Life is simple here. Our team loves sitting on our roof with no wifi, no phones, no Netflix, and just listening. We live with 10 orphan boys who our ministry host adopted. We get to love on them on our off days. They are so content. They’ve lost at least one of their parents, yet they praise the Lord every morning and every night.
The hospitality and servanthood here is unlike anywhere else I’ve been. Every night, we go to a different village to preach the gospel, and at the end of the night the family’s house we are at always has us sit down and drink a cold beverage and sometimes chai and a snack. They live in a small shelter with nothing but a bed and some pots and pans for cooking, yet they serve us as if we are royalty.
In Matthew 19:14, Jesus says the kingdom of heaven belongs to the little children he’s praying over, and that makes me think of the kids here. There’s so many of them that come to the churches we speak at. I think they’re the ones who will be bringing the kingdom of heaven to earth in India.
The hardest part has been the language barrier. It’s hard to communicate with our ministry host without a translator and it’s hard to build relationships. We have a translator to translate our 20 minute message but that’s about it. Each night, we pray for interpretation of their language and for the people to supernaturally understand us. We are praying big things to happen. No language barrier can stop the power of the true gospel. It’s shown me that it’s not about words. Even though I can’t talk much to the people here, they know we love Jesus and they know we want to spend time with them. It has also shown me that if we can share Jesus with someone with a different language than us, nothing should stop us in America.
The Christians here have shown us how to be the church to one another. They call us brother and sister, exemplifying that we are family in the body of Christ. They pray before everything, even before we leave the house. It’s showing me how to daily walk in the spirit with each step I take. They praise the Lord for everything. When we do ministry every night, we go to a house in a different village than the night before, and we worship, give testimonies, preach the gospel, and then we pray for healing for the people one by one. It’s the perfect picture of the church. We always feel the Holy Spirit there. It’s creating in us an ability to have spiritual discernment to the atmosphere around us because it’s always different. Sometimes we feel apathy from the people but other times we feel and see the hunger in their eyes.
Living here in India has shown me that God’s purpose for me is to enjoy my life with Him. I love my team. We get along really well and encourage one another and love each other deep. We are literally laughing all day and are just so thankful for the blessing of being able to spend time with the people here. Our ministry host’s wife mentioned to someone that we are one big happy family, and we are. God has been speaking to me about being content in every circumstance and being thankful in everything. “Let every breath praise the Lord!” Psalm 150:6. Our free time isn’t spent on social media, on our phones, watching Netflix, or any other mind numbing activity. It’s spent worshipping together, having good conversations, going on prayer walks, having alone time, or playing with the kids. It’s showing me what it means to bring the kingdom of heaven to earth, to love one another and pray big things. To pray for healing and to cast out demons in the name of Jesus. We haven’t physically seen a healing yet but we will and we know there’s fruit from faith-filled prayers even if we don’t see it.
Prayer walks are essential here. We can’t talk about Jesus in the open because of the persecution here. Christians are hated by the Hindus. It’s okay to have church but it’s not okay to evangelize. There’s a water well here where my team and I have been drawn to, where people and children gather, and it’s been hard to not share Jesus. We don’t want to make things hard for our ministry host after we leave, because a lot of pastors here are beaten if others hear they are evangelizing. But we have been able to pray for the people. And we continue to.
Please continue to pray for the amazing things happening in us and in the people we meet.
