So this is the full update on the three week mission to India with first year students from To Every Tribe I referred to in our letter (if you aren't recieving our update letters and would like to, please email us at joshandbrita@gmail.com). It's long but well worth it!
Ok first of all- yes I realize this update is 10 pages long. I promise I left a lot out though. :) :) But the second half of the trip was even more amazing than the first half!! I am so thankful to you guys for the money you have given me that allowed me to go on this trip in the first place. And I hope you guys are able to see how these things I wrote about are directly connected to the prayers you prayed for me. THANK YOU a million times over. I am so thankful for your financial and prayer support- and for how you are partnering with me. The abundant fruit we saw on this trip is your fruit as well. That is why I felt like it is only fair to share with you how much fruit God allowed us to gather. :) :) I really hope and pray that those of you who read this are as amazed as I am by the goodness of our God- and by the privilege we have to serve Him.
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| The India Team (The writer Hannah is bottom left) |
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| Pastor Anil |
Alright- my last update left off when I was in the foothills of the Himalayas and about to go to a house church. We were working with a 30 year old single pastor named Anil who had a radical conversion story out of Hinduism. When he was 18 years old his mom was in a bus that flew over a cliff- killing all of the passengers. He had been extremely close to his mom. Long story short- he became a Christian a couple of years later- and his dad disowned him. Most Indian men live with their parents until their mid twenties- after they get a steady income. There's no such thing as part-time jobs in India so you are dependent on your parents financially until you finish your education and get a "real" job. Anil still lives only a few miles from his dad and the area he grew up- but because he is following Christ he is totally estranged from his family and childhood friends. The last time he tried to go visit his dad- his dad called the police. Since marriages are arranged in the Indian culture, and there are very, very few Christians in his area- (and really in most of India) it has been challenging for Anil. But by God's grace it looks like God has provided a girl for him to marry! It was sweet to hear him talk about his heart for the women in this area to know Christ- but how challenging it was for him to do any of that as a single man. Once he is married this coming year his wife will be able to minister to these women. :) :)
It was so sobering and challenging to me to hear the stories of persecution that Anil and so many other believers have faced. Anil only knows of 2 other believers in his entire area! He left his whole culture and way of life when God saved him out of Hinduism. He is seen as a traitor. But he is so faithfully preaching the Gospel and reaching out to hundreds and hundreds of people with the Gospel. Not only does he share the Gospel with all of the people in his surrounding area- but he also goes deep into the Himalayas and preaches the Gospel to unreached villages. I asked him his favorite things to do- and he immediately told me "telling people about Jesus!".I really respect this man for both his zeal for sharing the Gospel- and his humility and gentleness. A couple of years ago- Anil led a man named Umpragosh to Christ and he came with us during our trekking into unreached villages in the Himalayas. Umpragosh was just precious- and he really radiated the meekness and love of Christ in a unique way. We spent our whole week with these men and I got really attached to them. It was painful saying goodbye. It's amazing how quickly God bonds you together with people who love the same Savior. Anil really, really hopes we come back and join him in the work. After I share the stories of how God worked- you'll see why we are all praying to go back and join him as well!
House church was small but great. It meets at Anil's house- where Umpragosh and his family are living as well. Anil is trying to help Umpragosh out financially by letting them live with him. Umpragosh has a desire for ministry but it is so challenging to minister when there is no money coming in to feed your family- so right now he is working as a ticket collector at the bus station. He only makes 5 dollars a day. If any of you have a desire to support Anil or Umpragosh please let me know. These faithful, inspiring men have such a love for Jesus and for people- and a zeal to take the Gospel to all these unreached people- but they are severely limited when they have to work 12 hour days just to make ends meet. But there are no other Christians to support them- or to carry on the work of taking the Gospel to these areas.
