Fascinating, amazing, colourful, surprising, a place of many different smells, colours, sounds, incredible food and very warm and welcoming people. A place where you are constantly surprised and overwhelmed by the intensity of life, a place that cannot be described well enough, it must be experienced. That’s how I felt when I visited India in October for the first time in my life.

I had the opportunity to travel to Kolkata, visit our churches and teach in our Bible schools and was amazed by their hunger to know God even more and learn as much as they can. Many students in our Bible schools live in difficult circumstances. Some of them have to wake up early in the morning, work all day and then travel 2 hours to the Bible school in the evening, and then of course travel 2 hours back home.

Most people who visit the church have amazing testimonies of how God has transformed their lives. People who have prayed for jobs have been given jobs for which they were not qualified or trained. Their work ethic is based on biblical teaching – they are faithful and trustworthy. They prayed and God opened the door for them.

It was moving to see how our work, the local churches and the Bible schools have literally changed people’s lives in so many ways – spiritually, but also practically every day.

Let us continue to pray for our churches and co-workers in Kolkata, especially now that the situation in the country is becoming increasingly difficult for Christians. What was possible just a year ago is not possible now, no public preaching or evangelism can be held. They are not allowed to share the Gospel publicly or convert anyone to Christianity. Let us pray for wisdom, protection and for God’s mighty movement in this nation despite the circumstances, because God begins, where we end.

/Petra Barborakova