, the hearts of all the speakers, and the hearts of all who will hear for what He wants to do.

Grace and peace to you all!

This was originally written on Thursday, 5/12, but due to internet problems and busy schedules I'm posting it today...

2011-05-16T23:05:00.000-07:00

First off, our deepest apologies for not updating the blog in the last week. Let me assure you, we are healthy, happy in the Lord, and having a wonderful time. If you had been here you would not blame us at all, because you would have seen how busy we’ve been (we haven’t done laundry in almost a week either – yeek!) It would take hours to tell you all about everything we have seen and heard in the last week and everything we have thought about it, so instead of trying to cram all that into one post, I’m going to share some pictures with you and give you the highlights and once again you will just have to wait until we get home to pepper us with questions :)

Wrapping up where I left off in our last post, here is a picture from the last day of VBS…

You will notice three shining, white faces in this picture instead of only two. Allen Graham, a long time supporter and friend to HBA and Pastor David’s family was with us visiting from April 19 – May 9. We had a great time visiting with him, hearing stories about his life and previous visits to India, and carrying out ministry with him. Much of Allen’s life has been dedicated to children’s ministry, so he especially enjoys being in India during VBS. Throughout the week, we averaged about 50 children each day, with the most kids coming on the last day – about 65. A large number of children came from Muslim families – maybe a third of those attending. What a privilege it was to be able to get to know them a little and teach them about the Lord Jesus Christ. David said most of them have never been to church at all before. Several of them also showed up for Sunday School this week. Please pray with us that the seeds that were planted in their hearts will land on good soil and bear much fruit!

Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday last week we also got to travel to villages where HBA is working with David and Allen. Wednesday and Friday were a wonderful time of fellowship with the believers in the village and with each other; both nights we had a wonderful time praying on the drive back to Nellore, asking the Lord to work in the lives of those we had met and prayed for and praising Him for His goodness. The working going on in village we visited on Wednesday is very new and there are still only a handful of believers. We shared a very simple Gospel message with them, inviting them to know the one true God. The evangelist in that village, Simon, drives an auto to make the money his family needs in addition to HBA’s support. (At this time, HBA is only able to support the evangelists for about a sixth of their basic needs, so all the evangelists have jobs where they work in addition to being in fulltime ministry.) Simon makes it a point to share the Gospel with every person who gets into his auto. Please pray that the Lord will give Him a great harvest as he tells all who come across his path of the love of Jesus Christ.

Thursday’s visit was scheduled to be along the same lines as Wednesday and Friday, but the Lord had different plans. Early in the afternoon, David received a called that one of the church members in the village we were planning to go to that evening had died. Because Indian tradition says that no one in the family or village may eat until after a dead body is buried, the bodies are always buried promptly. After David had purchased a simple woven basket as a coffin, we left for the burial service. It was much like many other funerals or memorial services I have attending, people paid their last respects to the body and Allan shared a short message about the hope that we have in Jesus Christ and the importance of how we live and die. Afterward, the body was carried out into the rice fields, where a deep hole had been dug at the edge of the field. We prayed and she was buried. What stood out to me were not the slight differences of culture and tradition, but the great similarity we share with all people. I look forward to the day when I will meet this sister and be able to hear her story and praise God with her.

All of life has seasons, and Wednesday and Thursday this week we were able to witness a very different season in the life of two Indian couples. Bethany and I had the great honor of attending two Indian weddings this week. The first wedding was early Wednesday evening, and was a very small simple wedding in between two poor young people.

There are so many Indian wedding traditions that I can’t possibly tell you about all of them, in the picture above I’ve highlighted a few. Marriage in India is not a only personal choice, sometimes it has little or nothing to do with the desires of the young people. In this case, this was a “love marriage,” one initiated by the couple, but it still must be officially blessed by the families (left). The wedding chain is worn by all married women in India. In this case, it is a thin yellow rope (yellow is the color for long life and health) with a small gold medallion on it. Even in the poorest families there is gold on the wedding chain; in weddings among the middle and upper classes, the rope is replaced after the wedding with a gold chain (see center picture). The picture on the right is of the family blessing the couple at the end of the wedding. After the spoken blessing, everyone threw rice that has been tossed in turmeric at the bride and groom symbolically blessing them with long life, health, and plenty.

Many of you will remember, in February, we attended a betrothal ceremony. Wednesday, after the wedding, we piled in to the jeep with the whole family and traveled to the festivities marking the night before the wedding. We saw many, many traditions played out we had only a vague knowledge of before. Our favorite one involves more turmeric… :) At the end of the night, the bride was seated on a sheet and in front of her were placed several dishes, in one of them is turmeric mixed with oil. The woman of the bride’s family and her close friends take a scoop of the turmeric and smear it on the bride’s face and hands (her sister even made her lift the hem of her sari and smeared it on her feet), then they sprinkle rise mixed with turmeric on her head, blessing the young woman with health and long life.

She looks so happy. We could tell that she felt very loved by all her family.

Because we’re Americans, we got to “bless” her as well. Our hands are still yellow :)

The wedding of Swarnalatha and Chakravarthi was today (Thursday). We are praying that the Lord allows them a wonderful life together serving Him!

That is a quick overview of the last week – I hope you enjoyed it :) On Saturday, we are taking the train to Chennai to visit a friend for a few days. We will be back in Nellore the middle of next week. Please pray for safe travels and opportunities to love those around us even while we are resting.

Grace and peace to you!

A Glimpse of VBS

2011-05-03T07:53:00.000-07:00

Two days of Vacation Bible School (VBS) down... three to go... and we're having a wonderful time!!!

We've had about 50 kids the last two days. They mostly from our immediate neighborhood and are from different religious backgrounds, some Christian, some Muslim, some Hindu. Please pray for us and the other teachers and leaders and we try to reach out to all of them. Pray for energy for us and ears to hear and soft hearts to understand for the kids.

I wanted to give you a quick look at the schedule and what's happened so far... check it out...

VBS is every morning from 8am (or whenever people get here) to 11am (or whenever we're finished)... gotta love being on "Indian time."

We start with games and songs...

The children love "action songs"

Then the kids break up into their groups for the lesson

We have four groups, Beginner (ages 4-6, back left), Primary (ages 7-9, front left), Junoir (ages 10-12, back right), and Intermediate (ages 13-15, front right)

Finally, we wrap up - more singing, a quick review from each class about what they learned, and a thought for the day from one of the "international guests" (Allen on Monday, me (Chelsea) today), and we give the kids their snack and send them merrily on their way.

Then Bethany and I get to go back to the room and "crash"... at least for an hour or two before we're off and going on our next task, assignment, or outing... what a joyful, busy, blessed life we are leading here!

RUN FOR JESUS - Unity in action

2011-04-27T07:27:00.000-07:00

Unity; is that not the heart of what Christ prayed for right before He laid down His life (John 17)? How much effort have we put into praying for and seeking to build unity among the various branches of the body of Christ?

Unity is what hundreds of pastors in Nellore are fervently working to build. They have discovered what should be an obvious truth, but is so often missed in our micro-focused agendas: we can better represent Christ and advance the gospel when we work together than when we are split apart. As a unified front, we can 1) protect and strengthen one another, and 2) take the offensive rather than just the defensive position to bring the Kingdom of God to the earth.

Remember the movie Gladiator? I’ve only seen it once, so excuse any errors :)

In Gladiator there is a scene where the few dozen gladiators are in the arena with only their hand weapons, and facing an absolutely unfair opponent of charioteers with advanced weaponry. They realize that by fighting as individuals, in a matter of minutes they will all be cut down, destroyed, in bloody and lifeless heaps; all their strength will be for naught. So, in a desperate move of ingenuity, they circle up, use their shields for group protection, and are able to resist all the attacks of the previously overwhelming foe. But they don’t stop there. Next, with their unified shield in place, they begin to strike out strategically, taking down one enemy at a time until they gain possession of the enemies’ weapons and completely destroy all opposition in the arena.

What a picture for our own church bodies to consider.

In every possible area of our churches, let us seek to work in unity with the churches around us so that we can better see how we can help one another, and so that the communities around will see one church body, unified and powerful. Personally, rather than having people decide which amputated limb of the body of Christ they are going to identify with, I’d rather that people face the all-consuming decision of whether they will have life in the Body or death outside the Body, and then spend their lives learning how to be like Christ.

(Some of the Nellore Pastors after the Run; standing in unity, singing and praying)

In Nellore, pastors from multiple denominations have formed a governmentally recognized group called the United Pastors Fellowship of Nellore. These pastors are working together to protect one another from opposition in the Hindu and Muslim religious groups. They share resources and work together to host events or promote one another’s events in their churches. Every week, the leadership meets (of which our host, Pastor David Dayasagar, serves as secretary and a main catalyst in organizing and advancing the group’s agendas), and every month the fellowship as a whole gathers. This past week we took part in two united events put on by the fellowship: United Holy Communion on Maundy Thursday (see a previous post), and RUN FOR JESUS, an Easter-related celebratory jog to proclaim the good news of Christ’s resurrection to the city.

RUN FOR JESUS – Jai Ho! He Is Risen Indeed!

Organized by ARADANA TV, located in Hyderabad and a major broadcaster for the whole Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, there were runs taking place in cities and villages all over the western-central part of India. In the biggest cities, runs were as long as 10-Kilometers (just over 6 miles); our local run was not quite this long.

The runners/walkers/bikers/etc. gathered by 6am on Saturday, April 23^rd, to don their caps, signs, flags and banners. Chelsea was not feeling well that early in the morning so I, Bethany, went without my faithful companion. :( Our host, Pastor David, was the coordinator for the local Nellore run and so he and I, along with his son, Havilash, and niece and nephew, Chandana and Rohith, arrived with all the supplies (which also included a small, portable, microphone system).

Before going on much further, I must justify my lack of participation in the actual run (else I may suffer demeaning remarks from loving friends who would question if I’m getting fat and lazy here :). At 5:30am the temperature has usually dropped to a balmy 82-85 degrees Fahrenheit (on the computer weather forecaster, it usually says lows will be 75, but evidence is against that). By 8am the sun is already heating up the earth and air and will bring the high to a healthy 90-95 degrees by afternoon. Throw in some humidity and my body cannot handle a good jog even at peak strength unless I trained for a year.

(Taping the Run while riding on the back of Pastor Jerome's cycle)

But, my better justification is that they wanted two camera people to record the jogging parade; and between the equipment I’ve been blessed with, my all-American news anchor appearance that day, and space on the back of a friend’s motorcycle, I was able to perfectly fill that need. The TV station has requested that people mail in their recordings of their “Run For Jesus” celebrations for broadcasting over the next several weeks. I am glad that between the Downie Baptist Church member and me, we can send excellent footage of people in Nellore proclaiming Christ’s resurrection and the hope we have therein; a message which was proclaimed loudly to Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, and others (including Christians who needed encouraging).

Returning to our story: As I said earlier, our host, David, was the coordinator for the Nellore run. He did an excellent job leading the program, ensuring that all the churches and pastors were given microphone time to speak, shout, sing, or pray. Here’s David giving a stirring start-up message to the ready runners:

Christians of all ages participated in this run. Women wearing saris, children waving flags while they ran, men in suits or running gear, girls in Punjabis, old folks as well, people on bicycles, motorcycles, riding in autos or cars, wearing caps, waving flags, holding banners — —all singing and shouting as they jogged or rode down the crowded streets, between sellers carts and traveling vehicles. What a crazy, exuberant, celebration they were.

From now on, whenever I sing or read about the people of God dancing in the streets and praising the Lord at the return of Jesus, I will think of this sight. “And we will dance on the streets that are golden; the glorious Bride, and the Great Son of Man; from every tribe and tongue and nation we’ll join in the song of the Lamb!”

Here are a few more of the hundreds of pictures from the event:

Finally, concluding the celebration, everyone gathered in the courtyard of one of the churches for tea and to share their thoughts and experiences about the run. Yours Truly and the other faithful videotaper recorded these joyful testimonies. Here is part of the crowd looking at me as David thanks the two of us taking video:

I was also given a moment to wish the city of Nellore and all of Andhra Pradesh a “Happy Easter” and proclaim the joy that “Christ is risen indeed!”

“What a privilege from You, my Lord, that I am able to proclaim You publicly to large groups of people; please teach me to be faithful in proclaiming You daily and at every opportunity, whether it is big or small in my eyes—day in and day out, moment by moment, person to person.”

At the closing of the event, after everyone else had departed, the pastors gathered around for a time of praying, singing, and affirming their unity. In all of this, their goal is to give glory to the Lord and to successfully work as one Body, among themselves and among their congregations.

Praise the Lord for this example, and pray with us that this would be a lasting fellowship, holding together in spirit and truth long after all paperwork has deteriorated or been destroyed.

Until Next Time,

Andariki Vandenalu
(Thank you so much for listening/reading)

EASTER

2011-04-26T07:26:00.000-07:00

Christ is Risen! He is Risen indeed!

What joy it brings me to greet you in the tradition handed down for generations within the Church. Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, is indeed risen from the dead and alive, sitting at the right hand of Almighty God, interceding for us, His Bride-to-Be, and one day very soon He will come on the clouds of glory to judge both the living and the dead and to set up His eternal Kingdom. Oh the joy that is ours to know these great truths and to live our lives in light of them!!

****************

I pray the enthusiasm and joy that fills my heart at the thought of our Risen Lord never gets out of my system, but now that I’ve released the pressure for a moment… let me continue our tale about our Easter celebrations on the other side of the world.

We had originally planned to get up early Sunday morning and go up on the roof and hold our own sunrise service… however, after several late nights in a row, I (Chelsea) wasn’t ready to get up at 5:30am and Bethany graciously let me sleep. Instead, we slept until 7 or so, which is “sleeping in” for us.

