Chronicles of India- Chapter 1

Hey! So, as most of you most of you likely already know, I am going on a missions trip to India this summer! Me and a group of seven others have the amazing opportunity to go to areas in and around Nagpur and Nanital India. We will start in central India (Nagpur), and work our way north to Nanital (up in the Himalayas! :D).

It's actually an amazing thing that I even got on this trip to begin with. Deadlines for Biola missions trips were like... two months ago?

What happened was, missions conference just so happened to focus a lot on India this year, and therefore in a session the missionary union president announced that the mission team going to India this summer was in need of more members to make a full team. He encouraged all of us to pray and consider this opportunity.

So I did. I took the risk of mentioning it to God... knowing in the back of my mind the risk of what I was doing :). Little did I know the crazy adventure the following two weeks would be!

The very next day, once missions conference was over, the idea of the trip was weighing heavily on my heart. I felt the need to act, but I didn't really know if it was just emotional hype, personal excitement for the opportunity, or actually God's voice and will calling me. So, as I felt the urge to run as fast as I could into the Student Missionary Union building as I passed by. But I restrained myself and kept walking, confused about what I was feeling and why.

But I soon noticed that though I kept putting the thought aside, in order to parse out God's voice from my own jumbled thoughts, the trip just kept on chasing me all day long. One of the team leaders passed by my window an hour later, and I had the very same excited urge to fling myself at the window, thrust it open and yell out her name.

But I restrained myself.

Then I went to get mexican food with my roommate Brenna, and we got onto talking about missions trips, life callings, and all that good stuff! I couldn't deny or hold in the idea any longer. I told her my thoughts and she encouraged me to put myself up for it like I felt I should.

So I took up faith.

I had no idea what I was doing exactly, or even if it was God's will that I go to India in the summer. But, knowing full well that God desired me to apply, I had faith and trusted that His perfect will would prevail and submitted myself to His control, passing in to the Missions office my completed application two days later.

I heard nothing for a week.

At first, I could hardly handle the uncertainty and waiting. But then I remembered that if I was meant to go, God would place me on the team and if I didn't get on, well "there is no safer place to be than in the center of God's will".

So I took up faith.

I got called in for an interview. Then waited some more.

Then, on one glorious day (just a couple days later) I got a message in my inbox saying that "I was officially a part of team india"!!! I was so excited that I started tearing up :). I was just so relieved, so encouraged, and so excited that God had given me this opportunity.

I was still slightly hesitant at whether or not this was just me or truly God's will. I figured out a bit later that this was a foolish notion, and that it was only because the trip wasn't really solidified yet that I felt this way. But a week later I attended my first team meeting, met everyone, and it suddenly became real.

To be continued...