India Mission

October 30th
I only have a moment because we are leaving for the airport in about half an hour. We have a short flight to Bombay, then a 7 hour layover, and then the long journey begins. If all goes as planned we should be back in WV late Friday evening. It has been a great month and it is simply amazing what is accomplished in a months time in India. Peter Ray, Aaron and I spoke a combined 162 times and had over 750 people express their desire to become New Testament Christians. We spoke to crowds of hundreds and groups of only a few, but the common denominator was a real interest in the word of God. We were on the move a great deal but that is OK because the busier we are the quicker the time goes by. We had to deal with illness and a few other problems but never encountered anything that threatened the work in any way. I wish everyone had the chance to experience the work here and the beautiful spirit of the Indian brethren. I fell in love with this work on my very first trip and that love has grown over the years. I have the utmost respect and admiration for the good men and women we are privileged to work with while here. Having said all that, I am ready to come home. I am exhausted, but it is a good exhaustion. I am anxious to get a really good shower, sleep in a really good bed, and eat some beef! I have had more than my share of chicken and I am ready for a little change. I am looking forward to being with the church in Barrackville and hope within a week or two to start showing the pictures of the trip and reporting on what we were able to accomplish. If you read this today, please keep us in your prayers as we travel. Thanks for all your support.

October 29th
We are now back in Hyderabad for the final two days of our stay in India. Aaron and I had planned to leave Gadwal Monday night after our meetings but Aaron didn’t get in from his until 11:30 so I decided we would wait until morning to drive back to Hyderabad. It was not a popular decision with a couple of Indian brethren, but I felt it was too dangerous to drive all night. We had a good work in Gadwal and saw several people respond to the invitation of Christ. At the big one day class on Monday seven were baptized into Christ and we got to witness these because there was a canal next to the church building. Aaron had some excellent meetings in Gadwal and I feel certain that close to 100 were baptized in the four days we were there. (Just in our meetings) When we got back to Hyderabad Keith Ball had already arrived from his road trip and later in the day Ron, Peter Ray and Amantha all showed up. It was nice to have the “crew” all together again. The big Hindu holiday, Dawali, was yesterday and it is virtually impossible to hold meetings during this festival. It was originally known as the “Festival of Lights” but now it is a festival of fireworks. We went out for supper and people were setting off fireworks on the sidewalk that require a license to set off in WV. Aaron and Amantha had their first experience with Dawali and they were both duly impressed. You really do have to witness it to fully appreciate the magnitude of the celebration. There are always several people injured and a few killed during this festival as a result of the fireworks. We will spend most of the day getting ready to start the journey home tomorrow night and hope to be able to hold a meeting or two tonight. It will probably be our last chance to speak on this trip. I look forward to seeing everyone on Sunday.

October 27th
We are still in Gadwal and have enjoyed working in the surrounding villages the last three days. It really does remind me of some of my earlier trips because this area is a little more backward than many parts of India I visit now. We have had good meetings with excellent results and the plan today is to conduct preachers classes all day and then hold meetings tonight. Aaron and I will take turns teaching at the preachers class and then we will each have two meetings tonight. After our meetings we will drive back to Hyderabad. We hope to leave here by 10:30 PM which will put us in Hyderabad around 3 AM. Our driver prefers to drive at night because there is so much less traffic. I had a couple of interesting experiences yesterday. I spoke at a nice congregation Sunday morning and they had fixed a "special" lunch for me. They thought I would be tired of chicken so they went to great lengths to prepare fish for me to eat. You should have seen their faces when I told them I do not eat fish in India! I ate some rice and was perfectly content, but last night I had to go back to that area for gospel meetings and at my last meeting some of the folks from the morning were there and they insisted I come back to their place to have supper. This time it was chicken and they were so happy that I ate a meal with them. As I have often told you, hospitality means the world to these folks. At my first meeting last night we heard drums and singing, but it was far enough away that we could continue. In a little while it moved right behind where we were trying to conduct our meeting and it became obvious we could not compete with the noise they were making. I learned it was a memorial for someone who had recently died and it might have been that the widow lived right in the area where we were having our meeting, or it might have been their way of disrupting our meeting. Regardless we decided it was not best to cause any problems so we wrapped our meeting up and moved on. To show how amazing this work is I have to tell you one more story. We have had to rent a car for the four days we are here and we have a young man driving for us. The first day, he was very quiet and slept in the car during our meetings. The next day he was smiling more and would stand by the car and listen while we taught. Last night he sat down in the meeting and told us later that he is thinking about becoming a Christian. He was all smiles and very talkative on the way back to where we stay last night. The gospel really does have great power when it falls on honest hearts. Tuesday is a big Hindu holiday so we will have the day off and that will leave us only two days before we head home. As always we request your prayers as we wrap up our trip and as we begin the long journey home. Peter Ray and Amantha will be coming back to Hyderabad on Tuesday so we will be together the last three days. I will send another update before we start home. Look forward to seeing everyone on November 2nd.

