An Indian visitor

Our special guest this weekend was a ministry partner from India. Kevin, of course, knows him well by now. He was here in the states last year about this time, but the kids and I were still in Texas. I was so excited to finally meet him. His ministry is a huge part of our ministry, and he's the one who helps coordinate the mission trips and basically keeps everyone out of danger which is a huge comfort to me when Kevin is there. We got to take him to dinner on Sat. night which was quite an experience. He was fascinated that we had to wait for a table. I enjoyed getting to hear more about India's culture and his family. It was also fun to watch him eat. He asked for hot sauce to go on top of his grilled catfish, then poured it all over. He ate a little bit, then added more Louisiana hot sauce. He admitted that he had never had anything to eat that was too spicy. He would be very bored with my cooking---the only heat I like is in the temperature category.

He also shared a lot about his ministry in our morning services and a luncheon afterwards. Here's a few facts about India you probably don't know that I found fascinating.
*In the state we are ministering, there are over 45,000 villages and 85 million people.
*Approx. 2 out of every 1,000 people is a Christian.
*Hindus worship over 30 million different gods.
*Most villages do not have clean water and drink from the Ganges where they also bathe, wash their clothes, and throw the ashes of their dead. His ministry is trying to provide wells to these villages and at the same time teach about the Living Water.
*This ministry has started 38 house churches in the last 2 years and has the goal of 1000 in the next three years. Sounds impossible, but when he speaks of this goal, his faith shines through and he's already giving God the glory for accomplishing it.
*Becoming a Christian in India sometimes means being shunned by your entire village and sometimes leads to physical harm.
Keep praying for India and our friend's ministry there as he trains church planters to go to their own villages and introduce them to someone most of them have never heard of--Jesus Christ.