Our pre-church Sunday morning routine has become pretty normal… get ready, spend time with Jesus and do any final preparations for whatever we are teaching that week (this week, only Sunday School), make tea and a quick snack for before Sunday School, and head over to the church in time to start about 9am. Today’s schedule was enlivened by the addition of one of our Sunday School girls, who came to bring us flowers for our hair, and stayed to examine our strange things and watch our odd way of preparing for the day.

Our Easter outfits (see below) were a great hit. We wore the traditional garb of young unmarried woman in India – half-saris. Girls are first allowed to wear a half-sari at a coming of age function when they turn 12 and they continue to be the “most appropriate” attire until the girls are married, or reach marriageable age. Technically, I think we’re both too old to be wearing them – being well past marriageable age by Indian standards – and since Bethany is engaged I don’t think she’s supposed to wear one, but we never had an opportunity to wear them when we were younger… so that’s our excuse, and we’re sticking to it.

One of the highlights of the Easter celebrations at Hebron Believer’s Assemblies is the baptism. This year, there was one young woman, Neelama (stress both the first and second syllable), who wished to be baptized. We don’t know her well, but she has started attending church here since we arrived. Sunday, she announced her faith in Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior to her family and the church body here.

Next, during the service, Allen Graham brought a wonderful Easter message from John 11, about the new life available to us through Jesus’ resurrection and the importance of our actions in life and death.

After church, we had a wonderful Easter meal with the family and enjoyed our first time of getting to sit down and talk with Allen. We look forward to many more opportunities to visit with him and here about his vast experience in life following the Lord, in ministry in the States, and in ministry in India.

While the adults and “big kids” were inside talking, Havilash, Nethan, Rohith, Rinish, and Jevon (David’s sons, nephews, and the neighbor boy) took advantage of the fact the baptismal was full of water and went swimming! We caught the little fish in action :)

All and all, it was a fun day with the family spent in celebrating the resurrection of our Lord and fellowshipping with each other.

The grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ rest in your hearts until you hear from us again.

Chelsea

*************************************************

Bethany says: Wait, there was at least one more piece of Sunday that was left out; and we have to say it! We learned some INDIAN DANCE MOVES and POSES!!! Still much to practice so don’t look for any grand performance when we get home. Here is our beautiful dance instructor, Chandana, whose mother—we have been informed—was a fabulous dancer in her prime:

(CHANDANA)

Tomorrow, watch for my story about gallivanting around the streets of Nellore on Saturday with a parade of Jesus-lovers. Truly a grand tale, worth waiting for!

Welcome back to the "New Adventures of Chelsea and Bethany"

2011-04-23T09:49:00.000-07:00

This week has been so full that if we were to tell everything, it would take 10 pages, I’m sure; not including any of our personal thoughts about everything we’ve experienced. Thus, I have made an executive decision to only tell you small portions of a few of the significant events and leave you wondering in suspense about the rest until we return home (this is to ensure that you will invite us over for dinner to hear stories!)

Among others, this week marks the arrival of Mr. Allan Graham, long-time (20-25 years) friend of Pastor David and his father. Allan is from Chicago and comes to visit the church and ministry here almost yearly. He will remain here with us for 20 days. On Monday night, after an evening out with his family and us, Pastor David traveled the 3 hours to Chennai airport to pick up Allan. Unfortunately, Allan’s plane was delayed and he did not arrive until Tuesday night; so David had to wait in Chennai for the whole day.

Although he had to stay away an extra day, David did not want to cancel the village meeting planned for Tuesday, so he made arrangements for Chelsea and I to travel by auto with his close friend, Mr. Andrews, and bring his niece, Chandana, with us. The village was just 20 minutes outside the city and called, “Little, little Nellore.” Chelsea and I had an amazingly delightful time fellowshipping with these believers: listening to their songs and worshiping the Lord in our own languages, sharing from the word, praying for their needs, and enjoying dinner with them.

Singing "Ancient of Days" to the jungle rhythms of the tribal Indian people.

Seeing the eager faces of these first and second generation believers never gets tiring. I love being among them; to physically reach out and touch them (while praying or just to shake their hands); to watch as they squeeze their eyes shut to sing with all their energy; to see their faces brighten or their brows knit as they strive to grasp the truths about their Lord and Savior; and to experience their eager and simple faith as they timidly or forcefully reach out, asking for prayer.

Our substitute translator, Mr. Andrews

We missed David’s presence, but greatly enjoyed Mr. Andrews, who did a fine job translating for us (especially Chelsea’s message from Matthew 21 about Jesus clearing the temple and how we’re now the temple of God, which Jesus is just as zealous about cleaning), and entertaining us with his jokes and lively manners. He is the principle of a school and (to my great delight) an avid lover of music and musical instruments.

Riding in the auto on the way home from Little, Little Nellore

This evening was a great adventure, encouraging and strengthening to both our spirits and our bodies. We pray it was the same for all who attended.

*****************************************************

Maundy Thursday: Celebrating the night of the Lord’s Supper.

Left: Rev. G.Devaraj spoke on Jesus' surrender: "Not My Will"; Right: The choir in their "robes" help lead the congregation in Telugu songs (many of the pastors can be seen on the stage)

Many pastors here in Nellore have joined together to support one another and stand united as the body of Christ. Pastor David serves as a catalyst for this group and the Secretary of their recently formed group: The United Pastors’ Fellowship of Nellore. On Thursday evening they held a joint public service, United Holy Communion. Chelsea and I immensely enjoyed watching and participating as people glorified the Lord (at 300 decibels; meaning it felt like rock-concert volume) through songs, teaching, taking the elements, and more. In addition to the rare experience of seeing leaders and members of multiple denominations teaching and agreeing with each other, we found several parts of the program to be particularly memorable.

Towards the beginning of the program, we sang a newly learned song in Telugu and then got to relax and soak in the rest of the service. Most of it was in Telugu but several speakers translated small portions of their messages to English for the benefit of out-of-state Indians and us. Following the main message, the leaders of the United Pastors’ Fellowship knelt on stage in front of their many peers and washed one another’s feet. This means that Baptists were washing Pentecostal’s feet and Evangelicals were washing Lutheran’s feet, etc. The Indian culture greatly values giving and receiving proper honor, so to watch them demonstrate their willingness to serve one another was a truly monumental sight.

Center: One pastor washing another pastor's' feet; Sides: the pastors are deeply affected by this act

Another very symbolic and impactful part of the service was called the “Hand of Peace.” A highly honored couple within the Christian community, Pastor & Mrs. Sundara Rao (whom we’ve enjoyed developing a friendship with through Pastor David’s introduction at the beginning of our trip), walked down the center aisle of the gathering hall, clasping hands with each person sitting in the aisle seat and saying “peace be with you” (in Telugu, except to us :). Those people then turned to their neighbor and repeated the gesture and phrase; and they, in turn, follow suit—one after another. Thus, a wave of peace spreads across the room to the outer edges. May the peace of the Lord spread across the earth in this same manner as Christians join hands with one another and reach out to bring the truth and love of Christ to the nations.

At last we come to the actual sharing of the bread and juice. Sitting in a crowd of believers from an entirely different culture, I realized that Christ truly did reveal a great mystery to the nations: a united group of people, formed not by national boundaries and allegiances, nor from cultural habits, nor agreements, nor level of knowledge, nor language, nor line of work, nor any other natural connection, but formed by a deep love, gratitude, and commitment to Christ with the same hope of Salvation through Him alone. As I share in the symbols of the united body of Christ, I am experiencing a part of this absolutely wondrous mystery of Christ as it is being revealed. One day I shall rejoice in its full revelation at the marriage supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:6-9).

Suhasini serving bread David serving juice

*****************************************************

Good Friday – Hmmm… while it was happening, no one but the angels in heaven and the Father would have called it “good.” Satan saw his kingdom collapse; the disciples and followers thought their hopes of a kingdom were collapsing; the leaders and crowds were plagued with guilt… Yet now, I can declare it “good” and join all of heaven in saying: “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise…[for]with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth” (Rev. 5:12,9-10).

In the late morning we gathered at the church (Hebron Prayer House) for a special service which focused on the last 7 phrases of Jesus while He was hanging on the cross. Congregations all over Nellore were holding similar services. Chelsea and I sang a Telugu song about the suffering and death of Jesus and the hope which His sacrifice gives us. Then we spent a few minutes explaining to the church the events of the Holy Week from Palm Sunday to His death. Several other melodious Telugu songs and then Pastor David gave a stirring message on how the Gospel of Salvation was portrayed in each of the phrases which Jesus spoke. Through each of these he inspired and challenged the listeners by applying them to daily life.

Bethany explaining the locations of Jesus' ministry and final days

During the service, it started to pour down rain. This is the first rain we have had since the middle of February (two late-night drizzles). It was a tremendous relief and blessing to us Northwestern white girls who felt ourselves grow stronger as the temperature dropped almost 10 degrees Fahrenheit, and our senses rejoiced at the sounds and smells of the rain. The timing was perfect: it was almost as if the sky was weeping for the death of the creator of the world, just as the sun had hidden its face and the ground was shaken to its core 2000 years ago.

After service, Chelsea and I pulled several of our young friends onto the roof to join us in reveling in the cool water as we danced in the rain.

We shall always be little girls, delighting in the wonders of our Father

Friday was also Pastor David’s Birthday. In true Indian style, they sang to him at the end of service (which quite took him by surprise and delight) and then the extended family shared a fluffy white cake after lunch.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PASTOR DAVID!

Birthday party!

Mr. Allan Graham

Finally, Friday also was our first opportunity to meet Mr. Allan Graham. Due to his extra lengthy flight and his advancing age, he needed a little extra time to rest and adjust after arriving Tuesday night. Together with David, us three white folks traveled to Downie Baptist Church of Nellore for their evening English service. Chelsea and I listened in wonder to an amazing English song that tells about the purpose of Jesus’ death (we recorded it, so you can hear it once we get home). We then participated in the service by singing “How Deep the Father’s Love for Us.” Mr. Graham was the guest speaker and we watched in delight to see how an experienced western visitor interacts and communicates in this culture. We greatly look forward to spending more time with him over the next several weeks.

*****************************************************

To hear more…come find us in June!

Andariki Vandenalu!

What-up?

Our Palm Sunday Adventure

2011-04-18T01:17:00.000-07:00

Sunday (yesterday), we had a wonderful adventure yesterday carrying on a Palm Sunday tradition with the Sunday School children. Many of them showed up early (something that’s very unusual in India) bright eyed and ready for fun. The brought palm branches and all the flowers they could find. (I rather doubt there is a flowering tree or bush in any of their courtyards that hasn’t been unclothed of all flowers within reach. :) Having arrived armed with all the necessary supplies, the children proceeded to bedeck their branches with as many flowers they could attach their sturdy banners.

When the children had finished the ornamenting their branches, we assembled in front of the church and set out to walk through the neighborhood singing and praising God in a manner very similar to the first Palm Sunday (only in Telugu instead of Aramaic).

When He came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen: “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” Luke 19:37-38

As we trekked through the streets in the early morning bustle, we saw parts of our neighborhood we had never seen before. Needless to say, we created quite a stir and attracted many people watching us from the street, their front gates, and their windows.

By the time we arrived back at the church, our antics had added about 10 neighborhood children to our Sunday School. They stayed around because there were biscuits (cookies) for after the lesson. Since at this point, Sunday School, which normally lasts only 30-45 mins, had already been an hour long, Bethany taught a quick lesson on the triumphal entry. She talked about how a crowd who had welcomed Jesus as king at the beginning of the week became a mob who cried for his crucifixion at the end of the week because they were only interested in His miracles and blessings and not in really having Him be the Lord of their lives. We pray that the Lord will use these words in the lives of our regular Sunday School children and plant seeds in the hearts of our guests. Please pray with us that these visitors will also attend VBS in a few weeks.

Sharing in His suffering and glory

2011-04-14T20:31:00.000-07:00

“How deep the Father’s love for us—how vast, beyond all measure—that He should give His Only Son to make a wretch His treasure.”

The Catholic Lent is well under way and we are coming into the Easter Season. More so than at home (if that is possible), we find that the Indian culture values programs and formalities. Even among the smallest churches, on special days, holding lengthy services with multiple speakers (up to 6 or 7 sometimes) is expected—by the church members and by the surrounding pastors. Often a single pastor will speak at multiple churches within a single morning/afternoon (i.e. Palm Sunday, Good Friday, or Easter). At home it seemed like just a part of life; but seeing this practice played out to a greater degree in a foreign culture is making us question how much God-glorification vs. man-glorification is tucked into these religious programs of our churches.

But in spite of all the upcoming programs, Chelsea and I find ourselves returning to the simplicity of reveling in the extreme mystery of Christ becoming the sacrifice in our place. What incredible mercy and love from the heart of the Father, who allowed His Son to die on behalf of unworthy us. Yet, both Jesus and His Father took upon themselves such extreme measures in order to redeem us because they deeply, unalterably loved this wretched woman (the church, and me). And now, they are working fervently to perfect us so that we may become worthy of marrying the glorious Son of the King.

And, as this season approaches, I’m turning my thoughts to the words of my voluntary Redeemer. I want to understand (experience to the greatest degree I can) the depths of what He suffered so that I may also grasp (partake in fully) the extreme victory of the new life which He has created, wrenched back from the Devil, purchased, and offered out of His goodness for us (yes, I think all those actions can apply simultaneously to God’s act of providing a way for us to have eternal life with Him). Jesus said: “This is MY BLOOD of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26: 28). Next time you accidentally cut yourself, look at the blood that’s coming out of your flesh. Realize that Jesus was a person, just like you, and was expecting (and was sorrowful and troubled at the prospect—Matthew 26:37-38) that His human life-blood was going to be drained out and He was going to die. This wasn’t even a peaceful death with loved ones stroking His hand; He would be friendless, with a bunch of angry, hate-filled people looking on and emotionless executors just “doin’ their duty.”

