Mission Trip to Tamil Nadu :20-25 Apr 14

Praise God for His marvelous work. Although this was a short trip, we experienced God's protection and favor on the team. Truly we can rejoice with the words in Psalms 91:3-6: Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday.

8 of us went on this trip. Rama/Jeya/Jecintha/Sarah from PEC. Bro James and his two freinds, Bro Paul Raj and Sis Reena. This is the first time our daughter Jecintha came with us in a mission trip. She was simply blessed.

The objectives of  the trrp were as follows:

• Visit Shadrach Home. Assessment of the work and follow up actions taken.
• Seminar with church planters and their wives.
• Visit one out-reach work

We departed on 20 Apr and stayed overnight in Chennai. Pst John Daniel and his family were gracious to host us and by the time we settled down it was past midnight.  We had to get up early as we had to leave by 4.15AM to catch our flight. With less than 3 hours of sleep we rushed to the airport. Our flight was from Chennai to Trivendrum via Bengaluru.

While on descend into Bengaluru, suddenly there was a loud sound, like that of an explosion, It seem to come from the wing at the exit window from where I was seated. Many people were terrified.One of my team members later said he began to think about his grandchildren. "I will not see them again". Upon landing we were told by the crew that a panel from the aircraft had fallen of in flight and that the aircraft was not safe to continue. We were told another aircraft is on the way to replace the unserviceable aircraft. We waited and waited. Many of the passengers became restless and starting shouting at the airline staff. For us it was a lesson in patience. We were already thankful to the Lord for protecting us and just waited. Finally the aircraft arrived at 1.00 PM and it had to replace a burst Tyre. By the time we left it was almost 2.30 PM. We reached Trivendrum at about 4.00 PM. Our original planned arrival time was 8.30AM. Pst John Signey and his wife were at the airport to receive us. We proceeded with our journey direct to the Shadrach Home.

It was almost 5.30PM when we arrived at the Home. What a joy to see the boys again who had been waiting eagerly to see us. We had a quick dinner and the boys started their program. There was worship, songs, dances, skits and scripture verses recital. The boys are growing in the Word. We were blessed by them. 

The highlight of the evening was the testimony of Sis Reena, a blind lady who came with us from Singapore. She shared how her life was tattered when she lost her sight at the age of 28 years old and how the Lord marvelously saved her and gave her a new hope and future. Everyone was moved and impacted by the testimony, including our boys. Our friends who came with us from Singapore for the first time said that they had not seen a home like this before. In their words, the facilities were good and the boys well behaved and brought up in the ways of the Lord.

It was indeed a very tiring day. Lack of sleep, long hours of waiting. Yet we had the peace and the joy of the Lord. Just being at the Home and seeing the work of the Lord in the lives of these boys was worth all the trouble.
 

The next day, we had a seminar for our church planters and their wives, while Jeya and the others were with the boys. Bro James, Bro Reuben and I took sessions with the church planters and their wives. The topics were related to family. The church planters shared that in spite of their challengers and needs God is doing a great work in the villages. Bro James blessed the wives with a gift of a saree each. We indeed praise God for each of the church planters and their families.

Jeya, Jacintha and Sarah taught the boys Bible stories, art and craft and played games with them. The boys really enjoyed themselves. We were happy with the progress the boys were making. However they need a lot of help in English.

 That evening we were hosted to dinner by Bro Suresh, his family and some of his church members. We had a time of worship and they heard the testimony of Sis Reena as well.

The next day we faced another attack of the enemy. Bro James accidentally consumed  poison which looked like drinking water and which was left in his room in very strange circumstances. This was just about 2 hrs before we had to catch another flight. You can imagine the pandemonium. We had to rush Bro James to the hospital and then to the airport. Praise God we made it to the flight , just in the nick of time. Nothing happened to Bro James. We were reminded of the verse in Mark 16:18 - and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all. We defeated the enemy again. We are more than conquerors in Christ Jesus. Hallelujah. To God be the glory

 That evening we had a meeting in a village in the outskirts of Chennai. Pst Anand Kumar is pioneering this work and about 30 adults and twenty children attended the meeting. Bro James shared the Word. This church is badly in need of a building.

 We returned home on 25 Apr morning. Physically worn out but spiritually enriched. We thank God for His protection and favor. We prasie God for Pst John Signey and the team of helpers and church planters. We are also indebted to PEC and all our prayer partners who interceded for us. ALL GLORY TO GOD