A lot of people have been asking me,
“What is it that you will actually be doing on this World Race thing?”
Good question. I wish I actually knew.
In order to answer your question, and therefore my own questions about The World Race, I will be writing a blog on each country I will be traveling to with my team.
Hopefully, I gain insight on the cultural and religious backgrounds of each country as well as how the Holy Spirit has been working through the organizations I may be partnered with.
In August, the first country my team will be traveling to will be INDIA. As of now I’m not positive which part of the country we will be sent. On previous race teams, they have gone to many places such as, Satri, Saiphai, Varanasi, Visakhapatnam (Vizag), and Bangalore.
These cities vary from the capital of India’s Karnataka state, where it is the center for India’s tech industry, to slums and rural villages.
Currently India’s population is around 1.3 billion people with Hinduism leading at 80%. Christianity and “other” religions about 6%. Because of the ancient caste system, (a class system determined at birth – meaning if you’re born poor, you’ll be poor forever. No “American Dream” here) social injustice, forced prostitution, sex trafficking, and discrimination are part of the daily norm. Baby girls are abandoned or killed because of the financial burden on their families and the poorest of the poor live in slums. 62 million people are living in slums in India, where child labor is prominent and proper sanitation is almost non-existent. Typically a family of 4 makes about $1 a day.
After reading many blogs about people’s experiences in India, I’ve found that they weren’t kidding when they said ministry would vary day to day. Let me give you a snippet of ministry work that other World Racers are currently doing across the country of India, and what I will be doing in 6 short months.
I have a couple stories for you coming from blogs of previous racers in India. The first story comes from Taylor Upchurch.
Taylor and his team are in Varanasi India where they were praying for healing in a man, Bola (a “wise man” of India). Bola is a skull-worshiper. Bola believes that his human head idols “Baba” will bring him fulfillment in life. As Bola pours a liquid into the neck of one of his many skulls and takes a drink, offering it to Taylor and his team, Taylor feels courage to reach out, grab his Bible and read Bola the book of Romans.
After telling Bola about Jesus, Bola tells Taylor of his polytheism and his belief in 300 other gods.
“In Varanasi, this is the typical response we have had from Hindus whom we have proclaimed the Gospel to. And almost everyone has said they love Jesus Christ, but in reality, they just add Him to their list of 330 million other gods.”
“When you have lived in darkness for so long, you don’t understand the Light.”
http://taylorupchurch.theworldrace.org/post/witnessing-to-the-skull-worshipper
The oppressed people of India who are born into a lower caste system are known as Dalits, “Untouchables”. More than 160 million people in India are a part of this caste system and face wide-spread discrimination and violence. Dalits in India are people whose occupations and ways of life contaminate them with “impurities”. Literal impurities, because their jobs are to remove human waste from sewage systems. Because of this they are literally seen as “pollution” to many people of higher caste. They are segregated to the outskirts of cities, forbidden to enter temples and buildings, and a simple touch is seen as extremely polluting to ones body and must take remedial ritual to repair.
I am going to India to serve the “Untouchables”.
This next excerpt comes from the blog of Karah Park who was in India serving in a local village where women would be flooding the halls of a Catholic monastery.
These women are temple prostitutes.
“When their bodies reach maturity, their parents dedicate them to the temple in hopes that their family will receive blessing from the gods. Their bodies belong to the temple and are given to the men for sexual acts of ‘worship’. They are raised knowing this will be their fate. They live poor lives because they are not paid for these acts and many get second jobs to support all of their children. They are not allowed to be married because they are married to the god that they were sold to. Their children are told that their father is the god. They are the scum of the Indian community. If something terrible happens and she is not present, she is blamed for the catastrophe. They believe the god is unhappy because she is gone.”
http://karahpark.theworldrace.org/post/longing-for-a-prostitute
India is a country rich with culture and history, home to incredible temples and architectural wonders. A country known for it’s trekking and yoga centers that bring peace and harmony. India is a country with spectacular beaches and delicious food that Lonely Planet describes as “a riot of colour”.
But I’m not after any of that. That’s not the goal.
The goal is to go and serve and love; to hangout with people in the places Lonely Planet doesn’t post in their “Top Experiences” section.
This is the first country for us.
These people are the first in our eleven month journey.
This is the place where God will plant our feet, open our eyes and prepare us for the adventure ahead.
And oh how hard this adventure will be.
