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Oh wow.. I’m in India!! Yes.. and my blogs have been lacking. How do I feel about india? Well, since Mumbai is the only part I’ve seen I can’t judge the whole country. It has caused me to feel a whirlwind of emotions though. I have cried a lot. I have laughed a lot. I have seen beautiful things that I can’t express in words and then looked straight into the eyes of extreme poverty and social injustice.
The one thing that this nation is equip with, though they may be few, are amazing amazing Jesus like people who are carrying the gospel into places that have never heard His name. They are basically ballers of the Word. The two men we have worked with have literally risked their lives and are so dependent on the Lord that it blows my mind. They pray for this nation like it is no one’s business and they have so much fruit on them that you would need a fruit basket the size of the georgia dome to hold it all. They live to to carry the name of Jesus.. that’s what they do everyday nonstop and their praise and passion for the Lord is incredible. The stories they have told us about ministry and their own lives have been amazing. Last night Pastor Vada told us that one night he went up to a village on top of one of the mountains and told a whole community about Jesus. Person after person came to know the Lord that night. Sooo good. I asked my leader, Dana, ” How do we go back and live like this in America? How does it work?” We really don’t know.. but I do know that we are to proclaim the name of Jesus wherever we go and whatever circumstances we find ourselves in. So that is my plan.
Going door to door in the slums and praying over families who are apart of the church there is one of the things we have been doing here in Mumbai. We walk into the slums past pigs and poo and are welcomed so generously into homes by the most amazing chai tea and crackers. Some of my favorite times this far have been going into these homes and laying hands on people and praying for their needs such as healing, provision, peace in their household, and education. God hears our prayers and he will provide the needs of His people. I can’t tell you how much I love just being in those homes and sitting on the floor worshiping, praying, laughing, and hanging out. It’s what true community looks like.
The other ministry we have been doing here is working at a day center in the middle of the brothels. The day center was also once itself a brothel. The children who come to the day center are children of women who have been trafficked from Nepal and the pimps and madams in the area. Abye, who is a man after God’s own heart and is probably the closest man to resemble Jesus that I have ever met started this day center. His love for these children and the women, pimps, and madams is absolutely incredible. He knows everything that is going on with the kids that come to the center and genuinely cares for them like they were his own. Getting to know these kids has been amazing. They are so precious and already know so much about Jesus at a young age. They leave everyday with a song in their mouths. Whether it’s “Jesus is my superhero” or ” Jesus loves me” they are taking it back into the darkness. I’ve got these three little girls that want so much love from me that I have to continue to ask God to pour it on them because the love I can physically and emotionally give them isn’t enough. He’s teaching me to love like Jesus loves. Along with being at the day center, we have also ventured out to a narrow hallway of brothels with Abye, who has become friends with most of the pimps and madams in that area. We had the opportunity to go in and pray for these women. I can’t tell you how surreal and humbling it is to sit on a bed of a brothel and to be welcomed in with coke and cookies and for a madam/pimp to ask for prayer. It seriously is one of the moments where you’re like how can anyone ever understand what I’m feeling right now. I remember praying “God.. pursue this woman! Come after her! Change her heart. Set the captives free through freeing her!” We also had the opportunity to pray for two of the girls that had been trafficked from Nepal. I remember trying to fight back the tears while praying for a 25 yr old like myself whose face is so heavy and hurt.. Praying that chains would literally be broken off in the name of Jesus. It was hard because we couldn’t physically do anything. We couldn’t rescue her and take her back with us. The madam was standing right there the whole time. Abye is trusting that God will show Himself to these pimps and madams through his ministry to them and that the light that comes pouring out of the day center will light up the darkness. (and it already is) His prayer for that place is for it to be called the White Light district instead of Red Light. Though my heart is heavy for those women, there is hope! God is working in that place and I am so humbled to be apart of his transformation of it.
