India Update

India Update
We have finished the first week of Pastor’s conferences and the Gospel & Healing Festival. It has been a tremendous time of ministry with 200 pastors in attendance and over 3500 people making Jesus their One True God. We have seen healings of blindness, deafness, pain in joints, tumors in the abdomen, chronic headaches and people set free from demonic possession. Attendance at the festival grew to about 7000 people and even though we received rain on the final night of the festival and had to give the altar call before the normal time we still had a great crowd and a lot of people standing in the rain to receive Christ as their Lord and Savior! Please pray that the harvest of souls will be retained through the visitation of the participating pastors and their church members. Discipleship is the next step that must be taken to help these new believers grow in their faith and understanding. Many of the new converts have come out of the Hindu religion and have admitted that they worshiped idols that they will now leave behind. One man who gave testimony after the service said he was a very wicked man and caused a lot of evil to happen in his community but now he was a new person in Christ. Another man told me that he literally felt his sins being lifted off his body when he prayed for Christ to be his Savior. It is such a thrill to see God touch the spirit, soul and body of the people at the festival.
We are also busy dedicating fresh water wells and new church constructions. Clean water is such a blessing to the communities and the residents have noticed a difference in their health. I attended a church dedication and was surprised when the Oasis World Ministries translator told me that I couple was coming to have me “name the baby!” I had about 10 seconds to come up with a name for their newborn son. The first name that popped into my mind was “Timothy” so that is his name. The parents are pastors in full time ministry and were very happy with the name of the baby. Another husband and wife come up after this couple and wanted me to cut a lock of hair from the babies head and then pray for the baby. It is an Indian cultural custom that I still do not fully understand but was happy to do it. After the dedication the church served a big meal for everyone. I have had to be pretty strong to keep them from putting way too much food on my plate. It has been fun to be a part of the celebrations involved with the dedications. The people are so appreciative of the help they have received from individuals, couples and churches in the USA that have donated the money to drill the wells and construct the churches. We have several more wells and churches to dedicate during the final week in India.
Please continue to pray for the next festival and pastor’s conference that will begin in a new location on Wednesday night. The monsoon season has started early, pray that God will hold back the rain so we can conduct the evening meetings. Pray also that the people will not be hindered from attending and that God will pour out his Spirit upon them as the gospel message is proclaimed. Pray for the pastors that will be attending the seminars for them that they will be encouraged and equipped in their ministries and that they will conduct the follow up with the new believers from the festival services. Pray for protection for the people as they travel to and from the festival. Some of the vehicles are overloaded with people but transportation is limited so they do what they need to do to be able to come. Pray also that the messages that are shared will be anointed by the Holy Spirit and penetrate through the veil of darkness, lies and deception that have kept the people from receiving Christ as their Lord and Savior.

Ministry in India

I arrived in India on Friday morning around 1 a.m. It was a long flight and I fell asleep just before we landed in Chennai. I must have been in a deep sleep because the flight attendants had to wake me up and tell me I had to get off the plane. I looked around and I was the only passenger left! It did not matter as it took a long time for the luggage to be unloaded and I had to wait for it. Two Ywamers from Ywam Chennai were there to greet me and take me to their base where I have been staying and will stay until Tuesday. The director took me around on Friday afternoon to see some of the ministry they do. It is pretty impressive as they work with street kids, AIDS victims, a leper colony and conduct 3 schools. The staff have been great to me and I appreciate their hospitality. On Saturday I gave a workshop on evangelism at the New Life Assemblies of God church which was attended by 700 plus people. It was translated into Tamil, the language of this part of India. The people were listening attentively, taking notes and really enjoying the learning process. After the workshop the church divided them into groups and they hit the streets to share their testimonies and invite people to a healing crusade on Monday night as well as the church service on Sunday. The pastors told me they had good success talking with people and that the members of the church who attended the workshop were very encouraged and better equipped to share their faith. Today I was asked to speak at one of the 9 services that are held on Sunday morning for their 35,000 members. The first service is at 5 a.m. and 4,500 people attend. The final service begins at noon and there were about 3,000 attending. It was a privilege for me to be able to share with the brothers and sisters about the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Several responded not only to the invitation for the baptism but a family of 5 came forward to receive Christ as Savior! Chennai is a city of 8-10 million people of which many are unsaved. It is a great harvest field but it is also a difficult area because of the opposition of the enemy. God is reaching out to many Hindus and bringing them to the knowledge of Christ. Pray for the churches in Chennai to be able to evangelize the lost in this city. Pray that the believers will be empowered by the Holy Spirit to be witnesses of what Christ has done in their lives and that their testimonies will bring many to a saving knowledge of Jesus.

