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Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty. This I declare about the Lord: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God and I trust him. For he will rescue you from every trap and protect you from deadly disease. He will cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection. Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night, nor the arrow that flies in the day. Do not dread the disease that stalks in the darkness, nor the disaster that strikes at midday.” -Psalm 91:1-6 

 
    Hi friends! Thank you so much for tuning in on our first week here in India! India is a beautiful country. It is full of vibrant colors, spices, and beautiful people and animals. In the city, there is a swirl of animals, tuk tuks, cars, people, and buses, weaving in and out of each other at fast paces! It is amazing how they zoom from place to place. This month, our team, Overflow, is here in a village in Southern India. It is a beautiful place! My first thought when we arrived was that it was heavenly. We are living in a church with a pastor and his family. There are 11 boys here who lost their families and now call this place home! They are so loving, sweet, hardworking, responsible, creative, and fun! The pastor and his wife have a daughter and a son as well. They are so wonderful! The people in the village call each other brother and sister. It is so sweet to wake up here and see the children go to school in the school bus as they wave from the bus, “bye brothers and sisters!” I love the people in India’s voices! 
    
Our team is a little family! We have developed a routine here. Each morning we wake up and go running together. It is so much fun! My teammate and dear friend, Kim, brings her speaker and we dance and run beside goats, cows, tuk tuks, people working in the rice fields, and a beautiful view of mountains and palm tree forests. It is such a special time! When we come home, we read Acts together and spend time with the Lord on the rooftop. The view is beautiful overlooking lemon trees and cotton plants! I love seeing the white cows following the shepherds. At each meal, we eat rice and curry and drink chai. We prepare messages and testimonies for the evenings until the children return home from school at 2:00. We have about three hours to play together and learn from each other! Around 5:00, we go to a variety of villages to hold a church service. We share a message and testimonies and get to pray with the people who come. It is such a special and beautiful time! I am so encouraged by their faith. Being a follower of Jesus is a great sacrifice in India. Some people are shunned from their families and others are harmed. It is illegal to share the gospel here and those who do risk their lives and being put in prison. 
 

        There have been lots of special and beautiful moments here. It is such an amazing blessing to live with the children and this family, visiting villages full of smiling faces and glistening eyes, becoming family with such a loving team, endless laughter and giggles, walking into fear, and becoming more aware of how the Lord’s presence is always with me and all who receive Him. India is a beautiful country. There was a day when I saw the depths of the darkness that lingers here. I noticed that there is great beauty among deep darkness. There are multiple Gods around India that one can see in the markets and all around India. There is a large pink elephant God that you can buy at the market as well as many others. It saddens me to think that people reach out to and strive to reach to a God who will never reach back to them. When there is a Savior who has already reached for them and is waiting for them to receive His love. That same day, our team went into town to get dresses at the market place. There was a man in red and yellow body paint with a belt with lots of bells on it. He had a knife in one hand and a whip in the other. His arm was bloody and had cuts on it. A woman followed behind him as she scraped sticks on a drum. In the store next to us, the man threatened to cut himself more unless the women in the store would give them their money. He then began heading into the area our team was in. The man and the women headed down the road to another store and we walked quickly past him and went on our way. I was so scared on this day, yet I felt the Lord’s presence so evidently and got to experience our teams love and care for one another. This situation made me realize that the Lord doesn’t always promise us a safe life, yet he always promises us that he is with us in the hardships. He is right there, holding our hands, and guiding each step.

This week a woman who is the grandmother of a boy named Raul who we live with at the church accepted Jesus this week! 🙂

Thank you so much for reading about our time in India! 🙂