Luke 19:10 NIV
“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
Upon entering Delhi, as we anticipated, we had a culture shock. It took a day or two to adjust to our new environment, a lot like lost sheep except we know our good Shepherd is always close by or on His way. India was approached with some apprehension but we were about to be pleasantly surprised by our experiences.
Our first week was to be spent in Delhi, a very busy city with a variety of religions but evidently all missing the one true God. Our host was a South African missionary that took us on tours to learn more about the different religions. Initially it seemed a strange thing for us to do, but one got a better picture of how lost the people are and how to approach them with the gospel. We now also had a better idea of what to pray for, both for the long term workers and the lost while visiting sites.
Our next destination was Dharamshala in a town at the foot of the Himalayas. A stark contrast to Delhi, it was cool (it was monsoon season), the streets weren’t that crowded and there were many opportunities to engage with locals and tourists.
The town had many Buddhists and they were very open to having conversations with Christians. A couple of the girls attended an English conversation class where very relevant topics were discussed, such as the meaning of life. By the end of their time some of the Buddhist monks even gave the girls gifts to show appreciation.
“I joined conversation classes with a group of Thai and Tibetan monks and what an amazing time we had!
We discussed normal, everyday topics but each day we also had a philosophical question that we had to discuss through which we could build good relationships. Through these questions God provided numerous opportunities for us to share Jesus in us and I believe that a lot of seed has been sown into good soil!
I thoroughly enjoyed them and it was a sad goodbye indeed!”
– Lizé
Another ministry opportunity taken up by Tim and De Wet, was teaching English to a class of Buddhist boy monks.
“A teammate and I had the amazing privilege to teach a class of boys at a monastery, some English. We used the opportunity to do it through Bible stories, memory verses and games and we had a lot of fun with them. We focused on the way Jesus loved and how He asks us to love one another. It was amazing to see them take it to heart and we trust that the Lord will take care of the seeds that were sown there.”
– De Wet
Two of us served at a library, learning to make chai for members and teaching the library owner how to make Milktart. They even got to have a spontaneous conversation with a monk asking them about unconditional love (as he could hear from our conversations that we are Christians).
Others cut out flannel pictures from Bible stories that are used by missionaries when teaching children and illiterate people about the Bible.
A couple others spent time interceding in the prayer room and going on prayer walks. The vision the long term workers had here was to use worship as a weapon in a town where darkness seems to rule. So we started each day with praise and worship and had two evenings where we could even invite unbelievers to join us. The presence of the Lord was tangible in these sessions.
Some testimonies:
“While in McLeod Ganj in India, I went exploring in town. I had asked the holy spirit to take me somewhere, anywhere, to do anything. I ended up meeting a man who works at a small shop by the side of the street. We chatted over some chai, and became good friends. He invited me and some of my friends to go to his house the next day for dinner. The dinner was a blessing. His wife taught us how to make momos, and we had good theological discussions.”
– Sophia
“I’ve been praying that the Lord would help me have Jesus conversations with strangers because I’m not very good at it but admired other team members’ability to do it. So I met Dorma while I wandered into her store looking for a postcard. Talking to her came surprisingly easy and I could testify of Jesus’ love. I saw her every day and my love for her developed so quickly, I could only assign it to Jesus loving through me.”
– Elize
As one of us said, you come on this journey and perhaps you think you’re doing something great for Jesus because you’re giving a year to him. Then somewhere along the way you realise he deserves your all in anyway. You realise that it’s a privilege to be sent by Him to those that are lost. You realise the necessity of being sent and doing His work, loving people like He does and presenting them with the truth.
We ended our time in Dharamshala with a girl’s weekend and a boys motorcycle trip. The ladies spent wonderful meals together, encouraged each other by dedicating a lady of the Bible to each other and praying for one another. The men had been dreaming about a motorcycle trip through the mountains since almost the start of the year and so Jesus granted them this exciting adventure.
Lastly, we want to pay a tribute to all the long term missionaries out in the nations. Your love, devotion and perseverance is truly admirable and inspires many of us to get to know Jesus as well as you do.
May we pray for and with our friends continually, may we be in partnership with them in this way.
Until we write again, blessings
The One Year Team of 2025