This is my third trip to India since 1992. I went alone the first time and then again in March of 1995 with our Associate Pastor Will, and then again in November 1995.  This time I took our Assistant Pastor Elton and his wife Nancy with me, which was their first time overseas.

     I was not sure what their reaction to India would be. Some find it very stressful.  We learned of an Indian woman who had been raised in the States, who had gone back to India for the first time. She barely got out of the airport when she decided to cancel her three-month stay and fly straight back to the America. These folks are made of different stuff and absorbed the shocks very well. They were excellent travel companions.

     We would be traveling to what some say is the last frontier in India because it is so remote and backward, yet it is not hard in terms of the people we have found, as God has knitted our hearts with them. These Indians are tribal people who live in the mountain jungles much the same way they have for thousands of years.  They were not Hindus, but animists who, much like American Indians, believed in a great spirit, and in the reality of good spirits and evil spirits. They were former headhunters but now have begun to turn to Christianity in large numbers.  It is an amazing thing to travel deep into the jungle and come to a village where everyone greets you with "Praise the Lord!!"

     The tribal villages that we visit consist of a cluster of rust colored mud huts with thatch roofs. You often feel like you're walking in something you read about in National Geographic, until you hear them worshipping and praising the Lord. Most of the churches have started only in the past few years and are just now beginning to enjoy Pentecostal fullness.  These churches remind me of the sugar you are served in India. Coarse, brown crystals that have not yet been refined. The potential is there; it’s just early in the process. 

IT’S A PRIVILEGE TO SLEEP ON A BOARD 

     One of the requirements for going to India, or anywhere else for that matter, is to strive towards really being with people after Jesus own example. We should never hold our country or culture above there’s or look upon their customs with disdain. We should be as they are and do what they do, without drawing attention to it. My traveling companions did very well at this. They spoke to the people on their level and did whatever the moment required. They ate whatever was served them, eating with their hands from plates made of leaves. They slept on beds where the mattress was really just a padded plank, especially when you learn they gave up their plank for you. Best of all, they did it all without drawing attention to the fact that it was not the way they lived at home. I feel, as do those who have gone with me, which it is a great privilege from God to even be allowed to go there. The absence of conveniences and the rigors of travel fall aside after a few minutes of being in the company of our beloved brethren.  

THE LOVE OF THE BROTHERHOOD 

     1 Peter 2:17 says to "love the brotherhood".  The brotherhood is an amazing thing. One could travel the world over and find believers who will not only take you into their homes and take good care of you, showing amazing degrees of hospitality, but will also risk their own well being for yours. We are really complete strangers to each other.  It is hard to be a stranger, especially in a strange land, and India and China are strange places indeed. The love of the brethren brings out the best in you. It brightens every moment. There is no reason to go to India otherwise. They have nothing I want and have nothing I want to take home. It is only because we are with brethren that we are even able to cope with some of the circumstances we get into. Being with members of God’s family is usually the only time we feel safe. If you have ever experienced this you will know what I mean, otherwise it is hard to explain the wonder of it all. We were made aware of this because we were in constant travel for a month in India, Hong Kong and China, and experienced the same thing in each place we went.

     In contrast, we talked with other Western travelers we met along the way who had no one to greet them, no one they could trust, and no one on their side to help in the fight to go places. The only thing they had to look forward to was the name of some distant place which they would soon find looks the same as the last place they were in. I tried to tell them that it is the people who make all the difference, especially the brotherhood in Christ. When we described what our two weeks with our brethren were like in the Jungles of India…staying with a primitive tribe… eating native food…  sleeping in thatch huts; being able to fully trust our guides who rented our jeeps and provided all we needed... they looked at us in astonishment and whispered, “Who is your travel Agent?” We told them it was Jesus. 

