So guys, just a final update on our last and final week in Bilaspur, India!!!!!!!
No one can believe how fast it has gone and having made such awesome friends, it's so sad to be leaving so soon:-( After an action packed Sunday of ministry to youth, children, ladies, and the biggest protestant church in Bilaspur, we spent the week doing more touristy things and solidifying relationships. We found there is so much more ministry doors opening up here and rea). Amazingly though, God had already planned this and revealed to Nicolene that she was to stay for the next 7 months!!!!! A bitter sweet revelation but both we and the base team here are so happy that she is being obedient as coincidentally, 2 staff are leaving at the end of the month with an AIDS DTS to start in January!!!!! After all the planting of this month, it is truly awesome now that God has provided a longer-term worker to be a channel for His watering Spirit.
Please continue reading below for more details of this last week and check out pictures on facebook from next week.
Following on from that though, we are all very sad to be saying goodbye to Nicolene now. However we are all confident that this is God's will for her life right now so please do pray for her safety, passion and peace about what lies ahead. Everything is very uncertain right now including her finances, so these prayers are very much needed. There was a miracle in the financial arena that got her here too so we very much believe that God will provide.
Following the Friday night ministry, Baboo chose to spend the week with us. I was somewhat anxious about the repercussions of Friday night's bold gospel ministry evening but we have found that there have been none. In fact, one of Baboo's friends who attended the meeting - Prakesh, helped us with a few issues this week without any hesitation. Baboo has been truly an awesome friend and very much part of the staff and minitering to us every day. I really want to say thanks to God for him for his ever present love, joy and committment to the team.
I must say now that that is definitely one of the most wonderful things about India. Nothing is too big or small for them to do. Many have shown amazing servant heart with very grateful attitudes and spirits. We have been honoured and welcomed every where we go since the first day we got here. It has been somewhat overhelming but I do feel that this was God lavishly pouring out his love and blessing on us. We have been treated like superstars which unfortunately tonight took the glory from God. We were all moved with righteous anger, however, by His grace we were encouraged to seek to trust that He is able to work and minister even in the midst of this so this has been a mighty lesson for us to learn. We recognise that everything that has happened has been because of God and so we are all moved to make sure He will continue to get the glory in all things and that includes our attitudes. If we humble ourselves and pray, his glory and intervention will come.
As I said earlier that we really focused on strengthening relationships this week. Jon has been building a great friendship with the next door neighbour's son, Raavi. He is a Hindu boy but very much searching for something more. After attending the international food and ministry night on Friday, he came over almost every day this week and spent time dancing, talking and even joined us at a cross-church youth event where the Holy Spirit really came and touched people. Please do pray for Raavi that God provides people in his life to really help him grow in his faith and be supported not to fall back to old ways of the hindu religion. Boldness of character to fulfill the dreams within him too would also be an excellent prayer point. He's an excellent dancer, so let's pray that God really moves him to use it for His glory.
We spent a lot of time this week with the youth band from the Chhattisgarh Peace Festival. They really have an awesome heart for worshipping God and we had an awesome time jamming and worshipping with them. Please pray that God continues to work in their lives and move them from strength to strength in their faith. One issue we had this week was that they were not allowed to join us to minister to a cross-church youth service because the hosting band were not known and so they did not want glory to be given to the Peace Festival band. As a whole team, we were all mortified that ministry was being made about people and not God. However, the band received this very graciously and came in an opposite spirit and this really facilitated the Holy Spirit to move and touch hearts. We do praise God for them and hope they continue with this attitude even as young as they are. We are currently praying that they are able to really bond with Nicolene and befriend her while she is here and have every confidence that God planted them in our lives for such a time as this, so thank God for his faithfulness.
One last thing of note this week was when we were followed by the Indian Secret Service and questioned about our intentions here. We had expected this very early on in our stay in Bilaspur and so were a little complacent about this prospect. However, God in His mercy and infinite wisdom allowed this day to be the day when we did a lot of shopping so when we were approached we were only able to share truth with them as we are here on a tourist visa. We were completely blown away by this and really felt a confirmation that God has been here with us always. I just want to say thanks to all of you who has supported us in prayer during this time. I really feel that those prayers were surely answered and that God's hand has been holding back the tide on a wider scale too as there has been no backlash from the article nor the Peace festival performances. Thank you again but most of all, I thank God again for his love and commitment to us.
So as we finish off our time here with a trip to the Taj Mahal - eek!!! - I just want to say thanks so much for all your prayers and support. Please do continue as we still have a couple of weeks of ministry left in South Africa. I have learnt so much about keeping God first in your life and if He is not Lord of all, He really isn't Lord at all and how easily things can be our gods. Even the Taj Mahal is a testimony to the ruler who created it for his wife after she died and then cut off the hands of the builder. I don't know about you but our God does not require such craziness and I'm committed more and more each day to following His heart, His commands, His Spirit for He is my Lord of all.
Please do pray for our safety in travel to both the Taj Mahal and back to South Africa. Continued protection and for our ministry and especially for blessings upon this base and it's staff. THey have been such an amazing source of love, understanding, grace and compassion and truly showed us what serving the Lord is all about. We love them all even as some - Nermala and Angel return home now after their 3 year commitment but do pray for Nicolene as she stays and looks to staff and AIDS DTS from January and just for God's comfort and presence with her - leading and guiding her.
So we arrive in Johannesburg on Monday for a final week of ministry so I hope to update you in a couple of weeks. Take care and God bless. Remember comments are most welcome and hope you have enjoyed this blog.
G xx
p.s. please check out facebook updates for new pics.
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