Sunday Oct. 17 - This is the Day...

"This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it." - Psalm 118:24

Before church.  They loved putting flowers in my hair!  Ok ok I loved it too.

Have you ever had all of the church members over to your house?  Well, that's exactly what Dharma and his family do every Sunday.  Since their church building is part of their house it's like having all of the Christians to your home every Sunday.  It was a very fun experience for us!!

Gary spoke for worship and Prabhu Doss, his translator, liked the Jewish boy and Rabbi story so much he asked Gary to tell it again.  He did expand on it a little bit more than he did at the jail.

The kids gave us our garland!  I had these two sweet girls.

Gary had this handsome young man.

Then they gave us our cloth

A lot of ladies helped with mine

Oh wait wrong ones.  Let's trade them : ).

And of course I had to get pictures with babies!!

I had seen these twins the day before, but they were not having me and left the house balling crying, but on Sunday they sat there so sweetly.

She didn't really like me very much, but we were able to snap a picture before she started crying.

With Dharma and his wife, Nimala.  She wore pink for me!  Doesn't she look beautiful!!

I think they guy on the far left is related to Dharma somehow, but I'm not sure.  The guy on the right of Gary is Teja, Dharma's son-in-law.

They had a fellowship meal after worship

Gary and I both got to serve them.

We were always served inside the house at this table.  We aren't very use to special treatment like this, but "our family" was so sweet and wanted us to be taken care of.

Sirisha and Teja on their way to the beach. 

From left to right: a cousin, another cousin (Juicy was his name), Sirisha, Gary, me, and Jyosthna.

us with the other couple, Teja and Sirisha.

Us with Jyosthna

Prabhu Doss, Gary, me, Jyosthna, Dharma, and John Bob

I'm sure they are having some deep biblical discussion.

Gary has a gun pointing over Teja's shoulder

So then Teja took Gary's sunglasses and got his gun out!  I think this was the beginning of a beautiful friendship!

John Bob and Gary

A good picture and then...

                                                    Something funny must have happened...

It was so funny we had to get out of the water to re-cooperate!

Gary loves playing in the sand!

Trying to build a sand castle with his feet.

They bought some boiled peanuts.  Gary claims they called them something else that day, but everytime we asked nobody knew anything they were called except boiled peanuts.  I think he is crazy in the head sometimes : ).

I love this picture of Teja eating his peanuts!

Gary loved this fishing boat.  He said he imagines this is something like what Peter James and John were in when Jesus found them.

Beautiful Sunset

They even use these fishing nets.  India is so Biblical!

The guys: Teja, Prabhu Doss, Gary, John Bob, and Dharma.

We are fishers of men!

Equipped with nets!  Love the sunset in this one too!

It was only our second full day there and we already knew India had a special place in our hearts!

After we got back from the beach and got cleaned up we went to some church member's homes so Dharma could give them the Lord's Supper.

This lady in the green is not able to make it to worship because of her health.  She used to be a Hindu, but has been converted.  We visited and prayed with them.

We brought the crowds out to that house.  When we first got there only a couple of people were there, but the longer we stayed the more people that showed up.  I have no idea where they all came from.

This lady is also a member of the church.  She is the one who made my blouse for my saree!!

Then we went to this man's house.  His name is Kirshna Murthy.  He also used to be Hindu.  Dharma had been telling him that we were supposed to be coming and he wanted us to come see him so bad.  You can't see it in this picture, but there is a Hindu god on the wall behind him that one of his sons put up there.  They don't agree with his decision to be a Christian.  He doesn't like the god being on the wall and is even willing to move out to the hut that is in the front yard.  This hut has no walls and the floor is uneven mud.  The "roof" is made of bamboo leaves and I'm sure leaks and is not much of a shelter when it rains.  But he is willing to live it to be away from the god his son put in his house.

He told us so many stories about his past and Dharma.  He has bad knees and Dharma will come to his house and help him stretch and exercise so he doesn't get stiff.  It's love like this that shows people what true Christianity is.

I wanted to give him a hug because he was so sweet!  He just ducked his head and started laughing!

It was a great day and an even better way to finish the day.  We were able to worship God, spend time with family, and meet some amazing people with awesome stories!!