Hello Hello!

I thought I would give a quick update. Things are getting much better over here. Not only am I adjusting to India – but I am starting to feel a lot more peace over here. I started this past week serving with the MEM ministry. On Monday, we went to a school in the area and put on a children’s program for the younger students at the school. Then I spent the afternoon sorting through all of the ministry’s medications, arranging them into categories and disposing of the expired medications. This was a huge task because the medications were all over the place – half in Indian and the other half in Spanish! Ha!

Wednesday, we went to the YWAM base in Bangalore for a time of community worship and fellowship. After this, we went back to the MEM ministry and I provided some medical education to some of the staff. I taught vital signs training (taking blood pressures, temperatures, pulses, and respirations) and some patient interaction education. Its crazy that I am teaching these things but the people here are very interested in any medical education they can get their hands on – so I am feeling used. On Thursday, Veronica, the medical director and I planned a lot of education topics for the upcoming three months and planned for our upcoming medical clinic in October. On Friday, we did another children’s program at a nearby school. It is really neat to be able to do these children’s programs because they are very Christ centered programs in schools where a majority of students are Hindu or Muslim. It was a good introduction week, full of a lot of planning for the upcoming months. I feel very welcome within the team and am praying for a sense of unity soon.

Prayer Requests:

-          Lonliness – I am starting to connect with some of the people who are serving with the MEM ministry long term, which is really encouraging. It is still hard for me being alone here, however, God is really teaching me to depend only on Him for my daily needs. I praying that as I continue to decrease, God will continue to increase. He is good and I am learning what it means to truly trust in Him.

-          Joy – While I am adjusting more and more here, it is still hard to not worry and to rejoice in the Lord regardless of circumstances. Please pray that I will find joy in my circumstances here and that I will be free to experience and truly enjoy India while I am here.

-          Spiritual warfare – It is definitely easy to feel a presence of darkness in the area I am in. There are Hindu temples on every corner and it is so ingrained into the culture here it is astounding. Please pray for protection, for peace, and to not get or feel weighed down by this darkness.

-          Presence – Please pray that god will help be to be fully present in my time here. It is really easy for me to get discouraged and feel useless. Pray that I will continue to trust God that His plans are bigger and better than I can see or imagine and that I can show love and life at all times while I am over here.