teamsouthindia
Team South India 2016
For we have been equipped by Christ to bring healing out of brokennes, and joyously pursue the Kingdom of God.
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Recap video of our team’s time in India!
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Come, Lord Jesus, Come!
Hello everyone! It is so good to be back in the States! We are so thankful for safe travels and for such a blessed time in India. On January 23, 2016, our team arrived at LAX early in the morning to the wonderful sight of our dear family and friends welcoming us back to California! India was amazing, but it was so wonderful to be reunited with our loved ones! We are so thankful that we were able to have a week of some rest and recovery before school started up again. Please pray for us as we continue debriefing and processing through this trip!
Today is the third day of Biola’s Spring 2016 semester! It is a bittersweet experience to return back to the routine and lifestyle of a student, but what a cool way for us to enter into a new semester! We have just shared this incredible experience of Gospel proclamation and serving and investing in others, and we desire for this trip to continue to impact the way we live our lives back here at home. We do not want for our trip to India to be just a “mountain-top experience” to be forgotten and neglected, but for this to continue to transform and work in our hearts as we continue to live missionally! We pray for continued boldness and passion for reaching the lost and sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ! We also lift up our dear brothers and sisters in India, and we pray for blessing, protection, and steadfastness as they continue on in their ministry!
The Lord has truly revealed a new way of thinking about and understanding missions to me. As believers and followers of Jesus Christ, we are called to be ambassadors for Him in this world that is fading away, always looking towards the new heavens and new earth, anticipating the great wedding feast of the Groom, Jesus Christ, with His Bride, the Church! But we are not called to idly or passively wait for Jesus to come back, rather, we should be hastening His return! In 2 Peter 3, Peter talks about how the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and that all will pass away, but then he says,
“Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God” (2 Peter 3:11-12)
As we go forth and share the Gospel with all different peoples, different nations, we are actually working towards and hastening Christ’s return! We long for Him to come back, we long for His glory to be fully manifested throughout the earth! Let us always live in light of this heavenly perspective! Come, Lord Jesus, come!
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Blessed Be Your Name
This is our first, and most likely our only post that we will be able to make while we are up here in the north. On January 11, our team safely arrived to our second stay of our missions trip, a children’s home. This last week has been an incredible time of getting to know and love so many children! Every morning we get to sing hymns on the porch before devotions, and then while the kids go to school, our team helps out with some work projects for the home. We have also been able to teach music lessons and science workshops to the kids! And of course we love our playtime outside–there is nothing quite as wonderful as a child’s laughter! It has been a blessing connecting with these kids, having meaningful conversations, and we both get to learn from each other more about the Lord and His Goodness!
January 16 was a special day for our team, a day of remembering a special friend and sister in Christ, who is now with the Lord! Even through painful moments and memories, we experienced so much joy and love by our team, the kids, and the comfort of the Almighty! We remember a dear friendship, but get to celebrate all of these new friends that we have made through this! During the morning worship, we sang “Blessed Be Your Name,” and the words rang true as we commanded our soul to praise and lift up the name of our Lord, through the sweet moments as well as the difficult ones.
“Every blessing You pour out I’ll turn back to praise. When the darkness closes in Lord, still I will say, blessed be the name of the Lord, blessed be Your name! Blessed be the name of the Lord, blessed be Your glorious name! You give and take away, but my heart will choose to say, blessed be Your name!”
We lift up Hasiet’s family and friends in prayer, that God would continue to bring comfort and peace, and that we would remember His faithfulness and goodness, and trust in His love for us!
We have less than a week of our trip left, and we would love prayers for strength for our team, that we would be able to continue to sow seeds and pour into these kids. We are here to serve and to be vessels of the Lord, and we know that God will continue to do mighty things during our time left! Thank you friends and family for your continual prayer and support and love for our team!
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Bound in Love
Tomorrow we will be leaving Chennai to travel up to the north. This past week we have been able to visit 9 different schools and preach the Gospel to thousands of students, ranging from 3 year olds to college students! What an incredible privilege it has been to be bearers of the Good News! Our time spent in Chennai has been such a sweet surprise to our entire time–the Lord has completely exceeded all expectations that we had! All of our songs and messages and our skit came together so wonderfully, by the power of the Holy Spirit. Each one of us have been able to share the Gospel of Jesus through our testimony on stage to these students, and we are confidently pray that the Lord would bless the seeds that were sown in the hearts of these kids!
Team South India leading worship through songs!
During the time that we have spent here, we have also become very close with Uncle Danny and his family, in many ways that we never expected. We have experienced so much joy and laughter and tears together through ministry, singing songs, car ride games, late night mafia, so many inside jokes, and prayer!
Last night we were worshipping with Uncle Danny’s daughters around the dinner table and the girls led us in a song,
Bind us together Lord, bind us together Lord, with bonds that will never be broken. Bind us together Lord, bind us together Lord, bind us together with love!
Our team has been so blessed by this family and the relationships that we have built and invested in with Uncle Danny and his girls have been so beautifully developed, even in such a short time–we are bound in love by our Lord and Savior! We are sad to be leaving this family, and pray that we can see each other again, but praise God that we get to spend an eternity together with them in heaven and our Lord! The best is yet to come!
