Today I met my good friend Henry. He is from Darjeeling, but he is working among the Chepard tribe in Nepal. He is travelling by bus for three days and then he walks for four hours in the mountains to reach the village where he is presently staying.
Henry is totally sold out for his Lord which he loves so much. He is reaching this un-reached people group with the good news of the Kingdom of God. At the moment he has established communities of the Kingdom in six villages. He is teaching them basic skills and hygienic to help them to make a better living. He is also providing medicine, school materials, and clothes for them. No wonder he is very much loved by the people.
God is performing many miracles through him. Today he told us of a lady that had been bedridden for more than two years being seriously ill. The entire family suffered because of her illness. Henry felt led by the Holy Spirit to go to her and pray for her to be healed. To his surprise, after fervent prayers nothing happened. So he went back the following day to pray for her once more. Again nothing happened! Everyday for a full week he went to pray for her, but nothing happened. Then he got tired and a little bit upset with God! “God, what are you up to? Why are you doing nothing? What are you doing?” he complained to God, telling him that so many people needed salvation in that area. He could not understand why God did not perform a miracle. He was about to give up when God told him to go back to the lady and pray for her.
The next morning he returned to the family to pray for the lady once more. He prayed fervently for her all day, evening and night. Early morning something left her and she fell down from the bed. At that time he felt his prayer burden was taken away from him and he went home to sleep. When he returned to the family after two days he found the lady totally healed! Once more he shared the good news of the Kingdom with her and her family and they all came to Christ!
Hallelujah! God is good!

This evening we have had a most inspiring time with Abraham, Moses and Raju. They are part of a team working to establish covenant communities in their area in South India. Abraham left his place where he had helped establish a thriving community of God’s people to go to the district capital to start a new work. Within one year the new covenant community consists of 125 members located in several areas of the city.
Moses also went to a new place a time ago. The Lord is using him powerfully. I was really touched as he told stories of healings and miracles. A communist leader wanted to expel him from the village, but when his brother was bitten by a very poisonous snake he still brought him to Moses to pray for him for he had heard that Moses had the gift of healing. When he saw the healing take place immediately he changed his mind.
Moses explained that in his areas there are a lot of poisonous snakes and scorpions and that people often are being bitten by them. It is very painful when the poisonous infection creeps through the veins. When he prays for people the pain immediately starts to go back, and back, – to the starting point, to fully disappear from the body! The whole village acknowledges the gift of healing in Moses and trust him more than the doctors. The Hindu village chief even wants to provide government land to him for him to build a house for the covenant community to meet in. Every Sunday about 200 people come together to celebrate the goodness of the Lord. In their monthly prayer-night more than 250 people spend the night in prayer!
Raju is leading a fulltime prayer team consisting of 7 members. From early morning to late night they are praying the blessing of the Supreme God upon the wonderful nation of India. They are receiving prayer requests from all over India and especially from their own area. Prayer is hard work but also a very rewarding effort. They are seeing miracles take place because of prayers and many people report of prayer being answered. Prayer requests may be sent to prayertowerindia@yahoo.com

Sunday morning we were taken to the Rotary Club to join the covenant community in celebrating their Lord. It was a wonderful time as the hall was packed with people wanting to celebrate.
I was very moved when I was listening to the people coming forward to tell their stories. Mothers and fathers carrying their small children came to tell of how they had been blessed and helped by their Lord the last month. Old ladies and young men alike wanted to share their stories giving glory to their Lord.
A young man told us how he had been involved in a serious accident on the way home from his office one day. The Lord in a miraculous way saved his life! Several other people told how the Lord had delivered them and helped them in many kinds of accidents. Some people told how the Lord had helped them during times of pressure not to compromise.
As I was listening to their real life stories and looked at their radiant faces, I was filled with gratitude in my heart. It was really a privilege to be with these precious people celebrating the goodness of the Lord.

