We leave from Brisbane tonight! It will take about 3 days to finally reach Darjeeling. We have a 16 lay over in Dubai (so cool) and then a 12 hour train ride from Calcutta to New Delhi where we will then get on a jeep and have what I am sure is going to be a CRAZY ride up into the mountains towards Darjeeling. Darjeeling is a beautiful city that sits at the foot of the Himalaya Mountains, it is right on the northern boundary of India and Nepal (we can actually see Mount Everest from the base!). It has a lot of Indian and Nepalese culture which will be fascinating! Once we are in Darjeeling, we will be staying at the YWAM base that is there. We will most likely stay on the base only a few days of the week and spend the rest of the time traveling into villages surrounding Darjeeling and helping in orphanages and churches there.
We will be in Darjeeling for about 4 and a half weeks until we fly down to Southern India in Pondicherry. We are the first YWAM team to go to Pondicherry from our base and the purpose of our week long visit is to build relationship with some contacts we have there because my base is looking to plant a YWAM base in that city!
India will be as they say "an assault to your senses". I am not worried about a thing! I have heard that the people are very open to hear what we have to say (mostly because we are white westerners) and I pray that my team will capitalize on those opportunities. It is a predominantly Hindu country so we will have to be cautious with our ministry, but I am confident that the Holy Spirit will guide us and also warn us of any danger. Darjeeling is a more westernized city due to all the backpackers, but when we go down south we will have to be more weary of the radical Hindus who wont like what we have to say. But I am not the least bit worried, I know that God is not intimidated by anything :)
It will be such an amazing time! I can not wait to see how God moves because I know He will! It will be an incredible journey and by the end of it, my team will have gotten to see a lot of different parts of India. The culture will be very different from Darjeeling to Pondicherry as well as a huge weather change (very cold to very hot). I cant even sit still with all the excitement coursing through my body at the moment! Thank you all so much for your continued prayers and support for my team :
Prayer Requests for India:
-that the presence of the Holy Spirit that is with us is so overwhelming that it drives any and all darkness away
-good health
-safety
-unity
-and that we never take a day for granted
This is the link to my teams Facebook page. It will be updated weekly with stories of what God has been doing in India with our team. Pictures will be up at the end of the trip :)
http://www.facebook.com/theteamindia2012
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