I am LOVED.

There is NOTHING else I need.

I don’t need Jesus’ work on the cross (and the love buried in every fiber of that act) and a successful job or ministry.

I don’t need His life and the money to complete my goals and dreams (or even to meet my perceived basic needs).

He has given me EVERYTHING He has.

Every time I say that I am lacking in something, I am putting down His eternal work. (How dare I detract, even the smallest bit, from the Glory of His greatest work! (1 Corinthians 2:2 –and all the preceding verses) In all the majesty He created, His death and resurrection are far greater still.)

Surely He who gave me life everlasting can meet my few needs in this short earthly sojourn.

Now, my only earthly goal is that I may grow in love for Him; more every day and hour. So that when I stand with Him at the wedding feast of heaven, my beloved bridegroom—Jesus Christ, Son of the Most High God—will find in me (along with His whole bride, the true church) a created being worthy of His affections and of returning His affections. Here I find another mysteryàEvery ounce of my ability to comprehend and love my Lord and Savior comes from His diligent work in me; yet it remains vital that my inner man constantly works to position itself for receiving and holding onto the truths being worked out in me.

Oh that I may be prepared while I am on this earth, so that I am able to fully love my Lord all the days of our eternal life together! Jesus, looking toward His wedding day in Heaven, also prayed this prayer for His bride, the church. “I have given them the glory that You gave Me, that they may be one as We are one: I in them and You in Me. …I have made You known to them, and will continue to make You known in order that the love You have for Me may be in them and that I Myself may be in them” (Read all of John 17:20-26).

Whatever concerns of mine do not lead me and others to this end, I must throw off. Christ! Be formed in me—both your suffering and your victory; and the fullness of the love that saturates it all!—so that I may be one with You and see Your glory! (John 17:24)

Picture gallery...

2011-04-14T04:49:00.000-07:00

Too much contemplation in the Throne Room of our Heavenly King—we are left with less to share about our daily lives. Over the last two weeks, as we’ve been connecting with family and friends from the states, they continually ask: “What’s happening there?” “What is something monumental that you’ve experienced in India lately?” “What are your daily activities?”

We are left speechless…

What do we tell about? There are hundreds of small and larger wonderful things happening here—with us and the ministry, with our host family and neighbors, and with the culture we’re living in. Yet, even something as great as living in India pales in comparison to the things we are searching out and learning about our Lord and Lover. Let me warn and encourage you with this reminder:

Even your greatest life ambition and most desired experience becomes a faded shell when spending a few moments in the Presence of the Mighty ONE. Let us not deceive ourselves with earthly pursuits.

*********************************************

Here I am preaching again. For all who want an actual account of what we’re doing with our time, I’m afraid I’m failing miserably. This morning I sat down to write out some fun things that have been happening…… and a page and a half into my writing, I had dwelt entirely on Christ and the overwhelming qualities of His love and sacrifice (I’ll post that tomorrow, provided my Lord doesn’t take me home). My second attempt is also quickly heading in the same direction. :) Bear with me, I’ll try again:

**********************************************

Let’s start with a picture (maybe then I can stay on track...):

This is our wonderful church family of Hebron Prayer House. While to you a picture like this may look really, really strange in lots of ways, this is one of the more familiar parts of life to us now. It took us months to discover how they (and we) could sit on the floor cross-legged for two hours or more. The secret for them is that as little children, sitting cross-legged is considered “proper” and little three-year-olds are repeatedly repositioned until they master the arrangement. Having sat that way for decades, the older people have calluses on their ankle bones and their knees have grown to rest in that position. For little Chelsea and me, our poor ankles and knees are repeatedly sore by Sunday afternoon, and our feet fall asleep (I’m talking deep sleep, where you wonder if they’ll wake up or if, in attempting to stand, you’ll crash to the floor and be rushed to the hospital for an amputation. …just kidding :)

The two biggest benefits that we can see of sitting in this manner are: 1) without chairs, more people can squeeze into a limited space; and 2) it is really fast and easy to shift into a kneeling (face-to-the-ground) prayer and worship position. As you can see, those who have grown up sitting in chairs and those whose limbs are no longer as flexible sit in chairs in the back of the church.

This picture was taken this past Sunday while Pastor David delivered a stirring message to his congregation. Chelsea and I still only understand about 4% of what’s being said and the cultural meanings attached; but we devote our time during the message to prayer for our Indian and American Church families and in reading the passages that are referenced.

On to exhibit #2:

During Sunday School last week, we did a very memorable thing to the children: We blinded them all! Using their own chunnies (scarves) against them, we made them feel like the blind man from Matthew 8:22. The boys were loaned (no interest charged :) some chunnies from Chelsea and my stash.

While they were experiencing temporary physical blindness, we explained how, before they surrender their lives to Christ, their spirits are dead and blind; they have no more spiritual understanding than they have of physical sight. But, when He saves us, Christ brings life and sight into our spirits. “Jesus asked, ‘Do you see anything?’ [The blind man] looked up and said, ‘I see people; they look like trees walking around.’” Next we made the kids untie the chunnies and drape them over their heads like a veil:

Now they could see some things, but not everything and not very clearly. This picture shows the boys are partially blind. Also shown: Pastor David Dayasagar explains the connection of physical sight to our spiritual sight. When we believe we receive a portion of God’s Holy Spirit, who awakens our spirits, gives us some spiritual sight, and is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance of eternal redemption (Eph. 1:13-14).

But, God is not pleased with us only having partial spiritual sight. Jesus again touched the blind man’s eyes, and then “his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly” (Mark 8:25b). Our Lord invites us to gaze into the mysteries that even the angels long to see. This requires real spiritual insight; and we must ask for the Holy Spirit to open the eyes of our understanding even farther so that we may grasp His love and power (Eph. 1:17-19). We closed with a time of prayer. Please also pray with us that these young ones “being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” (Eph. 3:17-19).

Whew! On to the next exhibit (#3 or #4? –I don’t know!):

Wonder of wonders! We got a package from our beloved church family at home (Graham, WA)!!! That’s Chelsea’s face of anticipation as we prepare to open it…

It was filled with all sorts of necessary, handy, and delightful surprises for us, for our church, and for our host family. We are overjoyed with the love and encouragement packed in among all those items.

We can’t wait to use and distribute all these wonders! (Not to mention, use a few as bribes and tantalizing prizes for little urchins :) This box, along with the other little packages, notes, and cards we’ve received, have greatly helped to ease our sense of isolation and homesickness. Thank you all, so much, for these un-price-able gifts.

****************************************

Let’s keep moving down the corridor of the exhibition hall. On to a few of our less-serious pastimes:

Another small but delightful treasure we’ve just received…

This crazy little racket is charged with an electric current so that, when it comes in contact with a small, flying, painfully-biting, annoying, pest, it causes the little vermin to explode. (Not a very pleasant description: I’m sorry for distressing any faint-hearted readers. I’m also sorry for all my adoring fans who thought I was tender-hearted to even the most wretched of beings; I’m afraid you’ll have to remove me from that pedestal.)

We now have the addicting occupation of jumping up, grabbing and turning on our lethal “sword”, and attempting to hit a homerun with every flicker of shadow that catches our eyes. No, we’re not paranoid; the mosquito population within our living quarters has significantly decreased in the last few days. We find that now, even if we see several flying around, when we grab the racket they all disappear as if by magic. (Our theory is that down at the local swamp, there’s rumors bein’ whispered among the residential mosquits of a deadly monster that hums as it advances. They say there’s no use standin’ up to it; best to just hide away.)

Ahem… enough about rumors, moving on:

You will be shocked and (we hope) delighted to learn that your friendly little Northwest Americans are returning to our ancient family roots: We’re becoming HIGHLANDERS! (Can anyone say “Heidi of the Alps”?)

In an effort to tame our unruly locks (and diminish their heat-holding abilities), we’ve been experimenting with Indian-approved hairstyles. Crowning braids have been our greatest success thus far. With this useful excuse in hand, we now revert back to our childish/girly ways of “doing each other’s hair.”

Chelsea is now aiming to perfect her hair styling abilities in order to add that skill to her impressive résumé. Meanwhile, I (Bethany) am attempting to begin on this long journey of fixing up hair since I hope to one day be cranking out acceptable styles on my own children’s heads. The picture of Chelsea above represents: 1) my first attempt to French braid another person’s hair; 2) my first time ever doing an inside-out braid; and 3) my first time braiding a crown. Pictured below is one of the many awkward positions which the patient must assume in order to achieve this dazzling appearance:

On to a final major addition to our daily lives here:

It’s Kitten Season!!!

Say “hello” to Puss (we call her Pounce) and Tiger!

Here they are pictured in the full power of their invasive abilities. Our house owner, Premeela Auntie, acquired these two little, hungry, lovebugs last week. You can see them disturbing our games, climbing all over us, and traveling in and out of every nook and cranny they can find (including the window grates). They beg and complain as well as any kittens we’ve ever met.

Our host family also received a surprise addition of a few kittens. The local stray (whom we named “Munchkin”) adopted their home when Suhasini coaxed it in with some milk and bread. In exchange for food and board, she keeps the rats out of the house. But apparently this friendly little street cat was a little too friendly with her own kind as well. Three weeks ago she added 3 little fuzzballs to the family. They’re not sure what to do with the little tikes yet…

Until tomorrow!

ANDARIKI VANDENALU

Join us for a tour!!!

2011-04-08T05:11:00.000-07:00

After much travail and long hours, we have finally accomplished a great feat:

YOU can now see and experience just a little bit of our surroundings and daily living quarters. We absolutely love where we are living and are so grateful for all those who are caring for us and teaching us how to operate within the Indian culture.

Please bear in mind, we took these videos within our first weeks here (January) and many things have changed in the months since that time. We also now better understand the culture and watch (with bashful faces) as we incorrectly present many aspects of life here in this video. Before we leave, however, we plan to walk through life here again and present a more "finished" picture of our lives here and our better understanding of the culture and habits that make up this wonderful society.

Additional note: Bethany was not being a camera hog. Chelsea was not in a "movie-genic" mood that day. But, both of us have become significantly more camera and picture friendly since then and we hope our farewell videos will be a bit more creative, fun, and informative. In the mean time, bear with us as we attempt to develop our presentation skills :)

I tried very hard to get our videos to upload into here, but I can't seem to make it work. You'll have to use the links to get to YouTube. Please let us know if there are any problems!

Tour #1 - Our Neighborhood
Link to YouTube: http://youtu.be/MZoojI3vWh0

Tour #2 - The Church (and new construction)
Link to YouTube: http://youtu.be/OMFwrJ6GrXU

Tour #3 - Our Home (half of church member Primeela-Auntie's house)
Link to YouTube: http://youtu.be/UatyNK8mUxM

We hope you have enjoyed these tours. Until next time,
Andariki Vandenalu!

Happy Ungati!! (Happy New Year!)

2011-04-04T03:06:00.000-07:00

Yes... I know that it’s been almost 3 months since the New Year, but today (April 4) is the Telugu New Year. I’m so excited the New Year is such a special time of celebrating new beginnings, and this year I get two new years.

Everyday Hindu people draw very beautiful designs in front of the doors and gates to their homes to invite the good spirits and gods in, hoping that they will bring them good luck. For the new year, the people draw even more elaborate designs. I think these designs are wonderful and so “Indian”, so I take pictures of them all the time.

Here’s what we normally see as we’re walking around

This morning Bethany and I had a great time walking and waving to all our friends for church who live in the neighborhood as we went for a short walk to capture some of the special celebration designs.

Here’s what we saw this morning

Now, let me jump back in time to all the happenings of last year (please note here that we are in a “new year” and I’m really only going back to last week). In addition to the regularly scheduled mid-week church gatherings on Wednesday and Friday for Hebron Church, Thursday evening we had received a special invitation to lead the youth service at one of the other Nellore churches. The service began with about 30 mins of singing in Telugu led by the worship leader. Then they handed the rest of the service over to us… they didn’t know what they were getting themselves into.

After I gave a short introduction, telling who we were and why we had come to India, Bethany took over the service. She explained, with Pastor David’s help in translating, that we as people have a body (our physical body, desires, and emotions), a soul (our character, beliefs, and wisdom or foolishness), and our spirit (the part of us that is like God and closest to Him). Then she asked for three volunteers to represent the body, soul, and spirit.

Our three lovely volunteers

Bethany explained that before we give our lives to Christ, our spirits are dead, but one we surrender to our Lord, our spirits come alive. The begins the tug-of-war for our souls – with the body trying to pull our souls away from God, toward the “delights” of this world, and ultimately to spiritual separation from God. Meanwhile, the spirit is trying to pull the soul toward God and the eternal joy and pleasure of knowing God as we were created to do.

Tug-of-war wonderfully demonstrated by our volunteers (with David acting as translator, “Thank you!”)

Bethany continued on to explain that we can actually decide who will win the war for our souls. We choose whether we will spend eternity with God or eternity separated from Him by what we do with our time, the things we watch and listen to, and what we think about. We can “feed” our body, making it stronger and more able to pull us away from God and toward eternal death by thinking about and spending our time on the things the world tells us are important, or we can “feed” our spirits by spending time thinking about and worshiping God. Bethany went on to explain, that beginning to feed our spirits is a lot like beginning to exercise – it’s very hard at first and you don’t like it because it’s not what you want to do, but as you continue to exercise on a regular basis (or feed your spirit) you begin to enjoy and look forward to it because it feels so good when you’re done. At the end of the service, we led the youth in another 30 mins of worship, this time without singing, just quiet music and some instruction on how to draw close to God. They all seemed to enjoy it very much. Please pray with us that this message will rest in their hearts and that God will use it to grow a desire to know Him more.

