Big Life continued....

The second day out in the villages with the Big Life Ministries. This time we went south and it was a much shorter drive with less pot holes. It rained for most of the day on and off so it was much cooler but a lot more muddy!

Walking through the village was a surreal experience and felt like a dream. There were palm trees on every side, the road was too narrow for a normal car (but could fit an auto-rickshaw, just about !), there were green pools and brown pools surrounding us, goats and cows and chickens that were not concerned about human company. It was beautiful.

We began at the local Big Life House Church, which was mostly women, a few men and a couple of children. We sang songs and shared testimony. The testimonies of the women were ones of blessings through the small things when life is really hard. We were told that for some of the women, as they had converted to Christianity, their husbands resented it, and as a consequence their home life became difficult. I really felt for these women who had all sorts of other troubles, around poverty and family life but who could still testify to God's greatness. We spent some time praying for the women before they left to go further into the village. 

The rest of the day was taken up by going to homes to which the church had been invited to pray for the house and to talk to them about our faith. This kind of thing seems alien in a western culture where we keep our selves to our selves in our houses and don't like being intruded on. In this situation, however, it felt natural and welcomed, even when the householders disagreed with the people from the church. Most of the conversations were conducted in Bengali, but it was interesting to watch and listen to the conversations to try and understand what was happening. 

It has been really interesting to be part of Big Life the last few days and to see how they work. Their passion and commitment sets a great example and is something we all commented on. There is so much we can learn from that at home......

Big Life

Sunday - Church - arrived in a hall rented from a Methodist building to the Big Life Church. It was an English speaking service and felt very familiar. The chairs were out when we arrived, but the rest of the setting up was still going on (reminding me of setting up at Junction in Derby every week). At first we thought the service looked a bit empty but the congregation gradually trickled in and by 10.35am the church was reasonably full. The preacher was Brazilian, but am not sure where from, and preached for a long time! We had that dreaded 'will the visitors please stand up' moment but after that we were handed a welcome pack with a pen, a bookmark and a tract along with some other stuff..... the service finished and then we joined them in a small cup of chai, which as sweet tea goes was very nice! Sunday was finished with rest and watching Andy Murray lose in the tennis with a picnic tea in the boys bedroom.


Monday - we travelled north out of Kolkata to a small village on the border with Bangladesh. The village was in the middle of human made ponds where we could see people fishing for shrimps and crabs between the brick works. It was like being by the sea side in smell (most of the time) and breeze, which made things feel good!

When we arrived at the village the Big Life Ministries were serving the community through a health clinic and then through distribution of medicines. The queues for the clinic were huge but the crowds got bigger as we arrived! There was a football match going on in the pond next to the building we were in (yes, IN the pond) which was very interesting.... 

It wasn't long before we were approached by a woman who wanted us to go and pray in her house. We walked with one of the Big Life Pastors down to her house - a mud hut about 10 minutes walk away - and gathered children on the journey fascinated by our cameras and our strange hats I think! On arrival in the house we told some stories, sang some songs, and then Rosemary gave a short message which was continued by the Big Life Pastor who continued to preach in Bengali. It was an honour to be inside the house and view the relationships being built. We were offered a cup of chai and biscuits and felt like honoured guests. 

After leaving the house we walked back up the road and there was a shout from the back. A  man had asked Andrew and Louise into his home as his daughter had a fever. He wanted prayer. It was an honour to be standing at the back and be part of that and as we read the story of Jairus' daughter tonight that experience brought a different view point on that story. The Father later went to get the doctor from the clinic and we prayed for her again tonight that God would answer our prayers and work through the medicine. 


We spent some more time with the children, although the heat was getting to me (it was HOT), so I missed some of it. The people in the village were very open to the visitors and appreciated hearing what they had to say.


Let's see what tomorrow brings.