Our India team arrived home safely after spending 10 days in India. If you’ve kept up with the blog over the past couple of days, you’ve seen pictures and heard sweet stories about our time with the national pastors and their wives and children. It is very difficult to describe a trip like this in words, and the pictures never seem to do our experiences justice. We greatly appreciate your prayers, and there are so many things that we could celebrate from this trip. The Lord is working in big ways through so many people in India, and we were so privileged to be a small part of what He is doing.
Over the last 10 days, our team was able to form new relationships and deepen old friendships with the believers in Northern India. In addition to 2 days of training in each of the cities, we were able to visit in many of the homes of the believers and pastors. There is something special about being able to meet people “at grass roots level” as our partner, Emmanuel would say. We saw how they live, heard their stories of faith and drank lots of chai tea. They are humble and hungry to know more of God’s word, and we were so encouraged by the things that we were able experience alongside them. There were many instances in which our team felt inadequate to teach on spiritual warfare because many of the Indian people have gone through a level of spiritual warfare that we’ve never experienced. We definitely learned just as much from them as we hope that they learned from us.
I think I can speak for the team as a whole when I say that this trip was one of the smoothest, most encouraging and most personally challenging trips that we’ve ever had. The pastors were excited about the material that we taught them because it was simple and reproducible. They were engaged in the discussions, and those in attendance showed a level of spiritual maturity that we’ve not experienced in the past. The women were responsive and shared their lives with us openly. The children were loving, joyful and energetic. Our times of worship were a glimpse of what heaven will be like one day. My friend Aksa said, “I think that when we get to worship together in different languages, it’s a rehearsal for heaven.”
Saying goodbye to our new and old friends was bittersweet because we know that they are continuing the Lord’s work even as we go. This trip was full of joy, growth, life and hope for the future, and we thank you so much for praying for our team. Stay tuned to the blog over the next couple of weeks as our Guatemala team will be leaving in a few short days. The Lord is faithful and He is sending laborers into the harvest!
Jenna Hurst
E3 Global Teams 