Dear Faithful Blog Readers,
First off just give yourself a pat on the back for still coming to this blog and willingly subjecting yourself to my thoughts and opinions–keep up the good work! As you may have noticed during the last month or two I’ve not been so good on my end of the deal about actually writing the blogs. For that, I apologize. I’ve tried to post some pictures to Facebook but those rarely tell the whole story. The Race can be very crazy a lot of the time and experiences are so numerous it can sometimes be a little overwhelming for me to try and even begin to process one thoroughly enough to write a blog.
But the Lord did some incredible things these past couple of months and He deserves credit. So I want to at least give you some background into India/Nepal and what China will look like in this blog. Then from there, hopefully go back and elaborate on some of my more intensive thoughts from events in later blog(s). So here it goes…
Month 3:India
My squad (big group) was supposed to spend only 5 days in Kolkata exploring and serving at the Mother Theresa house; however, the Lord had other plans. Another team prayed for an Indian man’s leg that had been injured for years (http://jeremydevers.theworldrace.org/post/walking-with-my-heavenly-daddy-in-india). He was then miraculously healed that instant, and immediately started calling all his friends and family over for prayer. During the next few days over a hundred people were healed of various ailments. The men on my team were then asked to stay back at “Miracle Street” for the majority of the duration of the month instead of going on with the rest of the squad to foster what God was doing in Kolkata.
It was truly an incredible experience. For the next 2.5 weeks, I was mobbed by Indians who wanted prayer in the name of Jesus anywhere within in a 2 mile radius of my hostel. I was also invited into dozens of Indian homes, and was able to witness many healings! The last week of Indian was full of travel. I got to see the Taj Mahal and also spend some time in Varanassi, the religious hub of India. Varanassi is one of the oldest cities in the world and has incredible significance for Hindus, Muslims and Buddhist. I witnessed many of the ceremonial body burnings at the ghats on the Ganges that have been happening constantly for 5,000 years.
Month 4: Nepal
The first week of Nepal, the squad got together to receive teaching on how God wants us to know Him as Father. It was a great time of rest and refocus after the craziness of India. Then we headed to go on to two different treks to remote villages in Nepal. Our first trek was 10 days in the foothills of the Himalayas (they were steeper anything I’ve ever climbed). We were able to share the Gospel with dozens of families including 3 witch doctors for the first time! Several families came to know the Lord and were connected with the local pastor who was leading our expedition!
We took a brief break in Kathmandu before leaving on a second trek. On the second day we passed a man barely able to walk down the mountain because of an injury. After praying for him 3 times, he threw down one of his two walking sticks and went back to his home (he was going to the hospital). Our nonchristian guide was so amazed, that he gave his life to Christ that night (read more here: http://josieklosterman.theworldrace.org/post/meet-my-brother-sam) ! Our local contact then put him in contact with a church near his home! Other fun activities I did in Nepal included bungee jumping and seeing Mt. Everest! It was an incredible month!
Month 5: China
Well I was sick for much of our debrief the first five days in China, but I’m on the up and up! This month is MANistry month, so all the dudes are staying together. We’ve been given a lot more autonomy to control what our month looks like these next couple of weeks. My team will be moving northward towards Lanzhou from Kunming. We will be stopping in many Tibetan Buddhist towns along the way to learn about their culture and be spending a lot of time in intentional prayer for the people of Tibet. Very excited for what’s to this month!
Yeah, so that should give you some idea of what’s going on in my world. I hope you will continue to join me in prayer as I journey on. I am still about $1,100 short of my final deadline which was at the end of April (shhh don’t tell the World Race they still haven’t made me leave) if you could be in prayer with me that I meet that goal!
Yeah other than that, these next few months should be a doozy–my squad will be trying to get to Turkey by August without flying from Kunming, China. I’m not sure how many miles that is but it’s like a third of the world. Also we don’t take the nicest forms of transportation haha–It’s an adventure.
Peace & Love,
Drew
