India. Land of color and culture. This place is so wonderful I don’t even know where to begin. The food is incredible, the people are some of the kindest and most spiritual I’ve ever met, the markets are full of color, the traditional saris/punjabis are so beautiful I can only explain them with pictures, and of course I have never heard so many horns honking in my entire life as when we drive through the cities here.
We are staying at a central location, known to those members of the military who are reading this as a FOB or Forward Operating Base. In other words, we generally stay in one place and conduct all of our ministry from here. The place is so similar to our first base in Iraq, FOB Echo at Diwaniyah, that it’s incredible. In fact, the area on the whole is very reminiscent of much of Iraq and reminds me how much I loved the people, smells, and culture there. Many things that would not be pleasant to most people are long-missed memories to me. The smell of burning garbage, sitting in the back of a truck getting covered in dust and sand, and the overall landscape are all reminiscent of some of my very favorite times. The hot chai we drink several times a day is of course another pleasant memory.
Arrival and Transit:
We arrived in Hyderabad early in the morning after a 4 day journey. We had traveled by bus from our mountain top orphanage in Swaziland across the border to the airport in Johannesburg, South Africa, where we spent the night sleeping on the floor. In the morning we boarded a plane to Qatar. Upon arriving in Qatar we had a 22 hour layover and got to stay in a 3 star hotel and eat 3 solid buffet-style meals, all provided by Qatar Air as part of the layover accommodations. May not sound like much, but it was a nice treat after 2 months of rice and beans and air mattresses. We got to spend about 8 hours wandering around downtown Doha where we visited shops and looked at the beautiful architecture of the city. I also managed to pick up a few nice gifts at a very old traditional marketplace. Later that afternoon, we boarded a flight to Hyderabad. We met some initial problems because India is closed to Christian missionaries and therefore our address information was a bit sketchy on the entrance paperwork. However, after about an hour, we got it sorted and moved out to a waiting bus which we took to a small hotel in the middle of the city. We had a training session about Indian culture, hygiene, etc., slept in a real bed for 2 nights, and then caught 3 buses over the course of 12 hours to our current ministry location which is in a small village somewhere outside of Cuddapeh in the Andra Padesh region. All in all, it was about 5 days total of traveling.
Mornings and Afternoons:
We are in a village that the boys pronounce as “Boppapuram” (They had to borrow the laptop and spell it for me just now). We sleep on the roof of a 3-story church building during the nights because it is so nice out. In the morning, they wake us up with hot Chai tea. I love the Chai here and they make it with buffalo milk and lots of sugar. As a change of pace, we have little to do in the mornings and packed evenings. So, we wake up around 8 or 9… if we can manage to stay asleep without the sun waking us. We have a delicious fresh breakfast prepared each morning. It’s not much and usually consists of flat bread/Chipatti, rice, some potatoes if we’re lucky, and maybe some curry. It sure beats 2 months of porridge though! Not only do they fix us hot meals each day, but they offer us food until we can’t possibly eat anymore. Then they serve us by washing our hands for us and taking our plates away.
Each person spends the rest of the morning in their own way. I usually head down to the fields and help with carrying water, clearing fields, and harvesting crops. I enjoy playing with the buffaloes although it’s sadly clear to me by now that I am not allowed to ride one :(. The majority of the afternoons involves working hard, playing with the children, and taking a nap. Around 1 or 2pm, they serve lunch in the same style as breakfast. Lunch usually consists of mostly the same as breakfast with Chipatti/flat bread, rice, curry, and maybe some potatoes or chicken. After lunch, we clean up again, rest, read, and prepare for ministry which starts at around 4 or 5pm.
Ministry and Evenings:
At around 4pm, we clean up and load into the pastor’s truck to drive off to our ministry location, which is usually anywhere between a 20-90minute drive. We arrive, pull out some guitars and drums, shake hands, and speak in a mix of broken English/Telugu to our hosts. As opposed to much of South Africa and Swaziland, few people here speak English very well. We have an interpreter named MouneiBob who is a wonderful woman and I’m not sure what we’d do without her. We generally spend the first two hours walking through the villages with the local pastor and praying for anyone who would like us to pray for them. Although there is a strong Hindu population, we have experienced very little hostility from any of the neighbors. Some of the Hindu people like us to pray for them, which we will gladly do, although I get the impression that it’s more of a superstitious added bonus of extra prayer for them than it is much of anything else. Either way, I’m more than happy to oblige. Sometimes we meet people who are blind, crippled, deaf, ill, etc. I can’t say that I’ve seen anyone get up and be healed but that’s not really a discouragement. Some of the team would really like to see healings take place just so they can really “see” God at work (this is not a me vs. them sentence; read the rest to see what I’m getting at). I’m not a skeptic and obviously seeing someone healed would be cool, but I can’t say that it really would make any theological difference to me. I believe in God and I believe in creation. Therefore, I’m sure that healing the sick or performing miracles are all within a day’s work for the man upstairs and it doesn’t make any difference to me whether I ever actually see it take place or not. I love the opportunity to go through the villages and be welcomed into so many peoples’ homes. Many of those who we pray for show up at our service later that evening.
