Dear Freebirds,
I am writing to ask for your prayers. I'm scheduled to fly out to India on Wednesday. I don't think I can stress this enough. Even my boss just came in and said he feels the Lord saying, "You better be ready." I don't exactly know what that means, but I know this trip has "something" about it that requires substantial prayer cover. As some have said, "We are going into the Devil's Playground." But if we don't go, who will?
Many have expressed concern over this one for a variety of reasons, so I ask that you please pray for our health, safety and ability to help the people we are going to be serving on a daily basis.
There are 17 of us scheduled to go. We leave Dallas early Wednesday afternoon, fly out to Chicago, then to Delhi arriving there Thursday night at 8:55PM (their time). India is 10:30 hours ahead of our time, so that means we will be traveling for nearly 24 hours straight. A very lonnnnnggg travel day.
Our team will be focused on working with our Indian brothers and sisters in sharing the Good News. The team includes people from North Carolina, Oregon and Texas. It is the desire of each of us that we are able to demonstrate God's love and to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the unreached people groups of India.
The ministry of intercessory prayer is essential for any mission trip to be successful - and I feel it is strongly need for trip especially. Would you please put the following itinerary in a prominent place and join me as a prayer partner? In so doing, God will use you and we as a team will experience the power of your prayers! You should be able to go to www.eastwest.orgfor field reports. We will do our best to get them to you from the field and I will certainly report when I return. We are going to assist Lipok and his wife. Our focus will be to work with three different people groups with three national church planters who are experiencing incredible open doors. The (unreached) people groups we will be working with are:
1 Assamise 2. Adivasi 3. Mising
OUR DAILY SCHEDULE
As we travel both in-country and overseas by air and by land, please pray for.
- Safety and rest
- Opportunities to share Christ on the plane
- All luggage to arrive
- Our health
- Customs process to be smooth and quick, allowing all team members and their baggage to get through without problems
- God to prepare hearts in India ahead of us
Mar 26th (Wednesday) - Entire group departs Chicago together @ 7:40 P.M. for Delhi, India arriving on Mar 27th at 8:55 P.M.
Mar 27th (Thursday) - Arrive in New Delhi
Mar 28th (Friday) - Travel to Sibsagar in-country flight and by car caravan
Mar 29th (Saturday) - Sibsagar Ministry, village for evangelism among the Assamise people group
As we minister to these people groups please pray for:
- Discernment for Lipok Wati on how to best coordinate our time
- An awesome time of worshipping the Lord with our Indian brothers and sisters
- Wisdom in matching interpreters and Americans
- Continued bonding with our interpreters and our Indian brothers & sisters
- Faithfulness & consistency for our prayer partners
- Team members to be diligent in spending time daily with the Lord and having a servant heart
- Open hearts to the Gospel
- Multiple divine appointments and opportunities for the miraculous
- Boldness as our team steps out in faith to share God's love and healing touch through the Gospel message
- For a positive response to the Gospel
- People to see Christ in and through us
- Wisdom in dealing with people's questions about spiritual issues
- Each person to be fully clothed in God's armor depending completely on and remaining safely in Him
- Satan to be bound
- The team to do all things through Christ who strengthens and empowers them
- For continued physical, emotional and spiritual strength, health and safety
Mar 30th (Sunday) - Outreach in Sibsagar continued among the Adivasi people Group
Mar 31 (Monday) - Last day of evangelism in Sibsagar and travel to Jorhat by vehicle. Please pray for us as we continue our journey...
Apr 1 (Tuesday) - Evangelism project in Jorhat among the Mising people
Apr 2nd (Wednesday) - Sharing Christ among the Mising people Please pray for our families and friends back home. Pray for them to remain healthy and safe in our absence.
Apr 3rd (Thursday) - Continued ministry among the Mising people group
Apr 4th (Friday) - Travel back to Delhi
Apr 5th (Saturday) - Fly back to the States
As we return, please pray for.
- Safety as we travel by road and air back to Delhi
- That ALL of our team is able to return safely home on schedule
- Physical, Emotional & Spiritual strength Flexibility
- Rest after an incredibly busy week of ministry
- Emotional protection as we say goodbye to our Indian brothers and sisters
- The good work begun in the Sibsagar and Jorhat. That it would continue to flourish and that many churches would be effectively established
- Lipok and his team to take full advantage of the God given opportunities to expand the ministry in his region
- That our team would have a positive impact on our churches back home as we plug back into ministry and share our experiences with friends and family
- That there are no delays so that we can return to our loved ones quickly
- A time to process all that has happened and to rejoice in God's faithfulness
- Follow-up of those who have made first time decisions for Christ.
- Our sensitivity to the Holy Spirit as He continues to do His work in our lives after we return
- An invigorated desire to share Christ with our friends, families, neighbors and co-workers
- Restful transition back to home life and responsibilities
I'm sorry this is so long, but I want to be sure I've covered all the bases to the best of my ability. Again, please, please pray for us. I will report when I return (safely and in good health on the 5th of April 2008).
In Service to the King,
- Rob
