India and Suda

India. This is my third time coming to India through this organization. It has been so amazing to see this organization grow and to be apart of what Rahab’s Rope is doing has been a privilege and such a blessing. I always come to India with a heart to pour into God’s people and every time I leave being poured into with a heart that is overjoyed by the time I had here. During my time in India God put it on my heart his love for us and how we can practically love on his people and what that looks like. Love is clearly defined in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. I want to love people in this way as God loves us. Every person and child I meet while in India loves us with no questions asked and with little knowledge of who we are. This is how we should love on each other every day and how God loves us. India teaches me how to love. God loved us before we knew him and while we were still sinners. God sent his one and only son to die on the cross for us. This boggles my mind every day and I am continually amazed by who God is and his love for us. I fall more in love with the people in India every time I come. The women and children teach me so much not only how to love but also their hospitality and willingness to give when they themselves have very little. Taking with me back home to the states would be giving more, showing more hospitality, and reaching out to my own community, and loving God’s people practically.

Suda is a little girl who I have seen the past three times I have come to India. She is twelve years old and has deformed arms and legs. When she was born she was able to walk and gradually over time all her limbs started to bend where she could not longer walk on her own. Her brother and friends help her get to school every day along with her mom bringing her to the program Samir holds at his house every afternoon. Shortly after I left over the summer she broke her hip bone causing her to be bed ridden and shortly after that she fell while riding the bus and her thigh bone broke. She can no longer go to school or attend the afternoon program but has to stay home and rest day and night. Her dad sees her as a burden and with every bone that breaks he drinks more. She is a beautiful little girl inside and out and every chance we got we would go visit her and she always had a smile in her face. Seeing her in that state breaks my heart, but also encourages my heart just to see her smile. She is never angry or upset by her circumstances, but filled with such a joy. She inspires me to smile in the face of trials and rejoice in all circumstances knowing God will get me through. I love her so much and I ask that you would keep her and her family in your prayers.

Blessings,
C- Goa Christmas Team

First Impressions Aren't Everything

They say that first impressions are everything. After living in India, I’m not so sure that’s the case. My first impression was that it was dirty, had an odor more potent than tear gas, and that all the citizens were ruthless, dehumanizing people. All I ever heard about India in the states was about their lack of compassion towards their own people, and of course, about their notorious human trafficking trade. It didn’t take me long to realize that the media was missing out on one big thing: their love. Pure love. 

In the months I've lived here during the summer, and this quick week of return, my heart has been overwhelmed by all the love I’ve received. These people aren’t ruthless at all. They have shown me what it means to love unconditionally. They took me as I was, and loved me for all that I was. They taught me the meaning of ‘love your neighbor as yourself." And even in the midst of their pain, they somehow still found a way to show me the meaning of joy. 

I often wondered why they treated me the way they did. The poorest of poors would still serve me a three course meal, knowing that their own family would probably not eat tonight. They demonstrate the sacrificial giving that we see in the gospels of the widow who gave her last two coins. But why? I’d like to believe it was because of me but to be quite honest, I know it wasn’t. There is nothing fantastic about my nature and to say that would be quite narcissistic. One day as I sat in front of the women for life skills I had asked them why they like us here. Her simple response gave me the answer I’ve been searching for. She told me “we like to hear your stories about your faith. We like your God.” They love us because He lives in us. It wasn’t about me or any individual person that came through the slums of India, but about the way Christ shined in that person. Day in and day out, believers are walking into the slums not because they think they can change anything, but because we know Christ can. These beautiful people showed me that India is worth far more than I could ever imagine.

Blessings, 
J- Goa Christmas Team

English Lessons

Growing up in an English speaking nation, I never realized how difficult learning our language could be. Nor have I ever stopped to think how having multiple languages in one country could make an impact. India has numerous languages, but to be able to communicate with foreigners, a major source of

income for many Indian people, they must be able to speak English.

I spent Friday morning this week teaching English lessons to some ladies who spoke primarily Hindi, which, though it is India's main language, it is just one of the many languages spoken there. The ladies were so sweet and so eager to learn, that it really blessed me and reminded me how available knowledge is in the States, but how hungry people are in other cultures to

learn. Kids in the U.S. see school as something to be endured until adulthood, but these grown women wanted so badly to be taught our language.

English is a very difficult language to learn. I was reminded of just how many rules are irregular, and it is almost unfair to those who try to learn English later in life. Trying to teach the difference between "coming" and "going" was much more difficult that I ever imagined it might be. How do you explain such a subtle difference in connotation to someone who wouldn't think that it just "sounds right?" And how do you explain what a direct quote is to people who are having to work so hard to comprehend your every word? And yet that is exactly what we did. And through the grace of God, it seemed to work! We were able to draw pictures, act things out and give examples to help the ladies understand. The most rewarding part was when they began to get the sample sentences correct on the first try. And they just kept wanting to do more and more until our time was over.

