Monday, July 13, 2009

Mission Trip Report







Mission trip & update from our faithful servant Pastor Moses & Lalita & JD....
In God's grace & mercies, we are so glad to receive the message and update…

Please pray daily for God’s provision, grace, guidance, protections, strengths and blessing fall abundantly onto Pastor Moses, his family as well as his ministry so that more fruits are bear and more souls are save…

Amen.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Friends
Greetings in the Lord.


It’s a joy to tell you the story of our Trip in the form of a newsletter. The Lord was good to us throughout the journey. It was an experience we can never forget. We praise God for joining hearts with us in prayer.

We started from Imphal (our base) on the 24th of June at 8 AM by car and reached Tamenglong District HQ at 4:25 PM. A friend who organized the Youth Camp, Mr. Asui hosted us in his humble home, with hospitality ranging from traditional food to a cold bath. We had to get ready for the Long walk ahead so we tuck in to bed early. The Magnificent five shared the floor!

It was rather a clear sky by the time we woke up. The sun was beaming beautifully as we had our simple but filling breakfast at about 5 AM. At 5.10 we set off.
It was Namtiram village at 10.25 AM and we had our Lunch at 12 noon. They didn’t know us and we didn’t know them, but the hospitality was excellent. We began to unpack our lunch (ready to eat snack + noodles, cold red tea and energy drinks) but they had different way of entertaining guest. They offered us mats so we could lay and rest while they cook. With enough rest and stomach filled with meat (Wild boar & Deer meat) and vegetables we start our forward move. We thank the good people (family) of Namtiram for their hospitality and bless them with the blessings of God.
It was after about 20 mins walk that Good Samaritans from Tousem came to help us with our loads. The mountain was getting steeper and our legs were beginning to shake, even after the good lunch. It was a relief to see good, healthy and strong four young men sent by the Church of Tousem.

We reached Tousem at about 6.15 PM exhausted from the sunny and humid Tamenglong sun but Tousem welcomed us with its typical light drizzle. We were provided warm water to clean ourselves then to a welcome feast of everything local (from the different veggies to local pig). The local people didn’t stop visiting us till 9 pm. They were happy to see us just as we were also. Although tired we enjoyed the fellowship.

The Camp began in the morning of June 26. Morning Devotion starts at 6 AM followed by three sessions (Body: the temple of God, God’s will in discovering our life partner and Youth and Sports). The Evening Worship Service was open to all the villagers. The Second day saw more parents than the Youths. We had sessions on Mothers’ and Fathers’ responsibilities in the family and living Biblically.
The response from the family was enormous, they requested us to do separate session for the parents, and so Sunday was a special session for the parents. We separated the Fathers and the Mothers so they could discuss problems they faced in the family. They came back together and a reporter from each group shared point after point. It was an opening of the heart by the mothers as well as from the fathers. They discussed issues they normally would not in public. What surprised me more was the openness of the parents in front of the opposite sexes, which is very unusual in the rural villages. And even more to us (young missionaries in the making). Their high respect for us was amazing. It was such a humbling experience to see the both the fathers and mothers kneel down to forgive and pray for one another for their ignorance of the other in building the family.

The Young people were shy but cooperative. They were eager to learn and enjoyed all the activities during the three days camp. Although most of the songs and choruses were in English it doesn’t seem to make much difference. The enthusiasm we saw from them encouraged us even more. We were told prior that the young people will be a mixture of active students and those who never been to school so I was at first hesitant about their understanding capacity and if the long tiring journey was worth it but their willingness to learn and the work we put-in as a team to understand their culture: both young and old paid dividend.

During the trip we were also able to visit the many refugees who were relocated from neighbouring State Assam at two places, Old and New Tousem. We did not take anything with us to give them in terms of physical needs but we were able to have a short fellowship with them and pray with them. We were told that the people of Tousem share their provisions from rice to vegetables to clothing. The local church played a very important role in showing their love and concern to them. They were happy that we did our part in the short visit to pray with them. They said that was all they need, for people to show them LOVE.

We thank God for the wisdom and strength. We all were fit to meet the physical demands and were able to take the sessions from Day 1 without much physical stress. God was with us as we respond to their every question. It could only have been divine. Although we do not have all the answers and they may not be perfect yet we were at least able to give them some biblical foundation where they could build their own answers. We thank God also for meeting all the financial needs for the travel and other needs for the trip.

The church invited us to do similar programme on a regular basis. Hopefully we will return next year or arrange for others. The five of us (all in our early 30s) have decided to do such trips in remote areas at least twice a year, while we still have to strength to travel miles on foot. We are now praying that young seminarians will join us to impart sound biblical teachings in the remote areas of our state and move on to other neighboring states too.

Join us as we continue this humble journey. We value your prayer support. Manipur needs you, North-East India needs you, India needs you. God bless you.

Shalom
Moses & Lalita & JD

No comments: