As I write this blog it’s crazy to think that our ministry in India is over. We are driving the 9 hours back to Hyderabad tonight and then flying to Nepal Wednesday morning. It has been a challenging month being isolated from friends and family with little internet, adjusting to Indian culture, living conditions, and learning to live with 6 other people 24 hours a day. But I’m as confident as ever that God has called me on this kingdom journey. He’s continuing to reveal weaknesses and call me into greatness. I’m excited to see where God has taken me after another month when we get ready to leave Nepal.
Obviously there is a strong Hindu presence almost everywhere you turn in India. From the permanent temples we’ve passed to the ones that are driven through the streets in the back of a pickup, there is darkness here. Jeremiah 10 talks about God and idols and I have a greater understanding of that passage now after being exposed to the Hindu culture. But we’ve been so encouraged by what we’ve seen and experienced. We’ve been able to harvest a lot of fruit this month as almost every village we’ve entered has seen people deciding to accept Christ as their Savior. We’ve been welcomed with open arms almost everywhere we’ve gone. There has only been one Hindu village where they told us to leave as soon as we started to share the gospel. Our team thought of Luke 10:10-12 where Jesus tells the disciples, “When you enter a town that doesn’t welcome you, go into it’s streets and say ‘Even the dust of your town that sticks to our feet we wipe off against you’….” We’ve talked about how much more alive the Bible has become when we read it after being in India. To us the ministry we’re doing this month and the fact that we’ve left a lot behind to come on this journey is like living out some of the stories in the New Testament. It’s been amazing to see what God has revealed to us and the doors that he’s opened.
I haven’t had time to write blogs this week, so I’ll just give you some quick highlights:
Ministry:
- We’ve been able to do a lot of children’s ministry this week/month. We’ve sung lots of Father Abraham, Lord I Lift Your Name on High, and Pharaoh Pharaoh. Told lot’s of stories and performed lots of skits. Our team is set up really well for this and we’ve all really enjoyed it. The kids in India are AWESOME!
- We’ve prayed for what seems like hundreds of people! Extremely humbling, but also very draining when the stream of people lasts for over an hour at a time.
- We’ve continued to lead services every night in the villages where we are ministering.
- One of the coolest things of the last week was that we changed our plans on Sunday and went to a closer village because a couple of people on our team had the stomach bug. While in that village we met a man that had keys to the church in that village, but it had been closed for the last year and a half. Derrick and I had the opportunity to share with him why it is so important to have the church opened. He agreed to let us come the next day and help clean it up. Then on Wednesday night we held a service there. It was awesome because it doesn’t have working electricity in it anymore and the entire service was held in candlelight. Two kids and a woman accepted Christ at the end. We’re hoping that’s the first of many regular services that will be held back in those doors.
- On Thursday night we had been doing ministry for over and hour and stopped to take rest as our translator calls it. While we were sitting on this porch two Hindu guys in their early twenties lean over the fence to take a picture of us. Abraham invites them in and we begin to share the gospel. They are practicing Hindus and we spent about the next 45 minutes talking to them. It was really cool because they were honest about their beliefs and legitimately seeking to understand the Jesus. They said they believed in Jesus, but he was just one of millions of gods to them. After about 45 minutes God showed up like he has so many times this month and both accepted Christ as their one true and only Savior! Awesome!
Interesting Experiences:
- We’ve been asked to name two children this week as we visited houses and prayed for families. There is now a David and a Ruth in India thanks to us.
- We drove up on a pack of 15 or more monkeys on the way to ministry complete with 3 tiny babies. It was literally like we’d snuck over the fence at the zoo!
- We drove up under a tree that had literally 1,000 bats hanging in it. Some had wingspans of up to 3 ft. They were so loud! And as we were looking up at that a yoke of oxen passed us on the road. Only in India.
- We found goats walking up the stairs to our roof where we keep our clothes to dry.
- I rode a camel that was randomly tied up down the street. It cost 100 rupees or less than $2 in USD. If you ever ride one, hang on tight! My sister warned me about the getting up and sitting down, but I still felt like I almost fell off!
- We’ve found 1 trashcan in our time in India! Yeah, just one!
Here is a post from my squad mate Chip Carnes, a fellow Kentuckian and UK fan. He sums it up perfectly and much better than I can!
Here's a sampling of daily life stuff we encountered in India.
- Three men ride on a motorcycle carrying two chairs.
- People crowd around everywhere and stare. We even cause traffic jams because we’re American.
- There’s an old lady holding a pile of cow poop looking at you like YOU’RE weird.
- You are fed chippati at every house you go to.
- It’s no big deal to fit 17 people in a 4 person rickshaw.
- Nutella and peanut butter become your food savior.
- The power goes off for 4-6 hours every day.
- Random people stop you to ask you what your salary is.
- Wedding parties go by on dump trucks.
- People bob their heads side to side for “Yes”, but you don’t know what a “No” looks like.
- Ice Cream for breakfast is like Christmas.
- The only decorations in churches are Christmas decorations.
- 79 year old pastors named Paul chase after buses (he literally RAN!)
- Random kids stare at you through windows. Always.
- People tell you they are giving you tea, when it’s actually coffee, and it’s still better than anywhere in America.
- Women come up to you and ask you to name their baby (I named one “Jabez”).
- Rice.
- Milk comes in a plastic pouch.
- A name that sounds like David is actually Hishmanachibat (probably not spelled right.)
- Your bathroom is also a chicken coop, such that you have extended conversations with said chicken while pooping and bathing. (We love/hate you Frederick).
- Trash can = the side of the street or next to a house.
- Giant cockroaches, scorpions, and frogs populate the bathroom.
- You have a million bugbites but have only seen one mosquito.
- You wake up knowing there’s a decent chance you’ll see a healing or a demon cast out that day.
- You use a microphone in church services even though no one can understand English.
- People sleep on their beds…outside.
- Meat goes from beef to goat to buffalo to “I’m not touching that sketch meat.”
- It’s not uncommon to spoon standing up with two random men on a hour long bus ride.
- When in doubt “Namaste out.”
- Burning piles of trash are the norm.
- If you’re wearing a necklace, it means you’re getting married.
- You get gasoline in water bottles from a street vendor. Oh yeah, that’s Sprite right next to it, better not confuse the two.
- At least one person in your team always has food poisoning or diarrhea.
- Everyone is willing to accept Jesus, but not as the only God.
- You wear sunglasses to avoid eye contact.
- You have to pray over the sound of a cow peeing 5 feet from you.
- People have great rhythm, but no unified sense of rhythm or time when clapping. Everyone in church takes turns leading a worship song.
- Part of your breakfast is leaves from a tree growing outside your church home.
- Men wear skirts.
- Sound systems and radios have one volume level: loud.
- You spray DEET on yourself before bed time.
- You drive on the left, and by left I mean, mostly left, sometimes right and usually in the center, dodging other motorcycles, bikes, people, and sitting cows.
- You have to ask if the water is safe to drink.
