"I told them I follow only Yeshu"

 I am very blessed this week to have a young adult missionary write about one of her experiences on mission in India, to share for my blog today. She has almost completed one year of a three year commitment living there. She is back in the US for a few weeks. I am thankful for her willingness to share her experience in this blog, and am inspired that she lives courageously, sharing her faith with young adults, in a country half way across the world, when she could be living a much different life here, in the comforts of the US.

When people ask me, “How is India different than America?” I usually think of one thing. The culture. It amazes me how individual’s perspectives around the world are altered by the values of a culture. For example, as an American I value a nicely decorated home. I like candles, picture frames, pillow covers in my house. But Indians value family, food, and fun.  I have been humbled at how simple Indians live. The difference in lifestyle and values challenges me in my materialism and worship.

Speaking of worship, another major difference in India is the gods that are worshiped. Indians worship up to 300,000 gods. To them, each god is right and leads to moksh (eternal life) by way of living a life of good deeds. And if karma is in their favor, they will have a life full of wealth and blessings. When I think of the similarities between myself (and the rest of Americans) compared to Indians, I think of the desire within each of us to worship. I have a friend named Pooja (her name means worship or prayer) who recently allowed me to see this striking similarity.

When I met Pooja for the first time I was hanging out with one of her friends named Bhumika. Bhumika and I had talked about spiritual things before, she had never heard about Jesus, so she was very interested in the gospel. The day I met Pooja, I was with Bhumika and a few other friends eating at one of the Indian fast food restaurants. I sat down, met the whole crew and began asking them questions about their college life. “Where do you stay?” “Where are you from?” “Do you miss your family?” “Do you have boyfriends?” But not long after I started asking them questions, Pooja chimes in and says to me, “I want to hear all about your life! Tell us things about your culture and who you are.” I get really excited when people ask me this because it’s an immediate open door to share my faith. I brought up Easter, explaining to them that it’s my favorite holiday, because of what it celebrates. I told them I follow only Yeshu (Jesus in Hindi) and proceeded to tell them the story of the demon-possessed man who had been changed by Jesus. After I shared this story and my own testimony, I asked what they thought. The first thing Pooja says is, “I think I need Jesus too.” She began to explain the difficulties she’s experienced her first year of college and that she’s felt so lost because she doesn’t know her own identity. In Indian culture it is rare for people to be so honest and vulnerable, especially to those who are almost strangers. However, Pooja is the exception. Pooja asked me how she can follow Jesus. I told her to pray to him and read his teachings. I walked away from that group of friends very encouraged because I know that God was doing something in Pooja’s heart and I was able to be a part of it.

The next week I met Bhumika and Pooja at McDonalds to get ice cream. It was almost Easter at this point in time and I invited them to celebrate Easter with me for 10 days by reading through the Easter story in the Bible. They were both very excited and agreed to do it. I shared a short version of the Easter story with them and told them the hope we can have through Jesus. Again, Pooja tells me she knows she needs to follow Jesus, she just doesn’t understand how. I explain to Pooja how we all as humans have sin, we all have things we worship other than the one true God. So in order to be with God and have a relationship with Him we have to trust Jesus and believe He is the way to God and only He can take away our sin. When I asked her about things she was putting her trust in, she told me it was friends and boys. These are the things she said she was finding her identity in, but they just left her feeling empty. Empty to the point of cutting her wrists and dealing with depression.

Now, Pooja is a natural leader, sociable, fun and has a heart of gold. I would never guess she would struggle like she does. After she shared these things with me I told her that the love that God provides is like the love of a Father. It is greater than any kind of love. He does not want harm for any of His children. The more I told her the more she wanted to know. She has told me she wants to follow Jesus and has come to the realization for her need for Jesus. I am humbled and amazed at this whole experience. God has shown me that we all need Jesus in the same way. We all have sin and are without hope until we meet Jesus and trust Him. All over the world our hearts are in need of this same hope and our God is willing to provide that hope to all our hearts. 

How hard is it for us to share the reason for our hope, right here in the comforts of the US?

 

1 Peter  3:14-15

¹⁴ But even if you should suffer for righteousness, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear or be disturbed,¹⁵ but honor the Messiah as Lord in your hearts. Always be ready to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.