I'm back in Brisbane after SIXish weeks in INDIA!
I will break up the outreach by weeks...hopefully adding pictures at the end!
WEEK ONE: 19-25 November 2012 Location: Darjeeling, India
Monday-wednesday we were travelling...which consisted of three planes and a 12 hour train ride. We arrived in Darjeeling India on the 21st. We had our first cup of chai and fell in love! We finally went to bed after 4 days of intense travel and then we had orientation. We got orientated to the culture and the town by going on a "scavenger hunt". We also got taken to the markets by some of the local DTS staff and the girls bought kurtas! We went to church and experienced our first 4 hour church service! It was so cool. The pastor had all of the children stand by their parents and had their parents bless them and dedicate them to Christ. And then he called up all of the couples that had gotten married when they were hindu but had since become Christian so that he could pray blessing over them! It was so cool to see such a powerful service the first Sunday!
WEEK TWO: 26 November -2 December 2012 Location: Makra Pera (4 hours south/east of Darj) {plains village}
We left of the Tuesday of this week to go to a village. We arrived at night time after a very cramped 2.5 bus ride! We were greeted by a crowd of small children saying "praise the Lord". We were shown to our hosts' home and quickly served tea and a delicious meal! The next morning while I was having a quiet time I met my best friend...her name is Ankita and she's three! We were best pals and she drew in my journal as I read my bible EVERY MORNING! She was a little spunky and once stole my bible and RAN AWAY! I had to chase after her and then another time she stole my shoe, hid it, then came laughing at me! Our translator had to ask her to get it for me! It was one of the best moments of my life. haha. Another personal highlight during this week was....I got to MILK A COW!!!! IN INDIA!!!!!!!!!!!! I wasn't the best at it, but I've wanted to do this for YEARS and I FINALLY got to!!! I still get super excited about it.
The ministry that we were involved with in this village were: kids ministry (ALL THE TIME), prayer services, house visits, house fellowship, built a toilet, and healing!
Some of the ministry highlights is a hindu lady came to the house we were staying at and she wanted us to pray for her sister. Her sister lived a few hours away and was about to go into surgery for cancer in her stomach...and she was pregnant. We prayed for her and the lady left. A few hours later the woman comes RUNNING to the house with a HUGE smile on her face...she went and found someone who spoke a little english and told me through this man that her sister was completely healed and didn't need to surgery and that the baby had been born and she was healthy! This lady left with a smile beaming off her face! She didn't verbalise her desire for a Saviour but seeds were planted!!!
Another time was when we went to pray for a paralytic man. He lived in a little hut that was built up off the ground because of elephants. We couldn't go inside because of how the house was built so some people carried the man onto the porch and we laid hands on him from the ground. He was SCREAMING and crying with the amount of pain he was in. He had been fine a few years back then got into an accident...(he was hindu) then Christians prayed for him and he was healed...then he started persecuting christians and he became paralysed again. As a team we prayed into forgiveness and repentance and the pain in his arm started going away. He couldn't walk that day but a few days later we found out that he had gone to the bathroom by himself! Which is down the stairs and outside!!!!!
On the Sunday we ran the sunday school and preached the sermon. We taught the kids a memory verse with actions and the song "I'm in the Lord's army", they LOVED IT! I shared a sermon on Christ's Love. It was extremely challenging but so rewarding. I struggle heaps with realising I am loved by God just because he is the full expression of love and not because I have "deserved" it. The night before I preached I was frustrated because even though I've TAUGHT about this topic several times it hasn't gotten easier. Then my co-leader told me "Shannon, you struggle with trust...maybe the reason you keep having trouble with teaching this is that you aren't getting the trust lesson and so you keep having to do it!" God straight spoke through her! It was still hard but it was so good and I finally GOT the trust thing a little bit more! PTL!
