“The mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, and many peoples shall come, and say: 'Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord...that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.'” ~Isaiah 2:2-3
As I sit in my new apartment to write, the sound of drums fills the streets below. Sometimes it is a steady rhythm, other times it is a frenetic pace. Today is the Day of 'Ashura for Muslims all over the world to either mourn the death of Mohammed's grandson or commemorate Moses and the crossing of the Red Sea. Some people break long florescent lightbulbs on themselves to imitate the suffering of Mohammed's grandson when he was martyred. Earlier this month, Hindus celebrated Diwali by hanging lots of lights and setting off firecrackers to remember Lord Ram's return to India after exile. All around me, people are trying to find peace with God by any and all means. They desperately need to hear the truth about Jesus and His sacrifice for all of humanity! Pray for their hearts to thirst for Jesus and be completely surrendered to Him. Continue to pray for boldness and love for me and my teammates to share the good news. We are realizing how necessary it is to know Hindi! Now that we have moved into our apartment, we are going to be learning language full-time for the next six months. The first step is to find local people who are willing to spend a few hours a day teaching us their language. Please pray for God to provide plenty of language helpers for me and my teammates! We are thanking God for already bringing a wonderful language helper and friend to Emily and Lindsey!
Our homestays went relatively well. My teammate Jessica and I stayed with a Methodist family, so we got to experience Christianity in India firsthand. Some denominations here are Pentecostal, Methodist, and Assembly of Believers Church (ABC). From the Christians I have encountered, there is a disconnect between calling oneself a Christian and being a true disciple of Christ. I was talking to a college-age Christian girl and asked her how she came to know Jesus. She gave me a confused look and said, “My parents are Christians.” I asked this same question to a middle-age woman and she proceded to tell me how her grandpa came to believe in Jesus. Pray for the Holy Spirit to stir up in these Christians a personal deep love and passion for Jesus! May they commit to following Him wholeheartedly through whatever may come and that their love for Jesus will propel them to be effective lights in their own dark town and country! Pray for wisdom and love for me and my team as we seek to “spur each other on towards love and good deeds” (Heb 10:24).
Thank you all so much for your continued prayers and financial support!! “May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ” (2 Thes 3:5).