WoooooooooooW!

I have spent the past four days traveling around India by bus visiting different family members. It has been incredible to meet such close relatives at this point in my life that live to far away. I have been spending most of my time with my dad’s cousin, Ravi, his wife Shreya, and their 4 year old daughter Jeru. They have been such a strong encouragement to me as they are both very strong in their faith and speak English! Ha!

It has been a crazy first week here in India. I cant believe it has only been one week. It feels as if it has already been a month. God has definitely been at work. For one, this week has been very hard for me. The Jetlag has been causing me to be very sleep deprived as I have only now adjusted to the time change. God has definitely been breaking me down and showing his power over the trip. I have literally spent over an hour everyday in tears. It is so much harder than I ever expected. Traveling alone is very hard for me, as well as being the only American has really caused me much lonliness. I have been clinging to God and definitely am closer to Him because of it. However, it is still incredibly hard for me.

My plan was to travel tomorrow night to Assam to spend the next three months serving at a missions hospital. However, God has different plans in store for me. Since arriving in India I have felt much restlessness and lack of peace concerning my travels to Assam. For one, my friend, Nels, told me definitely of circumstances that were causing him to cancel his plans to join me in Assam. For two, all of my extended family that I have been visiting has very straightforwardly told me to cancel my plans to go to Assam because the area is very dangerous and full of terrorists. For three, I have been very distressed and have almost panic attacks since arriving here concerning my travels there. Finally, I found out the flight that I was suppose to take had been canceled. This was definitely God telling me that I am not suppose to go to Assam right now. I am unsure if I will end up spending any time there during my stay here but I am confident that it is not where God wants me to be right now.

This has left me very broken and uncertain about my time here, what God has in store for me and what decisions I should be making. I have completely surrendered this trip up to God knowing that he has a plan for me that is far greater than any plan I had made for myself. He has definitely broken down my pride. Pride that I did not even know I had coming into this trip. I have finally given control over to Him and am in a time of waiting now for where God will lead me. This patience is something that is very hard. God is definitely teaching me to depend on Him. I am now trusting that He will determine a new path for me here and well as how long my time here will be. As of right now, I am staying in Bangalore with Ravi and Shreya. I will be meeting with people at campus crusade and other ministries in the area to see if God has plans to use me here.


Prayer Requests:

- Strength: this has been an incredibly hard experience so hard. Please pray that God will strengthen me and comfort me.

- Discernment: Pray that God will reveal his plans for me here, that I will have clarity of what God wants and confidence to act upon it.

- Joy: This week has been very draining. Pray that I will be able to trust God and be content and find joy in my circumstances over here.

- That God will continue to teach me to completely depend upon Him for all my needs.



Any encouragement through e-mail (patrac@bethel.edu), text messages (952-239-3144 – I can receive texts for free however I will not be able to respond to them because of roaming costs), or blog posts would be very greatly appreciated! Thank you all so much for supporting me and please continue to pray for me as this trip continues to unfold.