Update #7 - INDIA

Hey Everyone!

Well, it’s my first update of 2012, and what a sweet one it is!

Before you go any further, watch this VIDEO >> SurfCity goes to India 2012

SurfCity crew!

As many of you know I was in India for 3 weeks, getting back to Aus on January 21^st. This update focuses on this time in this faraway land, hard to believe it’s the same planet...INDIA.

Our stomping grounds was Madurai city, it’s a Hindu city in South India - millions of gods, rich with religious rituals with 5 massive temples with painted gods covering them, and that’s just from our hotel. This city is BUSY, 1.2 million people, car horns beeping more often than I blink and we stayed right in the middle of it at Royal Court Hotel... we’re not in Kansas anymore...

Hotel view of KL malaysia on our overnight layover...so nice

Temples in Madurai

Over the last 3 decades our church (SurfCity) pastor has become friends with a pastor over in Madurai and every couple years a team has gone over to help support the local churches in the city and surrounding villages. Mid-2011 I was sitting in church when the announcement was made there were 2 open spots on this year’s India Missions Trip... It hit me like a tonne of bricks that I was going to be one of those two. With only a few hundred dollars to put down as my deposit (towards $3,000) and nothing else to guarantee my financial security, I stepped out in faith that God would be my provider once again......He did. And what a calling it was. Another MASSIVE thank-you to all those who invested with finances and/or prayers, it made the WORLD of difference!

So on a perfect December 30^th morning we left for India, 8 hours to KL, Malaysia where we had an overnight layover, then 4 hours to Tiruchchirappalli Indian Airport and a 2 hour drive North-East to Madurai. As soon as we landed we knew we were nowhere close to home... To leave me from writing a whole novel, let me list the ONE thing that shocked/ stunned/ altered our natural way of breathing for the majority of our time... TRAFFIC!

We didn't see any accidents, but if something goes down it's not just gonna scratch the paint.

Upon arrival we couldn’t help but be overwhelmed by the smell, the chaos, the poverty, and the mass amounts of people sleeping on the street...A lifestyle that almost promotes giving up before you’ve even started and everyone just stepping on each other’s toes who are trying to make it. With so many people suffering from this barrier it just hits you like a wall in a way that a life with no future is horrible, it’s sad, it was never intended. This city FULL of poverty, and EMPTY in hope...

This man met team member Tom 2 years ago last trip, his leg is still injured, he hasn't moved his spot in 2 years - He remembered Tom 

Just outside our hotel

We went with one mission... to bring the love, the forgiveness, the future that Jesus has shown us, to bring hope to people who don’t, to share with those who have never heard God’s promise, and tell what He has done in our lives..... Privileged. Our team of 25, all with incredibly different stories and backgrounds, with one common goal – to bring salvation to this corner of the earth.

Legendary surfer Tom giving his testimony 

To touch on, all of our drinks, even to brush our teeth was bottled water, and our food was either room serviced from the hotel, Domino’s Pizza, or Marry Brown’s chicken (kinda like KFC). All else would mess us up pretty good.

The currency there is called Rupee’s and is roughly $1 Aus = 50 Rupees. Everything is SUPER cheap, and if you’re a white person you “have money” so there are kids constantly coming up to you on the street asking for money. It broke me to hear the stories behind the kid’s outstretched hand, but at the end of the day we were not allowed to hand anything out as it causes too much chaos when other kids see you giving etc... Even 10 Rupees was greatly received when tipping at the hotel to the boys there, it’s just hard to take in that this is their life.

18 days, 3 days at orphanages, 15 days in the villages.

On day 1 we went to an orphanage that SurfCity has been financially involved with, and were there for the grand opening. Such a good way to start! Later on in the trip we visited another orphanage, just another awesome time to hang out and get to know some of the kids, play soccer, cricket, frisbee, or anything they wanted to do.

They all love the camera! 

Of the 15 days in the villages we had 5 locations for our nightly meetings (3 nights at each), and each meeting place was central to 5-6 villages. Very isolated, as in if a village were to burn down hardly anyone would notice...These villages are like nothing I’ve ever seen. They are outside the city up to 1.5 hr drive, with a couple hundred people in each, a community water source and trickling electricity at best, and some or many of them have never seen a white person before...Wow. I have never been slammed so hard to be grateful for all that I have. So each morning we would go out to a couple villages and invite them to our nightly meetings. We had so much fun doing this, after all it was often the kids who were most curious with us and once they realized we weren’t doctors to give them shots (Pastor Richard had his headphones on when he got off the bus once and kids thought it was a stethoscope so they cried and ran away ha-ha) but were there to have fun with them. Translation: no less than 10 of them hanging off you at any given time! Ha-ha. It was the kid’s curiosity that made the commotion and that brought the adults out of their homes, and often we would end up talking and praying for them and their families and encourage them to come along to the nightly gathering. Our translators were the local Pastors of each village, and it was their ministry we were there to support, to bring people into their church and start building a Christian community.

