Everything is different than the India I imagined visiting and serving in. To be honest, India was one of the big reasons that I signed up for the World Race August Route 3. I felt a call to this country 14 months before our plane landed in Hyderabad. However, I was completely caught by surprise when we arrived at our house for the month and when I walked around the city that would be our home for the month.
Hyderabad is very westernized. It almost feels like I never left the United States and the house that my team and I are staying in is nicer than any house I have ever lived in. Its not what I had in mind. I am not staying in a bad area of town or on the smelly streets constantly bombarded by poverty, beggars, and street children.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not complaining at all. However, I think that it can be good and bad. By month four of my World Race I find that I am actually living on the World Race. I am realizing that I am actually on the journey that I had prepared for a year and what it means to constantly be doing outreach. That is good; that is the point. The point is to learn how to live day in and day out on mission. The point is to learn how to bring the skills and passion that you gain on the Race back with you and continue to make a difference for the Kingdom in America, or wherever the Lord calls you, when we get home. However, there are some days where it feels like I am just living on the Race. Like nothing has changed. Like I am just in India and I do ministry and come home and go to bed. Like I am just going to church on Sunday and my small group and then coming home. I find myself tired. I find that now it is getting harder to go out of my way to talk to random people when we are not specifically doing ministry. I need to unlearn and relearn what living on mission is. Mission is everything we do, it is our whole life.
Its an old and much used verse, but Romans 12:2 says, “Do not be conformed to the patterns of this world but be continually transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
Beginning in India I am renewing my mind again. Beginning in India I am living constantly on mission again. Beginning in India I am taking every opportunity to share the love and grace I have received with those around me.
Our outreach this month is really awesome. We are staying at the Covenant School of Worship. We are teaching the youth, going out into the slums to do outreach and church services, and participating in Bible studies and prayer meetings.
It has been awesome to see the passion and hunger the people of India have for Christ and to be able to partner with them in that and grow together.
If you would like to know more about what we are doing here in India you can check out the Covenant School of Worship at http://covenantworshipschool.com/ and https://www.facebook.com/CovenantSchoolofWorship/?fref=ts.
Thank you all so much for all your love and support. Please continue to pray for my team as I as we continue our outreach here in India. Also, please continue to pray for The Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nepal, and India and the people of each country!
Glory to God!