WEEK THREE:
3-9 December 2012 Location: Burmaik (3 hours away from Darj) {Mountain village}
The view from this village was incredible. We did ministry in a lot of churches, we did devotions every day for the church members, and we fasted and prayed with them on the Saturday. On the Sunday we shared a skit, a testimony, and we had the opportunity to pray for all of the believers and speak truth into their lives. The presence of God was so evident. It was really cool to look around at our precious students and see how much they had grown at this point. And how much trust these pastors and elders had given us at such a young age. I was so proud of our youngest student for allowing God to develop a heart for intercession and then sharing it with the village. God worked through each of our student and taught them so much about speaking.
We didn't do as much church ministry but we went on HEAPS of prayer walks. UP, up,up, and UP the mountain! We strengthened our legs and our hearts for India. The last day we were in this village we were invited to a man's house for breakfast...at 7am. He gave us a FEAST. The amazing part of this story is that we had never met this man before...he just knew we were in town and wanted to bless us. He wasn't a christian either. He got up around 4am to do this...and he's not married so his sister in law helped him. (who is also not a christian!) We got the opportunity to pray for this family at the end of breakfast before we headed off.
A cool thing that God revealed to me in this village is that I'm worth being protected and taken care of. This is quite a journey because I don't like when people do things for me, even though my dad and brothers treated me like a princess growing up. It's getting better...He's humbling me heapppppps.
WEEK FOUR& FIVE: 10-16 December Location: Siliguri. {city} 17-23 December Siliguri. {city}
It started to look a lot like christmas this week! We partnered with a ministry called "Ambassadors for Christ" and we did HEAPS of kids ministry, christmas programs, gospel sharing, christmas carolling, and HEAPS OF DANCING! We carolled every night from the 16th until the 23rd. We also had the opportunity to share the gospel with a hindu family that was having a birthday party for their daughter and their house was FULL of people. After we shared they asked for some Christian songs so they could learn them! MORE SEEDS PLANTED!
We also shared the gospel with three hindu dancers. (dancing isn't look at as the best job.) One was on the verge of accepting Christ, one was a back sliding christian, and the last one was full blown hindu. We had lunch with them and prayed for all of them. They cried and God really moved in them. I visited a few days later and the backsliding christian realised that when we were praying for her she felt different and she really should be following the Lord!!
WEEK SIX: 24-30 December Location: Salu {mountain village}
In this village we were helping out a single women that has adopted 6 children ranging from 17-6 years old. She started and is running a Christian school in this village. She was also putting on a program for the 25th of December. This year all the non-believers were invited to the program. We helped decorate, we played with all the kids, we learned to cook Indian Roti and we shared the gospel on Christmas day. A whole family came to know God that day! Which in India a family means a husband, wife, children, brother in laws, sister in laws, and parents! It was amazing!!!!!!!
I also met on of the most adorable children....her name is Progeta. Recently some awful stuff happened to her and her family but through it their family came to know Christ!!!!! Everytime I held this little girl God would tell me how innocent and precious she was. It was the coolest feeling to love this little girl.
On the 28th we travelled back to Darj, had a day off, did an open air with another DTS outreach team, and then packed to head home. I got to share my faith and what I do with a Czech Republic lady that was married to an Indian man at the airport. We also got to evangelise to the flight attendant in the plane. When we got to Australia we had a faith day and we picked up trash, met HEAPS of indian people in the city, handed out Love Letters from God, and shared the gospel with people who had NEVER heard of Jesus before....IN A WESTERN COUNTRY. It was amazing.
That pretty much sums up the past few weeks. I am missing heaps of details and many more precious God stories, lessons, and people, but for now that will have to do! Our students will be graduating on 18 January. I will be staying in Australia until April 2013 and then heading back to VA in May 2013. I will update more and what that looks like and why another day! Now i will get some photos for yall.
Thank you so much for all of your support. To think of the journey of provision God took me on to get to India and back is absolutely amazing. I could not have done it without each of you!
If you have questions please email me! Also, I would love to hear about your christmas and the things that God taught you over 2012!
Love,
Shannon
671 Samford Road
Mitchelton, QLD 4053
AUSTRALIA
hugmemore08@gmail.com