Around 7pm we make it back to the host house of that village. Often, we are met with hot chai and eager faces. We sit up front, facing an open area, and the locals start to play music and worship as others from around the village flow in. The first night we did this, I had no idea what to expect. I thought we were just there to sing and have a small service with the family. We sat outside their thatch-roof hut and they started playing drums and singing. It was intense and probably the coolest worship I have ever seen. Within 15 minutes, their entire porch and yard was filled with people so that others were standing outside the gate for lack of room. It had to have been a good 40-50 people. They sang about 3 songs and prayed, and then we sang a couple of songs with guitar for them and prayed. Then, they asked me to speak. I wasn’t much prepared ahead of time and I’ve never given any type of sermon or preaching in my life, but I was up for the challenge. I spoke to them through the translator and told them briefly about my background, that I was a “soldier”, and that even though I ran away from Him, God has always had a plan for my life. I used parts of Matthew to give a Biblical example about how we all have to choose between the wide road that is easy or the narrow road that is harder and less traveled. After me, another member of our team spoke. This has become the norm with one person giving a testimony and gospel and the other person supplementing with an additional short Bible story. Afterward, we pray for everyone who would like prayer. This is another first for me, in a way. Being so spiritual, everyone here loves to be prayed for and they like the full-on “lay hands on me” version of prayer. We do our best to make sure they know that it is God who has the power and not anything that we do; I’m pretty sure everyone understands. I’ve been exercising my prayer muscle pretty well and feel more comfortable doing it now. I generally try to ask their name, what they would like prayer for, and whether they have any family/job/health problems I can pray for. I’m no pro but at least it doesn’t feel fake. I don’t know how prayer works, or which prayers in specific get answered, or why God works the way he does, but I do know that short of having the power of God myself to heal people and to fix their problems, that prayer surely can’t hurt.
After praying for each person who comes forward (usually the whole village/crowd), we are invited inside for a meal cooked by the host family. Again the norm consists of Chapati, rice, curry, and maybe chicken or mutton. There is a story in John 6 where Jesus feeds 5,000 people with only five loaves of bread and two fish and still has more left over after everyone has eaten their fill. That’s pretty much what it feels like each night when we eat. I couldn’t possibly eat another bite and I don’t know how they manage to feed everyone, but there is always plenty to go around. In that scripture, Jesus says “I am the bread of life”, referring to eternal life through him. I used this as my sermon last night when I spoke. I told them that rather than giving my own testimony, I was going to give them their testimony. How on earth can you possibly give someone else’s testimony whom you’ve never met before? Well… Read John 6 and you will understand. Here we have come from thousands of kilometers away, relying only on our hosts and God’s provision; we are unsure whether we will get sick from the water, we don’t have much money, and we are unsure where our next meal comes from. Yet, these people take us into their homes, care for us, provide for us what seems to be well beyond their means, and ask us to bless them with prayer. They feed us just as Jesus fed the 5,000; but more than that, they feed us on the bread of life. Each day with these people I see more and more what God’s love really is.
Following the meals, we pray for the hosts and their home, take a few photos with them, and drive back to our FOB (sleeping place) for the night. In the morning, we wake and do it again, 6 days a week. We have Monday’s off. Last Monday we visited a waterfall. This Monday, we hope to do some shopping in the local markets.
Closing:
I hope that this blog makes you feel that you are kept up to date with the regular goings-on around here. I hope that you can feel the heat, taste the curry, and envision the market places and worship sessions as I have described them. My ultimate goal is that anyone who reads this blog and/or financially contributes to my Race really has a proper understanding of exactly what we are doing on a daily basis and where the money is going. After completing almost 3 months on the Race, I can confidently say that your dollars are very well spent and that the World Race is not the scary cult-like missionary trip that I feared it may turn out to be. We are all normal people (admittedly some are much more spiritual than others) who are out trying to make the world a better place and to bring faith, hope, peace, love, and joy to those we encounter. And we’re doing pretty darn well in my opinion.
My second goal is that through these writings you are able to see a change in my life as I work continuously towards becoming the man that God created me to be. Christian, atheist, agnostic, Buddhist, Muslim, Jew, Hindu, whatever your religious background, I hope that you are able to read these blogs and formulate your own opinions about God. I am always open to questions, although internet time is limited to about 1 hour/week to check all emails, update Facebook, post blogs, check bills, etc. So, I want you all to know that I have read every comment and thoroughly appreciate your thoughts and insight but just FYI, it is not even remotely feasible for me to reply. For that, I apologize, but it is beyond my control. Even if I were in the States with high-speed internet, I would have a difficult time replying to all of your comments; much less trying to do it from a slow computer cafe in a remote village wherever we happen to be.
Lastly, I ask that you continue to pray for our team. We have been incredibly well blessed and we work very well together. We have been lucky to have amazing hosts and no severe illness. The food is good and plentiful, even if it is an all-carb diet that is far from what I would normally eat. We are very blessed and God is looking out for us. I ask that you continue to pray, support us, and spread this blog to your friends. I imagine it would be quite difficult to find a more honest and objective Christian missionary blog anywhere else. So, invite some believers, non-believers, and anyone else who may be interested in joining as we go through this journey together.
What’s Next:
Thus far, I have only managed one blog per country which is a general look at what is going on. From now on, I will do my best to post 2 blogs per month. One will be an overview and one will be an extras or an important story. I hope to write a blog that will involve a story about one of the most serious prayers I have ever prayed, for a small, extremely malnourished child on the brink if death. It was a sobering experience. Other short stories in the blog will include ministry highlights and more description about life here including the sights, sounds, and smells of Indian marketplaces.
I’m sorry I don’t write more, but please know that I keep myself very busy here. I’m not much of a down-time person so every moment that I’m not writing a blog, I’m playing with kids, working in the field, or otherwise helping in any way I can.
Thank you for reading. Take care, and God bless.
– Dave
