Before I left for the World Race, I was constantly asked what specifically I would be doing, but I didn’t have the answer. I only knew what this organization stood for and what kinds of ministry had been done in the past, but we were reminded that ministry would differ country to country and team to team.
Well, Plants and Pillars has been doing “Church Planting” and sharing the gospel in persecuted villages. Every night, we get in the “jeep” and drive anywhere from 30 minutes to 3 hours away to a pastor’s home for a “prayer meeting” (it’s not safe for them to call it “church”). We worship with the people here, listening and clapping along to their worship songs, lead some of our songs for them (so grateful Daniel brought his guitar and that we have so much talent on our team), share some of our testimonies, share the gospel, and encourage them to remain steadfast in their faith, even though it may not be the easy choice to be the minority in their country. We end with a closing prayer and then we pray individually for anyone that requests it (and it’s no surprise anymore when everyone there requests prayer)!
Most of the people at these homes have never seen Americans or people with skin as fair as ours but I have been surprised at how many of the youth in these villages are actually pretty conversational in their English speaking skills! For everything else, we have had a translator every night that goes out to our ministry sites with us, making our ministry possible.
When we aren’t at ministry, our team is at our host’s home…. and not allowed to leave! This is for the safety of our host, who has actually been beat up and threatened multiple times before and giggles when he tells us, “Oh yes, I have been beat up for the gospel many times!” WHAT AN INCREDIBLE FAMILY WE HAVE HOSTING US. They will forever be in my heart.
With all this time together, our team has gotten super close, super fast. This is one of the first times I have had a community of believers close to my age and it is a beautiful, life-enhancing thing. We sit around the house, do team time and feedback, worship, listen to music, type blogs that we can’t post for weeks until we have wifi, play games, eeeeeaaaatttt, spend time with the Lord, workout, prepare our sermons and testimonies, hand-wash and hang dry laundry, and just do some good old fashioned hanging out.
By the time I get wifi to post this, our team will have less than a week left of ministry in our first country- WOW! Please join us in praying for the people of India; that the believers will be protected from persecution and will be encouraged to share the Good News, that those who worship idols will come to know the Lord, that the children will grow up knowing they are loved and valued, and that our team will make the most of these last days with everyone we meet and become less of a target to these mosquitoes!
