Thursday, December 27, 2012

A Christmas Special

"God uses men who are weak and feeble enough to lean on Him." -Hudson Taylor, British missionary to China in the 1800s.

I love this quote. It puts things into perspective for me. A lot. It puts such a huge emphasis on God that it leaves no excuse to the man. It is in our weakness that we boast (2 Corinthians 12:9), that He might be shown, yes?! Over and over in scripture, we see God using men who are so much less "qualified" than what He has called them to. But that's the point, isn't it? That He would do things so great with people who appear not to be that He would be glorified, worshiped. He uses men like Noah, Abram, Moses, Joshua, Gideon, Daniel, David, Matthew, Mark, John, Thomas, and Paul. All of these men, and many more throughout the Bible, are not who society would have chosen to do what they did. But that's just it. They didn't do it. And they would all be the first to say this. It was God. It was always God. It always is God. He used these weak and feeble men who were willing to lean on God, to rest in His plan and strength. And what He did with every one of these men is nothing short of miraculous and amazing!

Take Gideon for instance. In Judges chapter 6 we are introduced to a young  man named Gideon, who is threshing wheat in a wine press, to hide it from the Midianites who were oppressing the Israelites. The Angel of The Lord commissions Gideon (in a somewhat comical conversation. Gideon's responses are so honest) to lead the army that would eventually defeat Midian and free his people. When he begins, Gideon gathers an army of 32,000 men. God tells Gideon that this army has too many men. He says, "I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against Me." (Judges 7:2) So Gideon cuts it down to 10,000 men. Again God tells him that there are too many men. Gideon then, following God's command, finally has an 'army' of 300 men. 300 men! He began with an army of 32,000! But God says to Gideon, "With the three hundred men...I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands. Let all the others go home." (Judges 7:7). And God did just that! In an amazing miracle told in Judges 7, God defeats the Midianites with just 300 men, led by Gideon! And He did this so that they would boast about what God has done. He did not allow them to think it was by their hand, by anything that they could have done. Because 300 men (Sorry Gerard Butler) cannot defeat an entire army. But the One true God certainly can! And He did! Amen!

I have felt God giving me much of this same treatment while being here in India. It hasn't always been incredibly easy, to be honest, but He continues to give me no excuse but to boast in Him. And I cannot complain about that. How could I? What would I say? "Aw man, God did it again, but He just HAD to do it His way, and leave me no choice but to praise His Name..." lol yeah, it really is as ridiculous as that sounds! He does keep giving me these amazing opportunities to boast in my weakness, however, that He would be glorified!

Take for instance Christmas day. We went to two churches, one in the morning for a short, encouragement message, and at night, for a long (the longest I've given in fact) sermon on the Christmas story, what we celebrate, and why we celebrate it! I felt like God was leading me talk about sin, and how His coming down here was a direct result of His incredible plan to save us wretched, hopeless sinners. With the translation, the sermon lasted about 45 minutes, and we wrapped it up for what would be a late night. I felt confident that God was going to do a good work, but as usual, He blew my expectations out of the water! In the church, there was roughly 55-60 people. After the service was complete, 10 or so people said that they wanted to repent of their sins and trust in the Lord who came as a baby, lived as a man, and died as a savior! Hallelujah, Amen! I could hardly believe it. They kept saying thank you to me for the words, and I realized what it means to have a humility before God. Because it wasn't me. It wasn't my words. It wasn't my passion, my work, my breath, none of it. It was Him. His work. His Spirit. It was God. He just chose to allow me to be a part of it! And in this knowledge, I felt God almost patting me on the back, as if to say, "Well done, son!" And it was so freaking good, I tell ya!

I thank God that He continues to give me no excuse. That He doesn't leave me room to boast in anything that I do, but instead blows my expectations out of the water. I pray that He would continue to do this, and that I would continue to be reminded of my everlasting need of Him, and of my humble place before Him. "Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up." -James 4:10.

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Double-Oh, Tea, Why?

As some of you may know, I spent 9 days total traveling across Southeast India to a small tourist community called Ooty, in the northern part of Tamil Nadu. I went there to visit my dear dear friend, Katy Stiffler, as she is in India right now on her own crazy adventure. To say that this trip was a blessing and a half would undermine it completely. It was a wonderful, beautiful, ridiculous experience that I hope to be able to put into words.

