Sunday, May 25, 2014
An overview of our outreach time in India - it's a bit of a long one. India ended up being a very mixed experience for me. Darjeeling really was beautiful and we were able to be involved in several different ministries. It was such great experience to see such a variety of ministries.
I went to a children's slum ministry, where the kids ranged in age from around 1 to 12, mostly falling into the 5ish area. There were about 40 kids packed into a room slightly bigger than my living room (which is not big enough for 10 people sitting, let alone 40 brawling children). Despite the utter chaos, we were still able to act out Daniel and the Lions' Den (I was one of the bad advisors. It was a real big hit when I was eaten.), play some games (still not entirely sure how that was accomplished), do a lion mask craft (lions are now green, purple, blue and covered in flower patterns) and hand out snack. It was over so quickly and all just went by in a blur. But it was so wonderful getting to be there even for a short time, to just show the kids God's love.
We traveled to a nearby town to pray on location for a church that one of the pastor's wants to start there. We had a time of worship and prayer there, praying for open hearts and the effectiveness of the church. The pastor and his wife were so excited to have us come do that for them.
We went to an all girls school to run a Sunday School program. Talk about your comedy of errors. The morning began with us having no clue where we were going, so we ended up waiting at the wrong place for some time. We found the right place and were right on time, maybe a minute past when we were supposed to be there. However the Sunday School Superintendent informed us we were late and would hardly have any time to do anything anymore. "We would usually have half an hour, but now only 15 minutes." We mentioned that we had a skit. "No, a skit would not be possible. No time." Ok then. We hoped to just sneak into some seats in the back, but as luck would have it, there were chairs up on stage for us. Wonderful. The SSS apologized to all the girls for running so late and then led them in some songs. He asked us to teach them a new English song. They had already sung our first choice, which we thought was a rather unknown song, but we had other choices, so it wasn't a big deal. We started to lead them in another song, but the SSS interrupted, "They already know this one. Teach them something new." How are we supposed to know what songs they already know? Ah! So with some extreme embarrassment and mild panic, we quickly started with a new song, but the SSS "Couldn't quite get the tune". The main chapel time mercifully ended and we split into a few groups to do teachings with the girls. I was in charge of teaching the grades 5, 6 and 7's. I did the story of Jesus calming the storm, getting them to act it out and recreate a storm; teaching them how Jesus is powerful to help us. It went really well! Except we were told by the SSS that we had "exactly 30 minutes, no more". I had finished pretty much everything in about 26 minutes, but then the translator that was with us, told us that we had another 30 minutes until the girls had to go. Impromptu song and game time, yay! So, that was quite an experience...
We organized an intercession time at a local church for the young people of Darjeeling. We led some worship and set up some stations where they could see verses about children and youth in the Bible, facts about issues affecting the young people of Darjeeling, and a few other prayer stations. We prayed that churches and ministries would be effective in reaching out to the young people, and that young people would be raised up as strong followers of God.
We went to a deaf school a couple times to do skits and dances and games. It was so much fun! What really struck me about our time there was that, even though while sitting in their chairs and waiting or watching they were so silent, once you got them playing they screamed and laughed just as loud as any child. It was so wonderful to see the smiles on their faces and hear their shrieks as they chased each other around.
We went to a disabled women's home to do a short program with them. Some of them had very severe disabilities, unable to even understand what was going on around them. But through our silly skits and songs and dances and craft we were able to make them smile and even laugh. They just enjoyed having someone be there with them.
Despite all these wonderful things that happened, Darjeeling was a terribly discouraging time for me. I spent much of my time being sick - food poisoning type illness, severe head colds. I was miserable. And I missed out on a ton of ministry because of it. I missed a prayer tour, a village weekend and other various ministries. I was disappointed to be missing out on so much and was feeling quite useless. After a while, it really began to feel like an attack of the enemy, trying to keep me out of commission. I tried to keep a positive attitude and remain in prayer when I couldn't be directly involved, but I was still feeling very worn down - physically, emotionally, spiritually. I was just counting down the days til we were leaving.
That time came quickly, and we headed back to Kolkata for a couple days. By some miracle, I was feeling better in the sweltering hot and dirty city, than in the more temperate mountain town, but after three weeks of misery, I was not going to question it.