Prayer requests

Change of Plans: This morning after prayer at High Grounds Coffee House, I was waiting for the shuttle to take me to the airport in Guatemala when I received a phone call from Tom Elie of Oasis World Ministries. He told me he broke his hip playing raquetball with his son and was on the way to have an operation and would be unable to go to India as planned. He made a phone call to my friend and partner in ministry Darrell Dobbelmann to see if he was available to go with me and carry out the ministry that has been set up for months. Darrell agreed to go so I will be connecting with him next week to do the pastors conferences and the open air crusades. Please keep Darrell and I in your prayers as we will wbe taking on a lot more ministry than we originally planned. I am excited about the opportunity to continue the ministry as I know God wants to touch the Indian people with the gospel message. Pray that many lives will be brought to Christ and that the power of God will be demonstrated to bring glory and honor to the Lord.

The Road Less Traveled...May, 2009

Fire! Sunday morning at 4 a.m. one of our staff members, Abner, received a phone call from a friend that informed him that there was a fire at the coffee house in Antigua. He woke me up and we went to inspect the damage from the fire that may have been caused by an electrical problem in the school that is behind us. The local firemen were able to extinguish the fire quickly so the damage was limited to part of our roof that we share. A lot of the water came into our meeting room, storage room, bathroom and kitchen so there was a big mess to clean up. The roof has been replaced but we are still waiting for the wiring to be repaired. We do have some electrical circuits that were not damaged so we are using them to run the appliances we need. This happened the day before we started the Financial Support Raising Seminar held at the coffee house.

Pastors under fire. Pastor Antonio and Pastor Efrain whom I work with often in San Pablo La Laguna have both experienced attacks on their families during the past 2 weeks. Pastor Antonio was celebrating Mother's Day as well as his son's 11th birthday at his church in the evening. After the service he loaded their PA equipment in the car and waited for his daughter and son to join him in the car. While he was waiting some men began to attack his daughter and he ran to rescue her. Meanwhile some other men stole all of the equipment from his car valued at $2,500. It was a set up that traumatized his family and set the church back financially with the loss of equipment. Pastor Efrain's daughter was also attacked by a driver of a Tuk Tuk taxi on her way back home from school. The driver drug her to a soccer field and began to beat her because he said she was not paying enough attention to him. Efrain's wife suspected something was wrong when her daughter did not come home at the normal time so she called her school to verify that she had left. They immediately drove the road she would normally take to get home and found the Tuk tuk parked on the side of the road. The attacker was beating their daughter violently and she suffered a fracture in her forehead. The man was placed in jail but then the family sought revenge by destroying some new construction work at the church. Please pray for these pastors who have become my friends and partners in ministry. They are both doing a great work for the Lord in a hard city under difficult conditions.

Send the fire! I will be leaving on May 26 to go to India to join Tom Elie, an evangelist from Minnesota. We will be conducting two conference for Pastors and hosting two, five night open air meetings in Andra Pradesh where we will be proclaiming the gospel message to thousands of people. Pray that God will send the Holy Spirit fire upon us and the people as we minister in an area that has not had much exposure to the gospel message. The last time I went we experienced many people being healed and set free from the power of satan. Will you partner with me in prayer during this time from May 26 to June 16? India is an unreached nation when you consider how few Christians there are among the 1.1 billion people. Your prayers are needed to prepare the way.

The four day financial workshop we are hosting this week has been a tremendous blessing to the missionaries attending. They are being encouraged and challenged to believe God for the provision needed for their ministries and all of us are receiving new ideas that will help us in these difficult times. One thing that has impacted me a lot is the idea that God wants to dream his dreams through us. Have we every really gave consideration that the dreams we have for reaching people with the gospel and extending the hands of Jesus to the needy are really the dreams that God wants to live out through our lives? There is so much he wants to do and he gives us the privilege of partnering with him.

Thank you for your support that has enabled me to be able to take advantage of the opportunities for ministry in Guatemala and India. I look forward to all that God will do in these next weeks. When I return I will be working with a church group from Chico, California that is coming for 11 days of ministry in San Pablo and Antigua. They will be constructing 2 homes plus conduct ministry with children and families.

