Mission Trip to India–Part 3

The final e-mail sent from Kevin Olson while in India:

The training went very well.  The training by Zepheniah Peter from Hydrabad was a highlight. The men enjoyed all of the training. I only spoke once on Friday for 30 minutes, but that also was very powerful. There were tears in all of our eyes as we covered the topic of unity and the work in the Kingdom of God that we have before us. An Indian broom made the illustration very personal.

Our last night was an outing to a one month wedding anniversary for two sisters who were married three days apart from each other on January 10^th and 13^th. For us it meant a meal, a greeting and prayers for the couples.

For them it meant much more. They had joy and excitement in their faces as they start this life together. They are also celebrating this wedding anniversary very near the date of the anniversary of two uncles suicides each a year apart from the other. Last year was a memorial service, this year a wedding anniversary. Praise the Lord for the new life and promise of life that they have as they look to the future of this time. 

One thing I take home from this trip is their incredible devotion to prayer:

• The children get up at 5:30 every morning for 30-45 minutes of devotions, then they go for a walk with us.
  
• The people always want us to pray for them. At one village we arrived at 1:00 a.m. Most of the members of the congregation got up in the middle of the night and came for prayer. An hour later we left for home and arrived at 4:30 a.m.
  
• The pastor’s prayer time on the second day of training started at 5:30 a.m. for about an hour.
  
• The third day of training Pastor Devasahayam had an all night prayer meeting and participated in the whole next day of training.
  
• Not to mention their weekly prayer meetings or their 40 days of prayer during Lent.
  
• All of this is besides the fact that a good friend of mine Rambabu, whose life I have been involved with for these past three years, turned his life completely over to Christ and we prayed together last night. He has trusted me with this vulnerable part of his life that he has not shared with anyone else. As a branch manager of a life insurance / bank he has incredible pressure to follow the traditional cultural practices of Hinduism.

Humbling, amazing, powerful, convicting… How can you really summarize all of this?

Back to life as normal? I pray it may never be.

Kevin