After a few of false starts, our evangelistic meetings finally began. Each night service began with song service led out by the local pastor, Pastor Paul and different members and children joined him each night. The songs were sung in the native Telegu language, and were very lively as they were accompanied by tambourines and drums. By the end of our 2nd week, I was able to join in a few of the songs myself! 
Each evening we kicked off the night with a health talk presented by Mom. The community listened attentively as Mom pointed out the benefits of a clean and healthy lifestyle. She shared health remedies such as applying charcoal to absorb poison if bitten by a snake or eating crushed papaya seeds to alleviate digestive distress. She also shared tips on cleanliness such as the importance of washing one’s hands with soap after using the bathroom and keeping the animals out of the house. Each health lesson ended with a word of encouragement and a reminder that God wants all us to be happy and healthy.
Each night after the health talks, I would tell the children a Bible story. And each night the number of children grew exponentially as the word got out that prizes and gifts often accompanied the stories. The children listened with wide eyes as characters from the Bible came alive. I wanted them to hear the roar of the lions in the den with Daniel and see the blinding light that Paul saw on the road to Damascus. Our final story was about Jesus and Barabbas in the judgment hall. Pilate asked the people, "who shall I release to you? Who will you chose? Barabbas, a robber and convicted murderer, or Jesus King of the Jews, in whom I find no fault at all? Barabbas! Barabbas! They shouted, again and again.” They chose a convicted criminal over Christ. Who do you chose, I asked them? Each day, by your choices, by your decisions, you chose either Christ or someone else. Who do you chose, I challenged them? I chose Christ they said.”
In order to enable them to learn more about Christ, we also showed “The Jesus Film” each night, a movie on the life of Christ. The culmination each night was the message delivered by Dad. As you know, Dad is not a pastor or professional preacher. Yet he delivered the Word each night with simple yet powerful messages of hope and healing. Global Evangelism provided the sermons and power point pictures that he used. Through prayer and study, he then delivered the Word in a powerful way making them his own.
The people of India are very spiritual. Hinduism, the religion practiced by the majority of the population have thousands upon thousands of gods. There are hindu temples in virtually every neighborhood and in many public areas. In one community we visited a small town less than 5 miles long had 365 hindu temples-- one for every day of the year!
So when we began to share about the King of all kings and the God of all Gods, the people wanted to know more. Many of them learned and accepted Christ for themselves.
The very last night, all 3 of us all preached the final message together. We shared about the realness and the beauty of heaven and told everyone that we looked forward to seeing them there. I think the whole village came out to see us off. We had the largest crowd ever. Everyone was so kind, so appreciative, so sincere. They express their love and friendship for us in words and also prepared a special a meal of rice and curry. It was super hot (as in spicy)! As soon as Dad ate one bite his face turned red and his eyes begun to run. Mom was smart, she politely pushed the curry around on her plate and ate the rice. I decided it was our last night with our new friends and I would do the best I could to eat it. After all I’m from the Caribbean and used to spicy, how hot can it be??? Whoa!! I could barely get down the first bite. After the first nibble I had to drink a whole cup of water. My whole mouth, lips and throat were on fire! I was told later that the hotter the food, the more special it is considered. (The number of chilies correlate to how they feel about a person? ) They must of thought we were great because the food was hot! I got through most of it by identifying the chili peppers, and avoiding them as best I could and guzzling water after each bite. I was feeling quite proud that I had eaten most of what was on my plate, when the hostess came by and saw I had eaten it and insisted on filling my plate with more. My “oh no, thank you no, I’ve had enough, it was wonderful, but no more thank you” went unheeded. She proceeded to pile up my plate with more rice and very spicy curry. Needless to say, I did not make it through the second roundJ
On our way home, we spent a few days sight seeing. It was exciting seeing many historic and exotic places. But by the last two day we were really ready to come home! It was a challenging trip, yet very rewarding. We experienced many real, actual miracles, (the kind you read about and wonder if it is really true-- it is!). We saw God work in wonderful ways and are forever shaped and have grown from this experience. I highly recommend trying it out for yourself! If you would like more info about how or to lend your support to this project, drop me a line at email: encourageministries@yahoo.com.
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