The day before had been her final day with the Southeastern team that had come to Mumbai; now it was her turn to share with others. She had gone with her mentors into homes, shared her testimony, and told the stories from creation to Jesus. At the completion of that time, Uma and her friends tearfully promised to use what they had learned and to continue to share the stories with the lost.

Now, with one of the Southeastern students sitting next to her, Uma was leading this rooftop session.

An elderly woman, who earlier was brought to tears listening to the story of the demon-possessed man, was slowly sharing her testimony.

“Did you understand that?” Uma asked me after every phrase. She knew I did not fully understand what the woman was expressing, but Uma was patient with me as I tried.

Uma’s goal wasn’t to test my knowledge of the Hindi language; she was simply taking to heart what she had learned the past two days. She wanted to give everyone in the circle an opportunity to learn and grow in their storytelling — just like the model the Southeastern team had showed her.

These women left their housework undone so that they could become stronger disciples of the Word and could learn how to tell the stories of the Bible to others. In only a few days, they witnessed people they had just met hear the stories and then make decisions to follow Christ.

As we sat on that rooftop, I noticed that Uma didn’t need a lot of prompting or guidance from her mentors. Uma knew the importance of these stories in her life. During the workshop, she had seen others’ lives transformed by the simple telling of the same story that had changed her life.

Now it was her turn to teach other Christian women and help them capture a vision of what sharing the stories of the Bible can do for someone’s heart.

*Name changed.

Angry.

Meena is angry, angry with God, wondering why He’s allowed such hardship in her life. Her husband left her three years ago, and life has been anything but easy.

“I cannot believe because of that,” Meena tells the women in the room. “Pray for me,” she asks.

We are hours away from the hustle and bustle of central Mumbai. The home we sit in is where Neha,* our translator, wants to put into practice the training she has received. For the past three days, Southeastern students have taught her how to share her testimony and stories from the Bible.

Heartbreaking.

Tears stream down Neha’s face as she continues to tell the stories the women are sharing.

Neha shares the story of the young woman sitting in the back of the small, poorly lit room, breast-feeding her child. Her husband beats her and drinks and gambles away their money, she says. As the young woman gently rocks her child, Neha tell us, “This woman was forced to marry a family member.”

A hush falls across the room. Then another woman begins to share her story.

“I pray, and my husband beats me. He beats me, but I still came today,” the woman explains.

Another woman, perhaps in her 30’s, chimes in, “I want to be baptized, but my family will not accept me.”

Stories of beatings, sickness and healing pour from the lips of the women.

“I felt all alone. I had no hope,” Pushpa* says. Raising her hands to gesture praises, she shares, “I thought I was going to die, but Christ healed me.”

“I believe Jesus Christ is the only God,” Pushpa says.

Hope.

As she cries, Rachel, a Southeastern team member smiles, nods and says, “Hope in eternity.” Rachel shares her personal testimony of hardships and encourages the women in the room to trust Jesus, even in hard times.

Then we take turns praying for the women.

Walking back to the main road to catch an auto rickshaw home, Neha turns to me and asks, “Are you happy?” Before I can answer, Neha says, “I am very happy. Today I talked about Jesus.”

*Names changed.

Chet* looked around the crowded room from his spot on the dirt floor. He hardly believed this opportunity to share with so many people all started with one policewoman a few hours earlier.

“She used us as bait,” Chet teased. Then, he added seriously, “Her American visitors were her excuse to go into homes and share. It’s obvious that she has been sharing the Gospel with everyone around her, and she wasn’t about to miss an opportunity.”

The day started with the policewoman toting the team to a neighbor’s house. From there, the team, policewoman and neighbor went to visit another friend. The two women prayed with the policewoman to receive Christ.  Immediately, the three women wanted to visit another home.

With each stop the audience grew, with the final visit topping out around 20 or more people in the slum. Four people in this crowd also prayed with the policewoman, trusting Christ.

Chet explained that essentially, six people came to Christ today and countless others heard because of one woman’s faithfulness in reaching out to her community.

“The Holy Spirit set up a domino effect which led to one friend and then to another and another and to larger and larger crowds,” Chet said. “When someone hears the truth and trusts in Christ, it is only natural to be excited and to tell those who are important to them about the most important thing.”

[*Names changed -mReport]

“You have no idea how important this is,” Kurt, a Southeastern student, told three Indian believers. They had taken the initial step of faith but had never been baptized. Kurt walked through what baptism means and the symbolism behind it.

Jesus was baptized, Kurt explained. He also told the story about the Ethiopian eunuch and his desire to be baptized right away. These men didn’t seem to have the same sense of willingness and urgency

“Why won’t y’all be baptized?” he asked.

They answered, “If we get baptized, everyone will know we are Christians and our daughters won’t be able to be married one day.”

Finding spouses for children is a very real concern in India. Marriage must be within caste and religion. Finding a Christian man for your daughter to marry is no small feat.

“That hit me to the heart, but at the same time I knew God was putting something on my heart,” Kurt said. “The first time that I remember reading Matthew 10 was my senior year of high school and it stuck in my head.”

Kurt explained from Matthew 10 that God asks us to trust and not fear earthly consequences.

“Don’t fear man who can kill the body, but fear the one who can kill body and soul in hell,” Kurt told them. “Jesus said in that same passage that if you’re ashamed of me in front of men that I will be ashamed of you in front of the Father.”

“How can you be so worried of these men here whenever your Lord will say to you, ‘I am so ashamed that you would not be baptized and honor my name?’”

A tangible silence followed. The men looked at each other and said, “We have to be baptized.”

Kurt realized that God had given that passage to him to share with those men.

The Southeastern team was also able to share the importance of baptism with two other men who both answered, “I have to be baptized.”

At the end of January all of these men plan to be baptized in front of the community as a sign of their decision to follow Jesus.

“I believe the Bible says that how can two walk together unless they are in agreement,” Kurt said. “How can we walk in agreement with God when we want to say, ‘yeah I’ll go that far’ but we’re not even going past the second step.”

Taking that step of baptism is saying, ‘God I am willing to go all the way with you.’

George, a Southeastern team member added that it has been statistically proven that the sooner a person is baptized, the more likely they are to persevere and the more likely they are to be committed to a church fellowship.

Baptism is obedience. Have you been obedient?

*Pratima’s husband beats her because she is a believer. If she goes to church, he beats her when she returns. Once, he beat her about the head to the point that she cried out in the name of Jesus. When she collapsed under the attack, he stopped.

Autumn, a member of the Southeastern team, listened intently as Pratima shared her story. As she listened, she sympathized with Pratima and with her daughter, *Lavanya, a young girl with a beautiful smile, pretty pigtails, and crippled legs.

Autumn and her translators shared stories from the Bible to encourage and comfort Pratima and Lavanya. As the team prepared to leave, Pratima asked them to wait.

“I want you to share these stories with my husband,” Pratima explained. “If he could just hear the stories and see that other people are believing this, he might believe. I want him to hear these stories. I want you to share with him.”

Autumn and her translators agreed to wait. As they waited, they prayed that Pratima’s husband would return.

“For whatever reason he didn’t [come back] that day,” Autumn said. “That was a little discouraging.”

As the team prepared to leave, they led Pratima and Lavanya in prayer. Although Pratima had not asked for prayer for her daughter, Autumn felt compelled to pray for healing.

“It didn’t happen,” Autumn said. “I really wanted it to happen, but that’s not what God wanted to happen.”

Although healing did not come to Lavanya, Pratima was encouraged and thankful that the team had come.

“She is not able to meet with other believers,” Autumn said, “To have us come into her home – that was her church.”

*Names changed