Last month in Saiphai, Mizoram, my team got a call that one of our other teams had invited the entire village to a program/gathering at their compound. They knew almost everyone would show up because they were in a village in India where Americans had never been before so who wouldn’t want to go see what the white people wanted? So they called us and told us that the entire village was coming to their compound in two hours and for us to please be in prayer because the Holy Spirit really wanted to move in that place. My team prayed once and then before we knew it, we began to intercede and worship for two hours for the other team and all that the Lord was doing. The next day we came to find out that almost 300 people had showed up. Not only that, but all night beautiful things happened- people were leaving and they prayed for them to come back and they did, people from every background holding candles together in unity, enough food and 12 loaves left over (crazyyy, right??), and so many more.
But the most beautiful thing happened when two weeks later I got a text on my team phone that something so beautiful happened in that village. The Hindu Priest’s wife of that village, who holds so much influence, gave her life to Christ after seeing visions of crosses…
We could not even believe what we heard. A woman who has seen the ins and outs of that religion because she is the priest’s wife, a woman who probably has lived in fear because the Hindu religion is built entirely on fear, and a woman who saw Jesus for one moment that night at the program and then after a vision decided she could no longer stand to live in something that wasn’t real anymore.
After hearing this beautiful testimony of what the Lord did, we began to pray for her to have more boldness to tell the entire village, protection over her from any rebuttal that may come, and just that her faith would encourage other women to follow in her footsteps. We believe revival will and has come to that village.
So a week after this happened, we were at debrief and this man, Boppy, that prepared all of our food just so happened to be Hindu… So everyday we just got to know this man, and one day he was showing a few of us around and we went to a school and a church and just prayed over each place and the people at every location. We were sitting in the church and one of the girls kept praying for Boppy, and when we got on the bus one of the guys began to just talk about Jesus with him and ask him questions. He eventually said that he believes in all gods, so he doesn’t mind praying to our God either, but in the church he kept feeling this warm presence over his face and didn’t know what it was. So at this point a lot of us on the bus are praying silently for the Holy Spirit to just open his eyes and show him, and so eventually we get back to our lodge and the guy who was talking to Boppy turns to me and says, “He’s almost there, just a little more and he’s going to know.”
So then Alyssa, who was on my previous team begins talking to him and she didn’t know anything about what had happened, and she begins sharing the Gospel with him and just asking him what he thinks about all of that, and eventually she says, “Okay Boppy, you say you want to know, so let’s just pray for Jesus to open your eyes.” So they pray, and the moment he opens his eyes she can tell that Jesus has done something in him… Okay so nothing else really takes place, and it’s time to leave debrief but we are all confident that Jesus is going to continue moving and showing himself to Boppy because he was curious and really did want to know.
So we end up at the train station and over and over our train gets delayed- to the point of being delayed for 10 hours whoop whoop!! Haha, so in all of that craziness, guess who shows up to the train station? Boppy!! Turns out, he is from that area and he brought us some snacks.
So our coaches who come to see us and pour into us at every debrief were at the train station with us, and Tom ended up talking to Boppy for what seemed like hours… and then… wait for it… Boppy gave his life to Christ!!! Ahhhhh!!
So not only did the Hindu priest’s wife give her life to Christ but the man who prepared our food all week at debrief who has honestly been searching and searching for years for fulfillment gave his life to Christ, and we now have TWO NEW BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN CHRIST Y’ALL. It is just so amazing, because through both of those experiences Jesus showed me that He will not give up on us. He will pursue us until the very end, and He will always have open arms ready to run and pick us back up. He loves us so much and desperately longs for us to live the life that He died for us to have- a life of love, true purpose, intimacy, hope, fulfillment, promise, joy, laughter, adventure, beauty, a life completely and utterly devoted to Him because of everything He did for us. It is never too late, and there is ALWAYS HOPE. Say yes to Him and all that He has for us- the hard, the challenging, the unknown, the sacrifice, the wonderful- because this is a life worth living and it’s a beautiful life.
