We arrived in New Delhi, India on October 3rd after taking a 30 hour bus ride from Kathmandu, Nepal. We were all super excited to get there because our Squad Leader, Eric was joining us for two weeks starting in New Delhi. Other than excited greetings and hanging out with Eric, not a lot got done on the 3rd. That 30 hour bus ride had us all pretty drained. After some much appreciated rest we all were ready for a faith walk the next morning though.
We all prayed into it and Aspen, Ian, and Eric felt called to go together. Kelsey and I felt called to go together so then we all set off. Kelsey and I hadn’t walked very far when we noticed this man had a little hair cutting booth set up on the sidewalk. Kelsey looked at me and asked if I wanted my haircut and for some reason I felt called to say “yes”. We went over there and tried to talk to him but he didn’t speak any English and we forgot to download the Hindi translate. That didn’t seem to matter to him because before I knew it, he threw an apron around me and sat me down in his chair. While he cut my hair I remember praying and asking God why he asked me to do this if I can’t even communicate to this nice man. I didn’t hear anything from God so I then just began to pray for this man and his business. He was so nice and very good at his job. He shaved my face twice too! It was my first time ever getting a straight razor shave. Once it was all done he only asked for 100 rupees ($1.40). I had to try three times to get him to accept a tip as well. You could tell he just loved his job and was happy to have a new customer.
After we were all done, using hand signals to communicate, he let us pray over him one more time and take a picture with him and his friend. As we were leaving, I said to Kelsey, “It would be cool if we were staying longer so I could print out the pictures you took and give them to him”. I bet we didn’t walk half a mile when Kelsey points out a print shop. We went in and Kelsey sent them one of the pictures and asked if they would print it out of us. We asked for one copy but they gave us two anyway. We even got to use their WiFi to download Hindi translate.
Kelsey was then feeling led to put John 3:16 on the back of the pictures but neither of us can write in Hindi. We asked around until finally a man came into the store and agreed to write it for us on the back of one of the pictures. We then headed back to find our new favorite street side barber.
Upon arrival he was very happy to see us again and cleaned us off a seat on the sidewalk. We sat down and he motioned for us to stay as he ran off down the street. Once he came back, he had cookies and tea for both of us. We just sat there and enjoyed being in community together for a while before we gave him the picture. Once we gave him the picture we realized he couldn’t read as he asked his friend read it to him. You should have seen the joy on their faces. The friend immediately asked if we had a second picture and so we handed it to him. He took it and copied John 3:16 on the back of the second one for himself.
All of this was just so amazing how it unfolded. During my haircut I was confused as to why God asked me to get a haircut, other than for the fact I was looking a little shaggy, but God had a plan the whole time. He knew there was a print shop just down the road. He knew I needed two photos even though we asked for one. He put it on Kelsey’s heart to take pictures in the first place. He knew she would hear Him when He put John 3:16 on her heart. He knew we’d be able to use the print shop WiFi to download Hindi Translate. He knew we’d be able to indirectly share the Good News with the man who wrote John 3:16 down for us. He knew the sidewalk barber and his friend needed and had a hunger to hear the Good News. He knew all of this and had it all planned out. This day was a huge reassurance to me that all it takes to live in his will and plans is just one simple “yes”.
