Journey to South Asia, Journal Entry 4

One of our CMF staff members took a trip to South Asia recently with a group exploring the country and our ministries there and considering possibilities. This is a closed country where, because of political, social, and religious reasons, traditional missionary activity is not allowed, but where God is working in incredible ways. In this fourth entry in his journal, he continues to use nicknames for the people he interacts with.

Our quaint hotel sits near the top of just one of the countless hills that encircle the city center. From here, we can see the lake (all Buddhist villages have a lake, and this one is gorgeous), a temple, a monastery, and a giant Buddha statue a few miles away atop another bordering hill. Lush vegetation of every shade of green covers the hills, broken up by hotels, homes, and a nearby school, the last of which boasts an entertaining band performance on this balmy morning. Another day in paradise.

But we are not looking at any of that. We are fixated on the two dozen monkeys about 100 yards away that are clambering across electrical wires to cross from one side of the steep street to the other. One of them, a mother, is nonchalantly clung to by a diminutive baby monkey. Three others cross the wires together like a band of clowns; when the first two stop, the third walks right on top of them, stepping on their heads, reminding me (for obvious reasons) of growing up with my two older brothers back in Tennessee.

Fixated on this scene for several minutes, I finally turn to my friend to laugh about the clown team when I see, perhaps 18 inches behind him, yet another monkey sitting with us on the balcony. We clamber over one another to get into the hotel room and shut the door, two grown monkeys making a show of our own outlandish clownery, trying to escape a little guy looking for scrap food and now eyeing us like the real spectacle of the day. Perhaps he’s right. We’re the ones who “ain’t from around here”, after all.

Stories. Like the lush greenery all around us, stories flourish here. There are the lighthearted ones: Monkey clown shows, travel laughs like my friend hurdling a suitcase in the airport on the way here, or our local friend The Magician becoming famous on YouTube making music videos – something none of us quite believed would happen.

And there are the inspiring stories: for example, the Entrepreneur, a woman who started a mushroom farm in her backyard with a small loan from the community and had grown it to a sustainable business, giving all credit to her God and the community she was a part of. When we visited her project, she had branched out from mushrooms and was selling jams and chutneys as well – an inspiration to her community about what is possible with God. (And yes, we did taste and see the finished products! – fresh and delicious). This achievement is no small matter for people consistently looking for good work. The church’s Village Savings and Loan program had provided her the community support and various tools to expand and grow and professionalize her business.

So many stories. One evening, we gather together in our hosts’ (The Evangelist’s and her husband, The Skipper’s) home for a glorious feast of roti and curries. Stories about all their ministries flow as they tell us how God is directing their work.

We talk about how many Discovery Bible Studies were launched in a particular village. “Six, for now” says Mr. Personality. “Actually, those were started by the woman we talked about yesterday. You remember, the one who God healed when her arm was broken, and she became a follower of Jesus?”

Why, we wonder, are healings so common here – so many healing stories! – and yet we believe in these and see these so much less back in the US?  Our friends say that when God wants to be known in a new group of people, He makes himself known through miracles, something not common to Buddhist or Hindu theologies. Still, I’m hit by the fact that she was prayed for FOUR times before the healing in her arm began to be felt. That’s a commitment I need to pick up! Less than a week later (and almost three months before doctors said), she was able to remove the cast on her arm. Months after that, her family and 5 other families are following the Lord.

So many stories already, and so many more to come.

The Big Story: The 1% of this country that trust the Lord desperately want the other 99% to know His goodness.  Pray that God will work THAT miracle of nationwide healing in his timing.