Good, despite rain

We met for teaching at the Salvation Army campus in Nellore. Their students participated, so we had as many as 100 in the sessions with a normal attendance of about 80.

The problem was that rains prevented about 30 of the pastors from distant villages from coming. We did have about 30 village people here regularly.

We commissioned 4 people who sensed God's call to go and establish new churches.

Today, Friday, is the last day. Tonight we will distribute some bicycles that Cape Cod Covenant has funded. Tomorrow we have a youth meeting.

good start

We had 80 in Monday's teaching. It was a rainy day all around Nellore, which prevented about 50 from coming. The extra numbers beyond our projections were because we also have the Salvation Army students.

Over the weekend we prayed with 16 who committed to Christ. We baptized 5 in a village. Ingrid gave some neat flannelgraphs for children

Time to go

We are packed and ready to leave in the morning. We will meet Joel in Frankfurt. He will be with us the first week, and will hold a one day conference in Chennai on his way home a week from Saturday.

We need your prayers. Who is adequate to such work as training people for ministry? We have neither the capacity nor the strength, but rely on the fact that God's strength is made perfect in weakness.

Forward again

It was so nice to come home from a short break (bright sun and 50 degree temps at Itasca State Park) and find good mail again. We are up to about 2000 on Ingrid's trip! Of course, I am also going, which is more money.

Joel and the church in California will provide a good part of the pastors' conference expenses.

Sorry to keep talking about the money, but it is really remarkable to see how God has touched people's hearts to support the project. We are so grateful!

We're progressing

Ingrid sent a letter about her trip to some friends, and the response has been wonderful. Friends have helped with almost 1500 of the 2500 needed.

Vijay also wrote yesterday that the pastors in Narsapur asked for a seminar while we are in that area. We agreed, of course. It adds to the activities and the workload, not to mention the expenses.

But God has helped us until now, and we continue to be encouraged.

Back to India

We will meet with two groups of young people in India. One is the group that Ron Mancini and Winston taught last April. We will reinforce that teaching and encourage them to move forward, looking at a probable teaching next April.

The other group will be new people further north in Andhra Pradesh.

We will use the Salvation Army campus in Nellore for a week long pastors' conference, continuing our teaching.

Ingrid will hold two conferences for women. She has prepared a good teaching on Ruth and Naomi's friendship. We also want her to meet the young people, especially the young women, to give them further motivation.

Good report from Vijay

Vijay went to Vinjamur for what they said would be a series of evening evangelistic services. When he got there, they decided to do some street evangelism during the day. He reports that 15 people made commitments to follow Christ during his 3 days there.

Milton McElvain and I were in Vinjamur a few years ago, teaching pastors. This is where we were invited to make a presentation in a Hindu girls' school. They sent a question ahead for us to answer, "How can Jesus be God?" I was pleased with the question, and I opened with another question, "How could God become man?" and proceeded to talk about the implications of the Virgin Birth.

Ron reports that we are close to having funds for 3 of the 6 bicycles we want to provide for pastors in villages around Nellore.

Winston plans to return to Nellore around Thanksgiving.