Peter(In)dia

A post as short as my facial hair

For those confused, the title is referencing the disaster that is “No Shave November” which is happening on my face. I don’t have a current picture, but I’m sure in the next week I’ll post some updated ones.

A couple cool things from this week:

-Wednesday when we went out to do English class, I was feeling complacent/apathetic and didn’t really want to teach. Rakesh, the man Nate and I have been tutoring, hasn’t been showing up for the last week and half. We still help out and teach one of the Indian staff at EMI, so it’s not like we do nothing, but it’s still discouraging to see the guy you’ve been teaching stop coming out. We have no idea why he hasn’t been coming. Anyways, Wednesday he didn’t show up either. But a new guy, Raju, who’s friends with the other man we teach, Vijay, was there. He ended up being such an encouragement! As I’ve written previously, the hope is to get to a point with Vijay and Rakesh that we can share our testimonies or the gospel, but as of now, it’s looking to be a difficult task. Raju on the other hand, has a very good grasp of English and practices often on his own time. I was able to go through 5-6 different verb tenses (which amounts to almost all that we’ve taught Rakesh so far) in the whole session and he caught on to all of them. On top of that, he was eager to practice and kept saying sentences or questions and asking what the correct form was. He’s anxious to come out each time to practice and even asked for my email so we could stay in touch when I leave for the states. The best part is, he’s a Hindu! So with our remaining times together, his willingness to learn, and his already good English, there is a great opportunity for the gospel to be shared! I can’t tell you how great it is to finally have an opportunity like this. This isn’t to say Vijay and Rakesh are done, we’ll keep tutoring them as well, and hopefully be able to present to them an English dictionary and Hindi New Testament as gifts when we leave. It’s just refreshing to see how God opens doors when I least expect.

-This next week, Krishna and I (and possibly Jenny), will be heading out to the village alone for Monday and Tuesday. Hopefully Pratim will be able to join us on Wed as he has some business to take care of. Depending on how things go, we’ll either come back Wed night, or Thursday. This is actually slightly intimidating as Krishna and I have never been out there alone. Pratim usually does the teaching and we help out with worship. So the thought of going by ourselves actually made me more anxious than excited. How sad that my faith is so small! I was actually on the fence about going, seeing as there was new opportunity to teach English to Raju, and going to the village would mean I wouldn’t see him until the week after. But God quickly showed me that I needed to get out and trust Him no matter how intimidating the circumstance. So now we’re going, and I have full faith that God will work something, whether I see it or not. I must keep reminding myself that He is God and I am not. It be better that I leave the roles like that…

The tentative plan, depending on who shows up for fellowship in the evening, if any, is to share our testimonies (as the kids haven’t heard either of ours) and a Bible story. But as things go here, I’m expecting plans to change and for us to just go with the flow. Who knows what will happen there, whether it’s just playing guitar with Rakesh or playing games with the kids, I pray God will somehow be glorified and His name heard.

He is faithful and works despite us. That is a beautiful truth.

So that’s the big news for this week/this coming week. After we get back from the village I’ll be heading out with the EMI interns on Friday for Delhi, and then visiting the Taj on the following Monday.

Prayer Requests!

Please pray for the two things I mentioned!

-For our time at the village to be God-glorifying. That God will speak truth, grace, wisdom, and love from Krishna and myself while we are by ourselves. That our faith in His faithfulness will knock down barriers or anxiousness through His strength. That the hearts of the kids, believers and unbelievers, will be open to the gospel and His Word. That God will be God and do as God does!

-For Raju, and more opportunities to meet up with him to practice English, inside our allotted times or outside of them. That an opportunity to share the good news will present itself, and that my own initiative will still be to love as I’m called and not to aim to “convert”. That the Holy Spirit will be opening and preparing his heart for the gospel to take root as well.

Thank you everyone for your support and prayers!

PS- for all the UT folk reading this, Praise God for thanksgiving banquet! I heard of the great things God did, and I am so excited for how the gospel is changing our campus and fellowship. There is something awesome happening amongst you. Rejoice and keep imploring our God to move as mightily as He can!