One month down. Our last night of ministry was yesterday, we left the village today and fly to Nepal tomorrow.
Our last 24 hours in the village were probably the most impactful of our entire time in India for team Overflow.
We had church near our host’s home (I can’t give actual names for security purposes we’ll call him Pastor Mark). This time, his wife, 2 children and 10 orphan boys joined us. Two of my teammates preached to the crowd.
This week is a festival of the Hindu god, Ganesh. Everywhere we drive there are tons of statues of Ganesh, sometimes yards away from each other. At night, the shrines are lit up with bright lights, music blares and people dance. There is a radical Hindu group that wears bright orange head bands and orange body paint. They believe that everyone should be Hindu and fight to make it so. We were told that children with the headbands are being raised to be a part of that radical group.
On our last night of ministry, a parade of about 10 men with loud drums gathered to dance at the home directly across from us. Some people from the village who had joined us, jumped up and ran across the street to dance with them.
The amazing part was Pastor Mark’s family and the people who knew Jesus from the village never turned their heads. They faced us as we worshipped the one true God and preached from the Bible.
We were able to spend that night of ministry with another Indian pastor (Pastor Phillip) who spoke English. He is one of the pastors who has been stripped and beaten multiple times for being a missionary. He looked at us and said, “What this group (Hindu radicals) don’t see is that no matter what, Christianity is growing.”
We sang The Lion and the Lamb while the group banged on their drums across the street. They walked down the street right before it was time to preach. For who can stop the Lord almighty?
We arrived back at Pastor Mark’s home after ministry and decided we wanted to wash each of the family member’s feet. We read them the passage of scripture where Jesus washes the disciple’s feet and told them that we wanted to serve them just as they have served us. We set up chairs and buckets and asked the children to sit.
In India, they train their children to be servants. A couple times this month, four-year-olds handed out cups at dinner and cleaned our plates. To the boys, feet washing was uncomfortable. Regardless, we washed each of their feet and prayed over them. At that moment it set in that we were leaving. There were tears everywhere. One boy who was about 14 sat down at my chair and did not look up at me. He cried with his face in his hands. The wife of the family was very reluctant to sit because of how countercultural being served felt. I can’t tell you how much Christ is in that home. They live to serve and love.
As a team, our hearts were a little reluctant at first because we have struggled with a language barrier all month. We did not know if the message we wanted to send would really get to them.
We were quickly proven wrong. After we washed each of their feet and began to say goodbye we looked over and saw Pastor Mark and his wife on their knees washing the feet of Pastor Phillip. Our jaws dropped and our eyes swelled. Pastor A prayed a passionate and tearful prayer over Pastor Phillip. That moment was incredible. Team Overflow watched in awe as we hugged some of the children goodbye.
I wish I had words to describe the passion for Christ in these pastors. Or the words to describe their devotion to one another. You could feel the bond of the Holy Spirit between them. They are fighting together to preach the name of Christ, it was beautiful. I will never forget that moment.
Pastor Mark told us the next day in broken English that he has received calls from multiple people in all the villages that we traveled to. He said they have experienced relief from the physical ailments we prayed over.
God moved this month when we did not even see it. He moved through a language barrier and through our cultural differences. The love of Jesus transcends across languages, culture, countries, loud drums, false gods, anything. Our hearts are broken for India, we will never stop praying for revival for these people.
Pastor Mark is the very left, Pastor Phillip is the very right. A third pastor is in the middle, also known as the most adorable man ever.
PS- I got to milk a water-buffalo. That was fun.
PPS- They kick.
PPPS: Check out this video I made about a time we got to watch a well being built.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9HZ_8_wAis
