Greetings to you all from kuala lumpur, where i have been recovering from a tough but worthwhile trip. Thanks to your prayers, i was able to give 25 messages in 25 days, despite a lot of travel by road and rail and a nasty cold i picked up en route. most messages were motivational to bible college students, but i visited several tribal villages to encourage churches there. i missed a train too…..but it worked out well in the end! here are the details:

16 january.arrived bangalore by plane via colombo where i had an 8 hour stopover which passed quickly as they had rooms to rest in plus free internet.
i have a medical visa for india and was asked for the first time at immigration which hospital i was visiting. things are tightening up as conversion of hindus to christianity is a big issue now.

17 january..sunday..after giving a message to the english speaking congregation at the shalom prayer centre in bangalore i had to hurry to catch a train to surat, a journey of  33 hours by slow stopper! whilst waiting for the train i noticed some young men dressed in black and with bare feet and discovered they were hindus going on a 41 day penance pilgrimage to sabarima, a place in kerala state. if they completed the hard, austere programme all their sins would be forgiven….until next year.

18 january..travel..arrived surat at 11 pm and met by my friend johnson, who runs a work called the good news ministry set up by his father and myself in the mid 1990′s.

19 january..had a relaxing day in surat with johnson, his wife susan and their children sharon, ashish, and sneh. celebrated ashish’s 14th birthday with a buffet dinner in the evening.

20 january..made an early start with johnson to vyara, about 1 hour inland from surat, where the good news ministry h q is. the 15 workers in his group came for a time of fellowship and instruction, and i spoke to them for about 4 hours in all, mostly on christian freedom and prophecy including current events in the middle east. they get no information on this kind of thing in most parts of india. got the evening train to udaipur for the next leg of my trip.

21 january..arrived udaipur 9am after a hard journey as the night air was quite cold and i had no bedding. but i managed to sleep a bit. there were many bodies wrapped in blankets lying in the corridors. someone from the native missionary movement…nmm.. was there to meet me and this is their main centre where they run a school for about 350 children, a bible college for about 120 students, mostly young men, and a church of about 400..the biggest in udaipur i think. they have planted over 1000 churches in north and central india since their founder, dr thomas matthews and his wife mary came from kerala state over 40 years ago. their family are all involved and after dr thomas’s promotion to heaven some 3 years ago his son in law joy punnoose was appointed director. he lives in toronto but visits regularly.

22 to 29 january..at udaipur giving motivational character-building talks to the students and answering their questions. apart from classes they have two chapel services each day and i usually spoke at one of them. all messages were translated into hindi, usually by one of the students. met christians from dubai chicago and perth who were also visiting the campus. on the sunday i gave a few words of greeting from malaysia to the church congregation. their theme for the year is.. the river..and one of their pastors, rana, spoke on ezekiel 47. he remembers vividly a gift i gave him 23 years ago when he was broke, and my gift was returned with interest as he gave me 3 pairs of reading glasses after mine had broken and could not be mended. i thought of ecclsiastes 11.1.  met several students from navapur, another nmm centre in maharashtra state where  i had spoken last year and who remembered things i had taught them. i did not see so many young people from
the bhil tribe. i was asked whether they should have an arranged marriage or a love marriage, one of the biggest “hot potatoes” on the campus. so after outlining 1 corinthians 7 i advised them to have a marriage arranged by God. most marriages in india are arranged and people who fall in love and want to marry usually have to elope and the families concerned get very angry. india’s republic day took place whilst i was there and there were processions and speeches. the weather was wonderful, the sun shone all day up to 20 c. plus, and although it got cold at night i had a comfortable room and good food. they have a good, big  library and i was able to add 2 books to their collection.

30 january..after getting the overnight bus to surat i arrived there 6 am but could not find anyone to meet me. fortunately i had the phone number of the nmm pastor philipose there and found a telephone in an office near where the bus dropped me off. so i eventually met up with pastor james joseph who runs the nmm bible college in nearby navapur , and we went for breakfast at philipose’s house then travelled inland to navapur after stopping off at a famous coffee house in the town of bardoli. had a good rest on arrival and was then shown the programme for the next 10 days….teaching 4 hours every morning and village conventions in the evenings! i realized then why i had had a comparatively easy time in udaipur and emailed the programme to several people or groups for special prayer.

31 january..sunday..there is a church at karanjikhurd right next to the campus so i did not have to travel far for my first message in this part of india. a note was left for me by james to stop at 10.10 but i did not see it so he had to tell me my time was up! but the congregation listened well and the atmosphere was friendly and informal. there is no danger here of interruptions by militant hindus, as there is in other parts of india which i cannot visit now.

