It is incredible to be here. I wish I could better articulate it, but after just 6 days I feel that this is my home, and I’ve settled into a sense of normalcy without losing a sense of wonder. Here’s a quick rundown of our set-up for month 1.
– Getting here was really exciting. My job as logistics coordinator means I had a large bit of responsibility for the 45 hours of travel from ATL to Sielmat. The squad was a joy to lead, and minus a few minor road blocks (Delhi airport made us go to 3 different check in counters and get in alphabetical order while dragging all our bags, and all 57 of us nearly got off on the wrong stop from our domestic flight across India) everything went extremely smoothly! Praise God, because moving 60 people from continent to continent could easily be anything but smooth.
– It’s all squad month! All 57 of us are together here on campus. We are being housed in some newly built dorms on the campus of Trinity College and Seminary. They are cement rooms where we’ve set up our sleeping pads, and we’re happy to have a roof. I’m rooming with the lovely Sam Cook (samanthacook.theworldrace.org) this month, she’s fab.
– Only 7%-9% of people in India are Christians. In this area, the number is closer to 75%. The ministry here is beautiful. They run one of the best hospitals in Manipur, they have 2,000 students in their school programs, and have a beautiful effect on the surrounding community.
– It’s gorgeous here. There are grapefruit trees everywhere, errily beautiful cemeteries, and really wonderful & friendly people. Today we walked a few miles in pouring monsoon rains for breakfast only to be informed that they were bringing it to our dorms because of the storm. We couldn’t even be mad because how many people get to say they’ve trudged through monsoon rains in India?
– We got our ministry schedules! This ranges from administration to construction to helping at the hospital. I’m really looking forward to learning more about what they do here so we’ll know how best to help. So far we’ve moved a bunch of bricks, administered some medications for pharmacists, visited churches, and had a lot of fun together with our hosts.
Yesterday Mawii (one of the founders of Bibles for the World) led us up “Sielmat Prayer Mountain” which is a mountain just outside of their campus set aside specifically for people to encounter the Lord. She gave a beautiful devotional about our hope coming from the Lord and not the mountain, then encouraged us to go have our own quiet time. That morning I had started reading Habakkuk before breakfast (they provide Chai Tea every morning at 6:30 in a cloth tent so we can come have quiet time. How is this my life?!) because I figured if Habakkuk 1:5 was my theme verse for the race, I’d better really dig into the context. Turns out I LOVE Habakkuk, and it was exactly what I needed to hear to complete some things God’s been teaching me this summer leading up to the race.
There’s been a couple times this year where I have felt completely overwhelmed by the intensity and sheer size of the evil presence in our world.
While packing, I read an amazing book about a Navy Seal that had served at refugee camps abroad. Reading his accounts of all the broken people and awful circumstances he’d encountered on his journey sent me into an evening of despair, wondering how I, or anyone else, could even make a dent in the darkness.
It is a family tradition to watch a movie about the country I’m about to leave for together (Walter Mitty for Iceland, RUGBYMOVIE for South Africa, etc) so I watched Slumdog Millionaire on the plane to launch with my Dad. One scene in particular shows a man maming a child for his own personal financial gain, and it hit me extremely hard that I would be seeing things like this all year. I was bawling on the plane. Children have a beautiful inherent trust and love that should never be betrayed, how could people take such advantage of that?
Habakkuk is set up as an ongoing conversation between the prophet and God. Habakkuk sees the evil all around him and cries out directly to God through prayer. In extremely abridged terms, here is how I read the conversation…
Habakkuk: God, the world is overtaken by evil, but you are a good God. How can this be? God: Oh Habakkuk, if only you knew the extent of my power and glory. I am about to do something huge, just you wait.
(An enemy army (the Babylonians) overtakes them, and the evil continues to spread. Something big certainly happened, but not in a way that settled Habakkuk’s concerns.)
Habakkuk: Honestly God? Things have only gotten worse. You are righteous. How is this at all possible?
God: Don’t you trust me? I see the big picture where you can only see pieces. My kingdom is always advancing. I will bring justice. You do not have to understand my plan for it to be good.
The end of the book is a beautifully written poem/song that expresses Habakkuk’s commitment to trusting God even when things seem out of control, and when evil feels overwhelming. He speaks of circumstances that lack, loss of battle, and despair. But he says that through it all “Yet, still I will rejoice.” My prayer is that as I move forward and encounter new and different evils than I experience at home, and as my heart is broken for God’s people, that I will rest in trusting Him. I pray that I will take action to love people and serve them, but to recognize God’s sovereignty, and to find joy therein.
