Hello dear friends!
It is hard to imagine I have already been here for almost 8 weeks. Where did the time go?! We head back to America in 2 1/2 weeks for debrief week, and it will be so different being back home! Our DTS graduation will be on March 19th, and we are released to go home on the 21st.
As we are praying for people after the evening program, I have realized an amazing thing that happens. We'll be praying for the ladies (the guys pray for the men) and some of the women are stoic through the entire pray, but others as soon as you lay your hands on them and start praying that they would feel God's love and that the Holy Spirit would come and fill them, they start crying. And you know it's nothing you did because they can't understand English, but you realize that God really is touching them, and that He's using you to do it. How amazing is that? God uses us to literally be His hands to show God's love to these people. What a privilege!
As we walk around the villages to invite the villagers to the evening program, we always have a group of the local children that follow us. As our time here gets shorter, I find myself wanting to spend more time with the little girls than being at the front of the group inviting people to the program. At each new village there are always so many little girls that want someone to love them and my heart just breaks for them - how much more does the Father's heart break for them! They are so precious. We were at one village and a dog fight happened right in front of me, and two little arms grabbed me, and I looked down to see a little girl about 5 years old clinging to me in fear. She quickly let go of me, probably thinking I'd get mad at her for grabbing me (the kids are used to getting hit and threatened by adults), and I just wanted to pick her up and hug her. I so wished I could speak her language and let her know the Father's love for her! But, I couldn't, so I smiled at her and put my hand on her shoulder to reassure her, and that one simple action of love was all she needed. She held onto my hand for the rest of the walk around the village, and it gave me a glimpse of the Father's love for these children. As I walk with a little girl holding onto each of my hands, and they chatter happily in Tellagu asking me questions and we try to understand each other's language, I just want to show God's Father-heart to these precious children! To let them know they are not alone and that even though most of their fathers are not really part of their life, there is a heavenly Father that will never leave them!
We went to our bus driver's village this week and shared the Gospel. He got saved one of the first weeks we were here so he was our "person of Peace" that invited us into his village (Luke 11). It is amazing how one person's choice can affect a whole area so much!
On Thursday we went to one of the large local cities to a mostly Hindu and Muslim area. At every meeting we are aware of the caste system because if we invite people from one part of the city, we can't invite people from another part because the castes do not mix. It is so sad to see the separation that occurs. Thursday was a really good example of the hold that Hinduism and Islam has over the people. More than a hundred people showed up for the program to hear what we "white people" had to say, but after we did the time testimonies, songs, and skit and we began the Gospel, most of the crowd left. Indians are some of the most patient listeners, but once you say that Jesus is the only way to heaven, they often won't listen any more. We hadn't had that problem very much in the villages because there isn't that much for them to do, but the city is a little different as they are more "advanced" than the villagers that we had been talking to. There was actually a Muslim mosque right down the road from where we held the meeting. Keep praying that the chains of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam would be broken off of the people! You can just look into their eyes and see their hopelessness, but they do not want to surrender their lives to Jesus. It's so sad. They live in bondage to their idols, thinking that they have freedom, when really Satan has just pulled off a massive deception, so that now good is bad, and bad is good! There are literally temples everywhere, and it is impossible not to burn with righteous anger as you see little babies along with grandfather's worshipping the carved stones.
I am going to miss this place so much, and I am going to miss doing life with my tribe! Waking up, everyone being halfway asleep as they get a cup of chai, morning worship and intercession times, insider jokes inside insider jokes, discussions about what God is doing in our lives and all the raw stuff that He is revealing and changing and breaking down. The times of laughing just because one person said one word that brings back memories, and everyone just hanging out, talking about life. There is definitely a reason God created community! Looking at my tribe members, there is no way we all would have met or known each other except through God's saving grace! Two of them were addicted to and used to sell drugs, most of them used to be alcoholics, several used to be depressed and suicidal, most of them used to be partiers, and two of them actually knew each other before they both got saved and they were literally mortal enemies. But God! Listening to their testimonies, it is really amazing how God saved them all, and then seeing how God has been moving in their life here is really an amazing thing. Salvation - Wow! God's saving power is so extraordinary! Looking at them now, I would never have guessed what they were like B.C. (before Christ). The guy that ran away from home at 14, started taking and selling drugs, had his own car and apartment by the time he was 16, was radically encountered when he was in jail at age 18, and is now one of the most sincere, on fire, passionate 21 year olds that I know. He's like a teddy bear - I could never imagine him as a gangster! The 19 year old girl that I sleep next to was a heavy partier right before coming to DTS, got saved during the beginning of lecture phase, and then seeing the transformation that happened during lecture phase and while being here is amazing. Gone is the sassy, rude girl, and in her place is one who went from being terrified of speaking in front of a group to one who can't wait to share her testimony or the Gospel and knows that she is supposed to be a speaker of the Word (and she speaks with fire!). And it's the same with everyone else here; the stories I shared are not unusual. There isn't one person that is here that I don't think, "Wow, God, you are so mighty in what you've done in their life!" When you are encountered by God, it radically changes you!
God's love really is amazing. Constant, continual, passionate, self-less love. And even when I "mess-up", or think I messed-up, He still loves me and never stops talking to me or pursuing me. Wow! What a God we serve! Ah! I am undone by His goodness!
Please be praying for our last two weeks of ministry time. That we would continue to push even closer to Christ as individuals and a tribe, and that from those refreshing times with the Lord our words would be filled with fire as we minister in the evenings!
Well, that is all for now. :) I am looking forward to being back home and sharing in person about what God did here!
May the Lord bless your week!
In Him,
Sara
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