October 25th
I am sorry I have not been able to send any updates for a few days but I have not had any computer access the past four days. We were in the city of Kurnool for two days and stayed extremely busy while there. Aaron got sick again and Peter Ray was recovering from having a tooth pulled, so neither were able to go out and speak any one day. There were at least 12 meetings scheduled on Thursday so I spoke 6 times and Ron spoke 5 and we let the Indian brethren take care of the last one. It was a long day for me. I taught at three one day preaching schools in the area and then held three gospel meetings in the evening. At one of my meetings a large group of children followed me through the village and when I sat down they all sat down right in front of me. We had a little while before the meeting started so I spent about a half hour singing and teaching the children. It was a lot of fun and I heard the next day they were asking if we were going to come back soon. My last meeting that night was at a college and the audience was almost all young people. I taught them some lessons from the book of Ecclesiastes as to what makes life truly meaningful, and it seemed to be well received. I was impressed that the school allowed us to come and was even more impressed that a room full of young people showed up to listen. After two days in Kurnool, Aaron and I made our way to the city of Gadwal. It is an old city and unfortunately a dirty city as well. We are staying in a government house and it leaves a lot to be desired. It is air-conditioned, but that is about all you can say for it. The toilet does not work, there is a mosquito and ant problem, they provide no towels or blankets, only a sheet to cover the bed. We ate lunch in a restaurant that was not very clean either, but the food was actually pretty good. Unless plans change (we have encountered a small problem here) we will be here through Tuesday morning and then will head back to Hyderabad. We were supposed to have some classes and a big night meeting here but ran into some problems the first day and I canceled it last night. We have decided to stay and hold meetings in the surrounding villages if there are not any problems about my canceling the day classes and night meetings. We are not in any physical danger, just a little concerned there may be some disgruntled folks who were hoping to profit from the classes and meetings. I will send another update in the next day or so if possible. Peter Ray and Ron are heading to Markapur today and will be there for the weekend and we will all gather in Hyderabad on Tuesday to start wrapping this trip up. We are still seeing good results and are enjoying the work immensely. It will be good to get home though and back to some of the luxuries you miss while here. Please continue to pray for us and I look forward to seeing everyone on November 2nd.

October 21st
Today is our last day in Bangalore. We have been here since Friday and the work has gone pretty well. There is not as much work here as in other areas, and again, because of recent tensions we have had to be a little more careful. We actually took Monday off and drove to Mysore to do a little sight seeing and shopping. We left around 7 in the morning and didn't get back until midnight. It was a nice and much needed break from the hectic schedule we have been keeping. We each have two meetings tonight and then must go from our meetings to the train station to catch an 11PM train for Kurnool. It is a 7 hour train ride and I am hoping we will be able to sleep a little on the way. Peter Ray is scheduled to meet us in Kurnool and it will be great to be able to work with him for a few days. Amantha arrived this morning in Bangalore and because of complications had to fly alone but we were there waiting for her when she got off the plane. Hopefully I will access to a computer the next few days and will be able to stay in touch. As I write this Peter Ray is in Hyderabad having a wisdom tooth removed! It started giving him a lot of trouble and the dentist said it needed to come out. We are hoping and praying it goes well and that he will be able to join us tomorrow. Keep us in your prayers as we are going to be doing a lot of work and probably moving a few more times this last week. See you soon.

October 19th
Today was kind of an easy day by India standards. I only spoke three different times, but did spend a good bit of time moving from location to location. I thought my first meeting this morning was with a congregation of the Lord's church and when I got there the sign over the door said, "Zion Full Gospel Church." I am not sure what this group believes but there was definitely a Pentecostal flair to their worship. I think I was one of the first "outsiders" to speak to them so I simply tried to lay a foundation for others to build on and spoke to them about the need to prove all things in light of God's word. My second meeting was supposed to be at a congregation of the Lord's church and when I went in they had an organ and a drum set sitting there. I was sitting in my seat trying to figure out what was going on and a man sat down next to me and said, "Brother, we are building a new building and a denomination in town is allowing us to use their building rent free until ours is done." During the lesson I touched briefly on the problem of instrumental music and you could see folks smiling as they thought about the place we were in. It was an excellent meeting, however, and they hoped I would be able to come back before leaving this area. My final meeting was at a brothers house and it was full and we talked about "What Must I Do To Be Saved." All in all it has been a very good day. We are leaving early in the morning to drive 2 1/2 hours to Mysore to do a little sight seeing. We will drive back tomorrow evening and will probably just take the evening off. We will work here again on Tuesday and then are scheduled to catch a late night train that night for Kurnool. It has rained here every day and that is making it very pleasant, temperature wise, and so far has not affected our meetings. Things seem to be calm here and we have no difficulties holding meetings. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers. Time is quickly slipping away and soon this trip will be history. Look forward to being with you November 2nd.