For Him,
Bruce

Correspondence address:
Bruce Ahlberg
6ta Avenida Norte #33
Antigua, Guatemala

Contribution address:
YWAM Chico
15850 Richardsons Springs Road
Chico, CA 95973

India Ministry trip

I will be returning to India with Evangelist Tom Elie of Oasis International Ministries May 26-June 16. I am excited to return and be a part of the evangelistic crusades and Pastor's conferences. I will also have the opportunity to visit the YWAM Chennai base and see their ministries in operation.
I am seeking and asking for people to pray for us as we travel and minister during this time. There are millions of people in this country who do not know the Lord Jesus as their personal Savior. Their lives are lived in fear of gods who will harm them if they do not perform their rituals. Many believe in reincarnation which holds them in great bondage and hinders them from eating certain animals that are sacred to them or possibly could be their ancestor. The caste system which has been legally banned is still practiced by many people. Those who convert to Christianity suffer persecution and alienation from their families who resist the gospel message. God's Word is their only hope of liberation and salvation. Pray that we will be able to clearly present the gospel message and see signs, wonders and miracles that will confirm the Word and convince the people of the One True God who truly loves them.

The Road Less Traveled...April 2009

Greetings from Antigua! The warm weather is here soon to be followed by 6 months of rain so I am enjoying all the sunshine I can get. We are presently hosting a YWAM team from Chico, CA who have come to Guatemala for the final 2 months of their Discipleship Training School. They have ministered in a variety of places and have been a blessing to everyone. Yesterday we visited a feeding program run by a church about an hour from the base. They feed 46 kids two days each week and have a Bible program for them before they serve the meal. Many of the children are from single parent homes in which the father has either abandoned them or died. The team ministered to the children through songs, stories and dramas. Afterward we play soccer with the boys: Gringos vs Guatemaltecos. The field was on the side of a hill which made for an interesting and challenging game. The boys thoroughly enjoyed playing against us. I hope we will be able to bring more teams there in the future and provide help for them as they reach out to the needy children of the community. The team will be leaving for Lake Atitlan on Saturday for a week of ministry with a couple of churches in San Pablo.

Semana Santa, Holy Week, brought in a lot of people to the city. We passed out tracks and did evangelism during the week with several people making decisions to follow Christ. During this week the people are very open to hearing the gospel message. We celebrated Easter with a sunrise service at the Cross on the hill overlooking Antigua. We had about 50 people join us as we worshipped the Risen Savior. This service has been ongoing for at least 8 years and is one of those memorable events for the tourists and students who are in Antigua for a short term.

We are looking forward to new staff joining us soon as well as some volunteer help for the summer months. June and July have typically been our busiest months of the year and it is nice to have the extra help when we need it. We have fewer teams scheduled to come to Antigua to work with us this summer which can be attributed to the economic crisis most of the world is experiencing. The rental agreement for Higher Grounds Coffee House will expire at the end of October. The future of the shop is unknown at the present time and I ask for your prayers for guidance and direction. The proposed rent increase is beyond our ability and desire to pay each month so we are looking at other options.

During May we will be conducting a one day seminar on prayer for a large group of women and pastors in the Lake Atitlan area. We will be conducting sessions for the women, children and pastors. We also will be hosting a seminar at the Coffee House on personal support raising for missionaries. We have a guest speaker who has worked with YWAM for 30 years and raised 7 children on the mission field. He has a lot of good information to share with the missionary community as they face the challenges of living by faith.

We continue to get inquiries about our September DTS. I will be meeting with several pastors to solicit their help in selecting Guatemalan students who will participate in the 5 month program. This will be a great opportunity for them but will also be a challenge for them being away from family and being around people of different cultures. Please pray that we will be able to recruit the right students and be able to help them with the expenses of the school.


I will be going back to India May 26-June 16 to help with Evangelistic Crusades and Pastor's conferences. I am looking forward to the trip and am grateful for the opportunity to be a part of the ministry to the world's second most populated country. During my last trip God did amazing things to make Himself real to the people and demonstrate His love for them. I plan to visit a YWAM base in Chennai when I arrive to explore opportunities to bring student there for outreach. I ask for your prayers for this trip, that God will provide everything I need both financially, physically and spiritually to minister to the people.

