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Dear praying supporters,
On the trip to India we experienced extreme wonderful praise and enthusiasm from the 120 leaders, many of them new believers, at the training center in New Delia where we had the privilege to teach. This was a time of great freedom, joy and tremendous worship, lots of dancing and praising the Lord. The opposite was to abject darkness as we visited the devils strongholds in five cities where the people were worshiping Sheba the death god. To hard to explain the degradation of devil possessed people cutting themselves and praying to the dead with fresh graves all around. Whole families living in mud huts to be near the dead gurus. The contrast was darkness, hopelessness and all the people living in great fear.
What a wonderful gospel we have of love and forgiveness. Everywhere we went we prayed for the power of God to invade the darkness and bring His glorious light. Eph. 6:12 There were five on the team from the USA and we were accompanied by a pastor and four of his top leaders to pray for the raising up of house churches in these areas. The work of over there does not start anywhere without much prayer. We also met some of the leaders were from those areas.
Below is an daily account, but we can tell you much more as opportunities arise
Thank you for your prayers, we certainly felt the power of the Lord and none of us were afraid in any situation. The effectual fervent prayer of the righteous avails much. James 5:16 [KJ of course.]
Sunday February 3rd: The flights were long, the journey wearying and yet the moment we stepped outside of the airport in Delhi, 24 hours after leaving Seattle, I was exhilarated, the adrenalin kicked in and I was ‘on the roads again’. Nothing can describe the thrill of driving on the streets in India, in fact I am thinking about suggesting this to Disney as the greatest thrill ride ever!!!
Tuesday 5th: We arrived at the training center around 1:00 am, and were anticipating a day of rest to recover, but our wonderful host thought it important to share with the many ministry leaders who were there for a conference. As I walked up the stairs to the large conference center, I was overawed by the worship that was pouring out of the hearts of God’s people. I wept almost uncontrollably at times as God’s presence was permeating the atmosphere. These God-fearing people worship, really worship, and their version of Hallelujah raised the roof. 6 hours of rest and we were teaching! Our trip leader shared about hearing the voice of God in his inimitable and anointed way. I shared from Psalm 139 and the other team members powerfully shared the Word and their thoughts and testimonies.
Wednesday 6th: Another full day of being with the incredible ministry team leaders from all over northern India, teaching, praying, sharing, and ministering.
Thursday 7th: We left the center before 6:00 am and travelled by road for 7 hours to our next destination, Baudaun. The roads were not your typical roads over here in the US. We passed through village after village, thousands of people filling the streets, talking, sleeping, vending, in fact your imaginations could miss several aspects if you had not seen it with your own eyes!! Baudaun is one of the main Islam strongholds. Before we left Seattle I had a few encounters with the Lord and one of the things that came to me many times, was the word ‘underground’ which was affecting above ground. The moment we stepped in the area of the mazaar, I knew this was one of the underground areas. We were literally walking on the dead. Spiritual darkness loomed everywhere and as we prayed, the forces of hell were against us. The chanting and wailing was indescribable as the mourners “prayed” and performed rituals over their ‘ancestors.’ People go there to be close to their god but he brings no peace. I thought of the statement that we see on bumpers stickers - NO GOD NO PEACE – KNOW GOD KNOW PEACE. Peace was absent in these precious people’s lives. Freshly dug graves were all around – one with a dog sitting atop of it. Of course we attracted attention wherever we went and there were always hordes of people, particularly children, following us. One little girl followed the national pastor most of the time we were there, and as is written in the book of Acts, even handkerchiefs and aprons were conduits of God’s healing power, and so dear Kim gave this little girl the socks off of her feet. We prayed and now the rest is up to almighty GOD, for that little soul, whom HE loves.
Acts 19:11-12
11 Now God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul, 12 so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them.
We travelled to and stayed in a town called Bareilly, also a very ‘dark’ place. We did have a hilarious time at the end of the day as went to eat in an underground restaurant, with four waiters serving us - five people! Yet even in this less than desirable eating place, they brought bowls of hot water and lemon at the end of the meal, so we could wash our hands. Some parts of their culture, I love. They truly have servant hearts.
Friday 8th: Up at the crack of dawn (yawn) to catch the train to my personal favorite place – Lucknow. K's uncle was a missionary in this region over half a century ago, so it has always held a special place in our hearts. I could take pages to write about this amazing place, but I fear I may lose you. It is a Colonial city of many millions, the British seal all over it. There were times that I was proud to be British and there were times when we kept quiet about our heritage!! We travelled by vehicle to a place called Bara Bunke to visit yet another mazaar. The entrance to most of these mazaars is lined with food vendors and silk stands, where people buy the silk coverings to place on the tomb. (It is then taken back after the ritual, to the street vendor, to be sold to another unsuspecting person).
