Their God actually listens

As I write this I have just finished a 22 hr train ride. I got to see some gorgeous landscape, lush green forest untouched by man giving way to towering mountains of red and black rocks, then back down to the forest then riverbeds, that look like a desert, with sand stretching on forever because the waters have dried up. The rest of this week will be spent at a conference that Usha and Emrys are speaking at.

Going back, we will have a 28 hr train ride.

This past week was interesting, Usha and Emrys were out of town for for the wedding of a relative, so instead of leaving me at home by myself, they took me to Chennai to stay with a friend of theirs who just moved to India to take over his parents mission since they were retiring due to health problems. They ran a rehabilitation center and school, the school was for physically handicapped boys, they give them an education, and teach them a profession, either as a machine operator, making parts for the semis and tractors over here, or as a computer technician. It was an amazing place of hope, to see those that society had cast aside and told you won't be able to do anything but beg. This place is giving them an alternative and allowing them the opportunity to rise above that.

While  I was with Russel, I was treated to steak, Mcdonald's, Subway,  and Pizza Hut. They were so amazing!

I got back from Chennai to Yerpedu  on Saturday, Sunday we had church, an HIV Kids meeting, an evening service for church and then a reception for a wedding. The HIV Kids were a blast to be around, just constant balls of energy and happiness, they don't even care that they have the such a dreaded disease. They were so excited to have their pictures taken that I had lines at several points just of kids who wanted their pictures taken with friends, or of parents who wanted me to take a picture of their kids. It continually amazes me  how little it takes to get people to smile here.

The weddings are done quite differently here, they have the wedding and then a few days later, they will have the reception. For the reception the bride and groom sit on a stage, and people walk by give them presents, pose for pictures, then go and get something to eat and then leave.

In all of this I was trying to prepare  for a devotional that i was to lead on Monday morning, I managed to get it all together, and this being the 2nd time I've done devotionals, I've found that I enjoy speaking here more than in the US. In the US you don't have any breaks, here you say a sentence and while the translator interprets you have time to compose your next sentence. It makes it so much easier.

Before I go, I want to share a story with you that was shared with me while I was at Russel's. Since Russel's been at the center, there have been many Hindu's bring donations and meals for them people and students there, asking the people of the center, which openly state they are christian, to pray for them. Russel Finally asked one of the Hindus that had brought a donation why they were coming to them and asking Christians for prayer. His reply? "The Hindu priest at the local temple said if we have prays that need to be answered we should go to the "christian place" and ask them to pray, because their God actually listens."

Looking to the past

A couple of days ago I was working on making a drainage ditch through a pathway, as I'm digging and laying the bricks I began to think back on my life and how I got to where I am now. One thing stood out very brightly in my mind, I remember distinctly talking to someone at KCU about overseas missions, and while I was agreeing with them verbally, in my head I was thinking "there is no way I would ever go on a mission trip overseas, I just don't see the point!" As I was on my hands and knees laying some of the brick I started to laugh, here I am 12,000 some miles from home soaked in sweat, covered in dirt doing the very thing I promised myself I would never do 2-3 years ago.


Looking back it's amazing how many things I said I would never do, and if it had been up to me I never would have honestly, but following God hardly ever goes the way we plan. Time and time again in my life I see where I do yet another thing I said I would never do, and I thank God for putting me into those situations and having me do them, because the growth that has come out of those situations is infinitely better than if I had remained in a place of comfort, cause lets face, the majority of the time when you're comfortable you're bored. I would rather live a life that is continually awkward, uncomfortable, and pushing me beyond what I think my limits are.

Another example of this happened just yesterday. I began construction on a compost pit, and in order to finish it I had to shovel about 8-10 feet of pig crap out of the way, At first I found my self very dissatisfied with the whole arrangement thinking, " why did I come halfway around the world to shovel crap?! I could have done this at home if I wanted to!" and then working in only the ways that God can he began to whisper to me " you didn't come halfway around the world to shovel crap, you came halfway around the world to serve and love people...nothing more."

Being halfway around the world is by no means easy for me, I love my family and my friends dearly and long to be with them, but I know I won't have an opportunity to do something like this again. To my family and friends know I love you all and miss you terribly, but know that in a few months I'll see you again. Until look for things in your own life that God is calling you to do that you said you would never do, and when God gives you the opportunity to do them rush into them wholeheartedly, it may be uncomfortable, in fact you may be miserable at first, but I can guarantee you that if it's something God's calling you into 2 things will happen. 1, you will never be the same afterwards and 2, you'll start to develop a fondness for the things you once hated.

Go in the grace and love of God and serve someone other than yourself.
Aaron Derr

Three weeks in

It’s hard to believe that I’ve been here almost 3 weeks now, in that short amount of time I’ve seen some amazing things, but I think the most amazing thing I’ve seen has  to be the church here. I once again got to experience the church of acts tonight, 25 people crammed into a tiny room listening to a teaching and worshiping...there’s now words that can describe the purity of it, it’s absolutely amazing.

Something that is still hard to get used to is the amount of poverty that you see where ever you go here. It’s constantly in your face, and there’s no way to escape it. Trash thrown on the street animals and humans alike relieving themselves on the streets or along the road as your driving.

