Our travel from Nepal to Southern India started at 5:30am and ended at 11:45pm. It included two plane flights, one bus ride and a five minute walk with our packs on.
There is a long term Adventures in Missions (AIM) base in the city we are currently staying in, so the staff set aside the first few days to orient us. The insight they have been able to give us into the context and history of God’s people here has been extremely helpful in preparing our hearts for ministry.
I have never been in a place so different from America. In America it is safe to assume most people have at least heart Jesus’ name, but India has one of the largest populations of unreached people in the world and is rampant with individuals who have literally never heard His name spoken. In America, the title of “Christian” might result in social persecution or exclusion, conversion in India (a closed country) can have drastic and potentially fatal implications for not only the convert, but their family as well.
Our team will be heading out tomorrow morning to spend the month (and celebrate Thanksgiving) in a remote village. This means no wifi (or blogs) for a few weeks. We will be in an extremely traditional environment, so dress code will be a scarf to cover our heads, a long and loose dress/blouse, and airy pants that completely cover our ankles. We will be pitching our tents on the top floor of an orphanage and will spend most of our time preaching at surrounding churches/supporting AIM in their long term church planting efforts.
Every country on the race has evoked unique prayers, special desires that the Lord puts on my heart for His children in that particular place and time. However, none have come so fast and so strongly as my desires for India.
John 12:26 says, “If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also.” As I meditated on this verse and the surrounding text, I could almost hear the Lord say “I have brought you here because I am here..and I want my children throughout India to come spend time with me.”
The Lord passionately desires communion with His children throughout India and I can’t wait to see what He plans to do in and around our team as we join with Him in His pursuit of their hearts.
As always, my prayer requests are listed in the “About” section of my blog, but I feel an urgency to ask for prayer today, so I have listed them below as well.
Praise:
-My ankle is almost completely healed 🙂 Thanks for all of the prayer!
Request:
-Safety for ourselves, as well as people in the village we will be ministering in.
-That we would quickly adjust to the cultural norms in the village and that we don’t unintentionally offend any of the local residents.
-For our team to see with God’s eyes and have our hearts broken in the ways His breaks for the people we encounter.
-That I will miraculously be able to handle the spicy foods that our ministry host will most likely be making for us.
Love you all!