Sunday was both normal and special. In the morning, we taught the story of Jesus turning the water into wine from John 2:1-10 to a group of 20 or so restless Sunday School children– we pointed out that the servants who labored to fill the water jars did not get to drink it after it was turned into wine and the wedding guests did not know where the wine came from. Then we asked them, “Would you rather be a wedding guest and get to drink the wine or a servant and get to see Jesus do the miracle?” They all said they would rather be the servants. Father, please teach them what it means to be Your servants and to prepare the way for You to do miracles.

For church itself, I taught from Luke 10 on the story of Mary and Martha, encouraging to believers not to be distracted from knowing Jesus by the cares and troubles of this life, but instead to go through their daily responsibilities doing them for the Lord and not for men (Col 3:17).

Bethany taught the youth meeting about the underground church in China. She “took” the youth to a lonely region of China where they had to creep many kilometers through the “jungle” (part of the sanctuary) and gather in a small “hut” (a specified section of the room) to meet with their fellow believers. Everyone had to be very quiet, because if we were caught the Chinese authorities would throw us into prison and kill us. Bethany posed to question, “Do you crave spending time with believers so much that you would work all day in the fields, travel and worship all night, and then work another full day in the fields without any sleep for just a few hours of fellowship? Do you treasure your Bible so much that you would give up your clothes and your food before you would give up your Bible? Do you love Jesus enough to be tortured and die for Him?” Again, I pray that these words, questions, and examples will go deep into the hearts of the youth.

There are no pictures of our gathering, of course, because we were in danger for our very lives and could not risk the chance of being seen or of the pictures falling into the wrong hands.

Sunday was also a very special day because it was Suhasini’s (David’s wife) birthday. Her sister and nephew came for the occasion, in addition to the normal extended family who gather for lunch on Sundays, and we had a wonderful time singing “Happy Birthday” (Indian style, of course), eating special food and birthday cake, and visiting with the family.

Once again, you are caught up on all the happenings here in India. :)

Grace and peace to you all!

There and back again

2011-04-01T21:02:00.000-07:00

We got to spend the night in a fishing-cast village with a small group of first-generation believers and their devoutly Hindu neighbors!

Monday, after a morning spent with the Lord and packing, five of us jumped into the jeep for a long trek across the Indian landscape. Our party included Pastor David, two white Americans, 80-year-old Uncle (an elder at Hebron Prayer House), and David’s wife, Suhasini (a temporary traveler on our expedition). Along the way we picked up three of Suhasini’s co-teachers from the school and they thoroughly enjoyed utilizing their English to ask us questions and insist on us singing a Telugu song for them. After a roadside stop for coconut water (drinking straight from the coconut shells, of course) we said farewell to all the teachers and Suhasini and turned our tires towards the wild jungles of India.

Here's us in the back of the jeep

In a small town further along the way we picked up two pleasant looking men in white shirts and white pants: Prabhadas and Remesh – two of HBA’s faithful evangelists. We now had a several-hour journey ahead of us. The four men sat in the front half of the jeep and conversed happily in Telugu, allowing Chelsea and me to spend time enjoying the scenery and chattering about all the sorts of things that young, pretty girls enjoy discussing ;).

Our grand tour guide, David, gave us several valuable details along the way about the mountainous roads and animals living in that area. For Chelsea and me, who grew up around the Washington mountains, this drive through the hills was a refreshing outing and a small reminder of home (minus the 95 degree air and the lack of evergreen trees). It was both beautiful and peaceful.

A little hot and sweaty, we pulled into a small community of thatched and brick houses and were greeted enthusiastically by Samson, the HBA evangelist working there. This is one of the more recent villages that HBA has reached out to and there are currently only a dozen or so Christians living there. We entered the yard of a goat herder’s house through an opening in the stick-and-leaf woven fence. The wife is a Christian while the husband is not, but the Lord has continued to give grace and peace in their marriage and home (2 children) while the wife serves her husband and works to win him to Christ. This family owns a small two-room, brick building that serves as their house and storage, a round, thatched-roof building that acts as their kitchen and dining room, and a low but large thatched hut that protects and houses all the goats.

This is our hostess holding their newest-born goat

We spent the afternoon resting, reading, enjoying tea, bathing, and (Chelsea) sleeping during the heat of the day. As I sat there with everyone sleeping around me, the thought came to me again (as it so often does): “I’m actually sitting out in the wildlands of the nations, in the places that are just starting to hear about the hope of Christ! I get to watch them make tea, sweep their porches, scold and fuss at one another…and be a part of it all! Where I am, the Lord’s eyes are focused; He loves them with a deep, core-penetrating love and I also am sharing in His love for them.” What have I done that He has blessed me with this great pleasure and honor? I smile, nod, shake hands, jabber out my few Telugu words, smile some more, try to understand what they’re telling me to do (or are they asking me a question?), and move about peacefully among them, knowing that my God speaks across languages and customs and reveals Himself to them through my weak, “unqualified” self. Blessed be our Great Lord!

Villagers making food and sorting rice

As people began to stir from their naps, our delightful hostess took the opportunity to lead Chelsea and me on a walk around the village to show us all the views, buildings, people, and activities taking place. On returning to the house, the women gathered around to attempt a remarkable feat: French braiding my hair. After attracting a crowd to gawk and offer advice, they set about to brush and plat my foreign locks. I doubt more than a few of them have ever even seen white people before and less than that have seen a blond girl. Chelsea demonstrated the technique of French braiding on her own hair and they attempted to mimic on mine (they regularly braid their hair down their backs but have never seen it done up like a French braid). I think they did pretty well for a first time!

Bethany getting her hair braided by village women while the community looks on

As the sky began to grow darker and people returned to their homes, the team of evangelists and their wives, other believers, and some children, took to the road with megaphones, drums and tambourines to sing the truth of Christ through the village. We marched down one road, up another, across to the other half of the town, and stopped in front of an ideal place for people to congregate. Chelsea and my role in all of this was primarily to avoid stumbling or walking through the animal waste while everyone else sang in their native tongue.

Singing in the streets

At our halting point, Pastor David shared why all of us (the evangelists, local Christians, and us) were singing about Christ. He then called upon Chelsea and I to sing a song about praising Jesus in Telugu; it helps to keep the crowd engaged because of the strangeness of seeing two foreigners sing in their language. I then got to speak (through translation) the truth about Jesus Christ and share a short example about my life. In reflection, I see how much the Lord has been growing me in my ability to share, on the spot, the hope which I have in Christ. Compared to the first village where I was handed a microphone, I am much more confident, Christ-focused, and clear in my words. This is definitely the grace and training of the Lord. David then invited everyone to a meeting that would be held on the road outside our hosts’ home.

Declaring the greatness of Jesus Christ

We took a brief respite and ate dinner while the men set up mats on the ground outside and ran power out for lighting. A definite praise from the Lord is that in spite of not having any prevention spray, we didn’t get bit by mosquitoes the whole trip, even during their primary feeding time! I think we must’ve had Holy Spirit bug spray on!

We got the program started with some rousing singing and Indian beats (unlike any of the beats I hear at home: they sing to rhythms that are simultaneously subdivided in all different ways; very confusing initially). As the music rolled over the village, people began to gather. The believers and the few others who were better acquainted with them came and sat on the mats. Most people from the village stood at a distance, just past the edge of the light, where they could watch in dark safety and slip off whenever they felt the need.

Night meeting: can't see them in the picture, but there are many dozen people standing in the darkness beyond.

Once a sizable crowd had gathered, Pastor David transitioned into the teaching by sharing a bit about himself and the ministry work, having Chelsea and me sing an English and then a Telugu song, and then calling upon me to share from the Word of God. I started with Proverbs 1:7 and how valuable the knowledge of God is. If anyone wants to be wise, they have to start with pursuing a deep understanding of God; wisdom cannot start from any other source. Then I shared how much God desires for humans to know Him. Through His Word, through coming to earth as a man: Jesus Christ, and through His continued communication with us by His Spirit (both internal impressions and external manifestations of healings, etc.). God uses all of these things to lead a person to Himself so that they have no excuse for not finding Him if they search.

With the great help of David’s translating, the people seemed to grasp the weight and value of searching to know God Almighty—creator of the heavens and the earth. As they are searching to know and understand Him, Samson and the other believers will be around to help answer their questions. Concluding the meeting, a large group made up of believers and nonbelievers came up and asked us to place our hands on them and pray for them. Some had situational requests, some had healing requests, and some had requests that what was spoken would remain in their hearts. We faithfully worked through the line of people, enjoying the communion we were able to have with our Lord and Savior in the midst of this “work” in front of us.

All of that made for a pretty exhausting night. As the temperature began to let up, we prepared for bed.

There's the cot we slept on!

As Chelsea took a community “women’s trip” to the wide-open bathrooms, I took the opportunity to snag a few pictures of the area and our sleeping quarters. (Feel free, upon our return, to ask Chelsea about the village bathroom arrangements.) We bedded down for the night listening to the sounds of the goats as they prodded and nuzzled one another 20 feet away. The whole night was restful and cool—we even received a light dew fall in the early hours of the morning.

We woke up before the sun rose and watched as our village friends began to stir from their mats and set themselves in order for the morning routine. Another attempt at braiding my hair, a visit to the adjacent property for morning breakfast of idly and chetni (picture a bready cream-of-wheat ball and some peanut-based sauce and you’re on the right track), and we were just about ready to go.

Last activity of the morning: they planted a church. Our host family happily offered the front corner of their home as the site for a future thatch-hut church building. Even thought he is not yet a believer, the husband cheerfully gave of his land for this. Please pray with us that the Lord would bless this man by leading him fully into His presence and so capturing his heart; and that the Lord would continue to meet his earthly needs as an example to the believers and unbelievers around and so that he can always have enough to share and give away. The branch that was “planted” will serve as one of the supports for the lower sides of the roof.

Church “planting" (Prabhadas is holding the post)

We drove away after many lengthy hand clasps and very expressive looks. The jeep now contained five people: Pastor David, the Elder Uncle, evangelist Prabhadas, and us (Remesh stayed in the village with Samson for a little longer).

On the drive back across the hills, we saw something I was hoping and praying I would get a close-up of: MONKEYS!!! They seemed to come out just to show off for me (though they were probably coming out for bananas; lots of banana trucks use that road). I got several pictures of them; here’s one of the best:

MONKEYS!!! One of them has a baby with it :)

I also couldn’t help attempting to capture some more of the scenery on our camera. Pictures will never be as captivating as the real thing; *Sigh*

Our several-hour trip home included several stops along the way. The first was in a newly reconstructed village (Indian housing projects) where HBA evangelist Philip is beginning to work (in addition to his current villages). We prayed over the site where they’ve been given permission to build a brick/cement church once they have the $3000 needed for the project; and then we sat and had tea with the few people (some Christian, some Hindu) who were not out working in the fields.

Taking Philip with us, we continued our journey home. In a larger village, closer to Nellore, we dropped both evangelists off so that they could take autos (like a taxi) to their respective homes. Then the remaining four of us stopped near a large lake with an impressive dam to eat a snack and stretch our legs. Finally, we stopped at Suhasini’s school to meet her students and head mistress. What we thought would be a brief “hello” and then home, turned into a personal visitation with every classroom in the school. Chelsea said: “I think we were their cultural studies for the day.”

… “Home again, home again; jig-a-dee jig” …

At last, we arrived home in the late afternoon. We cleaned ourselves up, rested, and spent time with the Lord. As evening came on, we were memorizing scripture and enjoying a snack when Havilash brought us a wonderful gift from his mom, Suhasini: Jasmine flowers!!!

Girls, old and young here, love to wear flowers in their hair. Flower sellers will have chains of little flowers (mostly jasmine or some little orange flower) that women can buy and hook into their hair. It’s only a few pennies for them and we have gotten to wear them on many occasions. They smell so good.

What Havilash brought us, though, was a bag of unchained flowers. With our creative and ambitious intellects being put to the test, we decided to attempt the Indian art of tying flower chains. I think we were very, very successful!

We successfully made flower chains!

There you have it, friends! A detailed retelling of our almost ethereal (yet, somehow feeling as though it were completely natural) experience of living a day and night in a tribal village. AND WE LOVED IT!!!

All of our praise, honor, dependence, and expectations are on the Lord, and how we do love Him!

Andariki Vandenalu!

Do not fear ANYTHING except the Lord our God

2011-03-30T06:13:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!

To pick up where my dear roommate, Chelsea, left off, I need to start this update by saying: “YES! I am alive and well!” Last week both Chelsea and I had suffered temporary sicknesses that set us on bed rest. But we are up and moving again with as much speed and enthusiasm as before the sicknesses. Please, as the Lord brings us to mind, continue to pray for us that our bodies would be completely restored——— OR that the Lord would continue to grow us spiritually and refine our characters to be more like Him as we cheerfully endure any internal pains. …Ya know, the latter of the two is the prayer we would most prefer (I can speak on Chelsea’s behalf for that as well).

