Nawabgani Village

There are many impressive points to the seminary which is hosting Morgan and Andrew, but nothing is more impressive to me than the fact they join in outreach to surrounding Hindu villages and plant churches there.  They assign student teams to go out and minister regularly.  The village we went to is Nawabgani, a newer village as they started going there 2-3 years ago when there were no Christians. It is about an hour and a half from Allahabad.  The team leader said the Hindi there would offer animal sacrifices to try to 'make things better' which isn't very common with Hindus, but does happen.  Now there are several Christian families in this village of 800, and they are still doing outreach as they did last night.  The church normally meets in a courtyard for a family compound for Sunday services, but this meeting was a children's program and it was on the edge of the village between a building and a field.  Many villagers who were not Christian came by to watch.
We rode on a half size school bus with the ministry team.

I told Andrew there is a picture every 10-20 feet in India!  This is just a sight along the way and also below.  We drove from paved roads in Allahabad to dirt roads in Allahabad.

We stopped at one point to look at a church that the denomination had built for a particular area.  Notice the mats on the floor for seating and they can seat a couple hundred in this small room if needed.

This is a scene a few doors down from the church.

 This is the little goat that Amos begged his dad to be able to take home!!  We traveled then out of Allahabad, and into the country.  There were many workers out in the fields harvesting hay and other things.  We saw a few tractors, but most of the work was being done by hand.  The workers often had a small herd of goats out in the field with them, and it was clear the goats were enjoying the feast!  We saw them collecting dung as well and stacking it in neat, decorative piles for fuel.  I so wanted to get pictures of the farmers' families working, but the bus was too bumpy and going to quickly.  Interesting to me is that most of the road was lined with tall pampas grass.

Not a very good picure....but I had to grab this shot between bumps!

Here is more a typical shot of what the rural village homes looked like.

 This is a home and boy at Nawabgani.  I wasn't allowed to take many pictures at the village as when white people take alot then the natives start asking when the funds are going to start rolling in from the potential donors!  There is a student who took pictures and he is going to send me all of them so there should be more at some point.

This is the stage the seminary had set up, and the children are starting to  collect.

A couple irresistible faces...

In the beginning formalities, they called several of us on stage and gave us lais of flowers.  I was horrified to be called up there, but when I turned around to sit up there...this is what I saw....and I was delighted to see their faces.  Andrew snuck this shot with his phone.  After the brief presention of lais, we were permitted to sit down again and watch the program.  There were 10-12 childen in this group who regularly attend church in the village....the rest are visiting to watch the program and are therefore being reached with the gospel.  Many of the adults are just visiting as well. Both the village church and the seminary students contributed to the program.

After the program, we (the busload) were escorted into the little courtyard where the church normally meets.  They had a huge pot of Indian tea made which was very delicious.  We were given two little bowls each for a snack.  One bowl had chickpeas soaked and then fried in oil and Indian spices.  The other had an Indian trail mix with some sweet, deep-fried strips of breading on top...kind of like pieces of elephant ear ....but sweeter.  We sat and visited with the team.  I don't believe the villagers knew English.  There was a convenient restroom in the courtyard....a cubicle walled on  3 sides.  You go on the floor and there is a bucket of water to wash the waste out through a small hole onto the street.  No toilet paper provided!   The housing was very basic.  The community is agricultural....and I would love to know more about their way of life!  We left as it was getting dark.  It was an amazing experience of a grassroots work, and I'm so blessed to be able to go.  It was a challenge to me to reach out more where we live.  I'm praying about what we should do...