India… this is the month I have been dreading the entire race. The smells…the heat…the monsoons…and the food, I wasn’t looking forward to any part of arriving to this country.
The Lord definitely knew my heart on this and placed me in a situation that made all these fears and dread just melt away and honestly…I was pleasantly surprised at how he made things so easy. It’s not that I think the Lord wants us to suffer (not at all) but I do know he pushes us and our faith is put to the test when we are brought into these situations. I was placed on a new team with 6 other women who love me well and make me feel like I am at home with my friends.
We were placed in a village where our host family cooks AMAZING food, the weather isn’t sweltering hot, and it only rains every now and then.
Among the things that the Lord reversed as far as my expectations go…we have been able to be a part of so many cultural things and it’s only the first week being here.
Our very first night, within 5 minutes of arriving, we were invited to a wedding. The neighbor’s daughter will be getting married on the 13th and we are invited to come take part in the festivities of an Indian wedding. Our second day we ventured out into another village where we would do our ministry for the evening. Upon arriving everyone came from all over the village to see the Americans and just to shake our hands. At one point this very old lady who we like to call Yoda (mainly because she walks around with a stick and hits small children and animals with) brought a baby over to one of my teammates, shoved it in her arms, and told her to name the baby. We prayed about what we should name the baby and finally decided to name him Josiah. Josiah destroyed all the temples that were built for other gods and proclaimed the name of God all over the land in Israel, so we found it fitting that this baby be named Josiah since he lives in a land covered with Hindu temples.
The next day we were invited to a different wedding in which we had about 2 hours to get ready to attend. Once we arrived at the wedding we were ushered to the very front seats and immediately the videographer came to film us sitting at the wedding. We were then asked to sing on the stage to the bride and groom in front of a crowd of 500 or more. With about 2 minutes to decide what to sing we made our way to the stage, stood in front of the bride and groom and sang ‘Lean on Me’, as if we were hired for wedding entertainment.
Everywhere we go and everything we do we feel like celebrities because there is always someone taking pictures of us, wanting us to shake their hands, or wanting to just speak with us for a few moments. At any given moment we have 30-50 children coming over to see us at our house so we decided to make these times into a small “VBS” of some-sort. Never have I felt more like Jesus did when the children came to sit at his feet than I do in these moments. The first day they crowded into the front room with us and sat as we told the story of how God created everything and who Jesus was and about his life. They sat in awe as we told these stories. Their mothers started to come with them a few days afterward and we began to minister to them as well with our stories. Traditional and repetitive camp songs have come in handy with this “VBS” because the children just repeat and sing and dance along with us. After explaining the meanings of the songs we then have a “wee worship” and the kids don’t want to leave at the end.
These are just some small stories about how the Lord has blessed our time here in India. Of course we have small adventures in between such as chasing baby pigs down the street, riding 3 people to a motorbike, and buying saris and getting them tailored for the upcoming wedding. All these small moments that we get to spend with our host family and with the people of the village we live with make this month all worthwhile. Building relationships is what this month is turning out to be and what a wonderful way to show people God’s love. Showing people that are use to having fear of a god and not knowing that the God we serve loves unconditionally and He answers when we call…working on being Christ like by intertwining with the people and sharing their life as we show them the God who made them to love and be loved by Him.
The Lord definitely knew my heart on this and placed me in a situation that made all these fears and dread just melt away and honestly…I was pleasantly surprised at how he made things so easy. It’s not that I think the Lord wants us to suffer (not at all) but I do know he pushes us and our faith is put to the test when we are brought into these situations. I was placed on a new team with 6 other women who love me well and make me feel like I am at home with my friends.
We were placed in a village where our host family cooks AMAZING food, the weather isn’t sweltering hot, and it only rains every now and then.
Among the things that the Lord reversed as far as my expectations go…we have been able to be a part of so many cultural things and it’s only the first week being here.
Our very first night, within 5 minutes of arriving, we were invited to a wedding. The neighbor’s daughter will be getting married on the 13th and we are invited to come take part in the festivities of an Indian wedding. Our second day we ventured out into another village where we would do our ministry for the evening. Upon arriving everyone came from all over the village to see the Americans and just to shake our hands. At one point this very old lady who we like to call Yoda (mainly because she walks around with a stick and hits small children and animals with) brought a baby over to one of my teammates, shoved it in her arms, and told her to name the baby. We prayed about what we should name the baby and finally decided to name him Josiah. Josiah destroyed all the temples that were built for other gods and proclaimed the name of God all over the land in Israel, so we found it fitting that this baby be named Josiah since he lives in a land covered with Hindu temples.
The next day we were invited to a different wedding in which we had about 2 hours to get ready to attend. Once we arrived at the wedding we were ushered to the very front seats and immediately the videographer came to film us sitting at the wedding. We were then asked to sing on the stage to the bride and groom in front of a crowd of 500 or more. With about 2 minutes to decide what to sing we made our way to the stage, stood in front of the bride and groom and sang ‘Lean on Me’, as if we were hired for wedding entertainment.
Everywhere we go and everything we do we feel like celebrities because there is always someone taking pictures of us, wanting us to shake their hands, or wanting to just speak with us for a few moments. At any given moment we have 30-50 children coming over to see us at our house so we decided to make these times into a small “VBS” of some-sort. Never have I felt more like Jesus did when the children came to sit at his feet than I do in these moments. The first day they crowded into the front room with us and sat as we told the story of how God created everything and who Jesus was and about his life. They sat in awe as we told these stories. Their mothers started to come with them a few days afterward and we began to minister to them as well with our stories. Traditional and repetitive camp songs have come in handy with this “VBS” because the children just repeat and sing and dance along with us. After explaining the meanings of the songs we then have a “wee worship” and the kids don’t want to leave at the end.
These are just some small stories about how the Lord has blessed our time here in India. Of course we have small adventures in between such as chasing baby pigs down the street, riding 3 people to a motorbike, and buying saris and getting them tailored for the upcoming wedding. All these small moments that we get to spend with our host family and with the people of the village we live with make this month all worthwhile. Building relationships is what this month is turning out to be and what a wonderful way to show people God’s love. Showing people that are use to having fear of a god and not knowing that the God we serve loves unconditionally and He answers when we call…working on being Christ like by intertwining with the people and sharing their life as we show them the God who made them to love and be loved by Him.