I so often take for granted the education that is available all over the U.S. We don't even have to learn another language if we don't want to, but if we choose to do so, we can pick up a book on tape at the library and learn a new language just for fun. This is not the case in India, nor in most of the world outside the U.S. I am so blessed to have gotten to see the desire these ladies have to learn, and to have been a part of their learning. This experience has made me much more thankful for the education and opportunities I have had, because I now realize what a rarity that is in this world.

Blessings,
LB- Goa Volunteer

Hands and Feet

 ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ Matthew 25:40 (NIV)

A mission trip to India!  Where do I begin?

In the beginning:  The company my husband works for hires contractors from India and one of the contractors and my husband became great friends.  He was such a sweet guy.  He became like family.  Our kids called him Uncle John.  He ate with us, we took him to his first professional hockey and baseball game, we took him to church…  While he was taking in our culture I began to become very interested in his culture.  I found myself wanting to go to India.  Not too long after, we had a couple come to our Sunday School class that had just moved back from India!  That Christmas our women’s ministry had a luncheon and the speaker was from a ministry called Rahab’s Rope and they go to….. you guessed it… India!  During this luncheon God moved in my heart.  After the speaker finished speaking I looked around the table and I was the only one in tears.  I was completely broken for these ladies in India and wanted to go.  I would love to say I signed up right then and went, but it took a few years to get there.  I know God’s timing is perfect and I can’t imagine a better time.  God worked out every detail, every stumbling block, EVERYTHING!  I had no anxieties about going.  I couldn’t get there fast enough.

After a full 24 hours of travel, I had finally arrived in India.

While I was there God showed me over and over again that we just need to be an obedient, willing body and He will use us and He will be glorified!  There were times that I wondered how we would be received by the ladies and children we met that spoke a different language, but it never mattered.  They loved us and we fell in love with them.  Hugs, smiles, laughter, joy, love, photography, food are all universal languages.  It does not take a public speaker to reach hearts and share God’s love.  It takes us being the hands and feet of Jesus Christ.  My prayer for the trip from the time I knew I was going was that we would be the Hands and feet of Jesus.

If we are to truly become Jesus' hands and feet, we must share His love for "the least of these."  He touched lepers – we touched women and children with HIV/Aids, He welcomed women and children – we did also, He dined with criminals – we shared cookies and tea with women that have been sold into a life of crime, He championed the poor – we gave gifts and encouraged the poor, He defended the powerless – He gave the woman and children power through us.  Jesus spent His time on earth with the hated and the outcasts and claimed that He had come to "preach good news to the poor."  We spent our time in India with society’s hated and outcast, but they are so loved by Him!!!

India is a physically, emotionally, and spiritually hard place, but when God stretches us, He is with us.  I live such a clean comfortable life in America and I am often thinking of ways to make it cleaner and more comfortable instead of thinking of ways to get out of my comfort and let God stretch me.  We might not see immediate fruits from our labor, but if God can take this slightly OCD, germaphobe to India then I know He will take what we planted and grow something beautiful.

Challenge:  How can we be stretched?  How can God use us in our neighborhoods?  How can we be the hands and feet of Jesus to the people around us?

Everytime I hear this song I picture the precious children we met in India.  I picture Jesus placing crowns on their heads.

Blssings, 
S - Goa Christmas Team

Answered Prayers

   This week He gave me the joy of learning about faith. God has showed me that He is so true to answer our prayers again and again. Each time one is answered, He never ceases to amaze me and leave me in awe of how powerful He is. If you have faith that He will do it, He will! I will tell you a number of answers to prayer which have strengthened my faith tremendously and I hope it does the same for you. The other girls on the team and I spend some time each week with three believers who own shops on the beach. Susanna and I visited one of the ladies, Leah, and she was very down because another woman, who is not a believer, owed Leah a great sum of money for three years. She wrote it down in her books that she would repay Leah. Then recently she told Leah that she never owed her any money. She never wrote it down and denied the truth. Leah came to us just very hurt and in need of prayer. She felt powerless in this situation and felt all she could do was pray. This woman isn't a believer so she did not see any wrong in being dishonest to Leah. But we knew that God can do all things, even convict the hearts of the ungodly. We prayed together and then apart and after a couple of days the woman called and told Leah she would pay her for what she owed!