REAL POVERTY 

     Of all the times to be in northern India, November is the best. Not only is the temperature near perfect for our northern blood, but also it is the time of the rice harvest. Everywhere you look you see a great ingathering underway. Women, dressed in beautiful colored dresses called saris, are bent over in the fields with a hand sickle cutting and stacking the sheaves of grain. Men, in turbans and skirts, drive ancient ox carts groaning under the weight of great loads of rice. Oxen plod in continuous circles as young boys prod them around and around the threshing floors. It is just like I imagine Israel was thousands of years ago.  What a rare privilege to see this picture right out of the Bible. While it is fascinating to watch, it begins to dawn on you that this is what real poverty is. It is not the absence of things, as we Westerners might think, but the incessant hard labor just to eke out the bare essentials. The Indian people are some of the hardest working people on the planet because they do almost everything by hand or with the most ancient tools. Tractors have only in recent years come to this district. Even the roads are paved by hand, usually by women. They first break the large stones to make gravel, then they spread it evenly for miles, and finally they pour boiling tar over it - all by hand.  When they are finished for the day, they go home to more hard work. They haul water and wood, cook under the most primitive conditions, and look after the children, and maybe have a small business on the side. If you like camping you would like India. Everyone does it all year long.  Even in the largest and wealthiest cities, such as Bombay, one third of the population, millions of people, live on the streets. It's hard to imagine.  

THE NEED 

     Our work in India consists mostly of traveling from village to village holding meetings for the believers. The goal is to encourage them and strengthen their hands in God. It has also become apparent that one of the reasons for my being there has been to impart the Baptism with the Holy Spirit to others.  There seems to be a special grace for this as it happens everywhere we go, and many have experienced Pentecost for the first time.

     There is a tremendous hunger for the things of the Lord. In one jungle village, we were just getting ready for bed when the pastor came to the door, and insisted that we come to the church and speak again. It was already late and we were exhausted because of spending the day in travel and ministry.  I told him this, and he looked down and spoke softly, yet firmly, "Sir, the people want more. They have not had enough.  At least come and sit with us while we pray." What could we say? We went, and were asked to speak some more. Later I went to my bamboo bed with a sense of joy in my heart.  

DEMONS BEFORE BREAKFAST 

     About 6:30 the next morning I had just stepped out of the building to sit on the steps and have my devotions when four men brought a woman who they said was possessed by evil spirits.  I had not even brushed my teeth yet. (Not that the demons would be offended at my bad breath.) We laid hands on her and prayed. She staggered back; looking rather stunned she sat down on the step. With no interpreter around at that hour of the morning we could not find out what was happening to her. After a while she got up, thanked us and walked off.

     Another time, they brought a young man to me who they said goes off into the jungle each month for about three days at a time, where he acts like an animal. No amount of training can prepare you for this kind of prayer request. You just do what Jesus would do and bank heavily on the grace of God that something will happen.

     The bulk of our time is spent teaching and praying for their needs. You just wade out into the crowd and pray for everyone and everything. They may ask for a blessing to be prayed over their children or that devils be cast out of family members. Malaria is a common problem. People may have cancers and wounds or strange diseases such as leprosy. Sometimes their ailments could be cured with the simplest antibiotics if only they were available. (Taking in medicine will be a priority next time.)  

BURNED CHILD 

     One case that particularly moved us was a child from a village of lepers that we were visiting. She had been severely burned down her side from the armpit to the knee.  It looked as if someone had spread a half-inch of thick, black, crisp, burnt marshmallow down her side.  When the parents removed the rag for us to see the burn we were astonished.  With compassion, I laid hands on her fevered little body and prayed that God would be merciful to her and help her recover.  Later, when we told a local doctor about this girl, he said that he had seen her and there was nothing he could do for her.  

BRIDE BURNING 

     When we arrived at our home base, the place where we stay before entering the jungle, we were told that we would be speaking to the local church that night. As the time for the service drew near, we were informed that the meeting had been called off.  The reason for this was that it was raining and the people would not come out in the rain.  Then one of the men explained that the real reason was that there had been a death in the village and we should not be celebrating during this time. Someone else added that the death was a young woman who was accidentally burned while cooking. Later, we were informed that it was a suicide.

