God's Leading to an English Speaking Fellowship in India

I arrived in Vadodara, Gujarat, India (aka Baroda) on Tuesday, August 2 and started at L&T Ranoli Works on Wednesday, August 3.  My most urgent concern was to get a SIM card for my new, unlocked iPhone 4.  Ashish Wala drove me to the Vodaphone store in Fatehganj section of town where we presented a long list of documentation including copies of my passport, my visa, my PA drivers license and a passport sized photo of myself and a reference from Kishor Chaudhari, a high level manager from Mumbai.  After an hour of waiting and talking to the Vodaphone folks, we were only partially satisfied.  I had a SIM chip in my iPhone, but no data service and a USB modem stick without a SIM card.  I needed to return Thursday with another passport sized photo and a local reference.  Ashish agreed to do that.  We spent another hour on Thursday, but I had a working iPhone and USB modem that was promised to be activated in 20 minutes or so.  I came out a bit frustrated, but I wanted to walk down the street to the Methodist church I had noticed.  Ashish was calling me back and suggesting that he drive me the 1/2 block to the red church.  While I hesitated, I looked up and saw a large banner identifying "Alpha Bible Church of Baroda" along with schedules and contact phone numbers.  I placed my first phone call on my Vodaphone service to the phone number on the banner.  The phone was answered by Kartik, one of the ministers in the church.  I explained to Kartik that I had asked all my friends to pray that I find a good English speaking fellowship in Vadodara and that obviously He had expeditiously answered that prayer. I wanted to come to his church.  Two young men on bicycles, Luke and Resnika, stopped and greeted me, saying they were members of the church.  Shortly after Ashish dropped me at the hotel, Pastor Davis called me.  So you see, as I have come to expect from the Lord, He answered prayer and led me to a good fellowship where I can communicate in English.  

This photograph shows Alpha Bible Church, which occupies the second level of the concrete building in the center of the photo.  The banner goes all the was across and is yellow on each end. At the extreme right of the photograph is the red sign on the Vodaphone store where I got my phone & data service.  At the left is the "red church', a long-established, Centenary Methodist Church.

Pastor Davis grew up here in Vadodara along with his four brothers and one sister.  His parents come from Kerala and have pioneered a work here in northern India.