1 to 6 february..i was asked to speak on the book of hebrews for 4 hours each morning and did so, but spent quite a lot of time telling them about 21st century hebrews as well as 1st century ones. unusually, the 20 students aged 17 to 30 were equally divided between men and women, and they did ok in the written test i set them on the last morning and were appreciative of the teaching. everything was translated into the hindi language by pastor virsing, who comes from a nearby village.these students will get a basic degree at navapur, then if they show promise and can grasp basic english they will go for a further 2 years to udaipur for a more advanced degree. for 3 months each year there are no classes and students go for evangelism in villages helping mature workers. it was quite hard going at times but after the first 2 days virsing got used to my english and communication improved. the evening conventions in the open air at the villages of
kalamba, bhondambla, bhilmanjara  kokarwada and  chadwan went well, especially at bhondambla, where over 2000 gathered and sat quietly on mats on the ground..men on one side, women on the other..and listened to the message. these churches are on the border between gujarat and maharashtra states but james translated in gujarati all the time as the local people like this language and prefer it to marathi. they also have their tribal language of mauuchi. after the meeting was over they all sat in rows and the feeding of the 2000 took place with rice and dahl instead of loaves and fishes. i developed a cough and cold during the week and the meeting at kokarwada was affected by it but i still managed to speak for 1 hour plus. one pastor i met there said he was travelling late one night to visit a church member when he saw an adult tiger facing him in the middle of the narrow road. after a quick prayer he raced his motorbike past the tiger, narrowly missing its
front paw. the animal stood there and did nothing.

7 february..sunday after a 1 hour journey along some bumpy roads we came to the village of konda for my last meeting in this area. according to james it was one of the best , although i was feeling the effect of a heavy cold. spoke for 1 hour plus and felt a lot of freedom. i interrupted the message at one point to pray for those who wanted to be filled with the Holy spirit, and four members of the 50 or so congregation said later they had received. many came up for prayer afterward. i really would not have minded if this meeting had been cancelled but was glad that it went ahead. i thought of the verse..when i am weak then i am strong. i am sure people were praying too. the travel along the country roads was interesting, as i saw several threshing floors with grain being winnowed just as in bible times. things don’t change much in rural india and you rarely see a tractor. everything is done by bullocks, who pull 2 wheel carts along the roads. i saw one
where the driver was asleep but the bullocks were still moving and i am sure knew where to go!
i was told that almost all of the 100 plus churches in this area were started not by preaching but by miracles of healing. each village has its witchdoctor or medium and the villagers go to them for treatment when they feel the need. but often the witchdoctor or medium cannot help or even make things worse, and it is then that the people think about a christian solution. a worker or pastor will pray and when they see a miracle happen they will often throw out their idols and embrace christianity. than they are taught from the bible. On one evening I saw a small leopard in a ditch by the roadside. Most wildlife has been eaten by the locals.

8 february..this was a travel day and i had to get from navapur to bangalore by jeep train and plane. we made an early start but it was not early enough as it turned out because after picking some luggage up at a house in surat i arrived at the station 2 minutes after the train was due to leave. we hired a coolie to get my luggage and myself to the right platform quickly but it was in vain as the train had just started to move off when we reached the platform. i would have jumped on but as my friends always tell me to take care i decided not to risk it. i could have got on easily but my luggage may not have joined me, and the coolie warned me not to try. so i stood and watched the train pull out and wondered how i was going to get to mumbai to catch the plane. feeling a bit annoyed i followed the coolie to the booking hall where i discovered there was another slower train to mumbai..formerly bombay..in about an hour’s time. so i got a ticket which would get me
on the train and waited and wondered if i would make the airport in time. but after I had got on the ticket collector got me a better seat in an air conditioned compartment…for an extra fee..and as i was showing my air ticket to a lady pasenger and asking how i could get to my bangalore flight on time a voice came from the bunk above me..i’m going on that flight too! Something like a light bulb went off inside me and i began to think that God was in this and it turned out that a jain girl..jains are an offshoot of hinduism/buddhism and there are about 4 million of them in india..was travelling back to bangalore on my flight as she worked as a computer technician there. she even told me..from her mobile phone..that the flight had been delayed, and when we got off the train she and her chaperone got a taxi after some ferocious bargaining so we got to the airport well in time. during the taxi ride and on the flight i discovered she was a seeker and gave her some verses from the bible…she spoke
good english.. i have sent her a booklet about knowing God personally so you could pray that it will change her life..her name is chitra. so although i missed the train i found a jain! It just shows that when things seem to be going wrong they may well be going right!

9 to 11 february..this time was spent at the home of pastor k s samuel who runs the village reach india ministry in karnataka state. i rested a bit, did some shopping, prayed for his youngest son justin who was seriously ill and on steroids, visited the heart hospital I got..no problems..and gave a message at a house meeting of kerala christians on the book of Job..42 chapters in 42 minutes including translation. then i got the late night plane back to k l via colombo and singapore feeling that God had done good things in answer to the prayers of many. i was able to give boxes of chocolates out at every place i visited thanks to the generosity of a friend in kuala lumpur.

The cybercafe is closing so i must too. thank you so much for being partners with me in the most important work on earth…changing lives by the power of God’s word!  blessings to you all…..bill yates

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