India Time: 11:30 PM (June 27, 2013)
CST: 1:00 PM (June 27, 2013)
"Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior." (Is. 43:1-3 ESV)
This morning, as I was getting ready, I was so excited to "really begin" our trip. Today was our first day of teaching after all! I was very excited until it hit me: We get one day with these children and will likely never see them again. The gravity of our task and importance of our message brought so many questions to mind: Are we prepared? Do we have what it takes? Will our message reach them? Will they want to listen to us? Will they be excited to see us? Will they ever come to church again? And while I couldn't answer all these questions, the above passage was an ideal reminder to start the day. "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine." I have nothing else to worry about because I have been redeemed, and better yet, I have the opportunity to share that message with children in India for the next twelve days! How blessed am I!
Our day began with splitting off into teams as Team #1 (yes, that is really our number) headed north to Ongole. What a trip! We crammed four in the back of Scorpio (our awesome red SUV). Before we even got out of Nellore we got a little turned around and ended up in front of one of the church member's businesses. He came running our, so happy to see us, with a big smile and a "Remember me!" You would think after three hours on the train yesterday we would be satisfied with looking out windows, but there is so much to see! So many water buffalo, goat herds, and rice flats! Not to mention mango stands (I'd move here just for that type of truck stop). We had to laugh when I handed our lifesavers (thanks, Mom) and Pastor Joythi and Brother Solomon threw their wrappers out the window.. When I started collecting wrappers from everyone else (because we couldn't bring ourselves to throw ours out the window) Pastor Joythi reassured me with a, "It's okay. This is India, sister!" I hope he was laughing at us out of amusement rather than annoyance when Nathan and I would hold a note as we went over the speed bumps to emphasize just how bumpy they were. About half way through the trip, Pastor Joythi had Brother Solomon switch the music from Indian to American and we all sang along. The first song? Jingle Bells! It was a warm ride, so we were a little confused when Brother Solomon started rolling up the windows. Our noses were alerted very clearly and the heat was considerably more tolerable than the smell of the garbage/recycling center we passed. On our actual trip to the village, I was the super lucky person who got to sit in the back, so I got to wave at everyone we passed.
You should have seen the looks on the children's faces as we pulled into the village. Some looked a little confused, most were very excited! AS we got out of the car we were greeted by about fifteen smiles, waves, and a few enthusiastic shouts. They led us into the church, the structure of which had doubled in size, where we got to do our teaching. While we were waiting to begin, a few girls came up to practice their English by asking us our names, introducing themselves, and asking how we were. The kids were so adorable! The kids had a song with which they started the service (be sure to check Facebook when we get back, you won't want to miss it)! After we taught our lessons, the children received their gifts (we had about 50 children by now), and Brother David gave his lesson. At the end of the whole thing, Brother David was asked to pray for individuals. I thought that there could be nothing more humbling than the welcome we received yesterday, but when my prayers this morning revolved around safe travel, blessing in teaching, and other worries I had dragged from home, I was humiliated to hear women asking for children, strength to care for their families, and healing to do their jobs. Men asking for help managing a health concern, or healing from injury so they could return to their duties. It nearly brought me to tears. We don't pray for each other like that at home. We don't ask each other to pray for us like that at home. These people could have brought laundry lists of items, and they asked for one thing.
It began raining toward the end of the service, and since the church does not have a roof, we made a hasty goodbye. It rained most of the way home. Tomorrow we head to the beach in the morning and to teach again in the evening.
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Becky Haddad
Agriculture-GSL
"Everyone is a genius, but if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree it will live its whole life believing it is stupid." ~Albert Einstein
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