Conference

We spent this weekend at a retreat centre halfway up the mountains surrounding Dehra Dun. It was a really beautiful location, cooled by the mountain breezes and with a wonderful view over the Doon Valley.

I had been nervous about doing so much teaching and I was preparing everything last minute (which is nothing new) but, much to my surprise, it turned out God was with us and everything went well and the teaching was relevant and appropriate.

It was just really good fun to hang out with all the guys from the Dehra Dun Vineyard - both the city church and the village church. In fact it was really great to spend time with the teenage girls from the village who didn't speak any English, but were full of life and loved to pray and worship.

Inspiring delegates with stories about hiccups

Jane and Jenny enjoying Indian sweets - and boy were they sweet!

Janice gets broody!

Saying goodbye to Sunny & Vika

Ruth did some of the teaching, and as ever communicated in her own unique style - I thought you might like to see a bit:



We are now back in Delhi. We have 5-and-a-half days here until we fly back - and I can see Sarah and Oscar! We will be doing some things with the Delhi Vineyard and the pastor there will be arriving in an hour to meet us for breakfast. The rest of the time will be sightseeing and resting. Everyone is quite tired - it is so hot here and no one seems to be sleeping well.

.

Village People

On Wednesday we went to the village where the Dehra Dun Vineyard has planted a church. The people there predominently make their money through begging, picking up rubbish and selling it to recyclers or through snake charming.

We organised some children's activities, although it was mostly chaos and our assesment criteria boiled down to "are they having fun?" The answer was a big yes. It was lovely to see nearly 200 kids, from babies up to about 14 or 15 enjoying themselves. They don't really seem to understand rules, fair-play or teamwork. Much of our time seemed to be spent chasing the kid who'd grabbed the ball and pegged it off.

We finished by telling them a story and singing some songs. By the end we were exhausted and baked to well-done by the hot sun. We were invited to go to see some of the village girls dance and we went expecting to sit and watch a performance of traditional Indian dancing. Instead they put on some Bollywood soundtrack and it became more of a bizarre nightclub than a show of traditional Indian culture. You can see the results for yourself:



It was a great experience - all the more amazing at how welcomed we were and invited into someone's house - only three rooms which we filled immediately.

Village Church

I wasn't at the church service in the village, so today's guest blogger is... Mr Ben Gee:

On Sunday a third of the team went to visit a village church linked to the Dehra Dun Vineyard. We went to a village called Mathurawala which was about an hours taxi drive from where we were staying. The church was lead by a guy called Sanjay who was one of the members of a leadership training team that was being run by Sunny.

We all met a lady called Sue Sheila from the Dehra Dun Vineyard who took us to the village. Sue Sheila was tiny, even compared to Sunny’s 6 year old daughter. She had a beaming smile and was quite a chatty sort.

The taxi ride to the village was a bit bumpy, but it was good to get out of the city and into the country side. The village was in the middle of open fields and had a great view of the mountains. We got to the church a bit before the service, and were able to greet those who arrived.

The service was conducted in 2 rooms simultaneously, the leader often standing in the doorway to be heard by both areas. There were about 30 or so people in the room we sat in, and some children and toddlers too. Everyone sat on the floor in close quarters, it was very homely.

The service was very simple, but powerful. Worship was done just using a drum, tambourine and a pair of finger symbols. All the songs were sung in Hindi but we had song books that gave the English phonetics so we could join in.

Ruth gave the sermon accompanied by Sue Sheila doing the translating. She spoke on the way relationships are paramount in the Christian walk, both with Jesus and with each other. While she spoke the rooms were silent and everyone listened intensely.

After the service Kevin started showing the kids some balloons we had brought with us. They were all very excited (and so was Kevin). We all had a laugh with making the balloons screech, zoom around when half inflated and batting them round – even the kids who innocently became balloon targets had smiles on their faces.

It was a real eye opener for me, seeing that even though they did not have the facilities or equipment of home, they were still able to come together and experience Gods presence in such a real way.

Still surviving... kinda

The Delhi-belly has hit... even though we're not in Delhi, it has followed us to Dehra Dun. Averil, Mark, Mike, Kevin, Ruth and Caroline have all been unwell, to varying degrees and are all much better aquainted with their bathrooms than one might normally be. Our adventures have even included calling out a young, dashing Indian doctor at 1 in the morning!

For most people it is only a 24-hour sickness, followed by a cautious diet of toast and tea. In some cases I think it has been a bug or food poisoning, for some it is probably just a change in diet - we have been eating some fantastic and delicious food, but it is often quite rich.

Yesterday (Monday) we spent the morning with Sunny and his leadership interns - who are either serving in the city or village church. We worshipped using Hindi and English songs, sung with passion and the unique Indian rhythm, and then looked at a Bible passage and prayed for each other. It was a really good time, and quite humbling for us English. Sunny has 5 or so interns and they all want to church plant into other cities or nations. Given that this is a nation where being a Christian isn't easy and starting a church is potentially dangerous, we English were all tremendously impressed and challenged by their selfless commitment. One guy is from the village and is part of a snake charming community, people who keep vipers and cobras and come into city to hold the snakes and beg for money. The snake is revered in Hindusim, as it seems are most animals, so people give money as an offering. On Wednesday we will be visiting the community and have the opportunity to hold the snakes! His vision is to plant a church that reaches out to these people.