     In spite of how cryptic everyone was being about this woman's death, we did not press for more details as we were glad for an early night and rest after traveling for a couple of days to get there. Yet the story would not go away. One sister, who could speak English more freely, explained later in the week that the woman had been deliberately set on fire by her husband, and it happened close to the church so they did not want to hold services there. The story now was that the husband poured kerosene on his wife and lit it with a match.  The police did not investigate because apparently the man had paid them off and had thoroughly burned all of her remains to hide the evidence.  The village was in shock, but went on trying to get the harvest in.

     Since returning to the U.S., I have had a couple of items given to me that shed more light on this incident. First, I was lent a video of a report that had been aired on "60 Minutes" about the increase in terminating marriages by burning the wives. The other was an article entitled "Bride Burning" which was published in a March 1994 edition of U.S. News and World Report.  The article said that there has been a rash of "cooking fire accidents and stove explosions" since the 1970's. There were nearly 500 reported cases in l984 in Pakistan's largest city. What this really is about is the practice of setting women on fire in an effort to get rid of them.  What makes this especially brutal is that the in-laws often play a role in the burning of an unwanted widow, wife or daughter-in-law just to get another dowry from the next marriage.  A dowry might amount to ten times the yearly wage earned by the average Indian. In the case of the woman in our little village, it was not a dowry that caused the husband to set his wife on fire --it was a drunken rage. Fire was used because guns are not available and fire related "accidents" are the least contested cause of death. 

A REASON TO GO 

     One of the reasons for going to India twice in 1995 was to try and discern what God was requiring of us there. Since my first trip the native leaders have been asking if I would help organize their independent churches into a Fellowship. This is important to them because there is no indigenous organization there for these churches to join, so they want to form a fellowship of their own.

     At our leadership seminars, we met with over fifty pastors who have been without leadership, pastoral training, and financial support from the beginning. For some reason, they feel that this is something I can provide for them. This might be because I have been the only Westerner to go there.  For my part, I see the need but have been reluctant to commit to anything for fear that I would start something I could not finish. I do not want to create a hope that God was not intending me to extend to them. They are asking for pastoral training, which is something I am called to do, but to head an organization for them is a great responsibility. Not to mention trying to find financial support for the pastors and their families.

     One of the reasons for taking both of the other pastors from our church with me this year has been to help me objectively find the will of the Lord.  This time we talked a great deal about what would need to happen if we did this. We told them we would talk to our church board and let them know if it is something we can commit to for the long term.  It would require going to India annually to conduct pastoral seminars and give oversight to the organization. It would mean setting standards for fellowship and ministry and hosting a couple of regional conventions for the churches each year. It also would mean raising financial support for the pastors and their families so they can be sustained while ministering to their growing churches and reaching new converts. I told them that I did not have any money to do such a thing, but that God would have to supply.  It would only take about four thousand dollars a year to give all fifty of them a good annual wage, but it would do more harm than good if I began something I could not finish.  Our church board is committed to praying about this new opportunity and will seek the mind of the Lord in this. 

YOU WERE MADE FOR THIS 

     Before we left the States, our Churches small groups had written little messages on index cards and gave them to us just before we left. Each card was dated, one for each day we would be away. Each had a prayer, scripture, or personal word of encouragement written on it from someone in the group.  A few times, I was moved to tears by the message or the love that a note contained.  There was one in particular that gave me a special sense that it was inspired by the Lord. I risk sharing this here because we both know that there is no way the message will impact you as it did me.  It simply said, "You have been prepared for this and all it encompasses since you were a child". This blessed my heart, but a few days later the implications of it really sunk in. Our driver had refused to take us any further because he did not want to risk ruining his car on the rough jungle trails.  I began walking with my interpreter to the remote jungle village where I was to speak that afternoon. As I followed behind, the message from the card came to my mind again. With it came a collage of pictures from my childhood and early years as a believer.  The scenes flashed before me quickly and with it came the assurance that I was really made for this purpose.  I felt like laughing and praising God in the middle of the jungle.  A mixture of deep contentment and intimate pleasure filled my being. I had the rare joy of knowing I was walking out my destiny at that moment. The best part was that the incessant nagging that I might not be in God's will, which has dogged me since I first started coming to India, left me at that moment. Hallelujah!!