Trip to Odisha

I was in Odisha from 26 Feb to 3 Mar . The objective of the trip was to visit our church planters and to see the progress of the work.

I arrived Vdshakapattanam on 26 Feb night. Bishop Anjan received me at the airport. By the time I checked into the hotel in Rayagada, Odisha, it was past 2:30AM. Today we visited three churches in Rayagada. First we came to Bissamcuttack where the Shadrach Home and the PEC Training Centre is located. It was a joy to meet the students.

One of the students, recently had a bad accident, when the ceiling fan fell and cut her head. She was warded and treated in the hospital. Thank God she is well now. 

It was long travel on narrow roads. Today we went on the journey by motorcycle. I wanted to cut cost of hiring a vehicle. It was a mistake. By the end of the day, my back was hurting badly. I could not even lift my leg. I think we would have covered more than 20 km on dusty, undulating rocky terrain the in interior part of the district.

The first stop was at a place called Sagibadi. This was about 10KM from Muniguda. The pastor here is Doitary. We started the work  five years ago by starting a tuition centre in this village. Initially the people were resistant to the gospel. After five years of hard work and consistent effort, the people began o see our love and more importantly the love of Jesus. The people were gathered under a tree and more than 50 people were there. I was overwhelmed with joy to see the fruit of our labour. The Lord is indeed good. 

In the afternoon, we went to Muniguda for lunch. Bro Pravin whom I met in Maui last year has a school in this place. It was a joy to see him and his wife and all the workers in the school. We had a grand welcome by the children of the school and a great lunch prepared by Pravin's wife. It was heartening to see how Bro Pravin and his team are providing christian education to the children in Rayagada. 

There are about 500 kids in the school and the potential for influence is great.

In the afternoon, we drove for about an hour into the forest and came to another village called Litiguda. Pintu, my good friend and church planter is heading this work. They all gathered in a shabby storehouse for their meetings. I was indeed blessed to be there and to see how villages are coming to Christ. 

After this meeting, we rushed off to another village which was another 1 hrs away. It was deep in the forest and  the tracks were unbearable for the ride on  the motorbike. My back was almost giving way. I then realized that this was how the church planters travel to visit all these remote places. The amount of time spent and the physical challengers are indeed demanding. Yet there is a passion to take the gospel to the unreached places. I was indeed humbled. Dared not complain about my unpleasantries. 

It was dark when we arrived at Kidimati village. It was about 6PM but the sun had already set. This is a quiet village but the house where the believers had gathered was filled to overflowing. The balcony was filled and people were sitting in the next room as well. This is Pst Divakar's outreach work. The worship was vibrant and the people were really attentive to the Word. PEC is indeed reaching the unreached. This congregation needs a church. 

After the service we rode a long way back to Bissamcuttack where the Shadrach Home is. It was indeed a joy to see the children. After a late dinner we rode 45 mins on the bike back to Rayagada to the hotel. It was a daily travel for me as there were no good hotels in Bissamcuttack or Muniguda.