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I made it home safe and sound on Saturday. Thank you for all your prayers and support. It feels good to back and I am slowly recovering from jet-lag. Please check back here in a week or so as I hope to post a slide-show of the happenings of the past 4-months.

-Nate

Closing Thoughts

Well, this is my opportunity to reflect on my semester in India and put down my thoughts on paper. Without trying to be overly profound (although it is difficult when trying to communicate what God has taught me while I am here) I will share a bit of my experience.

Contentedness Feels Relative Sometimes, But Does It Have To Be?

The title of this section kind of says it all. People say, “It’s all relative,” and at times that is true, for example in India the UP is not the Upper Peninsula but Uttar Pradesh, and “cracker” is not a condescending term used to describe shady white people, but rather fireworks. In my brief travels outside of the U.S. it seems that being content is relative sometimes too; I’m content living with fewer luxuries in the developing world, but when I return home I lose that attitude of gratitude.

It’s amazing how great a hot shower feels when you take one at a fraction of the frequency that you’re accustomed to. It’s amazing that a plate of rice and dal can taste as good as a nice big steak (well maybe not quite). It’s great having a nice, dry, warm bed after monsoon, and it reminds you of how much you have to be grateful for. I’ve always wrestled with the passage from Luke 12:48, “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” Well I’ve certainly been given much, but I am only beginning to hold up my end of the bargain by doing ministry not to try and earn something from God, but out of my understanding of the depth of God’s LOVE for me and the many BLESSINGS he has given. It’s all about being CONTENT with what you have and GRATEFUL for God’s PROVISION. My hope now is that my gratefulness is not dependent on my country of residence, but even when I return and drink water straight from the tap, that I would still be OVERWHELMED daily by the AMAZING God that we serve.

The Shadow Proves the Sunshine

There is a Switchfoot lyric, “The shadow proves the sunshine,” I think in so many ways that has been an accurate description of how my faith has been impacted during my time in India. There are certain truths about who God is that have become personal to me, not just words on a page or orthodox theology, but they mean something to me because I have seen first-hand the practice of idolatry and false religion. India is a nation where Christianity is the fourth or fifth largest religion, so the religious culture is a bit different than America. Hindus worship idols of metal, wood, and plastic created by human hands. Contrast that with the fact that we can have a personal relationship with the ONE TRUE LIVING God. Muslims work hard to pile up as many good works as they can, hoping that when they stand for judgment it will found that what they did on earth will be enough, but we have a God who sent His Son to pay our debt IN FULL and be our RIGHTEOUSNESS, so we can be CONFIDENT in our SALVATION and our works are driven by His LOVE for us.

“The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father’.”

-Romans 8:15

Published At Last

Our Project Reports went out the door today, and how great it feels to be done. Here's a little bit of what we have done:


























This weekend will be my last in Mussoorie as we are leaving Monday night to travel to Jaipur and see the state of Rajistan before returning to Delhi for our flight back to the States on Friday.

Please pray for safe travels and that we would be able to reflect on our time here and transition well to life back home.

The Final Countdown

God’s Church

Last Sunday afternoon we had a church dance party. It was so cool to see the different nations represented through dance; India, Nepal, South Africa, UK, and the US. It reminded me so vividly that Christianity and God’s Church is not just an American or Western thing, His truth and salvation spreads across the globe, it transcends language and culture.

The pastor and his wife cutting a rug

Our Work

Our director/IT man dissecting the office server

Well the only thing that has really been going on the past week is work. I feel like I’ve been saying this for the past month, but we are almost done with our project work. We lost a few days to IT woes, but thankfully we were able to recover files from our network(although it is no longer operational). We are in the final stages of revisions for our drawings and report, I think it will be one of the largest reports that eMi² has published with 22 drawings and 30 some pages of report text. Apparently we are a rather long-winded bunch.

Please pray that we will see the completion of our project through before we depart. Also please pray that I will be able to process the things that I have learned here in India, and be able to transition well back to American culture.

Look forward to seeing y'all soon!

-Nate