India April 26, 2013

I finally made it to India. I had forgotten how long it takes to get to the other side of the world. I left Fort Walton Beach on April 23 around 1 p.m. and arrived in Madurai, India, around 2 p.m. April 26. I flew to Atlanta GA, then to Amsterdam, Netherlands, then to Mumbai, India, then to Chennai, India, then to Madurai. When I got to my hotel I went straight to bed for 7 hours, woke up about 9 p.m., ate dinner and went back to bed.

This morning, April 27, I got up around 7 a.m. and had breakfast, and then Viji picked me up to take me to a little church about 2 hours out of Madurai. I had been to this church 2 or 3 times before and it was just an outside church, but now the Lord has blessed them with a church building. It was great to see people I haven’t seen in 3 years. We had a great time; you will see the people praising the Lord, and what a joy it was for me to preach the Word and afterward pray for several people. Pastor Chamy’s son Daniel cooked us a delicious lunch, and his wife served us. I had forgotten how hot some of the Indian food is, but some fresh coconut juice helped a little.

On our way back to Madurai we stopped so Viji could show me a snake temple. You will see it in the photos. This is a poisonous snake that builds this mound of dirt, and people put a bowl in the mound and pour milk into it. When the snake comes out the people pray to the snake. As some of you know just about everything here is a god, from the elephant to the rat.

Madurai is in the southern part of India, and has a population of about 100,000. We work out of this city to go to the small villages surrounding it. The temperature here is 102 degrees ,and the weather index says it feels like 113 degrees. Yes, it is hot! The ground water is 104 degrees, and has to run through chilling towers so it can be cool enough for the rooms. Just thought I would give you a little information about the city.

Tonight Viji, his wife Gigi, and his daughter Nesha have invited me over to their house for dinner; I am looking forward to catching up on the last 3 years. Viji has a full week planned for us, and I am really excited about it. This is one of the few times I have someone planning my schedule. Please continue to pray for Viji and myself as we go to these small villages spreading the Good News of our Lord, Jesus Christ.