It has been quite a while since my last post, but I wanted to share about a mission trip to Punjab, India that I just returned from. Below is my trip summary that I hope gives you a glimpse of what we encountered in Punjab. Also included is a link to a trip video produced by the organization (For All Mankind Movement) that sent us. The music overlay for the video is a worship song called "For the Sake of the World", so I have titled this blog post "For the Sake of Punjab". To God be the Glory!
...and don't forget to love God with all your heart, love others as He does, and use every minute for His will and to His glory!
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Dear Friends and Family,
I am writing this upon our return from Punjab, India. Although I could not share with you before-hand which country we were traveling to (because of security reasons), I indeed got the chance to go back to one of my favorite countries in the world. As I shared with you in my initial letter, Faith was called to go on this mission trip through her church in Lynchburg, and she invited me along also!
Let me first say that this trip has impacted me spiritually like no other event in my life so far. I could write 10 pages of what happened to us in Punjab, but I want you to actually finish reading this letter. :) So, I will summarize our trip and then give examples in each category of what I call my four P's of the Punjab trip: Praying, Preaching, Playing, and People-loving.
Our standard day consisted of: waking around 7am, getting ready, team devotion, playing with village kids before school, breakfast at 9am, home visits all day (including lunch at someone's house), compassion kit "gospel revival" parties from about 7-9pm, dinner at the house of compassion kit party, return home around 11pm, lights out at midnight…lather, rinse, repeat…. ;) We were physically, mentally, and spiritually drained after every day, but God provided everything we needed exactly when we needed it!
Our team included Faith, me, and a guy "Mike" we met from Lynchburg. We lived in a 3 room, 1 story, 20x20 feet slab "house" with a "hover" toilet and buckets for a shower. During our trip, the three of us visited 12 villages, held 4 "gospel revival" meetings for 480 people, had 40 decisions for Christ, conducted 44 in-home visits, and individually prayed over and laid hands on about 400 people. We had a local pastor (Sonu) and local translator (Baljinder) that accompanied us on all visits. The key part of this effort is that the local pastor then will follow up in the coming weeks with the people we visited. The pastors love having us here because it creates an exciting event where they can get many more people to attend.
Now to my four P's of the Punjab trip…
Praying: This trip was all about prayer. I was impacted in a big way by how much the believers in Punjab wove prayer throughout all their activities. We arose each day with prayer, when we ate we prayed, when we went to bed we prayed, we even prayed over a glass of water or soda we were given in homes. We never left a home visit without prayer for the needs of that house and that they would know Jesus. Each evening gospel revival meeting was full of prayer, and at the end of the meeting people would line up for us to pray over them. My most memorable prayer times were over a man trying to overcome alcohol addiction (Sukhwinder), a man separated from his wife, a very sick man who was bed-ridden, and a man who chased and continually yelled at us to come to his house to pray for his family.
Preaching: The evening gospel revival meetings (called compassion kit parties) were quite the affair. They lasted up to 2 hours and included singing (with drums), a welcoming from our pastor and then speeches from the 3 "Americans". One of us would give our personal testimony, one would share a Bible story of how Jesus changed a person's life, and the final person would share the gospel story and explain how they can accept Jesus and have their lives changed too! Then our pastor would wrap up and summarize the messages, give an invitation, and close in prayer. Then the lines of people with prayer requests would form. It was a physically and emotionally tiring end of the day, but so amazingly uplifting at the same time!
Playing: The Punjabi people are such a welcoming and fun-loving people. We sang with kids, played marbles in the dirt, played kickball, and even played a video game (it was literally about 30 year old technology). Our five-person team also bonded tightly and we joked with each other throughout the week. The warmness and servant nature of everyone there gave us the energy to keep going when our tanks were running empty.
People-loving: An important part of our mission was just to love on people wherever they were. We got to know many people in our host home village, especially the little children who would come around before school. Faith made a big impact on the kids who showed their love through hugs and pictures and notes they made for her. On the first day, we met a small girl around 4-5 years old that was screaming at the top of her lungs scared to death of Faith's white skin. She had never seen a white-skinned person before and she thought Faith was made of cotton (did not think she was human). But by the second day through the power of God's love shown through us, they were snuggling and hugging for pictures. We also showed love to the homes we visited by our questions about their lives and always thanking them for their hospitality. And we tried to love on our local pastor and translator through our words, actions, and gifts. We have even kept in contact with them to encourage and pray for them through Facebook and WhatsApp (a texting app)! Technology being used for good!
As I mentioned above, this trip had a huge impact on my faith walk. God taught me so many things each day, but here are a few key things I learned and re-learned (and how I will apply them):
- Prayer is powerful: Don't limit my prayers. I need to pray for people's needs regardless of whether my human mind believes God can answer them. When I see a prayer need now, I am going to pray over that person right there, and not just put them on my prayer list.
- We are to serve our brothers and sisters in Christ: The Punjabi people were always taking care of and serving us. By the end of the trip, this servant nature was rubbing off on me. I need to find ways to cultivate and apply this spirit of serving at home and in my community.
- Story can be an effective tool in any culture: I really enjoyed telling Bible stories to the Punjabi people and God may have given me a gifting and desire for story-telling. I am going to read over the gospels and memorize parables and other stories of Jesus' ministry. I will share those stories with my friends and other people I meet in the US.
- Through Christ's strength, we can handle anything: Even after just one day, we found ourselves very comfortable without western "necessities", and more confident in an environment where we were being stretched mentally and spiritually. I think comforts and entertainment distractions keep us from seeking God. I will try to organize a mission trip with other family members. I will also consider what God wants me to do after my current income needs decrease (4-5 years).
- Memorized scripture means you always have a Bible in hand: I will continue to expand my memorization of verses that I can use to encourage fellow believers and share the gospel with non-believers. "The word of God is living and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword." (Hebrews 4:12)
I cannot thank each and every one of you enough for your financial and prayerful support. We felt completely bathed in prayer and that is what helped to sustain and encourage us through the long days. Both Faith and I have grown so much from this trip and we are committed to living changed lives back here at home also. Check out my pictures and videos at the Flickr link below and let me know what you think of our experience! https://www.flickr.com/photos/therudys/sets/72157651320439906/
Also here is a link to a video of our trip produced by the organization (For All Mankind Movement) that organized the trip. You will find both Faith and me in here a few times. https://vimeo.com/123464519
Finally, I would challenge each of you to consider the words of Jesus to his disciples in Matthew 9:37-38 "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." There are many to be reached around the world and even right here at home. I urge you to seek and pray that God will convict and direct you to your mission field. But whatever you do, remember to give God all the glory. We are all just instruments in the hands of the Master Builder.
Again thanks everyone and blessings to you all,
Kevin Rudy
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