This past summer, I had the special opportunity to serve God on the missions field in Northern India! Going into the mission trip, I had previously gone on STSM to Cambodia in 2023, where I gained much insight of what it meant to serve the Lord in a community that is unfamiliar than mine, as well as trusting in God to work His sovereign will through us. This year, I wanted to specifically go to India to serve the Christians through VBS programs and discipleship with the youth, but to also be encouraged by their faith and joy in God given their harsher circumstances. An additional reason why I wanted to go on missions this summer is to see if becoming a missionary in a foreign country is a possibility in my future years. 

Throughout the month, I learned so much about the people of India, the Christians who reside there, but also a lot about myself. Tested by difficult physical conditions, the Lord revealed to me my many shortcomings and tendencies. Over time my eyes were opened to my self-centeredness instead of being Christ-centered. The Lord truly exposed me to my weakness of prayer, and how I lack in many ways to come to the Lord fully surrendering to Him, feeling as if I needed to be perfect before coming to the Lord God Almighty. Seeing the Christians in India made me self-reflect on how I uphold godliness and if I am a faithful witness and man of prayer back in America. In California we have such easy access to the gospel and the fellowship within the church body, as well as resources that can help us understand Scripture and worship God so freely with little to none harsh persecution; while in India fellowship is limited, evangelizing is life-threatening, Christianity is persecuted YET the church of India thrives off the mustard seed of faith that each and every Christian attains and lives out with desperate faithfulness. 

During our final week of ministry, our team stayed in Jaigaon, a city located on the border of the small Buddhist country of Bhutan. We worked with an orphanage and Christian ministry where they support and educate Bhutanese Christians who cross the border of India just to learn how to lead Bible studies, share the gospel secretly, and secretly smuggle illegal audiobooks of the Bible into Bhutan. The testimonies of boldness and urgency taught me just how seriously people take their faith when the devil actively tries to take it away. Many of them take such risks all for the purpose of sharing the gospel, once again striking me with my lack of courage and fear of man that grips my heart in California. This trip was filled with much conviction of where my fear of the Lord stems from, and how I need to realign my heart to God and His great purposes. Fighting complacency with urgency is most definitely the greatest lesson I learned in India, and it starts with a heart of gratitude remembering what I have been saved from. 

There are so many concepts and applications I want to live out now after coming back from India. It starts with simple yet profound truths of developing a life of urgency and greater dependence on the Lord through the power of prayer. Without reestablishing and building up the basics of love and faith, the rest of what I seek to apply becomes powerless. A conviction I’ve heavily received from my mission trip is to fervently pray not only for my friends and family, but for my literal neighbors and city such as those in Orange County and Los Angeles. I seek to commit to such a strong heart of prayer in all things, and to be sober-minded about the need for the gospel not just in the nation of India, but also my home in America.