The call to serve for the mission at Nagpur brought with it a mix of excitement and apprehension. I was excited about visiting a new and different place, meeting new people and giving Christ to them.
Amongst other things, I was apprehensive about the language, the food and the climate. The toughest tasks seemed that I would not only have to give sessions in Hindi, a language I am not very fluent in, but also conduct group discussions and one to ones. At this time, I happened to speak to one of my sisters who comforted me, giving me the perfect verses for my situation.
Jer 1:5-9- “… and appointed you prophet to the nations… now I have put my words in your mouth”
It was this same verse that kept coming to me during my personal time in prayer and I then realized that this was my Father assuring me that I definitely need not be afraid. Here I also realized the value of the wholehearted support and help you receive from your brothers and sisters in the community.
We were a team of 9 members from 4 different parts of India, namely Mumbai, Goa, Mangalore and Gujarat. Even though we were youngsters from different areas, we defied all reservations and blended with each other really well, to make a camp team of members that were like-minded and supportively cooperative.
At Nagpur, we were welcomed into the home of a CFCI Couple, who were extremely kind and hospitable throughout our stay, as were all the ‘titos’ and ‘titas’ in Nagpur. They not only provided us with a place to stay, but also with delicious meals which really gave us a taste of Nagpur. The intake camp began on 17th July, 2011. It was an experience that neither I nor any other member of the camp would ever forget. For the first time in my life, I had to rely entirely on the power of the Holy Spirit to help me. When it came to the sessions I had to give, I saw the promise of Jeremiah 1:9 come true wherein, even though I wasn’t well prepared, I spoke fluent Hindi, which surprised me.
Nothing at camp happened as per plan. Even our schedules went haywire, making us realize that this was not a camp of our planning but of God’s, and that we needed to surrender it to Him completely. When we did so, we saw that everything fell into place perfectly just the way He wanted it.
The weather too had us all feeling blessed. Having heard about how hot it is in the area around this time of the year, we were really glad to know that it had rained the day before our arrival. This made our stay rather pleasant. Even on our last day, it rained heavily enough for us to celebrate everything that happened at camp by actually dancing in the rain.
There was one other thing that left me totally amazed. Being a fussy eater, I was prepared to survive on a stock of biscuits and snacks I had packed. These however were left untouched!! I truly had been on a ‘journey of a lifetime’.
The journey back saw us all on an all-time high. Still charged up by our camp experience, we decided to use our energy by having a praise and worship session on the train. It was a great experience not only for us but for all the other commuters in our compartment.
Everything that happens on mission cannot be put into words; it just has to be ‘Experienced’. May God inspire many more Youth & Singles to go on mission to spread His Word.
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