It’s month 1 and we’ve arrived in Manipur, India… specifically in a village called Sielmat.
Everyone here isn’t what I was expecting. My expectations have been formed, as you could guess, by what Hollywood taught me. I was expecting something out of Slumdog Millionaire, with people breaking out into Bollywood dances every hour (hope you can hear my sarcasm). To my surprise, all the people here actually looked like me. And before you start, no… I’m not talking about the “all-Asians-look-alike” type of thing… they actually looked like…me. Rather, I look like them and get confused as a local more often than not.
Little history lesson of Sielmat: A single, independent, white missionary came to this area in the early 1900s. The small seed he planted grew to become more fruitful than he could ever imagine. A small tribal boy named Rochunga left his family at the early age of 9, traveling through 96 miles of the Indian Jungle to reach the “outside world”. He was determined to learn English and even more ambitiously, tried to translate the New Testament into his tribal dialect. A problem: there wasn’t a written language for his tribe. A lofty goal it seemed… but nothing was too big for God. Rochunga threw himself into his studies and eventually, earned scholarships to universities in Scotland and The United States. He knew the salvation of his entire people group would be affected if they could read the book of God themselves! After years and years of studies, Rochunga finally was able to translate The New Testament into his native tongue and bring The Word of God back to his tribe. Rochunga and his wife, Mawii (the one hosting us here in India), have given the rest of their lives to bring The Kingdom of God to Northeast India. Today, more than 85% of this region’s population can read and write. Want to hear something even cooler…? Christians in India make up about 7-9%. In Sielmat alone, over 75% of the population has heard the good news of the gospel and have accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. PRAISE THE LORD!!!
This month, N-Squad will be partnering with the late Rochunga’s missionary, Bibles For The World. We’ll be doing anything from construction, medical camps, VBS, hospital work, teaching, helping with the local bible college, street evangelism, etc. Their mission has become our mission: We’re here, not to BE served, but TO serve.
I wish everybody could be here right now. There’s a peace that encompasses the streets of the town that I cannot explain. For once in my life, I walk around and feel like a native at home. No one is asking what my nationality is or where my parents came from… because I look like I am from here!
As we were walking down a back road during a free time, a teammate pointed out… I EVEN WORE THE SAME CLOTHES AS ALL THE SCHOOL GIRLS.
God is teaching me something even more cool: where I still continue to find my identity. Here, I share the same Asian features as the native population: dark black hair, sun-kissed tan, almond shaped eyes with a slightly flattened nose. But still.. how could I relate to these individuals like I do back home? We’ve grown up continents apart. Do they listen to Dave Matthews Band? Could we talk Longhorn football and hopes of a better season? Do they have the same love for Mac n Cheese and Golden Retrievers? I wonder if they have even heard of Game of Thrones or Narcos? The list of questions can go on and on and on.
But in reality, these people are my family. These beautiful people are more of my brothers and sisters than most people back in America. It doesn’t matter that they may or may not speak English. It doesn’t matter that they don’t share the same interests like Longhorn Football, Dave Matthews band or Narcos… the most important thing is that we share the same Father.
Last note! Thank you for all the encouraging texts and messages before I left and I super apologize if I wasn’t able to respond to you. I would like y’all to know that when I can’t sleep at night… I listen to Harry Potter Audiobooks (which btw, first time reading the series), look at old pictures of friends and Mia, and most importantly, read those messages and texts! I miss all of you so much and please please please send me emails/Facebook Messages/tag me on Instagram if something reminds you of me! I appreciate all the prayers and will be updating soon!
