For those who are just now reading this blog, my name is Garrett Stoecker, a traveller to India to share the gospel and good news of Jesus Christ, along with a squad and team of 40+ travelers around my age, and all with a passionate love of the Lord.
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Finally, we made it to our ministry destination after a long 8 hour bus drive from the city we landed in. It’s been a wild ride leading up to this very day, and now in about 8 hours, I am to worship with a started church and give my testimony to a congregation of people (size is a mystery)! It has been quite the chain of events to lead me to where I am now. We spent a good chunk of time in the city we landed in -a large city in southern part of India- and there I had an orientation into the culture of India and about the religion of area and its effects. Of course it has been quite the experience with the traffic and bargaining with Tuk-tuk drivers, and I’ve enjoyed the language barrier when trying to say anything to anyone…. But the people are quite kind here, and I’ve had some touching encounters with some for the time being.
It is quite the culture, but I love it and I love the people. So far my favorite thing about India is the smiles I see when I simply wave or smile at someone. For such a hard country to live in, the smiles are more genuine than most I see in the States. Truly the Lord has called me here for a reason, and I look forward to giving the people of our area the message of hope they need.
Today, is my first day of Ministry, where my team and I will be traveling to small churches planted in our area, and there we will worship with the youth (ages 15-30), and give testimonies and sermons. I will be giving a testimony of Grace today, a time in my life where the Lord has shown me such, and my teammate Alex will be giving a sermon. We have a translator (praise the Lord!), so this way I will be able to get a general message across. Through it all though, I have faith that the Holy Spirit will guide my words and message into the people’s hearts as needed, for I am only a vessel for the Lord to use for the enrichment of his Kingdom.
For now, I am about to get breakfast (which I assume is curry and rice again) and going to write my testimony for today. I look forward to updating more, and I will be sure to post pictures once things start moving along. Words of encouragement and prayer are greatly appreciated. Though all reading this may not be in the field with me, your prayers are more powerful than anything. I ask that you pray for my health, my rest, my intimacy and relationships with the Lord, and that I stay dwelling in prayer and in the word through this time.
Let us persevere together, as we stand firm with the Word of God, the truth to proclaim to the nations, for we are the living Church with a mission to give hope and truth to those who are thirsty.
-Garrett Stoecker
