Wow. Has it already been a month? India has gone by so fast. I, first, want to thank everyone who has reached out the last month through my blog, email, texts, Facebook messages, Instagram, snapchat, etc. I’ve heard from alum racers before I left that the feeling of being disconnected from home is a very real and huge problem. It leads to unnecessary thoughts of loneliness, abandonment and unworthiness. So far…. you all have done nothing but make me feel so loved and remembered.
If you haven’t read my last blog, India and the Unexpected Family, click here!. It’ll give a brief history of Dr. Rochunga’s life and how God used him to build His kingdom in the northeast part of India. His ministry, Bibles for the world, is continuing to flourish and it’s been such an honor to work alongside them this month.
Shout out to my WR BFF, Lainy, for giving me this idea for a blog! Here are 11 things I’m taking away from my month in India:
1. I take my healthcare in America for granted.
If you’ve seen my post on Instagram or Facebook, I’ve described a little bit about the medical camps that Sielmat Christian Hospital (one of the facilities sponsored by Bibles for the World) hosts around India. The staff from the hospital hosts around 14-20 camps a month, traveling to villages that do not have regular access to healthcare. As many as 250 patients are seen a day! What’s even cooler? Most of these villages are majority Hindu or Muslim and have never been open to the gospel before these camps!
Just this week, Sielmat Christian Hospital has opened their own doors for a free medical camp. There will probably be about 2000 people or more who will receive healthcare (anything from PT, Eye Care, General Health, ENT, Gynecology and Dental).
2. I’m addicted to praise and recognition.
Although most of us are doing crowd control, paperwork, simple vitals or escorting…. we have to remind ourselves that the Lord is using us just how He wants us…for HIS bigger picture. Some people who come to this camp travel from miles away and are of all different religions. Even if they allow us to pray for them after their appointment… that should be a win in God’s book, right?
I know a few people from my squad have mentioned a few times that there isn’t much for us to do sometimes and they feel like we aren’t making a difference. I definitely have felt like this too but I loved what my next ministry hosts emailed us:
“Working together with the Holy Spirit and each other is key to our mutual success. This is only possible when short-term people/teams leave a legacy behind with us their co-workers. Nothing is worse than an individual or team coming here and doing fast and furious ministry all by themselves while the local ministers are just tag-alongs.The African Proverb is so true “If you want to go “Fast” go alone,if you want to go “Far” go together.”
Man, did that really open my eyes. Sure… I left my career and cat for 11 months to be a missionary but I shouldn’t expect everyone to be patting me on the back and feel better after every “good deed” that I accomplish. What about the individuals who do this every single day in the places we are doing ministry? Those are the ones who I should be praising, building up and encouraging!
3. I need to be more comfortable with planting seeds and not seeing the fruit grow immediately.
I think this truth can be spoken to missionaries AND to y’all back home. I forgot who taught me this but I really like the representation of a clock. 12-1 may be the first time the gospel is presented to someone. 11-12 is an individual who accepts Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Sure, it’d be cool to always be the 12-1 or 11-12 because those are the cool stories but we have to be okay that God placed us to be the hands of 6-7 or 10-11.
That’s how I’m feeling about India. I may not seem like I’m doing much by being the runner between the waiting room and delivering patients to the doctor… but in the small time that I have with them, I’m just called to love them. I hope this is encouraging for y’all back home and the small things you can do to show love to strangers and to proclaim Christ.
4. I need to use my spiritual gifts and talents to build HIS Kingdom, not my own.
Another cool ministry that we have done was construction of a church building. That doesn’t seem so cool but when you hear the backstory… it really makes you feel like God placed our team here for a reason. One of the bigger churches here in Churachandupur is continually overflowing with members and attendees (est. over 1800) so the construction for another building started in 2014. Working on this project is completely voluntary and the funds are faith-based. Some of the members of this church work up to 270 days a year WITHOUT any pay in order to construct this building for worship. I think so often when we go “church shopping”… we ask, what can a church do for me? Or how convenient or how well would it fit into my lifestyle. The dedication to building up the body of Christ here is unreal.
5. I have a family that I didn’t even know I had!
Another cool ministry our squad has been able to be a part of was working with Trinity College and Seminary. This bible college is right down the road from our dining tent. Our ministry includes attending classes (really interesting ones like ministry/evangelism and ethical issues facing the church), teaching English classes (like fixing common grammar mistakes) and having conversations with some of the seminar students so they can practice their English. We’ve befriended a lot of the students so after classes, we have group worships, skit nights and volleyball tournaments. Students come from all over Asia so I love the different accents and stories and the way they all call us “sista!”
My oh my! I will always remember the fun night that the seminar students threw for us. I think it gave us all a little hint of what heaven will look like. Everyone jumping in a dance party singing to Yes Lord! And One Way… doesn’t matter where we are from, what language we speak, what we look like… we are all God’s children and it was a beautiful sight to see.
