My squad left India a couple weeks ago, but I wanted to post a quick update on some of the amazing things the Indian people and culture taught us. So here it is- the top three things America could learn from India. (If you have not seen my team’s video recap from the month, check it out below!)
1. Hospitality. Indians know the true meaning of this word. They would not only welcome us as strangers into their homes, but they would offer us whatever they could, even though they didn’t have much. We rarely left a house without having been fed snacks or a cup of tea or coffee. Our amazing hosts, a pastor and his wife, displayed this hospitality each and every day, as they welcomed us into their home and family for the month.
2. Faith in miracles and the power of prayer. In December my team did a lot of praying. We prayed for healing, addiction, spiritual growth and so much more as we met different people in each village during our month of ministry. Although we did not see a miraculous healing (I learned a lot about just trusting the Lord with our prayers), we heard many stories about miracles occurring in India, even down to our translator who gave his life to Christ after being healed from a severe sickness when he was younger. Because of their strong belief in the spiritual world, miracles have a big impact on the growth of Christianity in India. There is no such thing as a coincidence. Many of the Christians we met had either seen a miracle happen at some point in their life or they just had the faith that miracles would happen from our prayers as we went around in their villages. Even Hindu and Muslim children were drawn to us (probably because we were white), and they wanted us to pray for them or their family!
3. Spiritual disciplines. Since India is not a “Christian” country, the Christians there recognize the dire need for their nation to know Christ. There is a spiritual darkness that hangs over the country, as the people worship all kinds of idols and other gods. Therefore, our pastor and his church set aside the 27th of every month for all night prayer, from 10 PM to 5 AM. His wife also told us she was fasting on various nights throughout the month. There is something about these disciplines, of giving up sleep or food, whatever it may look like, that showed just how desperately they wanted their nation to know Christ.
So, as I come back to the States next year, these are three things I learned from India that I hope to incorporate into my everyday life there: inviting people into my home (whatever that may look like) and just blessing them however God allows, believing that miracles still happen and having the faith to pray for them, and giving up things (food, sleep, maybe internet) to focus on praying for my neighbors, both in America and around the world.
