Alright, story time.
Our team sleeps in a church room that is directly above the pastor’s families home. Last night was really windy. There were bunch of noises all around us as we laid down to go to sleep. I heard some bangs on the roof and branches hitting the bars on the windows. The trees also made some shadowy figures on the walls.
I have always been a nervous pee’er at night, I usually go at least twice before falling asleep and once in the middle of the night. That particular night of ministry they served us each two cups of soda, so that mixed with eerie noises made me extra nervous. I got up at around 1 am to go to the bathroom. On my way back to the room I got spooked by a noise, sprinted back into the room and locked the double doors. The lock is a metal bar that slides through two metal rings to secure the double doors. I kept hearing noises, but I somehow drifted back to sleep.
Not long after, I heard a noise at the door and looked to find that one of the double doors had swung open. I got pretty frightened, I was sure I had slid that metal bar all the way through. I decided the wind had blown it open. Measuring up one last ounce of courage, I got up out of bed, pushed the door closed and double locked it. When I laid back down, I heard the door shake. I began to get really scared so I woke up my teammate Bekah, who was right next to me. I told her, “Bekah, I know it’s just the wind but I’m pretty scared. Can you just help me fall asleep?” She said “Yes, of course I am here,” and grabbed my hand. The noises coming from the door did not stop. I heard the doors shake a couple of more times and each time I squeezed Bekah’s hand a little bit harder. Then there came a loud *boom* from the door.
I lunged into Bekah’s arms and began to sob. It was the fastest movement I have ever made. I was frozen with fear and just cried in her arms. I get very afraid at night sometimes. I would when I was younger, then again in college and sometimes random nights here and there. This was a whole new level. Bekah held me as I cried in complete fear and told me, “it’s okay it’s okay.” Shortly after, Bekah looked up at the window by the door and saw a man looking in at us. She said later that she did not know what to do but just kept telling me, “it’s okay, it’s okay.”
She watched the figure walk across the porch past the double doors and around the side of the house. There is a ledge that stretches around the house that leads to windows along the side. I felt Bekah look to her right out one of the side windows. I lifted my head up with her and saw the silhouette of a man’s face. I can’t even tell you what ran through my head. That was the most scared I have ever been. The only instinct I had left caused me to yell “CARMEN CARMEN CARMEN!” Carmen is our team leader who was also the closest to the window. At this point, everyone sprung awake.
The next thing I heard was Bekah yelling, “Kyle!!!” I looked out the window again and saw my teammate Kyle on the ledge looking in at us. He said, “I went to the bathroom and have been locked out for thirty minutes!” Let me tell you, going from complete desperate horror to relieving celebratory laughter in a matter of ten seconds is the most exasperating feeling ever. Have you ever gone from two extremes that fast? It’s the most confusing feeling! You question everything! Where am I? Am I in India? Is my name Kim?
All I could do was double over in hysterical laughter. Bekah jumped up to let Kyle in and we all preceded to laugh for twenty minutes. The rest of our team who hadn’t awoken to my desperate yell to Carmen woke up to our laughter. Hearing everyone’s side of the story was hysterical.
Katie thought we were going to get robbed. She saw the whole thing. She heard me get up, watched me jump into Bekah’s arms, saw the man in the window but didn’t want to tell anyone because I was frozen with panic. She was frozen as well and prayed for protection.
Carmen awoke to me yelling her name, thought Kyle was a wild monkey (found all over India and actually charged at us one time) and darted back into her sleeping bag.
Luke (who sleeps like a rock, waking him up is like raising the dead), awoke to me yelling Carmen’s name. He thought Carmen was in serious danger but when he looked and saw Kyle outside and Carmen safe in her bed he thought, “What’s all the fuss?”
Emmy slept through the whole thing until we were hysterical with emotional overload. She rolled over in groggy confusion.
Kyle had gone to the bathroom right after me at about 2am. The door swinging open was him leaving to go pee. He heard me lock the door and darted back to it. He rattled and pushed the door a couple of times. He said he was outside for 30 minutes considering all options: sleeping on the roof, sleeping downstairs with some of the pastor’s kids, breaking down the door etc. The big boom was him hitting the door one last time trying to break the lock. He called my name from the window initially because he saw me stirring, but I was too busy having my life flash before my eyes. He then thought to wake Carmen because she would cause the least ruckus, so he walked along the ledge to her window. When I saw him and yelled Carmen loudly three times he yelled back, “Shut up, it’s me Kyle!” He was just tired and wanted his bed back.
Bekah thought Kyle was an axe murder, I thought Kyle was an evil spirit. We held each other pretty convinced those were our last moments together. Her and I were both praying in the name of Jesus to protect us. We had never been more excited to see Kyle in our whole life. We laughed ourselves to sleep and laughed the whole next day about it.
I will never ever forget that night.
Let me tell you, there is nothing like the world race.
There is nothing like brushing your teeth at 3am at an Indian bus stop.
There is nothing like watching a teammate’s heart break over a beautiful mentally handicapped Indian boy.
There is nothing like praying over a young Indian women with a broken marriage and having her breakdown mid-prayer despite not understanding English.
There is nothing like getting asked to dance to Bollywood music in a crammed room while being fed soda and cookies.
There is nothing like having teammates come find you and fight for your mind when you are stuck in a spiral of shaming thoughts.
There is nothing like being asked to pray for a catatonic woman who they say has the devil inside her.
There is nothing like being constipated because of an all rice diet (pretty sure my body forgot how to poop).
There is nothing like riding home from ministry confused and processing with your team as to why God didn’t show up in the way you thought he would.
There’s nothing like sitting through a 45 minute intense prayer in a different language with people are on their face crying out to God.
There is nothing like using old basketball skills to box people out in a crowd to allow your team to get on the correct bus in a time crunch (wasn’t going down without a fight).
There is nothing like preaching in front of 15 Indian women who have chosen to follow Jesus in an area where persecution is common.
There is nothing like remembering that people are not out to get you, they are curious, beautiful, kind-hearted and not much different than you.
There is nothing like getting a pit in your stomach as you drive by people worshipping false Gods in Hindu shrines with bright lights, statues and music blaring.
There is nothing like stuffing 6 people into a 3 person sized Indian Tuk-tuk through traffic just to arrive at the wrong location.
There is nothing like having a nice Indian man who knows English explain to three cab drivers where all 10 of us need to arrive (that man was an angel, I gave him my Sprite).
There is nothing like being handed an unidentified fruit on the side of the road by a vendor and deciding to take a bite.
There is nothing like having a 9 year old boy ask us to pray with his Hindu grandma who wants to receive Christ.
There is nothing like mistaking your teammate for an axe murderer.
There is nothing like doing ministry with your best friends.