Monday morning we went to Amber Fort riding a huge elephant to the top of the hill. We also went to Nahagarh fort overlooking the entire city of Jaipur. It is a breathtaking view from the mountain ridge. Jaipur is such a huge city with more than three thousand inhabitants. When you stand on mountain looking at the city you can’t but be struck by the vastness of the city. I am so thankful that I am able to be here with my friends.

Around midnight local time we arrived at the Indira International Airport in New Dehli after seven and an half hours flight from Amsterdam. We couldn’t find a shuttle bus service to the domestic airport, so we went by taxi. Everyone told us that the airport was closed during the night and that we had to stay in a hotel. We found that the airport was open and we waited there from around 01.30 in the morning until the departure of our aeroplane by 05.45 bound for Jaipur. The good thing about the stay in the domestic airport was that we were able to buy excellent Indian Cinnamon tea!
In Jaipur Zephry and his son, Roscoe, waited for us to take us to Athiti Guesthouse. Once again we were taken to room no 104, the best room in the guesthouse! We have been able to have some rest and to spend a wonderful time with Zephry planning our stay here. Zephry has gone to meet Tone and Noralv Askeland at the airport later tonight. We are looking forward spending time with them and showing them the tremendous city of Jaipur!

We left home 0430 this morning only to discover at the arrival of the airport that we were at least one hour too early! We could have slept for one more hour! What a tragedy!
When we had boarded the KLM aeroplane we had to wait and wait for take off. Because of bad weather in Bergen and in Amsterdam we had to wait for three hours before take off. When we landed in Amsterdam our flight for India closed the gate and departed without us.
After a long wait we eventually had our tickets rearranged. We will reach India one day delayed!
Since the Schiphol airport had been shut down due to weather condition the KLM wouldn’t cover our stay here while we were waiting to fly out tomorrow. That was very disappointing!
However, we have had a relaxing time at the hotel. We have no warm clothes with us and have had to stay in all day. We have been reading, praying and enjoying one another’s company!
I was trying to send this blog entry from the hotel, but didn’t succeed. I cost me 5 Euro to be online for 15 minutes. But I was not able to copy this entry from a floppy disk to publish it on my blog. Therefore I just had to try to write a few words before my time was out!
However, God is good! He arranges everything to work out for the good of those who love him!

At the moment we are stranded in Amsterdam because of bad weather condition this morning when we left Bergen for India. We are stranded in a hotel nearby Schiphol Airport. With no warm clothes we have had to stay in all day.
Our tickets have been rearranged for departure tomorrow. We will arrive in India one day late.
God is a good God and everything work out for the best even though we don’t understand how at the moment.

I have come across a very interesting web site with a lot of useful links and resources for those with a heart for planting new churches for a new millennium. New Churches Com is worth a visit!

Early tomorrow morning we are leaving for India. We will be away for two and a half week. The first two weekends we will spend in Jaipur, The Pink City in Rajasthan. The next week we spend in Gujerat.
Tone and Noralv Askeland will join us in Jaipur. We are looking forward to a wonderful time together with our friends on their first visit to India. Hopefully it will not be their last visit to this magnificent nation.

When I was reading the prophet Hosea this morning a strange verse got stuck in my mind. The verse went like this: “Alcohol and prostitution have robbed my people of their brains” (Hosea 4:11 NLT). The post-modern version reads something like this: Consumerism leaves my people in a stupor! The everlasting truth is that living to satisfy the desires of the flesh leads to a dead end – a brainless living! They will drink and be as thirsty as ever, have sex and get no satisfaction. They have walked out on Life, for an existence of rutting with whores.
“Drunk on sex, they can’t find their way home. They’ve replaced their God with their genitals” (Hosea 4:12 The Message).
Consumerism takes many faces. You can find it in many forms, even some very religious ones. Consumerism is anti God. Consumerism is anti humanism. Consumerism de-humanizes societies. Consumerism is the religion of the sinful nature, ever craving for more.