The “Jesus for Mumbai” meetings last week ended on Sunday. The people living there were quite discouraged by the low turnout (around 70-100 per nite), but i told them that even if there was just one who received benefit from it, then it was worthwhile. One pastor said it even better when he said: “We just do the work we are told to do – to spread your bread on all the waters, and then we trust in God that he will do his part by sending his Holy Spirit to work on hearts.” That was encouraging! Myself tho, i had several excellent experiences, and praise God that i had an opportunity to serve him in that capacity for a few days.
I was told to have the health talks, so each meeting i gave around a 10-minute talk which was translated into Tamil, and then into Hindi. I talked about eating fresh fruits, drinking lots of water (especially on awaking), whole grains (the bread of life), increasing your immunity, and regularity in all our actions. God gave me good freedom to speak, and i pray the people were blessed.
It was great to see that the producers of the meetings had all the food prepared before the Sabbath. They also happily saw to it that all the bottled water was delivered before the Sabbath. On Friday evening, while practicing singing with two Brothers, it hit me that the music man and video man were being paid to work for us on the Sabbath hours. In talking with the music man, i found out that while he was getting money, it wasn’t a “money” gig, he was basically doing it as a favor for the meetings. The video man however was asked to stop, which he did on the holy time on Saturday, but not on Friday nite.
On Friday morning there was a nice meeting for all the students taking tuition from one of the SDA families there. 97 children came, and it was nice to see them singing Christian songs and listening to a Christian message, something which is not usual for them. It brought back memories of my students in Japan, and made me wish that i had brought all of them together at least once to have a Christian witness meeting for them….. Lord, please forgive me for not doing much for my students in Japan, to lead them to eternal life. Yes, they all knew i was Christian, and i did have Bible studies with several of them, but i wasn’t near as strong about it as i should have been. I don’t want to see any of them going to the fire………..
The main speaker was Pastor John Willmott. A hall had been rented in a Christian school, and of the 5 nites, 2 of the nites saw wedding parties on the same grounds with the attendant noise. Our meetings got quite noisy too, and i counseled the music people twice to have more melodious music, but after one or two songs they went back to the heavy almost rap-like beat. After 45 minutes, your stomach tends to turn upside down, and the relish for spiritual food is mostly gone. Fortunately, many of those who sponsored the meetings agreed that the music should be better next time 🙂
On Sabbath i was able to have a deep Bible study with 3 young people, one of whom is not yet Christian. We studied the last part of Matthew 5, and then several verses in Matthew 24 about how Jesus will return. I also had an interesting experience giving away Steps to Christ and 1858 Great Controversy books to those Christian groups who were having worship services in other rooms of the school complex. I only sold 3 1858gc books, but was happy to see that everyone was happy to receive a laminated printing of a beautiful drawing of Jesus’ Second Coming.
There were some things which could, and should be done better next time, but all in all, i believe it was a great start to evangelizing the Tamil-speaking population in Mumbai, and am very thankful to having been asked to pay a small part in this great work. Courage Brothers and Sisters!