So, in the past two months my team has visited over 42 villages in Southern India and been a part of over 54 church services.
It’s been crazy and wild and confusing and flat hilarious sometimes! it’s also been hard and a little exhausting at times. We left our little home in Southern India a few short days ago feeling very, very dry. We realized that we hadn’t truly had life spoken into us in full, fluent English since we arrived in India! Yikes!
After a fiasco that resulted in an amazing hostel in Hyderabad, we went down to the main floor (hee hee…. that’s the only place wifi works!) and we were met by just about everything we needed in the form of one Nigerian woman named Love. Love has been here for over two months caring for her aunt with more joy than a kid chasing an ice cream truck! She hums some of my favorites hymns as she tends to her sweet aunt. Love asked if we had eaten that morning, which we hadn’t yet, and proceeded to give us a whole chicken, some potatoes, tomatoes, onions, a pot, and a kitchen tour! She greets us when we return home late with pots of Nigerian rice that we “simply must taste” and she kisses our cheeks in the mornings while she talks so excitedly to our grandparents!
Zahli came down to the common Wi-Fi space and Love intercepted her with a spontaneous Bible study! As love spoke our whole team quickly came to listen to her words. We sat around the couch as Love explained her family’s story and sang of the Lord’s glory with a sincerity that was inspiring. We listened as she encouraged us to be expectant of the Lord’s fulfillment in our lives and to continuously recognize that “our God is so awesome. He is so awesome. Our God is so awesome.”
We each left this impromptu Bible study/ Sermon feeling refueled and ready to seek the Lord on a new level. I left feeling ready to trust the Lord with what I’m hoping is next, to ask Him for the things I want and need, and to become more engaged in our purpose here.
Love wanted to make us lunch today at 2pm, but she had to take her auntie to a check up in the hospital. She found MJ on her way out and left us a bunch of bananas and a whole pack of GoodDay cookies! We just met this woman 36 hours ago! She changes atmospheres and brings light and life and LOVE to this world and this hostel.
I’ve learned so much from Love’s teaching already and I’m sure I’ll learn more in the two days to come, but I’ve learned an immeasurable amount about who I want to be one day from her. I want to embody the light of the Lord that radiates off of Love and creates change! I want to find joy in the tiny things more often and seek relationships with people just because they speak English! I want to be as generous to strangers as Love is! I guess I just want to be like Love in a whole bunch of ways!
Here’s to meeting people in hostels that remind you of how wonderful life truly is! What a day to be alive!!!!
