The week was filled with the urgent activities one might expect of a team of health professionals in a location like Delhi. Nurses Julie Hill, Joyce Dennis, and Gerri Hood of the South Carolina Baptist Nursing Fellowship, along with team leader Laurie Register (South Carolina’s WMU executive director) and ministry assistant Melanie Becht, set up stations in slum areas so deprived that most Americans could not even comprehend them.
Pictured are four women from Delhi who gave their lives to Christ following the witness of a team of healthcare volunteers from South Carolina.From those stations began the exhaustive work of evaluating children’s health. It was not unusual for the nurses to find fever, scabies and worms, in addition to the ever-present malnourishment. So began long days of screening children, dispensing vitamins and enrolling many in nutritional education. The healthcare team worked tirelessly on the physical needs as they prayed for the equally obvious spiritual needs.
“The connection to Delhi is a strong one that South Carolina Baptists began in 2004,” said Tim Rice of the South Carolina Baptist Convention’s missions mobilization group. “Pastors, students, and lay people developed a bond in India that could not be abandoned when the five-year commitment concluded. We have pastors and students who have returned to India as missionaries or for two-year commitments as a result of their participation in partnership missions.”
The medical team in Delhi encountered more needs throughout the week, and they visited a developing ministry for girls who were rescued from a life of human trafficking. They encouraged many in Delhi with a time of fellowship and relaxation. Those were a few of the planned activities of the medical team, based on the needs perceived by the International Mission Board personnel.
It was on the only day that no such activities were planned that God revealed another important addition to the team’s partnership mission. A day trip to Agra to see the centuries-old Taj Mahal set the stage. A friend in India arranged for Register and her team to meet a young man from a nearby village who had accepted Christ just a few years earlier. The women went to the village, which was enjoying a festival, and had lunch with the family. Before the day was over, a large group had gathered at the young man’s house to “hear stories” from the American women.
With no time to prepare, one of the nurses told the story of Jesus being left at the temple. Then another shared her personal testimony and told the story of the Prodigal Son. “The women were so engaged, it seemed as if they understood the English even before the translation,” Register said. Distractions were frequent, but the interest of the women was intense. One woman who was riveted to the message began to reveal her thoughts and shared her frustration and struggle in trying to “do right.”
Then came a distraction that could immediately shut down the visit. An uncle in the family who was regarded as the spiritual leader walked up to the door with his guru. But instead of entering and disrupting the meeting, he turned and left.
Through an interpreter, one of the nurses led the prayer, then one voice answered in Hindi, and then another, and another. Before the prayer ended, four women of influence in the village had prayed to receive Christ as Savior.
Register and the team contacted the friend who had put them in touch with the young believer. “We celebrated over the phone, and he told me that ‘you saw the harvest of four years of prayer,’ ” Register said.
“The Lottie Moon Christmas Offering placed the missionaries there,” Register said. “Then we were able to minister though the SCBC partnership with Delhi, which receives funds from the Janie Chapman Offering in South Carolina.”
God’s timing was also apparent in the “day off” that the team enjoyed, which placed them in the right village, at the right time. As a result, four new believers are poised to make a difference for the Lord in their village. – SCBC