I left here, in Andhra Pradesh, Tuesday, Dec 11, to Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Chennai is kind of like the capitol of SE India, and is a major point of commerce and travel. I would be taking my overnight bus to Ooty from there. I was almost late to my due to some pretty crazy traffic, and got to it literally as it was pulling out of the station. I was all but thrown on, handing off my luggage to the guy to put it in the back of the bus, and finding my seat as we pull out onto the busy street. It was definitely a bit of relief as well, considering I made the bus and was now on my way to see a good friend in a completely different part of India! Needless to say, I was a little more than excited!

I was able to get a little bit of sleep on the bus, which was both nice and unexpected. I usually don't sleep too well on buses, and I wasn't overly tired when the trip started, but it all worked out for me. I woke up about halfway up the mountain. Ooty is something like 8,000 ft in elevation, so yes, we had to go up the mountain to get there. It's kind of tucked away in between hills, and is quite unassuming at first. I got off the bus and called Katy. I was about twenty mins earlier than expected, so of course, Katy wasn't quite ready to get me. I took an auto (a rickshaw) from the bus station up to the house they she and her roommate, Morgan, stay at, the Farley Guest House. It took a little while to find an auto driver who knew where to go, which I later found out to be interesting because almost all of them know where it is! But after a few tries, I found one, and we made our way from town up the big hill that leads to Farley. As we rounded the corner to the driveway, Morgan (Katy's roommate, a missionary from GA) met me, hopped in, and rode the rest of the way up, which is no small distance! lol I was very glad to meet Morgan because one, she seemed very nice and excited about life, and two, because she was someone who knew who I was and could help me out a ton! We got to the driveway, I got my things to my room, and we went to the kitchen when Katy finally arrived to Farley. She met us in the kitchen, and we immediately hugged for a good minute, excited to see one another, and that our visiting each other was actually happening!

The rest of the day was spent with Katy and Morgan seeing some stuff in the town, and going around with Morgan as she was leaving the next day for home! We spent a couple of hours out on the front lawn (yeah, they have lawns in Ooty...lol) playing and singing worship in the gorgeous sunshine. It was kind of breathtaking, I'll be honest. It was even more beautiful to me because I got to sing with other people for a change, as both Katy and Morgan joined me and kept spitting out requests for us to sing. Morgan, it turns out, has a beautiful voice and some amazing harmonies, which was an unexpected blessing for me. It had been quite some time since I sang with someone, let alone with someone who was a talented singer! Thanks, Morgan!

The next day, we said our goodbyes to Morgan, not without their fair share of smiles and tears, and began talking about what the rest of my trip could/would look like. It turns out, I was volunteered to help lead worship for their Sunday service, which I was more than happy to do! That day, a local Brit named Jack came to the house, and we practiced out a set that we would play on Sunday. It went really well.  Katy and I then went to dinner at Dominos (yeah, they have that too...this place is WAY different than I'm used to! lol) and just sat and talked for a couple of hours. It was awesome. We caught up on a lot of things, and shared war stories from our respective missions. It still stands as one of the major highlights.

