Glorious India

Lighthouse Children Home (all these children come from the Kanjar community, read about these villages below)

Rickshaw

4:00 AM Gorakpur, India, Michael and I made our way across the muddy street. Drizzling rain fell. Hundreds of bicycle rickshaw's --> lined the train station parking lot. Inside each rickshaw was a man bundled with knees to their chest in a thin blanket. Heartbreaking to see these men live like this! Their bed consists of a three by two foot bench.

With no little trouble we found our train that was to take us to Varanasi. Sitting on our blue bench, Michael pulled his small travel guitar out and began to play. I saw a rat crawl just behind him. Because of the extreme conditions, I didn't even mention there was a rat.

Quietly he began to sing out some Hindi worship. What peace!!! What joy! What presence I felt. Soon a few men joined us (see video below). They were drawn to the music. During the next few hours curious men and women came to hear the music. We shared the gospel with many of them and saw four men accept Christ Jesus!

How awesome to see the Spirit of God break out on the train and see lives changed!! <-- We gave Sanjay a gospel track. He saw a picture of Jesus and said, "He's a Shepherd, my same caste!" After praying with us he said, "I used to lie but now I want to change my ways."

Nyzil and Shweta run
Lighthouse Children Home

Varanasi
After our 16 hour journey from Nepal, we arrived in Varanasi and met our friends Nyzil and
Shweta. A few friends and I helped them started Lighthouse Children Home last year. They have 6 young orphan children and 6 older girls.

Kanjaar Village

Michael ate the head of the turtle.

The next day we drove to a village.
Pastor Ravi brought out some live turtles to show Michael and I what we were eating. I was a little reluctant to try a bite of this fried turtle. It was chewy dark meat, a little like tough beef filled with Indian spices. Stuffed between my chipatti I took my chance with the turtle. It's not something I'd eat every day. Lol

Pastor Ravi

We had driven 4 hours east of Varanasi with our friend Nyzil to reach our destination, a small village, Pakbi where the Kanjaar people live.

The Kanjaar People of Uttar Pradesh are a nomadic low class tribal people who hunt wild pigs with long wooden spears and set nets to catch turtles. The word, Kanjaar finds its root meaning as "wanderer in the jungle". While the men of this village hunt, the women and children travel from village to village begging for food.

The Kanjaar are not identified by the Indian government, rather they live strictly by their tribal leaders and own law.

They used to worship their ancestors and offer pigs for sacrifice. Five years ago Ravi's older brother was miraculously healed of demon possession after a Christian pastor prayed over him. Because of this spectacular miracle, Ravi and his whole village of 600 Kanjaar people came to Christ. Now Ravi pastors 3 churches among his people.

Pastor Ravi said, "We used to hate Christians. We only worshiped our ancestors and offered pigs as sacrifice. God drew us close in a mighty way."

We asked him what obstacles he is facing, "since I had polio it is hard for me to travel from village to village. I've been praying for a bicycle." (Ravi walks with a limp because he had polio as a child.)

Praise God we were able to give him money to purchase a bike so he can travel from village to village to share the gospel!

How beautiful are the feet of those who bring Good News!

Pray for pastor Ravi and the Kanjaar villagers. Because they survive by hunting and begging, they live in poverty. They lack education and many cannot read. This is a struggle for the people to grow in The Lord.

Michael and I were able to worship with them, pray over the sick and encourage the believers of these three churches.

We challenged them to use the little they have and ask God to multiply it for His glory just like He did with the bread and fish to feed the multitude. God has prepared them to do great works...may they step into the destiny He has for them!

Kanjar Village

Amarpattan Village

my bed on the train

Our journey began at 1am...the air was filled with an awful stench; we stepped over a man sleeping on the floor of the train to reach our seat. Exhausted and ready for rest, I climbed the metal latter to reach my "bed-patted bench" stacked over two other "beds" attached to the side of the train. Nyzil, pastor Ravi, Michael and I traveled 7 hours through the night, south west of Varanasi, to the state of Matur Pradesh. Upon our arrival we rickshawed 10 miles more to reach our destination-another Kanjaar village.

By the time we arrived Michael and I were so exhausted. I prayed for God to fill us with joy...because the joy of The Lord is our STRENGTH and we really needed strength to face this day.

Two widows stood near by, along with a crowd of villagers to greet us. One by one, men, women and children came with a kind hand shake and a joyful, "jamasiki" (Christian greeting).
We entered the small church. Grapes and bright orange papya lined the table of the sky-blue village

Pastor Amar, Nyzil and Michael

church.

"How can we eat this?" Michael asked. "Half the village is outside and many of them hardly get a meal a day. I only want to eat what they eat."

"You are our guest, please eat." Pastor Amar Singh said.

Pastor Amar began to share how their village used to be before they accepted Christ eleven years ago. He told Michael in Hindi, "Before 6-10 people died each year because a demon would over power them and then kill them through suicide."

He continued, "We used to be known as 'haters'. My friend was angry and cut off a man's ear. We hunted down the guilty man and cut off his ear as punishment. Our mentality has changed since we accepted Christ, now we are increasing in love. No more fighting and drinking."

A house in Kanjaar Village

Stone's that they make

"We still face many challenges. Since we are stone cutters --> and beggars we live in poverty.
Our children do not go to school. Many people are uneducated and do not know the value of life. If they get angry, they will eat fertilizer and it will kill them within ten minutes. Because so many people have died, we have many orphans in our village." (The next morning pastor Ravi gathered nearly 25 dirty children clothed in rags, "all these children have no mother and no father".

I really believe part of my destiny is being a voice for the voiceless. The Lord often gives me dreams about orphans. He is constantly reminding me of the horror they go through. Two year olds, three year olds with no mother...no one to love and care for them! Let us do something!! This is my plea to the church!!)

Orphan children

Soon after our breakfast, a young woman was brought before us.

"This lady is mine, I am married to her", the young woman, Neha, was possessed, eyes were rolled back as the demon-Ravi spoke through her, "I will drink her blood. I need her whether dead or alive."

Praying over Neha

Believers gathered in the church to sing and pray over this young woman. For the next few hours we did just that. Joy filled us and amazing strength with it! As the drums beat loud and shouts of the saints rose, Neha began to throw-up. It was as if she was throwing all the demons up. The demons hated the worship.

We found she has some things at her home that give the demons authority to posses her.

Let us declare complete freedom from this demon spirit marriage in Jesus name. Let us break this covenant of satan with the blood of Jesus!

Matthew 10:1
"And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction."

Jesus has given us this authority. Let us step out in faith and receive it.

Later that evening the small church was filled to the brim with nearly a hundred people. In American standards we might fit 20-30 people, but here they squish to fit. Michael and I were able to share the Word of God. Everyone was hungry to be filled. We encouraged them to live a life of worship, walk in purity and make a God their first love. Praise The Lord!