The Sealed

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Monday, July 7, 2008

Dear Esteemed Partners in the Great Commission,

Late last night I left India and flew back into Malaysia early this morning. Praise the Lord for His wonderful grace on this trip.

The three days I spent in India were a bit rough for me physically. I’m no longer the young twenty-something I was when Lucille and I charged into the jungles of Indonesian Borneo 30 years ago as pioneer missionaries. It was hot in India, and I’m not used to some of the physical conditions that I encountered.

In contrast, for the twenty-eight pastors who came from thirteen different states in India to attend the Training, it was different. Coming to the big city of New Delhi is always a refreshing treat for them. More than that, the Lord provided spiritual food for them through the Training. I was so encouraged to hear some of them testify yesterday afternoon what impact the Training had had on them and their ministries. Never before had they been taught from Scripture how to heal the infirm. In the past they would minister to the infirm in doubt and uncertainty and the results were at best erratic. Now that they had been instructed from Scripture how Jesus himself taught His disciples, they are going to go home and teach their own people. They are going to raise up small armies to go out to heal the sick and proclaim the kingdom of God to the Hindu masses. I am expecting great things from them.

Outsiders came to yesterday’s final sessions to be healed. Nearly all testified that the Lord had healed them or touched them. The woman with the painful tumors in her womb who had come the day before felt them shrink again and when she poked herself in her womb they was no more pain. A growth on a man’s neck shrank. Even a very small Hindu woman who somehow found her way to yesterday’s session was delivered from pain caused likely by demons and accepted Jesus Christ! If this is what happens even in a Training session, imagine what will happen what God’s people go out to heal the sick and preach the gospel to the Hindus masses where they are?

Our co-workers Joshua Gowda and Simon Haqq are both very excited with what the Lord has been doing through them. They’ve planted about ten village churches since last July through Feeding Events. Virtually all the new believers are Hindus or Muslims. To their knowledge no one else in Delhi is doing this. Outreaches here usually focus on preaching the gospel to those of Christian background—as it does in the USA—and church ministry here focuses mainly on maintaining the flock and keeping them happy and blessed. Joshua and Simon are doing something new and different and very fruitful, and word is getting out to other pastors. They are now quite in demand. (Just for fun, they did some arithmetic and discovered that if all the people in all the churches they planted were added up, they would have the largest church in Delhi!)

Thank you for interceding for this event, dear ones. We are also grateful to those of you who are supporting us financially. Through your help we were able to help cover the expenses of this Advanced Training event for these pastors. Moreover, I was able to leave behind with Joshua funds to cover four months of living expenses for one of their village pastors. After each of their Feeding Event in a village, a church is planted and a pastor installed to care for the new flock.

Tonight we have a dinner meeting with the Cheras pastors to brainstorm about their future outreaches. After that we rush off to the airport to fly back to Houston and home.

We do appreciate your gracious partnership with us, dear ones.

Sincerely in Christ,

William & Lucille