Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Day 5: What Are We Doing Here?

I want to begin by apologizing for not posting this entry sooner.  We had a very late night last night after a very busy day.  It began with going to the Moriah School to watch their morning chapel service.  Here are a couple of pictures of the children:


Singing Together


Listening to Esther

It continued with visits to two separate congregations.  We were again welcomed with great hospitality and kindness.  Here are two pictures of those congregations:


Pastor Peter introducing us to the congregation


Sharing stories with the congregation

After we left the congregations, we were graciously invited to attend a wedding for a family friend of Paul and Esther.  Unfortunately, because we enjoyed our time with the congregations during the day we were unable to attend the ceremony.  We were however able to attend the reception.  Here are some of the pictures:


Walking in on the red carpet


The stage is set for the bride and groom to make their appearance


The bridal party coming into the reception with drums playing behind them.

After the wedding reception (12:00 am), we were invited over to the house of our translator.  He has been amazing walking with us and helping communicate with us.  He invited us over so that we could have some black tea and "bless his house".  So all of us went over and crammed into one little room in his little house.  We got to meet his two boys and his amazing wife, all while having some amazing black tea.  We weren't there long as we were exhausted but we prayed for them and their continued ministry as a family.  They were extremely grateful for the short time we were there and were encouraged by our visit.  And as I reflect on this visit and the others over the past few days, I have come to realize that this has been true of the congregations we have visited during our time in India.

Don't get me wrong, we've spent some good time with each congregation but sometimes we had to cut our time with them short because of other visits that need to take place throughout the day.  We always feel terrible about that yet for these congregations they are extremely encouraged by our presence...even if only for a short time.  To explain why, i'll turn it over to Dustin Behr who is writing the next portion of the blog.  In doing this, Dustin will not only be able to explain why the congregations are encouraged by even the shortest of visits, but also explain why we came on this mission trip in the first place.  God's blessings to you and yours!

Pastor Joe Behnke




"Encourage one another and build each other up..." 1st Thessalonians 5:11

One of the biggest questions that I was asked leading up to our mission trip to India was, "what are you going to do?".  I was certain in my answer that we would be visiting other congregations and build relationships with them.  However, what I wasn't so certain about was what that would look like. 

That is until today.

During our visit the the 2nd congregation, the pastor began talking about the importance of encouragement.  He shared with the congregation that we as fellow believers in Jesus Christ were able to encourage one another and build each other up.  He also shared that it was for this reason that we came.  It was for this reason that we traveled over 8,000 miles.  It was for this reason that we rode in vehicles on crooked and divot filled roads to come and visit them.  We came to encourage them.

That may not seem like a big deal.  After all, encouragement from other Christians in the United States my not be very difficult to find.  In India, these churches crave encouragement.  While they are part of group of churches, they are spread out for hundreds of miles.  In some cases, the next closest church would take a whole day to travel and meet other fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. However, what doesn't take as long to find is the closest Hindu temple.  In the case with the second congregation, they are bracing themselves for a major change.  Over the past year, the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh split into two different states.  In the midst of that split, the state capital became part of the new state leaving Andhra Pradesh without a capital...until now.  They are creating a new capital city that is within a few miles of this congregation.  Because of this, new Hindu temples are popping up all around the church, leaving them in need of  prayer to keep going and to keep the love of Jesus at the center of everything they say and do.  They need the reminder that they are not alone even though it may look that way.  They need the reminder that there are others who believe in the same God they believe in.  In other words, they need encouragement.  That is what we brought and that is the reason why we came.  An encouragement for one another center on Christ's love.  It's something that we can all relate to and understand despite the differences in language, color, and culture.  

Well that and the word "selfie"...(no joke...we have kids come up to us all the time asking for selfies).

But in all seriousness, I ask you to keep these congregations in your prayers.  We have told each congregation that you are praying for them.  You should see them light up with excitement at the thought that someone 8,000 miles away would actually care about them enough to pray for them. So please join us in praying that they would continue to minister in the most difficult of circumstances and that they would find hope and peace in the love of Christ for them.

Dustin Behr

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