October 18th
Aaron and I arrived in Hyderabad a little after noon and had less than five hours before we had to take off again. We caught an evening flight to Bangalore and by the time we arrived at Ron and Karen's it was nearly 10PM. Karen was kind enough to fix up a little supper and we enjoyed visiting a little while before calling it a night. Today we did some looking around in the city and purchased a few items we want to bring back home. Aaron and I are supposed to have meetings tonight but it has started raining pretty hard so we will have to wait and see if that affects our meetings in any way. Peter Ray and Amantha were able to hold meetings very close to each other last night which allowed them to travel together. Amantha spoke at a ladies class while Peter Ray spoke to a nearby congregation. We will speak here tomorrow several times and then hope to head to Mysore early Monday morning for the day. We will return to Bangalore for another day or so and then head to Kurnool where Peter Ray will meet us. Amantha will be coming to Bangalore to be with Karen for a few days before going to the children's home in Markapur for a special ladies retreat. The rain has caused the temperatures to drop which is nice because it was very warm and humid while we were in Khammam. Hopefully, I will be able to send another update tomorrow to tell you how our Sunday went here. We have less than two weeks and the time has flown by for us. Look forward to seeing everyone very soon.

October 16th
One of the most important things you bring to India is flexibility. For the second time this trip our plans had to change. I had planned to head to the children's home in Thubadu this morning but that was not possible, so we are staying one more day here and then will head back to Hyderabad in the morning. We have a five hour drive to Hyderabad and then must quickly repack, clean up a little and head to the airport to catch an early evening flight to Bangalore. Keith Ball and Amantha Cole arrived early Weds morning (India time) and from what I am hearing Amantha is doing great. Aaron and I have been teaching a class every day and then holding at least two meetings at night. Since our decision to stay here one more day was last minute, we did not have classes today but we still do have two meetings a piece tonight. It has been hot and the power has been going off quite a bit. To make things a little more pleasant we have had a problem with mosquitoes in our room and Aaron looks like he has broken out with the measles or something. We are seeing results in virtually every meeting, even some where we were not expecting any! Aaron had a 100 year old woman obey the gospel at one of his meetings. It is remarkable what you experience here! Pray for us as we travel by car and plane tomorrow.

October 14th
Aaron and I both taught day classes and then met at a local preachers house for lunch. (2:00 in the afternoon) It is really hot and at both locations where we taught the power went out and we had no fans. The heat really takes its toll after a while. I had planned to go back and teach in the afternoon but simply did not feel up to it. I had a slight headache and was simply feeling the affects of not enough sleep and too much Indian food! I had to meet with several local preachers and take care of the business Ron normally takes care of. It is not one of my favorite parts of this work. We will be here through Wednesday night and then hope to move on to the children's home at Thubadu. Things are going well and we are having very good meetings. I got reports from last nights meeting at the class today and 20 were baptized into Christ from those two meetings. It is exciting.

October 13th
As soon as we got up and had a little breakfast we had to repack and get ready to take off again. This time we were headed for Khammam, about a five hour drive from Hyderabad. We got there around 6:30 and had meetings to go to at 7. I had two meetings and the last one was a beautiful meeting, outside under a full moon. We are staying in the Hotel Vishnu and it is fairly nice and has a good restaurant where we can get a decent meal if we need to. Aaron and I are here by ourselves with our driver and two translators and will be here at least through Wednesday.

October 11th
Plans here change in a hurry! One of the things we tell people who are coming for the first time is learn to be flexible because it may not work out the way you thought. I thought I would be in Hyderabad over the weekend but Saturday morning it was decided Aaron and I would go back to Bidar for the weekend. It is hard to line up translators and vehicles when there are too many people in one place, so Aaron and I made the three hour journey to Bidar. I spoke three times that Saturday night and then spoke four times on Sunday. I was supposed to speak one more time on the way back to Hyderabad, but we were so late getting to the meeting the people had gone home to eat. They would have come back but we needed to get on the road. Aaron is feeling better and spoke five times on Sunday. We got home about 1 in the morning on Monday.

