Gujarat... Train... Ludhiana!

So after arriving in Gujarat, we got to spend some wonderful time with the leaders and evangelists there... We were supposed to hold a meeting the first night that we got there, but due to plane delays and many other problems throughout the day, we were too late to meet with the over 700 men and women who had gathered. Oh, well. The next day we got to share with 500 + believers out in a more tribal region of Gujarat. One of the things that we really liked about the vision the IPC leadership has in Gujarat is their heart for unreached tribal people. Kyle shared his testimony there, I got to preach and Dale also shared a wonderful word about healing. It was a great time and many people were blessed. The pastor who was facillitating the meeting decided that it was too cold to keep the people outside with extended personal prayer, so we prayed over them as a body of believers, which was very special.

10 years ago, there were no believers in this area, and in fact the state of Gujarat is probably one of the most hostile places to present the Gospel in the world. They have very strict anti-conversion laws that handcuff anyone who wants to follow Jesus, but it is completely fine if someone converts to Hinduism. The Muslims and Hindus are constantly fighting here and both of those religions have very strong control in this state. The feeling here is noticeably different from Kerala. In Kerala, the birthplace of India's Pentecostal movement, the state is about 30% Christian, but in Gujarat, it drops to a paltry 0.5% (that is not a typo!) People are in great bondage in this state, so it was very powerful for us as a team to be able to minister here.

We left Gujarat, taking a 22 hour train ride to Ludhiana, Punjab, India. We were in a sleeper car, so each of us had a "bed". They obviously made these beds for Indian people and not big American's like me. My "bed" was both to short and to narrow, so finding a good position to sleep in was challenging. Being by the bathroom didn't help either, as whenever the door opened, it would squeak and the smell from the latrines would waft its bouquet my direction. That, I guess is just a part of the mission field!

After arriving in Ludhiana, we have spent today at the Punjab Bible College here, being hosted by Sam George and his wife. We played Cricket, ate more food and went for a walk that almost killed us alongside the crazy Indian roads. Later, Sam took me into town on his moped, which is an experience I will never forget!

Tomorrow, we will be going to the slums of Ludhiana to pass out school supplies to the poor children and then holding meetings at night. We leave for New Dehli on Sunday morning, boarding a plane Sunday night and winging our way back to the West Coast! It will be very tragic when at the end of a long flight, we fly right past Seattle in favor of San Francisco. The GPS location marker on the plane will be taunting us the entire time!

We should be able to post more tomorrow night after the meetings... until then.

-Samuel