Our troop, consisting of six strong and spiritually hungry Bible school students travelled to this country far beyond the European borders, India!
Without knowing exactly what to expect, we still had a little inkling, as our beloved teacher Ville Männistö, mentioned India as an example every time he taught – thank you Jesus!

Spiritual battles, crazy traffic, demons everywhere and a rather different food culture. Excited we went there, convinced of the greatness of our God. And as expected, we got to see and experience great things, PTL (PRAISE THE LORD).

Home visits were something we did quite a lot. Once we were invited to a small home consisting of a bed, a couple of chairs, a floor made of what appeared to be hardened clay, a wardrobe and a small kitchen. We were given the place of honour in the bed. After some worship, we got to share God’s word with them. After sharing the word we prayed for our new found friends. Several people were encouraged through prophecy and prophetic prayers.

On this occasion, it was a woman who met Jesus, and for those who don’t know, an encounter with Jesus can change everything. During prayer, she began to cry, and not long after, she fell to the ground under the power of God. After prayer and prophetic speeches over her, she confirmed many words that had been spoken over her life and she was encouraged and very happy. PTL! God is not finished, that’s for sure!

Another time God really showed that He is not finished was when we went to a church service in Kolkata. After a long day, a very disappointed mission team was heading back to their hotel rooms after attending yet another Sunday service. Attending… missionaries are not supposed to attend services, they are supposed to serve in the service. We felt like a weapon ready to be fired, but put on the shelf for decoration. It was not a good feeling. We knew there was another service in another church that night for us to attend, or so we thought. We decided not to go.

Suddenly, one of our team leaders said they were expecting us and had prepared something for our arrival. In a culture where guests are honoured, we had no choice but to redirect the taxi, faster than lightning, towards the church as by now we would be late anyway due to our earlier decision not to go.

Thank the Holy Spirit that we went, God had not planned for us to be in a hotel room. When the service seemed to be over, we were called forward for intercession. Would you believe the whole church came up for prayer? Yes, they did! God is not finished! One by one we were healed. The same team leader who was told we were expected could now, a couple of hours later, testify to having personally prayed for ten to fifteen people and every single one was healed and shouted ‘hallelujah’ as a result! Many women testified to how their back pain was gone, shoulder pain gone, neck pain gone and much more! PTL! How wonderful God is, right?

During the same service, an amazing member of our team began to pray for many children attending the service. Several children fell to the floor under the power of the Holy Spirit. After talking to them, we found out that they had had visions of Jesus during the prayer. PTL! One thing that is certain is that there is no such thing as ‘too young’ in the Kingdom of God!

The same team that had gone to the hotel earlier that day, only ‘slightly’ disappointed, was now heading back to the same hotel but this time with hearts full of testimonies of God’s greatness.

Everything is possible for our God! Another time, we were invited to a small church to share the word of God. We went there and during the sermon a man came and stood in the doorway. We noticed him but didn’t pay much attention. After the service, it turned out that he wanted to give his life to Jesus! He left the place and after a while he came back with his wife, and we believe they both met Jesus! God works in wonderful ways, what an honour it is to serve Him!

We serve a great God and this trip proved it once again! This Indian adventure will have a special place in our hearts. God has been faithful through the easy parts as well as the challenging ones. Yes, we had those parts too but there is nothing that can stand in the way of our God. Our hearts are filled with gratitude and we are now confident that no matter what weakness we humans carry, we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us!

Stay hungry // India Team.

Efraim, Tidla, Wiktoria, Daniel, Live & Enok.