Journey to Kerala

A good friend of mine called Andrew Phillip had invited me to visit the area where he lives which is called Angamaly in the state of Kerala.  I'm planning to spend 10 days with him and he has planned out each day with different activities, such as sight seeing, visiting different church assembly meetings, gospel outreach in villages, and youth meetings.  I am looking forward to these different events as it will be a good change from Hunsur.

I got onto the bus from Hunsur at midnight on Friday 11th, with the help of a few older ones from the orphanage. It was a 9.5 hour bus trip and it was quite the experience.  Not only was it difficult to sleep on the bus as the road had so many turns and bumps but I must of picked up a stomach bug from the food I had eaten before hand.  So I was very sick for most of the ride. 

Unfortunately after a series of events my cell phone had no credit left on it and in India you can't call out or receive calls without credit.  So I had no way of contacting Andrew to tell him where to pick me up from.  By God's grace when I stepped off the bus Andrew was in the right place and was able to pick me up without any problems.  I've never been so thankful and relieved as there were so many people and buses everywhere and somehow the Lord lead Andrew to be at the right place at the right time.

My friend Andrew with his Mother and Father

Angamaly, Kerala is a very different place than Mysore or Hunsur.  It is in the very south part of India, right next to the sea, so there are a lot of fisherman and boats.  It appears to be much more technologically advanced, as there were many very big and flash buildings everywhere and the roads were much better.  Andrew pointed out a huge metro train bridge that was being built which it looked like something out of a superhero movie.  The temperature is much hotter here as it is closer to sea level.

Picture of Angamaly - The prime minister of India is traveling through this area tomorrow so there were a lot of policemen everywhere.

After a shower and some rest we headed over to the church assembly as there was a baptism happening.  It was really incredible to be able to experience it and to see such genuine faith in all of the believers.  They were very welcoming of me and showed great kindness towards me.  There were about eight big fans running at full speed right in front of me inside the meeting area and there was still sweat dripping off me, and this is supposed to be the winter season.

Picture of the baptism of a young man

I slept very comfortably at Andrew's parents house, they show great hospitality.  Andrew was telling me about the history of Kerala and how there are a large number of Christians people living here as the result from the work of many missionaries and even the apostle Thomas visiting this area of India.  The assembly that they attend here has been established for over one hundred years and all of the houses around it belong to believers.

Picture of Reggie and Sissy with their daughter and grandmothers

Reggie and Sissy are believers that attend the same assembly as Andrew.  They invited me over to their house during the evening.  They are a very nice family and were asking me lots of questions about New Zealand.  Sissy is the sister of a lady called Glensy who used to attend the same assembly in New Zealand as me, so we a very nice time talking together. 

On Sunday morning the church meeting started at 9:30am and finished at 12:30pm.  There were about 150 people that attended the meeting and everything was very well organised.  They had a time of singing hymns, sharing a few verses from God's word, and then the breaking of the bread.  Afterwards they had the Sunday school children sing a song and then they asked me to share my testimony which they all seemed encouraged by.  Then there was a brother who gave a teaching message for half an hour, he spoke on the hope that is in us, that is Christ Jesus.  Then there was a bible class teaching for another half an hour which another brother spoke about Priscilla and Aquila and how they were a great help to Paul.  The bible class teaching continues from the same line of thought each week.  Even though the meetings were all in the Malayalam language the preacher would say the headings of each topic and the verses in English just so I understood.  Everyone was very excited to shake hands with me as they have never seen a young foreigner come to their assembly before.

Picture of the young people from the youth meeting on Sunday evening

In the evening I was invited to give a message at the youth meeting at the church.  I spoke on Nehemiah and how he overcame the different attacks while rebuilding the wall and how we too have to overcome the enemy of this world to walk faithfully for the Lord.  I also shared several photos of New Zealand and the orphanage in Hunsur.  Everyone said they were really encouraged by the message and appreciated me being here.  It truly is amazing to see the Lord working in a foreign land, it really puts the almighty power of God into perspective.

Right now it is around 10pm and there is a huge thunderstorm happening right above us.  A lightening bolt just hit the electrical board very close to the house which blew up the generator and cut the power. Tomorrow we are planning to go with two evangelists into a remote village to share the Gospel.  Later in the week there is a big 110th anniversary at a large girls orphanage which is actually run by a New Zealand lady so we are hoping to go to that.