4/14/2018 0 Comments Journal Entry #6 ~ 1/01 ~ 8:22 amYesterday we went to church. It was FANTASTIC. Couple of my fav jams that morning were Thank you Lord and Glory to God. I have never felt so a part of a church that I have not been to before. We of course had to take our shoes off before going in (we were very accustomed to this by now). The Pastor, and everyone, was so friendly and kind. His sermon was on the Parable of the talents. The point was that there will always be some sort of risk required in order to get a reward or result from our hard work. The main part of the service was people within the congregation giving their testimonies about what God had done for them in their lives this past year. I will continue to keep all the requests of the congregation in my prayers as several of them were more serious than I have and may ever experienced. The two women that were specifically working to rescue trafficking victims came over that afternoon to do a presentation of what human trafficking is (and more specifically what it looks like in India) and what they do. Going back briefly to the church, we also had the best chai I have and will ever have, and cookies before entering the building. Back to the women, they talked about not only the women and children involved in trafficking but also boys. That really spoke to me. They told us about how they have to have full proof and evidence, and complete police help before raids and convictions. They cannot raid a brothel without the police. I found that interesting. They also mentioned how the police that are corrupt will warn the brothel owners who they know so when they do the raid there is no one in the building that they raid. They also mentioned how human trafficking is the most popular business become of the resale factor and trading factor. One brothel owner does not have to find new girls, they can just trade with other brothel owners. The girls can also be reused unlike drugs or alcohol.
3:35 pm Today was our sightseeing day. We went to a government building by the high court, a palace of one of the Kings and its corresponding gardens (extremely British and reminded me of Kensington Gardens), and a temple (can't remember the name for the life of me/also their are a bunch of them). We had lunch at Infinitea, probably the most hip and modern place I had seen so far. I had a cream spinach pasta dish and it was so good. More specifically it was penne with pink sauce, creamed spinach, and steamed vegetables. I had a boiled egg and toast that morning which held me over until this lunch. 6:27 pm Today I really enjoyed getting to see the area for what it is and the many different parts of it. The government building was a good place for pictures with the team and I learned from our translator that the national flower is the lotus, national animal the tiger, and national symbol the lion. At the temple there were THOUSANDS of people. (I guess we failed to realize that it was New Years and there would be more people their than normal, oops). We went through different areas in lines with what seemed like short metal fences between us (a cross between the line you would go through at an amusement park and the metal fencing used for holding in groups of cattle). Men blew their whistles for everyone to move...speaking of cattle... kind of felt like it. Honestly it was not the best experience. Of course that would be a "duh" moment considering I am a Christian going through a line intended for the worship of Hindu gods, but in my American mind I expected a somewhat royal, godly experience. I was wrong. It was a useless feeling being shoved through a bunch of metal gates and squeezed into this supposed "godly" space. We continued to walk through the lines to finally get to the place that this specific god would dwell. My stomach became full of knots. Honestly it became as if instead of going to see a false god I was going to see Satan himself... instead of just his handiwork. I definitely did not expect to feel this way but it was such a foreign experience that it became extremely dreadful and my stomach continued to tie into knots the closer I got to the center of the temple. I prayed a prayer of protection and that the love of Christ would drive out my fear. When we finally got into the temple there was suddenly music and I looked up to see a giant gold structure which housed the idol(s). The structure itself was beautiful and magnificent. The line went in a circle while there were people meditating and worshiping the god(s) in the middle of the circle. There was also an area to buy offerings (coconuts and fruits). I looked at those meditating as we went around the idols and prayed for them. I realized that this was a prayer walk for Hindus, but that it could also be a prayer walk for me and that I could take the opportunity to pray for these people in the very temple of their false god. I honestly teared up realizing the scale of false hope that was being placed into these idols by such a hurting and vulnerable people. I new in this moment that my prayer of protection had come to pass and that the love of Christ for these people that I was feeling was a result of that same love driving out the fear that I had only seconds before entering the temple. The prayers in my mind began to be the prayers of my mouth, and those silent prayers began to be verbal as I spoke the prayers to my God, the true God, for these people. It was like I could feel the empty worship of these people. They were praying and meditating so hard, but for what? For nothing. This is the work of the devil. He tells us lies until we are working for him, but it is truly all for nothing but our own destruction. I was seeing and feeling the empty worship of an empty god. I wondered whether they also felt that emptiness and are just trying to feel something somehow through it. It was one of the most hopeless feeling to watch thousands of people worshiping a false god, and empty god, and not seem to know it. If they knew it was empty and all for nothing, surely they wouldn't worship. I went in further after the end of the circle that we were walking, and saw all of the vendors selling offerings, statues, pictures, etc of and for the god(s). All I could think about is when Jesus went into the temple and saw all of the vendors and overturned the tables. Apart of me wishes that I would have done the same... How bold Jesus was to do such a thing. Am I that bold? Are you that bold? Would I be willing to make such a statement for something that I believe in? That questioned seemed to "haunt" me for the rest of the trip. .... On another note, there is security everywhere in this area. I cannot bring my backpack into the grocery store, instead I have to leave it in a locker or with a guard and with the locker they give you a key to open it when you come back (I felt better with the locker than just leaving it with the guard). They also have security when going through the temple, but it was super casual and far less with the ladies than the men. The men had to go through a metal scanner (like at the airport) and be lightly padded down, while the women when into a small area enclosed with black curtains. When we went into this area there was a old woman sitting with a handheld metal scanner and she just waved it in our general direction as we walked through. She seemed to not care much if we had anything at all and smiled at us as we went through. At the palace we got a guided tour which was interesting... language barrier and heavy accents were of the utmost problematic parts of this tour. Many questions could not be answered or were not answered correctly due to the language barrier but hey we laughed about it afterward. After the tour we went to the gardens just outside of the palace. They were gorgeous and for a moment I thought I was back in London. We honestly were all feeling a little stressed and so we decided to walk and pray together. It is nice to always have God to talk to and rely on. It is also nice that he provided these amazing two ladies for me to go through this trip with. I feel at peace about our day tomorrow even though we have so much to do. Praying for energy. If I get through tomorrow, I think the rest of the trip will be a breeze. I think we go to 4 places... weew... Goodnight. Thank you Lord for this day.
