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My dear family and friends greetings from hot and humid Calcutta. We have been here for a week and we have one more week here before heading back to Perth. I'm very excited about returning to Perth to share with everyone all that I have expereinced over the last ten weeks. This mission trip has been the most amazing experience of my life and it has opened my eyes to the desperate need for us all to be obedient in fulfilling The Great Commission. I have realised through this experience that I myself am called to be a full time missionary for the rest of my life. I feel called to travel to many nations to preach the good news and teach people what true discepleship really is. We are all called to be missionaries. Some like myself are called to travel whereas others are called to be missionaries in their university or work place. Have you answered your call, do you know where Father God is calling you to be a missionary?
Above I mentioned that I feel called to teach people what it is to be a true disciple of Jesus. I have realised through this mission trip that the Church largely lacks good discipleship. Christians are not getting enough teaching by attending Church just once a week. They need to be taught a few times a week minimum and they need to truelly understand the sacrifices we have to make to be a disciple of Jesus. There are many benefits to being Christian, and they are far more wonderful than can be comprehended. But true Christianity is a life of sacrifice where we no longer live for ourselves but for Him. We are called to a life of faith and obediance where we must often put the needs of others above our own. This is the life that I have chosen to follow in making Jesus the Lord and Savior of my life. I hope to be able to influence many others through my testimony and see them also make the amazing choice of receiving Jesus to be their Lord and Savior. Enough preaching for the moment though, have a habit of preaching lately as Im doing it so much and I must say that I love it.
I finished my last blog in Darjeeling after we had just finished the kids camp. After a days rest in that beautiful city we made our way to Sikkim. Sikkim is a small state nestled in the middle of the Himalayas. It is located between India, Nepal, Tibet, China and Bhutan. We were only there for a week but of all the places we visited I fell in love with Sikkim most and I cannot wait to return. Presently there are two YWAMers pioneering a YWAM base in the capital city of Gangtok. It is a closed state and a difficult place for missionaries to work. Presently there is not a single western missionary in this state yet there is a desperate need. As part of the YWAM base they will also be having a tourist company which will be used as a front to get missionaries into Sikkim. I found this very exciting as there is so much potential for tourism there. They have just started to build a ski resort, theres white water rafting, trekking and so much more. From a glance to place has the potential to be adventure capital of the world and its a whole lot cheaper than Queenstown who presently holds this title. In the week we had there we did a variety of ministry. We worked in an orphange for a day, we visited two seperate drug rehab centres, we prayed through some of the Buddhist temples and lead a number of Church services. I gave my first ever full sermon in an AOG Church. I talked about spiritual warfare and unity in the body of Christ. I really enjoyed it and I also had my friend film it so I should have it up on youtube when I return to Perth. It was an amazing time and I developed a close relationship with Andrias the man who is leading the pioneering of the base there. I look forward to working alongside him in the future.
Once we returned to Darjeeling I was able to catch up on some much needed rest as I have not been sleeping well in general throughout this outreach. I ended up staying in the base while the rest of the team went to do village ministry. During the four days that they did village ministry I worked with the leader of the YWAM Darjeeling base. I spent a few days with him teaching him different methods of communication to raise funds for their base. I also gave him some good ideas for raising funds through the likes of exporting Darjeeling tea to Christian cafes abroad. It was a good time of rest and it was also rewarding for me to be able to help missionaries by applying some of the knowledge I have through my Finance degree. Once the others returned from the village we all chilled out for a day before embarking on an awesome hike. It was a four day hike along the Nepalese and Indian borders. The climax was trekking through the snow until we reached Sandakphu peak which around 3500 metres. Unfortunately when we woke up the following morning it was cloudy so we could not see Mt Everest unlike the time we saw it above Kathmandu a month earlier. The sunrise was still beautiful though.
When we returned from the hike we had two days rest in Darjeeling before taking a 16 hour train ride to Calcutta. With only a week to go now I'm really looking forward to getting back to Perth. I will certainly appreciate the little things a lot more now considering what I have gone through over the last ten weeks. Here in Calcutta we are doing a wide variety of ministry from working with street kids to evangelising university students with campus crusade. Once I return to Perth im gonna finish out my working holiday visa till the end of may and then Im hoping to return to Cork for the summer. That is all the big man has revealed so far and I look forward to it very much. Please keep my team in your prayers that we can finish the race well here in Calcutta and that none of us get burned out in this last week. Im praying for you all regurlarly. Blessings of peace and love.
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