Hard Hats Required

By Jensen Jones

Hey guys, due to the popular demand (of one person), I am excited to share with you about what I experienced throughout my trip in India. One of the most important parts of the experience was obviously being able to fly on EIGHT different airplanes!

The trip started off with my mom and I leaving on the first of January. Upon arrival in Trivandrum, we met up with my dad and attended Sunday Service at Pastor Rajan Victor’s church. I had an opportunity to see their Bible College (still under construction) and meet some of the students. The following day, we flew to Bombay to visit some family members, and have fellowship with the believers who attend the weekly Monday prayer meeting there.

After spending the night in Bombay, we flew to Guwahati (North India) and continued traveling by car, in an area where there was a strong military presence. You could see soldiers armed with AK-47s mostly on every corner you looked. When we reached there, the meeting that Pastor Rajan Chacko was coordinating had already started. At this meeting, I had the opportunity to pray for the sick with my dad. Our meeting area had no electricity, so it was purely run on generator power alone. After the meeting, Pastor Rajan arranged dinner for everyone who attended this meeting. The servers needed flashlights to be able to serve. There were also some volunteers who were walking around with flashlights so people could see while they ate. I came to know later on that night, that Pastor Rajan always provides food for every meeting he conducts. At nighttime, the weather gets brisk. The compound where we stayed was poorly built with bamboos and had no insulation or way to provide heat. We felt like we were sleeping outside. They did provide us with two blankets which sufficed.

The following day, I woke up to a nice warm spring day and went along with Pastor Rajan’s children to run an errand and also show me the town. With the states in India, bordering China, the climate is very interesting. The day starts out feeling like spring and evening becomes like winter. In the car, the younger son started talking to me about what was going on in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. He started pointing to all the military headquarters and dorm facilities they had there. When I asked why there was this much military force present, he started by saying that China declared that it wants Arunachel Pradesh as part of its own country. If China did anything to provoke India, the nation was prepared to act. The border states have a lot of terrorist groups, the largest being Oolfa – and they want control over lands. There is high tension between them as well. Oolfa usually light homes and buildings on fire and have quite a few gun battles with the Indian army as well. Our first errand was stopping at the previous home to pick some speakers for our Arunachal Pradesh meeting. This home was robbed a week before I got there. Most of the stuff left out in the open was stolen. Luckily the important stuff they had been locked up in a separate room/closet.

When we came back, I came to know what Pastor Rajan Chacko really does in Assam. Accompanied by his wife, brother-in-law, two sons, and daughter-in-law, he bought a good portion of land and decided to build a school and orphanage for children, and a Bible school later on. The compound he bought was separated into two sections. On one side he built a temporary one story building with bedrooms, classrooms, kitchen and dining area. On the other side, he has offices, storage area, mainly for food, and rooms for the orphans. He has about a 104 children that go to this school.

That night we travelled to Arunachal Pradesh (border state), where we can see the Himalayan Mountains really close up. There was a checkpoint to get inside the state, which is run by the military. To get entrance, you need to show a special pass/id. When we reached, I was able to see the church that was built through the Divine Prayer Ministry, which is also where Pastor Rajan was conducting the two day-night special meetings. I also saw most of the people there were wearing different clothes and salwars that were given through the clothes drive my dad was doing earlier. The first night, I was given the opportunity to speak where I shared my testimony and spoke about the cross. After the meeting I was able to meet a couple of families who traveled great distances to attend the meeting, particularly, one family that traveled eight hours by foot. Staying in Assam and Arunachel Pradesh, and with what I had heard and seen so far, I realized what true missionary work was. Pastor Rajan and his family show true dedication. It’s not a one week show, but their whole lives, everyday, dedicated for the work of God.

The next morning, I was able to witness my dad baptizing 3 new believers. That night, we conducted a healing ministry and felt God’s presence moving. I saw many people being delivered on the spot. The people there have a very sincere heart of worship. After this meeting, we returned to Assam and took a morning flight to Bangalore, where I spent a few days there and on Sunday, attended both the English and Malayalam (dual-service) at Pastor M.A. Varghese’s church. From there we returned to Cochin, where my dad took the train to Pallipad to focus on the Bible school and orphanage building efforts, and my Mom and I went to visit family. This was the first time I got a “break” until I had to wake up for the next weekly Monday prayer that evening.

The following day, my mom and I including my uncle’s family went to the home of a servant of God named Sunny Parapallil. This man is very humble. His house is HUGE! His compound was so big, that he was basically conducting a special week-long meeting right in his backyard. It was at this meeting that Pastor Harry Gomez spoke about deliverance and promises, quoting every Scripture by heart. Seeing him minister really spoke to me. As many of you know, his son passed away in a car accident returning home from one of his father’s meetings. Knowing everything he had been through after that, to see him up there on his knees, humbled before the presence of God, continuing to talk about the promises of God and the blessings stored up for His people, showed me how real his heart is.

The next day, while I sat in the front row to hear my dad speak, I was sitting next to a blind guy, who quoted every Bible verse and promise that my dad was preaching about. It got me thinking, how a man with no sight can be this enthusiastic about life and have the peace of God in him. Do we need to be blessed with blindness to have our eyes set on Him?

Pastor MA Varghese's Church

That night we went to Pallipad and got to see the construction taking place at the Divine Care Center and a few days later, attended the dedication of DCC. This was a blessing, a culmination of huge efforts over a period of time. It was beautiful to be a part of that. During the remainder of my trip, I was able to attend both the region and state conventions of Church of God, India.

Over this trip, God has enabled me to see and learn many things. I can start to see God’s purpose in my life. I have experienced many preachers telling me that I was going to do the Lord’s work. I usually just accepted that and moved on. Now finally starting to see this being fulfilled is a great feeling. I pray that God will continue to use me and have His will be done in my life, as well as each person that is reading this.

Signing off from Kuwait Airways, this is Jensen Jones! God Bless…

Also please visit Jensen’s Facebook page for more pictures from his trip.