Life Changing Words Ministry

Missionary Journal

November 20, 2004
Trip to Pune

We were delayed one day from starting to Pune. Seems that I shared a critical piece of information we needed done to the Pastor’s wife and he had failed to inform her of it, which created a minor family crisis. We gave the time to the Lord to allow for reconciliation and peace.

Pastor Paul came around noon to inform us that all was restored and his family would meet us at the Thane rickshaw stand. So we quickly got ready, had our lunch and started off. The pastor thanked us for helping him to see that he needed to include his wife in the activities of the ministry. [He is eager to do the work of the Lord according to the scripture.]

We headed for Pune Friday mid afternoon on the "air bus," which is not an air conditioned bus, but one in which the windows open, so you can have air all the way to Pune... along with all the dust. Yet the drive was scenic and the temperature became cooler as we headed to the higher elevation where Pune is located. It is about a ten degree difference with no humidity. It is quite pleasant this time of year.

Arriving safely after 7:30 pm., it again took us two auto rickshaws to get us to the house where we would be staying and a warm reception waiting. We were given the only bed in the house where three families were living together. With the six of us, the total persons to feed became eighteen with an occasional friend or two of the children who would show up. They said the house was 650 sq ft. on a piece of property 1200 sq ft.

We were in an area of lower upper class people. It was Diwali celebration for the Hindu followers and the younger generation had added lots of fireworks and the like which went on every night for nine days. However, in our area the extreme extent lasted only two nights. The exploding firecrackers were Rs 300 (almost $7) each and more for the ones that exploded in the sky. The Hindu followers spent hundreds of thousands of rupees for their celebration. The noise made me wonder how it sounds in Iraq and drew me to ask for the Lord’s mercy for all the people there.

Amid the sounds of celebration outside the chain-link fence surrounding the property, we gathered on the floor of the "hall" on mats to have a prayer meeting followed with the evening meal before bedtime. [We frequently were not able to sleep since we ate too close to bedtime, so I used the time to pray some more. Sometimes, but not always, we can catch a nap in the afternoon to refresh ourselves.]

Saturday and Sunday were completely full days for us. The program for teaching Kingdom Living was scheduled for four sessions a day, starting at 10 am and going through to 5 pm. However, in reality, I held six totally because on Saturday, they surprised Bill with a birthday cake and some skits with songs. There were more skits and special songs that were not on the schedule. Here, as anywhere, you have to walk in forgiveness or just be plain flexible.

The sad part of the trip was that the pastor of this group of people was clearly not interested in their well being spiritually. He sat outside during the seminar, unwilling to be blessed. He did not carry a bible, nor preach from one, nor did he know the name of the last person we led to the Lord and for whom he had given his wife’s New Testament. He had even moved an hour and a half away from where the church meets. The longer we were in his church, the more his motives were revealed, and the more grieved we became for him and the poor, innocent, young believers who, at great sacrifice, invited us to their homes for meals, or to come for prayer for their humble living places in the slum and for family blessing. It is clearly so correct when Jesus said we would know the tree by its fruit. Pastor Paul and Florie tried to encourage him to do what is right, but he did not listen to them. How sad, and he wants a successful ministry? Lord have mercy on him and those who are of his flock. The people are so precious and new in the Lord...

I was grateful for the rest day on Monday, but the term was to mean that we would not be going anywhere else that day. I spent a lot of the day interacting with the family we were staying with. Counseling "using God words" was second nature and expected. The Holy Spirit revealed a lot of things and by the time we left Pune, the family had restored relationships, reconciled marriages, and salvation had come to the entire household. Praise the Lord for His blessings of love. Even the jeep worked while we were there, so we laid hands on it to continue to be the blessing it was meant to be.

