1 hour…. 4 hours… 7 hours… 11 hours… 14 hours later…. bump, bump, bump, thud, splash.. craziest bus ride I have ever been on. We got on the bus to ttwann around 6:30pm, didn’t get off till about 8:30am. At first it was more like a stop start stop start bus ride, later on I fell asleep for quite awhile. Next thing i know, there is a giant bump and boom we all flying. That’s when I looked out the window to see that we were somewhere in the jungle/forest/middle of nowhere. The bus was driving through streams, rivers, trees, you name it. I was very confused at what was happening.. honestly when our ministry host told us we were leaving for a week to go to a new village for ministry, I figured more like the city. Wow was I ever wrong. We got off the bus, got out packs on, and started a nice little walk into a remote village. We walked through dry river beds, through the woods, and over fields. We eventually made it to the house we’re staying in. We were off the grid, out in the middle of nowhere. It’s a village of people who either don’t know the lord, or have never heard of him. It’s crazy to think that this is real. This whole week I felt like I was in a hazy dream, is this legit? The first day after getting settled in, we took a 45 minute walk deeper into the lands. We got to a small little “village” (more like a few huts) and split into teams. My team went up a little hill to a mans house, we all sat down on mats and started talking to him about the lord. He said he had heard about Jesus but knew nothing about him. Elijah, mark, and I, started telling him and explaining to him the story of creation, how Jesus tied into it, about faith, and heaven. The man followed up with saying he was too scared to become a Christian because of the other people and priests. To me, it sounded like he wanted to know Jesus, but was just too scared to follow through with it. My heart left that home heavy, he didn’t want to know Jesus.. the next house we went to was two families, probably like 10 people there (including babies). We came to learn that all of them knew Jesus except for two. The two were going to become Christians after two months. We were very confused by that? Why not become a Christian now. The man told us that his wife wasn’t able to have babies so he promised the Hindu gods and priest that he would sacrifice a goat first and than he would become Christian. To me it didn’t make sense, if you believe in Jesus than how can you believe in other gods. It ended up he was also living in fear. If you can’t fully trust the lord, than you will live in fear. It was discouraging to hear but it got us to understand these people a little more. There is a lot of pressure on them in their villages. The priest has a strong saying on the people. They live in fear of what could happen. As Christians we know not to live in a life of fear, that we serve a loving father. We pray that they will feel that love someday soon.
Day 2) 13.9 miles, 53 floors, and 27,256 steps later… PARTYYYY, we have another three brothers in Christ in the family!!! Alright back story, so we “walked” (hiked) today. I can’t even explain to you the beauty that was around me. It was so unreal, we basically said it was Jurassic world, hunger games, and Narnia all mixed in one when it came to the scenery. When I say off the grid, boy we were off the dern grid. We walked over hills, through streams, on logs, and past little huts, to finally get to the huts we were going to. *cues: over the river and through the woods to grandmothers house we go* Our team’s ministry this month is called high adventure, and was that ever an understatement.. we walked and kept walking and kept walking. Now and then we would come to little wood bridges. Like i know it’s been said, but wow it was so unreal!! I felt like I was in a hazy movie the whole time. We got to the first huts and met a family and explained to them the gospel, they said they understood but at that moment weren’t ready to become Christians. The second home we went to didn’t want the lord either. Third times the charm right? Well today it was. We got to the hut to find like 10 boys/men. After talking for a bit we figured out some of them were already Christians. We continued on with telling them the story from beginning to Jesus. After that we followed up with asking if anyone wanted to except Jesus, and guess what!!! Three of them did! They prayed the prayer and became our new brothers. I fully believe in my heart that they understood and believed. The smiles on their faces afterwards was all I needed to believe that. The lord worked through us and is showing his glory among these people.
Day 3) okay wow.. my body was so exhausted and tired and I had not even started the day. It was only a 20 minute walk to people’s homes today. We got to the hut and I took charge in telling of the good news this time. It was honestly hard today.. at first I had stumped the people. After that, they totally stumped me, asking questions I barley knew how to answer. What ended up happening was that they had heard Christianity wrong. They believed in God but not Jesus, later on they said they believed in God and the Holy Spirit, but still no Jesus. It was confusing and different, I haven’t been in a place to hear those things. Mark took over at this point and shared more about the lord and who Jesus is. They said they understood and would think on it. We prayed for them than headed back to base for lunch. Afterwards we went to another house to find out that they were already a Christian family! It was such a fun afternoon, I shucked corn to pop and we had tea and good conversations! I even got to hold a one month old baby, he was so adorable wow. It was a very laid back fun afternoon that was much needed. Later that evening we went to a prayer meeting, We gave a message and we sang a few songs. Most of the meeting we didn’t understand, due to language barriers, but it was still a spirit filled night.
Day 4) wow this was such a fun day! Started off with myself having the honor to preach in the little village church. I preached on Gods love, it’s something that’s big in my life and always on my heart. The service went super well! We prayed over sick people and did a few skits but that wasn’t even the start to the day. We went back to base for lunch and chill than headed off for another hike. This one was a little different… we figured it was just a normal hike to do a prayer walk. We start walking by the stream out in the middle of nowhere. Then we got off the path into the jungle. I was kinda confused.. the jungle? As we’re walking basically straight up i wondered where we were heading. Next thing i know, we finally make it to the top. Wow.. I was standing in two countries at the same exact time!! Never thought that would happen. Where we were was between India and Nepal. So yeah, check off boarder hopping (literally
) off my bucket list. It was a cool experience. On the way down pastor decided that I should lead the way, I had no idea where I was going but, sounds good! As we were walking pastor tells me that we’re in tiger territory now, to be honest, I had really hoped to see a tiger but, it didn’t happen. We finally made it back to the bottom all nice and sweaty. To top off the day, Lindsey and I played few hours of soccer with the locals.
This week of ministry has been a different, very eye opening week. I learned how to minister to different types of people groups. How to walk with endurance through the lord. How to be asked the hard questions and trust in the lord to bring the answers. God worked in my heart and the hearts of many. I thank him for all the many blessings! Tomorrow we get on another bus to head off for a new four day hike/ministry. Please pray for safe travels and hearts to be ready to hear the word. Thanks!
Love,
Mara
