Week 3 and 4

Alive & Well in India!

We´ve been in Chennai, India for two weeks. The family we´re staying with has taken great care of us by providing some Western meals (pizza, omelets, pasta, and steak), air-conditioning at night, and thankfully the electricity is not as dodgy as it was in Coimbatore.

Sunday: We went to two churches where we did our dramas, gave testimonies, sang some songs and preached. Marlena preached in the morning and Mariah in the evening. Both were naturals. J We spent time praying over people at the end & many people were healed in Jesus´name. After praying seven times for one man who was half paralyzed, he was able to walk without a cane by the end!

Monday. This was a bit of a day off. We relaxed and did something called “treasure hunting”. We broke up into teams and spent time walking through the city letting God lead us and praying for direction from Him.

Tuesday: Exciting day! Our staff from Australia had gotten the word Tirumala for our team. Tirumala is one of the biggest temple cities in all of India 3 hours from Chennai and it´s biggest festival of the year was today. It´s a day where people shave their heads to their gods, pierce & whip themselves to use the blood to mix with rice so they can “bless” their houses with the mixture. Before we arrived to the temple we had to leave anything “Christian” at a local house because if they found out we were Christians we could be put into prison. We even had to cover the Bible verse bumper sticker on the cars! We met a guy who two days before had been riding on a train when he almost fell off, thankfully someone caught him, but when he looked back to see who it was no one was there. He believes Jesus saved him and we were able to spend the day with him.  It was definitely a divine appointment, and we got to pray for him and speak into his life. We also got to hold a monkey! After we went to a village that was known for its spiritual darkness. Again we sang songs and did our drama. Some people came to know Jesus and again many healings happened!!

Wednesday: A celebration day to Courtney! We as a team tried our best to make her birthday a memorable one! We took the day off to go paintballing, after we swam in the Indian Ocean, we went to the mall for Subway & arcade games, and ended our evening with yummy chocolate cake. Happy Birthday Court J We love you!

Thursday: We were able to go to the hill where Thomas the disciple spent time spreading the Gospel and was martyred. We prayed a lot, and it was crazy to see all the shrines and the idols the Catholics worship there…in the evening we again went to a village. This one was of the lowest from the caste system and they were the UNTOUCHABLES. It was all the people that no one loved or wanted. We spent time praying door to door & God moved through healings. Through our drama, people accepted Christ. It was such a blessing to be there!

Friday: We had the opportunity to help paint & move rocks for the construction of an orphanage. It was one sweaty, painty, and dirty time. It was about 45 C, which is 119 F. We roasted. In the evening Oddvar gave a message for a Bible study & we went door to door in a fishermen´s village to pray over people.

Saturday: Once again we spent the morning painting. At night we went to another fishermen´s village where we did our drama & Courtney led the Bible study. A few beautiful women came to know Christ that night J

Sunday: Busy day! At the first church service Ben preached, right after we went to a youth group where Lukas preached & we spent time playing games, sharing testimonies, singing songs and praying over them. In the evening we spent time doing an open air. It was a time of trusting God since we could be thrown out of the country for openly sharing the Gospel. There was a big truck that blared music that we followed around. We would stop every so often & perform our drama using the truck´s headlights to see. It was a joyous time of prayer and being covered in dirt from lying in the dusty street.

Monday: Another day off! We went to a market where the girls all loved buying jewelry & sunglasses. After we went to the movies where we enjoyed popcorn, cheering & clapping during the movie, and even a 15-minute intermission. Also, we were all blown away by there being toilet paper & soap in the bathrooms! Woo hoo!

Tuesday: We spent the earlier morning helping lead a VBS. We played games, sang songs, taught them the Ten Commandments and a Bible story as well. After we went to a leprosy colony. It was heartbreaking & also incredible to share with them. We gave them rice and new clothes. We also spent time talking, praying, doing the drama and letting them know that Jesus loves them. In the evening we went to do slum ministry. It was quite an experience. We did songs, our drama, and shared a testimony in two different places. After we would pray for people and let God work through us. The coolest thing was that one lady gave her life to Christ that night…her husband was oppressed by an evil spirit, and she realized that no one could help him but Jesus Christ. Her face started glowing after she had prayed the prayer, and it was the most beautiful thing. God is awesome.  On a funny note, Courtney got attacked by tons of fire ants while using the squatty potty and Mariah got peed on by a naked baby! It was funny!

Wednesday: Happy Wednesday to you! This morning we once again did VBS. Lukas & Courtney did a fabulous job leading the time. We then went to the construction site of the orphanage to finish up the painting! At night, Marlena led a Bible study at the beach and it was a great time.

Thursday: Last day of ministry here in Chennai! That means last day of VBS. The kids loved it! We got to pray for each one of them and are praying that everything they learned about Jesus impacted them. Then we got to go to a bible study with some ladies in one of the biggest slum areas here in Chennai! The Holy Spirit started moving in beautiful ways during worship, and it was so tangible to all of us. No matter how different our cultures are from each other, there was such a connection in the spirit. We were all ready to go, but then something very unexpected happened. One lady came up for prayer that had been possessed by an evil spirit for the last year! And as we prayed for her she started manifesting as a snake demon. She wasn’t able to say the name of Jesus. We pressed in with prayer with the pastors, and by the end she seemed a lot more peaceful, was able to say the name of Jesus and pray! Pretty crazy but so cool to see what God is doing here! It’s hard to believe that our time here is pretty much over, and therefore half of our outreach! It’s been a challenging, hard but awesome time so far! J

Next stop: Lonovala!

Prayer Request:

We’ve been hit by all kinds of sicknesses the last days, it’s nothing major, but we would love prayer for health…Also that we´d continue to be unified and that God would give us energy & motivation!

We miss you all! God bless.

This is the guy we met at the temple (Tirumala)

Work day at the orphanage

Open air at village