Friday night we had a gathering at the home of one of our dear church families. Though I was still recovering and “arguing with my intestines” (as Chelsea so kindly put it) I elected to teach during the Bible study. I had planned to speak from Matthew 21 on Jesus’ parable about two sons, but during the time of singing, the Lord directed me to His words from Matthew 28:5-10 and 1 Corinthians 15:50-58. We have no reason to fear death or continue to mourn for those who have passed on, because in eternity lies all of our hope and expectations. It is the fulfillment of all we’ve been longing for. I told how since I was young I’ve often thought of death and, through sicknesses as a child, wondered how long I would live and if I was ready to die. Instead of shying away, I am eager for the day when I will step out of this earthly self and enter my true, eternal home. I do not fear death; I long for it, because I long for the life beyond, with my Love and Lord: Jesus Christ!

I believe it was the Lord’s timing and wisdom for these words to be spoken. The family hosting the evening had recently lost a grandparent and many others there were also still mourning for loved ones. Also, they knew I was recovering from being sick and, as I do most times I’m sick, I had once again been thinking about the possibility of me dying. May we all look beyond the now and lose all fears in this life, save the holy fear of God. “Death has been swallowed up in victory!” (Isaiah 25:8).

Saturday was another day of resting and recovering for the most part. We did go “treasure hunting” with Suhasini and found another mosquito net for Chelsea and I to use (if you remember, we had received one twin-sized net from our neighbor, Premeela, over two weeks ago). We now sleep on our own cots again—each under her own mosquito net—and no longer share the unwanted body heat that comes from sleeping in such close proximity as one cot affords…though I do miss the extra closeness of our unbarriered slumber parties :)

Sunday morning I taught the children a cup/hand-clap game while we waited for all the kids to arrive. I think with practice, it will be a huge success! This week’s lesson was on Jesus walking on water and Peter’s faith/doubt as he walked toward his Rabbi. We left the children with the clear message that if the Lord calls us to do something (instruction from the Bible, or special direction spoken to them) then He really believes we can do it through His strength. Our confidence should be in His belief in us and we should not doubt that we can do what He calls us to do.

On Sunday evening we traveled to a nearby village for their evening church service. Over the past several years, this little flock has grown from just a few people to several dozen. We were so glad to participate in their service at this little village building and be an encouragement to them and a demonstration to the small community of their value and importance. Because it was Sunday night and not too far away, we were able to bring many members of our host family (9 - including us). We all piled into the jeep and enjoyed a bouncy trip out and back to attend this gathering. We arrived to hear enthusiastic singing coming from the little yard of the thatched-roof, in-ground church building. I think we are finally getting used to the volume at which the Indian people routinely broadcast their events. The large megaphone speaker was setup in the yard, facing the building next door and cranked up to its loudest. I’m sure the bricks of the neighbor’s house were shaking in their mortar as the songs about our Lord and the message of truth were proclaimed to its plastered and whitewashed walls :)

Concluding the singing, Pastor David spoke for several minutes and then requested us to stand and encourage the believers. I gave a short introduction about Chelsea and me, expressing our deep joy at being privileged to fellowship with these believers. Following, we sang an English song and a Telugu song for them (the Telugu song is a newer one we had recently learned and we need a bit more practice with it…insert funny grimacing face…). Chelsea then poured out of her heart a message from the Lord about disciples and the power that true Disciples of Christ have in affecting their communities and the world. She exhorted them to be faithful in passionately seeking to be like their Lord, and she encouraged them in their potential to affect their entire village and even the surrounding villages. Praise our Lord for these words. May His people turn their hearts fully to Him that a greater passion and witness may be birthed in them!

I believe this, my dear readers, is a faithful retelling of the major events (with a few added, silly details) from Friday through Sunday night. How often I am reminded that we are mere humans and have no idea what the future really holds. In this lies our greatest opportunity for trusting our Lord. Monday and Tuesday were full of more great adventures and experiences from which we both still have much to process … …but that is another story (for tomorrow, I hope).

Andariki Vandenalu

PS: Tomorrow night we will be leading the youth meeting that is held on Thursday nights at the local Baptist Church. They announced this Sunday that we would be coming. Please pray that our Lord would grip their hearts with a fascination for Him and a longing to know and be like Him. To our understanding, we have been given full control of the evening and I feel a great weight of opportunity from my Lord. May we be faithful to do all that He tells us, whether prepared beforehand or during the service.

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

2011-03-25T06:08:00.000-07:00

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!

Born into Heavenly Citizenship

2011-03-18T22:15:00.000-07:00

Two little Indians!

A small journal thought from my (Bethany’s) mind:

March 18, 2011: “The Lord is absolutely AMAZING! Such small understanding I have of Him, yet I must know more. Teach me what it means to be like You, to fully enjoy Your company, and to know Your ways with assurity and delight. Last Sunday I spoke to the church on the inheritance of the saints—prayer and communion with God. Oh, what a joy of my heart to walk out this blessed gift from my Father and Lord, who grants me such a rich and overflowing gift. The more I use it, the more I find that I have. I am learning to ‘spend’ this bottomless inheritance with delight and without restraint. In this one thing will I be frivolous and wasteful. ‘Oh the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!’ (Romans 11:33).”

We are learning to delight in the presence of the Lord to a degree which we have never comprehended before. Almost every activity of our day is centered around our great God. In constant prayer together and alone, in memorizing and meditating on the scriptures throughout daily activities and cleaning, in reading out loud the Bible or other writings which dwell on the magnificence of Him, in discussing the world around us and our experiences in light of His nature, in preaching and encouraging the believers about the goodness of our Lord and Savior, in journaling and telling stories to people back home about His faithfulness, in our dreams and when we wake again; through it all, we find Christ and the wonder of God growing in our minds continually.

When we are dragged back to earth by people talking about their worries or about perishing worldly desires, we are so reluctant to engage in these conversations. It is our great longing to take the hands of those who are so concerned and focused on such temporary wants or needs, and pull their eyes and hearts into heaven and the incredible communion with the One who sees and knows all things. How can we worry in His presence? What do the temporary wants matter in the dwelling of the eternal One?

Eating a completely American breakfast!

We fear that even as we learn more of the customs and language of these people, we are becoming more and more strange in their eyes. What will those who know us well think of our strangeness when we come back home? May the Lord give us all grace to be patient with one another and may we challenge and build one another up in the faith and anticipation of our Lord’s return and our eternal inheritance.

How well our Indian family takes care of us. We are beyond blessed by the love and care that is continually poured out upon us and we simply do not have any means of repaying them for this great gift which they are giving to us. Over and over we pray that our Great Father in Heaven would bless them to a great extent in return for the kindness they are showing two of His small children. “Father, pour out great blessings of strength and health upon our Indian family; give them the greatest gift in return: that Your presence would dwell in and among them in an ever increasing measure. And, Father, would you provide for their great financial needs which ministry and service to You has brought such burdens upon them.”

This past week were several momentous sightings for us: First, we saw a live camel!!! …Right at the end of our little street (approx. 100 feet away from where we live). A very smily man had it all geared up and was giving camel rides to the little children of the neighborhood (for a small fee, of course). Nethan and Havilash both greatly enjoyed climbing up the great height and swaying back and forth to the awkward motion of the camel’s pace. Chelsea and I got to hang out with the camel as well! (No, we did not ride on the camel. You may call us chickens if you’d like; we prefer to attribute our declining to the fact that two white girls riding through the streets on a camel is enough to bring out the press and create a parade of children long enough to shame even the highest officials.)

Hello Camel!

Last week we took a night on the town (in the best sense) with our beloved Indian family. First we visited a building expo (where some of the sellers misunderstood, thinking we were the primary buyers, and directed most of their talking points to us) so that David and Suhasini could look over options for the parish and church building the Lord has laid on their hearts to build. The parish is already 75% built, by the grace of the Lord, though they still need finances to finish it; the family is currently living out of two small, rented rooms and sleeping on the floor of the current church.

Following that, we all went shopping: new cheppulu’s (sandals) for their family, petticoats (underskirts for Saris) for Suhasini and us, nighties (girls nightgowns that go from shoulder to floor with sleeves) for all us girls, and a few treats and fruits for everyone. We closed the evening by going to a delicious and not too expensive restaurant where we were treated to a chicken and noodle dish, a rice/vegetable/multi-meat dish, and a small dish of Indian-style ice cream. YUM! At this restaurant we had amazing sighting #2: A whole group of 5 or 6 white women!!! We think they were European and weren’t able to talk with them, but, they smiled at us so friendly and made our hearts very happy to see them.

Other memories:

Sunday morning last week was a lot of spiritual and physical fun. We taught the Sunday School about Paul and Silas in prison and the way we can praise God in all situations. We had them act out the story including a live jail door of children who launched themselves across the room when the “earthquake” came to the prison. Acting out the stories is a great way to overcome the culture and language barrier; and it helps the children remember the different stories and the truths in them.

During the main service, as mentioned above, I spoke on the inheritance we receive now that we have been born into the family of God. Being born into God’s family, we have received the eternal inheritance of knowing Him. We know Him here on earth through prayer and the Word. This is confirmed by Him creating all of us in the church to be “a kingdom and priests to our God” (those allowed to approach the Lord in His holy place). If we shirk off our responsibility and gift of prayer, then we are “selling” our birthright (I used the example of Jacob and Esau). Don’t sell your birthright or give away your inheritance!

The after-church youth meeting included some worship in Telugu, a short practice of the “hip-hop dance version” of the song Our God is an Awesome God, and a brief but clear message from Chelsea explaining why we pray “In Jesus’ Name.” Names in the old Jewish culture embodied the purpose, character, and identity of the person. When we pray “in Jesus’ name,” we’re not only adding His “signature” to our requests, we’re also checking our requests against the very character and purposes of Christ. Those things we ask which don’t match with Christ’s character and purposes are not going to happen, no matter how many times we say, “in Jesus’ name.”


Playing with Nemo under the mosquito netting

I believe this is a faithful retelling of most of our main experiences in the past several days along with a little explanation of our spiritual journey.

We hope you are blessed, encouraged, and find enjoyment in the things we share.

Andariki Vandenalu
(Thank you all so much for reading!)

2011-03-14T06:03:00.000-07:00

We’re real missionaries now! We’re sleeping under mosquito netting! :)

Last week, Bethany told you all about what we will be doing in the upcoming weeks. Today, I thought I would fill you in on what did happen last week. We have had a pretty quiet week here at home base in Nellore. The weather is beginning to get warmer (it has been consistently above 90 degrees Fahrenheit for the last week) and people are slowing down in proportion. David had to be away from Wednesday evening until very early Saturday moring visiting a village that is some distance away. He felt it was best for us to remain here because he was concerned for our health in this particular village. So we have spent our time in worship and prayer, scripture memorization, reading, and sewing. We particularly enjoy combining these last two, and we have spent many hours with Bethany reading out loud while I (Chelsea) sew. (If you’re wondering what we have found that requires so much needle work, we still have clothes which were given to us in need of alterations and I have been working on those – to my great satisfaction and with significant improvement in my skills as a seamstress.)

The book of the week in our industrious book club is “Growing in the Prophetic,” by Mike Bickle. We have been learning a great deal both from reading and from our discussions. We have also been enjoying his perspective; those of you who know who Mike Bickle is (the senior pastor at IHOP-KC : International House Of Prayer-Kansas City) may not have realized that he is from a very conservative evangelical background and for the first few years of his ministry was anti-charismatic before being “ambushed by God.” (For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, please feel free to email Bethany or myself and we will do our best to answer your questions or point you in the right direction.)

Our reading and discussions revealed an interesting paradigm we have both held concerning prophets, the prophetic, and the work of the Holy Spirit. We are in the process of revaluating our thoughts on the place of prophetic ministry in the modern-day church. We thought we would share with you part of our discussion and let you come to your own conclusions. Please feel free to comment with your opinions.

NOTE: I have summarized only one chapter of "Growing in the Prophetic," this post is not intended to be a full summary of the book. I have done my best to clearly represent which thoughts are mine/ours and which are Mike's, but please do not judge Mike Bickle based solely on my words here. Also, these are topics that Bethany and I are still discussing and wrestling with. If you desire to learn more about any of the things mentioned here, I recommend that you read "Growing in the Prophetic." I believe it is valuable and worth the effort to read and understand the points made; I also recommend you read the last chapter first, and then read the whole book.

Old Testament Prophets vs. New Testament Prophets

Mike Bickle states, and we have come to agree for ourselves, that most people when they think about prophesy picture Old Testament prophets. “When people first hear of someone being called a prophet, they might think of a man with wild hair and fiery eyes crying out against sin and calling fire down from heaven” (pg 93) like Elijah and Moses. However, he argues that New Testament prophets have a different role, operate under a different set of instructions, and should be evaluated according to different standards than Old Testament prophets.

Old Testament prophets were chosen by God primarily to correct God’s people when they were sinning, to offer guidance for the kings, and to predict the future. Men like Elijah, Isaiah, and Jeremiah were set apart from God’s people to speak the “very words of God.” Old Testament prophets had significant influence over the direction of God’s people, and because of their responsibility they also paid a high price for failing to precisely relay God’s words to His people; they were stoned to death for misrepresenting God’s words even once (Duet. 18:20).

New Testament prophets operate under very different circumstances and direction. The biggest difference between God’s people in the Old and New Testaments is that in the New Testament all believers have the Holy Spirit and therefore have the ability to judge between right and wrong. So those who prophecy, or speak out the words and/or impressions which they hear from the Lord, today are treated very differently than before the Holy Spirit was available to all God’s people. Rather than being instructed to listen to and obey the all the words of the prophet and kill the messenger if the things they foretell do not happen (Duet. 18:18-20), we are told “Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test all things; hold fast to what is good. Avoid every kind of evil.” (1 Thess. 5:19-22). Mike sees the primary role of prophecy today as directed toward the church for the “purpose of encouragement, exhortation, and comfort” (pg. 96, 1 Cor 14:3). He also believes that we see fewer persons in the role of “prophet” and more who have occasional, or regular, prophetic words, or that “the gift of prophecy, the prophetic ministry and the word of the Lord are diffused and distributed throughout the entire body of Christ” (pg. 95).

