In my last update, I told you I was on my way to India. Now India has come and gone and we are already in our second stop in Bangladesh. A group of 6 friends from Cape Town headed to Delhi, India together at the beginning of the month, for the main purpose that we felt God had called us to go there.
In Delhi, we spent time with some local people and some international people from a church there. It was great to spend some time there and see some of what God is doing there. We also were able to visit the cities of Jaipur, Agra (Taj Mahal!), Varanasi, and Darjeeling. India and it's cities are such intense places. They are busy, crowded with people who stare intensely at foreigners, very hot, and noisy (with lots of cars honking). As compared to other places I have visited, I did not really connect with or enjoy most of the places themselves. However I did know that we were supposed to be there.
Once we arrived in Darjeeling, it felt like a different world to me. It is a hill town at the base of the Himalayas full of people who descend from Nepal and Tibet. It was cooler, quieter, and much more beautiful. I felt so at peace and really loved it there. Looking back on our time in India, we saw God do many things. We were able to build relationships and witness about our own experiences with Jesus, to about 20 people who had never really heard about Him before. One man named Das who we met on an overnight train was healed of a headache, experienced a touch of God through prayer and accepted the Lord into His life. We were also able to pray with others and encourage pastors and local workers who were a bit discouraged with their work in India.
After India, 4 of our group headed back to South Africa. 2 of us have continued onto Bangladesh and Myanmar. In Bangladesh we are currently staying with a nice American missionary couple who are hosting us as we visit The Grameen Bank in the capital of Dhaka. The Grameen Bank is showing us some of what they do here as they have been a big inspiration to the microfinance work we started in Cape Town. They are essentially a bank for the poor and are providing business, home, and education loan to millions of the poorest of the poor in Bangladesh. Its very cool to see their work and the impact they're having. Dhaka is yet another huge city (about 20 million), and is similar to Indian cities, except the standard of living is lower here and there are fewer foreigners and much less English. We leave for Myanmar on the 19th.
Please pray for any seeds planted in the people we've met to grow, and for us to continue to connect with God, be aware of what He's doing and be open to Him. Thanks, and I'm getting excited to be back in the US soon and be closer to you all! Love, ryan
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