A Snapshot of India

India, a land bustling with beautiful people, impressive architecture, strange languages, and a nearly unfathomable lack of Christianity. (This is the Charminar gate.)

The dome inside the Charminar gate is simply beautiful!
The traffic is amazing! If your horn is loud enough and you can weasel your way through you will survive rush hour traffic. The funny thing is that you rarely see an accident. However, I think if you disabled all their horns they would have a nervous breakdown. They don't just blare their horns, they talk with their horns almost in code and everyone seems to understand the difference between "Hey my friend, nice to see you again!" and "Get out of my way I am coming through like it or not!"
The colorful market place is an experience like non other!
You can purchase almost anything in any size or color.
The food is even colorful. (yum!)
You can even get clothes made that are of the Finest Quality!

Golgonda fort where ancient kings and queens lived is impressive in size and architectural design.

From the massive entry the guard shows a hole near the top and explains that when enemies approached the gate they would often pour boiling oil on them through that hole. Inside this first gate was an impressive feature. One could clap in a morris code fashion and the sound could be clearly heard in the King and Queen's chambers nearly 1/4 mile away. That reminded me of some of the feats the Mayans have displayed in the construction of their pyramids.

Walking down the hallway between the servant's quarters.
How much wood can a rickshaw haul if a rickshaw could haul wood?
But I blared my stubby horns at you! You didn't hear me? I just want to cross the road!
Oh yes, nice to meet you too!
Who said I am overloaded?
This works for us just fine! I can't believe in that in America you would use a semi to haul this little bit of stuff!
I wish I had the picture to show you but right after I took this picture, the man on the load whipped out his cell phone to make a call.
There is always room for one more! Hey a top the bus is a great place to ride! You have a fabulous view!True you have to duck branches sometimes but that keeps you awake. Best of all you have natural air-conditioning!
Excuse me, pardon me, excuse me..can I get through?
Life outside the city is definitely a much slower pace.
India exports a lot of sunflower seeds.
That's the way to do it! Put a rock on your fishing pole which is attached to a net and come back in a few hours to find the fine fish for your supper! Now if I could only remember which pole and net are mine!
Plow the field the old fashioned way works as well as it ever has. No need to engine repair, smelly gasoline fumes or noise pollution.
Laundry day.
Coming back from a day of doing laundry.
This is a first time we have visited an Adventist church but we wanted to participate so permission was granted for us to recite a poem.
Mommy, who is that strange white lady taking my picture! I don't think I like this!
Life is good when Grandma is your babysitter!
Yes I know my kitchen isn't modern but I can make delicious rice and dahl even though I am only 9 years old! Can you cook over an open fire?
Monkeys abound. If your hotel room doesn't have a screen on the window you had better keep your window closed or this fellow might stop by to pay you a visit.
The welcome at each village was impressive! They beat drums, danced with joy and gave us beautiful flower leis to put around our necks. No president of any country has been been more warmly welcomed!
I felt like a giant in India. Most of the village people were between 4 foot 8 and 5 foot 2.
Some people live in the fields when they are harvesting rice.
A baby peacefully sleeping.
Who needs Toys R Us when your Daddy can make you a toy?
Fishing nets are made by hand. You should see the prefect squares!
She made beautiful baskets!
I bet she would be willing to teach you basket weaving!
We visited their homes, whether they were wealthy or poor. (Actually, given a choice, I would take a thatch roof house as they are much cooler.)
Another home in the village.
And yet another home, this one of someone slightly more affluent.
A typical village.
Visiting in a village where most of the people were already Christians but who had many questions about what we were teaching. Some 2 hours of discussion and Bible study later, most decided to be baptized into their new faith.
This is just a small portion of the people who were coming to the meetings nightly.
Their beautiful brown faces were filled with eager anticipation every night as they drank in the words of life. Most in attendance were Hindus and other faiths and previous to the work of the Bible workers and our campaign, they had not had much exposure to Christianity.
One felt very inadequate looking out at the sea of people, with crowds of 500 to 800 nightly. It is impossible to do evangelism in any culture without realizing one's profound need of God's help and intervention. He gets all the credit. We are just privileged to be given a small part in the work that he does in the human soul.
Every night an offering was taken. I felt bad about it at first. These people earned only about $30 a month which even in their economy was not good pay. One night we actually forgot to take up the offering, a Hindu woman in the crowd stood up and said "Aren't you going to pick up the offering? We want to give something to our Jesus!"
We gave out prizes to the children who could answer a question correctly regarding the previous night's topic. However, on this night, we gave everyone a new toothbrush. They were thrilled!
Some villages did have SDA churches, this being one of them. The speakers on the roof are so the neighbors can enjoy the church service as well. (This is a common practice with all denominations in India.)
In all the villages where meetings were held, churches were built for the new believers. Some villages were small, like this one, so the church only seats about 200 people but that is adequate for their needs. These churches can be built smaller than they could be in the USA because there is no space "wasted" for pews. The people all sit on the floor.


This old man was seen holding his arm at a strange angle. He told us that his arm had been broken some weeks before when he fell out of a tree trying to pick some fruit. Not having the $20 necessary for x-rays, a doctor's visit and a cast, he had just put up with the pain. Of course we couldn't let him suffer like that. The poor man had to have his arm re-broken in order to have it set properly but he was brave and thrilled that in a few weeks, his arm would be as good as new.
And old grandpa in the village who was legally blind. He was so thrilled we had come to see him and to share Jesus every night. He told us with tears streaming down his face, "One day, when I get to heaven, I am going to be able to see all of you very well! Thank you so much for telling me about Jesus and about heaven! I can't wait for that day! I had felt hopeless before, but now I have so much hope and my heart is full of happiness!"
There is no greater joy than giving one's life to Jesus!
It's never too late to give your life to Jesus...
....regardless of your gender.
And you are never too young to give your life to Jesus!
It doesn't matter where you are baptized. (Here the candidate had better be slender or bringing him out of the water will be a bit difficult. With this method of baptism, the pastor gets to stay dry!)
Sometimes there simply isn't a river or a lake to baptize the people so you make do with what there is available.
Trailer load of newly baptized members.
When you get to heaven, I can't wait to introduce you to your Indian brothers and sisters in Jesus! You are going to love them!
A young teen who was later baptized. She was fascinated by the sermons and took copious notes. The baby in her arms is her cousin.
He is biting off a devil charm. The first one to do this was visibly shaking. He had been taught that if he removed them, he would die instantly. But finally he bit them off, threw them into the river and was baptized.
In quick succession the people realized that indeed God is more powerful than the devil and they too bit off their devil charms and were baptized!
These are already members of the church! If you were greeted at your new church by these smiling people, wouldn't you feel welcomed?
For many, their lives are hard, with lots of physical labor. They have traveled and looked in vain for a better life. Will you go and tell them about your Jesus?
Like the woman at the well, they are just waiting, seeking that water of life from which they will never thirst again!The harvest is ripe.
Don't walk away.
They are waiting for you to tell them about Jesus!