After church we went on a walk to see where the local women wash their clothes- and to enjoy the amazing mountain view. As we walked down to this valley a group of teenage guys were gathering to play cricket. One of Jo's dreams for our trip was to get to play cricket with a group of Indians. The
guys challenged our group to a match. (is that what you call it? :) ) I know this will shock all of you- but I opted out and took advantage of the time to be alone in this beautiful place. I got to sit on this huge boulder in a mountain stream facing huge snow-capped mountains- and just sing and pray. Such an amazing time with the Lord- and much needed by this point in the trip. It's so sweet how God loves to give his children the various desires of our heart; cricket for Jo and prayer time for me. And our team actually won the match. Ha! :) I'm pretty sure most of these Indians had never seen white people and they were just thrilled that they got to play cricket with our group. And these were guys that Anil had been preaching the Gospel to (with no fruit up to this point). It was really cool to see how God used us to give Anil increased favor with these guys. Please pray that Anil has more of an open door for ministry to those guys now- and that those guys get saved! :)
we were so limited on time- so we couldn't stop at every house. It just killed me to have to share quickly- and keep moving. So many people to reach- and so little time. After sharing at one house- we passed a woman who was sitting on her balcony and clearly wanting us to come up to her and share with her. Our leader, Luke, said we needed to keep going to the other houses but I was just dying to talk with this woman. She was literally motioning for us to come up and talk to her. By God's grace I followed Luke's lead and went with the group to the next house. After we shared the Gospel with the next family we were hiking along to the next house- and this woman ran up to us! She handed me a little piece of paper with her email address on it!! What?? Here we are in this crazy
Ambika and her family
remote area- and she has a gmail account! haha. She said she had heard us talking with her neighbors about Jesus and she was really wanting to hear more about Jesus as well. This woman, Ambika, had a TV and she'd heard the name of this man Jesus mentioned at various times on TV. Each time- she was flooded with peace- so she prayed that she would learn more about who this man was!! God AMAZES me!!!
I got to share the Gospel with Ambika and answer some of her questions. She's been going through so many difficult trials and said she had no peace in her life. She'd been worshiping the false gods/ idols her whole life- and had never known anyone who wasn't Hindu. She's been harassed by evil spirits (along with pretty much everyone else we talked to) and she was asking what would happen if she stopped worshiping those false gods. We were able to tell her about how Jesus has all authority over Satan and evil spirits. And of course we talked to her about the importance of repentance- and turning away from her sin and the idols- to follow and trust Jesus alone. She said she wanted to do that! We prayed for her but Luke said we needed to keep moving. It was definitely agonizing to have to move along so quickly but having her email address was super comforting.
We continued to preach the Gospel to many people, and were super encouraged by how attentive and respectful- and even thankful- the people were. They seemed to really listen and take in what we were sharing with them. One girl started crying when we shared the Gospel- and she seemed nervous to open up about what was going on in her heart in front of the whole group- but I got to pray for her. We gave each family the Bible in Hindi and we trust that God's word will not return void. It was just incredible to give these people the word of God for the very first time. We told them that the one true,
living God had sent us to them because He wanted them to know Him. We didn't face any hostility whatsoever- even though we were telling them that everything they've ever believed was wrong! I could hardly believe how these people responded to the Gospel. They seemed to really cherish the Bibles we gave them. I think there was some weight to what we shared because of how we had come from so far away to bring this message to them. They knew it must be important. None of them had ever seen white people before so that definitely caught people's attention. And most of these people had probably never seen anyone even outside their own little mountain area. The road that got us within hiking distance of their houses hadn't even been there until a year ago. And apparently TVs had come to their area about 10 years ago- but I'm not sure who else other than Ambika had one. I'm definitely aware more than ever of what a gift technology is though!
We told the people they could come down that evening to where the village that was located where the road ended- to watch a film and learn more about Jesus. We hadn't actually started telling people that until after we left Ambika's house- but amazingly enough one of Ambika's friends heard us share the Gospel later in the day- and she told Ambika about the film showing. That night in the pitch dark- Ambika and her friend Reka hiked down the mountain side and came to learn more about Jesus! It was quite a risk for them to go alone at night in this area but Ambika decided to trust in Jesus to protect them! She was even more afraid to leave her children alone with her husband because she said that the evil spirits attack her children and she was really afraid of what might happen. By God's grace, when she returned home that night- Jesus had heard her prayers and protected them! Jesus was so mercifully building her trust in Himself- and assuring her that he hears her cries. Ambika wanted me to come spend the night with her but my team didn't think I should- even though of course I wanted to. :) :) But thankfully Ambika understood- and invited Jo and I over for breakfast! She warned me not to travel anywhere alone because she said the guys wanted to rape us- so we took Moncy as our bodyguard. (did I mention yet that Moncy, the man ministering in the slums in Delhi, joined us on our trekking through the Himalayas?) Ambika speaks some English but we were really thankful to have Moncy help translate for us! As we talked, Ambika cooked some of type of rice breakfast for her three children (Diksha, Praduman, Kritika) over this dirt oven inside the house. She and Reka might be the most beautiful, graceful women I've ever seen. It was really striking. I could have just watched them all day. Ambika is 26 (like Jo and I!) and Reka is 23. Reka is single- which is definitely unusual for a 23 year old in their culture.
