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Journal of the journey

by Claude Widmer

God has been speaking to me years ago, that he would send me to India and the countries in the Himalayas to preach the Gospel. But the door has never really opened up, although we had several invitations to go there.

A couple of weeks ago the doors opened very fast and within a week Manuel Bestler and I took a plane and flew to India! This is just a short report of what we experienced there. It is amazing how God has really been confirming his word and the Kingdom could be extended!

The door to the Himalaya!

After a short night in Delhi our trip went on to Siliguri. This city is in the northeast of India in the district of West Bengal. It is a very strategic city that is the gateway to the Himalayas! From there you can reach into Bhutan, Nepal and Tibet and also into Sikkim, which is just north of West Bengal.

Tom Gegenschatz opened the door for us and we were invited to teach in their school for church planters in Siliguri. Richard Suberi, the leader of this wonderful work was hosting us and also served as an interpreter during the whole trip in the Himalaya Region.

The Church Planter School lasts for three months and they have invited the main leaders from the Himalaya Region for an intense time of teaching and discipleship. They have great people there and some of them have already ministries with hundreds of people in their house churches! But they are in need of growing in maturity and training for the work of the ministry!

Maturity is needed

A couple of years ago the Lord showed me a vision while being in China. I saw a big field of wheat and the Lord was sending a sickle through the fields and bringing the harvest in. He gave the following word for the nations of Asia:

“I have already been bringing in a great harvest in Asia says the Lord. And I have sent my sickle through the fields and will continue to reap the harvest. But it is time that my Apostles and Prophets will come now and bring maturity to my Body says the Lord. For I have not brought it in to be lost again, but to make it grow and to mature my people. For I want them to be strong and grow in such a way, that many from this side of the world will be sent to other parts in this world and help extend my Kingdom says the Lord!”

When we landed in India, the Lord told me that this is what he is doing in India. He is bringing maturity to his church there and wants to get them ready to become a sending nation. So far many have come and ministered to this nation, especially in the South and in the big cities. But the Lord wants to change the mindsets of the church in India and soon enough many will be sent from there to be a blessing to other nations in this world.

The prophetic and apostolic Ministry has not yet been established in India and we found that the church planters were very receptive for our teachings. One church planter that already has a big Ministry with many hundred people and different churches under him said publicly after he received a prophetic word that spoke directly into his situation and made tears roll down his cheeks: “I have not believed in dreams and visions, but now I do and I know that God has spoken through you.”

We ministered for three days (about 4 to 5 hours a day teaching and ministering) in the school for church planters and taught them basic principles about hearing the voice of the Lord. It was awesome to see how they started to really receive it and also began to live it! Not only that, but the Lord released us to minister to many of them personally and bring much encouragement and freedom to them.

Some of them experienced freedom from demonic bondages. Others received a lot of inner healing and especially much encouragement and confirmation for their future! It was great to see that even their faces were shining after a couple of days of teaching and personal ministry. God really touched them in a great way and started equipping them to be able to do the work more effective!

Manuel and I saw a transformation in their lives and we really started to feel a deep connection not only to Richard and his wife Esther (leaders of Himalayan International Ministries), but also to all the students in their school. The Lord just knitted our hearts together and we feel that he has opened a door for us to reach out to the countries of the Himalayas!

It has been fantastic to be able to bring maturity to some of the leaders in this region and being part of the plan God has for this area! He has given the word a couple of years ago, but never did I think that Follow Him International would be able to play a part in bringing maturity to the Body of Christ in India. But he has opened that door and we will keep on ministering to these people!

Amazing Students, who need our support!

One of the students has been used by the Lord to bring the Gospel to a people group who are cannibals. When a person in their tribe dies, they eat the flesh of this person. It is amazing that God has now opened up that tribe and that this one believer has been able to bring the gospel to them and has formed a small church among them!

These church planters really get the job done and for a bit more than 100 US$ a month they are able to do the work of the Lord, evangelize, preach the gospel and plant house churches. Sometimes they are having up to 50 or more people in their home meetings. It is amazing how they just get out there and do the work and form new churches!

Some of them do not even have a bicycle or any other form of transport. So they sometimes walk for hours to reach to some of their churches that they have planted. In some mountain areas they even travel days to get to some areas to keep on growing their churches and disciple the people.

The goal of Richard is to have a motorcycle in every region and at least get them some bicycles in order to reach the people easier in their area. A bicycle costs may be around 50 US$, but will really open up the way for them to bring the gospel to areas that have not yet been reached!

We are really happy to partner with the Ministry there and help them reach out to the Himalayas and fulfill the Great Commission that the Lord Jesus himself gave to us! Please pray if you would not like to partner with us and help build the church there! With a little investment many things can be done in the Himalayas!

It has become a burden for us to help the church over there mature and also help with all practical and financial resources to reach those unreached people groups and tribes in the Himalaya nations! Come and partner with us in this Mission!

Swiss people also can use the post account: Follow Him International, 1163 Etoy, PC - 60-223815-1

School of worship at the Border to Bhutan!

We have also had the chance to travel to a place at the Border to Bhutan. It is not allowed to preach the Gospel in Bhutan and it was intense warfare in this region. Although we were still on the Indian side of the Border, we could feel the heaviness in the Spirit and we were fighting against powers that were much stronger than in Siliguri.

