My travel-hungry self never desired to go to India. But about two weeks before the route-reveals of the 2018 World Race Gap Year trips, I was suddenly craving to go! I knew that was not my own desire, but rather it was God instilling that in me to prepare me for something… In that moment of recognition, I pretty much knew He would be sending me to India! I was excited! Routes were released, and, sure enough, only one route was going to India (Route 5, U Squad babyyyyyyyy!!!). I prayed for a couple days, talked and prayed with some wise people in my life, and then finally committed! I kid you not, the morning after applying for the India route, the desire for India was completely gone again. The first thing I thought when I woke up was, “Oh, man… what have I done…” God is funny like that! But that just reassured me even more that it was definitely Him calling me to this route… I never would’ve chosen it on my own. So I lifted my hands in surrender and said, “OK, Father, I trust you! There must be something in store for your glory!”
Due to things I’d heard and read (and been trained for at training camp), I pictured India with crowded streets, thick pollution, congested traffic, Bollywood music, dirty water, bright colors, slap-ya-momma-spicy food, and, to be totally honest, RANCID smells… all of the things that made me nervous. I was ready for culture shock. I was ready to be so out of my comfort zone. But I also felt so much assurance that God was sending me to India for a significant purpose.
Fast forward some months to December 2018. I was in month four of the race, living in Nepal. If you’ve read any of my blogs from Nepal, you know it was quite a different experience than Swaziland. Our time in Kathmandu was crowded, polluted, dirty, and overwhelming. It was also adventurous and fun and spontaneous! But, I was definitely ready to get out of the city. So you can imagine my feelings when I remembered I wouldn’t be getting out of the city, but rather going to an even busier and dirtier one in India! Or so I assumed…
On Christmas evening we finally got the highly-anticipated details about where we’d be staying and what we’d be doing in India in the upcoming months.
“We will be living in Manipur, India, with the Hmar tribe, which is in wayyyyy northeast India.” Team leader say whaaaaaaaat?! Not Hyderabad? Where is Manipur? What’s it like? My mind was going a thousand miles a minute.
My team began googling everything we could think of about Manipur and I was immediately filled with so much excitement and hope. It appeared to be nothing like what I had been mentally preparing myself for over the past however-many months. (You need to look up Manipur, India on a map right now. I bet you don’t even know that this part of India exists, at least none of us did!)
The day finally came to fly out of Kathmandu and into India. Right as that plane landed, I had the most peaceful, assured joy in my heart. I just felt good. I knew I was where God wanted me. He is so faithful…
We loaded into our bus to drive to our ministry base and the whole drive I was literally ecstatic. The picture of India I’d had in my head months earlier could not have been more opposite of the area I was driving through. There was a huge mountain (which reminded me of Swaziland), lots of trees, open fields, bumpy roads with small shops, and the most beautiful people scattered here and there. It wasn’t crowded or polluted or smelly as I had imagined. I began praising God in my head as we drove through.
Have you ever been approached by someone who was about to surprise you with a really awesome gift? Like they are just staring at you with a smile and maybe their hands are clasped together in front of their mouth, their knees bent and eyebrows raised, trying not to burst open and tell you everything that’s about to happen? Like they love you so much that they can barely stand the thought of how excited you are about to be?! That’s how I saw Jesus looking at me in that moment. “Child, you don’t even know what’s in store! I’ve known this whole time that this is what your season in India would look like. Get excited!” I felt tears welling in my eyes as I marveled over God’s grace and faithfulness to keep His promises. Why do I ever worry?
Anyway- ever since arriving, India has been all of that and more. Nothing that I expected. Manipur is one of the only states in India (the tenth most persecuted country in the world) that is dominantly Christian. It’s a tribal region that was once home to the fiercest tribe, the Hmar tribe (who we are living with), they were headhunters. When a Christian man from Wales heard of this region, he decided to risk everything, obey the Lord, and travel to them to share the Gospel. Long (and amazing) story short, he came and shared the Good News with the chief of the tribe who then converted to Christianity right then and there! He then shared the Gospel with the rest of the tribe and they all turned from their head-hunting ways and chose to follow Jesus! This was only 100 years ago! The chief’s son, Rochunga, ended up getting to America in the 1950s, studying and translating the Bible into the Hmar language. He then arrived back in Manipur with the first ever Bible in the Hmar language, allowing all the people to read the Word and build their lives upon it. The whole state has been completely transformed and is now home to multiple bible colleges (one of which is our home these couple months) and churches, all built and maintained by the local people. They are equipping the local people to go out to the persecuted, unreached parts of India to share the Good News. Talk about REDEMPTION!!
You can see the evidence of how the Gospel has infected this state! Families are tight units- a mother and father who love each other and are raising their children together. Schools have teachers that are genuinely loving their students and are pouring biblical truth into them. The Christian hospital is serving endless numbers of people at extremely low costs, if not for free, with ZERO post-surgery infections. The Lord is blessing the crap out of this place and it’s thriving because of it. Is there still poverty? Yes. Is there still brokenness? Yes. But is there hope and truth flooding the streets? Absolutely. PRAISE PRAISE PRAISE! Living in the fruits of one man’s obedience to the Lord has fueled my Spirit in wild ways. Our ministry has varied from helping to build the church (literally… bricks, sand, iron rods…), teaching English skills to the college students, volunteering at a huge children’s retreat, sharing hope with the patients at the rehab center, one-day bible camps in different villages, painting the school, etc… it’s a humbling and exhilarating experience to be in the already-saved part of a highly persecuted country, but I’m so certain that God handpicked my squad to be here to encourage the believers, as well as be encouraged by the work that God is doing around the globe that we may never know about. He is unstoppable and He changes lives!
JESUS, my father and groom and brother and friend, thank you for being everything. Thank you for exceeding my expectations in every possible way. Thank you for keeping your promises and for being good all the time. Thank you for the redeeming, perfecting, soul-saving power of the resurrection! You are on the move and I am so humbled that you’re allowing me to witness it firsthand. Thank you for putting India on my heart and for allowing me this experience even when I was certain I’d be a mess for these couple months. Thank you for giving such good gifts and delighting in my joy upon receiving them! I trust you and I’m ready for whatever else you have prepared. I love you, Abba Father! In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.
-Anna
