Thursday, March 27, 2014

Our Journey to India

Two years ago, my heart was stolen.
 
I went on a life changing trip to Goa, India to spread the Gospel and work against human trafficking.
And while I was there, I met beautiful, wonderful people. 
Though I gladly gave it, these people stole my heart. 
 
It's been two years since the people of Goa have stolen my heart. 
And now, He's calling me back.
But this time, my husband is going with me. 
And I am beyond excited. 
We will be going back to Goa, India to intern for 11 weeks. This has been something I've been praying for since I was in India. Back then Caleb and I were dating.
Here we are on one of our Saturday morning/Friday night skype dates. Being 8,290 miles apart was pretty hard, but it was amazing to tell Caleb of all the awesome things that was happening in India. It was back then that I knew I wnted us to explore missions if we were to ever think about marriage. 
From our conversations, I knew it was something that would take lots of prayer and trust in the Lord as Caleb had more of a heart of settling down and I had a heart to explore and adventure in missions. You see, he had never even been out of the country before, let alone has gone on a missions trip, but the Lord had revealed to me that He would use Caleb and I in great ways, no matter where we were. I had lots of fears going home towards the end of those three months about marriage, but the Lord gave me peace about it right before leave for home that when Caleb proposed a month later, I was ecstatic to say yes and begin a life with him. 

But I knew, even if it were for a little while, any type of missions was on hold.

Fast forward a year later. Caleb and I had been married for about 4 months and a missions trip was posted on the Adventures in Missions World Race site. This was a trip for 11 countries in 11 months in all Spanish speaking countries throughout Central and South America. That had always been a dream of mine. To do missions where my family had come from and actually be immersed in the culture to learn the language. The World Race allowed married couples to go on their trips, but they had to be married for a minimum of two years before launching on the field, so we knew it wouldn't be something we could do anytime soon. Though this isn't the trip Caleb and I would be able to take, this opened the door to start talking about missions and if it was possible for us to do it while we were married without any children. For the rest of the year, we planned on going on this trip though, with India always being in the back in my mind, since most of their longer short term trips were only open to women volunteers. Up until this year that is.

While we were in India, my team and I prayed that men would stand up in India. That they would stand against taking advantage of women. That they would stand to love and respect their wives and children. That they would stand as men of the one true God. We prayed that God would bring more than just missionaries, but would raise up Indian men, and we prayed that God would use Rahab's Rope to extend their ministry to boys and men. This year is the fruition of those prayers. 

Most Rahab's Ropes programs are aimed at children and women in the poorest areas, but this is the first year that the ministry has allowed men to join their teams. 
{Women's Stitching Center}               {Kids Tutoring Program}             {Women's Nutrition Program}
  
     {Aiding Preschools}         {Ministering to Shopkeepers on the beach}      {Youth Programs}      

They hope to start new programs aimed at young boys and men in the slums. We don't fully know what that will look like yet, but their desire is to reach out to young boys and men that need mentoring, discipleship, and the Gospel as much as the women in their programs. 

As interns, we will be able to do different work that Rahab's Rope couldn't do through their shorter-term teams, and building relationships like this is part of it. It also amazes me that many of the youth boys Caleb will be reaching out to and working with are the same boys that stole my heart years ago!
Seriously, they are precious aren't they? 

I can't believe both Caleb and I will be part of this work. Together! I have dreamed about this since I left. I seriously though it would be YEARS down the road, but am so glad the Lord is control and knows what He's doing. So Caleb and I will both be ministering in Goa to many of the same people I worked with over 2 years ago, and again I expect our hearts to be stolen. But really, how I can resist being taken by India again? 
If you'd like to know more or would like to support us, please go to our youcaring site or click on our support tab. Thank you! 

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