6. I love my team: Daughters of Peace
I have pretty high expectations when it comes to community. After all, God has blessed me with being a part of TWO strong communities just in this past year. (SHOUT OUT WATERMARK CG AND HFBC GG, miss you girlies). But God made sure He provided me, once again, another group of Godly women to keep me loved and accountable for these next 11 months. There is an insane amount of safety, wisdom and grace that each of my 5 girls bring to our group. It has already fostered a place for vulnerability for me and I can’t wait to dive in spiritually deeper with everyone. I don’t say this lightly…they’re my home away from home. I’ll probably have a whole separate blog talking about them so look out for that.
7. I miss the comforts of home but I wouldn’t have traded this month for the world….
Things I miss (not in any particular order):
Mom, dad, Mia and chelsea.
My Watermark Community Group/family
My Houston’s First Grow Group/family
Petros Life Bible Study
Not being present for big events (like MALLORY AND BENS ENGAGEMENT and birthdays… eventually weddings)
My Houston girls
Hot showers…or even lukewarm showers for that matter
Queso
Mexican food
My bed
Not using Febreeze as a perfume
The Porch on Tuesday nights
This college football season
Dr. Pepper
Beef: in my fajitas, steaks, burgers
But as much as I want to be in my warm bed (or in a bed, period), snuggling with Mia, munching on Cheeto puffs and watching Friends on Netflix…. I know God sent me here for a reason!
So…Here are some new things I discovered I love:
Chai tea. CHAI CHAI CHAI CHAI
Puri and curry/lentils/potatoes
Hard boiled eggs
Rose water (thanks lainy)
Hammocking during my quiet time
Audiobooks
Reading (read 2 books in one whole month!)
The children of India
Squatty potties
Entertainment from ant colonies
Sounds of roosters waking me up
Not having wifi/connections to the outside world
Cats of India (JK I’ll probably love cats anywhere in the world)
Tuk-tuk rides
8. N-squad is the best squad.
Soooo just one example of how awesome my squad is. For Halloween, some of the girls dressed like all the boys in our squad and surprised everyone. It was super tricky but we broke into their rooms and started stealing their clothes day by day. (Ps, boys don’t have good hiding spots for keys…)
The funniest part about it is that my friends assigned the scrawniest girl on the squad (me) to be Daniel, LITERALLY the most muscle-y guy on the squad. Lol so here’s the end result. I wish y’all could zoom in to the beard and chest hair that was colored onto my body haha.
9. I have a lot of distractions back home.
We all knew the “all-squad month honeymoon” would eventually come to an end. And one night, I got angry. I’m generally a person to hold grudges but I couldn’t run to my room and distract myself with Netflix or Instagram. I couldn’t even talk to any of my teammates because everyone was sleeping. I panicked. I had to do the one thing most everyone is terrified of doing: facing your feelings. Being in India, I had to lay there on my blow up sleeping pad… on the concrete floor of my room… and sit in my feelings. I had no where to run to other than God. But In less than 48 hours, God called me to forgive and completely transformed my heart. It just makes me think how much God tries to talk to me at home but I’m too distracted to listen!
10. Boys have cooties
I kid I kid. But seriously, I learned something so valuable at training camp on our all girls day. For as long as I remember, I’ve been telling people that I’m just one of the guys… and I don’t like having girl friends because I don’t want to deal with the emotions and drama. Life would be easier, right?
But then after we did the “Stand Up For Your Sister” activity… I started thinking. Did I really feel like that or was I just too worried of rejection from girls? Did my past of failed girl relationships make me put on a false face in order to not get hurt again?
So I made a conscious effort this first month to be open to girl friendships and man, have I been missing out. The amount of vulnerability and bonding that God created for girls is just beautiful.
Lainy bug and I are so incredibly different. She’s an introvert. I’m a hardcore extrovert. She’s white, I’m Asian. She’s health conscious, I’m not. She’s a great listener, I’m ADD as heck. She’s like a bowling ball… I’m like a ping pong ball. The list can go on and on but I’m so glad my heart was open to this friendship. Lainy has such a loyal, truthful, strong and playful heart. I’ve never met anyone more servant hearted than her and I can’t wait to see how God uses that these next 10 months! She’s definitely the salt to my pepper. The peanut butter to my jelly. I not only found my world race BFF… but a new life long BFF. I’ll probably have a separate blog about our friendship too 🙂
11. I’m in a part of India… that I didn’t even know was India.
But really tho…. I thought India was just the triangle portion on the map. THERE’S A WHOLE OTHER PART ON THE NORTHEAST SIDE. I’m learning so much geography!
Thanks for all the prayers. 1 month down, 10 more to go….Onwards to Nepal!