Saturday 9th: Still in Lucknow and prayer walking around the city walls and gates. Did I mention traffic before?? Well, Lucknow is the city to beat all cities! Imagine four lanes – two for each direction, packed with maybe eight lanes of different kinds of vehicles, not including the proverbial COW sitting in the middle. It always has a place of precedence. Cars, buses, trucks – small, large and everything in between, bicycles, scooters (no helmets for passengers) and there can be five or six people, or a nursing mother, or luggage, all riding on the back – side ‘saddle’ for the ladies! If there is a foot between vehicles, that is room for the family on the scooter to fit between the motorized vehicles! I was hoarse with laughter and screaming most of the time we were road bound. A red light is only a ‘suggestion’ to stop.
Sunday 10th: Well almost Sunday. At 11:00pm we boarded the overnight train for Varanassi. This was by far one of the most different experiences I have encountered. We had a six foot by six foot sleeping compartment, that housed six bunks, three on either side, and the space in the middle was were all the baggage went (for six people!) Just take a look at the size of your closet! It was hilarious beyond words and no sleep was had that night. I am sure we disturbed the whole carriage. Over two thousand people travel on one train. I will not go into too much detail re my experience in Varanassi, but for those of you who knew you were called to pray specifically on that day – a huge thank you for standing in the gap. I had such an overwhelming feeling of hopelessness and oppression while there. We walked down the streets, maybe six to eight feet wide, amongst untold squalor and filth, abject poverty, all in the name of religion. Oh, the deception of the evil one. We had to pray for me in the middle of the night and I could not go out with the team the following morning because the burden to pray was so great.
Monday 11th: I asked the Lord to lead me to something in HIS Word where I could get a glimpse of hope for this lost people coming to this pilgrimage city to wash in the Ganga River to cleanse them from their sins. I thought about the many millions of people that are seeing ministering angels and I turned to Gen 28:10-16 and read that passage. The verses that stood out to me were:
12 Then he (Jacob) dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.
16 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, "Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it."
I LEFT THERE WITH HOPE. God IS there. We flew back to Delhi that evening.
Tuesday 12th: Up at the crack of dawn again, this time driving for eight hours to Haridwar, the mouth of the Ganga. We had a wonderful divine moment on our way there. Traffic was at a complete standstill as there was a riot in a village ahead and no traffic was able to get through. As we were standing outside the vehicle a wonderful family of fifteen came to talk to us. It was a family group who were going to the pilgrimage city to say farewell to the grandfather. They started talking to us about their ‘faith’ and one little girl, I guess around eight years old, was very inquisitive. We shared about our faith, and we told them about Jesus. Well, this little girl would not let it go and kept asking that we tell her about our Jesus. One of our trip members asked them if their God answered prayer, because our Jesus did. As they were leaving I whispered to this precious child, that Jesus loves her, and all you have to do is say His Name – JESUS. Then they were gone! Seed planted. Haridwar was much like Varanassi and much prayer was offered up for this region. But this time there was hope that the angels would be ascending and descending and surely God was in this place, even when we did not see any evidence.
Wednesday 13th: Again up at the first watch, we headed up into the mountains to Rishikesh. Spectacular scenery, beautiful trees, blue sky and brilliant sunshine, though very cold at the early hour. This is the place that the Beatles visited in the 60’s when they became interested in Hara Krishna. It is a different stronghold embracing new age philosophy, Buddhism and other religions. We prayer walked through this small tourist town where people from all over the world come to visit their ‘guru’. How lost people are, when there is one true living GOD that is calling to everyone to come. We travelled nine hours back to Delhi, several events along the way where God’s hand of protection was on us.
Thursday 14th: We spent a few hours in Delhi taking in some sites like the Red Fort and the India Gate. This was our only day ”off” though there is much warfare in Delhi also. At 9:30pm we left for Indira Gandhi airport, the loudest most chaotic airport imaginable, leaving on the 1:00am flight to Amsterdam, where we were able to spend a few hours, walking around the city of canals, before our connecting flight to Seattle and arriving home on Friday afternoon 15th – 26 hours after leaving INCREDIBLE INDIA. Oh, how I love that country and its beautiful people. |