For those of you who are still uncertain about what we mean by prophecy in New Testament terms, let me clarify. We are talking about everything from the subtle impression to pray for someone without having a specific reason to a word of encouragement or correction for a local church body or community to a prediction of future events followed clearly miraculous signs in the heavens or on earth.

“Usually people have no problem with the woman in the prayer group who feels a burden to pray for someone, who senses the Holy Spirit leading her prayer, and who states that God is ‘impressing’ something on her hear. All of this is in a package that most people are familiar with and understand. But if she speaks up during the Sunday morning service in her non-charismatic church and loudly proclaims her revelation interspersed with ‘Thus saith the Lord,’ she could get a significantly different response. Here are the same message, but delivered in a very different package” (pg. 101) While we are not advocating everything that this book says, we

So the question Bethany and I have been asking ourselves and each other is: what role does God intend for prophecy to play in local churches today?

We are instructed “not to despise prophecy” and told to “…be eager to prophesy,” (1 Cor 14:39), but this rubs against much of our (Bethany and my) traditional evangelical training. Is the evangelical church at large missing out on hearing from the Lord in a powerful personal way? Or are Mike and others like him way beyond the bounds of what is Biblical?

BTW: my summary of Mike's definition of the essence of prophecy is, revealing the heart of God to His people and to unbelievers.

What do you think?

Happy Birthday Zooie!!

2011-03-13T08:42:00.001-07:00

We have decided that we should not be given access to computers, cameras, the internet, or the world at large, because we are slowly descending in a state of consistent silliness! Since for some unknown reason these necessary steps have not been acted upon, we will continue to bombard you with our jovialities (Bethany's word of the night).

On a more serious note ...lalalala... (or not), Zooie's (Chelsea's sister) birthday was March 12. Having offhandedly mentioned that fact to Pastor David, we "celebrated" Zooie's birthday today as a church. This included a special prayer during the service, and cake for the youth meeting after service.

Since Zooie was not here to officiate her birthday party, I (Chelsea) was the "surrogate" birthday girl. My duties were:

1) Receive the birthday card and song
(they sang all three verses twice while I was fulfilling the second duty)

4) Display photo of the real birthday girl and her family

5) Extend birthday greeting and wishes for a blessed year to Sister Zooie from:
the Hebron Pray House Believers (our Indian church)
Pastor David and his extended family
all the HBA evangelists and their families
and from us

We would also like to extend the same greetings and blessings to Bethany's sister, Shannon, who birthday was on March 10th.

The only reason that your birthday was not celebrated at the same time was because it did not come up in conversation.

Upcoming Schedule

2011-03-10T23:02:00.000-08:00

Hi family and friends!
For all who are wondering, "What have those crazy gals been up to and what are they going to do next?", I can answer at least one of those questions for you! Below is our plan for the remainder of March. *Disclaimer: Plans are subject to change without notice according to the will and guidance of the Lord as outlined in James 4:13-15.

For most of the mentioned events, we will be doing a combination of speaking, singing, praying, and other ministerial pleasures. Feel free if the Lord lays it on your heart to pray for His presence to go before us and dwell with us and fill all who open their hearts to hear Him.

March (remaining) schedule:
13th - Participating (and teaching) in our local church body (Sunday School, Service, Youth)
13th - Skyping with GECC (after their church service)
16th - Cottage Prayer meeting (weekly meeting)
18th - Women's Fellowship meeting (weekly prayer)
20th - Local church (Sunday School, Service, Youth) - "Let us not give up meeting together" (see Heb. 10:24-25)
21st-22nd - Pastor David is gone for a conference
23rd - Village meeting (Bavimitta)
24th - "Missions Day" meeting at a local Baptist church
24th - Village meeting (Kondaigunta)
25th - Woman's Fellowship meeting
27th - Local church (S.S., Service, Youth)
27th - Village meeting (Potaretty)
28th-29th - Overnight Village visit (Chitavelu)
29th - Village meeting (Walasa)
31st - Youth gathering at a local Baptist church

Deep Breath...

2011-03-04T05:15:00.001-08:00

One of the coolest things (to us) about all these pictures and stories is that they're all mine and Chelsea's. We took most of these pictures ourselves and we were there for all of these happenings. I never thought I would have such a collection of memories like this...Wow; Can't wait till Heaven when I can understand all the details I missed and all of the past and future events surrounding the moments in time that we were a part of. Thank you, Lord.

Cultural overload!!!
(In the best sense of the words)

I have never experienced a tornado and hope that I never have to (…except maybe at a distance because I’ve always thought they look amazing and show the power of our God), but if I had to describe the feeling of my brain from this past weekend and week (and probably Chelsea’s too), I would say that my mind looks like a messy child’s room: some great windstorm has whirled in and scattered everything. I need a mother to come in and tell me, “Bethany, what have you been doing?!?! Clean up this mess this INSTANT!!! You’re grounded until everything is put back in order!” Yes ma’am! :)

Let’s see if I can sort everything out. Care to help us out?

Hmmmm… first items; I believe they all belong to Saturday night’s Memorial Service. Our host family’s father, David, is fourth out of five children. The oldest child, B. Evan Rufus, died last year on February 26, 2010. In the Indian culture it is customary to hold a funeral shortly after the death, and then to hold a public 1^st Memorial Service one year after the death (the following years will be small, family gatherings to remember the person). Rufus was well known in the community and highly respected by the Christian leaders as well as many of the famous musicians of India. He was a talented musician and a well known personality. The platform at the service was full of many dignitaries from various churches and several formidable artists also shared their talents in honor of Him. Chelsea and I were allowed to watch the program from the audience, but were not excluded from playing a part in this service. We were called upon to share from the Word a message of condolence and then asked to sing in Telugu and English. We spoke from Isaiah 57:1-2 and sang an old and well known song (even in India) called “I’ll Fly Away.” At another point in the service, I (Bethany) was also called up to sing a special memorial song which my father’s college friend, Jim Hall, had written after his wife’s death, called “Hallowed Be Thy Name.” We were greatly honored to be allowed to attend this cultural ceremony and the dinner which followed. We were introduced to almost the entire extended family and increased our understanding of Indian relationships.

Family Relations:

For example, they consider their grandparents’ siblings’ children and grandchildren to be their own cousins (this makes for a HUGE family tree). If any of their immediate or distant cousins are significantly older or extremely influential in their life, they will refer to that person as their Uncle or Auntie as a term of respect (this has resulted in Chelsea and me using terms like “Cousle” as personal clarifications of relations). In addition, since the English word “cousin” does not denote male or female, they say “Sister Cousin” or “Brother Cousin,” but when they are being lazy in their speech they will just say, “This is my Sister/Brother” causing us to believe that they have 6 more siblings than we originally understood. It’s all very confusing and requires a great deal of clarifications (“This is your father’s brother’s son?”) if we really want to understand how the family is organized. Feeling overwhelmed? Us too :), but we’re glad to be getting to know all these people, regardless of their blood relationships.

Messages from the Lord:

Sunday afternoon was spent enjoying one of the largest family lunches we have yet participated in here. Grandmama’s 3^rd(?) sister and brother-in-law sat with us during the meal, telling us about a number of miraculously answered prayers which the Lord had granted them in the past few months. They told of fasting and praying for their needs to be met and the Lord answering without them having to tell any person. That Uncle repeated over and over how we must fully commit ourselves to turning only to God for our needs; then He will answer them to the fullest. But as long as we keep our eyes and limbs out to catch what resources we can on our own, God will not honor our “half-trust.” Following the meal, we sat with David’s oldest sister, Joy, who told us story after story about how the Lord had promoted and protected her from being slandered by the people of the world. She did not turn to any person in her sufferings and loneliness but only to her closet—behind the closed doors—where she met God alone and sought His direction and advice. From that place she watched as He shifted circumstances in order to meet her needs and to honor her in the presence of her enemies who were put to shame. She encouraged us to not get full of the details of life while we are here, but to remember our big purpose is to know our God better and to do His will and tell others about Him. We definitely needed that reminder and were very much encouraged by both these believers.

Let’s see what else is tucked in the corners of my brain and need sorting through…

Sunday Morning at Church:

Sunday morning dawned bright and warm (as every day has done since arriving), though it came a bit too early for our liking after such a late night on Saturday. Due to the heat of the afternoons and the onslaught of mosquitoes in the early evening, most Indian events do not start until 7pm (meaning that they actually get underway closer to 8pm) and—with meals and all—finish around 11pm or later. But! The Lord graced us with strength to complete our responsibilities for the day with joy and energy.

Morning Sunday School was a dizzying affair as we taught about Joshua and the Israelites’ “battle” against the powerful city of Jericho. As has become our style here, we had the children act out the events of the story. Chelsea fortified herself in a walled box of chairs and called out insults on the parading Israelite Sunday Schoolers. I appointed one pretty little gal to be the angel of the Lord and a young man to be Joshua. Several others were priests with “trumpets” and a parade of little desert nomads following behind. Following the instruction of the angel (as prompted by Joshua 5:13-6:5), little Joshua led his band of misfits around the imposing city and its defender. On the “seventh” day they marched around the city seven times, thanks to the careful counting of our translator, and then blew their hand-horns and gave a loud shout. Down came the ancient chair-walls and poor, defenseless Chelsea was overrun with eager Israelite invaders. We closed this memorable capture with reminders from Hebrews 11:30 (the great city was taken by faith; not the stamping of their feet) and from Psalm 105:43-45 (God granted them these clearly unique miracles and gave them all the blessings of a place to live so that they might keep His commands).

During the church service, Chelsea shared about the true meanings of Grace and Peace and why the Apostle Paul prayed this over the recipients of every single one of his letters. Briefly, but clearly, she explained the freedom to serve Christ that comes from living by grace rather than works and the way that God meets our deepest needs through His kind of peace (not the world’s kind of peace). My two favorite quotes from her message were:

“Grace is the opposite of works. As long as we think we can earn salvation,
we will only think about ourselves. Once we understand that there is nothing
we can do to earn God’s favor and we are only saved through the love of God,
then we will stop thinking about ourselves and begin to think about God.”

“Peace is untroubled, undisturbed, well-being and rest; not from the
world—based on possessions, money, status, and success—but
from Him and being in His presence.”

Sunday, after church (from Chelsea’s perspective):

Sunday morning came a little too early after a late night on Saturday, but we set about getting ready with hearts glad to be alive and serving the Lord.

For the youth meeting, we were the cultural overload. Since arriving we have sung many songs in English on various occasions. One of the favorites has been “Our God is an Awesome God,” so Bethany made up a hip-hop style dance for the youth since they really enjoy “action songs.” When we asked the kids if they had ever heard of hip-hop, the answers were all “no,” except for one. When asked if they had ever heard of rap music, there were a few more “yes.” Given their previously uneducated state, you can imagine the teenagers had an amazing 40 minutes learning a basic “drop step” and the actions to the chorus and first verse. While Bethany was busy teaching (and sweating) in 90+ degree weather, I was being challenged in another way, since I was the vocals for this great dance class:). Anyone who knows me, knows that while I have a decent voice, pitch and rhythm are not my strong points, so this was definitely a growing experience since I was mostly without even a drummer. Praise the Lord that the Indian’s don’t appear to care much about pitch – that has definitely been God’s grace on my life.

I’m glad to report that everyone enjoyed learning the song and dance (including David’s eldest sister, Joy), but I’m sad to report that because we were both occupied with the teaching we don’t have any pictures of Bethany while she was instructing the dance class. Here she is though, looking cute and flushed, afterward as she asked the youth a few questions to make sure they were not just dancing around, but were also understanding the power in the words they had been singing and dancing to.

Official Indian Betrothal Ceremony:

Sunday night we attended the betrothal ceremony for a young lady in our church. After a few months of prayer and discussions between the two families, they have finally determined that this is a good match for their children. Since fully arranged marriages are so foreign to our American minds, we have been asking many questions as well as processing what it would be like to be a young woman whose marriage was arranged. How would I feel to be committing my life to someone who I barely knew anything more than basic facts about?

The ceremony opens (late at night as usual) with the young man and his family arriving at the girl’s family’s home, the yard of which has been decorated for the occasion. He sits in a decorated chair at one side of the front table. The young lady (early twenties, usually) is escorted out by her sister(s) and close friends and sits at the other side of the table. She is dressed in a beautiful sari with many traditional jewels and flowers on (remember, it is a sign of womanhood to wear a sari and many girls aren’t allowed to until they are about to become betrothed). Songs (for which we joined the stage), prayers, and messages are a part of the program and then gifts are carried out from the man’s family and placed on the table. Among them is a gorgeous sari which stands as the official offer of marriage. The girl stands and receives these gifts (with the assistance of her girl friends and family; we also assisted in carrying her gifts into her family’s house) and then she departs into the house. More music serves as the interlude during this dramatic time (“Will she accept the marriage???”). And then, from out of the house emerges the beautiful young woman, now dressed in the offered sari, signifying that she has accepted the match. An exchange of rings and elaborate floral garlands and the ceremony is over. The next hour or two is devoted to feasting and pictures (of which we happily participated in both). The newly betrothed couple is now considered essentially married in the commitment level of the word, though they will not become married as we understand it (living, sleeping, financial, etc.) until the solemnization of their marriage in a few months (which we will also be here to witness…and probably be a part of). What a lot to think about and process coming from our culture where we’ve understood all our lives that we get to chose our marriage partner and the timings for everything.