As we were talking to Ambika and Reka more about what it meant to be a follower of Jesus, Ambika's husband, Gagan, got home. For some reason I was really expecting him to be angry about Ambika wanting to be a Christian- and I just assumed it was going to be a long hard road for Ambika. Moncy shared the Gospel with Gagan for the first time- because he hadn't been home the day before when we'd talked with Ambika. After Moncy finished, Gagan told us that this was the best news he'd ever heard!!!!!!!!!! No one ever told me that all those bazillion times I shared the Gospel in the States. haha. :) :) But of course it IS the best news anyone could ever hear!!! So basically we got to pray with these 3 people as they declared their desire to become followers of Jesus. They know the cost is very real. They will certainly be persecuted by their families and their entire village. Ambika was even asking what they should do at weddings- since everything revolves so much around idol worship. Their culture and religions are inextricably intertwined. We were so glad to have Moncy with us because we never had to face questions like that back in the US. But Moncy ministers to converted Hindus all day long so he had some wise counsel. We are learning so much! It was just precious to watch Moncy minister to this family. He started crying when Gagan told him this was the best news he'd ever heard.
The whole thing was just incredibly surreal- to be in the most beautiful place I've ever seen, ministering to people in a home that looks like something I've seen in a history book, hearing people say they want to follow Jesus even though two of them had never heard his name before this day- and none of them had ever met a Christian before. I told Ambika I felt like I was dreaming. She pinched me. haha! It was really wild how God just knit our hearts together so quickly. I felt like I'd always known her and like we understood each other at a deep level. She wanted me to stay with her so badly. I told her I was definitely called by God to India and that I really hoped to come live and minister in these mountains. I hope God allows us to be lifelong friends. I'm so thrilled to help disciple her via skype!! Isn't it amazing that I'll be able to stay in touch with this woman who lives in such a remote area halfway around the world?? I just love God. :) :) As we left, she gave Jo and I dresses she'd sewn. I'm glad to have a visual reminder that yes- that did in fact actually happen. It still is hard for me to believe.
There are so many details I'll have to leave out because my emails are too long as it is- but basically the next few days were spent trekking through the mountains and preaching the Gospel. Of course there are so many stories I could share though. Each place we went had a different sort of feel. From the terraces with yellow flowers, to super tall pine trees and mountains streams, to snow capped mountain tops with a breathtaking 360 mountain view. Moncy had never seen snow before so it was hilarious to see his delight over making his first snowball. The guys had quite the snowball fight. Our packs were heavy and the hiking was steep but all along the way the views were just crazy amazing. I was squealing with delight- and even the guys were shouting with amazement. We eventually came to a road at the top of a mountain and we starting walking along the road to get to the next village. The next village was a lot further away than we anticipated and we were pretty worn out after so much hiking. To give you an idea- Scott is an Iron man and he was dying! So we were thrilled when 2 guys driving chicken coup trucks agreed to give us a lift to the nearest village.