Many of Sunny's church are first-generation Christians from Hindu families, and we heard many stories of new Christians being thrown out of their families for becoming a Christian.

In the afternoon we split into a boys and girls group. Us boys went off with a couple of guys from the church to buy materials for the children's activities we will be doing in the village on Wednesday. They are expecting over 100 children, who we need to entertain for a couple of hours! Pray for Kevin and Ben as they plan the activities.

The girls went shopping with Vika. They were looking for some traditional Indian clothes - and they took somewhere in the region of 5- hours to shop. It was nice for us boys as we were able to get a break and sit down in a nice coffee shop for a break from the heat and bustle of the crowds.

We are seeing lots of poverty and affluence side-by-side, but the poverty stands out. It will be worse in Delhi where there are more rich Western tourists, but even here we will get little children, perhaps as young as 3-years old, begging for money from us. They are dirty, grime-covered, with matted hair and torn clothes... yet they are so beautiful as well. They have great smiles. I have been carrying around a pack of biscuits to give them... they are usually a little disappointed to not get money, but any money would probably go to a grown up around the corner.

On Monday evening I went to the church's monthly planning meeting and then afterwards the team all met me at Sunny and Vika's home. We ate take-away pizza (our non-western food period lasted... 2 days! But it was needed for all the delicate stomachs!) and Sunny described the history of the Dehra Dun Vineyard. It was totally unplanned, but it seems a divinde coincidence that our visit is 10-years, to the very week, since the Bob McKenzie came with the first team from Exeter Vineyard to India. It was on that trip that the team visited Dehra Dun and Sunny and Vika met Bob and felt God call them to join the Vineyard family and started the journey that resulted in the Dehra Dun Vineyard church starting.

We listened to the whole story, heard the vision of the church and saw the impact they have already had... including church plants all over India and into Nepal. It was a really wonderful evening and very emotional to know that God had done so much and used the realtionship between our church in Exeter and this church in North India to do so much. We finished by praying for Sunny and Vika. The team went home to bed and I stayed on to use Sunny's computer for a video chat with Sarah and Oscar - how great to be able to see them! I don't want to wish away my time here, but I am looking forward to seeing them both again!

Safe Arrival and Meeting Up

The journey was reasonable uneventful. There was a little problem when we left Exeter as a couple of the team members didn't set their alarm properly and were still in bed when we got to the pick up point. I won't say who it was because I wouldn't want to embarrase Mark and Jenny. Anyway...

We arrived in Delhi safely - only to discover some very English weather. It was the same the next day as all day Saturday - in Delhi when we woke up and during the 6 hour train journey up to Dehra Dun - the rain poured down.

We met Sunny at the railway station and got settled in our hotel, which is very nice. We spent Saturday night wiht Sunny and Vika at their home having dinner. It is great to catch up with them again and see Juvi who is now 8-and-a-half and Shalom, who is a full of life two-and-a-half year old.

On Sunday morning we woke up to bright sunshine! The team split two ways. Kevin, Ruth, Ben and Averil went off in a taxi to the village church. We had only found out on Saturday afternoon that we would be splitting up and visiting both churches - where they would like us to give the message. Now I was prepared for doing the sermon at the Dehra Dun Vineyard, but no one was prepared to preach in the village church.

Ruth, however, was a star. With only a few hours notice I asked if she would preach in the village. There was a deep intake of breath followed by a gulp... but she said, "I came here to be stretched out of my comfort zones, so I'll do it!" What a hero!

I wasn't at the village church, so I'll get one of the guys who went there to do an entry soon, but they had a great time by all accounts.

The rest of our team were at the city church. They meet in the banqueting hall of a hotel. There was worship, about half-half in Hindi and English, which was really good and lively. I then spoke with Sunny translating and it seemed to go well.

All the team are in good spirits. It is sunny, we have been eating some really good food and getting to meet interesting people. Everyone in the Dehra Dun Vineyard are really friendly and welcoming. We will be spending more time with them over the next week.

.

India Trip

We're off to India, leaving Exeter at 1:30am Friday morning. Here's out rough itinerary if you're interested:

• Arrive Delhi late night Friday 4th April
  
• Travel to Dehra Dun in morning of Saturday 6th.
  
• Helping out with the Dehra Dun Vineyard until Sunday 13th, including running a conference for them on Friday to Sunday.
  
• In Delhi we will be connecting with the Delhi Vineyard and doing a bit of sightseeing.
  
• We fly home overnight, leaving on Saturday 19th and arriving on morning of Sunday 20th.
  

India is 4.5 hours ahead of the UK.

We hope to put up some photos and news on this site while we're away.