South Asia

Due to a new policy (that I forgot to follow in my last blog) the country that I will be blogging about next will simply be called “South Asia”. This is just a precautionary measure that Adventures in Missions has adopted in order to protect the ministries that are in this country and ensure that they are able to continue operating safely and effectively. 

With that being said, I have a lot of pictures from that country so I will attempt to tell the story of our time there based on the pictures…

 

-This was the view from one of the classrooms at the seminary we stayed at in Sielmat, Manipur. We arrived just at the end of the rice-harvesting season, and so it was typically very smoky as they were burning off all the leftover rice chaff/stalks. Sielmat was mostly situated in a valley, and it was surrounded by mountains which created some beautiful views, as you can see. 

 

-This was a picture of the bucket shower setup. In Sielmat, it was pretty cold, especially for the World Race (60 degrees Fahrenheit during the day, and 40 at night). The water was ice cold though, and so it made for some refreshing showers. Those showers were far better at waking you up than any coffee ever could be! 

-This was a photo of our first trip to Agape Drug Rehabilitation Center. Each time we visited, we started off with a devotional, broke out into small group discussion, and then played sports with the residents. This was a photo of me sharing a message with the men in rehab. 

-This was the view from one of the hikes we did into the mountains surrounding Sielmat. It was very beautiful country, and very temperate weather while we were there. 

-For many of our ministry days, we would do house visits in various parts of the village. During this day, we went to visit with a village chief who had just lost his wife, and his family who had just lost their mother. It was a sweet day to just be able to pray for their family during that time, and then they also wanted us to see their pet monkey! 

-This was the Christmas morning children’s service that we were all a part of. One of the most common things for us to be told in this country was “And now we want to hear a special number from the World Race team.” And so on this day, we did our best to be a choir, and we also put on a skit for the children. 

-Everywhere we went in India, we were almost always offered either chai tea or red tea. Here, the border police offered us tea, and so all of us got out of the bus and took time to have tea with these incredibly kind men at the border of Manipur and Assam. 

-This was the view from one of the bridges our bus crossed on the way from Manipur to Assam. There were many beautiful views along the way, but this was one of my favorites. It also shows you the bridges that our bus crossed (the splintered wood wasn’t super comforting 🙂 

-This was a picture of one of the tea fields near the city of Silchar. The bright green bushes in the distance were tea bushes, and they were really pretty! 

-This is one of my favorite relationships that God allowed me to make on the race! For his privacy, I will just call him JM. JM is the headmaster of a school in a remote village in the state of Mizoram. He is an incredible man of God, and I really enjoyed the time we got to spend together! 

-On the first day we were in Mizoram, JM took us out to a village to meet his extended family. We got to play with kids, hold some babies, and just enjoy time in a remote village. 

-This was a lake that formed due to the Serlui Dam. It was a beautiful, quiet place with crystal clear water and beautiful views. I wanted to swim here, but there were some mixed reviews from the locals on whether there were alligators in the water or not 🙂 

-This was also while we were in Mizoram. We took these bamboo rafts across the water in order to visit some Muslim villages. Some of the Muslim students, who went to the school we stayed at, were our guides out to their homes. 

-This was a picture of the raft actually crossing the river. As you can see, you really had to balance and be careful about where you put your weight haha. I could post a video of some people falling in, but I will show some self-restraint 🙂  

-This is a picture of us with one of the student’s family after we made it across the river. We were able to talk to his family, pray for them, and enjoy some tea with them as well. 

-This was another part of our journey in between the houses in the Muslim village. It was more of a farming area, and it was fun following the paths and crossing various patches of water as you can see. 

-This was a picture of me playing a game called “Carrom” with the kids of the caretaker at the school we stayed at in Assam. These kids were so much fun to be around, and it was a lot of fun to visit with their family during the time I was in this area. They were such a sweet family and I am so thankful to have met them and spent time with them! 

-In Assam, you always had to look out for some monster spiders. I quickly learned that this one was in the bathroom every night, and so I always made sure I located him before doing anything else haha. 

-One of the least glamorous parts of the Race is when you get sick. This country was not kind to me health-wise. In a month-long stretch, I had E. coli, a nose infection, and an eye infection (as you can see in the picture above). 

-As we were crossing the border between Assam and Manipur at the beginning of February, we all had to have our temperatures taken, to make sure we didn’t have a fever, before we could come in to the state. As I look back on it now, it is actually quite impressive that they had this table set-up in a pretty rural part of the country all the way back at the beginning of February. 

-This is one of the only pictures I had of J (name shortened) and I. J was a liasion who took us around to different ministries, and he is another friendship that I thank God for. I enjoyed getting to know him, hearing about his family, and learning more about Sielmat and the culture through him. We had some great conversations as we walked to ministry each day! 

 

-This is a picture of A (name shortened) and I on a hike. A was another guy that I was able to have some great conversations with! I was thankful that we got to go on this hike together towards the end of my time in Sielmat! Here we are in front of a cave up in the mountains that the Japanese occupied during WWII. This was their encampment/vantage point over the surrounding valleys. 

-This was also a picture from A and I’s hike. This is taken at the top of Mt. Sidon. The man in the background said he was staying up at the top of the mountain for a week, just to pray and connect with God, which I thought was pretty cool. 

This country in South Asia was definitely one of my favorite countries that I’ve been to, and I am very thankful for all of the relationships with Men of God that came out of it. It was definitely inspiring to see the amount of men who took their faith seriously and were leading their families and churches well!

Thank you to all of you for reading and for supporting me! I am now fully funded thanks to all of your support! Take care and may God bless you and keep you safe and healthy during this time!