So as I reflect on my time in India, so many thoughts run through my mind. So I just thought I would verbally process with you via my blog. I apologize for the length, but it was needed to successfully share my experience. Bare with me, you will want to read till the end.
So to begin,
I went on my first mission trip out of the country when I was 12. Since then I have been on multiple international trips and to be honest, I have seen a lot of things. A severe bus crash in Mexico, people in villages living out of homes they built with wood pallets and tarps, and street kids eating other people’s garbage, just to name a few. So yeah, a lot. I think because I was introduced to different cultures at a young age, I never really experienced “culture shock.” In each different country I have had a smooth transition and assimilation into the culture. I love traveling and experiencing new things.
Then I got to India…
The FIRST time I have ever experienced “culture” shock.
India is so different than any other culture I have ever experienced.
If you read my previous blog, you were able to read about the apathy towards I had towards the culture of India. Which I think in part was “culture shock.” Let me tell you- this was WEIRD for me. If you know me well, I am a LOVER. A lover of Jesus, people, and life. With my extroverted personality, I love striking up conversations with new people. However, I do not like “surface” level conversations. I am a person who immediately hits the deep “ish” which gives me such an opportunity to get to know people in a more personal way. So having this apathy towards these people was absolutely killing my spirit.
During the last week and a half that we were in India, we went to a place called Varanasi. If you know anything about Varanasi, its about the equivalent for Hindus as Jerusalem is to Christians. It is their holy city. Their sacred place. Hindus come to Varanasi to experience “spiritual realities.” In pilgrimage they forsake the things of this earth in the hope that through their wanderings their sins will be forgiven. Daily people are bathing in the Ganges and praying at the different temples to be released from their sin and into reincarnation. The Ganges are referred to as “the river of life” and is supposed to have “fallen” from heaven. To bathe or drink from the water in the Ganges is said to signify blessings. Simultaneously as this taking place, dead bodies are being burned in the ghats, and are being sent out into the river. All of these beliefs cause a huge amount of homelessness in Varanasi, specifically widows.
In their culture they believe that the widows are responsible for their husband’s death. In the past, they would burn the widows body alive with the husband. However, India finally outlawed this cruel practice. Now families will cast out the widows to fend for their selves because they believe that they are “cursed.” So there is a huge population of widows in Varanasi that come to die in the “holy city” to rid them of their sins. You can just imagine the thoughts I had on this. All of that being said, one of the first days we were in Varanasi we went on one of the river tours to see the ghats and Ganges.
Man, I have never felt anything else quite as spiritually heavy. As soon as we got on the river, I felt heaviness and darkness. As we continued down the river I was having a hard time breathing, and my entire body felt paralyzed. As we got near the rhythmic chanting and rituals, passing by the ghats, I felt myself progressively getting more nauseous. I just started to pray and repeat Jesus over and over in my head. As soon as we got off the river, I felt the weight lifted, nausea leave my body, and I could finally breathe again. This was the first time my eyes were truly opened to the spiritual realm, and how jaded our eyes are in America. Let me reiterate that it’s NOT because it does not exist in the US. It’s because the enemy disguises himself in different ways back at home. Here the spiritual realm is very evident.
It seemed like Varanasi was going to live up to being the city of darkness everyone had told us about….
BUT, the very next day we went to go visit some contacts we had prayed into through our leadership. We really didn’t have any information about this particular ministry, so we went into the day in a sense “blind.” God definitely had his hand in leading us to this ministry. We met three families who actually run a YWAM base and have a very fruitful ministry.
Let me tell you this ministry is seriously the definition of what I believe an “Acts” church is in the bible. They worship and do ministry led by the Holy Spirit. Each week they go to a Leprosy home and pray for the individuals and attend to their needs. The most precious moment I experienced is when one of the women in the ministry helped bathe one of the men at this home that couldn’t do it himself. They do not have regular showers. They pump water from a well into a bucket. It takes time. It takes patience. It takes humility. This sweet woman bathes this man EVERY single week. As I watched this, my eyes welled up with tears. WOW what a beautiful reflection of Jesus displayed through this woman’s actions. This church also does worship to pour into the community of widowed women. They also host a clinic each week for widows to receive medical care. The YWAM base also has a school ministry for children that I got to assist in, on one of our ministry days. These are just a FEW of the many ministries this church does in their community.
Wow my heart was leaping for joy! As I was thinking through those days of ministry with the Lord, He convicted me of my previous hopelessness of India. The Lord told me that He was always moving in all of the areas that I was in, I was just to self- focused to pay attention.
The Lord lives beyond my limits.
The Lord is ACTIVE and MOVING.
The Lord is using His people to break spiritual strongholds.
The Lord is changing calloused hearts.
The Lord is hope in darkness.
Varanasi’s name originally meant “City of Light.” I believe that the Lord’s heart for this city is to bring it back to its original intent.
Now I am currently in Kathmandu, Nepal! I have been here for about a week in a transitional period of our race as new leadership is being raised up, along with our group trying to get visas for China. I have been raised up as of one of the new squad leaders along with three other amazing people. This month will look different for me as I am receiving training and moving around to the new teams with an alumni squad leader. I am so excited to see what this next season holds!
Prayer Requests:
-Varanasi & it’s people
-Getting into China
-Protection against spiritual warfare
-Discernment and guidance for my leadership team
-The Lord to start moving among the Nepalese people
–FUNDRAISING – I am 4,582$ away from being fully funded! I only need monthly support of 100$ by 7 people to be fully funded!
(also huge s/o to our contact in Varanasi who wrote a book that I was able to use to put all this good info on Varanasi!)
