Peter(In)dia

updates from northern India

November 9, 2010

Another week, another post

First of all, thanks to everyone who prayed for the retreat last week! I have no doubt all those prayers helped make it as great as it was.

The early part of the week was the same as the last. Monday-bible study, English class, Tuesday-catching up on chores/reading, Wednesday-English class, start of the retreat. I’ll do a quick recap of each day of the retreat.

Wednesday the kids got in around 3-4pm. There were 12 people from the village in all, we were expecting 8-10, so already a great praise to see more than we thought! 2 guys from the main village we visit, 5 girls from the same village, 1 young mother and 1 of her small kids, 1 guy from a village near by the one we camp at, and 2 girls from that same nearby village. The last 3 kids from the nearby village were friends from school that we had never met before, so it was a great opportunity to have the gospel shared for the first time!

After they all settled down and a few rounds of ladder ball, we gathered together to have some fellowship time, singing songs (old and new for them to learn), and a little talk by Pratim afterwards. Then we had dinner and the kids all went upstairs to watch a movie about a missionary that went to NE India. They really enjoyed it, as there were Hindi dubs.

Thursday started off around 8 with breakfast. Then around 1030 we had fellowship time again. People from the team or friends would come to Dave and Daphne’s around that time every day, so there would be from 20-30 people all the time. After some more songs with Krishna and I playing guitar, a friend of ours shared her testimony. Then Dave shared about the prodigal son. A couple of us acted it out while he narrated (Rakesh-younger son, Krishna-father, me-older son). By the end of it, the kids got to hear about how God wants to come after us the same way the father ran up to the younger son, how we need to realize that we’re eating with the pigs in our sin/lives without Him and turn back to Him as he runs after us.

After snacks and lunch, we had some craft time where the kids were able to paint tshirts. Right before they started, Dave shared about Noah’s ark and how the rainbow was a symbol of God’s promises. He might of shared some more, but I was inside doing dishes from lunch, so I’m not sure. Anyways, they told the kids to paint a rainbow on the shirt and a cross under it (as the cross is God’s full fulfillment of His promises) and then to write their names or whatever else they wanted to design. A few of them misunderstood and wrote “NAME” on their shirts. It was awesome. I love things being lost in translation, haha.

The kids (and the rest of us) were getting a little tired, so Daphne put on a movie for them to watch upstairs (“3 Idiots”, which I’ve seen before and thought was pretty good.) I took advantage of the normally long Hindi movie and had a nap.

When they finished, we had some more fellowship with songs and a little message by Pratim and then dinner. They wanted to watch another movie at night, “The Passion of the Christ.” Yeah. When I first heard that that was what was lined up I voiced my thoughts to Vanita, Pratim’s wife. “Don’t you think that’s a little heavy?” Her response: “Yes, but they need to see what the Lord has done for us.” Straight up, no hesitation, as calm and collected as could be. I have no refute for that…

The movie didn’t have Hindi subs, so before we started, Vanita read parts of the gospels to let them know what was going on. During the movie she would translate most of the parts (there isn’t that much talking in the first place). This was actually my first viewing of the film as well. It’s safe to say that many of them got a good sense of what Christ went through.

Friday was super packed. After breakfast and everyone had arrived at Dave’s house, we went hiking up the side of the mountain were on to picnic/visit people. Another new believer that lives in Mussoorie joined us for the day. She’s a young mother with two kids under 10. Her husband recently passed away and Daphne, Vanita, and some others from the team visited her and shared the gospel with her a few months ago. Since then she’s received the Lord, burned all the idols in her house, goes to Pratim’s house for their weekly Bible study, and has seen God’s blessing on her life (she just got a government teaching job, which are actually sought for here since they are permanent and pay better)!

Slight Tangent: In the States where the prosperity gospel is getting bigger and bigger and the thoughts of material providence and wealth are what you get with Christ (this is wrong by the way. You get Christ with Christ, and Christ alone. That is all we need. That is all He gives, because He is everything), there are certain times where blessings reinforcing salvation are looked down upon. Here it’s a much different story. Many come to faith, not for the material blessings, but for the salvation in Christ and the promises in love of our Father. He is Love afterall. So when they receive blessings, they turn their hearts to proclaim God’s glory and providence even more. Stories like this are actually extremely powerful in saving souls for people who happen to live in poverty, which is interesting seeing as stories like this in the US often lead to selfish greed driven “trust” instead of legitimate faith in a God who gives and takes away, no matter our desires, for our betterment and His glory. It’s funny how culture can be so different in some areas. But I digress…

The team thought it’d be a good idea to open up some of the believer’s eyes to ministry outside of themselves/village so we went to a house with an older couple who Dave and Daphne have built a relationship with over the years. All of us crammed into their small house and sang worship songs and heard a little from Pratim. The whole group in this dimly lit, tiny room of a house, singing praises to God was a sweet sweet experience.

