Hello blog readers it is I Alex, your local not so local blogger(Hipster). I am so sorry about my lack of info not only on this blog but also on social media, its just that I don’t like blogging. However I do love sharing the amazing works of the one true King. I am currently writing this from a hip little hostel in Nepal but will be reflecting on my wonderful time in India. For the safety and success of the ministry site back in India and can’t share much location wise but that doesn’t change how great it was and how much God is working there.
Our ministry was kindly explained as youth ministry. My thought was “rad”, Tanner then explained with a goofy smile on his face that youth in India is 10-30. He also enlightened our team that while its that older and younger people will also be there. So basically it was just church services every night. My next thought was “different rad”. I am all for preaching, worship, and testimonies. Then I remembered that we speak other languages and that spooked me. I knew that God would be so faithful through it as He always is. Its kinda His thing. We then went and meet our ministry hosts. Anand and Babu <3. As the emoji heart probably gives away I do indeed love them. They are younger dudes who are worship leaders, pastors, prayer warriors, and best friends. The Lord blessed my team with hosts just as sarcastic as we are. Example: I think bananas are gross, I think curd is gross. So my funny little Indian friends would eat them together and try to force feed me it. Hated that. But got some great laughs.
As my team went to a new village each night God taught each one of us something, and the Holy Spirit would move us. We as a team would rotate on who spoke and how we would worship. Some of us less prepared than others each night. The small churches would flood in with village folk for about an hour and kids would come stare at us during that time. We would act weirder the more the kids reacted. They fell in love with our tattoos, Tanners hair and guitar, Maddie’s camera, Garrett’s dance moves, Emily’s need to hold any child smaller than a sack of potatoes, and my big ol’ belly and curly hair. As service started the people of the church would pass around the microphone and sing glorious worship. I mean I have no idea what was said but that doesn’t matter to the big Man upstairs. After an hour plus of worship sometimes with us in the mix we would introduce ourselves. By day 4 we had the routine down on who was getting laughed at. Garrett for sounding like carrot, Emily for sounding like nemily, which means peacock, and Maddie for saying y’all. We would then share a testimony and someone else would share the Word of God.
After the traditional looking church service they would come up to us and ask for prayers, very often prayers for physical healing. This was scary at first. None of us had healed anyone before, in the States thats not something that we do. It should be. The Holy Spirit would guide our words and the people had fantastic faith, that of a child. During this time we saw 3 healing’s. One was a mans leg, another a women’s hand, and the third was that of woman on her death bed. The first 2 were instant and so cool to celebrate God for. The third was a time when the pastor asked tanner and I to go to this woman’s house. We approached and saw here laying there, unable to move. We prayed for her and left once we felt like we were used by the Spirit. Tanners eyes got huge and he said, “She will be healed, I’m sure of it.” I had no reason to doubt and agreed but knew we wouldn’t go back to the same village because we never do. Yet a few days later we are heading to a new village and we stop at the one that happened to have that sick lady for a chai break. We of course ask how she is doing. They say she is up and eating and drinking for the first time in 3 months. Wow, God is so good/cool.
I also learned so much about myself. Things I wasn’t even looking for and would have been content with never addressing, but God calls us into more than contentment with life. He showed me past and present things that needed reflection and processing. He showed me how important my community is here and how much I need to dig into this group of once strangers that I now proudly call my family. He gave me the gift of tongues, that I’m still trying to figure out but let me tell you something. The first time speaking in tongues was the closest I’ve ever felt to God and can’t wait to continue to dig into this crazy journey.
Again I apologize for my lack of posting and will try to do better. I could use prayer with keeping my identity in Christ alone and not allowing my self to let negative thoughts fester for i was created in the image of God and I am so loved by our shared Dad. I could also use prayer for my journey of fundraising and the process it is. If you feel called to do so i would greatly appreciate donations. Definitely check out my team mates blogs for more about India. Especially [email protected] to read more about Jesus’s awesome gift of healing. Peace and Blessings to you all. Thank you for reading.
Your super awesome and humble blog writer,
Alex Hogue
