Outreach in Mizoram!!

Hey family and friends,

  

Mizoram!!

   Happy New Year 2020!!!! Last Christmas I began my outreach. My team and I left for outreach on the 21^st of December and it was a long 4 days journey to Mizoram. We travelled by train for the first two days and by bus for the next two days. But the travel was worth it. Mizoram is a very beautiful place and the people are so welcoming and hospitable. We reached Mizoram on the 24th night and we celebrated Christmas Eve with a fellowship called Mission for Christ. Our first ministry location was in this fellowship. We got to lead them in worship through dance and music. It was our first service in Mizo but its definitely not the last one either!!

 Our hosts are a pastor and an ex- ywamer. They’ve been helping us get with different ministries and churches. We were able to do ministry in rehabs, churches, children’s home (for teenagers who are addicts only) and juvenile. When we are in these places we share testimonies, lead worship, have a short teaching, perform a skit, play games, dance with them and pray for them and prophesy over and encourage them.

House visiting

     We’ve been here two weeks so far and I love everything about Mizoram. The food is the 2^nd best part here after the ministry. We also do a lot of house visiting in the villages. The

 villages are high up in the mountains and more isolated from the city. So we did a lot of walking and trekking. We visited 7-10 families and got to listen to them share their problems or requests, encourage and pray for them. It was a blessing to meet these families. We also organize house fellowships where many families come together to worship, pray and encourage one another. I got an opportunity to give a short message in one of these fellowships. I believe that the Lord is making the way smooth for us and that wherever we go and the people we meet are all planned out by God. The people in the rehabs are so eager to hear about God and the testimonies they hear resonate with them and they receive hope. Being able to give these people hope is one of the most beautiful things. Showing them Jesus and being like Jesus to them is one of our team’s goals.


     As a leader, I can say these couple of weeks haven’t always been very easy. My team has had its share of ups and downs. Some of my teammates haven’t been very cooperative and sometimes they can be very disrespectful. But the Lord is teaching me to be more graceful and merciful towards them. We as a team are working towards being punctual, self-disciplined, self-control and team unity. I am usually someone who doesn’t want to get involved in everyone else’s problems and issues but as a leader I need to be able to help everyone deal with their issues and get along with each other. We are also working towards improving our listening skills. I’m teaching them how it’s important to have good relationship with God and with each other which includes discipline, obedience, self- control and respect. It doesn’t matter how well we do ministry outside but if we can’t have love for one another in the team, how can we show love to the people we minister? My team is a work in progress for sure but I’m grateful for each one as I’m able to learn from each teammate.

House fellowship

    Some prayer points for this month are: 
  1. Please pray that thr Holy Spirit would continue to lead us in our ministries.
  2. Please pray for Mizoram. Pray for more hearts to go out. Most of the people here take the                    meaning of christian very lightly. Pray for sincerity and seriousness. Pray the God would consume      this state and renew their minds and give them His spirit.
  3. Please pray for my team. Pray that we would earn to grow closer to each other as we draw closer          to God.
  4. Please pray for good health. Many of us are still adjusting to this weather and are falling sick.             Pray for strength and wholeness of our bodies.
    

 

Outreach preps.

  Hey family and friends,

                           This month has been a month of breakthrough and freedom. We had a teaching on a topic called Divine plumb line. In this week of lectures; the Lord has been convicting and moving hearts of most of my students. We had three days of teaching and the next 2 days of ministry time. We divided the students in groups of 8 or 9 with two staffs. In the groups; we pray for each student and if the Lord nudges them to share or confess anything they open up and we help them receive freedom and breakthrough by praying for them. It was so good to hear the students confess and share their struggles and see them receive freedom and go through the whole process of receiving forgiveness and healing. I was able to encourage them and talk to them about their struggles and now that they’ve been set free; how they can live in that freedom and run closer to God. The other topics that we’ve been teaching them are team dynamics, spiritual warfare, identity in Christ and outreach. I taught the students on team unity for two days and it was very good. I got to use my gift of teaching and preaching in these two days. 

Group discussion

                                I’m leading a team of 7; 5 boys and 2 girls to the North East for outreach. We’re going to Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Myanmar and Nagaland. We’ll be doing a lot of slum ministry, church ministry, children’s ministry, youth group ministry, community service, open air ministry and house visiting. There will be a lot of traveling and walking. I’m very excited for this outreach but I’m also a bit scared that I’m going to fail my team and school during this outreach. I fear that I won’t be the leader that everyone’s expecting me to be. Please pray that I would be more confident and i believe that I will experience God in a whole new way. I will experience him as a leader. We will be leaving the base on the 22^nd of December and it’s a 4 to 5 days journey to Mizoram. I’ll be spending my Christmas on a bus to Mizoram!! My first Christmas without my family. My main goal during this outreach is to help my students experience the true meaning of missions and show them God’s heart for the world. I want to be like Jesus to them.

