Arrival at Odisha

We arrived at our hotel in Rayagada at about 3:30 AM. It was a 4 h drive from Vizag airport. Bishop Nehemiah, his wife and Pst Anjan were at the airport to receive us. This is the first time Bishop’s wife Kalvathi is joining us for a mission trip. It was good to see Pst Anjan again.

Then the first surprise. Pst Raji James from Bihar was supposed to join us in the afternoon. He called at about 2:00PM to say he has arrived at Rayagada. Bishop Nehemiah immediately went to the train station to receive him. But Pst Raji was not at the station. It may sound comical but Pst Raji landed at Rayagada but in a different state, almost 400km away. We all had a good laugh. So quick change of plans. Pst Dinesh will take Pst Raji’s slot for the evening gospel meetings and Pst Raji made quick arrangements to reroute to Rayagada, Odisha. He will ariive the next day.

The first program for the trip was a visit to the PEC Jeevan Jothi program in Miniguda. This is a free tuition program for the children in the village and about 40-60 children benefit from this program. Through this we share the love of Jesus to the village people.

But as we were about to leave the hotel, it began to rain heavily. We prayed that the rains will stop in time for the gospel meeting. We met Pst Anjan at his home and together proceeded to Muniguda. It was drizzling lightly. Pst Ajan said that it has been raining in Bissim Cuttack, the place were our meetings are to be held, the whole afternoon and that if it continues for the evening, the gospel meeting will be affected. Hmmm... faith was being tested.

About 40 children gathered for the  program under the overcast sky. Gaddiel shared a story and the kids were glued to him. He did a great job. The weather changed so quickly and it became dark. Suddenly the drizzle started dropping. But still non of the kids moved and Gaddiel was really going full steam, in spite of the drizzle. I had to go and tell him to close as the kids were all getting wet.

So we had to cut short the program. But we managed to hand out the goody bags before we left. We thank God that this program is helping many village kids with education. We have seen many parents come to Christ as a result of this program.

We stopped at Pst Anjan’s place for tea. Reports came that it was raining at Bissam Cuttack. We all prayed as a team. I texted Alvin to active our church to pray as well. When we arrived at the meeting place, there was no rain. And it did not rain the whole night. To God be the glory.

About 500 people  had gathered for the evening gospel meeting. Most of them had travelled from far away to come for these meetings. Many of them are the church members of our church planters. Pst Dinesh shared the gospel very clearly. The crowd were rather quite during worship and I guess it was the first day. They had travelled from so far and a bit tired.

 When the alter call was given, many people came forward for prayer. Many demons were cast out and the Spirit of the Lord moved in a very powerful way. It was like the days of the Acts of the Apostle. We rejoiced at what God had started to do.