Village Dinners Update

A couple weeks ago we had sent out an email and asked everyone to lift us up because we had been invited to two dinners by people in the village.

What a weekend it was!

The first dinner was with an older couple who actually had lived in the U.S. for several years. They live in the village, but when we got to their home (which we had never been to before) we saw quickly that it was not a 'village' home. It's a two level home with a wall around the property and a beautiful garden inside. We had a great time getting to know them and talking with them. I was so thrilled that there were forks and knives at the table setting too! I really thought I would be eating dinner with my fingers that night!

As we were leaving, my husband just simply asked if we could pray with them before we left and just ask a blessing for them. They agreed!

We really don't know what 'religion' they are, but we did see a puja type prayer room upstairs when they showed us their veranda. So we are 99% sure it's not the same as ours! Anyway, my husband prayed and I could literally feel such a heavy presence of Jesus that I about needed to sit down. After the prayer, the wife was crying. I was taken aback by this, but right when I saw that she was crying and was trying to figure it out, the Lord spoke to me and clearly said, "this is the first time she has felt My presence."

WOW.

Ok, I know that we are in a very dark place and that there are many people here who have NEVER felt the loving and forgiving presence of Jesus ... but for us to be able to break through some of this darkness and bondage was just simply overwhelming for me.

I had to get out of there quickly because I was going to start to bawl! How incredible that was. We have spoken to them since the dinner and we will get to stay in regular contact with them! No telling what The Plan is!

The next day we had another dinner in the village that we were invited too. This was village home, but there was a plastic table and 2 spoons to eat with! God is so good!!! :)

This family is very dear and extremely hospitable! We got to see their daughters amazing drawings, she is a fabulous sketch artist.

They took us to show us their puja prayer room that had a big kali idol in it. The daughter (who was the only one that spoke much English) explained about kali and then said, "but we know in America they only believe in one God, Jesus."

I have to say I was a bit stunned! We explained that there are actually many people in America who believe many different things. It felt right at that moment to try to 'bridge the gap' with them and help them to understand that we come from a place that has people that believe the same things they do. We explained how we believe in Jesus and left it at that.

As we are building this bridge, we have to take a lot of steps. We can't just go and say everything we would like to say to them and then hope we end up repeating the sinners prayer with them at the end.

Believe me, a big part of us wants to do just that! We think, "what happens if something happens to them before we get to that step?" But we can't do that to ourselves. We trust that He knows the best timing and we want to follow that. As we continue to develop these relationships, we will be able to plant more seeds each time and then at some point there will be a door that opens for us to use to help them understand who Jesus really is. We believe in developing these relationships so that we can earn some trust with them and then they would have an easier time receiving what we have to say about Christ.

It's a slow path. But we are here. We are here taking steps, and making progress. It may not be as fast as we would like it, but God's speed is the best speed!

And yes WE ARE HERE! And ... we have been here for 6 months now! As of today. Sometimes it feels like 6 years, and other days it feels like 6 weeks! ha

So, thank you to everyone who lifted us up for these dinners! We know that God is working and we, "in faith are being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see!" Hebrews 11:1