Sielmat, India.
I had never heard of it before and didn’t even know that this part of the world was India. It is completely different than I imaged it would be, yet it feels so much like home. I know for a fact that is all thanks to the incredible people here (and it probably has a little bit to do with the wonderful chai tea and cookies we had every morning). The people here have gone above and beyond to welcome us and love us and serve us, and I am so grateful. It has made the transition onto the race so smooth. And it’s not just love from our hosts who feed us well and make sure we have everything we need – but everyone we come in contact with here is full of love. It’s really neat, and I really love it.
As I was thinking about that, it reminded me of a few of the questions I had gotten prior to coming on the race: What am I most excited about? and, What am I most worried about?
Surprisingly, or maybe not, the answer was pretty similar.
What I was and am still so excited about is people. I love being with people and getting to know people and growing in relationships with people. It is such a beautiful thing and what we have been created for (though I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not great at it all the time). When we first got here, I was curious as to what relationships like that were going to look like this month since we were assigned to many different sites throughout the area each week – such as helping with medical camps, doing construction, assisting the kitchen crew, doing VBS, and helping with English at the college. With not much consistency and being all over the place, I knew it’d be difficult to really grow relationships in the many places we would be going to. And even though I have been thankful to spend the month with my whole squad and team and have gotten to know them way better, I didn’t feel like I was going to be able to develop really meaningful relationships with the local people here which was tough for me to accept.. but through that, I kept praying for the Lord to grow my heart for this place and these people.
Likewise, my answer to what I was most worried about was also people. Because I knew it was going to hurt really bad having to leave the people I’ve grown to love at the end of each month. It ain’t fun, it’s really painful. I knew that was going to be really hard for me before even leaving America. But after the first week here, I was thinking that maybe it wouldn’t be much of an issue this month, as sad as I was about what that meant.
Boy, was I wrong. Praise the Lord!
It started with our liaisons. Each team was paired with a local who was essentially there to care for us, answer questions, take us into town, and fill us in on whatever information was needed to be passed on. Almost right away our liaison, Francis, also became a good friend who we enjoyed spending time with and getting to know. He is the man. I was also able to become close with the other liaisons through working with other teams and I would literally be so excited to see them each day and would talk about how much I love them quite often. They are so great! It was fun to be so welcomed into their lives and to learn more about the culture from them. It is incredible how selfless they are and how well they care for all of us and make sure we are happy. It blows my mind. I am so thankful for each of them and how they love us. They were definitely a constant for us and really awesome relationships grew from them. I’m so thankful.
What was really neat about my team’s relationship with Francis was how when we asked about his testimony, his response was, “My testimony is you guys! You came here to serve and help all these other people, but what you didn’t know is that you have been encouraging and impacting me the whole time!”
That was really powerful, because there were definitely times we felt like we hadn’t been doing much. But it was incredible to hear how Francis was uplifted just by spending time with us and being alongside us in whatever we do, even if it was something as seemingly insignificant as washing dishes or just chatting with each other. Along with that, we have been told over and over again by the people here how encouraging it has been to the youth of this area for us to be here and that we would actually consider it worthwhile to come to this place and invest our time with them. Funny how God works. The little things, man.
Another huge blessing in being able to develop relationships with the people here has been with the college students. I don’t even know where to start with them because I just love them so much it’s crazy. A majority of them live in the building right beside ours, but it took us a while to actually begin interacting with them. It’s actually pretty awesome how it started: We were hanging out in our building after church the second Sunday we were here when one of the students walks in and asks if anyone wants to volunteer to help a group of the students with a video project. We were pretty weary about it at first, but then a few of us were like, “sure, why not?” So we walk down to their building, mind you I’m still in my dress I wore to church, and they tell us they just want us to play volleyball with them so they can get some video footage of us playing together (see my friend Emmanuel’s awesome music video here). The rest is history.
3 o’clock every day quickly became one of my favorite parts of the day because that’s when the students would get back from class and we would go out and play volleyball until dinner or until it was too dark to see. I’ve always been a firm believer in sports and sweat bringing people together, and this confirmed it even more. Every time we played, whether in mud and puddles in the rain or in the bright sunshine, it was awesome. MORE than awesome! I laughed a lot, I got to be active and play which also helps me rest and reenergize, and I was able to get to know the students who live right next door. And let me tell you, they are wonderful and so much fun. I would get excited to hang out with them every day. They have welcomed us in from the beginning and I have loved getting closer to them and becoming comfortable enough to joke around and trash talk each other as we play. Spending time with them is so great and something I have been the most thankful for this month. And on top of all that, they make it even more easy to love them when they refer to all of us as ‘brother’ and ‘sister’, which just melts my heart and has been so meaningful to me. To many of them I became ‘Sister Becky’ which was awesome. MORE than awesome! Throughout the day I would go on and on about how much I love them. They are just so fun to be with and it has been so wonderful how the Lord has used that in my life as a way of answering my prayer of growing a heart for these people. They have definitely left a big print on my heart. Amak taluo!!
These friendships also brought about a ‘fun night’ we had with them which ended in some of the most joyful and powerful worship I have ever experienced – as they so beautifully put it, it was a little taste of what heaven is going to be like. Every tribe, every tongue, every nation worshipping the Lord of all creation together in harmony. Oh, what a day that will be. MORE than awesome!
These people have touched my heart so powerfully, and I cannot wait to see them again, whether someday on earth or praising our Father together again in heaven. Though it hurts even worse than I thought it would to leave (I miss it already!), I will take what they have taught me about selflessness, serving others, and walking in obedience to the Lord with me – things I pray I will always be growing in. And even through the pain, I have decided that I would rather have hard goodbyes with new friends then to not have them in my life at all, because relationships last and are meaningful, no matter where in the world we may be. We have been prepared well for the months to come because of our time in Sielmat, it will always have a special place in my heart.
Thank you, Jesus, for always being faithful and for blessing us with the gifts of people and relationships.
Thank all of you for your prayers and encouragement throughout this month, it means the world to me and has not gone unnoticed or unfelt. I can’t believe it has already been a month!! I hope you all are doing well – always feel free to email me, I’d love to hear how you are doing!
Please be praying for us as we are traveling/transitioning to a new ministry in Nepal and for all the Lord is doing there and will continuing doing in and through us.
Love and blessings to you!
(PS. I apologize for not being able to include photos, the connection isn’t strong enough to upload them. I’ll have some up as soon as I can!)
