I knew coming into India that great things would happen here. I felt the promise of miracles and fulfillment fill my heart even as the plane landed in Hyderabad last Sunday. My squad and I experienced our first taste of India in a hostel in that city as we learned and prepared to live here for the next month. We were told the do’s and dont’s and we eagerly awaited to travel to our Indian homes. They told us all of the teams would be in the larger cities of India, except one team who would travel to a village and live among the people, eating, sleeping, working, and fellowshiping with them the entire month. That team was mine.
My team and I prepared to travel to the village on an early Monday morning and we were told it was about 7 hours and we would have a translator. You learn quickly on the world race to take everything you are told with a grain of salt, as our translator barely spoke english and our journey to the village took 13 hours on three different buses. (this is funny, ask me later). When we arrived three men greeted us from the village, we piled into a jeep, while two of them men road on top of the car to hold on to our bags.
We rode through dark fields with high grass filled with tiny huts. Finally we made it to the place we call home this month. The entire village was gathered around to welcome us in and were eager to help us carry our things and make us feel comfortable. They brought us to our living quarters this month, which is a roof on top of a cement church. We set up our tents under the stars in this village and it felt more like home than anywhere else I have been so far.
We have been here for four days now and I am absolutely in love with India. This is the first time white people have been in this village and we are treated like royalty. Everyday, I wake up to precious Indian children staring into my tent on the roof, wanting me to come play with them before they walk to their school. We are given chai tea every morning as soon as the village knows we are awake. All of our meals are prepared by the ladies in the village and they all gather around to watch us eat our food with our right hand (not the left one ever). So far we have loved all of the food, which is mostly curry, naan bread (chapati), and rice. The people here are so excited to have us stay with them and honestly are the most servant hearted people I have ever met. Water is brought to us to shower in large buckets, seats are dragged from house to house just to make sure we have a place to sit, and they even come over and wash our hands after we eat our meals. Although this is challenging to allow them to treat us with such special treatment while we are here, it is beautiful to see their joy from expressing this honor to us as their guests.
Our ministry this month was made for me. We fellowship with the village we live in during the day, taking walks with the ladies, eating meals, and visiting the markets. On the first day, the girls and I told the pastor that we wanted to get Sari’s to wear while we were here, so he insisted we go that day and drove us and waited a couple hours while we picked them out and got measured. At 4pm each day, we load up the jeep and head to other villages to visit, pray, and lead a worship service for the local people. Even in the short amount of time that we have been here, we have been able to pray over many people including a man with bone cancer, a man recovering from a heart attack, a blind woman with a broken leg, a man who had been lame for10 years who we found in pitch black room, and for a couple who long for a baby. Last night we also were welcomed into a home of Muslims who desired for us to pray for their health. When we visit these homes, we are given high honor and treated with the most gratitude I have ever seen. Every house we visit insists on giving us something to eat and drink. This can be funny when we visit ten homes and we get filled up in the first.
I can not begin to express the blessing it is to be living in this small village in India this month. I love the people, the food, the loud noises of the market, and the colorful culture of this place. I am learning so much here and desperately longing to be changed and used in this place. Keep praying for the people of India and for the villages that might hear about Jesus for the first time.
Abby- loving India
