Bangalore Recap: Part 1

It’s now been three days since we left Bangalore.  I want so much to hold on to all that God revealed to us—all the grace received, all the blessings experienced, love shown, hope grown.  Out of all that God taught me the past two weeks, I think what will stay with me most is the examples of Christ found in the missionaries and pastors of IEC.  Larger-than-life visions blooming into fruition, unshakeable faith and answered prayers, faithful, obedient, useful, usable, reliable servants reflecting Christ in every action and word.

The last time I blogged, I informed you all that we would be traveling to villages surrounding Bangalore for about four days.  Those four days turned into six days.  In other words, our supply of clothes, baby wipes, and snacks were tested.  Those days flew by though because each day was so full of… amazing goodness.

The first village we visited was Nanagondlu.  We arrived just as Pastor Joseph’s Sunday service was ending and had an opportunity to preach the gospel, do an encouragement song, and lay our hands on each individual and pray for them. 

Then we went straight into our medical ministry.  We set up shop inside Pastor Joe’s home.  Not long after, came the “attack”.  The people were so eager to receive medical services that they began crowding in and soon, we had to barricade the door.  Faithful servants from the KCM team, including PR, sacrificed their bodies (lol) and used their strength to keep the people out and attempted to keep them orderly.  At first, we were overwhelmed and discouraged but we were challenged to think about the ministry of Jesus.  People from all over came and went to great lengths to be touched and healed by our savior.  It was similar in that many of these people were so “in need” of healing and reminded us again of our great purpose in preaching Jesus as the ultimate healer.

We were so busy this first day that we skipped lunch (many of us were so busy we were unaware).  We had to turn some people away as we put our stuff away and promised that our ministry would continue the following morning.  Then, we finally got a much-needed breather.  The men went to take a bath in the “MAGICAL LAKE”.  Ask them about it because all I heard from them was that it was absolutely “magical”.  There are no pictures to prove this, however.  All the girls had was the great outdoors as our bathroom [pic].  No running water.  Yes, we roughed it.

As nightfall came, all 22 of us packed into the church like sardines, had dinner, prayed, devo-ed, and slept.  In my opinion, those close quarters that first night led to the overflow of unity and foreshadowed the unity and seamless teamwork to come.

The next day went according to plan.  We saw more patients until the afternoon and then left Pastor Joseph’s church to go dedicate a church.  We took a rock, a cornerstone, with us.  We all packed into the bus and drove for a little while until we arrived at a field— an empty field of plowed dirt.  This was the church.  We were here to dedicate a plot of land, that in faith, would be a church full of worshippers in the coming years.  What an experience.  We put down the cornerstone to commemorate the beginning of this church.  We literally were a part of planting this church—the fertile soil would spring up believers in this community that has not heard the name of Jesus Christ ever before.  We prayed, in faith, knowing that God will gather his flock here in this village, and as we prayed and sang praises, drops of rain fell from the sky, then tears fell from my eyes—God’s mercies revealed.

After this, we packed back into the bus and drove some more.  The “older” GLMC team members went with missionary James and IEC staff to register more churches in the city.  And the “younger” GLMC team members stayed with the KCM team and had lunch.  Then we went to another village.  We ended up at another plot of land, this time full of weeds and poop.  It wasn’t a plowed field, but it was still a space where a church would soon be erected and believers would come and worship.  Huduguru— yet another village soon to find salvation.

Two church plants in a day.  Can you believe it?  We were all so blessed and overwhelmed at the mighty work God is doing in India and for the first time, I think many of us found hope.  We found faith.  We began to believe in prayer.  We began to believe in God’s plan for India.  Hallelujah.

Finally, we headed for our final destination.  We drove for hours on bumpy unpaved roads, watched the sun set through the bus windows and continued into darkness.  It was Christian Indiana Jones style drive with tree branches striking us through the windows as we sang praises and shared in long Christ-centered talks.  Finally, we arrived at B. Kotakota (spelling??)the village we would stay at for the following three days...

TO BE CONTINUED...  here: http://glmcindia.blogspot.com/2011/07/bangalore-recap-part-2.html

Please lift up a prayer for Pastor Joseph's church and the village.  Please lift up a prayer for the church plants-- that the gospel would be preached, that the gospel would be heard, that the gospel would be received into the hearts of His people.  Please pray that God would bring His sheep back to His fold.