There and Back Again

I am so thankful that God brought me to this time in my life. First things first. Austin and I arrived safely in New Delhi on Tuesday, December 23rd. Thankfully, the time adjustment was not a problem for either one of us. It was so nice to be able to finally join our team. The first full day in New Delhi was spent preparing for a Christmas party for that night. Our team helped cut up fruit and nuts for a salad and decorate the place. About half cut up fruits and half decorated the place. I helped cut up the all the different kinds of fruit; pomegranates, cashews, raisins, strawberries, papayas, and melon. The Christmas party was an ample amount of fun later that night. There was lots of singing and dancing and games involved, as well as a short message. Christmas in India is fairly different than Christmas back in the USA. Our leaders surprised us each with a box of presents from our parents. Mine was filled with some various gifts, but also about forty letters from people back home. Just saying, you guys are some of the most kind and caring people out there. Thank you so much. You all make me feel so incredibly loved. One thing that is big here in India is chai Tea. I myself am not a fan of tea, but this chai tea is some of the best out there. After opening presents we each had a cup of chai. We went to a Christmas party at church later that day. While in Delhi, we had a few days where we went and saw the historic sites. History is so interesting. We were also able to see the Taj Mahal! It really is amazing. The tiny detail that went into something so massive is stunning. No wonder it is one of the seven wonders of the world. My New Years Eve was spent on a thirty four hour train ride from New Delhi to Vijayawada. So basically from the Northern part of India to the Southern part. Seeing the country of India via train ride was definitely an interesting way to spend the New Year. I have been in India for a little over a week and I simply love it here. 

January 1-14 was spent in Vijayawada, India. While we were there, we had the opportunity to visit a few slums. It really spoke to me how much we actually had and how little everyone else had. And to see their joy just amazed me. A big thing that we did while we were in that location was that we went and visited a local temple. Along the way, we found a house that had bags and bags of hair on the roof. This was all the hair of the people who had shaved their heads for their "gods". There were people who were crawling up the mountain on their knees out of respect for their god. Keep in mind, it was quite a hike. To see everything that these people did for their gods is crazy in comparison to how little we do for Jesus. I keep thinking about how blessed I am to have been born into a Christian family. Being here also makes me really how lazy Christians really are. And everything they are doing is pointless! Their god doesn't even exist! Think how much Christians could do for Jesus is they had the same mindset-if they worshiped Jesus as much as the people here worship their god. If they gave up everything for Jesus. We could change the world and do so much in the name of Jesus. On one day, we were able to go to two different churches and worship. At both churches we performed a dance, a skit, sang some songs, and shared a testimony and sermon. I had the privilege to share some of my testimony during the second service. I shared about the loss of Luke/my car accident and how it affected me. God has moved so much in my life since then and I am so grateful for it. We were also able to take communion, which was interesting because I was able to see the differences between here and in Moline.

From January 15-28 our team was in Dharmapuri, India. A lot of crazy things happened while being there. One of the first days there, we went to a Hindu man's house. This man had a brain tumor that was removed, but he could not talk, walk, or hardly move. After a couple of hours of praying and worshiping, he started speaking and was able to walk around the room with the help of others. When he spoke, he said "Jesus, Jesus". It was incredible to see what God is able to do in just a few short hours! Besides just that, we went to a house to pray over a man. While we were there, a crowd gathered and we started to pray for various people in the crowd. One of which was an elderly lady. This lady came forward asking for prayer, and as soon as we started to pray over her, she started to manifest. The demon inside her was cast out and she collapsed on the ground. After our contact anointed her with the Holy Spirit, it was crazy to see how big of a change there was in her. The elderly lady looked so gentle and sweet. We truly serve an awesome God! Our team also went to a house where a man was in a coma for a month due to witchcraft. We spent at least four hours praying over this man. He did not have a radical change, but he did open his eyes and slightly move his arms. Even in little things, God is moving. Besides all that, we also briefly went to an Indian wedding in which we wore saris. We also did a lot a house visits in our time there. Our team also had the privilege to bless three different leprosy colonies by giving them rice, hard boiled eggs, and chicken. We were able to visit one of those colonies prior to that, and it was heartbreaking to see the condition some of the people were in. Being able to bless them with food was definitely something I will never forget. 

On the 28th, we left Dharmapuri and traveled to Chennai to sleep overnight before our flight the next morning. On the 29th, our team left India and headed to Sri Lanka. From January 30-February 6 we spent our time in Pussellawa. Even though we were only there for a week, we had an eventful time. When we stepped off the plane and walked to pick up our backpacks in the airport, there were some guests from YWAM Honolulu waiting for us. It was so nice to see people we knew that were not from our team. Our first day we had off due to all our traveling the day prior. At night we went to a restaurant and ate hamburgers. I cannot explain to you how good it was to finally have beef again. In India the cow is holy, so hamburgers are not common. When we started ministry we discovered that a lot of the places we would be going to involved a bit of a hike. Our first couple days we did a lot of house visits and a few open airs. One of the days we traveled to a church that was two hours away. One of my team members preached and we performed a skit and sang some songs. Afterwards, we prayed for people and one of my team members prayed for a woman who could not see very well out of one of her eyes. After praying, the woman was able to see! Praise God! We also did a house visit where one of my team members felt pain in her arm and asked if someone in the house had pain in their arm. As it turns out, one of the people did and we prayed for her, and she received healing in her arm. It was so cool! We traveled six hours in a van across the country of Sri Lanka headed to our second location, Trincomalee. While we were in Trincomalee, we did a lot of kids ministry. There were several days where our team would split in half and we would go to different preschools and work with the kids. We were in Trincomalee February 6-12. The morning of the 12th, we packed up and rode in the back of a truck for 2 and a half hours to our third location, Vavuniya. We were there from February 12-20. Our third location has involved manual work. Our team is working on a learning center. We sanded benches and tables and varnished them, painted, and did flooring. It was a nice change. On the days we did not do manual work, we would do ministry. This involved a lot of kids ministry, which was an ample amount of fun. On Sunday, our team split in half and went to two different churches. At the church service I went to, I was able to give my testimony. It is such a blessing to see people react to what we say. 

In my time on outreach, I read through the entire Bible and God has been speaking to me through it. One of the biggest things I have learned is that sometimes suffering is not bad. We should feel honored that the devil finds us worthy enough to attack. Suffering for God is an honor and something I used to complain about. Paul and the disciples would endure whipping and stoning, and would then praise God and thank Him that they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. It is been such an amazing past two months and I thank you all so much for your prayers! I am once again back in Hawaii, and we have graduation tonight! These past six months have flown by and I have grown so much. I cannot believe that I will be headed back to the mitten in two days, but I am very excited to see all of you.