October 10th
I am writing this while sitting in a room at the Asian Institute of Gastroenterology. Aaron has been sick since Tuesday, so yesterday he flew back from Pune and I came by car from Markapur and we brought him here to see a doctor.
It has been a very busy week for me. We held meetings every night and taught classes during the day either in Markapur or in the surrounding area. We have had excellent meetings with large crowds and very receptive listeners.

October 9th
I got an early morning call from Peter Ray telling me they had Aaron at the doctor’s office because he had gotten worse. Since they were planning to head to Hyderabad today he suggested Aaron see a doctor there. They were supposed to take a train but it was going to be a 9-10 hour ride so they got Aaron a plane ticket. I got our driver (Baskhar) to bring me back to Hyderabad and we went straight from Markapur to the International Airport in Hyderabad. We got there a little early and ate lunch at a McDonald’s in the airport. Not bad, but not as good as the U.S.A. Aaron arrived and we went straight to the facility where we are at this time. He spent the night here and we are awaiting test results from last night and another test this morning. The doctors just came in and they are getting ready to discharge Aaron. He is battling a case of kidney stones but they are small enough they believe it is ok to let him go “home.” They told him to drink lots of water and beer! He is feeling better but please keep him in your prayers that he might be able to go the rest of the trip without too much pain.

October 8th
Ron left around noon to teach a class in another area and hold night meetings. I taught at the school that meets here and was to have two meetings tonight. It has rained a little the last couple of days, but about an hour before my meetings were to start it began to rain very hard. It rained until 8:30 or so and both my meetings were canceled. I was getting ready to lie down and read a little and I heard a gentle knock and it was Able telling me he had arranged a meeting for me in a village close by. We left around 9 and it was 9:45 when I got there. It was a “church meeting” (Christians only) and I conducted it more like a class then a sermon. We had a wonderful time and I commended them on coming out on a rainy night and so late for a study of God’s word. I am sure Abel set the class up knowing I was disappointed that my others had been canceled. You can’t help but love these good brethren!

October 7th
I woke up with a headache that I was not able to get rid of all day. I am guessing it is from not getting enough sleep. We have not gotten to bed before 1:30 since I arrived in India. You learn to catch a little nap whenever possible to make up for the lack of sleep. While driving into town we saw fisherman using nets to gather in fish and they were doing quite well. The fish were large and they had caught enough to fill a truck. I was told the fish would be put on ice and then sent to market. It was hard work and made you appreciate the Bible’s stories about fishing and fisherman. I had two meetings this evening and both were at denominational churches. Our brethren have been studying with these people are both are on the verge of becoming New Testament churches. It is an amazing thing to be part of something like that. When we all got back to the room Ron told us about his meetings and one of them surpassed mine from the night before. They estimated over 3,000 were at this meeting and 65 were baptized!

October 6th
Sunday was a busy day as is almost always the case in India. I spoke at two different congregations in the morning as they gathered for worship. Sunday night I had three gospel meetings. These began at 7:30 and the last one started at 10:15 and ended at 11:15. They were all good meetings with the first one having 250 people or more in attendance. I was amazed at the smiling faces and kind spirit that greeted us at the last meeting. They had been waiting some time, but stayed until we got there and then listened carefully as we studied God's word with them. From those three meetings 30 were baptized either last night or this morning. The four men who were in the car wreck are doing better. One has been released from the hospital but three are still there. Aaron and Peter came back to Hyderabad Sunday night but are to catch a flight to Puna today to work a few days. I hope to "hook up" with them at the end of this week. The earliest I have been able to go to bed since arriving here has been 1:30. It can be an exhausting work at times, but always a very rewarding work.
I went about an hour’s drive outside of Markapur to take a class that Ron was originally scheduled to teach. There were preachers he needed to meet within Markapur and he was also suffering some from a sore throat so I took the class instead. It was a large turnout of preachers and I spoke to them about the one church and talked about common objections people raise to the Bible’s teaching on this topic. After finishing that lesson I spoke to them a little longer on the difference between Bible baptism and denominational baptism. I then opened it up for questions and felt we had an excellent class. I stayed in that area to hold three meetings that night. The first one was a large gathering (300-400) of mainly Christians. At the end 5 expressed their desire to obey the gospel. The second meeting may have been the biggest gathering I have ever spoken to. There was a large crowd when we arrived but people kept coming in large groups. By the time we got started the Indian brethren estimated there were at least 2000 people present. They paid excellent attention and I spoke to the about Christ as the prophesied and realized Savior of all mankind. At least 40 were baptized the next morning. I didn’t get to my third meeting until 10:15 but there were 75-100 smiling faces there to greet us when we arrived. The meeting ended at 11:15 and 9 were baptized. My translator said to me as we rode back to the children’s home, “We have done a good day’s work for the Lord today.” I had to agree.

