Our Thailand and India Outreach

This week started with an American celebration of Halloween on Monday.  Indian people had no idea what was going on as we walked around the mall downtown dressed up as Amish people, gangster, hippie and bums.  As if we did not already get enough stares this definitely added to the amount of people wondering what the heck we were doing!  It was so fun though and we also were blessed by the family we lived with who bought us 2 pumpkins to carve which we let our Australian Cassie and Norwegian Solveig carve into.  It was a first time experience for the both of them.

Tuesday through Friday we worked with an orphanage about an hour and a half away that housed "gypsy children" whose parents though some were alive, lived in tents in the mud and therefore believed the orphanage could provide a much better home then they were able to.  This orphanage was such a blessing to work with.  We got to shower the children in the morning, wash their clothes, clean the house, help cook lunch, play with the kids  and help build a toilet all throughout the few days.  It was extremely tiring because these kids had SOOO much energy but also extremely rewarding!  We all loved being able to make lasting connections throughout the week instead of just moving from ministry to ministry.  During some of the off time the children also taught all of us Westerners how to play their favorite sports game Cricket!  We all made it out with only a few scrapes and bruises to be recorded!  They are such special children and we all by the end, though were tired, were so refreshed by the experience with these beautiful children!

On Thursday after working at the orphanage, we actually got the chance to pack up some rice bags and travel to the gypsy camp site where the children's parents lived and bless them with some rice.  We also were able  to pray for protection and healing for many of the individuals within the camp.  It was amazing to hear how God had already healed so many of them from sicknesses and disease.  While we were all praying for a man who had fallen off a motorbike and pretty much destroyed his knee we saw the Lord bring down the swelling in his knee and take away the pain of walking.  We are all just so wanting to see God's kingdom come to earth and though we have not seen a lot of physical results of healing, are encouraged daily knowing that all we can do is place the situation into God's hands and have faith that he is at work!  It was truly humbling to  see these people who had so little and we will continue to keep them in our prayers.

On Wednesdays and Fridays for this week and next week we are teaching at a Bible school at night about Hearing God's Voice, which was one of the topics during our lecture phase.  Though we all feel extremely underqualified to teach this subject in such a setting, God has continually shown up that his power is made PERFECT in our weakness.  During the practice time on Friday we asked them all to listen to what the Lord was telling them and it was AMAZING to hear all of their incredible visions the Lord was giving them and Bethany who some experience with visions and interpretation helped show them what the Lord often means with certain colors and animals and scenarios!  Also during our time their the translator was actually the director of the Bible school and a YWAMer himself, but he said God is so good because during his DTS one subject his school didn't teach on was actually Hearing God's Voice and he said he was learning so much through the teaching.  Praise the Lord!

On Saturday we left to travel about 7 hours south to these remote villages where we would stay for one night and two days to preach the gospel and evangelize in these villages.  These villages were SO remote that none of them had EVER even seen white people before.  Many of us received kisses and pinching of our cheeks and touching our skin because they were just so in awe of the difference.  We performed our Savior drama in the middle of the village and prayed for many individuals within the village.  We prayed for healing and blessing and salvation upon most of these individuals.  Though most were extremely receptive towards prayer, it is hard to judge where there hearts are at because the Hindu religion just accepts everything, including christian practices, yet does not limit their belief to God being the only God there is.  So we continued to pray that God would make himself known to all of these individuals.  In the morning we preached and did a short program for both the Large church and the children's Sunday school.  One thing that we could all agree on at this point is how Indian's truly know how to worship with everything they have!  They sing and shout and clap and jump up and down!  It is definitely different then the way us westerners are used to worshipping!

Yesterday (Monday) we all got to go back to our FAVORITE orphanage which houses about 25 children who are all HIV positive in different stages.  Though they all have this serious terminal disease, they are all filled with SUCH joy!  We loved every second of playing games, doing skits and DANCING like crazy with them!  We all agree that we are going to miss these children so much and will continue to pray that God will heal them COMPLETELY because God is that big!  He has no limits!  Later that night we went to the beach with the guys from City Rock Church, who we have worked with 3 or 4 times by now and have formed really fun relationships.  These guys are incredible and are just one big family that are all searching after the Lord!  We played Soccer, Volleyball and then some other games like Red Rover and what not.  It was really neat how just by being there and having fun, other people who were not a part of the church came over and played and heard about their church.  God has such big plans for this church and we were all sad to say Goodbye to them.

Can't believe that we only have 2 DAYS left of ministry here in India!  Wow how time flies!  God is so good and though these last 8 days of ministry have been extremely tiring, God has given us the strength to carry on!