The driving is absolutely insane, there have been times where I genuinely feared for my life because the oncoming trucks were waiting til the last minute to swerve back into their lanes...there seems to be no order at times, and people us their horn constantly, the only time it’s quiet on the road is if you can’t see any cars coming. The cars here though are amazing, they can get 60-80 miles a gallon! SUVs get 50-60 miles a gallon, some motorcycles can get up to  230 miles a gallon, that’s not a typo btw 230 miles a gallon! There’s a car here that brand new costs 3000 USD

If you want to see a visual of what it’s like, the movie that best portrays it that I’ve seen is The Year of Living Dangerously, It’s on of Mel Gibson’s earliest films, it takes place in Jakarta and was filmed on location. You actually see the slums as they are

I’ve witnessed some things that you don’t normally get to see. For instance, last night I was out on the porch and a scorpion about 8-10 inches long is crawling around. I’ve seen children that have a disease that will kill them eventually (HIV) so happy because there are some dentist and dental student, who are the first people willing to work on their teeth, how many kids do you know excited to have a tooth pulled? I’ve watched a cremation. A man who was HIV positive, who was nothing more than a skeleton with some skin stretched over the bones, was placed onto a funeral pyre, wood was stacked around him salt and kerosene were poured on him and a match was lit. I’ve seen the largest vegetable and fruit market in all of Asia, beggars so excited to receive what in the U.S, is a  quarter, because now they get to eat tonight. People whose face light up simply because you took their picture, and people whose hearts broke because you were in too much of a hurry to spend 5 seconds and take a picture of them and their stands. Cows roaming free in the streets and markets. Lizards running around on my ceiling when I wake up, I’ve heard 4 women sing in a language completely foreign to me, yet it was the most beautiful music I have ever heard that far surpassed any choir I’ve ever heard.  But the most beautiful was today, I watched 4 people be baptized in to the family of God...It was amazing, everyone was dripping with sweat but they were all there to watch them take another step on their journey with God.

A Big Pile of Fruit

SO I got to go to the biggest fruit market in all of Asia today....it was amazing the colors were so vibrant and bold. But the best part has been the people, they are so happy just to have you pay a little bit of attention to them, they constantly ask you to take pictures(or snaps as they call em.) They don't even want to see the pictures most of the time. They're just happy that you acknowledged their existence and treated them like a human being...It blows me away how something as simple as taking 5 seconds to snap a picture of them, can mean the world to them.

We dropped Kurt and Jeff off at the airport today...It was a sad yet happy time for us, or me at least. I was sad to have them leave because they re energized me and gave me a passion for what's going on here. It may sound silly but in that first week of being here and adjusting to jet lag really drained everything out of me. It was a happy time also because they're going back to make others aware of what's going on here, and you can tell just by being around them the passion that they have for the people. Also I have the opportunity to go and visit, and see new places.

Whats happening

So , the past few days have been absolutely awesome! Wednesday morning I got to go with Emrys to Chennai early in the morning and got to spend the whole day in downtown Chennai, seeing the shops and being completely consumed by everything there. It was nice though, I was able to see over everyone and not have to stand on tiptoe to see things. The sights were amazing streets were packed with people going everywhere. There was also an incredible amount of poverty that is on every street still blows your mind. You expect it to end after a while but it never does

Another thing that leaves your mouth on the ground are the colors. It’s weird to see the beauty of all the colors, mixed with poverty. It catches you off guard. I got to ride the busses of the city, it’s so different from the busses in the U.S. they have as many people as can fit pressed up against one another, and your personal bubble is made of spandex if you have one at all.

Thursday we wandered about the city some more, simply killing time, The reason we were in the city was to pick up 2 preachers that were coming in from the U.S. for a couple of days. We went to the airport to get them at 11:45 P.M., and  we were there until 1.

Jeff and Kurt have been a blessing to have around in just the short amount of time they’ve been here, they are both very talkative and hilarious. They are also deeply passionate about what they do and just people in general. 5 minutes with them and it’s so easy to tell. They have such a passion for the lost people of this world and they let it burn so bright, they don’t try and hold it back at all.

Friday was just driving around Chennai giving Jeff and Kurt the opportunity to see some of the city, we then headed back to Yerpedu and as soon as we got back we left to go to a bible study. The bible studies here are beautiful, I can’t understand a word of them, but you can feel Abba moving in the air. They start every Bible study with songs, the only instrument they may have is a tambourine, but this is every once in a while. They all sing together, some of the people don’t have song books, but they have notebooks that they’ve copied every word down in, simply so they can have a copy of whats being sung. It’s not for show, they don’t have to have “the right sound” or a talented leader, all they need is the opportunity. The worship that I’ve seen in the homes here has far surpassed any worship services I have seen in the U.S.

I’m not bashing the worship services in the U.S. at all, what I’m saying is here you see worship stripped of everything that we have added to it as something “you have to have”, something that I never see anymore. It’s simple, not always on key or on tempo, but it’s straight from the heart, without regard as to what anyone thinks but God.

Saturday was an awesome day for us we went to a meeting that was a celebration for starting a new church, but the really cool thing was Usha and Emrys had no hand in starting this church, it was done by the leaders and such they've been training here. That has been they’re purpose all along, so that if they have to leave the church will survive, all the churches that they or the people under them have started are completely self supporting, that way if all foreign aid disappears, it will continue!!! In the same way they’ve been raising up leaders and mentoring people in a culture thats very much of a following, not leading culture. The work they’re doing is beautiful here.