JAY LEE

Coming into my senior year of college, one thing that had been on my mind, like most other seniors, was about what I was going to do post-graduation. One thing I knew was that I would be getting even busier as the years go by. We timely had a mission awareness night for one of our church’s (OPEN DOOR!) college ministry events where we had other students that had gone on STSM share about their experience. I was very moved and felt convicted to pray about whether I should go or not. After months of prayer, I decided to sign up on the last possible day. I wanted to give God my summer to serve His Kingdom and to simply be able to get to know Him more through the experience. After months of training that included weekly Sunday training, all-day Saturday training, Prep week, and Intensive week, we finally embarked on the plane to go to South India. 

Of the many lessons and blessings that I had received during the trip, there are two main events that stood out to me. 

One blessing that I had been able to witness was through the discipleship groups that we were able to lead at St. Paul’s school. Discipleship groups were a time when a pair of us were grouped with around 15 students and we had the opportunity to be able to share about the basics of Christianity and what it was all about. We had three sessions which consisted of 8th, 9th, and Pre-University students, with the 9th grade students having the most time with us. Our 9th grade group of students were not all Christians with most being either Hindu or Muslim due to family influence. Even though St. Paul’s school was a Christian school that was started and run by the missionaries, India had strict laws against other religions other than Hinduism due to the governing political powers. Thankfully, Bangalore (the city that we first visited) had a larger Christian presence and there were no oppressive pressures to speak about Christianity (this was more apparent when we began our latter two weeks of traveling). Although I have never done a full rundown of the basics of Christianity to a group before, I was so motivated and willing to share to these students about the amazing good news and the hope that we have in Jesus Christ our Savior. At the end of our time with the group, we provided a time where the students would close their eyes and those that felt convicted and wanted to surrender their life to Jesus Christ could raise their hand so that we may pray for them. Although we do not often see the fruits of the work until much later, God was so gracious and merciful in softening and changing the heart of one previously Hindu student, Mahdupriya, into raising her hand at the time. I was genuinely surprised by this because she was generally quiet and I did not expect her to have been moved by what we shared. I realized that it really is not by our doing that people are saved, but it is truly God that changes hearts and brings His people to Him. It wasn’t because I was so eloquent or impressive in the way that I shared the Gospel, but that raised hand was the result of God’s work through His people over time. I was in awe of how powerfully God worked and moved through us and so thankful that He allows us to be used by Him & gave me this precious gift of being able to witness His amazing work. 

One lesson that I had learned throughout the trip came from the last two weeks of traveling throughout India. We were able to witness several temples and mosques where other idols and false gods were worshiped. It was my first time seeing people worship other idols and gods so openly. My heart was so broken and saddened by such a scene. If only they knew of our God and His love for us, wouldn’t their hearts be so filled and satisfied? Once outside of Bangalore, we were not allowed to openly pray or do ministry because of the persecution and the heavy Hinduism presence in the area. However, we made sure to pray on our own for all of these lost souls that we witnessed and prayed that if it is in God’s will, that God would change their hearts and reveal Himself to them so mightily. We also visited Varanasi, which is known as the holy city of India for Hinduism, and I was astonished at the various acts of worship that these people were doing. From throwing cremated ashes, sinking dead babies to the bottom of the Ganges River to the people washing themselves in that same water, I was shocked at the darkness and insanity that I witnessed. I was reminded of the verses in Matt. 7:13-14, “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” In the US, people do not openly worship idols, it is mostly in private like our phones and the things that we do in our secret place, but seeing people outright so fervently worship other false gods made me realize that the gate that leads to destruction is truly so wide and how desperately people need to hear about the Gospel. Although the latter two weeks of traveling were challenging, it helped me to develop a desperate heart for India and gave me such a tangible image of how to pray for India. 

Going back home, I am realizing what a privilege we have in just being able to share the Gospel so openly and freely. Undoubtedly, there will be some embarrassment and shyness to doing something that may receive weird looks or flat out rejections, but compared to being able to change another person’s life by them knowing God, it makes it all worth it. I want to still have the same desperation that I felt for the lost at India back home to be able to boldly share and speak about the Gospel and grow in my own walk with our loving Savior.