No House
“… but the Son of Man has no house to lay His head…” Matt 8:20
Driving by the slums of Bombay on our first day in India, left us with many questions and uncertainties of what the day was going to “look like” ministering in the “gypsy slums”. I could envision masses of crowds and definitely chaos.
The gypsy slums in Goa are considerably different. They are little pockets of people living in makeshift houses built from bits of tarp, mud, rocks, palm leaves held together with strings and ropes. Sometimes you will see a group of 10 such structures off to the side of the road
near a garbage heap. But the two villages we visited today were back off the road in a forested area. It held its own kind of simple beauty. The houses were creative constructions, each one different, and adorned inside with carious articles and artifacts found or formed. In some there were paper cutouts hanging form the ceilings; others would have stripes of material knotted together in carious ways and one to my great surprise had a working TV!
Beyond the huts were the people – the children run up – bright eyes wide open against their chocolate colored skin. Their smiles are infections and they are ready to imitate any action you do, wave exuberantly, and smile and laugh for the camera. The true beauty and array of colors parade in on the women. Each has on multi-layers of skirts, sari’s, scarves around their heads, bangles and beads, nose rings and blouses hand stitched with mirrors. It is quite a sight. As I am sure we were equally a site to them.
The Pastor has told us many missionaries from foreign countries come to India – but no one comes to these villages. We were first introduced to the believer (missionary) living in the village, what a harvest field! Of course we did our program, passed out smiley face balloons as well. But as always the big hit was the Polaroid photos. We use them to illustrate the plan and purpose God has for His people. This is most likely the first photo they have ever had taken they can keep. There may have been instances when they were in the city and curious tourist caught their photo – oh, but these are treasures.
Most live as a family in these homes that are smaller than 10 x 10. The cooking fire is lit outside but all sleeping happens on straw mats laid out over the dirt each evening and rolled up each morning. These mats come in handy for visitors because they are able to bring them out of their houses and create a stage for the audience to sit on and watch the show.
They responded to the Name of Jesus – they came forward and asked for prayers and blessings for their children. The Lord was praised and I am sure pleased.
Our second village stop came after dark. The missionary had to guide our car back through the woods by driving his motor bike slowly in front of us to make sure the car stayed on the path. We could hear the crowd singing as we approached but we couldn’t see them. Only one bare light bulb hung in the tree overhead. But they could sure see us! They started clapping and saying hallelujahs. What a sight and sound.
A had discovered a new “trick” from an Indian magic shop and used it very effectively to illustrate the bondage of sin and freedom through Christ. The Pastor was translating each on of us into three languages because of the literacy level of the villagers – he was excited however because he said “these are simple people they need to see these visual things and stories – I have learned so much in seeing how you do these things.”
Again, there was great response, prayers, and blessings over the people especially the children.
The humbling moment came when the Pastor said the one family of believers had prepared dinner for us. We walked carefully through the darkness to their one room house only to learn they had also cooked for the entire village. They wanted to show Christ’s love through this offering of food to the people. It made our part seem so small in comparison to the great sacrifice on the part of these simple beautiful believers.
As we were returning to the hotel I commented to the Pastor how beautiful I thought the women’s clothes were – he said “did you notice the mirrors?” Yes of course I replied. He explained the gypsies know they have lost their king – they are hoping through the mirrors to see Him.
Our prayer is tonight they saw the King of all Kings!
Driving by the slums of Bombay on our first day in India, left us with many questions and uncertainties of what the day was going to “look like” ministering in the “gypsy slums”. I could envision masses of crowds and definitely chaos.
The gypsy slums in Goa are considerably different. They are little pockets of people living in makeshift houses built from bits of tarp, mud, rocks, palm leaves held together with strings and ropes. Sometimes you will see a group of 10 such structures off to the side of the road
near a garbage heap. But the two villages we visited today were back off the road in a forested area. It held its own kind of simple beauty. The houses were creative constructions, each one different, and adorned inside with carious articles and artifacts found or formed. In some there were paper cutouts hanging form the ceilings; others would have stripes of material knotted together in carious ways and one to my great surprise had a working TV!Beyond the huts were the people – the children run up – bright eyes wide open against their chocolate colored skin. Their smiles are infections and they are ready to imitate any action you do, wave exuberantly, and smile and laugh for the camera. The true beauty and array of colors parade in on the women. Each has on multi-layers of skirts, sari’s, scarves around their heads, bangles and beads, nose rings and blouses hand stitched with mirrors. It is quite a sight. As I am sure we were equally a site to them.
The Pastor has told us many missionaries from foreign countries come to India – but no one comes to these villages. We were first introduced to the believer (missionary) living in the village, what a harvest field! Of course we did our program, passed out smiley face balloons as well. But as always the big hit was the Polaroid photos. We use them to illustrate the plan and purpose God has for His people. This is most likely the first photo they have ever had taken they can keep. There may have been instances when they were in the city and curious tourist caught their photo – oh, but these are treasures.Most live as a family in these homes that are smaller than 10 x 10. The cooking fire is lit outside but all sleeping happens on straw mats laid out over the dirt each evening and rolled up each morning. These mats come in handy for visitors because they are able to bring them out of their houses and create a stage for the audience to sit on and watch the show.
They responded to the Name of Jesus – they came forward and asked for prayers and blessings for their children. The Lord was praised and I am sure pleased.
Our second village stop came after dark. The missionary had to guide our car back through the woods by driving his motor bike slowly in front of us to make sure the car stayed on the path. We could hear the crowd singing as we approached but we couldn’t see them. Only one bare light bulb hung in the tree overhead. But they could sure see us! They started clapping and saying hallelujahs. What a sight and sound.
A had discovered a new “trick” from an Indian magic shop and used it very effectively to illustrate the bondage of sin and freedom through Christ. The Pastor was translating each on of us into three languages because of the literacy level of the villagers – he was excited however because he said “these are simple people they need to see these visual things and stories – I have learned so much in seeing how you do these things.”
Again, there was great response, prayers, and blessings over the people especially the children.
The humbling moment came when the Pastor said the one family of believers had prepared dinner for us. We walked carefully through the darkness to their one room house only to learn they had also cooked for the entire village. They wanted to show Christ’s love through this offering of food to the people. It made our part seem so small in comparison to the great sacrifice on the part of these simple beautiful believers.As we were returning to the hotel I commented to the Pastor how beautiful I thought the women’s clothes were – he said “did you notice the mirrors?” Yes of course I replied. He explained the gypsies know they have lost their king – they are hoping through the mirrors to see Him.
Our prayer is tonight they saw the King of all Kings!