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Reunited!
Last night, our very own and wonderful Madison Powers aka madipowpow finally arrived here in Chennai, India!
The full Team South India, reunited on January 6th at 3am in Chennai, India
It has been a crazy last few days, all beginning with a disappearing passport the night before we were leaving for India. We are so thankful to God for His divine provision and providence! The process of getting the new passport and visa was a miracle from God--Madison was able to get her new passport the very next day, and the visa within the next! God also provided for Madison’s flight, which we thought she would have to make on her own. She was able to rebook her 16 hour layover to Hong Kong to be the same as Team East India’s (another Biola SMU short term missions team!) It is a long trip to get to the other side of the world, especially alone, but God graciously blessed Madison with the companionship and comfort of these wonderful Biola ladies! We thank Team East India for loving and caring for Madison, please lift them and their trip up in prayer as well! Praise God, He is good!
We are so thankful for everyone’s prayers and support, and through this unexpected twist we have been so blessed by all the people that love our team and love Madison! What a beautiful picture of God’s people coming together and caring for each other, even through confusing and strange situations, knowing that it is ultimately a part of the Lord’s greater purpose! We pray that we would continue to trust in Him and never cease to praise Him for His faithfulness and provision!
#Biola University#SMU#STM Interterm 2016#Chennai#Madison Powers#madipowpow#Team South India#Day 6#01.06.16 12:15
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Ordinary People
“God looks for ordinary people to do extraordinary things.”
As our team is drove through the busy streets of India, we passed by a wall covered with painted artwork and quotes. “God looks for ordinary people to do extraordinary things.” We continued on our way to the first school that we were visiting. We stood on an outdoor stage in front of 2,000 girls and led worship, shared a testimony, performed our skit, and shared the Gospel! As we stood on stage, I was struck with humility and awe. Who are we to be doing this? We are a spunky group of American college students, completely ordinary people. Except for the fact that we serve and worship an extraordinary God! And Jesus extraordinarily lives inside of us! It is not because of anything that we do or accomplish that God chooses to use us, but simply because we are willing to be vessels of the Lord, willing to share the extraordinary Light and Truth that has saved us and lives in us! When we completely surrender to God’s power and to God’s will, God will use us in mighty ways! God looks for ordinary people to do extraordinary things.
We were able to spend time with the principal of the school, Mrs. Geetha. For the last 4 years, she has been a faithful principle at this school, and she shared her vision and prayer requests of school growth, and that her students would come to personally know the Lord. Even though it is a Christian school, many of the students come from Hindu families. She also shared her desire to send out teams similar to ours in the future, teams of students that share the Gospel through song, skit, dance, and Word. There is something so beautiful and powerful about children sharing the Gospel! As we travel to different schools, we want to tell students about Jesus Christ, but we also want to inspire students to also tell others about Jesus! Young age is not something that should stop us from being ambassadors for Christ! God looks for ordinary people to do extraordinary things!
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Salt and Light
Yesterday was the first Sunday of 2016! Uncle Danny took our team to his home church, where we were able to share a sweet time of worship with our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ here in India! It was an amazing reminder of how big our God is, and that He is calling all nations to Himself. The preacher led us into the Word in Matthew 5, the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus uses imperatives to describe what His disciples should be like--He says, “You are the salt of the earth...You are the light of the world.” (Matthew 5:13-14) Then Jesus continues teaching, lessons about anger, lust, divorce, oaths, retaliation, and loving your enemies. These lessons are all relational issues--issues that can all be fixed by loving others! Jesus is teaching us how to be the salt and light of the world, and that the ultimate way is to love others. We pray that our team would be salt and light as we begin our ministry in these schools!
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Arrival
Last night our team arrived in India around 2am, and we were greeted by our wonderful host who we lovingly call, “Uncle Danny!” We stepped out into the humid night air--we are in India! Even at 3 in the morning there were still cars in the street, streets that were completely flooded a month ago from the monsoon season. We are so thankful that Uncle Danny’s family is safe, and their hospitality has already been such a sweet blessing to us.
Uncle Danny (far right) greets us as the airport after 23 hours of traveling!
This morning we spent some time with Uncle Danny before breakfast, and he shared the story of how his father came to know the Lord. His father, Paul, was saved by an American missionary who was preaching Jesus on the streets of India. Paul’s conversion to Christianity led to an estrangement from his own family, as he boldly held onto his faith in Jesus Christ. He came to America and attended Biola University on 6th and Hope Street, with the dream of starting a Bible college back home in India, a dream that came to fruition years later. As Uncle Danny spoke of his father’s walk with the Lord and how it has led to such a blossoming ministry and a family legacy of loving the Lord, I was moved by how Uncle Danny expressed such gratefulness for the global Church and for missions. Because of a single Gospel conversation with that missionary, Paul came to know Jesus, but through Paul, countless more were saved! In these next few days, we will be traveling to different schools and sharing Jesus Christ with students through songs, skits, testimonies, and messages. Even though a simple smile or a conversation may seem so small, we desire to see each interaction as an opportunity to share the Good News! We may never know the full effect of the seeds that we sow during our time here, but we look forward to spending eternity in heaven with those who do come to know Christ!
