Kolkuta

Kolkuta was an experience like no other. The poverty there was more apparent than any other place I have ever been. It was amazing to see what Mother Teresa did and what continues to happen even after her death.

We fit 9 people in a car made for 6! It was great to drive around in cars rather than buses! We had a system of how to get in and out of the car without anyone getting hurt!

This picture was taken inside Mother Teresa's organization. There was a small tour of her words and pictures of her life. It was amazing and challenging to me. I hope that when I am gone, people find what I did important enough to continue the work! She was an amazing woman. I have admired her from afar for a long time. But after being in India, in Kolkuta, I have a new appreciation for what she did while she was here on earth!

This is a life size statue of Mother Teresa. She was a small person who did mighty and amazing things for the people of India. And she always gave all the glory to Jesus! How amazing is that! I want to be like that!

This is where Mother Teresa is buried. It was great to see what she did while she was on earth! She is quite an amazing person!

Lepers

On our last day in Ongole we got to pray for some lepers. I had no idea that this disease still existed. It was so awesome to see them worshiping God even though they have this disease! My world was rocked by these people! They live separate from their families and they are part of the "untouchables" and we got to touch them! This is my kind of business, getting to touch the untouchable and love the unloved!

Praying for them was awesome because you could see their faith! Here faith is something that can be seen! It was amazing!

This little girl's father has lepracy. She is so adorable! We took lots of pics of her friends and of her of course because she loved seeing herself on the camera! It was super cute, as is she!

We worshiped together, some of our team members shared their testimonies, we prayed for them and then we handed out rice. One bag each! These people have missing fingers and limbs and they could still carry the bag of rice that I could barely lift. It was amazing to watch them carry it! I saw Jesus here in this place and I know that I will return to India again soon!

Village Outreaches

After the three nights of crusades we had 5 nights of village outreach. Each evening we would leave the hotel around 5 and we would drive anywhere from 1-3 hours to a village. We did not know what to expect the first night when we got to the church. But it was okay because we went with the Lord and He knew what we needed and He prepared us! When we got to the church we were greeted by many many children! Ann, our leader said, "Paige this is your area, GO!" Without any prep we went! We sang songs and we told stories and we handed out candy and balloons! Each night we got better and better! It was amazing! The children that greeted us come to the church everyday. In the morning they come before school and worship and eat breakfast. After school they come back to the church where there is a certified teacher to help them with their homework. They eat dinner and those children that live close go home after dinner but if they live far then they stay at the church. The food is provided for them free of charge and so is the place to stay. James and Sarah's ministry pays for these things!

This is one of the church workers! She was so cute and she spoke English a little and we were able to talk!

This is a shot of us teaching the kids! I love kids and we had a great time singing songs! They sang in English and it was so great! We taught them two songs! All the years of teaching Sunday School paid off!! My love for children was sparked again! Praise the Lord for all the children of the world!

After we taught the kids we went to an area where the adults were watching the Jesus Film. After the film one of our team members shared their testimony or shared something from the Bible. Then we prayed for the sick! This is were we saw SOOOOO many amazing miracles! Praise the Lord!! It was so awesome to be used this way! God healed blind eyes, deaf ears, lame legs, hurt knees, arms, elbows and the list goes on and on! It was awesome and other than that there are not words to describe the feelings and the experiences! Our God is an AWESOME God!

The Orphanage

Sarah loves kids and she has a heart for children with special needs. She has orphanages helping these children! She gives them speech therapy, physical therapy and love! It is amazing to see them and hear how God has changed them since being adopted by Sarah! They all cal her mom! It is so great!

She gives the girls a room and the boys a room. Each child has a bed and they have sheets and whatever they need! It was awesome to have the children show us their room and how happy they were about it!

This is one of the little girls. She is two years old and has not developed. But Sarah's home will provide the attention and love to give this child an opportunity that she would otherwise not have!

This is Sarah and some of her children! She has a special love for these children and they can feel and we could all see it! Oh, it made me want to move to India and be with these kids and love on them! I want to love people who do not receive love! We all need love and I want to be a "love-giver"!!
This orphanage and the many other things that Sarah and James are doing are amazing! It is awesome to see what Gd will do with a life completely surrendered to Him! James and Sarah, you will be in my prayers forever and I look forward to seeing you again in India!

Ministry Time

Praying for people was one of my favorite things to do! I know how much God encourages me when others pray for me so it was good to give that to many people in India!

Linda is an amazing person! She is patient and she is the glue that held our team together! She is passionate about the Lord and she is a great encourager! She is from Michigan and I am so glad that she was on this trip! When we prayed together for people I felt her faith and it helped me pray with more faith!

