The Long Awaited India Update
Dear Friends and Family,
Greetings back from India. Yes, we left for India on February 28, but no we did not just return. We actually returned March 15 to Uganda, but have been so busy with all that is happening here in Uganda that a good time to write all that we experienced has just not happened. We are really sorry to keep you in the dark. With all that to say, WE HAD AN INCREDIBLE TIME! For those of you who want the SHORT VERSION, here it is: We drove, we flew, we flew again, and again, we arrived, embraced our friends Jiten and Sikha, went to their home in Mumbai, talked with them, ate AMAZING Indian food (compliments to Jiten and Sikha), we talked some more, prayed with them, went to sleep (we were tired), ate more food, sweet times of fellowship and encouragment with friends, traveled around Mumbai to see city, visited ministry to the blind, David played with his new Indian friends (every child in the neighborhood), rode on countless packed trains along with every other means of transportation in the world, David and Naomi were touched and held by all of Mumbai, worshiped with other believers in local Church, traveled to Bangalore with Jiten and Sikha, visited ministry to children we had relationship with, were encouraged and uplifted, had more AMAZING Indian food, had great time to chat about ministry and future ideas for NHICF, traveled to Kolkata, David and Naomi touched by all of Kolkata, met some old friends, saw an amazing ministry to women in sex trade, slept again, flew again and again and again, and came home, rested and back to work and Rebecca cooked more AMAZING Indian food. That is the quick version, but there is so much more.
The Colors of India and it’s People
One of the things I have grown to love about India is it’s colorfulness. There is so much to see and I don’t just mean landmarks and beautiful scenery. If you were to take a picture of the average busy street in Mumbai or Kolkata your eyes would have too much to take in with all the people rushing to and from work, vendors selling tea in clay cups or indian sweets, others enticing you with coconuts with straws and fresh sugar cane juice, still others offering fresh fruit with incense or flowers for temple worship. In the same area you will find loud blaring speakers declaring another Hindu holiday, funeral entourages, eunuch’s dressed as women soliciting money, beggars, someone’s herd of goats being led through the streets, rickshaws pulling school children, young men and women in schooling with aspirations to succeed, holy men on their pilgrimmages, temples with throngs of people, crumbling and fading buildings that were built by the British and of course the vast variety of beautiful clothes and jewelery that so many of the women wear everyday. It is quite a sight. And that just gives you a picture, but it is brought to life even more when you can smell, hear, touch and taste it too. Though this picture of India seems to be exciting there is also great need and emptiness. It is just as clearly seen and even felt as you walk and see so many people who are living in a sea of confusion. I say “confusion” because a worldview that is not centered around Jesus goes contrary to God’s Truth and is therefore confusing. In fact, Romans chapter one continued to ring through my ears during our time there, “they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal men…. (and) exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator.” This is evidenced through the thousands of gods that are made out to look just like humans or animals. And in every shop, vehicle or home of a Hindu you will find small shrines dedicated to one of their gods. The West or even Uganda is no different in this, we as humans do this the world over, though it may look different from one place to another and it is always easier to recognize it in others first. However, it is a strange dichotomy that we found in India. In one sense we see the beautiful pieces of a culture and people so different from our own and we marvel at God’s creativity and on the other hand we see the effects of sin’s distortion and hear an unheard groaning of a people drinking from broken cisterns that will not satisfy. Rebecca and I both felt our hearts drawn to India and it’s people when we were there, not because God has called us to move there (though he can), but I believe it is because we know the transforming work of the Gospel through Jesus and we know He brings living water that satisfies. It’s like the saying “we are beggars telling other beggars where to find bread” but I think it is even better than that, “we are sons of our Father wanting to tell orphans they have a Father and family to belong to.”
