Yes, my team has been in Nepal for a week and a half, but I have yet to post this final blog from India and wanted to do so. But don’t worry, I also have a blog about Nepal 🙂
This blog shares the story of a amazing woman named Naomi we worked with this past month. Naomi is bringing the kingdom of Jesus to India by every means possible. I was continuously in awe as I learned more and more of her story. I encourage you to read along to hear the heart of Naomi and the kingdom work she is apart of.
Naomi wears many hats in her current ministry. Her family is the main contact for volunteers and missionaries that work with India Christian Ministries (ICM). She is also the administrator at Sarah’s Covenant Home (SCH) and was our main translator during our time there. Naomi is one the kindest women I have ever met. Both teams that worked at SCH fell in love with her. She is a very hard worker as she oversees the Ayah’s at SCH and loves on each of the children. She is a supportive and honoring wife to her husband, Abraham and a loving and caring mother to two teenage boys, Issac and Agape. Naomi is a prayer warrior for her city and the people of India with such a gentle spirit as she walks in her Father’s footsteps and obeys the guidance of the Holy Spirit.Before our bus departed from ICM, Naomi and I were able to spend the evening together and for me, it is one of the sweetest memories from Month 1. We sat outside of the church and took funny pictures on iPhoto, walked around the city buying street food and bracelets, and shared stories of life in America and life in India. As we walked and talked, I got to hear more of her story and the faithfulness of Jesus in her life. After hearing only a few stories, I asked if we could go back to the church so I could document what she was sharing to post on my blog. She agreed and here we are.
In 1979, Naomi made quite the entrance when her mom gave birth to her in the back of Indian rickshaw. Her family grew up in a village, so when her mother went into labor, they were unable to get to the hospital in time. Naomi’s parents were Christian so she grew upin a Jesus-loving household with one brother and one sister. One of her first memories is the death of her father when she was 6 years old. Even though she remembers the event of his death, she has very little memory of him.
Naomi remembers hearing the gospel clearly with she was 10 years old and “liked it”. She began sharing about Jesus with other friends in the village and attending Sunday school in a nearby town. Since her father had passed and her mother was working to provide for their family, Naomi’s grandmother played a very influential role in her spiritual life. Therewas no church in her village, so every week Naomi and her grandmother would take a bus to a neighboring town.
When Naomi was 11 years old, her and her mother moved to the city because Naomi’s brother and sister had both married and could no longer care for them. The founder of India Christian Ministries offered to help the family by giving her mom a job as a cook in the orphanage and by sending Naomi to school. The head of ICM and his family quickly became a second family for Naomi.
Several years later, Naomi’s future husband, Abraham, started working at the ICM Church with the audio and video ministry. When she was 16 years old, church members and her “second family” introduced Naomi and Abraham. She remembers being too shy to talk to him (precious) but really liked him. Several months later, they were arranged to be married. I was blown away when I heard that her second parents not only arranged the marriage but also paid for Naomi’s dowry since her mother could not afford it.
As soon as they were married, Naomi and Abraham began working with ICM. They worked with the outreach team, sharing the gospel and passing out tracks. Not even a year after she got married, Naomi was pregnant with their first son, Issac at the age of 17. Two years later she gave birth to their second son, Agape. For the next four years, she stayed at home raising the boys and being a “housemother”.
From 2001 – 2005, Naomi began planting house churches all over the city. During that time, she planted 100 house churches! She estimated each church having 10 – 15 members and believes that most members were converts from Hinduism. When I asked her how she did this, she said she would go to one street and gather friends and strangers from the area. She would sing some songs, pray for physical healing, and then play the Bible on a cassette tape, stopping to explain every chapter or so. At the end of the “service”, there would be a time for people to accept Jesus. Naomi would continue to pour into one church until there were 10 members and then she would move to another street to start the whole process over again. During these four years, 1,000 – 1.500 accepted Jesus and 35 were baptized! God did all of this, through one woman who was led by His Spirit with no agenda but to preach the name of Jesus. This story overwhelms my heart even as I type it.
During this time, Abraham continued working with the audio and video ministry to support their family since Naomi wasn’t being paid for her work. Their total income every month was less than $8.
In 2006, Naomi and Abraham moved to a bigger city to work with audio recording ministry. Abraham was the audio technician and together they recorded the entire New Testament in 9 different languages! After each completed recording, they would travel to different states and villages, sharing the gospel. Naomi remembers having to learn 7 of these languages, only knowing 2 ahead of time! She said, “I was learning fastly, fastly many things. God was gifting me.” Many of these languages were specific to a certain village or people group that had never heard the gospel before.
At this time, Naomi’s sons were starting school, which parents have to pay for in India. Her family was still living off of $8 per month and school was $36 per month per child. So when she wasn’t learning different languages, recording Bible stories, or travelling the nation to share the gospel, Naomi would stitch school bags for extra money. I’m telling you, this woman is one of the hardest working, least complaining people I have ever met.
In 2010, Abraham began working as a District Pastor with ICM and Naomi started working at Sarah’s Covenant Home. This was a very difficult time for Naomi because her husband was travelling for months at a time, both of her sons were in boarding school, and she was alone working at SCH. She lived at SCH working there 24/7 for a year and a half.
Within the past 6 months, ICM recognized the difficulty Abraham and Naomi were experiencing working apart. They arranged for Abraham to move home and work as a contact for missionary teams and promoted Naomi to head administrator at SCH.
This family is a “ministry” family as each member works with and translates for different teams. When my squad worked with ICM last month, each member of their family worked with a different team in a different location, even the youngest son who is in 10th grade!
When I asked Naomi how she felt about World Race teams this is what she said,
At the end of the conversation, I asked Naomi what God meant to her. This is what she shared. (Keep in mind that in India, your caste is often correlated with the amount of property you own. Therefore if you have little property, you are of little importance and vice versa.)
This woman amazes me and spurs me on. I am so thankful to call her a sister and a friend. She strengthens my faith and she encourages me to press in more to the Spirit and His guiding hand. Please continue to pray for Naomi and her family as they continue to labor so hard for the Kingdom!