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I have noticed that the local pastor that we are working with is probably the best dad I have ever seen. His girls are beautiful, polite, smart, and most importantly they know they are valuable. He is so loving to them and his wife and that is what a father should look like. I was amazed when I went to their home and saw that the daughters sleep on a mattress in their own room while the pastor and his wife sleep in the living room. That just took my by surprise so much. The local pastor's church has one room and he is currently the preacher while they are looking for a new one. His family are indeed rich. Not necessarily financially, but with love. They are so close and happy. We had a fun time watching Moana with their daughters, and it seemed to be that much doesn't change when it comes to kids loving movies... even in different countries. The highlight of the time with the local pastor was when we went into his church and all got on our knees and prayed in a circle. It seemed like such a "holy" moment. Like God was their with us in the room... and the amazing thing is, that He was. We didn't have to go to a temple or wash our feet or bring offerings in order to commune with and cry out to our God. We just called out to Him and He was there.
When we returned to eat dinner after our prayer, the pastor asked for someone to bless the meal and of course I could not pass up the opportunity (I have no problem praying for people OR food). I am stating to realize how hard it will be to just go home and live on like before. Of course I do plan on changing certain things I do and how I do them as a result of this trip, but I also wish that somehow I could provide for all of the ministries' needs. I wish I could adopt the boy I met and the rest of the children, but that is not (yet) what God has called me to do. I also wish I brought a blanket because the ones here do not cover both my shoulders and feet... I guess I'm tall in India?! Anyways... This morning we are having banana pancakes. I will also have a granola bar since I haven't eaten one yet and for some reason I brought an entire gallon bag of them. I think that my jet lag is finally going away and I'm getting used to the time change because I am finally hungry now and in the mornings. Also just a tip... crumbling a granola bar on top of pancakes is going to be my new habit since it was delicious. We came across a few serious prayer requests today which I will be continuing to pray for. One new thing that I learned today about the Indian culture was that naan with meals is more of a North Indian thing while rice is more of a South Indian thing. Last night I slept most of the night (which feels amazing today), except that my arms are kind of sore from holding so many kids yesterday... but I wouldn't have it any other way. My heart is so full. I would not trade the experiences that I have had so far for anything. Today we are going to Crossroads Church. Side note: the amount of trash on the streets has taken me by surprise (not in a good way). It is everywhere and people just throw their trash on the ground like it is normal (well it is here, but my "American-ness" screams about it). It is around 5 am and I have pretty much been up since 3:30 am. I feel rested and ready but it is obviously not the time to be ready (time change stinks). I thought through more of the devotion I will be giving today. I am going to talk about Nahum comforting the Israelite people with telling of their enemies destruction. In the same way, and through Jesus' sacrifice, we are able to proclaim comfort to those around the world in the midst of the destruction caused by our enemies. God is coming and when He does, He will destroy all of our enemies. He is providing for His children who serve Him and will one day defeat the true enemy, Satan. I think that this devotional will be a motivating start to our first day of ministry here in India.
8:36 am There seems to be a bit of tension this morning and a lot of plans are unclear. I have learned so far that the best thing for me is to always be honest about how I feel. I am becoming less and less worried about others' opinion of me and just follow what God tells me to do and say. 8:40 pm Today we visited a children's home, a HIV/AIDS hospice home, a slum, and a local pastor's house (He has been helping us get around and has been showing us his various ministries). I had cereal for breakfast, chicken sandwiches and Spanish tomato tango chips (SO GOOD), and mixed fruit juice for lunch. For dinner we ate at the local pastor's house. We did not plan on this but his family was so generous to make us a home cooked traditional Indian meal. It was by far my favorite food of the entire trip. His family fixed us rice with chicken and pork, cucumber onion salad, and cucumber slices. It was amazing. At the children's home this morning, my heart was taken aback by a specific little boy who just clung to me the entire time. He slept on my shoulder and in my arms for a while and my heart melted to say the very least. A little girl was caught up with how long my hair was and decided to "style" it the entire time, which I of course had no problems with at all. My heart had never felt so full. I am honestly so glad that God gave me hair, and long hair for that matter. It has helped build relationships and a sense of "closeness" even in the midst of a language barrier. At this children's home, I found myself with a hurting heart... especially for the boys. I don't understand this but I know that God will use it when I begin to make plans for my missions in the future. It is starting to really set it... what I am doing here, but also what I plan on doing in the future. This is all very much a hard thing to do and is extremely uncomfortable at the beginning at lease, not to mention dangerous. These people know that what they believe and teach brings danger to them. Yet they live the Gospel better than anyone I have ever seen. |