# 7 Central India 11/2/09
After leaving Rajahmudry I traveled to Hyderabad, here I will be with the Rev. Susanta, Executive Director of India Missions Association, a ministry that is bringing all the various ministries of India together to reach India for Christ. We attended a conference on “Influencing the Influencers”; Rev. Susanta lead this conference with leaders from various Indian Ministries in attendance. This conference dealt with reaching the Influencers of our world for Jesus Christ. In many areas of the world we are reaching the lower class people and in some areas the middle class, but we are not reaching the upper class people, the decision makers of the world! This conference lasted for two days with much discussion and the guest speakers shared about influence. The guest speakers were Christians from various professions; they shared how they have been influenced by others and how they are being used to influence others. This was a challenging and insightful time for those in attendance; it was an eye opening experience for many of them. Many strategies were discussed to identify these influencers and the appropriate approach to transform them for Christ. What a change this was from the previous week’s ministry where I had been very busy traveling, visiting, preaching, encouraging and many other activities and events. I was able to slow down and participated in the conference dialogue, it was a time of refreshment for me. I knew the next part of this mission would require the out-pouring of encouragement and God given vision to others in need. Susanta and I caught the evening train out of Hyderabad to go to Nagpur, our train reservations were not together on the train, but we were able to get it worked out so we could travel together. The train ride was without much event, except when we finally arrived in Nagpur it was 2 AM. We were picked up and taken to Pastor Mondal’s home where we stayed while in Nagpur. Pastor Mondal is the regional director for National Fellowship; he oversees 75 fellowships, 8 pastors and 39 workers plus he pastors 6 of the Fellowships. He does not classify any of the fellowships as churches, because they do not have facilities; they meet in homes and in common areas. Morning came early, with Susanta going to a Youth Conference and Pastor Mondal and I heading out to visit some churches. The village churches we were visiting were about 4 hours from his home – each way. This part of India seems to have more undeveloped areas than any other area I have visited. The roads that we traveled, had very few towns or villages along the way; with large cattle ranches, rice patties, peanut fields and other crops waiting to be harvested in between them. When we made it to the first village church we had a church service and then we had a small snack. Pastor Mondal said that the next church was waiting on us so we needed to go to that service and then eat. After arriving at the second church we had another service with praise and worship then I shared with them from God’s Word. Many came forward and asked us to pray for them. Afterward we had a meal, I was very hungry as I had not eaten since early morning. They served us rice, fried bread like tamales and chicken curry. After we ate we headed out to yet another church village. By this time it was getting dark and as we turned off of the main road I could not see very well, but it seemed that we were traveling through a large open area. We crossed over a few other roads, drove through a small river and finally got to the village. Once there we traveled through the village to where it seemed the road ended and came to a small very primitive house, made out of thatch and mud. It was probably one of the most primitive I have ever been to, yet it was a very blessed and welcoming place to be. We went inside to a rear room, passing through a bedroom, which had goats tied up for the night. I found out that the pastor had heard that we were coming and had asked the people to come and wait, some had waited since 4PM, it was now about 7:30PM. I felt embarrassed, yet honored, that they would wait that long just because they wanted to have a service and spend time with me. Another humbling experience! My thoughts and question went to the Lord asking Him: “What are you teaching me, Lord? I hope I am learning what You want”. The service was very special with praise and worship before I shared from the Word of God then ended with praying for each person. Each church we visited had times where a few believers would stand and share about how blessed they were that I had traveled so far to visit them. A side note: When I had shared about traveling over 30 hours to make it to India, this fact did not register that much with them. You see they spend 30 hours traveling to many places in India, so traveling 30 hours was no big deal. What relates better to them is to share with them how far it is from America to India. That fact is life changing for them, it is hard for them to understand or comprehend traveling from such distances and ending up in their small village on the other side of the world. Many people had never seen or been around a white person before, let alone spend time praying and talking with one. I noticed many times when I would pray for people, as I had my eyes closed, people would come up and touch me to feel my skin to see if there was any difference. Many places I have visited, I noticed as I would speak, there would be many that would just stare and listen as they had never heard English, or maybe another other language than their own. The children loved to come up and touch me and want me to touch them, my thoughts went to the Bible story where the children wanted to come and be with Jesus. Many times I would kneel down and look them in their eyes, talking to them and praying over them. They would just look, smile and listen. Oh, it is such a humbling yet exciting experience! It was after 1AM before we made it back to Pastor Mondal’s home. It had been another long day filled with many ministry opportunities, many blessings and many life changing events. When we made it back and I got into bed, I reflected over many of that day’s and earlier days events . . . thanking the Lord for the opportunities to minister, but felt even more blessed of how I had been ministered to! Sunday was a much easier day, there was an 8:30 AM service that the pastor went to without me, he thought I needed the rest (I did)! At 4PM there was a service at Pastor Mondal’s home, around 60 people crowded into a 12 X 16 room. We had some great praise and worship before Brother Susanta preached an inspiring message which was followed by the Lords table and then people coming up front for me to pray for them. Fellowship followed that with a meal, everyone stayed around until about 8:30 PM before leaving to go home. Within the city limits of Nagpur is the center of the state of India, they call it zero mile. Monday I left Nagpur to travel back to Kolkata, where I will be visiting some churches in and around Kolkata plus make preparations for the next group’s arrival on November 9. The group leaves the States on November 7 – please pray for them and us as we travel around India, reaching out our hand in Christian fellowship and in sharing about our Lord and Savior. [caption id="attachment_220" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Pastor Mondal and family and Richard"]
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[caption id="attachment_221" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Wide open areas in central India"]
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[caption id="attachment_222" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="First Church service on Monday morning - Central India"]
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[caption id="attachment_223" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="2nd Church Service on Monday - Central India"]
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[caption id="attachment_224" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="3rd Church Service on Monday (in a very primitive home in Village "]
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[caption id="attachment_225" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Bedroom in primitive home"]
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[caption id="attachment_226" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Children waiting to be blessed"]
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[caption id="attachment_227" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Village Children - Central India - What a blessing!"]
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[caption id="attachment_228" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Service at Pastor Mondal's home"]
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[caption id="attachment_229" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Service at Pastor's Home"]
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[caption id="attachment_230" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Some Church Members in Nagpur Church"]
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[caption id="attachment_231" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Painted cow"]
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[caption id="attachment_232" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Woman Carrying bundle on head - notice boot on top, Central India"]
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[caption id="attachment_233" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Richard at the Center of India"]
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