   Another answer to prayer was with a woman named Sheela, who comes to our Life Skills and English classes every Tuesday and Thursday. This Tuesday Sheela was very distraught and asked us for prayer concerning her sons. Sheela and her family are Hindu but they are open to pray to Jesus. One of Sheela's sons has been getting into fights with other men (both sons are in their late 20's) and causing much trouble in the family. He wouldn't even let Sheela, his mother, leave the house at times. She also wanted us to pray for her other son, Neil, to contact her because she had not heard from him in a very long time and it made her upset that he would not speak to her. We then prayed with her for her sons and for her family to come to know the Lord. We always pray for salvation but we pray in English so they do not know what weare asking Jesus. Thursday when we saw Sheela again; she was eager for more prayer to Jesus. She told us that her son who was causing trouble was now doing well and that her other son Neil called her the very next day after we prayed. Praise the Lord! Neil told her when he called that he has been reading the Bible also! We are now praying that Neil will become a believer and reach Sheela. She is so hungry and knows something about Jesus from all the other gods. When we pray with her to Jesus, things actually happen! I think she is realizing that. I pray she is.
 
   Sheela asked us to pray for some other things regarding her family and just before we started praying another woman named Sunita came up. She prayed with us and afterwards she said something that truly amazed me. Jules, another girl from our team, prayed with Sunita last week. Sunita is a young woman but she has been suffering from an eye problem for quite some time. She said they were very painful and her vision was very blurry, especially in the mornings. She explained this to Jules and Jules was thrilled to get to pray over her and see God work. Sunita told us that after Jules prayed over her, she was healed! My eyes filled with tears as I was in awe of God and how is constantly revealing Himself to these people in India. Through answered prayers he reminds me of His word and how we must have faith that He will heal and work through us to glorify His name. Matthew 17:20 says "I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." At times, I find myself doubting God, especially at home. But he has taught me to have much faith. Know that we serve a God who is alive, not dead. He is working all the time and is ready to move when we ask in faith! Remember that He can do all things. NOTHING is impossible with God.

Blessings,
  EG- Goa Volunteer

Beyond Barriers

During the week, I help look after roughly 100 kids ranging in age from 3 to 14 years old. I love them all, but one girl in particular has captured my heart.

Radica is old enough to to be in the second grade, but she, like so many girls in India, does not attend school. However, this has not dampened her joyful spirit. Every day, she comes in with a smile, big personality, and and infectious laugh. Radica only knows about 5 words in English, and I only know a few more in Hindi. Neither of us has a clue as to what the other is saying, but that has stopped us from forming a bond.

When I started working with the children I was very frustrated by the language barrier. The fact that I could barely pronounce their names, much less speak fluent Hindi, weighed on me very much. However, God has shown me that, despite these boundaries, He is able to work through them. As humans on this earth, there are things we are simply not able to do. However, our Savior is able to work through us despite this. When I receive a hug, or tickle a child, or make a silly face at a student, I see that His love is indeed getting through to those I am ministering to. Moses was not the best public speaker, and yet God worked in amazing ways through him. No matter how inadequate we may feel, He will always be able to work through us.

Blessings,
SB - Goa Volunteer

Spiritually Disabled

This week was a little different from most. Schedules were changed around in order to accommodate sickness and other meetings going on. Because of this, I was able to work in the other ministry location and go back to the after school program that I hadn’t been to in a while. It ended up being one of the most special days I’ve had here so far. There are several children in the slum that have leg deformities. Two of the girls are sisters, and the boy is from a separate family. The oldest girl can walk on her own, but the younger boy and girl have to scoot around or rely on others to carry them from place to place. While we were walking in on Wednesday, the boy wanted me to carry him, and the younger girl sat in my lap the whole time during the lesson. She even gave me her drawing she had colored after the lesson. Being there and having the opportunity to love, to hold, and even carry these children reminded me of something my friend Andie told me after her trip this summer to Kenya. After visiting a Mother Teresa orphanage for the mentally and physically disabled she related that to how we are spiritually disabled. She taught me a lot about this, but it wasn’t until i was with these children with physical disabilities that I understood for myself what this meant.

Psalm 23:1-4 says, “The Lord is my shepherd. I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right path for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me, your rod and your staff they comfort me”.

God showed me through this experience that it is impossible to live a holy life in this sinful world without him. We have to rely on him to provide for us, lead us, and sometimes even carry us on this path of righteousness. We as humans will fail in this world if we try to rely on others or even ourselves too much. We have to fully be dependent on God knowing that we are debilitated without him. Seeing how those children are physically dependent on the people around them, made me realize how I need to be in my relationship with God, dependent on him for every aspect of my life.

Blessings,
JL - Goa Volunteer