Dear family and friends,
Greetings from beautiful, sunny India! The weather here is delightful! Need we say that we are enjoying the sunshine and the various fruit products this country produces such as oranges, bananas, mangoes, papayas, guava, and different types of grapes, etc. The accommodations and meals that have been provided by the Moses Enjeti family has been top notch. In plain words we are being spoiled!
The meetings in the Nuzvid Church that Nirmala Ramlalsingh, Joyce and I are involved with have been going well. Last evening when I presented the topic on salvation being a free gift from God we had an excellent response from the over 300 people who were in attendance. When I made an appeal for people to accept Jesus as their Savior and the free gift of salvation, most of the people stood in response. It has also been our joy to visit in the homes of many of those who have been attending as well as in the homes of others who are interests or friends of the church. These visits are made in the mornings or early evenings before the regular meetings. For instance this morning we spent almost four hours out in one of the villages visiting in the homes of members of the church there and other interested people who were not at work.
The Indian people love to have us come into their homes, pray for them, and visit briefly with them. If there are sick members in the family, and there certainly is a lot of sickness in these communities, we are urged to pray for these dear ones. Several childless couples have asked for special prayer that they might have children. A poor grandma, raising her granddaughter whose parents are both dead, especially sought our prayers and would be delighted if somehow we could find a sponsor for this girl to go to one of our schools. The little girl is beautiful and is in grade two. Our hearts went out to this family situation. We could share many heart-rendering stories.
The other two teams are having excellent meetings in the villages. The attendance has been good at each site and the people enthusiastic about what they are hearing. Sheila Mondragon, one of the team members who is here for the first time, comes back from the meetings all excited, sharing with us how much fun she is having. Dr. Margarita has been going in to the hospital helping with a clinic several hours three times a week and then goes out to one of the villages one or two other days of the week. I am sure the Gifford Memorial Hospital appreciates her work very much. Norma Allen is doing a great job of preaching the word in one of the villages, and although it is the first time for her to do this kind of work, she is doing a great job. In her villages, they already have had about 30 people baptized. Here in Nuzvid on our first Sabbath 13 were baptized. This coming weekend there will be more people baptized in each series. These are the results of the pastors and Bible workers work before we came.
Talking of volunteers, we have met a young lady here in Nuzvid who is volunteering all the way from Mexico. She is a delightful young graduate nurse in her early twenties who felt called of God to do some mission work. She believes God led her here to help out in the campus nursing school here and hospital. God brings people from around the world to help spread His word and love.
Please continue to pray for the work here in India for we know that the work of conversion is the work of the Spirit of God.
In Christ,
Pastor Larry