This month, I have been reflecting a lot on God's love and what that looks like in my life. I am amazed again and again about how perfect God's forgiveness is. When I sin and ask for forgiveness, He doesn't go off in the corner and pout for a while before coming back to begrudgingly grant my request. He forgives instantly, unconditionally, and completely! He longs to forgive me, even before I ask for it. He never says, “Now that I've forgiven you, will you give me ____?” He just forgives and will never bring my sin up ever again! He doesn't think of me as a failure and he will never try to make me feel inferior, guilty, or more sorry for my sin. He simply desires to restore our broken relationship and let me experience more of His infinite love!! As I go about my day and observe all the people around me, my heart aches for them because they have never experienced God's forgiveness! I so want them to know that Someone already loves and forgives them perfectly and accepts them just the way they are. Ask for the people of India, that God would stir up in their hearts a deep desire for Him!! May God reveal the truth of His love to them and may they have open ears, eyes, and hearts to understand and accept it!!
After coming back from language school, life has gotten a bit busier as God has provided more storying opportunities and language helpers! :D Woot woot! Monday through Friday, each of us meets with a language helper for an hour. My language helper is a sweet 20-year-old girl from our church, who is very patient with me as I speak so slowly! She studied abroad in Virginia for a year during high school and hopes to start college this year, studying fashion design. Besides continuing language learning, God gave us three storying opportunities! At the end of May, we held a two-day conference for the leaders at the OM church on how to adapt their Bible school curriculum for oral learners. I got to tell the story of Noah and the woman washing Jesus' feet. Everything went well and the leaders asked our team to teach the overview of Genesis at their first Bible school session for oral learners in the middle of June. We told 7 stories in all, including creation and the fall, Abraham and Isaac, and the overview of the whole Bible! There were about 20 men there, all from villages speaking Gihari. It was exciting to teach these men more about the Bible and watch them reproduce it!
A few days after that, my team leaders took me to the outskirts of Lucknow to visit a newly-formed storying group of about 10-15 people from “the snake-charming caste,” who speak a mix of two or three languages as their native language. This group will be meeting once a month and is made up of belivers who want to learn more about how to share Jesus with their family, friends, and neighbors back home in the village. This past Sunday, I got to tell them the Prodigal Son story, and next month we will be starting Genesis! Thank God for raising up people who want to learn more about sharing Jesus and giving us these opportunities to story with them!! Pray for all these believers, as they go back to their villages to share, that they would be filled with the Holy Spirit's love, boldness, and power and that through all their circumstances, they would fall more and more in love with Jesus!!
We continue to story weekly with the kids at Blue Haven Children's Home here in Lucknow. Just this past week, they have all returned from summer vacation and are on the brink of a new school year ahead! Pray for the leadership in the home to have wisdom and discernment, as they are in the process of hiring new dorm parents. Pray for God to raise up a couple or family with his passion and love for these kids who are willing to commit long-term! Pray that God would surround each and every one of these kids with His supernatural peace, love, comfort, and security during this change.
June was the month for birthdays, as we helped four people celebrate! For my teammate Lindsey's 23rd birthday, we went to a waterpark!!! It was complete with slides, tubes, and a wave pool and we had a blast! We also bought her an inflatable kiddie pool as a present. My language helper invited us to her birthday party, where they sang and cut the cake before dinner as soon as we got there. Instead of giving everyone their own piece, the birthday girl took one piece around to everyone and we all took a tiny bite out of the same piece! I decided to paint my room this month, and I went to my first Indian housewarming party! It was for my pastor's family, so they had worship, prayed, and gave thanks to God for His blessings.
As always, I am deeply grateful for each and every one of your prayers and financial support!!
May “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe!” (Eph. 1:17-19)