Sweet Sweet Time With Our Friends
In all of our observations and questions about India it was nice to have our friends Jiten and Sikha (an Indian couple who used to work with us here in Uganda) with us since they could give us a more accurate picture of what we were trying to interpret. In fact, one thing I truly valued about our time in India this time was the connection we had with Indian believers, particularly our friends along with their church and ministry. The support and perspective of an Indian couple set on pursuing the things of God within India was invaluable and allowed me to see India in a different light from what I saw even in 2004. It made me think about how awesome God is in that He can have His Church all throughout the world and just because we have Jesus in common we can fellowship and be drawn together as brothers and sisters. Our main purpose in coming to India was to encourage and plan with our friends Jiten and Sikha (who live in Mumbai) for the future of starting a training for people involved in orphan work similar to what we have here in Uganda. They are our missionaries from Kasana Community Church here in Uganda. We had such a good time with them in their home as we had long times to talk about all that has occured in their own family as well as the possibilities of future ministry for them in India. Our coming seemed to line up perfectly as they have really been struggling with some very difficult obstacles occuring in their home district, including both the persecution of Christians and division within their family as a whole. In many ways they were feeling drained and discouraged, but they continually told us that having us and the kids in their home was a timely blessing as it allowed their minds to re-focus and be uplifted from the many things facing them. We were able to encourage them in some ways but I see so much more clearly how God uses His people to bear each other’s burdens. We are pointing each other back to our need for Jesus daily. In being with our friends I didn’t feel like we had all the answers, but in our hearts God united us. I am sure many of you can resonate with not having the words to say to someone who is going through something you haven’t experienced, but the truth is, it doesn’t matter because we bring something with us so much more valuable then “wise and comforting words”, we bring the hope of the Gospel of Jesus Christ who is familiar with all our sufferings. We encourage each other most by pointing one another to our Father who brings a lasting comfort that is full and not fluffy and empty like the world offers. The world says “You can do it, you have what it takes”, but God says “You never could do it, you have needed me all along, now walk in your need of me”. This takes all the burden off and it is why we can walk in confidence with the Lord before us, even in the midst of suffering.
Fun With Our Friends and Kids
During our time with our friends we stayed with them in their home, which was a blessing as we got to spend each and every meal with them. We were blessed by their hospitality and thoughtfulness. Best of all we got some of the best Indian food in the whole country served to us for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Rebecca even picked up some tips and has put into practice some of the cooking skills gained from our friends. In fact, we now drink Indian tea frequently in the morning. When we came back to Uganda we invited all the kids from Jonathan family for an Indian night where we looked at pictures, ate Indian sweets, drank Indian tea and munched on some pomegranates we brought with us from India for the kids. It was a lot of fun, though we did it all in the dark as we had no electricity. Jiten and Sikha also showed us around Mumbai too. Mumbai is enormous and it actually contains the largest slums in Asia, but it is also home to Bollywood where most of the Indian movie industry is located, thus you find vast differences in lifestyles between the slums and more upscale parts of the city. We were informed that Mumbai had several large malls in the city so we were curious as to what they might look like compared to something in the States. They do not compare, the mall in Mumbai is far nicer than most of the malls I have been to in the States. They even had Applebee’s, Ruby Tuesday’s, Pizza Hut, and McDonald’s. After this we went on a boat onto the Arabian Sea to an island with some very large caves and temples built out of the rocks. It was a beautiful sight and David enjoyed being scared by the monkey’s. Another fun part of our trip was having David and Naomi with us. They really were an asset to us as we moved around India. Sometimes we got seats on trains because people saw we had children and another time towards the end of our trip we stayed in a hotel and we were given a free upgrade in our room because of them. Those are the perks, but really having kids seems to open up doors with people you never would have otherwise, simply because they all want to come and touch them. David and Naomi must have had their cheeks pulled and pinched by half of India, whether it was a high class Hindu businessman or countless Muslim and Hindu grandmothers. Even in the apartment complex of our friends home there were lots of kids playing outside so David immediately jumped right in with them. Though he probably wondered why they all kept touching his hair to feel it. David also loved the trains and just about any means of transportation available. The kids rode in taxi’s, buses, hand pulled rickshaws, bicycle pulled rickshaws, motorized rickshaws, trolley’s, boats, trains, planes, mono rails, subways, elevators, escalators, stroller’s, and mommy and daddy’s arms all within two weeks. We still hear him talk about trains and rickshaws.
