Namaskaram. I, Elyse, greet you after a very exciting and encouraging day.

We woke up in Vizag, our home for the coming week, to the sound of horns honking and an EAGLE outside our window!!!

Breakfast tested our daring sides as we once again tried a new array of foods that made our lips burn and our eyes water.

We travelled to Vizianagaran, about an hour to the north of where we were staying, to attend a regional pastors meeting. The drive was exhilarating. We ploughed our way through traffic 17 honks at a time,  narrowly missing Tuk Tuks, bikes and people to leave the city behind us. We began to get glimpses of what rural India was really like. While we may use GPS in Australia, Benny was proud to tell us that in India they use PPS; People Positioning System. We were a little lost but with the help of may friendly locals (not buying himself some fruit as we had thought) our driver found the way.

We met with about 20 pastors from the local area. Pastor Benny gave the pastors an overview of the Vision 2000 movement and encouraged them all to continue in their work by reading Gods Word daily. Pastor George taught the pastors from the PTC material and explained the correct way to interpret the Bible.

We hopped back onto the bus again and headed out for lunch. It was becoming very apparent that not many westerners visit this part of India as many people looked at us. In fact, after a very delicious, spicy vegetarian lunch, one lady stopped our group and asked for a selfie!

We returned to church and George continued his teaching. He gave a talk from Psalm 119 and explained how this fitted with the method he had explained earlier. On concluding George asked if anyone had any questions and one man asked if he could repeat it as h had missed the beginning!

The day ended with a spot of shopping and our first taste of Butter Chicken in India!! Spicy but delicious!!

Prayer points:

• Pray for the churches in and around Vizianagaran as they face persecution from Hindu Militants. Pray that they remain faithful to the Word of God.
• For us and the pastors as we begin our teaching tomorrow