Have you ever wondered if you’ve made the wrong decision? Have you ever wondered if you were in the right place? Have you ever felt that way and then God shows up to say He has you right where you need to be?
As we arrived in Lucknow, we really weren’t sure what we would be doing for this month. All our plans we had made were shot down. Our contact became a person we only met once and were not able to help him in his area of work, but only able to meet him over lunch. Everything seemed to be falling through the cracks as we arrived, and we wondered if maybe we made the wrong decision in coming here in the first place.
On top of it all, many people wondered why we were staying in a place like Lucknow and in the sketchiest place there too. They would say that there wasn’t much to see, we should have gone somewhere else such as Agra or Varanasi. However, this gave us the segue to say we were there for the people, to see how they live, what their culture is like. You can’t really see that when you are in a touristy place. There is too much outside influences within those places. Plus, it was all for Jesus!
As we journeyed through the streets discovering more of the place, we still had no idea where to go. One day, one of my teammates got sick and protocol told us to take her to a hospital to be checked. Why was all this happening to us? Our team split up for the day with three of us journeying to the hospital and two going to explore. As the two were exploring, they were encountered by a student at the University. He was from Bangladesh. They were able to talk with him, tour his university, and ultimately set up a time to meet again when our whole team could be together.
The next day, we all journeyed to their hostel and met many people from all over the world. We met some guys from Afghanistan, Namibia, and Bangladesh. They took us out for dinner then we headed to a beautiful park. We each got to talk with them and tell each other stories about our lives. Near the end of our night, we learned that one of them was a Christian but was afraid to share his faith. His dad had become a Christian and brought his faith back home for them to know Christ too. This boy was amazed by how bold some other Christians were about praying and sharing. Our Afghani friends just enjoyed having our company. Lastly, our Bangladeshi friend was rather curious about what we believed.
We tried to meet with these guys as often as we could and as often as their homework level would allow. They had many exams coming up! We even asked them to one day bring some of their friends who were girls. We made a coffee shop day where our Afghani friends brought four women along. These women were from Morocco, E Swatini, Sri Lanka, and Mauritus. We were able to talk with them, play games with them, and ultimately get to know them. It also turns out that coffee shops don’t allow you to play card games in their places…
Many times, during our stay in Lucknow, we were able to meet with one or more of our friends. We learned quickly that our Afghani friends wanted to pay for everything we did together as it was their culture. Sarah and I had a spontaneous sleep over in India where we only had the clothes on our backs from that day. Who could have guessed this would happen!? We practically stayed up all night playing games and getting to know the girls in a deeper way. This was the start of our sweet friendships.
Before we left Lucknow, Jake gave his Bible to our Bangladeshi friend who had been asking us every time we met about our religion. We were able to share a lot with him and also learn about his beliefs, so we left him with this gift where he could read it while we read his holy book. He still asks us questions to this day!! PRAISE!
Many of these friends joined us in Agra since they had a long holiday weekend, thanks to Diwali. Here our teammate, Sarah, was able to explain our beliefs and help with any misconceptions they had about Christianity. We were able to show Christ’s love in new ways and by the time we left for Delhi, they had downloaded the Bible app on their phones. One friend journeyed with us to Delhi who was highly interested in Christianity. However, we had to say goodbye to her on our final day before we had to leave for debrief.
One thing I learned through this month is even though things may seem to be going wrong and plans falling apart, we can always know that God is going to use that for something better. These friendships we created were unexpected and unplanned, but they were more than we could have asked for in this month. They brought joy and fellowship. Each time we had to say goodbye, the more we didn’t want to leave India.
Expect the unexpected when God has a hold of your life.
God Bless,
Laura Leigh Armstrong
