From Pastor David Baker

One of the outstanding features of the evening services which sticks out in my mind is the night that a group of Hindu adults congregated outside the church to listen to what was going on. Our driver was also outside and walked in and out among them. He overheard them talking among themselves and saying that they were impressed with the Christian religion. Hopefully, something good will come of it.

On another night, we were told by the Pastor in advance to expect 40 children for VBS. Before we left to go to the church he called Jyothi and reported that we should expect 50. By the time VBS actually started we had 95!

On another night we were at a thatched roof church. It rained heavily on the way there, and it never stopped raining while we were there. The heavy rain did not stop either children or adults from coming to church. They packed the place even though they were drenched by the rain on the way there. V.S. would not allow anyone except Sandy and I to get out of the car and go into the building. The roof leaked and the wind whistled through the cracks of the walls. We were both soaked from rain and from the leaky ceiling. But I preached a brief Gospel message; we distributed gifts; and we left . . . in the driving rain.

Yesterday, July 27, 2007 was a milestone for brother V.S. Benjamin. It was his birthday. He is 87 years young! He remains quite active . . . spending time outside supervising the work at the CLCI rice fields; attending some of the nightly VBS programs and church services.

Also, the CLCI Seminary had a group picture taken yesterday. All 34 Seminary students were there for the picture. It was taken in the courtyard of the compound. It was impressive! Special T-Shirts with the CLCI logo were given to the 14 students in the graduating class for the picture.

Tonight (Saturday), we are scheduled to be at the church of brother Barnabas. On Sunday, we are at the mission compound for VBS with the children, Worship Service, and the farewell. Sunday night we travel to Chennai to meet up with the other two teams of the BELC.