Some of Richards coworkers, Rita and Eleonora, were doing a school of worship in this little border town. The city was really looking very bad. The roads were not paved and it was all very dirty. The Spiritual climate was difficult and it felt like one of these cities John mentions in Revelation 2: “I know where you live-- where Satan has his throne. Yet you remain true to my name. You did not renounce your faith in me.“

In spite of all we felt the Presence of the Lord, while 90 young students worshipped the Lord in the midst of all the darkness! It was so awesome and the Lord encouraged the young people through us and handed them all a torch in the Spirit and he came with his Spirit afresh to light the fire and send them out to many other places!

We had an amazing time with Pastors Rita and Leonora and their students and were able to help them financially so they could organize an evangelistic concert and preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ in this city to break through the darkness and extend the Kingdom of God in this place!

Sikkim: The Power of the Holy Spirit in little Switzerland!

After that we travelled back to Siliguri and left the next day for Sikkim. The more we entered into Sikkim, it started looking very clean and it reminded us a little bit about Switzerland. The mountain roads were very small and winding its way up the mountains! Arriving in a small town named Namchi, we were expected by a group of students for their graduation. They just finished a one month discipleship school.

Although there was quite some resistance there as well (biggest Buddha statue in Asia is there), we had a major breakthrough and the Holy Spirit started ministering to them like anything! It was so awesome to share the word of God and teach them, but most of the meetings the Holy Spirit just moved powerfully and we just ministered as He was leading.

Many people received inner healing, some also physical healing, but it seemed like the Spirit came like a whirlwind and just touched the people there and was doing a deep work in every one that attended the Revival Meetings! The control was not in our hands any longer, but Gods Spirit did a work no man could have done!

One funny thing was that through a misunderstanding they were announcing that Sister Claude and Manuela would come to minister. We tried to shave and do everything to meet that requirement, but we had to tell them that we cannot be sisters for them :-). They had to accept us as men and willingly did! We had lots of fun up there!

God was really moving during those days and we hope to go there again another time to teach a bit more and lay a deeper foundation. The Pastors in this area had a lot of unity and were all visiting our meetings and are working together to reach the people in the mountains!

We just got a glimpse of the work in the Himalayas during these 10 days and were preaching and travelling daily. But the Lord was moving mightily and was confirming the word with his signs following. Whatever was preached also happened afterwards and we were very impressed by the work that Pastor Tom from Switzerland and the Leaders of Himalayan International Ministries had done.

We found church planters that have been trained and have a real heart and fire for the Lord! They are very effective in evangelism and are bringing forth good fruit. We believe that as we can bring maturity to the leaders and raise them up in different Ministries, the work there will grow and mature and the Name of Jesus will be glorified mightily in this region!

Stopover in Delhi

On our way back we stopped in New Delhi to catch the international flight to get home. We used these couple of hours to visit a pretty new church and preach the word. They are doing a good work among Tribal people from the slums and it was great to see that they had converted to the Lord.
But we also saw many needs there and people have not been walking in freedom yet. There is a lot of work to be done still and a lot of deliverance and healing needed. It is very important to disciple the people there and help them mature!

Again we ministered a lot of healing and the Holy Spirit started moving among this group and touching their lives! We have met in a school building and it was interesting to see the difference between the work in the Himalayas and there in Delhi.

It just confirmed to us, that the Follow Him Discipleship School is a very much needed tool and we were motivated to really finish it in the coming year, in order to be a blessing and help to mature the Body of Christ worldwide!

God is moving mightily in India

We had no break in these 10 days in India and we came home exhausted, but also full of joy about all the good things the Lord had been doing! It is very evident to us that the Lord wants to work the ground in India before pouring out his Spirit in a greater measure. The word of the Lord came again to us during the meeting in Delhi and he was saying:

“I have been pouring out my Spirit again and again over this nation. And every time I have poured out my Spirit the land has become green and began to bloom. But it only lasted for a short while and it was dry again.

But now says the Lord, I will send my Prophets and Apostles to this nation and I will lay a new foundation. They will plough the ground and work the ground and make it ready for another outpouring says the Lord. For I want my Body to prosper and I want my children to grow in maturity. So trust me my children and know that I will send you people that will lay a good foundation, but I already have and will also rise up people among you who will walk in this authority and prepare the ground.

For I will pour out my Spirit and the desert will become like a beautiful garden and I will establish my Kingdom here and send people from here to be a blessing to the nations says the Lord.”

It has really been encouraging to see the Lord move again and again and also feel that the Lord has confirmed what he has been telling us here at Follow Him Int. We will be part of whatever the Lord is doing in India and know that this is just a stepping stone for the next thing he has prepared for us.

Please partner with us as we reach the Nations for Christ, building up the church and reaching the lost for Him! Even here in Switzerland we are reaching out with the Gospel afresh and are training Christians to share the gospel and holding campaigns preaching the good news!

Jesus told us to pray that he will send workers into the Harvest and we pray that as you read this report that you will be touched to help us in any way possible, so we can find and support workers that will go out there and fulfill the Great Commission and make disciples of all Nations!

Thank you for your support and love!

Swiss people also can use the post account: Follow Him International, 1163 Etoy, PC - 60-223815-1