We had the awesome privilege of being a part of the International Commission mission to Sikkim, India, March 10-22, 2011. Steve Farris, vice president of India, did a great job with logistics for a complicated mission. Rodney Cavett, president, provided a very adequate budget.

Team participation included 32 Americans from Tennessee, Oklahoma and Kentucky. This was a Life Way sponsored mission and we were privileged to have 13 participants from that Kingdom building organization. Ages ranged from 20 to 81. Three International Mission Board missionaries joined in the work in northeast India. The mission field was in the foothills of the mighty Himalaya Mountains near the borders of Tibet, Nepal and Bhutan. Groups were in altitudes as high as 12,100 feet where snow was on the ground. Four groups went in four different locations to work beside national pastors and leaders to share the Good News of Jesus Christ.

The work in India continues to grow by leaps and bounds as many people are coming to know Christ by personal witnessing and the use of Operation Andrew to prepare for our visits. God blessed and we saw 660 indicate they prayed to accept Christ. This was an area of primarily Buddhist and Hindu where decisions are made mostly as a family. Twenty one churches participated in this mission. The Good News was shared with over 2,000 individuals. A number of Gideon New Testaments were presented. We are already receiving feedback from the follow-up with reports of additional decisions as church members go back to homes visited during the week. Discipleship was strongly emphasized during this phase of the mission.

A team of four dispensed eye glasses which gave another opportunity to share the gospel after the fitting. Over 700 pair of glasses were dispensed and over 100 indicated they prayed to accept Christ.

One of the reasons we go is to mentor evangelism with the Nationals. Stu T. of Oklahoma presented a workshop on evangelism with 27 trained and 40 EvangeCubes presented to participants. A total of 163 EvangeCubes were given to church members to use as they continue to share the gospel after Americans leave.

Kara Conner of Albany, Kentucky explained, “On Wednesday the vision team and I were taken to the Red Light District in Siliguri. We worked the eyeglass clinic from a children’s rescue center. The director of the center told us that the children living there had been removed from sex and labor trafficking. We saw 110 patients who were fitted with eyeglasses, sunglasses and/or eye drops. Most importantly, each heard the Gospel and fifteen people; children, women and a Muslim man accepted Christ. I was so happy to serve on this project.”

Bob F. of Tennessee shared, “On Wednesday we had an opportunity to visit two government schools. The first was a primary school with 32 students and five teachers. We presented the gospel and had one Buddhist teacher pray to accept Christ. Many students also responded. At the secondary school we used the large EvangeCube to present the gospel to 205 students and seven teachers. Many students responded there.”

Charles H. of Tennessee remarked, “We were using the EvangeCube this week and our team intentionally set out to be sure that our local co-workers would be able to use the Cube. Over the week, we were able to train five men in its use. The best event of the week for me was when I only said ‘Hello’ and ‘Thank you.’ One of the men we trained was able to present the Gospel and lead a community leader and his wife to the Lord. I see this as one of our roles in a short term trip–to train local leaders who can carry on the work after we depart.”

Brian B. of Tennessee contributed, “After presenting Christ and sharing the gospel for several days, it was wonderful to see the church member that ended up being our translator just step in and take it away at several points later in the week using the Cube and explaining things the way we had been sharing all week. Discipleship by experience and ownership by passion and seeing results. Can’t beat that!”

Ted Burchett of Albany, Kentucky said, “This was an amazing week for me. It was awesome seeing God change hearts in the beautiful Himalaya Mountains. On one occasion we walked down a mountain over 600 steps to witness to a woman who had knee problems. She had lost much weight and had not walked up the long steep hill in five months. This lady boldly accepted Christ and asked for prayer for her knees. After we prayed the pastor offered to come back soon and worship with her. She replied, ‘no thank you. I can climb the hill and go to church with you.’ You could clearly see the countenance on her face change as she accepted Jesus into her heart. It was a blessing seeing many people warmly welcome us and listen to the Good News we shared.”

A group of 15 visited the magnificent Taj Mahal at the end of the mission. This is one of the Seven Man made Wonders of the World and was a great treat after an exhausting project.

Please pray about joining us in Zimbabwe, September 7-20, 2011.

Keith McWhorter

Project Coordinator