Women’s meeting in a village:

Monday evening we traveled out to a village south of Nellore where they had arranged a special women’s meeting just for us. On the trip out there we spent time in prayer and worship asking the Lord that His presence would be in our hearts and come out through our words and actions. We felt so insufficient speaking to a bunch of married, village women whose lives were so much different than ours. But, through the faithfulness and wisdom of the Spirit, we were able to deliver an appropriate, encouraging and convicting messages about misunderstandings of Jesus and the need to fully repent and open ourselves up to His leadership. The message came out of John 4 in the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman. Though we understood that we were speaking primarily to believing women, many of the women clearly responded to this message in their lives and we also felt great peace from the Lord that we had spoken as He guided. Following the meeting, we experienced another cultural awareness moment: visiting homes. Because the meeting went late, we were unable to visit all the homes that requested (Lord, please guard their hearts from being offended by us not visiting and so destroying the message they received), but we did stop in a few houses for a meal, snack, and times of prayer for the families. I have never been in a culture that is so quick to give hospitality in exchange for special prayers and blessings. This is something that I am still processing with the Lord and unsure how He views this type of “exchange.”

Final thoughts to be processed before this mess in my brain is all cleaned up:

Wednesday was spent at the home of one of our church members here who owns a sewing machine (it’s foot operated, which absolutely amazed Chelsea…if you’re looking for a unique, antique gift for her…). They helped stitch some of our donated clothes that needed resizing, fed us lunch, gave us trinkets and other little gifts, and overall, blessed us to an entirely overwhelmed state. After spending most of the afternoon at that house, we stopped in for a short visit to another church member’s house where they also covered us with many more gifts; we didn’t know what to do with ourselves. Again, in both of these homes, they did all these things in exchange for our prayers. We gladly prayed that the Lord would bless their homes with His presence and that He would provide for their needs and give an abundance in accordance with the measure of which they in turn bless others with the gifts they receive. As we walked back to our house from these visits, we examined ourselves and realized we had been showered with “Bangles, Blouses and Bouquets.” We felt that we had been sufficiently “Bejeweled, Bedecked and Blessed.” (Catchy phrases compliments of Miss Chelsea Arnold).

Thursday (yesterday) was spent in an Evangelists’ Meeting here at the church (HBA). All of the 23 evangelists are working under HBA and receive training and minimal support from the organization. For this meeting, they had brought in a teacher from Global LEAD, which is a Christian organization that seeks to train Pastors and Christian leaders to properly handle the Word of God and live out their Christian responsibilities. Because many Christians across the world are like these evangelists—ignorant of much spiritual truth and unprepared to balance their relationship with God, their families, and their ministry/organizational responsibilities—Global LEAD provides material for free and training for reduced fees in order to build up strong Godly foundations in newly Christianized areas.

The Windstorm has been taken care of!

Whew! I think my mind is clean! Horray! Thanks for taking that journey with me. In addition to my mind being clear and ready for more, our home is also a little cleaner. Chelsea spent the morning washing laundry and doing dishes while I was being lazy and typing (big smile). We love that we can share these responsibilities of communicating abroad and taking care of our own household needs. Now we are off to participate in a brief literacy program meeting and then to the Women’s Fellowship (prayer meeting) this evening.

Until next time:
Andariki Vandenalu
(Thank you all so much for reading all this)

As Sure as the Sun Rises and the Rains Come...

2011-02-25T02:18:00.000-08:00

“In repentance and rest is your salvation,
in quietness and trust is your strength…”
– Isaiah 30:15

This verse just might be the epitome of this past week for Chelsea and me. Due to varying circumstances, we have spent much of this past week in quiet contemplations by ourselves. As we’ve been quietly reading, praying, studying, talking, memorizing, sleeping, processing, and the like, we have become very sober and humble. We have been holding ourselves up against the life of our Lord and finding many areas wanting.

“Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.”
– Psalm 139:23-24

Repentance has been the result, and we are driven to rest in Him alone; then we find Him working out our assurance of salvation and our boldness of spirit. Despite our attempted solitude, we find a constant barrage of unexpected situations, wrong understandings, and future unknowns assailing us. We are learning every day to walk with a quiet, trustful spirit in which the Lord and His communications are our only dependence. Bless the Lord for the loneliness—mixed with constant demands—we are facing here. Without it I would not have to face these tests.

----------------------------------------------------

How can you help but loving the family here? See:

(RAR!!! It's Nethan the Ghost!!!)

(Q: Who's scaring who?)

What have we been doing here?

Last Friday we were informed in the morning that we would be accompanying Pastor David to see the final day of a literacy training program. Something in us told us to dress up a little even though we were expecting to go to a village. Low and behold as we were driving through Nellore in David’s Jeep, we stopped at the local Salvation Army campus and had their two Majors (heads of that division of the Army) join our travel. Then we pulled up in front of a large Catholic education center where we were ushered into the office of the presiding Father of the church/school. There we met a Sister (who has become very dear to our hearts even in that short visit) and were introduced by the Father to a stately man: the Bishop of Nellore. After a brief visit the entire party moved to join the closing ceremony of the literacy training program (where several hundred teachers have been receiving materials and instruction). We met several other prestigious people and were ushered a seat in the front of the room where we could observe everything taking place and be observed fully by everyone. Fortunately, we don’t think Pastor David told them we were coming, so we were spared any gift receiving or speeches. However, we did sing for everyone and help hand out awards. It is wonderful to see so many people working together to see this helpful program move forward; we do wish we could have seen it from a less conspicuous position ;) but like I said above, we are learning to walk in quietness and trust in every unexpected situation. Following the ceremony, we joined the Bishop and S.A. officers for a delicious lunch—the first one we have been at where everyone used silverware. I chatted happily with the Bishop through much of the meal and with the Majors during the traveling. Praise the Lord that we are all, in truth, “nobodies” and can interact without fear with any human beings: for it is God alone who is great.

(Attending the Literacy Training Program's closing ceremony)

Saturday was a flurry of activity here at home base. About 40 workers came to the church yard to assist in pouring the slab for the roof of the parsonage. Half again as many people were there as most of the Dayasagar relations took the day off from work or school to witness the great event. We all prayed and conducted an informal ceremony of pouring in the first dishfulls of gravel for mixing the concrete. From about 11am till 4:30pm, these busy men and women poured and pounded, mixed and hauled, smoothed and tread and re-smoothed the giant slab that secures the well-being of the family that will live under its protection. And it looks like it was a success!

(At last, the parsonage is getting it's top put on!)

The roof now has to cure for over two weeks with standing water on it. I think even the weather has taken an active interest in the proper curing of this building. Since the day of our arrival, we had not seen nor felt a drop of rain from these clear, sunny skies. But, Monday evening the wind began to pick up and the sky started to change. We began to hear in the distance the deep drumbeats of an ancient and powerful army advancing against our weary fort. By six they were near enough for us to feel the hopelessness of our situation as we had been surrounded and the flashes from cannons were seen every few seconds. And LO! upon our upturned faces poured an arsenal of blessings as the sweet, cool rain washed away the weariness and we danced and spun on the top of the church. This blessing was repeated again on Tuesday and for two evenings we threw open the windows and let our hot and stuffy room receive a blessing of cool, fresh air.

(We're all wet from the rain; horray!!!)

Going back to Saturday night: Chelsea’s back took an unfortunate turn and landed her in a state of forced R&R with the remainder of her body and mind disliking such arrangements. Her humble servant and nurse (me ;) had to go to great lengths to satisfy the young patient and keep her still. We thank you all so much for your prayers and suggestions. The dear patient suffered well and has been rewarded with a gradual but pleasant recovery (thanks also to the Yoga training from our beloved Indian mama: Suhasini). With Chelsea being incapacitated (I almost wrote indecapitated…which would have terrified many of you and caused several nightmares…) on Sunday, there was a large list of activities left for me to perform alone: 1) teaching Sunday School (Luke 18 – the Pharisee and the Tax Collector); 2) sharing the message during Church (James 4:6-10 on drawing near to God and humility); 3) leading the Youth Meeting (and teaching on Purity); and 4) spending the afternoon with the extended “family” to let them know we love them and so that they didn’t think we were unsocial guests. I was exhausted by the end but rewarded by the peace of the Lord and the pleasant smile of my long-suffering roommate.

David left on Sunday night to translate at a Baptist conference for the week, leaving us in the capable hands of his wife Suhasini, Grandmama, nephew Abishaek, and any other helpful neighbors and extended family who would take part in caring for and entertaining us for the week. Aside from the above mentioned laboring with the Lord, we have engaged in many hearty activities: video chats with our loved ones back home, writing reports for David and our own records, reading a variety of books from the Bible and in addition to, prayer and deep conversations, getting accosted by various street children while relaxing outside, playing games with Suhasini and the boys, and laundry day (yes, I now understand why in the older days people would say, “every Thursday is laundry day…” because it really does take a long time! For just doing laundry for two, it takes many hours of washing, a full day to dry, and time to take down, iron as necessary, and put away… whew! Fortunately, we double-task by memorizing scripture, spending time in singing worship, or other spiritually helpful manners.) We are also preparing for several events coming up this weekend and next week which you will hear much about later!

(Studious Bethany, working even while the power was out)

We close with an evening spent in the entertainment of Pastor David’s sister, Premalatha, and her family: Chandana, Rohith, and Rinish. We had a lively time with Chandana during yesterday (Thursday) afternoon and relaxed in their home during the evening until we went out for an early dinner at 9:30pm. We arrived home with no incident and chatted until after 1am when we finally retired our weary eyes and slept fitfully.

(All dressed up to go out for dinner!)

Who knew that resting could be so much work! ;)

Our love to you all. And our prayers that you, too, will be growing ever nearer to our marvelous Lord through every situation as you learn to repent and rest, be quiet and trust.

Andariki Vandenalu!
(Thank you very much for reading all of this!)

Backs and such things

2011-02-21T03:14:00.001-08:00

Praise the Lord! My back felt much better this morning (Monday) when I got up. I'm still sore and stiff and it's going to be tough not to over do it, but thankfully we've got a pretty mellow week ahead.Thank you so much Lord my quick recovery, and thanks for Suhasini, who insisted that I do some stretches last night and to Bethany for making sure that I stayed quiet yesterday and not letting me go stir crazy :) Thank you all for your prayers!

As I spent time in bed yesterday, I was reminded that pain is a good thing. It lets us know when we're hurting ourselves so that we can change our behaviors. This applies to my back and to my spiritual life as well... just thought I'd share with you a few of the meditations of a bedridden missionary in India:)

I'm so glad to be up and moving around again... though slowly

Grace and peace to you all!

Please Pray

2011-02-19T09:41:00.000-08:00

We have two prayer requests; the first being the most urgent...

Chelsea threw out her back earlier today and is in some pain. Please pray that the Lord heals her and allows her to sleep tonight. We have a full day tomorrow with a lot that the Lord has laid on our hearts. I don't want to have to do it alone, and she doesn't want to be stuck on a bed in pain for much longer.
Like I said, the Lord has laid many things on our hearts for us to be warring spiritually, for us to be speaking, for us to be acting upon. We want to be faithful servants. Please pray that the Spirit would give us strength to draw closer to the heart of our Lord; from that place shall come all that He intends for us to do. Tomorrow, in particular, is a new day, full of specific opportunities to speak what He calls us to speak. Please pray that we may proclaim the whole gospel clearly and fearlessly as we should.

Thanks everyone!!

///*//>>/ (Static) Transmissions to Follow

2011-02-18T02:13:00.000-08:00

17.02.2011
Local Time (GMT +5:30): 1122
Neelagiri Sangam, Nellore, India

Report # 4027336.1

BEGIN TRANSMISSION

Ambassador Bethany reporting:

//>*/`*/// (Static) W e have returned to HQ after a 78 hour absence. Phase 1 of mission /**/>//*//`/ was successful. Phase 2 is pending lab results and the results for Phase 3 are under surveillance. Our soldiers are weary but have received extra rations from Sergeant B.D. Dayasagar through the provisions of our Commanding Officer.

Ground transport departed at 2125 on 15.02.2011 as scheduled. First attempt at shipping cargo by train was successful and sufficient space was commandeered for all parties to bunk down //*/``*//>/ for the 10 hour transit time. During the move, the Ambassadors were briefed with additional linguistics by the Sergeant and with training instructions by the Commander of the Heavenly Forces. All supplies arrived safely and in excellent condition.

END TRANSMISSION

17.02.2011
Local Time (GMT +5:30): 1149

Report # 4027336.2

BEGIN TRANSMISSION

Ambassador Chelsea reporting:

We arrived at the drop point without event and were greeted most warmly by the mission liaison office. As the preparations were proceeding according to plan, the soldiers were able to rest for several hours before beginning the active portion of the mission. //+|**// All supplies and intel were received promptly and in abundance thanks to the excellent work of the ground team led and organized by the Lieutenant General Helper.

//’**/>/ As you know, the objectives of this mission were training and morale support of ground troops, recruitment of local forces, and strategic planting of time bombs, which will one day prove very effective in advancing the “global initiative.” All these objectives were accomplished with great precision and success due again to the outstanding work of Lieutenant General Helper. New material presented from the “Training Manual” included portions from the section addressed to the soldiers in Rome (1.11-1.16, 3.10, 3.23, 5.8, 6.23, and 10.9) on the origins of our global initiative, those written by our Advisor Solomon in 1.7 and 8.13 on proper respect toward our Commanding Officer and lifestyle befitting soldiers, and section 15.11–15.24 as recorded by the noted Doctor Luke //*>’/**//. All will prove extremely valuable to the ground troops. Additionally, the morale of the ground troops was raised by the efforts of our soldiers and ambassadors in music and song.