I had been really wanting to travel "Indian style"- on top of a vehicle. But my excitement quickly turned to terror as one of our team members commended on how top heavy these vehicles were now. Andy (Scott and Jo's 30 yr old pastor who was joining us) is quite the thrill seeker- but he was actually really scared that we were going to topple over the cliff. Andy was in a position- ready to jump if we started to tumble- and he told us to do the same. We whipped around these mountain roads and stared at the incredibly high drop off inches beside us. Anil had just shared with me an hour earlier about how his mom died when her bus went over a cliff a few years earlier. I was panicking (screaming but laughing at the same time) so Jo and I thought we should sing some worship songs so I didn't hyperventilate . Scott thought it would be just hilarious to start singing "we all fall down!" Soooo funny. (please note the sarcasm :) ) Once I surrendered to my impending death- it really was quite an amazing ride. The view couldn't have been more beautiful and we laughed the whole rest of the way. I think my team sort of enjoyed seeing me freak out since that's pretty far from my usual bent; if anything they usually have to try to get me to be a little more cautious... :) :)
The place we ended up kind of reminds me of the scenes in the Emperor's New Groove. Haha. :) I haven't seen that movie in years but that thought just struck me as I started typing. The village we came to was on sort of a mountain peak that sharply dropped off all around it- except for this narrow sort of walkway that connected to the road we came on. The only way I know to describe it is that it felt like a pillar had been raised really high in the sky and had a village placed on top of it. It was exhilarating to be up so high in the clouds with such a steep drop off all around you. And those same beautiful terraces filled with yellow flowers and lush green grass were lining the mountains sides below. We got to watch the sunset and that will be unforgettable. We got to preach the Gospel to these people- who again- had never heard it. And the other half of our group preached the Gospel to a neighboring village.
God answered so many prayers during our whole trekking experience. The weather was perfect. God gave me the warm front I'd been praying for!!!!!! It was so much warmer than it should have been for this time of year. The skies were clear and blue, the sun was shining, the breeze was blowing- and it was a perfect 65-70 degrees during the day. Luke is a big guy and he's extremely warm-natured so he gave me a hard time for being the reason he sweated nonstop during our days in the Himalayas. :) :) It became the ongoing joke of our team that if anyone wanted something they needed me to pray for it. I really did feel God's care in how many specific prayers he answered. (even down to specific food requests! ha) And God provided warm places for us to sleep at night! There are just tons of details I have to leave out- but it really was incredible how God provided these various places for us. One time we were in this extremely remote area- and the people told us there were literally these guest houses we could stay in- and the houses were the nicest places we stayed during our whole time in India!! Crazy! (I mean they weren't nice by American standards- but they were much cleaner and nicer than the hotels we'd been staying in during our whole trip. Those would have gagged you mom. haha Side note- but we found little hairs in our sheets in our hotel in Bihar- and Scott got a massive rash from sleeping shirtless. That was his own fault though. He should have known better in that sketch hotel. haha. But that hotel was the nicest one in the whole area so that gives you an idea...) It was bizarre that this place would even have guest houses in the first place. How many guests could they possible get out there?? :) God was looking out for us. There was even a mountain stream for us to bathe in. The water was quite chilly and as the guys got in we could hear them screaming like little girls. The guys built a fire and we all sang worship songs and enjoyed fellowship. Our conversations throughout the whole trip were so encouraging and though-provoking! God really gave us unity and allowed us to spur each other on. We're a pretty passionate, opinionated group so we had some intense conversations about a whole host of topics during the 3 weeks. I just love those kind of conversations. :) :)
What stood out to all of us the most from this part of the trip was seeing soooo many houses and villages that we didn't have time to get to- who are also entirely unreached. The verse about the harvest being plentiful and the laborers being few was burned on my heart in a new way. No wonder God commands us to pray earnestly to the Lord of the Harvest to send (forcibly expel) laborers into the harvest. There were Hindu temples EVERYWHERE in those mountains. It was so sad. Please
Lord- send me back to those places- and send many more with me!!! I want the privilege of telling those people about the only true, Living God- the One who actually loves and cares about them- and who wants them to know Him and be with Him forever. Scott, Jo, and Jared all seemed to have an earnest desire to come back as well. (another answer to prayer :) )
Another one of my favorite parts of the trip was getting to know the various Indian Christians that we worked with. I really trust and respect each of them. Anil, Moncy, and Umpragosh did such a great job boldly and lovingly proclaiming the Gospel to those people scattered throughout the Himalayas. We took turns preaching the Gospel at the various houses we came to and of course one of them had to translate for us white folks. Sometimes we had to translate things twice to get it into the people's language when they didn't even speak Hindi. In fact- many of those people in the mountains didn't speak Hindi so it was really a gift that Umpragosh came with us. He knew the language many of those people spoke. And he just radiated Jesus in a really unique way...such a precious man. His wife isn't a believer yet and the way he is so faithfully loving her was beautiful. The way he is laying down his life for her with such patience and kindness is especially remarkable in this culture where men are viewed as superior to women. Finding a husband who actually loves his wife (instead of just forcing her to serve him) is a rare thing.