School picnic!

 

                                When I was preparing for the outreach and getting in touch with the hosts I was so stressed and worried because none of the hosts were responding and the ones that did respond  weren’t able to have us because of Christmas and they already made other plans. I was so worried and kind of depressed and I lost my focus on the main point of this whole outreach. I came to a point of giving up and thinking of quitting but God reminded me to focus on him and caste all my cares unto him and to rest at his feet. I was being Martha instead of Mary. But the Lord in his goodness reminded me of where I needed to focus on and take time to sit with him. When I did that; the Lord immediately made way for me to go to the places I wanted to. The Lord reminded me to fix my eyes on him instead of my worries and problems. My priority even as a leader is to fix my eyes on him, fall deeper in love with him and know him more. I want to show my students how important it is to be with Jesus when we’re doing ministry. Our ministry life is not as important as our relationship with Jesus is. For only when we receive from Him can we give to others. 

Talent night!

                               Some of my prayer points for this month are:

                                 1. Please pray that we will experience God during our ministry and also with others as a team.

                                 2. Please pray that I will be Christ like leader to my students instead of my own.

                                 3. Please pray for protection and safety as we travel.

                                4. Please pray that we will not get sick during travels and that we’d grow closer to each other as we draw close to God.

                                5. Please pray for strength, courage, boldness and that there’s no fear in perfect love. I would stay in perfect love.

This is a move!!!

Hey family and friends,

Morning session.

   This month started out really good for me. My sister Selvi got married and I got to be one of her bridesmaids. I was so honored when she asked me to be her bridesmaid. The wedding was very beautiful and so much fun. I was beyond happy to go home and stay there for a week. I got to visit Pooja, Shalini and Sashi. I loved helping on making some props for the wedding with the rest of my sisters. Oh how I missed working with family!! I got to have one on one with my mom, spend time with the aunties, my sisters and brothers. I also got to hang out with my best friend Deepika and in the Daily Bean almost every day. The best part of my visit back home apart from spending time with everyone and the wedding was the dance practice we had on the night of the big family dinner. So, we had dinner with the groom’s family and that night we practiced the flash mob that we were going to perform for the wedding. I was incandescently happy and overjoyed that night. It had been too long since I danced with family. I loved every moment of my stay at home.

  

   My biggest challenge this month is my students. Each one very different and unique with their own set of challenges. Most of them are from very hard backgrounds and families. Many of them come from homes of abuse (physical and verbal), addictions (alcohol, smoking, drugs, chewing tobacco etc), single   parent or orphaned, Emotionally damaged, no identities or experienced the love of a father. They carry bitterness, hatred, anger, unforgiveness etc. The Lord is patiently teaching me patience and helping me handle each one differently.

Classic DTS 2019!!

   We had a teaching on the Father heart of God for a week and the Holy Spirit was on the move that whole week. I could see God breaking hearts of stone and melting the cold hearted ones too. It was an emotional week and I believe that the Lord came through for many of them. I could see strongholds being removed and chains being broken. The Lord was using me to minister to them and to help them to let go of anger, hatred, bitterness, instead to accept the love of our Heavenly Father. The Lord has also been using me to help them release forgiveness towards their fathers or mothers, receive healing, and to take that BIG step towards intimacy with God. It was a beautiful week to see and be a part of this story and big event. I was reminded of the scripture that the Lord gave me 4 months ago for my students and for me. Acts 28: 27 says, “ For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.” They came with hard hearts but they’re turning now and getting healed by God!!

Staff Team.

    I’ve been able to teach what I’ve been taught at home about forgiveness and I might even become an expert in that area!! I was able to lead one of my best friends through forgiveness and healing. And I believe I’ll be doing this a lot more this next month with a few of my students. There is a student here that I’m having a hard time reaching out to and I’m praying for more wisdom, grace, discernment and understanding for this one student. We have a few students with extreme cases and I’m asking God for help with these students. And to also give me a heart for them; His heart for them. I believe the Lord will receive more glory through these few in this next couple of months!!

    Some prayer points for this month:

     1. Please pray for even more wisdom and understanding from God for these few students.

     2.  Please pray that I would not get so caught up with my students that I forget my relationship with Jesus.

    3. Please pray that I would hear from God for my next steps after this school.

Being a Disciple and making Disciples.