Scott was another one who I really connected with this trip! He is an amazing man of God! He is open and honest about what God has done in his life. He stepped out in faith during this trip and God used him in mighty ways! He was a blessing to each of us on the team!

Constance was an awesome addition to our team! She hears from the Lord! When she prays she prays with compassion and God uses her to encourage those around her with words of knowledge. One night she was sick and stayed home and when we were praying for the pastor and his wife I missed her. She knows how to encourage the pastor's wife, and all of the team members, through prayer!
Each member of the team brought an amazing gift to complete the team! We had great unity of Spirit! GOd used our unity to change many lives while we were in India! Praise the Lord!

Around India

India is an amazing! There are two things that I noticed right away when I got off the plane! They honk their horns all the time!! The back of the trucks say "Honk Please". They want to know you are there. They do not use their mirrors at all and they just honk. We asked one of our Indian friends if there are any driving laws and he said that they drive by their feelings! And really, they do! It is a bit insane! We hit a goat (it got up) and another car hit a monkey (it did not get up) and we almost hit a million people and other cars and other things in the road! Driving was CRAZY!!! The other thing that I noticed in India was what we called, "the bobble". It is like a bobble head figure but they really do it! To master the bobble, you must do a slight figure eight with your head, starting on the right and you must do it without any expression on your face. This gesture is a response when a question is asked. Basically it is saying, "uh, huh". But it looks like they do not understand or they are saying no. So it was very confusing! We all tried to practice the bobble! Oh India, it was wonderful!

This is a picture of a typical street in Ongole. The only thing missing is a cow in the middle of the road. You can look at the other pictures to see that!

This picture reminded me of Thailand. The snack stands were almost the same! But the way they display things is different. The things hanging down are bags of chips stuck together.

This is a water well they use to do their laundry. They wash the clothes, slap them against the stones and then they lay them out to dry. Very interesting to watch!
I love India and I look forward to my next visit!

New VCC friends

These people became precious friends of mine and I am so blessed to have been able to minister with them! Each one of them was needed on this trip to complete the team! We do not have one photo where we are all together, which is a bummer! In the photo section on the right you should be able to find everyone in there!

This is a picture we took when we went on a walk around town one day!

This is Darren and David! Darren is one of the funniest people I have ever met and David was a blessing because he had such compassion for the people.

This is a picture of Ross and Jock. They are father and son and it was a blessing to see them working together! The respect that they have for one another is amazing! I loved getting to know them! They were a blessing to me!

This is my new friend Mia! She was my roommate the whole trip and we were made to be together! God used her to teach me many things! We prayed together, we grew together, we found out we have MANY things in common and we are now sisters for life! She is great and I look forward to many more years of friendship with her! I hope that she comes back to BKK soon! She is an encourager, a compassionate person with so much love for people, and she is passionate about the Lord!

This is in front of our hotel in Ongole. It was the Taste Hotel and it was a treat to stay there for sure! Oh man! The water was cold every morning, except in one of our team members room, which is a bit crazy! They came every morning to clean our room and pick up laundry at 7:30 in the morning. Finally we had to tell them we did not want to be woken up for cleaning! It was great though!

Crusade in India

Being apart of the crusade was amazing! The first night there were around 10,000 people, the second night around 30,000 people and the third night 50,000 people. On the last night they had 10,000 accept Jesus into their life as their Lord and Savior!

This is a picture of the second night. I hope that you are getting a taste of how many people were there! It was awsome!

Here is the stage that Pastor Mike spoke from. He spoke with authority and compassion for the people of India. He shared many stories from the Bible and people received Jesus! Hallelujah!

Each night we prayed for about 100 -200 people and it was awesome! We loved it and we felt the power and love of the Lord flow through us! It was awesome! We prayed over a fence for safety reasons but the Lord still did an amazing work!

Pastor Mike prayed for people! His life is an example to us all and it was amazing to be in India with him! Praise the Lord for the work He did at the crusades! But this was just the beginning for us! We had 5 more days of ministry waiting for us!

Pastor's Conference in India

Going to India was amazing and being apart of what is happening there is even more amazing! We spent 3 days at a Pastors Conference with Pastors from all over Andhra Pradesh. There were about 600 pastors there. It was awesome to pray for them and see the love of God touch their lives!

This is a picture of the group of pastors and their wives and children, the sit separate from each other. Men prayed for men and women for women!

It was great to worship with them! I have learned to be able to worship even when it is in different languages! So it is great to worship with people who love the Lord from all over the world! These people are so beautiful and hungry to know more about God! It was awesome to watch them receive God's love!

Their faces are so beautiful and their skin is perfect! Praise the Lord for the work he is doing in India!