A local missionary has developed a website to help missionaries raise funds throught the purchase of Guatemalan coffee. The coffee is grown in Antigua and is high quality. You can purchase the coffee via the internet and have it shipped to your door. Each pound of coffee sells for $10 plus shipping costs which are calculated when you make the purchase. The missionary will receive $4 of each purchase. The website for my personal support is:http://www.hishousecoffee.com/ywam-bruce-ahlberg.php
The website gives information about the ministry I am involved in and there is a short video interview. Whether you contribute through the coffee purchase or through your sacrificial giving I am very grateful to receive your prayers and support. Many mission agencies are reporting greatly reduced support for their missionaries but so far I have only had a couple of supporters that have had to reduce the contributions. Thank you for your continued partnership in the ministry.

For Him,
Bruce

Correspondence Address:
Bruce Ahlberg
YWAM Antigua
6ta Av. Norte #33
Antigua, Guatemala

Contribution address:
YWAM Chico
15850 Richardson Springs Road
Chico, CA 95973
(Please attach a note to designate your contribution)



Personal blog: http://guatemalaministry.blogspot.com/
YWAM Antigua Blog: http://ywamantiguanews.blogspot.com/

He is risen!

I am the resurrection and the life
We gather together this early morning to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus! Much of the world will spend this day as they spend every day, oblivious to or denying of the claims of Jesus when he announced that he was the resurrection and the life. Newsweek’s April 13 magazine had on its cover the following headline, "The Decline and Fall of Christian America". Written by Newsweek editor Jon Meacham, the story is based on last month's highly reported American Religious Identification Survey which revealed that the percentage of Americans claiming no religion rose to 15 percent while that of Christians declined to 76 percent. It also found that the non-religious population, or "Nones," has shifted away from the Pacific Northwest to Northern New England.
The survey reflects to a great extent what is happening in many countries of the world as people doubt Christianity’s claim of exclusivism and have more confidence in their own beliefs. Last week we talked with several people in the park in Antigua about their beliefs. One of young men from Guatemala stated that it really did not matter what you believed as all beliefs were different ways to get to God. One could not claim one belief was better than another. He struggled to be able to answer my question as to how two opposite beliefs could both be true. This is the dilemma of modern man who does not want to exclude anyone or believe that there is absolute truth. Another young man when trying to explain what he believed stumbled over his own words and could not logically explain what he believed. It is as though it does not really matter what you believe because there is no absolute truth by which we can judge things. We live in a time when many people have never really thought through what they believe. They have not asked the hard questions about what they believe but seem content to live in a state of ignorance and do not seem to care about the consequences of their belief system.
It was very different talking to an elderly man who was sitting on the bench by himself. He had been to a full gospel businessman’s meeting that morning and was sitting on the bench thinking about God and what God was saying to him. He knew there was a God yet he acknowledged that his relationship with God was not one of closeness, he was lukewarm. However, he was sensing that God was trying to speak to him. Several things had happened to him during the week that had gotten his attention to the reality of God in his life. He was mulling over these things as he sat on the bench. When we approached him to talk with him, he thought we were going to ask him for directions. He was pleasantly surprised when we began talking to him about God and his relationship with him. He received what we said and got direction for his pursuit of God.
We live in a world of many contrasting belief systems but you and I are gathered here today because we have placed our confidence in a risen Savior Jesus Christ who fulfilled the claims that he made about himself .25Jesus told her, “I am the one who raises the dead and gives them life again. Anyone who believes in me, even though he dies like anyone else, shall live again. 26He is given eternal life for believing in me and shall never perish. Do you believe this, Martha?” (John 11:26-28)
Every other religious leader has been buried in a grave and never returned to life. They did not possess resurrection power and they did not promise any of the followers they would one day be raised from the dead.
Without Christ’s resurrection we are no different than the animals that die and return to the earth. We have the evidence of the resurrection through the eye witness accounts that have been recorded and given to us in the Scriptures and in historical documents. Jesus did not keep his resurrection a secret. The Jewish leaders had heard Jesus declare that he would rise from the dead and they were afraid that it could possibly be true so they made sure the tomb was sealed tightly and guarded by soldiers. Jesus had already upset the leaders with his statements regarding his origin, purpose and his destiny. When he rose from the dead the Jews had to create a story to cover themselves and try to keep the people in the dark. His resurrection proved that what he claimed about himself really was true and this was more than the Jewish leaders could bear. They were afraid of the truth just like many people today. They really do not want to believe in Jesus because that would mean they are wrong and that they need to change their ways. One of the prime ways they try to undermine the truth is to deny the inspiration of the Scriptures. If you can destroy the written evidence by invalidating its credibility then you are free to believe what you want.
