The first two days were awesome. Tuesday we
had a few hours of orientation, discussing culturally acceptable things to do,
emergency plans, foods not to eat, etc. Afterward we went shopping for the
girls to have culturally appropriate clothing.
Wednesday we heard the story of a local believer who had
massive life change through encountering Jesus. He shared about various times
God provided for Him and his family despite hardship. It was beyond encouraging
to see first hand what He has been doing in the lives of locals and
specifically how He has been calling them to himself. This same man gave us a
tour of some temples in town and explained some things about each one.
We saw some things in the city during the afternoon, and
that evening we went to the first Fellowship where we will be teaching for
the remainder of this week. It's exciting to see their group. They are a great
bunch of 20-30 year olds, and I can tell they're looking forward to both the
training and getting into their communities.
Thursday we had 30 minutes of worship in Hindi
before starting the first training. Our teaching for the morning was on
the good news itself, explained through a creation to JC (C2C) story
format. Later we went into their communities and shared in homes with
their neighbors.
Update 2:
Friday was remarkable. We did the first lesson which Megan
and I led. We allotted them time to practice with each other, and it turned out
to be a great part of the day. While some worked through their understanding of
Creation to JC (C2C), others came up and asked us questions they felt
Hindus would ask them while they would be sharing. Their questions were really
good, and it was exciting to see them thinking on their own and being so
engaged in the training.
We broke up into 3 groups and went to 5 homes and 1 school
between all of us. Hannah and I were in a group together. The local believers
were hesitant to initiate conversation in the home, but after some
assistance from us the convo got going, we asked some spiritual questions, and
drew the national believers in to share. One girl and one guy shared the C2C
story, and another guy shared a testimony of how his parents encountered
JC and believed. I also shared my story, and we clearly explained that
everyone has a choice after they hear about Him. We had made the choice to
believe and follow Him, and the people who hosted us had the choice as well.
We asked her what she thought about C2C and the testimonies
she heard, and she said that these were important things that she will think on
and consider for herself. She was very polite and listened intently, and I feel
confident that she has a heart willing to consider this as truth. We mentioned
the relationship that we have with the Father through JC's death and
new life, and I think that was a new concept she is pondering.
The nationals who went with us were encouraged and excited
to have been faithful to share so many different things with her. Great stories
came from the other groups as well, and we feel this is just the beginning of
what the He will do for both this Fellowship and their community. A small
number of the believers in this Fellowship struggle to communicate in English
and need a translator. The woman which Hannah and my group talked to only spoke
Hindi. The Father has been equipping me with what I need to share. He is
so faithful.
Update 3:
Candace and Hannah did a great job teaching Friday. The
lesson was solid, and we could see their personal stories getting refined as
they practiced sharing with each other and telling those stories to the people
who hosted us in homes. There was still hesitation for a good portion of the
young adults to initiate conversation and share, but we saw improvement from
the first day. One thing we noticed that day was many of the young adults felt
the locals who were hosting us wanted to hear our stories, not theirs. It
seemed they felt disabled to share because of this. Our team discussed this,
and with honesty and love we addressed it in the next training day.
Saturday, Jacob taught the paralytic story and showed how to
use it to explain the good news. He did a good job ensuring they heard all the
important elements of the story and showed how we relate to the paralyzed man.
They practiced sharing the story after the lesson, and in this final day of
training we saw they had found the groove of reviewing the old lesson,
hearing the new lesson, and practicing to apply it. Many of them shared this
story out in homes that day, and others include the C2C and personal stories
from the other lessons.
That evening after returning from the homes we had a party
to celebrate the week. After playing some games, we all shared what was
impactful or eye opening from the training. About 5 of them shared that they
had never had a youth camp or training session like this. They said it was fun,
but more importantly it was a series of lessons they remembered and used. One
girl shared that we were different than all of the other people who had come to
teach because we invested in their lives. By spending a lot of time with them,
learning about them, and going out into the community with them, they wanted to
learn what we had come to teach. We went over our anticipated departure time
that evening by about an hour or so, but that particular time to hear them
debrief the week was, as someone said, "The best way to spend too much
time."
Yesterday we got about 3-4 hours of sleep to head early to
the Taj Mahal. It was a really great trip, which included a guide, great
photos, and shopping. We had enough time before leaving to visit Agra Fort as
well, another major landmark of the area.
Today, we rest. It has been a long week. Between teaching,
translators, sickness, late nights, and little sleep, we need to recover and
regroup. Tonight we meet the next bunch of people from a new fellowship in
town. This week will be very different than the one before. A good number of
the young adults spoke English in our last location. In addition, we had about
6 hours with them every day between training and hanging out before going into
homes. This week there is no training since the Ms who are hosting us completed
the training a few weeks back. There is also no down time in the afternoon to
spend with the majority of this fellowship. Lastly, we expect none of them to
speak English apart from the translators. We will have lunch each day with
those translators and then meet anyone who will join us before going into slum
communities to share with houses of peace (Luke 10). Our goal last week was to
equip and encourage the locals to share and assist when they had difficulty.
Our goal this week is to be the ones to share through our translators.
Please pray we stay strong from temptation, healthy from
sickness, rested from fatigue, united as a team, and seeking what He wants from
this week. Please pray for the translators to be wise and identify situations
that are safe and those that are not in these slum areas. Pray they are
empowered and encouraged to share as well. Lastly, pray those who host us will
hear, receive, turn, and follow with great faith. May the earth be filled with
the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea (Habakkuk
2:14).
