today marks my twelfth day in hyderabad, where every piece of life is different from what i know. it’s hard to put in words what this first 13.5% of my time in asia has been… and harder still to know what it all means.
we started this trip with three days of training back in the u.s. and three days of training here in india. i’m still amazed at how quickly the words i’d read in textbooks and the sights i’d seen in still photos became real people, real practices, real smells.
this place is filled with so many more humans and scents and walks of life than my mind will ever comprehend. but it’s also my new normal. after completing a full week of ministry, i can honestly say that i’m getting used to it.
across cultures and languages and continents, though, it is breathtaking to see the universal state of humanity. it’s a loud chorus crying out for something bigger.
while my team’s primary purpose here is to support our host ministry – which we have done mostly by cleaning out their foster home kitchens this week! – my heart has been burdened for the people of india as a whole.
i would be lying if i said that what my team and i have faced so far has been easy. our time has been filled with a surprising amount of challenges that very obviously fall in the category of spiritual warfare. satan is all sorts of creative. and let me tell ya, he is NOT STOKED about our presence. well, the Spirit’s presence.
there is no such thing as casual mention of Jesus or the gospel here. The neighbors and doctors and street vendors and ayas really don’t know His name. and if they do, they are still enslaved to gods who can’t save them.
in the last twelve days there have been paper tiaras and prayer walks, cockroach killings and spontaneous visits inside street huts (because if you walk by anyone, they WILL invite you inside their home and feed you).
for the coming weeks, i have a vague ministry schedule. we will throw appreciation parties for the ayas, take adoption photos of the children and complete projects the foster homes don’t have staff for. but i still have no idea what will take place in the midst of that! i am positive that it could use prayer from all over the world, though, and i ask that you join me in interceding for the soul of india.
the time is flying, y’all. we’ve got 23 days and everything to lose.
