Hello!
I feel terrible that I haven't been writing. But we haven't had too many chances to get on the internet here in India. I've been trying to respond to all my emails too. :) So, I'm sorry!
But I am finally writing now!
I am having an amazing time here. I LOVE India. I love the people, the food, the culture, almost everything. Well, everything but the smells. The smells of India are most of the time overwhelming, if you know what I mean. :)
From the last post, which was like 4 1/2 weeks ago, we have done a lot, as you can imagine. After a few days in Chennai, we took a long van ride to another small village in Tamil Nadu. We stayed at the home of Pastor Vedha and his family. Here we met his oldest son, Suresh, and his wife Hope (from Michigan), and Blessing. Blessing is the little girl that Suresh and Hope are going to adopt. She was the orphan that they took in. We stayed with their family for a week. The rest of their family (aunts, uncles, cousins) stayed in a hut on the roof. It was a VERY cool house. We visited a few churches, spent time with the family, did some open air ministry, and met some of their neighbors. It was an amzing time of fellowship and getting to know India and the culture and food. :) We drank LOTS of hot lemon tea (SOOOO good) and LOTS of bananas. :) which i also love. indian bananas are so yummy. much sweeter than ours. :)
from here, we took another LONG van ride to a small town called Dharmapurri, which is further south. Here we stayed at a larger house, where another YWAM team from Chennai was staying. Here, we met Pastor Daniel, who was the pastor of the local church. And he led a lot of other ministries as well, and ran an orphanage. Here, almost every night we would go out into the villages (sometimes 30-45 minutes away) and do open air ministry. Basically, we would show up at these villages, introduce ourselves, perform one of our dramas, give a few testimonies, then share the gospel and invite people to accept Christ. It was so neat meeting people at these villages. At the end we always spent time praying for the people. Most of them did not speak English, but we had some friends/pastors who translated for us. At one particular village, I met an older man. His wife, daughter and son were believers, but he was not. He had been struggling with his faith. He was Hindu. And he was also an alcoholic. I prayed that Jesus would heal him of his addiction. Afterwards, he invited us into his home and asked us to pray for him and his family, and he told us he wanted to accept Christ. Stotrum! (Praise Jesus in tamil). It was awesome.
We also spent a LOT of time with the neighbor children. We taught them games, songs, handshakes, etc. They LOVED taking photos, and would always call me down by yelling, "Aunty Maria! One photo! Please one photo!" It was so cute. I also spent some time with a Christian family, praying for and encouraging them. I also met 21 year old woman named Razeena. She is Muslim, and the SWEETEST girl ever. Almost every day she wanted me to come over. She would feed me and we would talk and talk and laugh. She was married and had one little boy. He was so adorable. Her husband was very kind as well. She also took care of her father-in-law. They had a very small house. But were so content. I was really able to develop a relationship with her. And I can't wait to continue that through email/phone if possible. I miss her!
From Dharmapurri we traveled to a town called Ooty, nicknamed "Queen of the hills". It was beautiful! And MUCH cooler than Dharmapurri. We spent a few days here, then traveled back to Chennai for a few days. We stayed in an air conditioned hotel, which was very nice. :) From Chennai we took a 22 hour bus ride to Mumbai. We have been here since Saturday, and God has done SOOO much! We will be in Mumbai for another 2 weeks, where we plan on meeting the bhansala people soon, and giving them the megavoices we have in their language. I am looking forward to it! I will hopefully write more about our experiences so far in Mumbai, soon!
I miss home a lot, but I love India. :) I miss you all! Sorry it took me so long to write. I will try and write again soon!
Love,
Maria
I feel terrible that I haven't been writing. But we haven't had too many chances to get on the internet here in India. I've been trying to respond to all my emails too. :) So, I'm sorry!
But I am finally writing now!
