India Tour

Well, well what can I say? It was an amazing feeling, one of personal fulfillment and realizing that as you accept to be used by God you are actually fulfilling His purpose for your life which in turn brings a satisfaction within self that no amount of money can buy.

IN INDIA
Once we got engaged with our work in India, the three of us started to realize something happening inside of us. A joy that can not be explainable, a fulfillment and an understanding of what God was showing us. In India we were involved in coaching soccer to a group of young, enthusiastic soccer players and at the same time sharing our testimonies to this part of the world where Hinduism has a stronghold on these young men and women. For me personally I began to realize why in the first place Satan wanted us to lose focus on this great mission that God had planned for us. The bible says the harvest is plenty but the laborers are few. India is an huge harvest for the lost souls and to do it (winning souls for Jesus) using the gift of soccer that God gave me made it a whole lot easier. Day after day these kids would always look forward to the following training sessions. During training sessions we would show love to these campers thereby preparing them for the Gospel presentation that usually happend in the evening presented by Benjamin Thomas. I began to see things differently as we were encouraged to always show love to the campers whether they made a mistake or not. We were not supposed to shout at any kids but to put our hands over their shoulders and correct them with the love of Jesus. This made a huge impact on these kids and made them draw closer to us and for them to notice that there was something different in us. Even myself I began to also understand more about how God loves me unconditionally and if I happen to coach one day that is exactly how I would treat my players. We would also give testimonies and this became an opportunity to know how to share your testimony in those kinds of setups.
In the midst of all this, I began to thank God for giving me this opportunity to tell people about Jesus. I knew money I did not have, but I had my knowledge of soccer which I could give and ultimately lead people to salvation. This also gave me a perfect opportunity to learn how to conduct such kind of a camp and I wouldn’t have learnt it from anyone other than Benjamin Thomas who was organizing all the proceedings. A great man of God who is passionate about the work he does. Each evening he made a Gospel presentation, more than 90% of the campers would always receive Jesus for the first time. The way he presents the Gospel is irresistible to any sinner or any stubborn demons, as I listened to Ben call people to Jesus I also wanted to raise my hand and receive Jesus for the second time. He really makes the Gospel to be ‘Good News’. I also made it a priority to sit down with Ben and ask him some questions about his ministry and how he manages to set up a camp in India. We are planning to do similar sports camps in South Africa.
Then there was discipleship time for our team of coaches. During this time we would spent time together studying various aspects of the Bible and getting to know each other more personal. This was another precious time I so much valued that happened in India. You will never come to a stage where you feel I know it all especially if you are the one always teaching others. There is an element of complacentcy that creeps in to those who normally lead bible studies. I normally lead bible studies in our teams so it was exciting this time to be led or taught by someone especially from a total different background from mine. Again Luke and his wife Alicia did a fantastic job teaching us the word of God. The contribution of everyone as well just broadened my understanding of certain aspects of our personal relationship with Christ. I know that a bigger impact was with my two friends Charles and Kujo whom I have discipled for quite some time. Coming on this trip I knew pretty well where they were at in their spiritual life. I immediately began to see a change in these guys. Charles started asking me a lot of questions about spiritual matters and this was something that normally never happened before. He even started sending scripture verses to his girlfriend much to her surprise of course. At this stage in India we totally forgot about the hardships at home, actually the three of us realized that it was God’s plan to take us away from that environment to refreshen us through something very fulfilling than any worldly success.Another humbling experience was to see how Campers Crusade for Christ India does their ministry. I mean these guys are really champions for Jesus. They work under very difficulty conditions just to reach out to the lost. Sometimes they have to walk long distances in order to put the message across. They are limited in terms of resources but they depend on the greatest resource they have that is Jesus. This made me look at myself and I wondered if I would be willing to sacrifice for Jesus as these true disciples are doing? Support raising is a big challenge to these brothers and sisters, some do not even get 50% of their budgets met but everyday you see on their face a great determination to spread the Gospel. May God bless these servants of Christ; this is my every day prayer.
When I left India coming back home I felt joy in my spirit that I had mad an impact in someone’s life, I felt I had made a good decision to go on this trip despite my predicament, this was faith in action. I now trust God more than before especially when I am called for duty; I am always ready to serve in His Kingdom. And to see my friend Charles growing spiritually like he did on this tour was even more a blessing to me. So all my thanks to the people who contributed to this trip whether financially, through prayer or otherwise. I am very grateful and may God continue to multiply in any areas of your need. God put me on another level in my desire to see many pro-soccer players know Jesus.
Elasto