November 20th

Left Kolkata for Delhi. JetLite. Not quite the same quality as Singapore Aire, but the food was pretty good. We were picked up in Delhi by Joshua (his Christian name, known by another name among Hindus) and Farah. They brought us to the house of Simon, where we will be staying while we are in Delhi. These are some incredible children of God.

I will begin by talking about Farah. She is a 19 year old girl who lives here in Delhi with Simon, along with another young lady, Swety (sounds like Sweetie), and a 15 year old boy, Churdu, who has become like a son to Simon. Churdu does much of the cooking and cleaning. Simon picked him up 8 years ago in a village where he was preaching. Churdu’s parents were neglecting him, and when Simon made a passing comment about taking him to Delhi, his parents were more than happy to be rid of him. He has been living with Simon ever since. Simon is providing tutors for Churdu so that he can catch up on his education. It seems to be working very well. Simon hopes that Churdu will even be able to attend Bible school someday and enter into the ministry as well.
Simon is not married. He has devoted his life to the Lord’s service and is seeking God’s will as to a wife (he is 41 years old). For now, he is content with the kids that he has “adopted.” He has been very gracious and hospitable to us in opening up his home to us and even giving us his bedroom and bathroom while we are here. We are grateful for the hospitality that he has shown, although we certainly do not feel as though we deserve the treatment. Simon, as you will read later, is the amazing evangelist for whom we should be giving up things, not the other way around. (Well, as you can see, I will begin by talking about Simon and Churdu, not Farah.)

Now I will tell you about Farah. Farah grew up in a devout Muslim family. As a child, she had some teachers who talked with her about Christ. As an 8th grader, she decided to give her life to the Lord and take baptism. When she told her family, they were outraged. She received death threats, attempts on her life, threats of beatings and violence, and abandonment by her family. She was especially threatened by her uncles. They attempted to defile her, tried to burn her in her sleep several times, and also tried to run her over with a vehicle. On one such attempt, she was struck by a vehicle while riding her bicycle. That accident damaged her brain, and she still has no sense of smell or taste. She is praying to receive these things. She also lost some memory. In spite of these threats and attacks, she refused to give up her new found faith. After some time of living with the pain of being hated by her family and the constant fear of death, she even considered suicide by poison. This she did, and the doctors at the hospital claimed her as dying, never to recover. There was nothing they could do for her. But, for some reason, she realized what was happening to her and prayed simply, “The Lord is my strength.” With this, her strength began to return, and the doctors became flabbergasted that she was recovering! She knows what she did was wrong (even before she attempted suicide), but she is so grateful for the “second chance” that the Lord has given her. She also has faced persecution from the Muslim leaders in her area. They continually mocked her and told her that they were going to kill her. Some tried to pour acid on her. But, in boldness, she repeatedly stood up to them, telling them that killing her would not matter; she would not renounce her God. She told them that they were, in fact, fulfilling the Word of God in her life because Christ said that believers would have troubles and face persecution. We admire her strength to boldly cling to Christ in the face of her Muslim persecutors. Four months ago, the persecution became so strong that she shared her heartache with Joshua. He, in turn, mentioned this to Simon. He generously opened his home to her. She is studying in college as well as ministering to students. She also has a heart to reach the Muslims. She already has played a mighty role in Muslim village meetings. It is clearly evident that God has a profound call on her life, sparing her from accidents, threats, and suicide, to boldly proclaim the Gospel. What a privilege it has been to meet her.

Joshua and Simon have been friends for the past 19 years since they met in college. God has truly called them together, for their gifts complement each other. God knows what He is doing, eh? Simon is gifted with evangelism. He is truly empowered when he has the opportunity to share with others about Christ. He has had the opportunity to preach to tens of thousands of people and has seen many come to Christ as a result. God is using him in a powerful way to advance His Kingdom here on earth. Joshua is gifted in church-planting, administration, and follow-up. They jokingly shared with us that Simon starts things and Joshua finishes them. They have been serving together so long and complement each other so well that they have become a very effective team. They both have expressed repeatedly that their greatest desire is to see people come to Christ and they feel honored that God has allowed them to be so effective. They have asked for prayer for the ministry, that God would continue to lead and direct them in the most effective ways of spreading His Word. Currently, their strategy is to reach whole villages at a time. This is done through an effective method beginning with a heavy dose of prayer. Only after a lengthy time praying for specific villages will they begin to attempt to bring the Gospel to them. This is done by inviting families individually by knocking on each door to a “prayer meeting” and lunch. The Gospel is shared, lunch is served (to at least 500 each meeting), and in many cases the Jesus film is shown after the meal. This has seen incredible results, even in difficult Muslim areas. Their other ministries include reaching students, lepers and their children, planting home churches on a consistent basis, and training new leaders to go and preach the Gospel in more areas. God is truly at work in these men’s lives! Their ministry is incredible! The stories of miracles and testimonies are overwhelming! God is so good!

They have asked specifically for prayer regarding more strong leaders stepping up to help out in the ministry. The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Please pray that God would send more qualified leaders their way so that the ministry can continue to grow and expand, spreading the truth to more and more people.

On a personal and selfish note, we have been so privileged to stay in Delhi. And, yes, it is whole-heartedly the incredible people that we have met. But, we also had some MAJOR blessings. Hold your breath…we had air conditioning in the car!!!! We left the windows up and didn’t have to smell the fumes every time we were out! Then, we arrived at Simon’s flat, used the wonderful bathroom, and washed our hands…in HOT water!!! I just let my hands stay under the water, unable to leave it! It has been a month since we have felt warm water! So, we had hot water for a shower!! A hot shower!!! What a blessing! So, like I said, the blessings are all due to meeting God’s people here, but the fringe benefits have been AWESOME! We are so grateful!