Our last hours in India were possibly the highlight of outreach. Manuel took a few of us girls out to the streets to evangelize. We headed to the square in hopes of finding a shady area (at 1:30 in the afternoon). After arriving we split up to pray and scope out the area. I didn't find a good spot, but I did pray that God would just give us shade everywhere and cool down the sun. We got back together and tried to set up in one spot, but a security guard told us we couldn't do that there. So we went around the corner and across the street we saw two large signs:
"For I know the thoughts I think towards you," says The Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you an expected end." Jeremiah 29:11, The Holy Bible
Jesus said, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6, The Holy Bible
We took it as a sign and set up across the street, in front of a blank wall, in the shade. Shortly after that the sky became overcast and it cooled down considerably. Manuel played the guitar and we sang a few worship songs, trying to draw a crowd. Once we had drawn the attention of a few people, the other girls started to share their testimony after each worship song. Once everyone else had shared, I got to preach the gospel. Manuel later told me he was shocked - he had never heard me speak so loud! This was my first time ever preaching the gospel, and I felt like the apostle Paul, declaring the love of God boldly in the streets. Manuel then asked if we could pray for anyone. Two other girls in our group got to talking with a young man, sharing how our God is different from all others because he truly cares for us and loves us enough to sacrifice himself to be with us. He truly forgives our sins and we don't need to earn our salvation. I stood by listening and praying as hard as I could the entire time that his eyes would be opened to God's love and truth. I could see the hunger in his eyes, the desire to believe and know more. At the end of the conversation, the girls prayed with him to accept Christ and one of them gave him her Bible so he would be able to read it all for himself. We learned this man was a Muslim. He said if his family found out they would beat him, but it was his life, and he believed in Jesus. It was so amazing to be a part of this! Praise God! We were all just glowing after, so excited that God could use us in such an incredible way!
Now we head to Malaysia for the last leg of outreach to do refugee ministry and helping with a mini DTS, among a few other things. That last day in Kolkata really helped me regain my passion for serving God, and I'm so excited for these last days of outreach. God is so worth the effort on my part, and the enemy cannot take that from me. I will fight to stay on fire!
Prayer Requests:
- energy to finish well, for the whole team
- the ability to better listen to the Holy Spirit's guidance
- to be used by God to do amazing things for his kingdom
- for hearts to be prepared in Malaysia, for eyes to be opened
- health (I'm feeling better, and I want it to stay that way! And the rest of the team takes turns getting sick too, so we'd all like to stay healthy.)
- for the Muslim man that accepted Jesus! That he would grow in his faith, and for acceptance from his family
An overview of our outreach time in India - it's a bit of a long one. India ended up being a very mixed experience for me. Darjeeling really was beautiful and we were able to be involved in several different ministries. It was such great experience to see such a variety of ministries.
I went to a children's slum ministry, where the kids ranged in age from around 1 to 12, mostly falling into the 5ish area. There were about 40 kids packed into a room slightly bigger than my living room (which is not big enough for 10 people sitting, let alone 40 brawling children). Despite the utter chaos, we were still able to act out Daniel and the Lions' Den (I was one of the bad advisors. It was a real big hit when I was eaten.), play some games (still not entirely sure how that was accomplished), do a lion mask craft (lions are now green, purple, blue and covered in flower patterns) and hand out snack. It was over so quickly and all just went by in a blur. But it was so wonderful getting to be there even for a short time, to just show the kids God's love.
We traveled to a nearby town to pray on location for a church that one of the pastor's wants to start there. We had a time of worship and prayer there, praying for open hearts and the effectiveness of the church. The pastor and his wife were so excited to have us come do that for them.
We went to an all girls school to run a Sunday School program. Talk about your comedy of errors. The morning began with us having no clue where we were going, so we ended up waiting at the wrong place for some time. We found the right place and were right on time, maybe a minute past when we were supposed to be there. However the Sunday School Superintendent informed us we were late and would hardly have any time to do anything anymore. "We would usually have half an hour, but now only 15 minutes." We mentioned that we had a skit. "No, a skit would not be possible. No time." Ok then. We hoped to just sneak into some seats in the back, but as luck would have it, there were chairs up on stage for us. Wonderful. The SSS apologized to all the girls for running so late and then led them in some songs. He asked us to teach them a new English song. They had already sung our first choice, which we thought was a rather unknown song, but we had other choices, so it wasn't a big deal. We started to lead them in another song, but the SSS interrupted, "They already know this one. Teach them something new." How are we supposed to know what songs they already know? Ah! So with some extreme embarrassment and mild panic, we quickly started with a new song, but the SSS "Couldn't quite get the tune". The main chapel time mercifully ended and we split into a few groups to do teachings with the girls. I was in charge of teaching the grades 5, 6 and 7's. I did the story of Jesus calming the storm, getting them to act it out and recreate a storm; teaching them how Jesus is powerful to help us. It went really well! Except we were told by the SSS that we had "exactly 30 minutes, no more". I had finished pretty much everything in about 26 minutes, but then the translator that was with us, told us that we had another 30 minutes until the girls had to go. Impromptu song and game time, yay! So, that was quite an experience...