To help me not write a novel about everything that happened, I'm going to kind of cover the rest of the highlights in a montage fashion lol- Friday night I got to share a little bit about what God has been doing in my life, and what I'm doing in India with a group of Australians who were staying at Farley at the same time. They were an all girls high school from Queensland, and they and their teachers were some pretty awesome people. Saturday I joined Katy at her horse therapy session at the place the she works the most. It was almost overwhelming how awesome it was to hold these beautiful kids as they took pony rides, and did small physical stretches to help with balance and coordination. Sunday we went to church. I helped lead worship, and it honestly went better than any of the three of us could have anticipated. I then was able to sit in church for the first time since coming to India. Since I work with a ministry that builds and support churches, generally I'm the one preaching! It was nice to sit and listen to a sermon. And then there's Monday. Monday no doubt stands as the highlight of the trip, and probably the best day outside of ministry that I've spent here in India so far. We went back up to the Malstead's house (where Katy works with the horses) for a half-day of work, and a half-day of fun. The Freedom Firm, the ministry she is working with, was having their annual Christmas party there. Since I'm not a ton of help in the way of barn chores, I was put to work in the kitchen, a place I can be of some pretty good use! ;) I made a guac, a super tasty salsa, and a spinach cheese dip, along with helping finalize the flavors on a couple other dishes. Mala, the lady who lives there and runs Leg-Up, the horse therapy part of Freedom Firm, could not stop telling me thank you for my help. That was really cool. Then the party. We ate, played games, including Viking Dragon Fire (yeah!) and a White Elephant Gift exchange, both of which I was fortunate enough to lead. It was super fun! Katy and I were the last two to leave, which seemed appropriate as we were the first two to arrive lol and made our way back to Farley. It was an incredibly breathtaking sunset, so we sat at the bottom of the driveway and just looked on in awe. We spent some time in scripture, and then prayer, and just sat there taking it all in. God was/is doing so much, and He overwhelmed us both with His love and peace at this moment. I'm not gonna lie, I definitely cried. It was too much, how could I not!? The rest of the my days there were spent enjoying time to myself, often reading and playing worship, and then hanging out with Katy. We watched movies, sat and talked, and just enjoyed hanging out. It was really great. I also got to give Katy a little cooking lesson as she made a homemade Spanish Rice, which she knocked right out of the park! So good! I then left on the bus Thursday night, not before saying a long goodbye with a hug that neither one of us seemed to want to let go of. If not for the bus driver's impatience, we might have held on to the hug all night. It was the first time either one of us had seen anyone we were familiar with, that we were good friends with, and it was just so cool for us both.

I can't thank Katy enough for having me out to Ooty to see all that she's been doing, and to enjoy a time of rest and renewal. It was something I needed, without even realizing it. I've been so busy with the incredible ministry here, that I hadn't taken that simple time to sit with Him for a little while. It was great to be able to do that in such a beautiful place as Ooty, and with some great old friends, and a couple new ones! Special thanks to Morgan and Katy for all the you did to help my trip to be what it was, nothing short of amazing.

I love you all and can't wait to share with you what else God is doing here in India! Only a couple more days until the court team, my team, gets here!! I am ridiculously excited, I'll tell you that!!!! lol Talk to you all soon! Thanks! Bye.

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Two Down, Three Up

Well guys. I have now lived in Southeast India for two months, and it has been nothing short of an incredible journey! I look back in awe at all the God has shown me thus far. He has taught so much it is nearly embarrassing to admit! I clearly think far too small of God!

I wanted to tell you guys about how amazing these past few weeks have been! I'm sorry I haven't been giving any updates of what I've been up to. To say that we've been busy around here would be an insult! It's been absolutely nuts, so obviously, I've loved it! haha

My story begins by telling about my first experience helping host some other missionaries. Merri and Kerri, two sisters from America, arrived the night of Nov 10 for a two week dental mission. I cannot even begin to say what a blessing these two awesome women were to me. First and foremost, it was just good to have people around. For those of you who don't know, I am alone here quite often. If I am not working with the guys in the office or out at a village with one of them, I am alone. I'm sure you can imagine how difficult a change this has been for me! Simply having other people around in and of itself was wonderful. But these two went so much further to bless me than simply be here. As I said, they came to do a dental mission, the second of its kind here; they came last year to do the same kinds of clinics. The first day they were here, they were up early, and already at work! They gained my respect right away, let me tell you! And I was even fortunate enough to help them out with their work! That was so much fun, and a little crazy! We got to brush the kids' teeth here at the orphanage, and teach them how to brush correctly and what they're missing. It was so much fun! I never thought I would ever be sticking my hands in little Indian kids' mouths at an orphanage that I called home! What an incredible God we serve, amen?! We then spent the next ten days going to villages and teaching them about the importance of dental health and healthy living in general. It was a really cool thing to see, because I am rarely a part of social ministry like this here. I am mostly here as an evangelist, which is great and where my heart is, but this was just so cool for me to see! So many people were blessed and saw firsthand the love of Christ because these two women from America cared about they're teeth! How sweet is that?!

