I’m currently swinging in a hammock hanging in the courtyard of the home we are staying at in Kolhapur, India. We have been in India less than a week and we have already experienced so much of the culture. Tea time, squatty potties, crazy driving, Indian food…my team and I have just been thrown into this culture and it is quite beautiful. What I feel here is peace. I feel like I just kind of slid into this place with an ease that was completely unexpected. I expected to have a hard time in India with the food and different culture and with it being the first month on the race.
I think the reason our transition into India has been so wonderful is due to our ministry host. His name is Dr. Bimal and he has been incredible. Dr. Bimal directs the hospital whose campus we are staying on for the first half of the month. This man has such incredible faith in the Lord and has such a father’s and protector’s heart. It has been a blessing getting to know him this week and hear his story. He is very passionate about this hospital and the meaning it has to this community. He has shared with us that the hospital is undergoing some new transitions and facing some financial difficulty, so our ministry has mainly looked like interceding for the hospital and covering it and the employees in prayer. We spent all morning yesterday in the prayer chapel on campus worshiping, praying, and speaking life over this place. Dr. Bimal and some of the nurses, doctors, and administration employees stopped in throughout the morning and it was encouraging to see them join with us. My prayer is that after my team leaves that the staff here continue to intercede on behalf of the hospital and claim it as the Lord’s.
The people here are incredibly generous to us. We have had numerous invitations to dinner, which have turned into a time of great fellowship. Here in India they eat dinner around 9pm, so when they find out that we eat around 6 they think we are crazy! Last night we had dinner with a family that lives here on the hospital campus. We met most of them earlier in the week either at the hospital or after we spoke to a group of Sunday school teachers. They love it when we sing, so we spent some time singing with them the English songs they know. It’s funny though because they’re about 10 years behind so the worship songs they know are songs that I sung growing up in church…it’s a nice throwback! After singing, they fed us the best meal we’ve had yet! After dinner we all shared our testimonies and got to hear some of the family’s stories and pray for them. It was a great night of fellowship.
On Saturday we have to say goodbye. We are heading outside of town to an orphanage to spend the rest of our time in India. I think this goodbye could be a difficult one. It’s the first goodbye of the race and we’ve just grown so close to the people here. My team has already said that we could spend the full 11 months here and be perfectly okay. However, I am excited and looking forward to what else God has for us this next year. We have already fallen in love and it’s the first week!
Please be in prayer for Mary Wanless Hospital in Kolhapur, India, Dr. Bimal and the staff here, as well as for my team as we are just beginning this journey.
