Our Last Days

It doesn't seem possible we will be having our last meeting tonight! It will be so hard to say goodbye to those we have come to love over the past 2 1/2 weeks. Yesterday we had a baptism in the most inhospitable place yet! Because we and the native Indian pastors can hold meetings, but are not supposed to convert people, they have to find a non-public sight for our baptisms. (Our South Andhra Section president, Pastor P.J., actually got arrested one year!) Well, this place was certainly off the beaten path! We crossed a field to a big construction site for major irrigation pipes. They chose the first of several pits about 20 feet deep to the waterline. The edges were loose gravel and sand, and the water was scummy and muddy. They had to have pastors and Bible workers help the villagers down the steep grade of make-shift stairs of rock! 14 people, including Yellamma, our sweet little, young, Hindu mother with metastatic cancer, were baptized, and began a new life in Christ. It was wonderful to see!
Afterwards, while we were getting pictures of the group with their new Bibles, Yellamma almost fainted. In her weakened condition, the exertion and heat were too much for her. Workers carried her to our van, then into her fathers courtyard where we laid her on a cot in the shade. I honestly thought she had stopped breathing in the van! She rallied with water and rest, and we prayed for her. She even was able to attend the meeting last night! The subject was heaven, where there will never be pain, sickness, or death. She knows that unless the Lord performs a miracle, she will die soon, but I wish you could see her beautiful smile and the peace on her face. If we all came to India just so she alone could learn of Jesus, it was well worth it! Please pray for her earnestly that God's will be done in her life, whether to be healed, or sleep till she is raised healthy at Christ's coming. She has placed herself in His hands. We are sponsoring her 7 year old boy to our new school in Miryalguda. Her 4 year old girl is too young, yet.