Even though she had trusted Christ for only less than one week, Ranee had already been sharing the life-changing Gospel with her family. Her sister-in-law, *Divia joined us and wanted to know more about this Jesus who had changed Ranee’s life.

Ranee had called up her brother and Divia the day she trusted Christ. It was God’s perfect timing. Facing financial and emotional hardships, Divia and her husband were planning on committing suicide together.

David shared the beautiful story of salvation with Divia and immediately, she decided to become a follower of Jesus. It was an incredible sound, hearing Ranee lead her own sister-in-law in a prayer of repentance, trust and much needed hope in Jesus.

After Divia had trusted Christ as her Savior, David told the group of women about the need for obedience in baptism. From the look on Ranee’s face, I could tell she knew it was important, but lacked the exuberance to follow, which she had shown previously.

The pastor turned to me and told me to pray. With faces turned to the floor, I prayed in earnest that God would reveal Himself to these women, would solidify their relationships with Him in their hearts, and would make real their decisions to follow Him whole-heartedly. The pastor decided not to translate my prayer.

As I was praying, I was envisioning a series of everyday circumstances these women would face in the next few days, trusting that God would reaffirm their decisions in small, quiet moments. That’s when God blew the roof off my thinking.

Ranee stood after the prayer and faced me, speaking quickly in Marathi. Her large eyes looked past me and stared out the window behind me, as tablespoon-sized tears poured down her face. The Indian pastor was listening to what she was saying and simply saying, “Alleluia! Praise Christ!” We waited for what seemed like a few minutes to hear what she had been so passionate to share.

The pastor turned to me saying, “This woman saw a vision of Jesus as you were praying. Before you began, she thought she was too sinful to receive the baptism David spoke of earlier.” With Ranee still standing reverently, tears dripping from her chin, he continued, “But while you were praying, she had a vision of Jesus, dressed in white robes. Jesus told her, ‘No, Ranee. This baptism is also for you. I have forgiven all your sins.’”

Needless to say, everyone in the room was blown away. Through translation, Ranee confessed that she was the Samaritan woman at the well. Though she had been married before, her husband left her, and the man she was living with now was not her husband.

This woman stood there, pouring out her heart full of pain and accepting the cleansing love of Jesus Christ. She has no doubt in her mind; she is ready to be baptized. She couldn’t understand my prayers in English, but God answered them in a way she could.

Never again will I pray for the sake of praying. Never again will I try to fit God’s movement in an understandable box. When I was praying in that upstairs room yesterday, I did believe that God could do the things I asked of Him. I just wasn’t ready for the answer to be immediate.

*Names changed.

David and the rest of the Brook Hills team are an easygoing crew, so traveling to Mumbai, India to share the gospel in the slums hasn’t caused a lot of stress.

In fact, when Pastor *Lomash showed up that first day on this motorbike to take David across town, David was cool with it. He just didn’t know how – or where – to hold on.

“You don’t have to hold on,” Pastor *Lomash said. “Just balance yourself.”

With that, they took off.

As the pastor sped through the streets and highways, David took in the scenes around him. Mumbai is home to nearly twenty million people. Its buildings run the gamut from high-rise, modern office complexes to lean-to shelters with plastic coverings. Transportation ranges from luxury vehicles to crowded buses to motorcycles and the ever-popular rickshaw.

“We took a 45-minute ride on that bike through the city,” David said. “I kept thinking, ‘Here I am in Mumbai surrounded by close to twenty million people without Christ.’”

As the masses flashed by, it wasn’t the crowds that David noticed most. It was the individual faces.

“I could see the faces of people everywhere,” David said, “and I just started praying for them.”

Later, after the motorbike ride and his walk through the slums, David talked about being confronted by the enormous physical and spiritual needs.

“I was overwhelmed by the urgent need on the ride through the city,” David recalled, “… and then I got to see the gospel hope in some of the homes we visited.”

Three of the people that David visited are new believers who were just baptized last week.

“There were these new believers and the joy that Pastor Lomash had. I just got to see the gospel hope in that slum,” David concluded.

Gospel hope. That’s what it’s all about.

*Names changed

*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