Our month came to a close and five hours later we
found ourselves on the doorstep of a completely different world. The contrast
between Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Delhi, India is difficult to put into words.
Kuala Lumpur is a mega city, full of life, decorated with tons of businesses
and shops, the twin towers, several other skyscrapers, and I wide variety of
people from all over the globe. Delhi, at least the area we were in for the
first couple of days is full of people, small homes crammed in every possible
space, trash littered here, there and everywhere, and plenty of smells to keep your
mind busy at guessing their various sources for hours.
but nothing short of eventful. We were greeted by the tallest Indian man I’ve
ever met (6 feet, nine inches to be exact) and perhaps the man with one of the
biggest hearts I’ve ever met as well. We played a game of cricket, made some
new friends, spent a lot of time at the train station, and stayed at a hostel
that first appeared to us quite unfriendly and dangerous. The best part of our
short stay in Delhi was a series of short visits to a small orphanage. It was
love at first site and it didn’t take long for me to find myself challenged
again by the faith of little children and to feel God’s love in their embrace.
These kids were precious and I delighted in just spending time with them and
holding them in my arms. Most were parentless, but others had parents who were
unable to take care of them or had abandoned them altogether. Two of them were brothers;
both of their parents were lepers making them unable to adequately take care of
their children. Another one was a little girl with her shaved bald and battling
a case of scabies. They all had different stories and they were all so
precious. They would spend time in worship together, pray for one another with
their hands laying on each other. These were kids, ten and under for the most
part…
My teammate Natasha had shared with me what one
former orphan who worked at the orphanage had shared with her when she stayed
at the orphanage with the other woman on my team. She told her that her
favourite Bible verse was Psalm 27:10 which reads:
When my father and my mother forsake me,
then the Lord will take care of me.
It brings joy to my heart that these children
understand that their Father in heaven has never abandoned them… I will never
forget them for as long as I live.
Two days later, and a forty three hour train ride,
we found ourselves in the city of Bangalore in the state of Karnataka. It was
cultural ride to say the least, across the country from top to bottom. India is
the neediest place I have ever seen in my life. We passed by several slums with
houses made of garbage or other materials that could be hardly called a home.
Many beggars came by us on the train, many with physical ailments of all kinds,
some I’ve never seen before in my life. The need is real here, the poverty is
real here, and above all God is needed here.
We are staying in an YWAM base with a bunch of
wonderful DTS (Discipleship Training School) students and YWAM staffers. Upon
our arrival, we had a cultural debrief and ministry orientation. David an
overseer of the YWAM effort in Bangalore shared with us a statistic that
grabbed a hold of my heart. He shared that 2 to 3% of Indians are born again believers
and that number may even be 4 to 5% as a result of the plight of Christians who
are from particular parts of the country where persecution is heavy and who
cannot uphold Christian religious status come government census time for their
own protection. Yes, this number can be
anywhere from 30 to 50 million people, but it barely scratches the surface when
India is the second most populated country in the world with an estimated 1.1
Billion people. The need is so great in India. However there is so much hope in
Lord and the faithfulness of His servants. India has a special place in my
heart now, which was not there before. I have seen and I now understand the
desperate need for the Gospel in India and in the many countries of the 10/40
Window.
This past week we’ve been helping renovate a school,
installing some vinyl flooring, decorating, and doing plenty of organising.
This school was created for children from a local slum community and its
founders are absolutely wonderful. They make some of the best Indian food I
have ever eaten. My expectations of Indian food were totally wrong to the
exception of the after effect of some samosas I had on our train ride, but
that’s a story for another day…
I’m enjoying myself a lot here and I will be sad to
leave in just a couple weeks. I look forward to more opportunities to serve and
to become even more broken for the people and the needs of this world.
God Bless you all and I thank you so much for all
your support. You all mean the world to me!
In His Hands,
Ben Gagne
