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A ball sails through the air. Anticipation builds. Will it go in? GOOOAAAAAAAAAAAALLLL! But it’s silent. You hear no celebration. It’s as if nothing had happened. But wait. Look closer. Every player on the field is filled with emotion. There’s excitement. There’s frustration. There’s joy. So much is happening. But not a sound is heard.
A child runs up to me. His hands are moving in a flurry. I try to decipher the meaning as quickly as possible. It’s the score. We are up eight to five!
If you haven’t figured it out yet, we have been working with the hearing impaired this month. We are working at a place called Maharashtra Fellowship of the Deaf.
Beautiful does not begin to describe the children we work with on a daily basis. They are so filled with joy. They are so enthusiastic about learning. They are so receptive to our teachings of Jesus. It is something I haven’t seen the entire race.
Every morning we wake up have breakfast and head to devotion. We are in charge of leading the songs and delivering the message. You may be thinking, how can you sing songs to the deaf? Good question. We do action songs. Songs that have movements to go along with the words. It is an amazing sight seeing the kids jump up and “dance” so unreservedly. Embarrassment is not in their vocabulary when it comes to this. God has really taught me about identity this month through these students here. Just by teaching the children that God perfectly made each and every one of them, it began to be engrained in me. And the same is true of every one of you.
You, YES YOU, are a beautiful creation of God. You are perfectly made. You are so loved. It doesn’t matter what people of this world think, because God created us in His image, exactly how he meant us to be! How amazing is that?!
After devotion the construction crew goes and does a task that has been laid out for us that day. Yesterday we moved rocks. Earlier we jack-hammered a wall down. I love physical labor. What I’m doing seems tangible. I can see the progress. So it has definitely been awesome getting to be hands on this month.
Then it’s tea time! Lord thank You for tea time! Chai is fantastic! I actually grew up not a fan of it, but it’s grown on me this month (I do add a ridiculous amount of sugar though). Then back to construction until lunch. Lunch this month has consisted of varying Indian food cooked by my man Cha Cha. The food has been amazing, but of course nothing compares to my mom’s cooking.
After lunch we either go into team time or just hang out. This month has been very good for our team. I really feel like we have come together. I have loved getting to know each member on a deeper level and a lot of the tension has subsided. I am looking forward to, now more than ever, this team moving forward from here to really accomplish astonishing things for the Kingdom.
As you can tell from the beginning of the blog we have been playing soccer this month. It is beautiful seeing a dynamic of no sound while playing sports. It is something you have to understand to truly understand it. On the field, that is where I have made the strongest relationship this month. There is something about sports that builds a bond that can’t be described. The competitiveness. Striving for a common goal. It all really brings you together.
After soccer, we go directly into another devotion. A night devotion is where one of the coolest things of the month took place for me. It was my day to deliver the message. It was the first week we were here. I really felt that God was telling me to just share the Gospel with the children. So that’s exactly what I did. And God totally blew my mind. After sharing the Gospel, I decided to ask if anyone wanted to accept Christ that night. BOOM! Two kids came up to the front and I got to pray for them and they received Christ into their hearts that night!
What a humbling experience. God used me to further His Kingdom in an amazing way that night. And the most amazing part is that it was all for His glory. I did nothing! It was all Him. It was Him speaking through me! It was Him who told me to share the Gospel. It was the Holy Spirit that pulled on the two kids’ hearts and led them to find our one true God! Ahhh, I have chills just thinking about it!
That’s pretty much been our day-to-day in India, with a few highlights thrown in. I love this country. It holds a special place in my heart. The culture, the food, the people, the language, they are my culture, my food, my people, my language(s). I cannot believe that my time here has pretty much come to an end. God has done some remarkable things this month. I am blessed to be a part of it and I thank God that He is using me for His purpose!
Much Love,
Raj Mahal