     Hey Family and friends,

YWAM friends!

    My life in Lonavala, YWAM these past 6 months have been crazy, exciting and filled with experiences of learning and growing. The first month of my stay here I felt like I was on a vacation, a camp of some sort. There were new rules, new schedules, new people, new classes, new activities, new environment, new roommates, new food etc. The classes were very basic and for newborn Christians and I wasn’t very happy or satisfied with my classes but the Lord reaffirmed me that he was concreting my foundations and everything I learned at home. He was teaching me that I needed to have a very strong foundation before I left for outreach. Within my 3^rd week, I was feeling homesick and lonely. I started believing the lies that I was alone, my family didn’t care about me. I was drowning myself in self pity and self doubt. I also started doubting about my calling but God was so patient and faithful to me. He was reminding me constantly that my family was my biggest blessing, my support and that my mom was the best role model of a missionary and living out her calling. He spoke truth over me and reminded me of my identity in him. He reaffirmed my calling through Isaiah 62, where I would help women rediscover themselves and who they are in Christ and give them new names in Christ.

  He’s been teaching me how to discern dreams that are from him and those not from him. I have been having really disturbing dreams and he’s been showing me how to discern which ones are from him and which ones are from my own fear or from Satan himself. He led me to the verse in 1^st John where he says to test every spirit and the spirit which leads to Jesus are from God and everything else which leads to fear and doubts are not from him. I realized then that I have been unintentionally giving the devil a foothold over my dreams and fear. The Lord set me free through the truth!! I am now able to sleep peacefully as I have no fear in perfect love!! The teaching phase passed by really fast. One of the lessons I really enjoyed was hearing God’s voice and I have been able to hear his voice so much clearer and louder since coming here. One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned and am still practicing is patience. Patience with my leaders, roommates and different people here at the base is a big lesson that the Lord is teaching me.

   The Lord has also answered my biggest prayer point. He has given me a really good circle of friends. He’s blessed me with 4 really good friends of ages 27, 24, 22 and 19 and all girls. Their names are   Vingshong, Jungla, Achi and Danielle. I truly believe that we’ll be lifelong friends. They help me when I need it, they help me run closer to Jesus and I’m still teaching them how to be sarcastic! Danielle and Achi are getting the hang of it but I gave up on Vingshong and Jungla.

 I finished my lecture phase and for my outreach I went to Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Bangalore. 

House visiting.

   My outreach experience has been the real testing period of my Christian living. Before leaving for outreach the lord promised me through the scripture in Isaiah 26:2-4 and 7 that he would make the path leveled and smooth for the righteous ones and that our testimony when we got back from the outreach would be Isaiah 26:12,13 and 15. The first few weeks of outreach was in Telangana where we visited 13 village churches in 13 different villages of Telangana. The services all took place in the evening and went late into the night. I could see how hungry and thirsty all the people were to hear God and we got to rekindle their passion for Jesus. It was a lot of travelling and very exhausting but it was fun at the same time. I could say that we were living out Matthew 28:17,18.  The next location was in Andhra Pradesh and we stayed there for a month. It was during this month that I had to really stand firm in my teachings and values that I grew up with. We stayed in villages that had no tap water but we had to draw water from the well. It was exciting but also hectic because of no clean water. We painted a church and got to conduct a service in that newly painted church. We also got to baptize 4 people at the beach from that church. The ministry was really, really good but the real challenges for me was in the team. My teammates were the obstacles for me but the Lord has been teaching me how to handle each one and understand each one differently. There were so many arguments, misunderstandings and things happening that weren’t right and pleasing to the Lord. When I confronted them about it they did not respond well to it. My leader did not know how to lead but the Lord was using him to teach me how to be a good leader by showing me the things I shouldn’t be doing as a leader through him. We spent a week in the slums doing ministry among the people that lived in the slums. We got to bless the kids by giving them their baths, new clothes, feeding them, taking tuitions, teaching them songs and spending time with them. We distributed pamphlets and door to door ministry and spreading the gospel. It was literally living out Luke 10. I got to lead 4 women to Christ through this ministry. The Lord has been really keeping his word and making smooth and leveled paths for us and hence making our testimonies glorifying Him and expanding the nation!!

Preaching and Teaching.

