As most people gear up to leave on missions trips, it’s so common and easy to think that we, as Americans, seem to “know it all” or we leave our high horse for one week, a few months, or in my case nine. It’s very easy to get in the mindset that through the power of the Lord WE are going to make some crazy impact on people, and that the whole time we are out in the field, it will be US pouring into locals and the people we meet. But it has been ME who has been crazily impacted by so many of the people that I have come into contact with. This is a prime example of something the Lord has been teaching me time and time again on the race.
Before I arrived here in India, I had heard from so many others that mission work would be extra challenging here. It expected that it would be extremely spiritually dense and dirty and we wouldn’t be accepted well at all. But boy was I in for a treat!
We have been living in a community that is roughly 98% evangelized to and these people are crazy rad! Everyone is like family here and they care about the well-being of one another. Almost every single shop is closed on Sunday and the streets are empty because everyone is in church. During my time here, I have learned a lot about my faith and the importance of being encouraged by other believers. I’ve been able to take part in a lot of children’s ministry (children’s retreats and a weekly VBS), fellowshipping with friends at a drug and alcohol rehab center, helping construct the local church building, teaching at local schools and even working in the kitchen with the wonderful staff here that cooks for us day in and day out.
The Lord has spoken to me through a family that lives directly next door to us. I met them when I went outside one four first nights here to play guitar by myself. They waved me over to join them as they were sitting by a fire with their neighbors. We shared about our lives and played music together. After that meeting, they have welcomed my friends and I into their home every evening for tea and fellowship. We gather around a little steel basket full of crackling charcoal and have good laughs.
Through our evening get togethers, they have poured into my friends and I and let us into their lives. They build us up in our faith. They have shared about their trials and struggles and how they don’t let their struggles define them, but they allow these things to show God’s love. They have redefined what servant leadership looks like to me by their willingness to open up their home and adopt their nephew through some very difficult circumstances. They are examples of sacrificial love to me as I watch them show him unconditional love and giving him an amazing foundation in the Lord.
Leaving on this trip I was anxious to share about Jesus with others, and don’t get me wrong I still am! but God has placed people like this family in my path throughout this experience to humble, uplift and show ME what it truly looks like to live and love like Jesus.