I am having an amazing time here. I LOVE India. I love the people, the food, the culture, almost everything. Well, everything but the smells. The smells of India are most of the time overwhelming, if you know what I mean. :)
From the last post, which was like 4 1/2 weeks ago, we have done a lot, as you can imagine. After a few days in Chennai, we took a long van ride to another small village in Tamil Nadu. We stayed at the home of Pastor Vedha and his family. Here we met his oldest son, Suresh, and his wife Hope (from Michigan), and Blessing. Blessing is the little girl that Suresh and Hope are going to adopt. She was the orphan that they took in. We stayed with their family for a week. The rest of their family (aunts, uncles, cousins) stayed in a hut on the roof. It was a VERY cool house. We visited a few churches, spent time with the family, did some open air ministry, and met some of their neighbors. It was an amzing time of fellowship and getting to know India and the culture and food. :) We drank LOTS of hot lemon tea (SOOOO good) and LOTS of bananas. :) which i also love. indian bananas are so yummy. much sweeter than ours. :)
from here, we took another LONG van ride to a small town called Dharmapurri, which is further south. Here we stayed at a larger house, where another YWAM team from Chennai was staying. Here, we met Pastor Daniel, who was the pastor of the local church. And he led a lot of other ministries as well, and ran an orphanage. Here, almost every night we would go out into the villages (sometimes 30-45 minutes away) and do open air ministry. Basically, we would show up at these villages, introduce ourselves, perform one of our dramas, give a few testimonies, then share the gospel and invite people to accept Christ. It was so neat meeting people at these villages. At the end we always spent time praying for the people. Most of them did not speak English, but we had some friends/pastors who translated for us. At one particular village, I met an older man. His wife, daughter and son were believers, but he was not. He had been struggling with his faith. He was Hindu. And he was also an alcoholic. I prayed that Jesus would heal him of his addiction. Afterwards, he invited us into his home and asked us to pray for him and his family, and he told us he wanted to accept Christ. Stotrum! (Praise Jesus in tamil). It was awesome.
We also spent a LOT of time with the neighbor children. We taught them games, songs, handshakes, etc. They LOVED taking photos, and would always call me down by yelling, "Aunty Maria! One photo! Please one photo!" It was so cute. I also spent some time with a Christian family, praying for and encouraging them. I also met 21 year old woman named Razeena. She is Muslim, and the SWEETEST girl ever. Almost every day she wanted me to come over. She would feed me and we would talk and talk and laugh. She was married and had one little boy. He was so adorable. Her husband was very kind as well. She also took care of her father-in-law. They had a very small house. But were so content. I was really able to develop a relationship with her. And I can't wait to continue that through email/phone if possible. I miss her!
From Dharmapurri we traveled to a town called Ooty, nicknamed "Queen of the hills". It was beautiful! And MUCH cooler than Dharmapurri. We spent a few days here, then traveled back to Chennai for a few days. We stayed in an air conditioned hotel, which was very nice. :) From Chennai we took a 22 hour bus ride to Mumbai. We have been here since Saturday, and God has done SOOO much! We will be in Mumbai for another 2 weeks, where we plan on meeting the bhansala people soon, and giving them the megavoices we have in their language. I am looking forward to it! I will hopefully write more about our experiences so far in Mumbai, soon!
I miss home a lot, but I love India. :) I miss you all! Sorry it took me so long to write. I will try and write again soon!
Love,
Maria
Maria,
ReplyDeleteIt was great to hear from you and all about your experiences in India. I am glad it is going so well and that you get the chance to not only experience all that you are but to spread the word of God. How great! I gotta say though...we miss you a bunch and are glad you are coming home soon. The boys talk non-stop about hanging out with you this summer! :)
We will keep you in our prayers,
Lisa Bernath
Thanks Maria for putting into words the many experiences you've had so far. I pray for more divine encounters!
ReplyDeleteLaurie
Wow, Maria! You gave us a good summary of the last several weeks! Glad to hear about the specific people God has put in your path to befriend. We will keep praying for these next two weeks to be even more awesome :) Love, Mom & Dad
ReplyDeleteYes little roo. Veddy veddy cool! I'm praying for you!
ReplyDeleteLisa, thanks for your prayers! And I can't wait to hang out with Austin and Jake! I've been thinking about them a lot here too. I miss them! And I too can't wait to come home. I miss it so much!
ReplyDeleteLaurie, thank you!
Ma, yeah I'm glad I got to blog. :)
Buh, that made me laugh out loud in the internet cafe. :) can't wait to see you! thank you for praying!
So impressed Maria and encouraged by your experience...you're probably home by now, eh? I'm sure it was as life changing and soul enriching for you as it was for the people you blessed and ministered to. We're still praying for your safe return home!
ReplyDeleteJen