A team of 10, seven from Bonners Ferry, Idaho, two from Clark Fork, Idaho, and one from Denver, Colo., joined with the Fjarli Team #10 in India. In cooperation with Maranatha Volunteers International, more than 60 people in seven groups had the joy of participating in evangelistic meetings prepared for the people that the Indian Gospel Outreach workers had been sharing the gospel with during the previous four months. One hundred Hindu villages had invited them to come and teach them about our loving God.
Every night villagers came on chartered trucks to the seven meeting sites to see and hear the gospel of salvation in their language, Telegu. On the closing night, about 60,000 people came to see the Jesus film. During those weeks in November, 18,606 Indians, mostly from the lowest class, gave their hearts to Jesus and were baptized. Churches are being built in each of the 100 villages, and the Gospel Outreach workers will continue to live in each village for three to five years.
The team leader, Jay Lantry, tells how God poured out His Pentecostal power. “At two different times in different villages, two women came asking for prayer. As I began to pray, the first one crumpled to the floor with wide-opened glassy eyes. I recognized demon possession, laid my Bible on her and pleaded with God for the evil spirits to depart, using the name of Jesus frequently. An Indian pastor joined me. After three to five minutes, she arose with an expression of peace and thankfulness. She looked at me as if she were seeing someone above and behind me. Was it a light or a person she saw?
“After the close of one of the meetings, a team member sent word for me to come immediately. I ran to her, and she held a woman whose head was on her shoulder. She looked as if she had fainted, but again it was the devil. Four of us were praying, and again God intervened. She opened her eyes, her face wreathed with joy. Then gazing intently, she also seemed to be looking at something. Was it an angel?
“Moments later a man with a withered right arm and a badly twisted hand asked for prayer. I prayed, 'Lord, if it is to Your glory, please grant his request for healing immediately.' It happened! As I watched, I saw his arm slowly straighten out and extend to match the other one. Then, like time-elapsed photography of an opening flower, I watched his fingers reshape themselves normally. Gradually he began to wiggle each one of his fingers simultaneously. Then he waved his hand and arm, while jumping for joy and praising the Lord."
We praise God for the privilege of seeing these simple, low-caste Indians trust in the God they have just learned to love. What a joy to see Jesus do again what He promised, “According to your faith be it unto you.”
Visiting with her team in one of the villages, Tammy Onstott prays for an Indian lady and then gives her a Telegu book about Jesus.
Georgia DeHart, her sister Karen Oberkramer, and Tammy Onstott give the Indian children crayons to color pictures of Jesus.
Villagers of a low caste ask Jay Lantry to pray and bless them.
