EASTER

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!!

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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

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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!