2016-winter-v12

20 Global Harvest
Continued from page 19
Batlagundu
On the 16th of March Arjunan and Glory
picked me up from Madurai and brought
me to Batlagundu where classes were planned
for the next day. Sixty-one women gathered
from six districts for classes in two two-hour
sessions. After the meeting two ladies wanted
to be baptized, so Arjunan taught them more
to be sure they understood everything, and
then they were baptized.
A little girl was sitting on her mother’s
lap during the classes, and she kept smiling at
me. However, when I approached her afterwards
and she was not in the security of her
mother’s arms, she began to scream hysterically.
Later, I bought a toy for her, hoping to
ease her fear of the “foreign white lady”, and,
sure enough, when Glory and I went to her
home it did the trick! Her mother is a Hindu
but she is coming to the worship meetings
and studying privately with Glory.
On the way to Batlagundu from Theni
we visited two students in their Horticulture
College and had tea there; one of
them is a member of the church. Many students
surrounded us and I had opportunity
to share some basic Gospel truths. It was
a wonderful visit and I hope Arjunan can
have future studies with them.
On the 19th we went to Namakkal.
About 160 women gathered for the ladies’
Around the World in 100 Days!
meeting, and four wanted to be baptized.
Brother Paulraj, the preacher there, taught
them further and they were baptized the next
Sunday. Following the morning class we had
lunch and then Arjunan had a class for 30
brothers who came from 14 congregations,
while I had an afternoon session with the ladies.
Afterwards, we left for Kangayam and
reached Rajanayagam’s place in the night.
Kangayam
As mentioned earlier, Rajanayagam
had arranged classes in Chennai with sisters
from numerous congregations in that area.
Coming on over to Kangayam, we went first
to Erode where about 100 ladies gathered,
and then the next day there were classes
with the sisters in the church in Kangayam.
The proposed bride for Rajanayagam’s son,
Abel, was with us over the weekend and I
was thrilled to have some lengthy studies
with her, strengthening the studies she and
Abel have been having. Praisey and I continue
to be in contact via email.
Rajayanagam and the Kangayam
church organized the annual Bible camp,
number 19 this year! This is what he has
written:
“We had around 550 people from various
parts of Tamil Nadu and other neighboring
states representing about 60 congregations
and there were at least 100
more than last year. We had 12 lessons for
mixed gathering and 3 each lessons for the
split groups, and the participants enjoyed
them very well. We had separate class for
TV viewers and Magazine readers, and after
that class 5 obeyed the gospel.”
In the Kangayam church facilities
an elementary school is operated, giving
many students the basic Bible knowledge
that will impact them throughout life.
Rachael insisted that they give me a
new sari, so the last evening with them we
went to a sari shop in a big mall. Can you
imagine my difficulty choosing among so
many offerings as pictured here????
Trivandrum
I traveled by train to Trivandrum and
was met by P.K. Varaghese and Thankam.
We drove by Kovalam Beach in the afternoon,
seeing some of the area that lies on
the southwestern tip of India. The next day
at the Kovalam church building we had a ladies’
session from 10 AM to 2 PM and had
lunch together. Pretty (Vargheses’ daughter)
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