The Windows of The Soul

As we visited one of the outreach centers on Friday we were allowed a glimpse into a ladies soul thorugh her eyes. Those eyes I can not forget. After we finished a service , a lady was brought to us for prayer of healing. Her son had been born blind and she was also a widow, she desperately sought God and his healing touch. We layed on hands and prayed for her and her son. I caught a glimpse of her as we prayed. She was wringing her hands and her eyes were frantically scanning for any sign of her son's restored sight.

God did not chose to perform a miraculous healing, at least not instantly. One of the pastors explained to her that God works through many ways. He told her maybe healing would be through an eye donor, a miracle, or other means. She was very grateful for our prayers and concern, yet those haunting eyes.......they showed a soul desperate for God and for His intervention.

Looking into her eyes, i could see a troubled soul. The thought hit me, aren't we all like this lady? We long for God and for that moment when we connect with Him. It was so obvious as to why we were here. When people have seen us they immediately know we are in India to represent God. They come to see us knowing we can help show them more how to connect with God.
I'm not saying that to brag, instead more out of shame. How many of us really expected the boy to be healed instantly? Were we just being courteous and hoping God would work, or did we really expect a miracle? I can't speak for any other team member, however I have asked myself these questions many times. Just this one encounter has led me to many self inspecting questions.

We are here to offer hope and love through God's word and our own stories of how God has worked in our lives. My prayer is that we can let everyone see God and not see us.
One thought I had about the prayer for the 8 year old blind boy. Had God chosen to heal him on the spot, who would have the glory gone to? Would the lady have thought we healed him or would she have known it was God and NOT us?? God knows what is best and He will chose to work in whatever way best brings glory to Him, as it should be. I pray we NEVER take credit for anything God has done.

The Work Begins

It is Friday morning and we will be leaving shortly for another full day of activity. Yesterday we were able to visit some of the outreach centers in several villages. Some of the villages were near and some not so near. We were able to see quite a bit of the beautiful country side of India. During the longest strecth of our drive I noticed a few things as we passed through villages. The people I saw were very diligent workers, busy in the fields or on the side of the road.

A few would stop and look at us as we passed through, others just continued on with their work. Some of the more rural areas seemed very poor. It was evident there are many needs to be met.

I'll jump to our experiences with the village churches. We have been most welcomed when we arrive. The people want to meet us and talk with us. Some have even wanted to have us pray with them for physical healing and spiritual needs as well. Most have been prayed for without the use of a translator. This seems to indicate they know we are talking to God and he is the only one that needs to understand the actual words.

It's been very rewarding and humbling to visit among the people of these villages. We will be leaving shortly to visit and share in a few more similar areas today. Yesterday, Leigh Ann and Nelson shared their stories with 2 of the outreach centers (village churches). It's an amazing system Baptist Church Hyderabad has used to plant the new churches. Maybe this can be discussed in a later post.

Who Needs Sleep

As you read we did finally arrive about 12:30am Wednesday morning. We had a wait of about an hour for our luggage to make it off the plane. We were taken to our hotel by Sarah's brother David and checked into our rooms. We got everything settled about 2:00am There was some last minute details to workout with the room Dick and I are sharing, so we talked with David as we waited. 4:00am we decided to try and get some sleep. 7:00am I still had not slept yet.
We had our team meeting at 11:00am and we discovered no one had really slept yet.
So far our day has consisted of meeting Pastor Samuel and family at Baptist Church Hyderabad and buying some food supplies for the next few days' work.
We have some meetings later this afternoon and dinner with the executive team from Baptist Church Hyderabad. Tomorrow we should begin some very full days of activity.

We Made It!

After many long hours, we have finally arrived at the Hampshire Plaza Hotel in Hyderabad, India. We were given a royal welcome, and everyone has gone out of there way to be friendly and helpful. We have a few hours now to sleep and then our adventure will begin!

Hello from the India 2008 Mission Team! From left to right, Jeremy Crady, Nelson Nyman, Roger Sigmon, Laura Amstutz, Kim Cox, Leigh Ann Swords, Ashley Fowler, Charmaine Jamieson, and Dick Cathey.

We were supposed to leave Nashville at 1:06 p.m., but unfortunately our flight is coming from Chicago and has been delayed. We are now scheduled to leave somewhere around 4:00 p.m. Our flight to Germany has been changed to a later one, so we should be okay once we get out of here. But here's some fun pics in the meantime.

Dick and Ashley were our token body search candidates. Ashley was very pleased with this.

Here's Kim, our fearless leader, going through security. She's taken everything in stride, as usual. We are in great hands.

Please keep us in your prayers!