Hey Partners, we just finished the last night in Patoki Pakistan. It is almost 3:30 am, but I had to write to all of you worried I was going to be blown up. Mission accomplished. (Humm last time I heard that it was far from over! I have 21 hours of flying and 14 hours of waiting starting tomorrow morning at 6:15 am! ha ha!) What an amazing day today was. We started the day going to the St. Thomas School and learning to play cricket! We were doing well for a couple of US guy's until Rody hit the ball over the wall and into the sewer and we decided "GAME OVER!" Then we went to find shirts for the big game, home for a Pizza Party with friends for the first half of the world cup. [it's the Cricket World Cup played one every four years for my USA friends] Later we drove the 2 hour trip to Patoki and visited 2 new churches! Yup, that's right. Last year only one new congregation, this year two! Each running over 100 new converts. One of the highlights of the trip was meeting Yusef at the new church. Yusef is a friend I met last year who had many spiritual problems and issues. In fact on our first meeting he was completely out of control, bound by fear, and being self destructive. Tonight, he is a beautiful, handsome, intelligent, young man with a shy but courageous countenance, and a confident testimony of a new life in Christ. Now those of you that know me, know I'm not much on the whole possession/exorcist scene. In fact I avoid even talking about it as often as possible. However, Yusef, was in trouble. I'm no priest or anything, but when I was asked to help, I simply held Yusef tight, prayed for him, and trusted that God loved him even more than I could have. At the end, Yusef simply calmed and went to sleep. I left and thought I would probably never see him again. Then tonight, I was addressing the congregation when he walked in and immediately I recognized his eyes, but that was the only thing that was even vaguely the same! Yusef is my friend. We are both guy's that needed a lot of help from the Lord to be free. We will spend eternity together because of the love God has for us. What a real gift to see Yusef again!
We then left the church and headed for the soccer grounds where the event was scheduled to be. Everywhere we drove there were crowds of people sitting around TV Screens watching Pakistan play India for the semi-final match. I was concerned the crowd attendance would be low. Finally we arrived at the soccer grounds and noticed they had extended the seating area. As we patiently endured two hours of song, introduction, long prayers, and more songs, the crowd just kept coming. By the time Rody got up to share a little warm up testimony, the place was packed. There were conservatively between 11 and 14 thousand people there on the largest night we have ever had. No gifts, no gimmicks, just people who had received the night before bringing others with them. It was incredible! When the evening was over, there were more people who received a new eternal life than we could count. For those keeping score, it was easily over half the crowd professing Christ as their only Savior for the first time! Wow, how humbling is that? Rody and I had the privilege of watching life change right before our eyes.
Well, the mission is over, now it is time to pack the dirty clothes, drag ourselves to the airport, fly and wait, and get home by Friday evening. Saturday, I'm off to Louisiana for another great meeting in Logansport so no rest just keep moving! Hey, how many of these lives do we get? Oh yea! Just one! Gotta live fast! Thanks for keeping up and coming along! It has been an amazing journey! Here is a Pic of Yusef in the new church, a shot of the crowd, and a shot with Azeem, the great interpreter, and I.
We then left the church and headed for the soccer grounds where the event was scheduled to be. Everywhere we drove there were crowds of people sitting around TV Screens watching Pakistan play India for the semi-final match. I was concerned the crowd attendance would be low. Finally we arrived at the soccer grounds and noticed they had extended the seating area. As we patiently endured two hours of song, introduction, long prayers, and more songs, the crowd just kept coming. By the time Rody got up to share a little warm up testimony, the place was packed. There were conservatively between 11 and 14 thousand people there on the largest night we have ever had. No gifts, no gimmicks, just people who had received the night before bringing others with them. It was incredible! When the evening was over, there were more people who received a new eternal life than we could count. For those keeping score, it was easily over half the crowd professing Christ as their only Savior for the first time! Wow, how humbling is that? Rody and I had the privilege of watching life change right before our eyes.
Well, the mission is over, now it is time to pack the dirty clothes, drag ourselves to the airport, fly and wait, and get home by Friday evening. Saturday, I'm off to Louisiana for another great meeting in Logansport so no rest just keep moving! Hey, how many of these lives do we get? Oh yea! Just one! Gotta live fast! Thanks for keeping up and coming along! It has been an amazing journey! Here is a Pic of Yusef in the new church, a shot of the crowd, and a shot with Azeem, the great interpreter, and I.
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