February 14, 2008--Armur, IndiaHAPPY VALENTINES DAY to you all. American Greetings and Hallmark have managed to convince the Indians that they should join in the celebration too. (Men are pretty easy to “guilt” when it comes to their wives and sweethearts.) So people here will celebrate it today.
The accessibility of internet service has been much more limited than what we expected so I have not had much of a chance to post new blogs. Every city and area of India is different. Some cities have more accessibility, some less. Yesterday we traveled to Armur, north of Hyderabad about 170 Kilometers, and have an internet provider just one block from the hotel.
It’s getting hotter here. Up to 90 today. Sun is out. We ate lunch outside on the grass of the restaurant. Every day we eat the same food--spicy rice with spicy chicken, spicy veggies and side dishes of different spicy chicken. The spicy food is beginning to disagree with my stomach big time, so I'm beginning to pass on the food. This state of India, Andhra Pradesh, is known as having the spiciest food in India. Just my luck. I have to keep a cold bottle of water with me when I eat. Twice I’ve ended up chocking because the spices took my breath away.
We were at a church dedication this morning. 30 people attended. It was the church’s one year anniversary. We were also going to gather some villagers together and present the gospel using the Evange-cube, but the pastor told us that there was opposition in the village to any foreigners, so we decided to pass. The people in the church, and everywhere we’ve been so far, have been very friendly. All the children want me to touch them. The adults want me to bless them. I suppose they think the prayers of a white man have more power. Many of the little villages have never seen a white man. So it’s novel for them. We get lots of stares. One baby cried this morning when she looked at me. (MJ does too sometimes… but that’s a different story). Finally she warmed up to me and let me touch her before I left.
We are in Armur through Sunday. I teach each morning in the pastor’s seminar. It’s a blast and a privilege to teach the Bible among them. I'm getting the hang of speaking to them through a translator. They don’t get much of my humor ... but the few English speaking people and I laugh anyway. Each night we’ll do an Open Air Festival in a fairgrounds-type place in the evening, starting about 6:30 p.m. Done by 10:00. Then prayer ministry to many sick and diseased people…. Blind eyes, deaf ears, limbs that don’t work. One boy about 22 years old had only tiny, shiveled legs (polio) and was carried by his brothers for me to pray over him. It breaks your heart, yet they are so hungry for hope, and to know healing, and the God who can heal. Each night we see many miracles.
One pastor we visited in Challapalli this past weekend has had 36 different people in his church who have been raised from the dead over the course of ten years. We talked with a few of them who were around. Some of them have gone on to be pastors—duhh, how could you not?! There is so much spiritual ferver in his church that he has started/ planted 50 branch churches, each with their own pastor whom he has mentored.
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