Uncle Danny shares stories with us before breakfast
Jesus tells the parable of the sower in Matthew 13.
3 And he told them many things in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. 5 Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, 6 but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. 7 Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 8 Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 He who has ears,let him hear.”
Why would the sower throw out the seeds anywhere other than the fertile ground? It seems to be a waste, knowing that it would not yield true fruit. I am struck, however, by the grace in the parable--the sower generously sows over all different types of grounds, even those that would not receive the seed. As humans, we do not know the state of soil of people’s hearts, but God knows, and He is the one who causes growth. As we go forth and sow Gospel seeds, we should not measure successful ministry merely by the number of conversions, but by how faithfully we obey Jesus’ Great Commission with all of our being. As we take this day to rest and recuperate, we pray that we would enter into our ministry with a heart of obedience, overflowing with Christ’s grace and love!
Also, we have an update with our lovely Madison Powers! She has received her new passport, applied for her visa, and is booking her flight out to India! We are hoping to be reunited with her by the end of this week, and to continue our ministry in the north with our full team! Praise God for His favor and faithfulness!
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Departure
Greetings from Tom Bradley International Airport! Our team has successfully made it through security, and we are eagerly waiting to fly! Last night, members of our team flew in from around the country and we were sweetly reunited once again after a much needed Christmas Break.
The thing about traveling, and mission trips especially, is that there is the plan, and there is what actually happens. Every now and then discrepancies occur between the two. But we are so thankful that what actually happens is always in God’s sovereign plan, even if not in our own, and that as His beloved children, we can put all our trust in Him! Last night we ran into an unexpected situation of a lost passport. From our current vantage point, it seems that Madison’s passport is nowhere to be found, but we know that from God’s perspective, He is orchestrating all things for His glory. Praise God that we can hope in His sovereign might and that His purpose and glory will be made known! I am reminded of the verse in Proverbs 19:21,
“Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.”
Six of our seven team members are here at Tom Bradley Airport, but we are praying and trusting in the Lord that our full team will be reunited once again in India!
Here is our flight itinerary until we arrive in Chennai:
31 Dec 15
Depart: LAX Tom Bradley International - 11:25am (15 hr. 40 min.)
01 Jan 16
Arrive: Hong Kong - 7:50pm
Depart: Hong Kong - 9:10pm (5 hr. 40 min.)
02 Jan 16
Arrive: Chennai - 12:20am
We are praying for safe and smooth travels and can hardly wait to begin our ministry together as a Team South India!
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Christmas Break!
Hello family and friends! We can hardly believe it, but we have successfully completed the Fall 2015 semester! And for many of our team members, it was a full and busy load. In addition to academics and team meetings and prep for India, many of us have also been simultaneously involved in other awesome areas! Here is just a brief review of some of the things we have been up to. Our lovely Madison Powers heads up the India Project for SMU, and Joyce Kim works as an SMU Missions Conference Logistics Coordinator! Clayton Mohler has rocked a season of men’s soccer, winning the GSAC tournament championships! Nadia Cookman has cheered and tumbled her heart out in the Biola Dance Crew and Riley Hahn has crushed her first college semester here at Biola! Congratulations and cheers to a semester well done! Hip hip, HOORAY!
We also have some amazing news regarding our trip to India! Praise God that we are over 100% funded!! The Lord has been so gracious and wonderful and has truly blessed us with people in our lives who care for us! We thank you for your prayers and support! We also have received all of our visas, which is a HUGE praise report--thank God for no major complications!
As we recuperate from the semester and count down the days until our trip (9 days left!) we continue to prepare our hearts and our minds for submitting and surrendering to God’s plan and His will while in India! It is truly humbling to think that God would choose to allow this group of American college students to be a part of His divine and redemptive work in India. Our prayer is that we would be humble servants in our ministry to bring healing out of brokenness, always with our eyes looking forward to the coming Kingdom of God.
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Giving Thanks!
Happy Thanksgiving from Biola Team South India 2016! We have been a team together now for 61 days, and looking back we have so much to be thankful for! We have spent the last 2 months preparing and praying for this missions trip to India, and we are beyond excited and humbled to be a part of God’s plan and His work in the nation of India.
Our desire for this blog is to bring you into the work that God is doing through this trip and to share some of the ways that He has shown Himself faithful and sovereign! God has called us out of darkness and into His marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9) and we cannot wait to bring this light of Jesus Christ into the lives of those we encounter in India.
We are so thankful for you, dear friends and family, for your faithful prayers and for your generous support, we could not be going on this trip without you! We hope that these blog entries encourage you and remind you of the precious Gospel message--that Jesus Christ came to live and to die for us, so that we who deserve death and punishment, can be made new and live eternally with God! What an incredible gift to be thankful for! Let us all go and joyfully proclaim this Good News to others, no matter where we are!
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