You'll Never Believe it...

Right after I entered my last blog (this morning for me), we left to walk to another apartment in the same complex to have breakfast with Matthew's aunt and uncle. We began breakfast about 9am and left their home about 2pm. What took place in those five hours was amazing! Breakfast consisted of pallappam (a flat bread like cake similar to a tortilla made of coconut milk, egg and yeast) and some stew that sopped up in the pallappam. It is a traditional south Indian breakfast. Yep, we ate using only our hands. So after breakfast we ended up just conversing and I thought we would leave about 10 am. But the Lord had a different plan. This couple had a son whose name was Rinson. Rinson passed away about a month ago. He had suffered his whole life from Muscular Dystrophy. Rinson was 21 years old. They were obviously sad. At one point, we were talking about church and they brought out a brochure about their church and the new building they wanted to build. They even asked us to give some funds to help with the project. We then began to talk about church leadership and how this couple felt like they could only attend. We walked through some Scriptures and landed on Matthew 28:18-20. I began asking them who is responsible to disciple people. They said, we are all responsible. I then asked who is responsible to baptize, their first answer was the priest or pastor. I asked them what this verse teaches us. Their answer was that they could baptize and teach people about Jesus. Smiles began to shine on their faces. We then talked about communion and they quickly understood that they could enjoy communion on their own without the assistance of the priest. Now the smiles were brilliant. This family attends a high church that is fairly formal. The auntie asked me why pastors and priests have held this information from them all their life? I could not answer directly but encouraged them to pursue Jesus with all of their heart, soul, mind and strength. With that, I asked them to bring some more pallappam and some juice. They brought the bread out covered with a clothe and the cup also covered with a cloth. After putting the bread and cup down, I asked the husband, John, to pray and serve the bread and cup. His mouth almost dropped. He responded, "I cannot serve the holy elements of the bread and cup". After some more discussion, John agreed to pray and serve the bread and cup with four pastors - and he beamed as he served us. At the end of our time together, John and his wife, Anna, actually hinted that they may even want to begin a church in their home. It was an amazing time where the Holy Spirit was certainly in charge and moving powerfully in our hearts. John and Anna joined us for a short worship time at Matthew and Suma's home. God is moving. We also met another man who is doing organic churches in the villages in North India. It was exciting to hear about what God is doing in amazing numbers in the lives of those outcasts of the world. Your prayers are working - thank you so much. Blessings, Ed