On our way from Asia to Europe, we made a pit stop in India. While we were there, we went to see some workers that are partnered with our church. You might think that mission work is only for adults, but there are a lot of things you can do as an eleven-year-old. Some of the ways I served while we were there are:
- Help entertain the kids
- Clean up their house when we were done
- Not complain when served food that I didn’t really like (Ha ha)
- Pray for their work sharing the Gospel
This last one I did a lot of; especially at the prayer meeting in the middle of the week (I’ll come back to this point in a little while).
On Sunday, we went to a village church, and Daddy Pea got the privilege of sharing the message through a translator (LP got to teach the children’s service before Daddy Pea taught)! Everyone sat on a tarp on the ground, and somebody was hosting it at their home! After the service, a delicious meal of rice, curry, and chicken was served. Everybody ate with their hands, and they had a special tactic of keeping their right hand as clean as possible during the day and just using that hand to eat. Their left hand was used for getting dirty.
As it turns out, the people we went to visit were from the Warli tribe, which we learned about in our very first homeschool co-op back home!
Back to the topic of the prayer meeting. Each month, the local team had a different topic of prayer. The week that we were there, the topic was relationships, and they graciously let us join in on the meeting. Everybody wrote down three relationships that they wanted or wanted prayer for, and took turns praying for each other. For example, my three were:
- God Wanting to spend time with Him and to love Him above all else
- Family Siblings: Talking to them in a nice way and having better relationships in general. Parents: respecting them and honoring their decisions for my life. Also just having a better relationship.
- Friends Having relationships that honor God and reflect His character to others.
A few other examples are:
- Partners
- Non-believers
- Believers
- Churches
Everybody went home after the prayer meeting, and we came back at dinnertime for a potluck. I had chocolate pie for the first time for dessert, and I loved it!
One way our family got to serve was by watching the kids while the parents went out on a date night. After dinner, Little Pea and Middle Pea went with Daddy Pea to the AirBNB for an early bedtime, and me and LP stayed to watch the kids. We played with cars, read books, and played with their ice cream stand.
On the last day of our time in India, we got to see the Elephanta Caves! They are on an island about an hour-and-a-half by ferry from the city. The Elephanta Caves are remains of a Hindu temple carved into the side of a mountain. It was cool to see how the stone was carved away to leave a structure with carvings and pillars built right in!
Our time in India was mostly spent with our friends who live there, and I enjoyed it very much. I hope we have more chances to serve the Lord our God.
Peapod on Purpose 