WE MADE IT TO INDIA!!! WHOOOOWHOOOOO!!!!!!!! Actually, now that I am finally able post this, I am already in month two: Nepal! Here is kind of an update turned recap of my time in India…
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We are over halfway through this month already; it’s crazy. I really just wanted to share what I have been up to and what life has been like these past couple of weeks, and then I’ll share some of what God is doing in my heart later.
So, I could pretty much some up my time here thus far in these three words: Chai, children, chibai.
Chai… Every morning we get chai tea and COOKIES before breakfast as we spend time with the good Lord! Chai is part of the culture here. When I am invited into locals’ houses, they make chai; whenever we do construction on community churches, the rest breaks include chai; whenever there is a special event, there is chai because it is crazzzzzy good! No more of this fake Starbucks stuff for me.
Children… Children are everywhere! And they are all full of so much joy and laughter and eagerness to play! They don’t have much homework, so after school you can find local kids playing soccer or the younger ones playing ice water (freeze-tag) or fire around the mountain (duck, duck, goose… kinda), and they are always eager for us to jump in. If I am not “in ministry” you can usually find me playing with some kids somewhere nearby.
Chibai… This is “hello” and “goodbye” in Hmar, the language and village in which we are living! This village is about 75% Christian compared to all of India which is about 7-8% Christian. Most everyone here is friendly, hospitable, helpful, and loving. I have LOVED getting to know these people and this culture!
WHERE ARE WE?
Sielmat, India, which is a small area tucked in the mountains of northeastern India in the state of Manipur. It is so beautiful, and the people are so precious!
WHAT MINISTRY ARE WE PARTERNING WITH?
We are working alongside Bibles for the World, which is an organization that was founded by Rev. Dr. Rochunga Pudiate and his wife Mawii.
In 1910, a missionary brought the gospel to the dangerous, headhunting Hmar tribe. One of the first converts in this tribe was a man named Chawnga. Chawnga saw the need for scripture in his people’s language, and so he prayed for a son who could learn to read and write so that he could translate the Bible into the Hmar language. The Lord gave him a son, Rochunga, who became the first boy in their village to go to school. Rochunga committed his life to the Lord, and to bringing the Bible to the nations, starting with his own tribe. He went on to further his education in India, Scotland, and the United States (specifically, Wheaton College), learning English, Hebrew, and Greek. He finally translated the Bible into his people’s language in just three years and brought it back to them. This tribe of once headhunters is now a predominately Christian tribe that seeks to bring God’s love and peace to all peoples.
Rochunga and his wife, Mawii, then founded Bibles for the World, which has sent out over ten million Bibles and portions of Scripture to more than 100 countries. In addition, they began more than 80 village Christian schools, six Christian high schools, two junior colleges, a seminary (which is where we are staying), and participated in the planting of over 340 churches in India.
Working with and learning from the faithful people in this ministry has been an incredible blessing. I am in awe of how God has used the boldness of one lone missionary to transform the lives of millions. He is doing that everywhere, and it is about time I joined in on his work.
HOW IS THE LANGUAGE BARRIER?
The Hmar people are excellent at English! Even the young kids speak it very well. Communicating with such ease has been a huge blessing! Some of the people in the outlying villages we have gone to aren’t as fluent, but we have liaisons (who we love so much! S/o to Francis our boi) with us everywhere we go, and they help fill in the communication gaps and answer our many cultural questions.
WHAT HAVE I BEEN DOING?
What haven’t I done is probably a better question… Ministry has been anything and everything.
