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Going to the Bible mine this past Tue, Aug 09 was quite an experience. I decided to go to Monroeville Mall and was picked up by Pastor Thinagar Sitther and taken to his house. At his house, I met his wife, Petty auntie who prepared a wonderful dinner for all of us. It was exciting to have a new miner come into our midst to dig for nuggets of truth. Before we decided to dig for nuggets of truth, we all had a wonderful table dinner after saying 'Grace'. We talked about the difference between fat free, whole, and skim milk and then proceeded to talk about our lives and how ministry has been part of most of our lives or our loved ones lives among other things. There was so much good food to eat like chicken, like Indian vegetable soup we call (poppu) in my language, like yogurt, etc.

But, I saved a spot in my tummy to eat more food when I got home because one thing about Indian parents is they smother you with good food among other things. However when I went back to my apartment, I felt so tired and fell asleep so I ate the food later.

Going back to the study, after we ate we were ready to mine for nuggets of truth. Before we started mining, one of the Bible miner’s was talking about how many Reddy’s are converting to Christianity in A.P, India. I was excited to hear that because I myself am a Reddy and thought there were not many Reddy born-again Christians.

We talked about a Telugu Christian Conference in NJ and proceeded to the Bible mining. Pastor told us that we were going to study on prayer.

While going in the bus to the Mall, I was reading two passages among other passages and said to the Lord, ‘Lord, it would be amazing if Pastor has a Bible study on what I was reading’. Amazingly, what I had read in the bus and thought about was the same passage we were studying. I thought that was so cool. I was ready to Bible mine to find nuggets of Truth on prayer.

We learned a lot about Lord’s prayer in our mining for truth. We learned how the first few verses dealt with the focus being on God and His Kingdom, the next verses dealt with our daily needs, and asking help to live our lives for His honor and glory. The key in all of the prayer was for God’s will to be done and not ours.

From the Lord’s prayer we discussed a passage about being bold and persistent in prayer. We learned the importance of intercessory prayer and the impact it has.

Pastor asked me if I could recite the Lord’s prayer in my own language but I could not. Realizing I could not recite the Lord’s prayer in my own language and a conversation with a sister in Christ in my own language motivated me to learn the Lord’s prayer in my own language.

I am so thankful to the Lord for the Pastor and Petty auntie’s hospitality and their request regarding the Lord’s prayer. After talking to a sister in Christ in Telugu, I realized how much I would love to be able to preach the Gospel in Telugu too.

She asked me to think about an event that happened in my life that made me go into the ministry. As far as I can remember being called into ministry after my Junior year in college is something that was solidified after talking to her.

Then, I thought about all the things that happened since then and each time I felt the Lord keeping me in ministry and using me for His honor and glory. This is so exciting. As I thought it, was praying and reading the Word, a verse came to me that was so applicable to me.

“But life is worth nothing unless I use it to do the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus – the work of spreading the Good News of God’s mighty kindness and love.”

The Pittsburgh Standard is also a result of a call to have a Christian online newspaper in the hopes of leading people to Jesus Christ.

Who says mining is not useful! I not only learned more regarding the Lord’s prayer and about prayer in general but during the mining for Truth, I was motivated to learn the Lord’s prayer in my own mother tongue.

I asked my mom to teach it to me on Thursday and finally was able to say the Lord's prayer in Telugu. I am glad our parents are still with us before planning to go back to India sometime next month.

If you are available two Tuesdays from now for our next Bible mining adventure, please let me know for directions to the Bible mine.

In closing, I want to share with you my recitation of the Lord’s prayer in TELUGU with a translation in ENGLISH.

Lord's Prayer in Telugu

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AUGUST 2005

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