  The last location was Bangalore and for me coming back home to do ministry was funny. It wasn’t my choice to come here but the Lord had his reasons for me coming home. We spent 2 weeks here. We got to do Muslim/kids ministry. It was so fun. The kids were too cute but we had to be very careful with them as to not say anything about religion or Jesus. Instead we had to show Jesus to them and it was the most satisfying throughout the outreach. We finished our outreach and got graduated too! During my teaching phase I felt the Lord asking me to stay back and help with the next school and the next batch of students. I went through a week of workshop on how to run the school and handle the students. The school started on September 30^th and it has been 3 weeks since then. I have 35 students and 9 other staff leaders. Most of my students are older than me and my co leaders are all older than me. But the Lord is showing me that it’s not the age that matters but how much they need Jesus.

Kids  ministry!

   Some prayer requests are:

1.       Please pray that I would live out Jesus more than speaking about Jesus.

2.       Please pray for my students that God would open their eyes, ears, hearts and minds to hear him, see him, know him and feel him.

3.       Please pray that I wouldn’t be satisfied with how much I invest in my students but go the extra mile in loving them.

4.       Please pray for my outreach and for my outreach team. We’re still praying about the locations so please pray that God would lead me where the need is the most.

Hebrews 4:16!!

Hello family and friends,

  

   This month God has been constantly reminding me to trust him and lean on him. My biggest fear of leaving home is disappointing God and my family. I am afraid that I will backslide or make one bad choice that will disappoint God and my family; especially my parents. I let this fear get a foothold of me and I couldn’t get free from it. It was all I could think of and it laid heavily on my mind. I stopped having my quiet times and fell far from Jesus.  I knew that I could talk to Jesus about it but every time I tried, my fear would get the better of me and I would dwell on this fear and spend my time focusing on the fear instead of on Jesus. I couldn’t take it anymore and I hit rock bottom.  The same time I was going through this, I was teaching my friends about Jesus and asking them to follow him with all their hearts and to trust him but I haven’t been following what I’ve been teaching them. I felt so guilty and knew that I wasn’t the best role model. I asked God to use someone else better than me because I am not.

  

Hebrews 4:16!

    On the morning I realized I hit rock bottom and that I couldn’t take it anymore God spoke to me through the bible. In Hebrews 5 and all the way to 10, Paul talks about Jesus being the high priest and the best sacrifice. He died once and for all for all sinners. He bore our shame, guilt, fear, sin. He took it all on himself. And because he did this we can approach God confidently and boldly for we have a high priest who has been through everything that we are going through yet he overcame them all and he will definitely help us overcome them too. After reading these chapters I was encouraged to go to Jesus. It wasn’t easy because my fears kept creeping back into my mind. The verses that I keep reminding myself, is in Hebrews 4:16 “Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” God spoke to me through this verse. That week wasn’t easy, but I was able to keep pushing through because he kept reminding me of this verse.

  

     It was at the end of that week that God kept showing me that I could trust him and lean on him. I was so worried about my finances for my dts but that Saturday my mom tells me that sons and daughters would help me and pay for my dts fees. I was overjoyed!!! I could hear God telling me to trust him. I felt him saying that now that he’s provided my finances, I must trust him when he says he won’t let me fall. The next week he comes through for my family with our needs and reminds me again how much more I must trust him and lean on him. I am not weighed down by my fear as much as I used to. I can happily say that God broke that chain in my life. I am free!!

Sana,Anna and me

  

     On my house visiting and prayer walk this week I got to meet with a schoolmate of mine. She was in 6^th grade when I was in the 10^th. She’s a Muslim girl and we became friends. She invited my friend and me to her house. i got to open the subject about Jesus through asking what her name meant and what mine meant. My name means ‘living water’ in Sanskrit. So, I got to tell her about Jesus being the living water and that she doesn’t have to feel clean and satisfied only during Ramadan but every day.  We got to pray for her and her family. I loved catching up with her and sharing Jesus.

  

   Some prayer requests for this month are:

1            1.  Please pray that I would continue trusting God and leaning on him.

2           2.   Please pray that I would meditate on his word day and night, have them in my heart and mind.

3          3.   I am really nervous to be leaving home. Please pray that I wouldn’t let this become fear but make the best out of it.

4        4.To use every opportunity to share Jesus and be like Jesus.

REACHING OUT

Hello family and friends,

This past month has been one where I have been able to reach out, share the gospel with some of good friends and people whom God had led my way. I am still learning as God is leading me to lead them. God has been teaching me to discern, to speak Godly wisdom, to be spirit-led and listen to God and not pretend that I know it all but I need his help.

RITIKA AND ME

This is a little update on my friend Rithika. I was able to give her a Bible this year and she was so grateful for it and mentioned that it was one of the best gifts she has ever received. She started reading it and she love it. I was able to answer questions she had on it and helped her understand it better. I meet with her once a week and have a good time of prayer and fellowship.

