My day starts at six in the morning. It’s hot and I am sticky with sweat. My bed is covered in dead wasps that had crawled in through the open window next to my bed. I use my flashlight to fish out the least dirty pair of shorts and socks. No shower today. No eating utensils today. No chairs  today, either.  We eat hot soup and rice with our hands. Today we are preparing for the living conditions in India. Much of India’s population lives on less than $.40 a day. 

 
Whenever we aren’t pushing our bodies to their limits in the heat of the sun, we worship. And when our group comes together to worship, God moves. I have never before been so blessed. Our leaders are anointed, humble, and full of conviction. Our team is eager, receptive, and broken. We know that when God starts to move, the best we can do is to hope to go along for the ride. Any of our own plans suddenly become worthless, and are blown away like an umbrella in a mighty hurricane, and God has opened my eyes to this fact repeatedly throughout the week.

In moments of intense worship, I’ve often felt led to speak to certain people-as if God wanted them to hear a word from me. Most of the time, however, I’ve fought those urges, especially when I allow my own insecurities, doubts, or fear creep into my mind. But this week I felt more than moved; I was positively and acutely compelled to speak with certain people at certain times. The moment I allowed myself to break down and push out of my comfort and complacency, everything changed.

God had me seek out certain people to either encourage them or to ask about their pains. Over the next few days I met with each of them, and had wonderful heart-to-hearts, which I sort of expected. But what I didn’t expect is to have God confirm his works in my spirit. Late at night we sat around a campfire and our leader opened up the floor for anyone who felt led to speak. A handful of people took the opportunity to share realizations, pains, anxieties, and visions. I sat around that campfire, literally trembling, as one by one, every single one of the people God had led me to speak with stood up to share about it.

My luxurious forty minutes of computer-time has now unfortunately ended. I hope to share many more stories when I come home, but for now, I must allow the women to serve me (such a shame, I know), as we prepare for the cultural conditions we’ll face in Africa. By the way, we found out that we’re going to Nairobi, Kenya! It just keeps getting more real as the details get more and more specific! Whooo, God bless!

A