First, I need to let you know I can mark an item off my bucket list. As we were walking around the village nearest the church we are staying in, I saw a monkey up in a tree we walked under. I’ve always wanted to see a monkey in the wild, so thank you India for fulfilling that!! Now to the really good stuff…….
The part of the village we walked through tonight was mostly Hindu. We passed numerous temples of various shapes and sizes. As usual, we walked and the crowds gathered around us and starred. Abraham, our translator, has told us numerous times he’s so thankful for us because he wouldn’t be able to do what we’re doing without us. People come to see the white Americans because they rarely, if ever, see them in the villages we’re in. They are curious and want to hear why we are there. It provides the opportunity to share the gospel with people who would otherwise never listen.
I’ve been praying for boldness and courage for a LONG time as you may have read in previous blogs. On this night, God gave me that opportunity to step up to the plate and to quit just talking about doing it.
We were standing next to a pretty decent sized Hindu temple with a crowd of 80 or more people surrounding us. I need to mention that at one point as we were standing there this LARGE Brahman cow with some impressive horns comes strolling down the street toward us and didn’t care that we were talking. The sea of people parted to let him through as they noticed him and he went on about his business. Only in India! Oh, how I love it!!!
A few minutes later Abraham looked around at our group and said, “Now, share the gospel?” At that moment I heard God whisper, “Here’s what you’ve been asking for. Go for it. I’m with you.”
Normally, I would have been frozen in fear and probably deferred to someone else, but on this occasion I felt such a peace that could have only come from God. So for about the next 5-10 minutes, standing next to this Hindu temple, I shared the gospel with these people. The majority had probably never heard the gospel before. Talk about INCREDIBLE!!!!
And then it continued to get better…..Standing there, right next to this temple, we asked if anyone wanted to receive Christ. Numerous people responded and I had the opportunity to lead them in accepting Christ as their Savior!!!! Standing there listening to them repeat the prayer in Telegu, their language, was one of the coolest things I’ve ever experienced.
WOW!!! Talk about a humbling experience. Here I was. Halfway around the world, in a foreign culture, standing next to a temple used to worship false idols, sharing Jesus’ love through a translator. Somebody should have told me 7 months ago that this is where I’d be and what I’d be doing. I would have laughed hysterically!
I could have never imagined the journey that the Lord was about to take me on, but I am so thankful to be here!