I have moved hundreds, maybe thousands of bricks; ridden through town standing in the back of a truck singing “Boom Chicka Boom;” played volleyball with the local seminary students; watched a soccer game played by two local club teams; hiked up prayer mountain (one of seven in the area) multiple times; hiked to a waterfall with children from a outer-lying village and danced in it with them; learned choball (a really interesting but fun game I have no idea how to explain to y’all); eaten cow intestine; chunked a lot of mud and moved a lot of dirt, and on several different occasions; attended a wedding blessing of a member of the Hmar community; learned Hebrew at the local Seminary; rolled a lot of cotton balls; prayed for healing over people afflicted with sickness and paralysis at medical clinics and hospitals; danced, sang, laughed, and conversed with countless students from a Muslim school; eaten a lot of rice; watched the sunrise over the mountains from the rooftop as roosters crowed, dogs barked, and kids laughed; sung on stage at church; developed a fondness for squatty potties; interrupted the cow lady’s daily cow herding routine; danced and sang my heart and soul out at a Jesus rave; led games, dances, and skits at VBS; and just have been trying to take in as much of this place and these people as I can.
HOW IS THE FOOD?
So good!! Carbs on carbs, but yummy carbs on carbs! Our hosts have fed us so well and we are all loving the many new delicacies they are introducing us to! We have eaten a lot of rice, potatoes, beef, curry, soup, and fried tortilla-ish things called purri (pronounced “booty”).
WHAT HAS BEEN THE HARDEST PART?
Community living. My team is AWESOME, and my squad is AWESOME, but living in deep, genuine community is really tough. It is hard to confess struggles to them, to choose intentionality when I am tired, to choose to love them when my flesh is so easily annoyed, to call out the beautiful things I see in them as well as the areas I see they can improve in, to receive those same things in return, and to step out in vulnerability when my innermost parts say, “No, you can’t trust them.” However, I am eager to see and experience the fruit and freedom that is to come from commiting to this kind of community living.
WHAT HAS BEEN MY FAVORITE PART?
The kids. For sure. I want all of them.
I fell especially in love with the kids in the village of Thingchom. The community of this village is building a church – by hand with handmade tools and raw natural resources. They have been working on this church for 2 years. That is how important it is to this community to have a space to worship, learn, grow, commune in and serve out of. Every Saturday the community comes together – including kids as young as 3 and elderly as old as 60 – and they work on the church’s construction. It was quite surprising to see little girls giggling as they carry sacks of dirt several yards to dump into a pit, young boys sawing wood together for hours, and teens hoeing the ground and shoveling, all with smiles and no complaints. If that is not the body of Christ working together in unity and love, I don’t know what is. I was amazed at their work ethic and strength, but more so their spirits and hearts behind the physical work they were doing. I made friends with two teenage girls, Nancy and Gospel, and a boy named James. These young men and women are a lot like me at their age. I think we would be good, good friends if the Lord placed me in their area in their generation.
After working alongside them all day, singing and dancing together (and by that I mean mostly getting laughed at for singing and dancing silly), learning about their lives, playing choball and this confusing rubber band jump ropey game, and sipping chai tea side by side on rest breaks, the kids led us through some pretty gnarly terrain up a mountain to two beautiful waterfalls. We got to play in them with them and just soak up OUR Creator’s beautiful creation together. Sharing in those experiences with my newly discovered brothers and sisters in Christ is a memory my heart will hold onto hopefully forever.
WHAT DO I NEED PRAYERS FOR?
Prayers for health, please, for our entire squad as we push through the end of this month and prepare for Nepal! I, as well as a few others, have gotten sick, and we have had a few injuries also. Please pray for healing and health despite the food, water, and environmental conditions.
Prayers also for the preparation of our hearts and the hearts of those we will encounter on our travels to Nepal and in Nepal. The harvest is coming, but the fields must first be tilled.
Finally, prayers for time to slow down, or at least seem to. This month has really flown by, and I don’t feel I have had adequate time or space to take it all in, process it, and in turn be changed by it. I’m worried every month will fly by as quickly as this one has.
Oh, and just one more! I am asking the Lord for a ukulele! I have seen what an incredible tool for ministry music and musical instruments can be, and I want to be able to have and use that tool. A guitar is too daunting for me to learn, but a uke should be a little easier, so one of my squadmates is going to teach me when I get one! I am super excited!
I love and miss you all much!
God is good. He is alive. And he is working!
