We’ve been in India now for about five days. As I had told you before, Ian and I are not with the women from our team, as they are working with an outreach to women who have come out of the sex industry. Instead we are a part of Team Banah this month working with an established missions base in Bangalore, India.
We have been recipients of the hospitality of this organization before in Hong Kong and Uganda. Our campus ministry in China was even a ministry established by this organization. This is the first time that we have been able to live in their base for an extended period of time and see the way their community works. It is a great encouragement to see how strongly the Spirit of the Lord is on their ministry. I feel like I am getting a strong enough picture that I will definitely be able to recommend this organization later.
We received an orientation one of the first days we were here and it was enlightening to hear a firsthand story of the religious climate in India. One man told me that Hindu extremist groups had been persecuting Christians and they were only going unchecked because the government was Hindu. Later, in our official orientation, we were told that the most common way for foreign missionaries to be open to persecution was if they were found to be doing ministry on business or tourist visas (like us), that they could be deported. Consequently we are not doing much extravagent, outgoing ministry as we did in Africa. We are working a lot with college cell groups (our hosts have a well-established campus ministry) and doing some door-to-door relational ministry in slums.
I’ve been listening a lot for why God may have separated Ian and I from our team in what seems like a critical month to be developing community. I’m finding a lot of peace. I had a lot of things on my mind coming to this month that needed processing and I am receiving a lot of discernment in those areas. And as I mentioned above, I am also getting a great picture of this missions organization that seems to be everywhere around the world.
The month is off to a great start. Food and accomdations are great. We are in a very big city and I am excited for our first off-day on Monday to be able to see a little bit more of it. I loved Africa, but it is nice to be in an area that is a bit more developed. I’ll be keeping you all posted as the month continues, as we have reliable internet here at the base.
I love you all.
