These last two months have been nontraditional on missionary standards. When you think of international ministry you think of amazing nonprofits that help orphans , widows, human trafficking victims, the needy, the elderly, the uneducated, etc. Ministry here has looked a little different.
Month one of India, my team and I stayed in a small village called Satrai in Tripura, India. Every morning we would wake up at 7 and eat breakfast, from 7:30-8:30 we would put on a VBS for the local children, mostly the kids from the church, and then we would eat lunch, have tea time at 3pm and then take rest until dinner time. To fill our time we would play cricket and badminton, we would take walks to the market which was only open on Tuesday’s and Friday’s, but there was an egg roll guy that was open almost everyday. We built relationships with some of the teachers at the school we were staying at, and I spent a lot of time with the Lord.
In this month, I started walking through accepting that I had finally stripped off my old identity, and started the infinite process of discovering who I am in Christ. Also, the Lord tapped on my heart and said “Hey you, my child, when are you going to fully trust me?” I can’t wait for what growth God has for me in the next four months, and I also can’t wait to tell you and show you where I am at with my identity and trusting in God when I get home!
So then, at the very end of this whole month one shin-dig in Satrai, the squad got together to debrief the last month of our life, and it was there that we had… drum roll please… TEAM CHANGES!!!! My new team has six beautiful, wise, God fearing women. Meet Team Tenacious, Elizabeth, Chloe (team leader), Alyssa, Xi-ming (Aka Shimmy), and Bailea.
This wasn’t the easiest thing for me to go through, all of a sudden I was no longer doing life with the five girls who have been with me from day one of the race. I had no one around me who has been through what I have been through these last 5 months, and to be honest I wasn’t close with any of the girls on my new team, and wouldn’t have hand picked them to be my best friends either. Our team was also placed with another team (Abba’s Chosen) where I knew no one.
The first week of being apart from Tetelestai was straight up weird. I was excited and open minded about what God had in store for team Tenacious, but I felt in a funk. If you didn’t know, ya home girl here is a hardcore extrovert! 3/4 of the girls that I am living with are not, and I felt as though there would be no way for me to be filled up in this community.
Then month 2 ministry started.
Our ministry this month has been out of the ordinary again. This time of retreat from the world has helped me see the importance of the ministry that my team is in itself, that pressing into them is such an important part of this whole thing. It, again, gives me plenty of time to spend with my Good Good Father. It has been cool to turn to him to bring me joy and fullness rather than the people around me, though, now that my team is getting closer, my team has started to pour into me as well and it’s awesome. This quiet time also allows us the room to pour into our amazing hosts.
Now to the ministry part of it all.
You’re going to want to hold onto the bottom of your chair for this one.
Our ministry here is showing up! We show up and the ministry follows. We could go to a church service, where we share testimonies, sermons and songs, or, it could be going to a church members house for dinner. Every night we are lead to a different church or different community, we do our thing, which is mostly lose planning and letting the Holy Spirit do the rest, and then we go home.
These last two months have really showed me how important it is to encourage and support believers. The people here are the most beautiful people I have ever met but many of the church leaders, pastors missionaries, and evangelists here are tired, warn and discouraged by the lack of new believers, church members returning to their old religions, and most of them are outside of their home states. When we come into their space, allow them to sit in the pews for a service, eat meals with them the way that they do (with solely your hands, no utensils) and do life with them for a night, it brings a breath of fresh air.
Not a night has gone by this month where the Holy Spirit hasn’t shown up, and to watch my new teammates thrive in their gifts and bring the light of the lord to these villages brings me so much life to me and everyone around us.
So that’s that. I have one month left here in India, and I honestly don’t know how I am going to be able to leave.
Thank you for all your support and your prayers for me over my entire journey. Just so y’all know IM FULLY FUNDED, by the grace of God.
Don’t feel hesitant to reach out to me whenever! I would love to talk to you about this amazing journey that the Lord is taking me on right now.
Much Love!”