END TRANSMISSION

17.02.2011
Local Time (GMT +5:30): 1314

Report # 4027336.3

BEGIN TRANSMISSION

Ambassador Bethany reporting:

We received a tour of the /**`//~/^// camp and report that all facilities have been outfitted beyond expectation. Because of the temporary peace, ground soldiers have been given time for physical training in addition to moral and tactical training. We received high honors and entertainment from the new recruits who displayed their patriotism through songs and dancing. The Lieutenant General Helper’s orders are being carried out diligently and the new recruits are improving significantly in their comprehension of the “global initiative” and the application thereof. However, both the new recruits and ground soldiers require significantly greater rations of the Lieutenant General’s guidance as required by section 16.7-16.13 of Advisor John /*//`/>>///*’s manual. Please submit the necessary paperwork for rush processing of this request.

We report that both Ambassador Chelsea and Ambassador Bethany’s personal speeches were of great value and encouragement to the attending troops. Sergeant Dayasagar also delivered a rousing speech and gave out important supplies to the soldiers and camp officials. Many soldiers showed an immediate improvement of their personal behaviors and a greater devotion to the “global initiative.” We hope that through continued guidance from the camp officials and the Lieutenant General’s supervision, these standards will continue to increase.

As evidenced by this report, Phase 1 of the //`/**//>/ mission--including the delivery of weaponry, the training and moral support of ground troops, and the calling and encouragement of new recruits--has been highly successful.

END TRANSMISSION

17.02.2011
Local Time (GMT +5:30): 1437

Report # 4027336.4

BEGIN TRANSMISSION

Ambassador Chelsea reporting:

Transportation back to HQ proved to be more challenging than we initially thought. Due to crowded conditions on the train, there was inadequate space for the personnel in need of transport. However, the kindness of the natives allowed all to have a relatively comfortable, if crowded, journey and if this is the greatest inconvenience during this assignment, we will consider ourselves very blessed. Soldiers and personnel arrived back at HQ at aprox. 17.02.2011, 0245 and were immediately assigned to their barracks for rest.

As of 0530, normal operations have been resumed at HQ for all personnel recently deployed, including oversight of ongoing construction of new facilities, maintenance of current resources, and research and development.

END TRANSMISSION

17.02.2011
Local Time (GMT +5:30): 1437

Report # 4027336.5

BEGIN TRANSMISSION

Surveillance photos taken during our recent deployment:

Further transmissions will be made as necessary.

END TRANSMISSION

17.02.2011
Local Time (GMT +5:30): 1538

Report # 4027336.6

BEGIN TRANSMISSION

Lab Results: After careful observation, Sergeant B.D. Dayasagar received the report that the recruits and ground troops were greatly encouraged by the training and resources provided by on the orders of the Commanding Officer. Phase 2 of //^/**/>// mission is complete. Phase 3 surveillance will continue as specified by orders.

END TRANSMISSION

…

We hope you have enjoyed our attempt to provide you with an accurate military-style report on our activities for the last 3 days. Please bear in mind, neither of us has had any military training and we were simply challenging ourselves in our writing skills, so any resemblance to actual military reporting methods is purely coincidental. :) The inspiration for this style of update comes from Christ’s call that we be ambassadors for Him and Paul’s admonition that we be faithful soldiers. If you do not understand any of the references or you are concerned about our mental health as we continue overseas, please contact us directly.

Train rides, here we come!!!

2011-02-13T06:41:00.000-08:00

Let me begin by making a formal announcement:

We will be traveling and at a crusade/retreat next week (10-hour train ride each way…traveling evening and night, of course, since it’s much cooler at that time). As the Lord directs you, please be praying for the Lord’s presence to be in and among the people attending (mostly Christians but obviously many non-Christians as well since it will be in a large “village”). Pastor David will be a speaker; there is a likelihood that we will also be speaking at a women’s session or more, though we are mostly there to observe …and probably be observed (*Sigh*). All of that to say: “DO NOT PANIC!” We are absent from our correspondence by design, not foul play :)

These past few days have been a strange mix of relaxation and high-intensity work; mostly the former, though — and "Yahoha stotrum" (Praise the Lord) for that considering our schedule for today (Sunday) and the coming week.

All today and yesterday we have been rocking out to the sound of the ultimate garage band. HBA’s “RON Band” has been practicing (across the street, in the church building, with the sound cranked way up) for a concert they’ll be doing on Monday. They’re a very talented group of men and we pray that their giftings will draw people in to hear the message of the gospel through their witness. We will not be able to attend this concert since we’ll be hours away. In addition to the band, we have also been listening to teachings on Biblical history and culture in order to understand the style of thinking which influenced the writings and actions of the Biblical writers and historical figures. As we are studying the roots of our heritage and especially the earthly life of our risen Lord, we are being challenged and inspired in our own lives. This training of our own lives is providing fuel for our witness and preaching to those around us. It is wonderful to be poured into in order to be poured out of again! I would recommend to you that whenever you study the Bible and are taught new life lessons, you immediately look for a person or group with whom you can share. Without this outlet, I would often forget many of the important lessons which have been given to me.

Mmmmmmm……………

I’m going to go out of order here and jump back to Tuesday night. We had a first-time experience for both Chelsea and me. I’m going to include snippets of our journal entries to tell the story:

“Tuesday afternoon we went to a village that had an established HBA church with a building. One of the two Pastor/Evangelists can speak halted English which is a bit of a relief for me. We were greeted by a dozen or so kids who were singing for us. What a joy and eagerness these believers have. In this place we also felt a great spiritual tension [side note: I don’t know if you’ve ever been in a place where you feel a wrestling that is separate from emotion or thought; I don’t know if I’m being technically correct, but that’s kinda what it was like for me]. The Lord had laid on me to speak from John 17 about eternal life in Christ—the knowledge and communion with Him is what gives value to eternity. While we were all still singing Telugu songs, a slightly odd-looking man walked in. He was very tired with a worn red shirt and uncombed hair—the look of someone who had worked in the fields for several long days, living on “smoke weed” and cleaning up in the nearby pond. He seemed a little dazed and began talking quietly to the room of people. Suddenly, his eyes began to grow wider and wider. His voice got louder and faster and he began pointing and shouting. It was in Telugu so we could not understand what was being said. [We found out later he was essentially shouting “I know Jesus, I am Jesus, worship me!”] …I had watched him as though it were someone outside me observing it all and pouring into me greater understanding then I myself could get. I saw the evangelists—not moving from their seats—speak quietly to the man, instructing him to calm down and sit; which he slowly did. He stayed through my entire explanation of eternal life in Christ Jesus but would cover his ears whenever I specifically spoke about knowing Jesus as our Lord while we are on this earth. Chelsea said she felt like an angel was behind her keeping the man in his place …I did not pay much more attention to that man specifically; my words were for the believers, to encourage and teach them. But as I was speaking, I also wanted the evil spirit in him to have to hear the true words about our Lord Jesus Christ that are so offensive to it; and I wanted the man’s spirit—which was made by God in His likeness—to receive these words of life. Lord, may you set him free!” – from Bethany’s Journal

“Last night a demon possessed man came into the meeting. I was sitting facing the front door and I first saw him just walk passed and I knew there was something not right about him. He came back a little later and came inside. As soon as he walked in all my attention shifted to him and I started praying. I didn’t know exactly why for a few seconds. He took a few steps into the room and then his eyes got really big and he started to shout in Telugu in a deep voice. When I asked David later, he said that the demon had been shouting, “I am Jesus.” As soon as his eyes got big, I knew he was demon possessed and I started praying for real. I could feel the Spirit rising inside of me as he was yelling louder. I felt the Spirit reach His fullness inside of me and just as I was about to stand, the man stopped yelling and one of the evangelists told him to sit down. I don’t have anything to back this up, but I sense that the reason the spirit quieted was because of the presence of the Holy Spirit in me, and probably in others, became too strong for him. The entire rest of the time he was there, the man kept staring at me and staring passed me. Bethany was speaking and he would watch her or David for a short time and then he would look back toward me and his eyes would get bigger. I think there was an angel standing behind my seat, presiding over the meeting and keeping the spirits in line. …Again I have nothing to support these feelings. At any rate, I am going to be praying much more for our protection and filling with the Spirit as we travel out to the villages.” – from Chelsea’s Journal

We write all of these things not because we want to make a big deal of the spiritual realm, but because we know that most of you—like us—probably have never witnessed a physical display of spirits. We hope this both clears away some of the mystical aspects and opens your eyes to the reality of the presence of spiritual beings and activities. May the Lord grow us in maturity and keep us from foolish thinking in these interactions.

Whew! Let us not let such conversation make us weary for these aren’t our battles and the Lord is our joy and strength. :) Continue with me in reminiscing over the past few days.

...
...
Very exciting (for us): we have spent much time cleaning our rooms—especially the bedroom—and decided to rearrange the beds and such to create a lovely sitting area. Do you like it? Isn’t it peaceful?! We sure are enjoying our “breakfast-nook/music-room/study-hall/dinning-room/media-center/etc.” The family keeps teasing us that they should act as our room service: “What may I get for you, ma’ams?” Pah! If they’d let us wait on them then we’d let them sit at our table more often :)

And, lastly, on Friday evening we had a lengthy prayer meeting at the church. It was absolutely wonderful to spend so much time in prayer with other believers from the fellowship here. We spent some time in worship and a little bit of teaching and then prayed until just after midnight. We spoke from Ephesians 1:7 about Paul’s prayer that the believers would be given the Spirit of wisdom and revelation…( an amazing blessing to receive; what could it be for?)…so that we may know HIM better! It requires this great Spirit in order for us to comprehend even a little more of the greatness of our Lord. I, for one, gladly accept the request made to God that I as a believer would receive this great Spirit. Please, Lord; I want to know You better!

We look forward to connecting with you again next weekend!

Andariki Vandenalu
(Thank you all so much for listening)

Laundry, Villages, and Birthdays... oh what a busy life!

2011-02-08T08:10:00.000-08:00

After nearly a month, we are beginning to develop a routine here. We awake about 7 am and spend time with Jesus in the morning. Before he leaves for school, Havilash is usually our delivery boy and brings over breakfast and Indian tea on the mornings we aren’t cooking for ourselves- which is every morning right now because our gas is needed in the “main kitchen.” We usually see David first thing in the morning so that we can discuss the schedule for the rest of the day – it’s kind of like having a personal secretary, he takes care of our schedule.

On the days we are home all day or until evening, we study our Bibles and prepare for longer messages, write in our journals about all the Lord is teaching us, speak with our families on Skype, play with Nathan and Havilash, write these updates you so enjoy reading :), and get house work done… especially laundry and cleaning. It still takes us a very long time to do our laundry… think 2+ hours of washing and rinsing and ringing out once or twice a week. (I (Chelsea) have decided that doing laundry for my family at home would be a full time job requiring at least 4-5 hours on a daily basis. Mom- aren’t you thankful for washing machines!)

On the days we travel out to a village, we spend extra time preparing/praying for the day in the mornings. Saturday and Sunday were this kind of day. We visited a different village each day (so far there have been no repeat visits to villages). Saturday evening we met with a small flock and held a short service in the open air. They have a space they are using for church gatherings, but it is small and was very hot in the evening, so we moved outside where it was cooler and there was more space (this has the added advantage that everyone nearby can hear what it being said whether they are attending the meeting or not).

Sunday, after children’s Sunday School (conducted for the first time in all English with the children helping to translate if some didn’t understand), church (where we did not teach this week – it was wonderful to just sit with the congregation and enjoy spending time with the Lord, I don’t know how pastors do it every week), and youth meeting (also English only), we had a short rest and lunch and then we were off to another village. This was our first meeting in a thatched church (about 10’ x 13’), we didn’t have much chance to get pictures of the “building” itself, but you can see the interior in the pictures we got while the service was going on.

It was our great delight to share the Word of God with our brothers and sisters from Psalm 16:8 (Bethany) and 23 (Chelsea) and to share with them in the Last Supper. Before and after some of the children showed their skill in traditional Indian dancing, it was really wonderful! Just look…

We also have a major praise report: Last week, Bethany and I were discussing our need for some additional Indian style clothing since we have been rotating just a few tops and bottoms, especially things which are appropriate for wearing to the villages. Saturday before we left for the village, our neighbor and landlady, called us over and gave us about 10 of the long shirts and several pairs of pants which are perfect for wearing the to the villages, or any other time. Sunday evening while we were visiting the family, David’s niece, also gave us a bag of her things she no longer wears. We both feel like the Lord has been showering us with blessings… especially since we did not even ask Him directly, but were just discussing it among ourselves.

Shout out to Bethany! All the clothes needed to be washed as they had been sitting in drawers for some time. She has spent many hours in the last two days rinsing clothes so that everything we have smells and looks fresh and clean! Thank you! You’re the best!

Yesterday was an “at home day” and we spent it mostly doing the above described activities. But in the early afternoon, Pastor David brought us a special treat. A package from home (Chelsea’s family) and a letter (from Patrick).

My mother couldn’t believe I left home without it!

Today is David’s mother’s 77^th birthday! Last night, everyone stayed up and David’s youngest sister and her three children came over and at midnight we ate cake and sang “Happy Birthday.” Did you know that there is more than one verse to “Happy Birthday?” I didn’t before I got here. The additional verses say, “May God bless you dear,” “Many greeting to you,” and “Happy long life to you.” So the next time one of us is around for your birthday, you should ask us to sing you an Indian birthday song. Another interesting Indian tradition is that all the guests must feed the birthday person a bite of cake. I innocently asked if people ever get cake smeared on their face, and was informed that only happens to children and then told “apply cream (frosting) [to your face]”

We are off to another village this evening, so I must leave you for now.

Grace and peace to you all!