This was one of those memorable days—a day of seeing our God in action and moving alongside of Him in an effortless, seamless way.

Our team of 9 drove down to the coast where to visit several different mercy ministries. The first stop was to observe a brand new empty hospital, never used – out host has a vision to purchase this hospital and to use it for the local people. We then visited a ministry where various teaching is taking place, teaching the widows the trade of sewing. These are victims of the 2004 tsunami. Widows in this culture are totally ignored by society, and have no way to look after themselves and their children. The ministry is also involved in educating children and others in computer skills and in speaking English. The classrooms are small and sparse, so different to the affluence that we are used to. They are involved in uplifting the poorest of the poor. They have been very involved in helping the local community in the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami.

We then drove out into the countryside through the villages to see a property that was purchased last week, two acres on the outskirts of a village. The vision is to build many small homes for the tsunami widows. We walked the land and then went on to the next door property to see the small church building that occupies the corner between this and our host property. A young woman greeted us with a shiny face, she had been waiting for us –a Christian, she had been “told” by the Holy Spirit that a man with the same name as our host would visit on Tuesday. Our host had not known this detail himself, as had only made the arrangement to take us out on Tuesday, the previous day. She told us her story, her husband had been injured in an accident and no longer had the use of his right arm –she went to bring him to us and we observed his arm, we asked if we could pray for him and right there in the heat of the Indian afternoon we laid hands on this man and asked our Heavenly Father to heal him. His two small children observed us, with wide brown eyes. It seemed so normal to stand there, a group of South Africans, Americans and Indians, all talking to our father in Heaven together.

We left, and continued on to a village where the tsunami had hit and wiped out all source of livelihood. The fishing boats had been replaced by many different agencies, most of which are Christian. The fishermen insisted on taking us out to sea in one of the boats. What fun we had, out beyond the waves on the Bay of Bengal. The men, two brothers, told us how the last 4 catches had yielded no fish, this was indeed, very bad for the whole village. They then asked us to pray for them, and so out there, on the sea with the sun setting, we prayed, and asked our Father to bless them with an enormous catch. What a privilege to pray with these simple fishermen. Later, as we shared the story with our hosts, they were amazed, as the village is not Christian and they have not yet had an opportunity to pray with these people. God is at work and we continue to pray for answers to these prayers.

On the way home, we were told that the injured man had completed half his payment for the small property that his family was living on. He was not able to continue to work and therefore would lose his home. The amount needed to complete the payment was the rupee equivalent of $120 US! This was shared with the team the next morning, a collection taken and a property secured for a family of four. Our God is indeed on the move, strengthening His people all over the world. The wife of the injured man had told us with shining eyes that her village would become a “Christian” village! We look forward to see what happens in the future.

— Margie Cook