The house owners are social workers in the Pune area. They took us to the Kashid slum area. Pushpa works with the people here to help them learn to do basic home skills, money management and sanitation habits. The organization she works through (SPARC) provides loans for fixing up the huts until the government arranges for an apartment building to be built (takes two years) for them. But in order to have an apartment, the slum dweller must provide that they have lived in the area since 1995, they have a ration card, electrical hookup with paid up receipt, and other such documentation showing proof of residency. Then they will be issued a document that states the apartment is theirs for a twenty year period in which they may not sell nor rent it to anyone else. After the twenty years, they can renew under any new provisions that will be in effect then. The goal of the organization is that by 2007 there will be no slum huts in Pune. Pushpa has been working with this small village and the whole group of villagers are believers because of her help and love for them.

Because of the work of the Lord and while we were there, two accidents happened involving two believers. I was giving the message when people began to leave to find out what happened. We began to pray immediately. Later we found out a man was taken to the hospital with what they thought was a broken leg. The second accident involved the child of the lady where we ate food. He was knocked down and his front teeth were knocked out.

From this place we stopped at one Pushpa’s coworker’s for a rest and tea. After which we were deposited back to the house for dinner, counseling, and prayer before bedtime.

On another day we visited the Union Bible Seminary campus in the morning. It is one of the oldest seminaries in Maharastra. It was started in a small village some 60 km north and then shifted (moved) to Pune because of its convenient location to foreigners who were not willing to go to a remote region. It is located on a hill within Pune and has a pristine and quiet environment for study. They have an audio studio that they would like to add video cameras sometime in the future.

Next on the day’s agenda was the drive to Mukthi Mission. This place was started by a lady who was converted from the Hindu Brahmin caste. Her fervor for the lost started with an orphanage for girls and infants and grew to include the blind girls, who were taught the skill of basket weaving, and mentally handicapped girls. We watched as an American lady from Connecticut taught the mentally handicapped to make candles and decorate them. We toured the kitchen and prayed for blessing on the food and for the children. They fix over a 100 lbs of rice a day for the girls and staff. They don’t short cut anything for the children; the food is good and well balanced. In fact, the girls get better care than if they were in their natural environs.

We headed out to see the Wagholi project that our homeowners are a part of. Actually, they invested into an 8000 sq ft piece of property that they want to use for social work. They took us there for us to dedicate it to the Lord and for His plan for it. The driver got disoriented and we were lost for two and one-half hours. We just declared it to be a sightseeing tour of the country side where we got some beautiful shots of the sunset. [The natives joked about the fact that the 2 ½ hour delay would have taken them to Mumbai by motorcycle.]

Desperately needing a potty stop, we found the bibleless pastor’s sister’s house. It turns out that within ¼ mile is our destination. So after finishing our tea, we headed there. The jeep was situated to shine the headlights onto the property and four people stood at the corners of the stone-outlined land. We prayed and dedicated it in the name of the Lord. Our day’s mission was accomplished with much joy.

Wednesday evening service was told to us to be an anointing service. We weren’t sure what he meant. But Bill preached the gospel and when I was to lead in prayer, the Holy Spirit had another idea. I prayed as directed with an avenue of repentance and forgiveness among the attending members. Pastor Paul and Florie felt the same anointing from the Spirit as they indicated after church.

I experienced such an attack of the enemy before it was my turn. My ankles were burning under my sari. At first I didn’t think anything of it because I always have muchars (mosquitos) biting on me. But I looked down at my arm and saw them covered bites. After church I looked at my legs when I took my sari off and my legs looked like the spiders had a field day. I made Bill take a couple of snaps.

Thursday we continued to minister to the individuals at the house. As I said before the Lord did some mighty wonderful things for this household. We also gave scriptures on water baptism and words about the infilling of the Holy Spirit for effective Christian life. We encourage fasting and prayer here because of such influences from family background in idol worship. Seven people will participate in immersion on December 3rd when Paul and Florie return.

We are shifting to Pastor Paul’s home because the Padmini’s sister’s family has to stay here while their home is being repainted on the inside.