Dream switches Departure Plans

At 4AM Wednesday I dreamed I was to be ready to leave at the close of that evenings meeting for Hyderabad by bus. I quickly got up and packed up everything for departure. I understood that I was to keep quiet about plans. Things were cooked up for eating in the long journey. We were to travel in the cooler time. Daytime temperatures were hotter than 135-145F out on the road in full sun on pavement.

We announced to the family of Rao our plans for the evening and said our goodbyes. We risked being misunderstood but God was directing. He had work for me to do in Hyderabad of which I did not know anything about.

  On the way to meeting, we gave the keyboard as promised to brother M. His wife  had kindly prepared us a nice meal. It was tucked into the auto for the children to eat later. They enjoyed especially the potatoes.

  There had been a total of 3 meetings scheduled in that little village. The road was so rough to this village that the injured leg received such a beating. The large swollen left leg was at high risk of giving me a clot to the lung resulting in a pulmonary embolism which could cause chest pain, shortness of breath and possible complications of death. God put His hand on me and helped me through this trouble also. He healed my leg over 3 weeks time. I tried to rest quietly with it elevated at every opportunity.

  I wondered about this village. No series of meetings had ever been held there. It seemed they did not want to come till they saw the video. They only came for the Mathew DVD and got up and rushed off like the Bapatla village. This third night, the power did not even come on in response to our prayer request. God usually always provided the power when we asked. I had seen Him do it 6 times in other villages over our time in India. I knew He could do it. There was nothing that I knew of that would block His answer and favor.

   Since He did not provide power, I took it as a sign that God wanted me to proceed on to the bus station as in the dream He had given me. It was another evidence I was to  depart as He had shown me in a dream that morning. We were all packed up when the power came on. We went ahead and left quickly at 8:30 from the little village. While bouncing along, suddenly we ran out of fuel in the rickshaw. The driver deserted us and walked into the darkness. God provided a ride for him in to town and another back with the fuel. I was surprised to see him back so quickly. If God had turned on our power at the meeting we would not have had the time for this fuel shortage delay. God knew there would be no fuel. He had it all planned. We had enough time to gather bags and board the bus.

  The heat of the day time had caused 29 deaths, as reported in the news. The heat inside the bus was terrible in the day. The night breezes helped us yet we were still sweating all the way there. Our clothing was able to stand up on its own with the salt we lost.

  The seats in the bus were nice and padded. We were in the very back and perched on bags with projector tucked in with us along with lap top.

  During the night, the bus slowed to a stop and crept around a mess in the road. There was a bus cross wise in the road that had collided head on with a big truck. Survivors were standing along the road looking droopy. Drunk driving accidents are common in India. By early 6AM we arrived and crowded into a tiny rickshaw and went looking for the Adventist School in Secunderabad.

  We found the principal’s home and they gave us a little room where we could put our things. They welcomed us in as part of their family and cared for us. Sara was very sick from heat exhaustion yet she did so many kind things for us. God will bless her as though she had taken Jesus Himself in and cooked for Him. He will bless her daughter for carrying water for us.

ZOO

  Wishing to make a memory to wash away the pain of other experiences in India, we visited the Hyderabad zoo all day. We prayed before going to the zoo that God would stir up all the animals for nice pictures for future nature stories on the web site.  I asked God to give the children a reward for their hard labors and willingness to put up with all inconveniences during our work in India. The intense heat leaves animals and people alike resting in the shade. Yet as we arrived at each animal enclosure, they got up and went for a drink or decided to go swimming. It was fun to see God even doing a simple thing just for our pleasure. What a special memory He made for us at this beautiful park in natural settings. Our God tells us the harvest is ready, and that we should pray for more workers to spread the gospel but He knows we are just made of dust and need our rest. We had really worked hard for 50 days of spreading gospel seeds.  He provided refreshment from this experience.

Returning after 5 with some fruits for supper, it was announced by the principal that I was going to speak at the Amazing facts meetings on health that night at 6pm. I quickly washed my speaking clothes I had worn since our last meeting before boarding the bus the night before. They were dripping and Sara spun them out in her dryer and I wore my wet clothes to speak. I prayed that the computer would work. It did fine. I enjoyed making new friends and sharing my testimony of persecution with the evangelist.

  That Friday night I was to speak again for their last meeting. Sabbath they requested I present the “divine service” at the school. My translator was unable to understand my accent and because I had pictures and many understood English, we made it through.

   I am so glad God gave me the dream and urged me to leave so I could meet these wonderful people.

  We sure missed the keyboard that we gave away to brother M.  As we had our last Bible studies and songs together Brother Rao and Lenin wanted to keep on singing the songs they had learned from us. We made a rough tape of the songs in spite of sore throats and back ground noises.  They wanted copies of our music. We sang and sang from our books that last Sabbath afternoon. We know that God put our team together to share gospel together and we had done our best. God kept His body guard about us at all times and provided for every need.

  They were suffering from drought in the city. The bucket of water I was given to bathe with was gathered at great effort from a long distance from the school in that city. I was unable to wash my clothing again or bathe again till we reached Hong Kong.

  Our kind friends Brother Rao and Lenin saw us to the airport and from there we were on our own till we reached Hong Kong and met some more dear friends. How I appreciated the brotherly kindness of these two who had never known each other before. God brought us together to share. He had this plan set up long before He even requested I go to Tenali.