October 4th.
My first two days in Markapur have been interesting and extremely tiring. I think I mentioned in yesterdays update that Ron arrived in Markapur around 3 a.m. and it was 4 before we were able to get to bed. We had a full day then beginning around 9 with me teaching the preachers in the area and Ron meeting with local preachers. We held meetings in the evening and shortly after eating supper (around 10:30 p.m.) we learned that a car with 5 of our preachers and one of their wives had been in a bad accident and were in a local hospital. (There were 7 people in a little car!) We sent some of our good brethren to check on them and learned that 4 of them had injuries severe enough they needed to be transported to another hospital 4 hours away. We arranged for two vehicles to transport the injured, but before they would do that they had to be paid so they brought them by the children’s home and we paid them so they could be transported to a better facility. We sent some of the Indian brethren to check on the car and retrieve any personal items or valuable. By the time they got there the car had been cleaned out! The tape player had been pulled out and all the personal belongings were gone. By the time we finished with all of this we were crawling into bed around 2:30 a.m. It has been a long 24 hours! We have another busy day planned for today (Saturday). I will be leaving around 11:30 to travel to an area an hour or more away to teach preachers who will be gathering there. I am supposed to have three meetings tonight and so I am anticipating another very late night before I am able to finally call it a day. Keep us in your prayers.

October 3rd.
We spent only one day in Hyderabad before splitting up and heading to two different locations. Aaron and Peter Ray, along with Kyle Clayton, are in Bidar for two days and I am in Markapur. Ron arrived from Bangalore about 3 this morning and discovered he had picked up the wrong suitcase when leaving the train. Fortunately the Indian brethren were able to get in contact with the station master and they took the right suitcase off the train at the next stop and it was returned to us this morning. The plans at this point are to stay here in Markapur for about a week and then we will decide if we will move on or continue to work in this area. I had meetings the first night I was here and had meetings again last night. Today will be a full day of meeting with local preachers and then teaching and preaching later in the day. There is no internet access here at the children’s home so we have to go into the city to use the internet. I will send updates as often as possible.

October 1st.
We arrived safely in Hyderabad after 3 flights and what seemed like endless hours of sitting. All three flights were packed so we were not able to spread out any and it made for a long crowded trip. The good news is it actually happened, because I made a mistake that almost put me, at least, in a bad situation. Peter Ray's father took us to the airport and when we left Barrackville I placed our tickets and my passport on the seat beside me. We got out in Pittsburgh, unloaded (7 trunks and 6 carry on pieces of luggage) and I grabbed the tickets but didn't pick up my passport. We went inside, Peter Ray's father headed for home and when we got ready to check in I realized what I had done. For once in my life, I am extremely thankful for modern technology and cell phones. Pete was several miles down the road when we were finally able to get hold of him and then, of course, had to find a place to get off the interstate and come back. By the time he got back we were starting to cut it pretty close--time wise. We checked in, got to our gate and everyone else had boarded the plane but us! Not the best way to start a trip, but it all worked out. Peter Ray and Aaron were both enjoying watching the "veteran" of the group sweat out a serious mistake! Other than being crowded, the flights went well and we arrived in Hyderabad around 1 a.m. this morning (India time.) When they x-rayed our trunks one of the customs agents called me over and pointed at the screen and said,"can you tell me what this is." In all honesty I wasn't sure. He said, "they look like cartridges" several times and finally shaped his hand like a gun and I realized he was saying they looked like bullets. I assured him I was not carrying bullets but he wanted to see inside and when we opened the trunk it was a package of soft ear plugs, that actually are kind of shaped like bullets. He was very nice and let us move on once he was sure I was not carrying ammunition. We will all be holding meetings tonight and then tomorrow will be moving to different locations. Peter Ray, Aaron and Kyle will be going to Bidar for a couple of days and then on to Puna and I will be going to Markapur to meet Ron. He is in Bangalore at this time but will meet me Friday at the children's home in Markapur. I will send another update in the next couple of days if possible. Thank you again for you support and for your prayers.

On Monday September 29th Steve, Peter Ray and Aaron Snider left for a month long mission to the people of India. Please check back for more details

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E-Mail Steve: POC@ChurchofChristBWV.org E-Mail Pete: Peter Ray