Christmas Baptism

On Christmas day after church and lunch we had 12 people get baptized in a river nearby. It was a wonderful time.
5 people who chose to be baptized live in the slum areas of our city. They're basically squatters who are regularly kicked off of different plots of land. After one woman came to know the Lord from that area about 3 years ago we now have a large ministry among the Hindus there.

The fiance of our worship leader was also baptized, she came to know the Lord out of Hinduism 6 months ago. Her father is not happy about it at all.

My friend's, (Vinita's,) husband chose to be baptized, as well as Phoebe who lives with me. There were 2 other ladies from our church who are active in the Ladies ministry and 1 of our Bible students and another Bible student's brother. Ok, that completes the 12.

Here they are.
O. talking to them about baptism beforehand.
Our pastor baptizing in the river.
I couldn't get closer because we already had a crowd of people watching us and I tend to draw a crowd. I was taking pictures from under a towel on the shore.

Unwrapped

These picture always get put up in the wackiest order.

Keziah with her gift box.
A very happy Robin.
Could C. be any more delighted?
Ah, the picture that should be first. Anyway - The mass opening...
Zarina and 2 big helpers.
More mass opening.
Lukesh, Robin, & Joshua.

Needless to say - I had a housefull of very happy children on Sunday.

The Pre-Opening

Our Children's Home kids with their Christmas gifts from the US. They were instructed NOT to open them until I took a bunch of pix. Poor kids.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

Happy Christmas from our family to yours.

E. - Angel, C. - Mary, Robin(nephew) - Joseph

December 23rd

Yay. I made it. It's December 23rd and the Christmas celebration is OVER.

It was surprisingly unstressful. Well, other than when I got there and the 3 hanging mics for our ladies drama were NOT THERE and I was told we would have to adjust with 1 clip mic and 1 cordless. For 17 people! Who had never even had to practice with mics before! You gotta be kidding me.

I yelled and screamed in my righteous anger (I had been assured for a month that we could have them by MANY MANY people.) Then I went around and apologized to everyone I had yelled and screamed at. I moved on. We adjusted and that was that.

The thing is, we do the entire program with the purpose of sharing the gospel with those who don't know Christ. Two hours worth of songs, dances, dramas, etc... are really just fluff on the outside of the Main Point.

We invited a pastor and his team from a church in Bombay and he gave a powerful, clear and concise Gospel presentation. I was praising God in my seat and praying in my heart for the 2500* or so people hearing that message last night. The presence of God was there and I know it was because of the prayers of so many.

It didn't even matter that the sound system didn't work properly for our Worship team or that E.'s dance with the kids in our children's home didn't have words to their music - twice, or that we had to stand on stage for 15 minutes during our drama and pass around a cordless mic. Oh well. It was all worth it, the months of prayer and preparation, the big cost, the stress and lack of sleep.

The way I see it, those 2500* people won't have any excuse when they stand before God in judgement. My prayer is that they won't need one.

The work is ongoing, prayer and discipleship, continual witness to those that have heard. Keep praying with us.

(Pictures coming later - I didn't take any so I'll have to wait for the photographer to get them developed.)

* Update: There were 5000 people there, we had 4000 chairs and every one was taken and the place was full back and front with people standing.

Writing Or Wrapping

I could be wrapping gifts but since I was on the computer anyway making a cheat sheet for our choir performance tomorrow, (way too many Hindi songs for me to memorize all those words) I decided to post.

Lot's going on, tomorrow is the BIG day. Our 6th Annual Christmas Celebration. We're expectng about 4000-5000 people. We've been praying and preparing for months. Part of the reason for our carol singing is to invite people and collect donations. So it's all coming together.

I will be SOOOO happy when we hit December 23rd, let me tell you. I look forward to this program but it is just overwhelming in so many ways. I also look forward to it being all over! I haven't even mentioned that we have a team of 17 people coming from Bombay staying at my house tomorrow... arg! Clean, clean, clean. While at the same time I Practice, practice, practice. You see, this is the first year where I am actually involved in two programs. I've run the show from behind the scenes, taught kids dances and songs, but this is the first year I'll be on stage. My shoulders are hunching up in stress at the thought of it all.

Yet, God is so good. It's so easy to forget that it's all about Him. Then a dear friend sent me this email that I just opened moments ago:
"God is who He says He is
God can do what He says He can do
You are who God says you are
You can do all things through Christ
God's word is alive and active in YOU!!!!"
(from Beth Moore, Believing God)

We just want to see the increase of the Kingdom of heaven and Glorify God, that's what its all about.

Christmas Caroling In India

Since Wednesday, we've been Christmas caroling every night. There are 3 teams and we've been to 5 different cities to sing.

Here's the format:
Come to a house and sing "We wish You a Merry Christmas."
Then attempt to sing a Hindi Christmas carol louder than the drummers drum while people dance like crazy and Santa throws candy.
After that we shout and praise God - LOUDLY. Lots and lots of Jai Jai Jai.
Our pastor wishes the families "Happy Christmas", etc. and then one of our team members prays for them.
Shout some more.

(When we draw big crowds we also share the gospel.)

Sometimes they feed us. It's really feast or famine. (On Thursday we went from 3PM to 3AM singing and shouting and got 3 cookies and 3 chais. - we were starving to say the least, same last night. BUT the other night I went I had an entire plastic bag filled with food I couldn't eat...)

Walking to our first house last night.
We sang at over 50 houses last night alone. (No wonder I'm taking a break today.)

Santa's Workshop

At least that's what it feels like in here. I wonder if they have mosquitoes in the north pole? After a long hiatus due to my internet connection being down for 3 (yes - 3) days, I am here with good news on the boxes.

We got 'em. Whew! As soon as I got the word that they were on their way (sometime Friday AM EST) I wrote a nice long post. And that's exactly when the internet cut out and decided to stay that way.

Oh well, if you kept on praying, I'm sure God had a good purpose for it. We do Praise Him for getting the boxes of Christmas stuff and for finally bringing my hubby home. yay yay! O. said, 'Because of your prayer, everything got done." Ain't it the truth.

I've got 31 boxes prepared and ready to wrap and more in waiting. It's gonna be one happy day for lots of kids on Christmas.

I already gave our Children's Home kids their jackets and they are gorgeous! I have pictures. I'll work on getting them up tonight.

Thanks to all who prayed!

Kids In Jackets

We gave our Children's Home kids their jackets early. Here are some pix from yesterday. Aren't they cute!

One little munchkin refused to remove her's.
One of these things just doesn't fit in here... (see back - middle - the mustache give it away?)

The jackets are so great and so beautiful. thank you so much to everyone who reads this who also took part in getting these to the kids. We cannot thank you enough!

(The men kept trying to squish themselves into the jackets. They are a big hit - lots of disappointment that the largest size is a children's large - fits up to about a 13 year old.)

Kids And Gifts

Some pictures of the kids and their gifts from last year.