Sri Lanka

This is Anula and me at church. I was dressed in the traditional wear of Sri Lanka called a Sari (spelling?). Just before this was taken I explained to Anula that I wanted to post her picture on my website so America could hear her story. She cried thinking about it.

I am in Sri Lanka safe and sound!! Internet access is limited so my apologies for not writing sooner to inform you I am safe.
I have had the most wonderful time here. The Pastor here is Dishan and his wife is Stephanie. I am staying with Dishan's mother, Rosemary (aka Rosie). We live with Rosey's mom (Ulga), sister (Ester) and daughter (Sonalli).
Tuesday and Wednesday I went with Rosie and another lady from the church to do home visiting. Each day we visited over 15 homes...in a tri-shaw!! It was awesome! Over the 2 days, we got to share the Gospel with 10 new people. Each time we entered a home, we would listen to and pray for them. The people we visited are those who have visited the church previously, but are no longer constant in attendance. We go to encourage and strengthen them through fellowship and prayer. I have really seen the importance and need in making home visits. I will tell you just one of the many stories we experienced:
Anula lives with her husband and child. They live in a small flat surrounded by apartments. In those apartments live her brothers and sisters. No one in her family is a belever. Only she. Each day she cooks and cleans and never leaves the home. She has no Bible to read and no fellowship. The last time she came to Pastor Dishan's church (Bethany Church) was over one year ago. The visiting team always tried to find her home, but never had any luck. They had been trying since she visited the church last to find her. By God's grace, we were able to find her. When she heard we were from the church and had come to visit her, she began weeping. She told the story of how all of her family opposes her. How they are having such financial difficulty and how she is so alone. She also has a health problem. Her foot gives her such pain..not sure what disease it was but it looked painful. Anyways, she expressed her desire for her husband (who was standing in the room with us and is Buddhist) to become a believer. So we prayed all together in a circle. She cried and cried. And looked at me and said "Oh I am so thankful to God that yall came. No one has ever visited me before and I am so lonely." My heart was touched by her testimony. She lives in poverty and is having so many troubles, but in the midst of it all, she could say she was thankful to God. She also told us how she had been having an angry spirit lately and how she wanted it to leave. We explained how she needs to read the Bible each day in order to be protected from attack..and thats when we found out she had no Bible in the house. Just like our physical body needs food, so our Spiritual body needs food to survive. The Bible is food to our souls. So, she AND her husband said they would come to church this Sunday. Praise God from whom all blessings flow. I now see the importance of visiting the new comers of our church. It is a very much needed ministry that I will become involved in when I get home. Christianity, and ministry is not all about you. There are people who need to be encouraged. There are people waiting for you to visit them and pray for them. They need a touch from God in human form. Just an ear to hear them speak. Just a mouth to pray for them. Just arms to hug them. Thats all you need. There is nothing super spiritual about it. If you have an ear, mouth and arms, you can be used to help others.
I thank God for teaching me the importance of home visiting.

PS- Here is the church website: http://bethsrilanka.com/