We organized an intercession time at a local church for the young people of Darjeeling. We led some worship and set up some stations where they could see verses about children and youth in the Bible, facts about issues affecting the young people of Darjeeling, and a few other prayer stations. We prayed that churches and ministries would be effective in reaching out to the young people, and that young people would be raised up as strong followers of God.
We went to a deaf school a couple times to do skits and dances and games. It was so much fun! What really struck me about our time there was that, even though while sitting in their chairs and waiting or watching they were so silent, once you got them playing they screamed and laughed just as loud as any child. It was so wonderful to see the smiles on their faces and hear their shrieks as they chased each other around.
We went to a disabled women's home to do a short program with them. Some of them had very severe disabilities, unable to even understand what was going on around them. But through our silly skits and songs and dances and craft we were able to make them smile and even laugh. They just enjoyed having someone be there with them.
Despite all these wonderful things that happened, Darjeeling was a terribly discouraging time for me. I spent much of my time being sick - food poisoning type illness, severe head colds. I was miserable. And I missed out on a ton of ministry because of it. I missed a prayer tour, a village weekend and other various ministries. I was disappointed to be missing out on so much and was feeling quite useless. After a while, it really began to feel like an attack of the enemy, trying to keep me out of commission. I tried to keep a positive attitude and remain in prayer when I couldn't be directly involved, but I was still feeling very worn down - physically, emotionally, spiritually. I was just counting down the days til we were leaving.
That time came quickly, and we headed back to Kolkata for a couple days. By some miracle, I was feeling better in the sweltering hot and dirty city, than in the more temperate mountain town, but after three weeks of misery, I was not going to question it.
Our last hours in India were possibly the highlight of outreach. Manuel took a few of us girls out to the streets to evangelize. We headed to the square in hopes of finding a shady area (at 1:30 in the afternoon). After arriving we split up to pray and scope out the area. I didn't find a good spot, but I did pray that God would just give us shade everywhere and cool down the sun. We got back together and tried to set up in one spot, but a security guard told us we couldn't do that there. So we went around the corner and across the street we saw two large signs:
"For I know the thoughts I think towards you," says The Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you an expected end." Jeremiah 29:11, The Holy Bible
Jesus said, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6, The Holy Bible
We took it as a sign and set up across the street, in front of a blank wall, in the shade. Shortly after that the sky became overcast and it cooled down considerably. Manuel played the guitar and we sang a few worship songs, trying to draw a crowd. Once we had drawn the attention of a few people, the other girls started to share their testimony after each worship song. Once everyone else had shared, I got to preach the gospel. Manuel later told me he was shocked - he had never heard me speak so loud! This was my first time ever preaching the gospel, and I felt like the apostle Paul, declaring the love of God boldly in the streets. Manuel then asked if we could pray for anyone. Two other girls in our group got to talking with a young man, sharing how our God is different from all others because he truly cares for us and loves us enough to sacrifice himself to be with us. He truly forgives our sins and we don't need to earn our salvation. I stood by listening and praying as hard as I could the entire time that his eyes would be opened to God's love and truth. I could see the hunger in his eyes, the desire to believe and know more. At the end of the conversation, the girls prayed with him to accept Christ and one of them gave him her Bible so he would be able to read it all for himself. We learned this man was a Muslim. He said if his family found out they would beat him, but it was his life, and he believed in Jesus. It was so amazing to be a part of this! Praise God! We were all just glowing after, so excited that God could use us in such an incredible way!
Now we head to Malaysia for the last leg of outreach to do refugee ministry and helping with a mini DTS, among a few other things. That last day in Kolkata really helped me regain my passion for serving God, and I'm so excited for these last days of outreach. God is so worth the effort on my part, and the enemy cannot take that from me. I will fight to stay on fire!
Prayer Requests:
- energy to finish well, for the whole team
- the ability to better listen to the Holy Spirit's guidance
- to be used by God to do amazing things for his kingdom
- for hearts to be prepared in Malaysia, for eyes to be opened
- health (I'm feeling better, and I want it to stay that way! And the rest of the team takes turns getting sick too, so we'd all like to stay healthy.)
- for the Muslim man that accepted Jesus! That he would grow in his faith, and for acceptance from his family
Looks like you're learning on your adventure. Keep it up good luck with your final phase.
ReplyDeleteShaneen, this sounds like quick the adventure so far! Praying for this last leg of your journey!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much Ben and Stephanie!
ReplyDeletePrayers are so appreciated!