Spring 2000
All Around the World
On the first tour of the new millennium, we embarked on an entirely different kind of adventure. Every other year Celebrants do what we call our "major overseas outreach." Instead of spending most of our time here in North America and spending a week or two overseas, we spend almost the entire tour overseas-in the Middle East and India.
We started the tour with a month in the United Arab Emirates. During that time we had an unexpected chance to minister in the nation of Oman for two day. Then it was a week each in Bahrain & Kuwait. This time was a HUGE eye-opener for us. Because the Middle East is predominantly Muslim, the Christian faith is unwelcome. We were not allowed to sing outside of the churches, and all of the churches were contained inside compounds. It was not uncommon to have 40 different congregations of various denominations and cultures meeting inside one of these compounds. One of the highlights of our time in the Middle East was one night in Kuwait when we were able to do an open air concert, inside the compound, which was translated into Arabic. That was pretty much the only time any of the Muslim people would have heard the Gospel message. Most of the people to whom we ministered were ex-patriots--people who had come to the Middle East for work. Over and over again, we heard how they had been starving for some encouragement...a taste of home...and we were privileged to part of the answer to their prayers.
Then, it was off to India for a month of very intense ministry. We spent time in Mumbai (Bombay), Calcutta, Lucknow, Delhi, and Aizawl. Very often we were doing 2 concerts a day. Unlike our time in the Middle East, in India they welcomed us in to schools, orphanages, outdoor concerts-any place we could fit in. One morning, we did a home for the destitute in Mumbai . It was a home for girls who had been rescued from the street. After the concert, we (the ladies on my team) prayed with almost every girl there. One girl I prayed with said that it was the first time she really knew that Jesus loved her. This is why we go!
A poster advertising our concerts in the Dubai (United Arab Emirates) church compound
Children praying after a school concert in India
You know you're a real missionary when you get mosquito netting for your bed (in India)
A crowd lines up to pray after a concert in Mumbai, India
My very first camel ride
Our team in front of the Taj Mahal in Agra, India
A team photo in front of the Evangelical Church compound in Kuwait City