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A new adventure begins
I have received quite a few emails asking me to blog already. I have been somewhat intimidated to write anything due to the feeling that I feel as if I have too much to say, and at the same time, feeling I do not have enough to say for a blog quite yet. It’s hard to explain. I will attempt to try and explain the past few days though. Bear with me. Once I landed in Bangalore, I felt like I was going to fall asleep walking to customs. I sat next to a Muslim man on the plane from London to Bangalore and we started talking about Islam and Christianity. The conversation, was very interesting, but basically continued the entire 9-hour flight so I did not sleep. I knew it was a 5-hour drive from Bangalore to the India Gospel League’s campus in Tamil Nadu, and so I was looking forward to sleeping on the drive. That hope was immediately crushed as I soon found out that driving here is 100 times worse than anything I ever experienced in Nicaragua, which is was very different from the States. To describe it briefly and with no exaggeration, about 6 rows of cars all squeeze into 2 lanes of traffic. In case you ever find yourself driving in India, here are a few tips to increase your chance of success: If you want the right of way, or just to simply not get squished, there is a competition. The way you win is to have the most obnoxious and loudest horn possible and continue to honk and honk and honk. Do not stop honking, or you will die. Always honk. and if you desire to be the best driver possible, yelling is a good thing to do as well, as long as it does not stop you from honking any less. Once I arrived, I fell asleep until about four the next morning. At about five I went outside and heard close to 50 girls singing hymns in the local language, Tamil. Singing is a big deal here. Every group of children I meet asks me to sing for them before they even ask my name. I will try and post a video of a classroom of students singing, “Jesus Loves Me.” An Indian man named Daniel showed me around IGL’s campus that morning. It is a beautiful place and such a nice facility. Samuel Stephens, the president of IGL, has a great vision for ministry and missions. I cannot imagine a better way to do things. Their hospital here distributes simple medicine all the way to treating cancer. Their nursing school trains students and sends them back to their rural villages to administer healthcare to people who have never even seen a doctor their entire life. They also guarantee jobs for anyone who goes through their nursing program or community college. IGL hires them and they also have connections with hospitals and other facilities in the area. There are classes for adults that are free, and teach them skills so that they can make more than the average 2 dollars a day. Sewing, farming, construction, etc. Their rural development program allows local farmers to come and learn better skills so that they can make a profit from their farms rather than barely provide enough food for their family. The children’s home (orphanage) is set up brilliantly. They have house parents and small cottages so that the children are divided up and live with other children but also have a mother and father to take care of them. This creates a family atmosphere, so they feel less like orphans, and makes it easier for each child to receive the attention they need. They also have a child sponsorship program where you can sponsor one of these children for $30 a month and provide the education, food, clothing, etc. I could go on and on about all they do, but I am going to stop now. Here is what I will be doing every day: 10:00-1:00 – Working at the IGL office in the city. I’ll be editing the letters and praise reports that get sent back to the child sponsors and supporters of IGL. They have about 6 ladies who translate them from Tamil to English but they are still working on their grammar and spelling so they need someone to revise them. 2:30-4:30 I will be teaching a Communication class and Life Coping skills class at the community college. 5:00-6:30- Teaching English to the 8th and 9th grade girls living in the children’s home. 6:30-7:00 – Sharing a Bible study at the Children’s evening devotion. 7:00-8:00 – Teaching a Bible study for parents that are in training to be house parents at the children’s home. The study I will be teaching is called the Person of Jesus study. 8:30-9:30 – Teaching a Bible study for the community college girls. Also teaching the Person of Jesus study to these girls who will be eventually sent back to their villages to administer healthcare and share the gospel with their village. This schedule changes a little on the weekends, there is no college classes and on Saturdays I stay at the IGL office until 4pm and help the staff with areas they struggle in with English. I will be visiting a different village church every Sunday and sharing my testimony. I start this work today. Be in prayer for the people and that God would be greatly glorified in all ways possible. Playing with some of the 6th-10th grade girls during their break from school.
(Source: soellelike)
I have so much to do in the next couple of weeks.
Including:
-Write a one-year Personal Language and Culture Acquisition Plan as if I was entering a new foreign culture
-Write a 10-12 page Credo.
-Read a book on David Livingstone and write a 6-8 page research paper on him.
-Complete a People Profile Folder on an Indian people group.
- Write a research paper for Doctrine of Creation on Irreducible Complexity.
I think I can?
Haha. So true.
“The critical question for our generation—and for every generation— is this: If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven, if Christ were not there?”
- John Piper ( God is the Gospel)
Live out His mission… Now.
“Ladies how many bible studies are we going to do, I am just saying, can we maybe run some of the plays instead of just studying them? Men, how many bible studies we gonna do, how much you going to study before you start to play? I mean that’s what makes the thing so stupid down here. Everybody can talk it, nobody wants to engage anybody with it. Or at least very few of us do. Why? Well cause I have a lust issue. Well OK, submit to Christ, get in recovery, and live on mission, it will reveal all that stuff, it will be horrible, God will just rip it out of you and replace it with His grace and mercy, it will be awesome in the end. I mean if you’re waiting till you’re perfect to live life on mission you’re going to die without much mission. It’s coming! Do you get this? Do you get that 2000 years ago, in fact farther back than than He told Abram, “This is how it’s going down.” and it has stayed true to the line right up till now where a massive portion of Africa has become believers, a massive portion of China has become believers, South America blowing up with the gospel. The gospel is penetrating the world, do you know how this ends? With you and me in front of Him with the Kingdom of God, new heaven, new earth coming down, no more injustice, no more pain, no more sorrow, God’s redeemed, God’s elect, God’s Kingdom, Kingdom of God, established! Now do you think anybody is going to give a trash how much money you have right now? How much comfort you have right now? Who’s cool and who’s not? Who drove what and who didn’t? Who was well liked in the neighborhood and who wasn’t? You think ANY of that is going to matter? No one will care! But a lot of people will be embarrassed.”
Matt Chandler, Pastor of The Village Church