Once we finished, we traveled up to a small clearing on top of the peak. We found a shady spot to have snacks, play some games, and have another time of fellowship, this time with Vanita sharing after worship.

When we got back to the house the kids had some time to play around (ladder ball became a huge favorite), and the rest of us made wai-wai (Indian version of ramen) for the kids as a small snack, while the others prepped the ingredients for momo making (momos=dumplings). Pratim, Krishna, Jenny, and I were momo making machines for like 5 hours, haha. Everything’s from scratch, so it was quite a bit of work. The funny part in all of this, is that many of the girls didn’t like it and ate very few of them. They’re all used to rice and daal and I guess aren’t big fans of anything different from that… So what we hoped would be an awesome dinner was pretty lack luster for them. You live and you learn, it’s all part of the process. Thankfully we had brownies and ice cream for dessert that they liked. Success! While we were making momos, they watched a movie upstairs about the gospel, and this one was in Hindi so they were able to understand and follow along.

After dinner, since they already watched a movie, a few of us gathered outside to set off fireworks. Friday was technically Diwali, a Hindu holiday, and the kids more or less came to the retreat so they wouldn’t have to celebrate it with their villages. But when there are fireworks going off everywhere, you can’t not set off your own. It’s like impossible for anyone, especially kids. So Krishna and I helped them shoot their own bottle rockets into the sky. Fireworks are always fun! The kids had a great time and got super excited over the smallest of things. I have to keep reminding myself that there isn’t much of this “fun leisure” stuff that my life is unfortunately cluttered with. So for them, setting off bottle rockets is a much bigger deal than it is for me.

Saturday started like the other days, but the jeep was coming around 10am to pick them up. So after breakfast and pictures with their sweet shirts they made, we had some quick fellowship time. Dave challenged the believers to show love and grace when they get back. That this was the whole reason they were here with us, because of Jesus and His love, so love as well. We prayed for them and then they had to go.

I can’t say much on how this retreat affected them, as I wouldn’t know since I couldn’t exactly talk with them. But the hope, and I think by God’s grace this was achieved, was to just love on them and let them have a good time to relax with good Christian community. Whether it be watching movies, playing ladderball, setting off fireworks, singing songs, hearing the Word, playing “Sorry!”, or just being in a new place sleeping in sleeping bags, they were able to have a few days away from things to enjoy life and what God has given them. There were no altar calls, no demands for faith, that wasn’t the point. The gospel was preached, sung about, and seen. Apart from praying for those souls now, there wasn’t much we could do without imposing a false faith from their lips. The beautiful thing is that when we go back to the village, we’ll see them again, and hopefully God will open up opportunities for their faiths’ to bloom, and we’ll get to celebrate with the angels when they do.

For myself, it was another great experience for me to see how long term ministry is. Whether it was problems that had to be dealt with during the retreat (there’s definitely a higher demand for scheduling things better next time around amongst the team members), or serving in my niche with the right attitude (I washed more dishes than I ever thought I’d wash in my life at one time), or learning more how to love in my actions without the ability to converse, they were all cherished lessons to learn.

Lackie, one of the guys from the village, has especially been on my heart. He’s my age, maybe a little older even, and is getting married in December. He’s extremely quiet and humble, never says much, but is always willing to help, and pretty dang tall. I don’t think he’s openly voiced a faith in Christ, but he always comes out to these things, greets with “Jai Ma Seeki” (not sure if that’s how you spell it) which is like “Glory to God” and all the Christians say it to one another, and always listens intently when there’s teaching. I know there is something there, but I guess we still have to wait and see if that’s what he truly believes. Anyways, I dearly hope he comes to Christ soon as he has become a great friend (though we rarely are able to converse) during this time.

Forthcoming

I’ll be staying in Mussoorie this week, so email me if you ever want to catch up. Next week the plan is to hopefully go to the village Mon-Wed or Thurs. That Friday, I’ll be going to Delhi with the EMI folks as some of them are running the Delhi half marathon so we’ll support them, as well as visit the Taj in Agra. Tentative plans are to get back Tuesday the week of Thanksgiving.

Pictures

Playing ladderball. They were seriously obsessed with this game.

Fellowship time!

Dave in between songs explaining that singing/worship doesn’t depend on where you are or who you are around, but it’s your song to God.

Diving into the Word.

Dave narrating.

A father’s embrace, son asking for forgiveness, father giving his cloak and ring.

Everyone working on their shirts.

Displaying them for all to see (and dry off).

Watching the movie. There’s Jesus!

The house we went to before the picnic. Lackie’s looking smooth up in front.

Most of us in the house. It got a little tighter when a few more came in.

Going up to the picnic spot.

Nice little clearing we found.

Snacks on the hill in the shade.

Game time! Notice how the girls get in a circle and play cool games while the guys gather around a tree and ponder whether we should climb it or not… We ended up playing some ultimate ninja though, they learned it from the summer team.