It’s Passion Week! May you be blessed as we celebrate the most important holiday on the Christian church calendar, Resurrection Day! Here in India, there is very little commercialism surrounding Easter. There are no Easter baskets, jellybeans, chocolate bunnies, coloring of eggs, or anything else that you might associate with the commercialism of this holy season. I walked past a small church on Palm Sunday morning, and came upon some young girls sitting on the ground. They were weaving crosses out of Palm branches. It brought back memories of my own childhood.
Sal accepted an invitation to preach at a home church on Palm Sunday. We entered the living room which had been cleared of all its furniture and lined with plastic chairs. Every chair was taken and the children were all sitting on the floor. There were maybe 40 people total. But the worship was so powerful and the people were genuinely happy to be in the house of the Lord. Hospitality followed the service as they served us a wonderful lunch, and we enjoyed the fellowship of the pastor and other church members.
On Monday, Sal and Viju traveled about 90 minutes to conduct a teaching on the rapture to a large crowd of about 170. We are always amazed at the interest and excitement the Indian brothers and sisters have on the topic of end times. There has been very little teaching here in India regarding eschatology, and so they are happy to learn and excited to tell others.
It’s always a great day when Elena gets to teach the ladies. She met twice this week with women in two villages. It’s even a greater day when the meeting hall has AC… Hallelujah! On Tuesday and Friday she had the privilege to meet with a total of about 150 women and present a new topic especially for this season entitled , Mary Did You Know? It explains the death and resurrection of Jesus through the eyes of his mother.
Last year CAM was able to get the local government to run a waterline into a remote village that was in desperate need of clean water. The line is open and available for the village every other day. This makes it difficult to store enough water. On Wednesday we presented seven of our widows with water containment vessels. Now they can collect and store water in these drums for drinking and cooking in their tiny homes.
Tomorrow is Easter. We will attend our “home” church here in the jungle. Sal will be preaching a message on Forgiveness. May each of you be blessed as you celebrate at your “home” church.
On Tuesday we will say good bye to our friends and neighbors and head back to Bangalore for a final week before we leave for home. Are we tired? Yes, but satisfied and content. God has been good and faithful to us.