I had heard about all these miracles that take place in 3^rd world countries, how God seems to show his miraculous healing side a bit more often in places with no other source of medical help. At one of our villages a 17 boy came to our meeting with a crippled hand for all 3 nights, and we prayed for him all 3 nights... nothing. Not gonna lie, we were all a bit frustrated... God, why not heal this guy?! Why not just smash him with healing, we know you can! The next morning at team meeting, Pastor Richard was suggested something, saying maybe we were chasing the miracle too much, and not the salvation that comes from it which is WAY more important. Light bulb moment. And that’s when things started happening. The next day we come across a village elder, apparently a village member of importance, and we find out through our translator and his efforts that he can barely stand out of his chair... at BEST. One of our team members and I prayed for this man, and as I felt his knee cap it went from a fluid, soft feel, to something of structure! He stands out of his chair, walks across his balcony and back (HUH??)...Healed. All of us just stunned, I’m still asking our translator what just happened. “A miracle” he says. Just like almost all Indian adults, hardly any emotion is ever shown, just that Indian head wobble. So the healed man gives the wobble and then the best part: he wants to accept Jesus into his life. Pumped! ...God is good, He is real, and He was PRESENT in a person in a village of no global influence to change the life of this man. Blows me away even as I type this...

Our nightly gatherings consisted of worship songs, skits, personal testimonies, preaching, praying, and having fun especially with the kids – you just can’t help it, the kids’ smiles light up the place it’s awesome... And they always want to ask you something in their choppy, yet impressive English. What is your Mother’s name? Father’s name? Sister’s name? Brother’s name? Some of our team members... “Oh, I don’t have a brother” Replied again with... “What is your brother’s name?” Ha-ha, they just didn’t understand sometimes, but it didn’t matter... Over the 3 weeks we had so many villagers accept Jesus into their lives each night, and this was the reason for us coming and to see these locals see the relevance and the relationship that only comes from Jesus. Their life is tough, it’s very tough, it’s not what they deserve, but Jesus came as a suffering servant, to serve and not be served, to identify with those less fortunate, not only to be the voice for the poor, but to be the voice with the poor. He came and lived the example that it’s not only the rich or the famous people that can be saved, but anyone... We had a few more amazing healings. A few were, a man who has been an alcoholic for years became completely clean after telling us the next night there was no more addiction. Another was a girl in her early twenties- she had been blind for the last 10 years. A few of the girls on our team prayed for her and over the course of praying she went from seeing nothing, to outlines of things, to sources of light, to colours, and to then being able to high-five one of the girls! We’re talking about the eye, the most COMPLEX thing on this earth! Two things unshakably learned... Prayer is so powerful, and nothing is too big for God.

This trip was exhausting; with what I could see with my eyes it broke me down, but it built up my faith stronger than ever. It reminded me of in the Bible, in Matthew, Jesus is doing his ministry and his preaching and teaching is being heard, but not always accepted. But when He healed somebody, it just AUTHENTICATED his preaching and teaching. It was awesome to live out our faith over there and also to bring it back to wherever we go, to see the invisibility of God be so visible, and be so real especially in a place of idols, rituals, and temples. I could have let this opportunity pass by, but I stepped out and it happened. And it’s not just that the money came in, it wasn’t just to pack up my stuff, to get my vaccinations and hop on the flight, it wasn’t to bring toys to the kids, it wasn’t just to go to have my perspective changed to a world less fortunate than mine, and it wasn’t to cure this horrible thing called poverty... That wasn’t the mission... The mission was taking these people to the SOURCE. It was to teach them of Jesus who removed ALL sin, sickness, and sorrow on the cross, to teach them of the one who is never the second one to know anything but the first, the one who understands their situation, the one who can restore, and the one who is the creator of life and each of us individually...perfectly. I love the saying “you weren’t made by accident”... but how about I lean on you a bit more and say that “you were made on PURPOSE”! It’s about grace. It’s not about what you can do, but what’s already been DONE for you... And that’s really the story of it all, and this simple message was what we were there to bring. 

Life perspective changes when you get to travel and see new places, but it puts you in your place when you see live’s change in a village so isolated, it humbles me and encourages me in God’s promise to never leave or forsake us. Accepting Jesus was the best life choice I ever made and one anyone will ever make... I'm an everyday guy, I don’t always write like this, or talk like this, but this is LIFE.... My journey continually gets more exciting as I pave my own path with God as my compass and I’m just one of many. I’d say it’s pretty worth it. So big question is.... Where do you stand? Ever thought of giving it up to the one the better view?  J It’s worth a thought... So in a nutshell, that is my experience in Madurai and surrounding villages, of India. Unforgettable. We stopped in KL Malaysia on our way back as well, had some fun at the Chinese markets  negotiating for everything and just checking out the rest of place. Also, my blog would be incomplete without the following fact: The Westin Hotel has the best beds in history! The mattress embraces you and the blanket's so heavy it pins you into awesomeness. For the low price of $4,300 they can be shipped to your door...It crossed all of our minds. But overall it was a great way to debrief before heading back.

I was approved for my Working-Holiday Visa while over there, I call it my Surfing or Golfing Visa and I am currently living up to those titles! Thanks to everyone for reading this, I love being able to share these times with you in whatever way I can, and I look forward to bringing another update soon from the life in Australia, 2012!

Until next time,

Keep thinkin big picture!

-          - Rob