It’s 12:00 a.m. I am tired from a long, hot day. We just got back from ministry and I’m so glad to be lying down.
Jenny and I are talking and I see a lizard crawl across the wall! I point it out to her and we both freak out. We try to shoo it out of our bedroom by throwing my sleeping liner at it but he scurries under the kid’s bed. All I can think about is “It Takes Two” when the lizard crawls into the mean woman’s mouth. We can’t get it out so we leave the room and try to think of what we should do. We finally decide we aren’t going t to let a little bitty lizard control the amount of sleep we get. We walk into our room and right when we lay back down a mouse runs under the bed too! We start taking pictures under the bed to try to scare them off with the flash but nothing is working and when I look at the pictures I was taking, it looks like there are two mice under there! I look closer and realize what I thought were two pairs of beady eyes looking at me were only the glare off the wheels of a toy race car. We’re both laughing so hard we’re crying. The lizard came out from hiding and Jenny and I prayed him out of the room. I don’t know where the mouse went but we didn’t see him again either.
On Sunday God used that mouse and that lizard to tell the people at church about fear. All of the fear we have, big or small, is silly when we have God and a thousand angles fighting on our team.
We finally go to sleep.
Wake up at 8:30 for breakfast. We sit on the floor and eat chi pate, curry and a banana. I thought I wouldn’t like the food here but it is actually really good. It is pretty spicy but my pansy mouth is starting to get used to it. I even enjoy eating with my hands – we’ve learned the thumb is really important in the process. You hold the food in your fingers and push it into your mouth with your thumb.
After breakfast, we have free time. Sometimes I have quiet time, sometimes I play cards with the three kids we live with, sometimes I read, every now and then I work out but I always check my head for the lice that tried to make a home in my hair. I think I got lice in Ireland but I’m not sure how. All I knew is that my head itched like crazy. I took a shower one night and decided to look at my head and hopefully find that my scalp was just dry or something. Instead I found bugs. I panicked a little and kept looking. I finally called for Amanda, my team leader, and she came in and found more. It has taken a couple weeks, and so many patient team members combing through my hair, but I think my uninvited friends have finally left!
Lunch time – I can now say I have tried goat and just about every part of a chicken… organs included.
At 3:00ish, we leave for ministry. We all pile into Magic Martin, the bigger rickshaw we use to get around. The van should hold about eight people, including the driver, and we usually fit about fifteen – and we are sitting comfortably compared to the other vehicles we pass on the way. It is amazing how many people can fit into one little rickshaw. The road is bumpy and sometimes pretty narrow. Every now and then we stop to let the cows or the goats pass by. It smells like exhaust and sounds like there’s about to be an accident every second with all the honking.
We begin the drive with a prayer and ten minutes of Jesus time to figure out who is going to be speaking and what the theme could be. We never know who we will be speaking to or what the night will hold, all we know is that God will meet us there.
When we get to the village, we are generally always greeted by intrigued children with wide eyes, dressed in worn and tattered clothing. They run to the van with outstretched hands and watch our every movement. They say, “Aca, aca! What is your name?” They call us sisters here… everyone does. It makes sense though doesn’t it? We are all brothers and sisters. We are all members of the body and family of Christ.
Do we treat each other that way?
We begin to walk around the village, followed by ten to twenty kids who just want to touch our hands and find out what our names are. We walk into different homes and pray. Our translator talks to the people to find out what they need and we ask God for it. We pray for healing, comfort, faith and that these people experience the love of God in a way they never have before. At 7:00 we head to the church in the village to sing and preach. The people of India worship with such reverence. Many enter the church building and immediately fall on their faces before God. We have lost that reverence. Yes, God is our friend but He is also the all-powerful, all-knowing God who created the universe and everything in it. He took us out of our sin and shame and brought us to a life of freedom and forgiveness. In America, we don’t NEED God every single day. We don’t have to depend on Him to provide our food. If we’re sick or hurt we can go to the doctor. These people can’t. They depend on God for literally everything and they have seen Him come through time and time again.
What would happen if we started to live like this? If we began to take risks and put ourselves in situations where God was our only hope. Any and every time I have heard of someone taking a risk out of love for God, He comes through without fail.
A small example in my life:
I had never preached before now and it is still something that makes my armpits sweat. So far, I have preached five times and God has calmed my nerves each and every time. His strength is made perfect in my weakness. He gives me the words to say as He asks me to trust Him. I don’t like talking in front of people, I never have. I do like knowing that every time I stand up and tell people about how incredible our God is, He will be with me. I want God to know that I trust Him. I want Him to know I’m willing to do whatever it is that He asks of me because I know He has my back.
After the service, we get to eat dinner and pile back into Magic Martin and head home.
To me, this is a day well spent. Eventually, we will have to ask ourselves if we are satisfied with how we lived our lives. We’ll have to ask ourselves if we are satisfied with the choices we make, day in and day out.
India has made me realize I want to be able to look back and remember more days like this day.
