Hey everyone!
I apologize for the delay, but after much waiting, here is the INDIA UPDATE!!! Yay!!
Honestly, India was a hard month for me. There were a lot of lows, but each + every time that I felt low + discouraged, the Lord used the situation to reveal to me something new about Him + His character. Praise the Lord for His faithfulness! I didn’t fully realize how much the Lord truly had worked in my life while in India until our mini debrief in Nepal. We were asked to spend 30 minutes to reflect on India + debrief our month there with the Lord. As I was going back through my VERY detailed journal entries from India (seriously, I carried it with me everywhere + would write stuff down immediately after it happened), the Lord highlighted SO many things that He had taught me + done in my heart. It’s crazy how the Lord can turn even the darkest + worst moments into a reason to give Him glory!!
India was such an incredibly beautiful country! I experienced a bit of culture shock as it was SO different than anything I’d ever experienced before, but I adored their rich culture! Our hosts + the family we stayed with were so sweet, + I felt so welcomed into their family! I loved getting to know them better over many, MANY, cups of chai. Our host’s kids were such a ray of sunshine + it was so fun to get to spend time with them whenever we saw them!
Before we left for India, my leader + I prayed that the Lord would provide us a guitar for our time in India! During our first day at our hosts house, he asked if I played any instruments + then proceeded to lend us not only a guitar, but also a keyboard!! The Lord is so faithful to provide!! I discovered how much my soul enjoyed spending time praising the Lord + pouring my heart out to Him alone! There was just something so sweet + intimate about being alone on the balcony with a guitar + just worshipping the Lord!
Our first weeks in India were pretty slow as far as ministry went because of the holidays and food poisoning, but we went to lots of church services! We had opportunities to sing + share our testimonies + messages with different congregations! This was such a growing experience in boldness for me. Although I struggled with it initially, I really grew to enjoy it! The language barrier was harder than I expected. I thrive on deep connections and conversations, + I really struggled to not be able to communicate the way I wanted to! The church services were normally in Telegu, which the Lord used to teach me lots of patience + endurance (especially during the five hour service on Christmas)! Because I couldn’t understand their worship or their sermons, it allowed me to see things I would normally miss. I saw true joy, complete dependence on the Lord, incredible passion, and a huge desire for more of Him.
One of my favorite ministries we did was go to a Christian school + a private school! We got to teach the kids more English + help them practice what they already knew, play games with them, tell them about where we are from! My absolute favorite thing with them is we got to learn some of their traditional dances! Even though we couldn’t fully understand each other, it was so fun to dance alongside them + share so much laughter + joy with them! The kids were so eager + filled with love + I so enjoyed getting to love on them!
We also traveled to several very small + remote villages + tribes where we got to pray over the houses + some people there! I experienced so much spiritual darkness + heaviness while there, which was hard. In a lot of cases, we were very unwelcome, + even in the places where we were welcomed, we couldn’t really share the gospel for the sake of our safety + the sake of our ministry hosts. Especially in the villages + tribes, there is a lot of persecution for Christians.
Although India is a closed country, the Indians, not necessarily the government, are what makes it so hard to reach the people there. The Indian gods aren’t just their religon, they are their whole culture, history, + the backbone of their whole belief system. Everything that happens + has happened is related back to some story of gods. India is a very codependent society, + who you are is who your family is. It’s very common to meet someone + be asked what your caste is or your family name is + not be asked what your name is. It’s very important to bring honor + respect to your family. To be a christian and forsake your gods is one of the biggest disgraces a person can do to their family. The bindi (the dot on the forehead) is worn to show worship to gods. When a woman gets married, she wears a different dot to show that she worships her husband as a god. If a woman’s husband dies, she removes the dot therefore signifying that she is a widow. Christians don’t wear a bindi, so it appears to the family + those around them that they are a widow, which is incredibly disrespectful to her husband + her family. There are so many more examples of things like this!
At one village we went to, we got to hear the testimony of a lady that BROKE my heart. She was probably in her upper 50s + she shared about how for the past ten years she had been heavily persecuted by her tribe for being a Christian. Although she was the only Christian in her family, none of them were allowed access to water, to roads, to any purchases, she was frequently beaten, + she wasn’t able to pray or worship the Lord out loud or publicly for her own safety. Her own tribe would hide on the road on her way to church every week to beat her to prevent her from going. But, she kept sharing the gospel with her tribe + her family, + she continued going to church. With tears in her eyes, she shared how the Lord had continued to protect her + provide for her. The people who persecuted her left her tribe, her family was restored access to roads + water, + most importantly, four other members of her tribe were baptized!! Praise the Lord! The small church service we were in was filled with tribal women with very similar stories to hers, but instead of being discouraged or negative, they were some of the most joyful people I’ve ever met. Their love for the Lord was so contagious!!
Something else we got to do was lead a VBS in a village! We had the gospel as colors as our theme (example: black = sin, red = blood in crucifixion, white = cleansed) + got to do five different sessions for the kids! We also got to share our testimonies, had memory verses for each session + did VBS songs with them! One of my favorite parts of the week was getting to hear such a variety of ages singing the fruits of the spirit with so much joy + excitement! At the end of the week, the kids had an opportunity to say all the memory verses for a prize, + it was so powerful to hear them recite God’s word!
The Lord really showed me His heart for children in India. In the church services, the villages, + VBS, everyone wanted us to pray over their children. It was often easy to feel like we weren’t “doing anything”, but the Lord showed me the importance of investing in children. As white foreigners, there was only so much we could do to share + show the gospel to Indians, but by even the life of ONE child being changed, their impact is huge. We got to pray for salvations over kids, that they would bring revival to their families, their villages, + to their tribes! We got to pray that they would be leaders in government, that they would work in schools, + in hospitals, + that their lives would make a kingdom impact! The Lord laid on my heart that it was up to Him to work in people’s hearts, that my only job was to obey Him! I just get to share His love + joy + plant + water seeds!
I know this is a pretty lengthy post, but I want to share more of how the Lord moved in my heart in another post, so keep an eye out for that!! Please keep the people + the country of India in your prayers- that hearts + eyes will be opened + that the Lord will bring revival!!!
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