We spent the whole day today with the children at the orphanage. First, a birthday cake for one of the girls.... then a walk about 2 Km to the Rajiv Ghandi park..... lunch and then to the beach. I may not have told you Kakinada is on the coast, specifically on the Bay of Bengal of the Indian Ocean. We had a great time with the kids, though a bit taxing. We are not as young as we used to be! But we had fun. People here "pray without ceasing." Note the kids praying before we leave the beach. We have spent the evening with Bro. Joshua Gootam and his wife Kabita. I learned a great deal about the beginnings of the work in India and specifically in Kakinada area. We leave here tomorrow to go back to Hyderabad. Ron Clayton called today and advised of the VERY tight and heightened security even in the small airports. He had flown back from Vijawata and thats a small airport and his time through the security was considerably longer. It's hard to say goodby to everybody here. Bro. Gootam keeps pressuring me to come and work with him...(we are both about the same age) He tells me every day that the older a person gets in India the more respect they get. He maintains all preachers in America should come to India when they reach 60. Funny, in America churches all want a "younger" preacher. Experience and knowledge and ability don't count much, I guess. Anyway....... Ricky preached to about 300 in a village gathering last night with 17 being baptized. The remote mountain villages are eager to hear. All of us who go in and preach with these kind of responses know the real work has been done by the local preacher and we just get to motivate a little. These preachers are something! Well, here are some pictures of our day.