The end of their trip, however, was nothing short of incredible. They were set to fly out of Bangalore, a huge city southwest of us, about 9 hours away. We left at the early hour of 4:30 (yeah, I got up that early! lol) and got to Bangalore just around lunch time. Entering Bangalore was like a movie. First of all, it was one of those ridiculously beautiful days, where everything just seems brighter and happier because of the sunshine! And we came in on this big bridge (overpass really) that showed us a great view of much of the city and just how huge it is! The next day we left for the historical city of Mysore, the home of a famous Indian palace. On the way, we stopped in a town called Srirangapatnam, where the summer palace of Tipu Sultan, and Indian freedom fighter and ruler in the late 1700s, is found. It was breathtakingly beautiful. A wonderful gate led to a huge courtyard outside of a small but no less impressive palace. Once entered, the walls were covered top to bottom with hand painted murals depicting Tipu's military victories. I'd also like to point out one funny fact about this place. To see it, you need to purchase a ticket. Now, this seems normal, right? Well, it would be, if it weren't for the inflation for foreigners! lol for Indians, it's Rs. 5 (5 Rupees), but it's Rs. 100 for foreigners! What's with that?! lol As we were leaving, we passed by an old English fellow who laughed at this fact. "Can you believe that? 100 Rupees for foreigners? Well I told them that's fine, but I'm not a foreigner! I'm British!" haha he was funny...Anywhos! We left there to the heart of the town, where Tipu's grave was. Now, it wasn't quite the Taj Mahal, but honestly, it was absolutely amazing. He built it originally for his father, whom he loved and revered greatly, and his father's wife (not to be confused with his mother lol). He was later buried there, along with his sister, his wife, and two daughters. Tipu was a Muslim, so right next to his tomb is a mosque. We weren't able to go inside, but the outside of it looked quite beautiful. We left there to finally finish our journey to Mysore. As we got into Mysore, we stopped at a catholic church called St. Philemona. It was breathtaking, a wonderful place of refuge for many local Christians. It was an honor to pray within its walls of comfort and solace. We left there for the palace that we had been waiting to see all day. And oh my goodness did they undersell this thing. First of all, I'm pretty sure this palace is the same size as Rhode Island, just saying. This thing was huge. And holy crap was it beautiful. I have had the wonderful blessing to see some of the most recognized and historical wonders of the world, and I have to say that this palace rivals most of them. I would try and describe it here, but it would be like describing the Grand Canyon. Well, it's uh...big...and uh...pretty...did I say it's big? lol It was perfectly symmetrical, though. That I can tell you. That was incredible to see. Part of the tour goes to the central room of the whole palace, where the King would look out over the crowds of his people and decide the fates of difference diplomatic needs. I cannot describe how beautiful it was! I wish I could, but there should be pictures of it soon! lol We then left there for a tasty lunch, and then went to the zoo! Yeah, that's right! The freakin zoo! It was so wicked cool! We rode this trolley-type bus through the whole thing and saw the whole zoo in an hour! It was freakin awesome! lol

The rest of the trip was spent seeing Bangalore, which was much different than Mysore, but still really cool to do! We saw a couple temples, went up to the Nandi hills, which overlooks the countryside near Bangalore, all the way to the city. It was crazy high, which was clearly my favorite (not) part but it was definitely beautiful! We then took Merri and Kerri to the airport, said our goodbyes, and we were off back to drive another 10 hours to get back home! All in all, it was wonderful to have joined them in their ministry here with us, and I hope to join them again sometime in the future!

Since their departure, it has been back to the same ol' routine, which is anything but boring! I have been to several villages, preaching and teaching a whole lot of wonderful and amazing people! I finally rode in a rickshaw for the first time, which was hilarious. We shared it with two other people who were getting dropped off between where we all started, and the church that we were going to. I rode a couple more on the way back, and then finished it with a bus ride. We have been working a ton on some very important applications for some funding that would greatly help the ministry here. Please keep these in your prayers! Also, we are soon looking forward to the court building team who join us in just three weeks! So very excited! We are about to begin the build here in the next couple of days, and appreciate any and all thoughts and prayers that you can spare for this process! Thank you!

I love and miss you all so very much, and look forward to seeing you all once again sooner than you realize! haha I've been here for a short two months, and have what I can only assume to be a shorter three months left! But, no matter how long they feel, I cannot begin to imagine how much God has in mind to teach me in them! And that fact excites me more than anything!