I can’t express how much I have loved being here in India. We’ve been working in a school teaching English and the gospel. The education here makes me so thankful for the education I had growing up. Walking through some math problems with some of the students made me so sad. Simple equations are a hard task for many of the student high schoolers. Some of the teachers spoke to me about their students saying that they will probably flunk their exam (given by their state) and be stuck in this town forever. It is almost like some of the teachers have given up on some of the students. While teaching two students have stood out to me. Their names are Linda and Jeremy. Linda is about 13 and Jeremy 9. Linda is an adorable girl, she is bold in her faith and has a truly loving and genuine heart. Jeremy is a young boy who is wise beyond his years. He is brilliant in school and peruses the Lord with all his heart and mind. These are two of the children at P.M.S. that need a sponsor. I would love to support them and it’s only about $5 a month to sponsor them! E-mail me if you are interested in sponsoring another child, or even helping these two!
While we’ve been here we have taught, we have painted the school and got to preach at 3 different churches in the area. Preaching has been fun but also a struggle. They constantly put us on spot and ask us to share a message when we least expect it or ask us to sing a song. This has led to some pretty creative programs. We are some of the only Americans who have ever come to Haflong. Therefore we are celebrities. We can not walk anywhere without people asking for our photo, autograph or handshake. People come to hear the gospel that we preach only because we are Americans. It’s cool to use this for God’s glory, but it also can be distracting. Some people seem to just wait till after we are done and then the flood of people asking “Miss PLEASE one selfy?!?” come flooding in. Sometimes there is no escape. Women are handing me their babes and snapping photos. While we preach we see cameras flashing at the back of the room because someone was trying to be sneaky but forgot to turn their flash off. Even when we go to the market, people stop us or just watch us. We will be walking down the side walk and locals pull over in their car to jump out and meet us. I now can empathize with a celebrity. Everyday without fail one person will ask “Miss, PLEASE just one selfy” and then soon 20 people are lined up to take photos. The spot light is on us. How we love each other as a team, how Americans act, are we kind people, do we represent Christ well. If you met a celebrity and they were having a bad day and came off rude when you met them, you would forever think that celebrity was so rude. We live that everyday here. But instead of carrying our own “famous” name we carry a even more famous name that we are representing, Jesus Christ. It’s actually been nice to have all eyes on us. How will we react? Are we being Eph 4 women (Imitators of God)? Or are we living just like any other American tourest would if they were here?
We leave Haflong tomorrow and I am so sad. I would recommend anyone coming here that wants to be away form the mainstream of where every other tourist goes in India. They have their own culture and the people are truly unlike any people you will ever meet. They without fail put family first and we have become part of their family. They are the kind of people who would give you the shirt off their back, no questions asked.
The other day I gave Linda a little postcard with an encouraging letter on the back along with some scripture I wanted her to have. I saw her a few days later and she opened her bible and showed me the note. “I’m keeping it in my bible forever” she said. She pulled out the little bit of money she had, held it up to me and said “Miss Lyndi, I’m going to buy you a gift before you go”. It touched my heart. How could she give up her money to buy me a gift when she needs people to sponsor her to live. It reminded me of the widows mite. She has so little but is so willing to give it away.
She’s not the only one who is like this in the town. Today at church they presented us with pins as a thank you for us preaching. It was a very big gift for them and it touched my heart. I’m thankful that I have gotten to know these people. Without knowing it they have encouraged me to always be willing to give up anything I have even when I believe I have nothing. Nothing is mine, everything is the Lords.