Future of Training Institute in India
During our time with our friends we had the chance to discuss and see what their ministry looks like and to hear more of what their vision is for ministry within Mumbai and even where God could take them should they decide to move back closer to their families. Many things are yet to be seen, especially as we discussed the future of bringing a training Institute like we have in Uganda to a Indian context. Right now Jiten and Sikha have been working under Gateway Ministries International, which was started by Bombay Baptist Church, and they work among many needy peoples in and around India through its social works branch known as Sahara. For example, Jiten has been working with one part of Sahara that reaches out to the Blind community in Mumbai. Rebecca and I had the privilege to go with him and attend one of their weekly fellowships, There were several women and men who are cared for on a daily basis because of this ministry. Jiten has also been involved with Mahima (Glory) boys home, which we did not have a chance to see, but it is run by a man named Naren and his wife Saleekha. Naren came to New Hope for a couple months years ago. Naren is also the pastor of Jiten and Sikha’s church near their home. On Sunday we got to hear Jiten preach as he does fairly often to assist Naren and the church. It was a blessing to hear him preach as we could see more of the giftings God has put in him. As of right now Jiten and Sikha are awaiting the birth of their first baby at the end of June. After this there is the potential for them to move back to their home district of Orissa, the opposite side of the country. In fact Jiten is traveling there now to see what doors may open for them. Both Jiten and Sikha both have a very strong burden for their families and people in their state of Orissa which has undergone considerable persecution in the last two years. They have felt their hearts drawn to do work in and amongst their families given the obstacles that they are facing, but they had yet to see how it would come about. When we were with them we traveled to Bangalore, a large city in southern India, to visit a children home that I spent a few days at in 2004. I have kept in contact with them since then and we were welcomed to come visit them in Bangalore along with Jiten and Sikha to see what doors may open to begin an Institute. We had a wonderful time there and got to spend some good time talking about some of the things on our hearts. We don’t know what God will do with this connection, but the director of this home will be coming to Uganda in January 2011 to visit to see more of what we do here and if the Lord makes a way we could end up partnering with them in some capacity. Only the Lord knows, but we look forward to the good plans he has in store for us and especially Jiten and Sikha in God’s preparation of them for the future ministry he has for them.
The Last leg of our journey - Kolkata
For those of you who do not know or remember I spent four months in Kolkata in 2004 working with a ministry called Word Made Flesh for a short term internship of sorts. We were there for a few short days to visit some friends and see what has happened in the ministry I was a part of in 2004. WMF in Kolkata works among women who are in the sex trade within a couple of the red light districts within the city. They have started a business called Sari Bari which trains women in sewing and tailoring. It provides these women an alternative income to working in the sex trade while giving them a useful skill as well. We got to visit their shop and meet all the women who work there. It was really special to see how much has been done since I was there in 2004. God has truly blessed them and we look forward to the fruit that God produces not just in their business but in the transformed hearts and families of these women. We departed back to Uganda from Kolkata but it was nice to be able to show Rebecca some of the places she had heard so much about while also seeing some old friends. I hope you are encouraged as much as we were by what God is doing in India. We are truly grateful to all of you for your prayers for us as we traveled. We know that God has connected our hearts and our ministry here at New Hope with India for a reason and we look forward to seeing what God has in store. Please be in prayer with us as some past Institute students have just begun a training Institute in Kenya and some of our staff have traveled there to teach. Please be in prayer also for our current students as we come into our last month of this class. May God’s grace go before them as he prepares them for the next steps in their walk with Him. We are also excited because my parents will be coming in May to spend some time with us and their grandchildren. We always love visitors.
Blessings in Christ,
Chris and Rebecca
