Clinics and More

Hello Everyone,

This week has been once again, amazing. John (my leader), asked me saturday night at about 9 at night to preach the following morning for 300. I am not worried about numbers ever and I love being on stage but knowing I had to talk for about 25 minutes kinda freaked me out (especially if you know how I talk at shows). I went to God and He told me to speak on the things that He has been speaking to me since I've been here about how to break off strongholds and what we need to do to really see change in Hyderabad. A pretty bold sermon for my first, if I may say. There was a translator at the church so that really helped and my sermon was about 30 minutes. Once I'm up there and the Holy Spirit is speaking through me I really never have to worry about time, I could talk forever. At the end we got to pray for around 30-50 people. They just kept coming up! We saw some healings, re-dedications, and 2 of my friends had an exorcism, needless to say it was a crazy time! It has been real eye-opening to realize we only have less than 2 weeks here in India so we are all trying to really press in and see what God has for these short 2 weeks. This week at the HIV/AIDS Clinic we had a great week talking to people and praying for people. I prayed for a women this week and she is Buddhist but here husband was Christian and she had pain in her knee joints. I prayed for them and they were healed and she was so blown away because she didn't understand how she could be healed and so I got to explain that she was healed because of God's love for her, I was about to give her the opportunity to accept the Lord but she was called away but I knew she was in good hands because her husband was Christian and she was just so shocked about the whole event, it was so awesome! There was another man who was a converted Muslim and he had leg pain, back pain, heart/chest pain, and pressure headache. John and I prayed for him the first time and his headache and leg pain went away but still had back pain and chest pain. We decided to pray again and after 6 months of back pain he was healed of that and healed of his chest pain!! He was so grateful and we just were so pumped for God's love and His healing power. Yesterday (thursday) we went to a house where both parents were HIV + but luckily their kids were not. They both managed to get jobs at the clinic but still lived in a very small house which was pretty much a room. We had some worship and talked with them to find out that their family doesn't talk to them because of the disease. It was a very sad story they had but they had a lot of faith in God and we got to pray for them and the kids. Last night the Americans on my team were so blessed to go to a Thanksgiving meal at an american pastors house. I originally thought we would be going to some Indian ladies house and assuming that we would all be crammed around this table. I was pleasantly surprised to arrive at this incredible house where the whole meal was catered and we walked in on red carpet. Turns out, the food was incredible and most of it was imported from Singapore...IMPORTED. And not only did they have everything I missed out on at home but they had pumpkin pie...good pumpkin pie in India...we were ecstatic. We were so blessed because we definitely all would've loved to be home for Thanksgiving but honestly that was an amazing Thanksgiving I will not forget. Tomorrow we are playing worship at a church that is very western; we're pretty pumped. I would call it the LCBC of Hyderabad. We're playing for the youth group which is 600 with good equipment. It makes me feel at home which is awesome ha. I can't thank you enough for all the support you guys give me.

Until next time,

Tyler

London And India

Hello everyone,
I am so sorry I have not been updating more. I forgot a little bit about my blog. I was waiting til after surgery to tell you what was going on. I stayed back from Outreach for 2 weeks to get knee surgery because of a part of my knee tore about a month before outreach. It should have taken a lot longer to not only get an MRI to check if it was my knee but have surgery. God was with me the whole time because I found out that my surgeon was one of the best in Australia and my Physiotherapist was one of the best in Australia too and went over to the States to help out with the New York Jets...Let me tell you something..My God hooks me up. I didn't really want to tell people I was having surgery for fear of people thinking of something worse than knee surgery...Long story short I am on outreach and have been in India for 2 weeks. Before India we were in London and it was just an amazing time where we saw God work in such amazing ways. Spiritually, London is a very dead place and people don't really have time to talk to strangers (like myself) on the way to work and wherever they are going. We basically picked a different part of our borough of London every week. Most weeks we just walked up and down the streets and tried to talk to people. We had a "Free Prayer" sign 2 weeks and it was amazing. I got to pray for a Sikh man (the men with turbans). They believe in every religion so he believed in Jesus but obviously didn't just believe in Jesus. Muslim and Sikh's believe in Jesus but don't believe He is the Savior. I prayed for him and encountered the Holy Spirit. He took a few steps back and just had this shocked look on his face and was asked if I could explain the feeling he just had. I told him it was the Holy Spirit and he said it was just an incredible feeling. He did not accept the Lord that day but walked away with a memory I'm pretty sure he won't forget. As a team we saw a lot of salvations and a lot of broken people receiving prayer and getting filled with the Holy Spirit. It was an amazing time of really getting a deeper faith and realizing who I really believe in and how powerful our God is!!! The church we stayed at made me feel at home. I told the pastor, that if the church I grew up in (MJMC) was a traditional English church like theirs was, it would be this one. They made us feel at home and it was just awesome getting to know the youth group and leading worship for them. Like I said, we have been in India for 2 weeks and wow, what a stretch it has been. I was very comfortable in London because of the amazing shops and a beautiful city, but India is beautiful in its own way. It was hard to adjust because ever since I got to YWAM it hasn't really felt too different from what I know of a first world country and going to London wasn't any different obviously. We have been working in a HIV/AIDS Clinic and it has been so sad but at the same time so rewarding. Luckily medicine for HIV/AIDS has been improving so if you do have HIV it is very manageable to maintain a healthy life if you continue getting medicine. The only problem is that it isn't easy to come up with the money for this medicine. A lot of these people will come from outside of Hyderabad and up to 700 kilometers away just to get medicine. Some people who come into the clinic haven't been touched by people in months because their families believe since they have HIV or AIDS that they will get sick. Can you imagine if you haven't even been touched in months? We go around laying hands on people and praying for them and giving them hugs. They have commented that it feels amazing that the people at the clinic make them feel loved again. It is so sad seeing a husband,wife and kids all having HIV/AIDS. It has been very sad in some instances but at the same time so rewarding to pray for these people and to see the Holy Spirit give these people hope and to see these people crying from the love they are receiving from not only us, but Jesus Christ. One of the most amazing parts about Christianity is trying to live like Jesus and loving these people, hugging them and talking to them just like Jesus would do. Just that, is a testimony of God's love for them and to show them that through Jesus Christ we do what we do. People walk out of the clinic second guessing their own religion and thinking a little more about this amazing God who wants to love them. This weekend some of us went with a youth group interesting enough called "MYF" out to the middle of no where. We visited a village 7 hours outside of Hyderabad where a missionary has been at work for 20 years. It was so incredible to see this man having a heart for these village people and totally transforming their lives. These people were known for having short tempers...for example, a man wanted a cigarette from another man and he told him he couldn't have one so the other man went out into the forest sharpened an arrow and killed him. We got to have a service with the villagers and to hear them singing worship songs in their tribal environment was amazing! We were hiking up this mountain and it was getting dark and the man with us told us we had to turn around because at night it's not safe because of the black bears,Tigers and Leopards in the forest which was so legit!!! If I was being honest I had my head out the window of the bus the whole time trying to get a glimpse of a tiger...I did not see one but, just to know I was in tiger country was awesome. So far India has been amazing and we still have 3 weeks here and I know God is going to do so much more in the clinic and in the slums!
I will try to update next week again.
Thanks for your support guys!
Tyler