When we returned to Anil's home we spent the following 2 days discipling the believers in his house church and the pastors and their wives who were ministering in a neighboring city. (about 30 min to an hour away) Our men taught the Indian men about marriage. The Indians all laughed when our men taught about how men and women are equal. From childhood these men are taught that men are superior to women. Oh Lord give me grace to live in this culture where women are treated like slaves. I was tempted to anger on our trip...so please pray for me! Christ is redeeming the culture among the Christians- but it's similar to how materialism pervades American Christianity. It's difficult to get outside your culture to clearly see what the Bible teaches- and even more difficult to walk in obedience to what you do see. So I'm going to need to be very patient and gracious with the men and extend lots of grace to them when I am mistreated and looked down upon (along with the rest of the women). The men are literally taught that women exist to serve them so that mindset takes years and years to be permeated with the Gospel.
Again, I could write pages about all the specifics but I'm mainly just sharing all the glorious aspects of this trip. I just want to make sure I mention that there were plenty of challenges as well. But since you guys can only read so much- I'd rather you read the amazing ways God worked. Of course if any of you are interested in learning more about the challenges- let me know. I'm certainly going into all this very sober-minded and aware of the cost required. I feel God inviting me to share in His sufferings, becoming like him in his death- so that I may rejoice when his glory is revealed (Philippians 3:10 and 1 Peter 4:13). God keeps calling me to count my life of no value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry I received from the Lord Jesus Christ, to testify to the Gospel of the grace of God (Acts 20:24). As I sobbed to Jesus about how hard this was for me- He kept reminding me that though he was in the form of God, he did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death. Therefore God highly exalted Him! The promise if for us as well. If we humble ourselves- he will exalt us! (Matthew 23:12, Luke 1:52, 14:11, 18:14, James 4:10, 1 Peter 5:6)
The Kingdom of God is worth giving up my freedom, my safety, my comfort, my life. Jesus is worth giving up the food I enjoy, the standard of living I'm used to, the respect I desire, the ease of speaking my own language, and the culture I understand. I know there will be many times I feel like I'm going to come unglued because the cost feels unbearable. God didn't spare the prophets, the early disciples, or Christians throughout time- very real suffering. And he didn't spare his own son the worst kind of suffering. Unimaginable suffering. So I don't expect to be spared suffering. But I know when I'm standing before the face of God I'll never regret that I lost my life to gain it. And neither will you. So much hangs in the balance. We only get one chance to suffer with Christ and to sacrifice for Christ- and then eternity of comfort and safety and treasures and reward. We only get one chance to live by faith- and then eternity to live by sight. I want to be like Joseph who considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt because he was looking toward the reward! I want to be like the early believers who joyfully accepted the plundering of their property since they knew that they had a better possession and an abiding one.
I'm so thankful God gave me such a clarity and eternal perspective on this trip. He really filled us all with His Spirit and gave us such a real sense of his presence the entire time. Our van rides were often filled with singing and prayer. Praise God. :) I needed to see India through that lens. I really felt God's protection from the enemy. There's so much more I could say about the last few days of the trip but I'll just bullet point a few highlites to end this. :) :)
* One of the women we were discipling during our days in Himachel Pradesh gave me henna on my hand and arm and brought Jo and I all sorts of gifts. She was so sad we were only there 2 days but we had some really good conversations with her and got her email address so we can stay in touch. She said she was really going to miss us.
* There were tons of monkeys in the trees near Anil's house. It was so strange to see bamboo and monkeys up in the Himalayas. The monkeys were so fascinating and a little creepy to be honest. They were so well camouflaged but when you spotted one you started seeing many others with it.
* I got to watch women doing their laundry in the spring water- and one teenage girl brought me her baby goat to hold while I sat with them. (another sweet answer to prayer! haha I was praying for all kinds of random things by the end of the trip just for the joy of watching God answer!)
* I got fairly proficient at bucket bathing. Well...that's debatable. haha.