God’s Word is the foundation of our beliefs but beyond this we have our own personal experiences with Christ and how he has changed our lives. Your personal testimony has great impact on people and testifies of the reality of the resurrection power of Christ working in your life. It is hard for someone to deny a changed life although they may question how Christ changed it.
Another evidence that we have of the resurrection of Christ is the power of his Name. If Christ were simply a man who died how could his name have power over demonic forces and physical conditions such as sickness, disease and abnormal bodies? When believers pray in his Name there is power released and people are healed and set free from demonic bondages. The Name of Jesus is powerful and everything must bow to its authority. Last night in the park I talked to a Guatemalan lady who shared her testimony of being healed of cancer through the prayers of a believer from the USA. Demons must leave when they are commanded to go in the Name of Jesus. I have personally witnessed people who were demon possessed for years but were set free when the demons were commanded to leave in the Name of Jesus. If Jesus’ name meant nothing more than just a human name then the demons would not have to leave. But behind his name is all authority in heaven and on earth. At his name the demons tremble, at his name sickness leaves, at his name people are miraculously healed. I have never heard of someone being healed by declaring the name of Mohammed, or Buddha, or any other leader of a religion.
We have reason to celebrate today because we serve a risen Savior who is actively working on our behalf through the intercessory prayers he is praying for us today. Jesus is praying for you and I right now!
He is the head of his church, those who have been called out of the world to become part of his Body on earth. He is in control and he is actively working in his people who have submitted themselves to his Lordship. The intimacy that Jesus shared with his disciples is now possible for all believers through the gift of the Holy Spirit who Jesus sent to be the Teacher, Counselor, Guide, and Helper. The Holy Spirit is our other witness of the truth of the resurrection. Jesus promised his disciples that he would send the Holy Spirit and in order to do this he had to ascend and go to the Father in order for the Holy Spirit to be sent to the earth. As much as the disciples enjoyed Jesus’ presence with them each day, Jesus told them it was better for them as well as for future believers that he go to the Father and send the Spirit. Our spirit bears witness to the reality of the Holy Spirit dwelling in each one of us.
We have the witness of the eye witnesses, the witness of the written Word of God, the witness of the power of the Name of Jesus, the witness of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us to prove the resurrection of Christ being true.
We have been given this message and its reality to share with a lost world. The first disciples after they were empowered by the Holy Spirit shared this message with their Jewish friends and enemies as well as with the Gentiles. They did not remain silent, the message was too important to not share and the stakes were too high for those who never had the opportunity to hear the message. We have an urgent message to share because it is a true message. It is a message that changes the outcome of the verdict that the world is facing which is a sentence of death. When I grew up there was a tv show called Perry Mason. Perry Mason was a lawyer who always defended someone who was falsely accused of a certain crime or he was called on to present evidence that would convict the person guilty of the crime. Many times the key evidence that had the power to change the verdict that seemed inevitable was not presented until the last minute. Once the evidence was presented the case was closed. The evidence of the resurrection is that piece of evidence that we all need to change the verdict on our lives. Believing in Jesus’ resurrection changes everything. It is the most liberating event that has ever occurred and it is the message that we have been given to share with the world.
Today we have the opportunity to both be the message and share the message of the truth of the resurrection with the world. We cannot hold back, we cannot be ashamed or timid about sharing this message even though we may be ridiculed or rejected the message is the truth that God wants the world to know. There are many who will receive a verdict of guilty unless they hear and believe the message God has given us. Our privilege is to share the truth with them and live the truth before them so that they can see its reality and be drawn by the Holy Spirit to surrender their lives to Christ and receive his gift of eternal life made possible through the resurrection of Jesus.
May we leave this place filled with the Holy Spirit, filled with the joy of knowing that we know the truth, filled with the hope that one day we too will rise from the dead and forever be in the presence of Jesus where we will rule and reign with Him.
The early church celebrated the resurrection by confirming with one another the truth of the resurrection. As they greeted each other one would say,”He is risen!” and the other person would respond, “He is risen indeed!” There was both certainty and joy in their confession. Let’s leave today with that same certainty and joy.