My other good friend Deepika whom I was able to pour out into her life as well is growing slowly too. She has been in the Lord for sometime and now I have been teaching her to invest into others lives as well. She has been asking questions and growing deeper in the knowledge of God. I meet with her once a week too and it has been going well. 

I have been able to go on house visits too. I was able to go around many houses but was invited to only one but we still did the prayer walk for the others. In this one house that we went into, we were able to talk to the man who was the head of the house. He was an intelligent man with lots of wisdom but believed that nature is God and he is God himself too.  He believed that nature treated people according to their actions. His biggest question was like that of many people who did not know God asked’’ why is there suffering in the world if God exists’’?

He has only heard the name of Jesus but does not fully know who Jesus is. He is searching for truth. We were able to answer many of his questions but we realised he was not in a position to receive the truth fully or be open to search for real truth. We encouraged him to ask the Lord for that revelation himself and that God would show him.

This encounter had taught me that we cannot force our belief or thoughts on someone but only do our part and let the Holy Spirit convict and speak to him. We dusted our feet off and surrendered him and his household to the Lord. 

DAILY BEAN CREW

This past month work has been good. I was able to have good fellowship with my colleagues and able to help and make the new ones welcomed into the Daily bean family. I am going to start YWAM in the month of April and I’m super excited to see what the Lord is going to do in my life this next season.

Some of my prayer points would be:

·       Please pray that the Lord would help me continue my fellowship with my two friends whom I’ve been helping even after I leave for YWAM.

·       As I was able to make new friends at work, pray that God would help me make new friends in YWAM too.

·       Please pray that the lord would help me prepare my heart well inside out as I go to  

Blessed to be a Blessing to others!

Hello family and friends,

Christmas Carnival 2018!!

Happy New Year!!!!  Last month was a month of giving, serving and being a blessing to others. My family and I did that by hosting a Christmas carnival for kids who are underprivileged and from other children’s homes. We started preparing for it from November and met up once a week discussing and planning some more. It was so awesome to see everyone working hard and doing it with so much joy. We had around 15 stalls where they could play games for prizes and get snacks. There were paddle boats and a big pool where the kids could ride in. We also had a bouncy castle for the kids,It was definitely one of the best days of 2018! Some of the stalls were fish for gifts, cake walk, magic mango tree, ring toss, balloon busters, decorate your own cookies, tic tac toe, popcorn stall, face painting, a football shoot out, story time  station,  and many more fun games . On 16^th December, we woke up early to set the whole place and were fully ready for the kids around noon.  The Kids arrived on buses and we got to welcome and cheer them up. It was exciting to see all these kids come in with joy and smiles so big. I had so much fun playing with them and making them laugh. It was a HUGE blessing for me to be a part of this whole carnival. I could see Jesus in my family and in the kids. There’s more joy in giving and blessing others than receiving. God’s presence was tangible that day.

   Christmas is a season for family too!! On Christmas Eve we had a big party with competitions, games, and a huge dinner. We were divided into teams of three and the games began. It had been a while since I had this much fun with the whole family. There was laughter, noise, arguments competitiveness, trash talk, allies but more so unity and love.  We had a big dinner and some last minute decorating for Christmas morning. On Christmas day, we woke up early and had a short devotion with completing the advent story, prayer, worship and finally the presents.  Later that morning we had service at church and family Christmas lunch. One of the presents we got was a trampoline which is one of the best gifts. We spent most of the day on the trampoline.

Deepika!

     For 2018, God has shown himself to be my teacher and he still is. I can’t wait to see how and what God is going to reveal himself to be for this next few months. For the year 2019 I feel like God's telling me that this year is not about me but others in my life. My friends, family and the people I’m about to meet in YWAM. I'm  believing God for my friends this year. I have two friends whom I’m really praying for. One’s my best friend since 6^th grade and her name is Deepika.  She gave her life to Jesus in 11^th grade and is still growing. I am so proud of her and love her so much. I’m praying that  God would show her his commission and that she would be willing and submitting to his calling. She’s talked to me about her dreams of her parents acknowledging her as a Christian and lover of Christ but still standing in doubt and confusion. I’m praying that God would lead her to tell them about Jesus. The 2^nd friend wants to believe in Jesus but is still holding on to the world. I’m praying that God would draw her to him and help her choose him. I’ve been talking to both of them and truly believe that this year God would change their lives completely.

  
       Some prayer points:

1. Please pray for my friends.

2. Please pray that God would give me wisdom to speak into their lives

3. Pray for patience and endurance even when I