Former Snake Charmers
* We got to go back to the former snake charmer slum in Delhi- and share the Gospel with those men. (many of them hadn't been there the last time so we wanted to return) The men listened attentively and as we told them everything they'd ever believed in was all wrong- and shared the Gospel with them- they told us this was the best news they'd ever heard and that they want to follow Christ!!!!!!!!!!!! Are you kidding me?? God amazed me again. Thankfully Moncy and his brother will be following up with these men and they are going to plant a church in this slum. They really need financial supporters to do this work though- so let me know if you are interested in getting more info about all of this. They have a whole strategy- but just need some money to make it happen. (And a very tiny amount of money by American standards. Even if you just want to contribute a small monthly amount it would go an extremely far way in Delhi).
* We visited the Taj Mahal, soaked in a natural hot springs at night that was located in a Hindu temple, went to both the largest Buddhist temple in the world and the largest Hindu temple in the world, saw monks shopping while on iphones, saw where Buddhists turn prayer wheels because they
believe that saves them from having to say the actual prayers that earn them merits, saw where the President of India lives, and explored the "Capital Hill equivalent" of India.
At the beginning of this update I mentioned that I was comforted to find trashcans once we returned to the US. That would be because there are none in India. Yes that basically forces you to liter wherever you go. It was oh so painful to see these breathtakingly beautiful places begin to be covered in liter- and even more painful to see my own teammates join in the littering. I tried to convince them to let me carry their trash until we got somewhere to dispose of it- but I'm not sure there are landfills in India yet- so my attempts were futile. Would one of you please share my pain with me? My team clearly didn't understand the evil they were committing. :) :) The only thought that comforted me was that God will create a new heavens and a new earth one day soon. ;)
On our 15 flight back to the States, God seated me next to an Indian guy named Inato who was going to South Padre Island this week!! How crazy is that?! (South Padre Island is half an hour from me- and is where I go to enjoy the beach here) Inato has been born and raised in Delhi and had quite the story of how his Hindu background family became believers 2 generations ago. He gave me his gmail account (don't you love that gmail has taken over the world? :) ) His grandfather helped lay the cables on the bottom of the ocean to give us the internet, his father is the leader of a company that is getting the Gospel into communist and Muslim countries via the radio, and Insato is an architect with connections high up in the Indian government. He was incredibly smart and articulate and will be an amazing connection for us. He was able to answer so many of my questions already. He had really helpful insight on how to navigate all the beggars, bribes and ripping off white people that characterizes India. He also had input about visas for getting in the country long-term, and for ministering in this culture soooo foreign to all of us. He was able to put into words things I've felt in India but never been able to articulate. He understands that his country is chaotic and leaves you feeling unstable and vulnerable. Nothing is standardized, reliable, safe, or predictable like life in the US. There are so many ways this works itself out in Indian culture but that's too much to go into right now. Anyways it was an extremely beneficial and encouraging conversation. He even translated for me so I could share the Gospel with the Hindi speaking lady sitting beside me! And once again, I was aware that God is sovereignly orchestrating every detail of my life- and will lead me every step of the way. I am more confidence than I've ever been that God will provide for me in every way- and will get me where He wants me. I know I don't have to figure all of this out. I still have such a long way to go- but God has really built my trust in Him as I've seen his faithfulness in my life up to this point. I just know he has it all planned out and that gives me so much comfort.
I had a delightful trip to Walmart yesterday. I just felt so safe and peaceful as I drove down the road and walked into Walmart all by myself. I wasn't worried about men touching me or about stepping in poop. And no one was yelling at me to buy their stuff. There were no starving orphan children begging in the middle of the traffic- and breaking my heart. The prices were wonderfully fixed and nonnegotiable. (much less stressful) And after 3 weeks of pretty much being hungry nonstop- I hardly knew which aisle to go down first! I'm sure I looked ridiculous as I walked around the store grinning. haha. :) :) But for real- we really are blessed in this country. And as much as I didn't enjoy seeing women dressed immodestly again- there was even something nice about that because it at least reflects the freedom women have in this country. (never thought I would say that...) :) But as much as I am thankful for these gifts we enjoy in our country, I'm still thankful for the privilege of giving up these gifts to see the Gospel invade India and transform that culture as well.
Alright if you made it this far- I am proud of you. Hope that was worth your time. :)
