Connecting with People

Birthday PartyJalpaiguri ChurchMalta's HomeOpen Air Church BuildingBible Coloring books to the Kid'sInside ChurchLast church at darkTribal DanceWe were very busy over this particular weekend with many events taking place around the Siliguri area. Friday was the birthday for one of the children in the Children of Promise program; so that evening Sanjay (the National Leader & Pastor I am with at this time) and I had a cake made for her. Then we invited her and her grandmother, who is raising her, to Sanjay’s parents’ home where we celebrated her special day with cake and fellowship and we all sang happy birthday to her. She is very shy, but was very happy that we were actually celebrating her birthday with her. Saturday was very full with many activities plus it was Sanjukta’s birthday (Sanjay’s wife). We had to go get some gifts and a cake for her to celebrate. Then we had a lunch engagement with one of the families in the church who had invited me to come to their home for lunch. Later there was a wedding where they had asked Sanjay to be present and I went as his guest. I guess you could say I crashed the wedding … me, a wedding crasher, imagine that. It was a unique wedding to say the least, with a Christian couple getting married with mostly a western Christian style wedding and interjected with a few evangelistic elements added throughout the service. At the end of the ceremony the pastor then preached a sermon about Christian marriage as the couple took special seats on the front row. In the evening there was a cottage prayer meeting we attended. Next we picked the cake up for Sanjukta’s birthday and were heading back to Sanjay’s for the party when the newly married couple called and strongly requested us to come to a wedding party for a few special invited quests. We went back to Sanjay’s home with the cake and gifts for a quick party with Sanjukta, and off we headed to the wedding party. The wedding party included several Western people. Shortly after we got arrived at the private party, they asked me to pray for the food, as they had not eaten yet, I was honored to do so and ask for God’s blessings on their marriage and for the food before we all started to eat. Sanjay’s daughters and I spent most of that time together, while he and Sanjukta ate. Then we all started fellowshipping with the others. Two different leadership training ministries were represented at the reception. I believe my wedding & reception crash was a Divine Crash/Intervention. In spending some time talking with these two ministries it looks like we will be able to partner with them for Leadership Training. Finally the day had come to an end – the hours were gone. Tomorrow was just a short time away, with us off and running again. Sleep, sleep please come quickly. Sunday we were on the road again, and might I say, once again we were on rough roads. We were in the Jalpaiguri Church for the Sunday morning service and I had been asked to share in the service, and afterward we had a meeting with some of the church leaders. While in Jalpaiguri we visited a lady by the name of Mala, she is the widow of the previous pastor. He died suddenly about 2 years ago leaving her to provide for herself, son and her mother. When her husband passed away, we found out that he did not leave her with much financially, and we were blessed to be able to help her during that time. She is a very resourceful woman doing a very good job at providing for herself and her family; she has started a small neighborhood miscellaneous store to provide an income. She does sewing for individuals and even a few larger jobs making mosquito nets. She applied for government help to build her a home, and with some of the finances we gave her she was able to have nice little home built for her and her family. After our time in Jalpaiguri, we were on the roads again heading to Coochbehar, which would take us the rest of the day just to travel there. Finally we arrived, but we both were very tired. We started out early the next morning heading to several places around Coochbehar. We visited numerous churches and pastors, had the opportunity to meet some of the church congregations and talk with the pastors about their churches. I asked each to share with us their challenges, their praise reports, their needs and their prayer requests. It was a really special time of sharing and hearing from the pastors! You could feel God’s Presence all around you; hear the desires of their hearts, their praises and petitions. It is so wonderful to be allowed to be a part of something like this! It moves me greatly. When we left from Siliguri, we had loaded Bible story coloring books into the car. As we made many of the stops we dispersed them. I wish you could have seen all the smiles on these children’s faces as they received these books!! It was a blessing to see this! I know many more children will hear about the Lord through these books. The first church we traveled to was located close to a house in a rice patty. The story of how the church was started is that the lady who owned the land had a serious problem with her arm. She had gone to doctors and they said that her arm would have to be amputated. The pastor heard about her need and went and prayed for her and her arm. She received a touch from the Lord; her arm was saved with full and complete use of that arm. To show gratitude for the pastor coming to her and for the Lord touching her, she gave a small partial of land for a church to be built, which was close to her home. Also, for the divine touch she had received, she gave her life to follow Jesus Christ as her personal Savior! Afterward we went to the pastor’s home. We were asked to stop and pray for his sick wife. When we got to their home, we went in to see the pastors wife and it was evident she was in a lot of pain. We were told she had some severe boils on her side under her arm. We prayed for her, then we had fellowship for a short time with the pastor. His wife was not getting any better, so they got her ready and we took her to the doctor in our vehicle. At this point, we have not heard what the doctor said or how she is doing, but she was admitted to the hospital. Please pray for her! Next to another church, another pastor and his family; we had the traditional time of greetings and fellowship over tea and crackers. Then I asked the same questions to this pastor as I had to the others. He was very excited about his new church that had been started; he was working with the Rajbanshi’s, a difficult people group to reach. They now had four families in their church and were growing, with 10 ready to be baptized. His prayer concern and request had to do with visiting others around his church; he, his wife and their two children would many times visit people together. They did this on one bicycle, their prayer request and need was for another bicycle so they could reach more people for Christ. Needless to say, before we left this anxious evangelist family, they had the funds to go get another bicycle to reach their community for Christ! Lastly, we went to another pastor’s house and church for a visit. When we arrived there they were waiting on us to celebrate their son’s birthday, he turned 2 years old on that day. Yes, another birthday, there must be lots of birthdays in October . . . or the Lord is just planting me in front of the ones who have birthdays in October. Twelve hours later we arrived back to the hotel! These are long hard days, but they are so full of rewarding experiences. It is great to see the faces of those we visit and encourage – to pray with and to be prayed for. It is all about people helping people; working together as we connect and invest in the Kingdom. And in doing so, we see communities reached for Christ! Have you connected to someone lately? Do you need someone to pray with you? Call or email my wife if you need to…or call that special person in your life. Just contact them. And lift us up in prayer as we reach out to others in Christ’s Name! Blessings to you!]]>