{FECA Vision Choir} Report 13

Thursday, July 21. Today is our last day at Madurai so while we followed our morning routine, once we got to Peniel, we first did a short music program for the kindergarten through primary students, about 350 of them, sitting on the dirt ground under the mango trees. Marshall talked to them about Western music, the concept of melody and harmony, with Vision demonstrating by singing the chorus of Do Lord. We then sang the orchestra song, so they could here the different sections singing their own part, yet harmonizing. Finally, we sang the Victoria "Sanctus" so they could hear the interweaving of parts in polyphonic music. We than sang and danced three of the VBS songs. The children seemed to enjoy every bit of it. We then started VBS at about 9:45 while the adults had devotions with the leaders and staff of Peniel, about ten of them. Both Tim and Paulus shared how God had brought these two organizations together, beautifully answering prayer requests of Peniel,with capabilities of SFI and visa versa. For example, Paulus explained how their previous Correspondent of ten years wanted to retire in 2014 (I don't know why they use the title of Correspondent, but she is apparently the head manager of Peniel) and after prayer, God brought in Dulcy, a Godly woman who had retired after being Principal of a 4500 member school, eminently qualified. So Paulus has a vision of doing a choir music training (similar to what we did in Sikkim) so this choir can minister to the churches in Madurai. The graduating teachers from Peniel could meet the needs of teachers SFI needs in Nigeria as well as in Bangalore. The drinking water filters could provide clean water in the villages. The sewing skills of the trained seamstress could help produce more jute bags for SFI. The synergism and complimentary needs seem like God-orchestrated. After a tea break, we (adults) met up with with about have of the tutors from the tutoring centers (they call it Tuition Center instead of tutoring but that term is confusing to us in the US). Tim and Kloe encouraged these tutors, many of them believers but some still on the way, and we prayed and blessed these ladies. Tim then talked detail plans and business with Paulus.

We had lunch together about 12:45. We then finished up VBS with the children. Meanwhile, Tim and Kloe had an opportunity to talk to the professors who teach the teachers about the need for teachers in Nigeria and challenged them to either go themselves for a year or encourage their students to go. We tried out the tailored chutithar and kurtha. Most fitted very well, but some of the girls wanted a looser fit so they are being altered and were done before we left at 3:30. Done with VBS, most of the girls had washable tattoos drawn on their arms by three girls from the nursing school. As they dried, the guys had to clean up the VBS room as the girls were rendered useless by the drying paint. We arrived back at the hotel about 4:15 to rest up before we left at 5. We stopped at Paulus' home to celebrate his 51st birthday today, had cake and homemade ice cream, and left at 5:45 to sing our last program in Madurai at the Pentecostal Zion Church.

Because of traffic, we arrived a few minutes late at 6:37 and could hear the worship from the loud speakers a couple of hundred feet from the church. Because the keyboard was in reasonable shape, we sang a lot of songs we had not sung the whole trip (and it showed in lapses of text), songs like "If This Is not a Place" and "O That Will Be Glory". Josh gave a terrific testimony, almost sermon-like, and Rachel's testimony about miraculous healing just fit the needs of the church as many asked for healing prayers afterwards. We did not perform any skits as it seemed out of place in a church setting and Calida message about the power in the name of Jesus to heal, citing the healing of the beggar from Acts 3 seemed to fit the theme for the evening. She then asked for people to come forward for prayer but the pastor took an offering first. Nevertheless, at least twenty people from an audience of about fifty came up for prayer, including some children. Jada had a most interesting experience of listening prayer as she prayed for a lady with her son. With no foreknowledge, Jada got a thought about Hannah and Samuel and prayed that this lady's son would grow up to be used by the Lord like Samuel. After praying, this lady was in tears, explaining that her older daughter had died of cancer, her second child killed himself, and becoming a believer recently, she wanted her third child to be dedicated to the Lord, and Jada's prayer was exactly what her heart desired. We then ate dinner at the church cooked by the pastor's wife, debriefed during the bus ride back and went to bed after doing some preliminary packing.

> Ministry at Zion Church

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