[For some context: the word “missionary” isn’t used here. In the past there were missionaries who were rumored to have paid locals to become believers, since then that’s what that word is associated with. It’s illegal to call yourself a missionary. That’s the history that Christians have with this nation.]

The first time I ever came, I was convicted. There is not one person here who doesn’t believe in the spiritual world to some level, and I have never met people who were so devoted to prayer. I also saw the grief in God’s heart that the prayer wasn’t unto Him. 

Every morning, you hear bells. Wherever you are: city or village, mountain or valley, you will hear bells in the morning. The bells mark the beginning of a prayer to the Hindu gods, they’re used to “wake up” these gods to get them to listen. There are temples wherever you may find yourself, and there are hundreds of festivals dedicated to these gods. But when you ask someone why they celebrate, or pray, or commit sacrifices to these gods they all respond in a similar way: 

“This is just what we do”

When we tell the story about a Living God; a God you don’t have to beg to listen to your prayers, a God who sees and loves you, a God you don’t have to call with bells because he never left you; I see something come alive in them, I see a hunger. They can feel it’s true, but they hold back. 

“I can’t be a christian. I would have to leave my family, I can’t celebrate festivals with my loved ones, I wouldn’t be allowed to bury my grandmother. I would be turning my back on my people.”

Yet there is still hunger. In fact, for the first time we’re seeing second and third generation believers. The first generation believers are now mothers and fathers, raising up some of the first families of believers. I’ve met grandmothers who told me they were arrested as teenagers for preaching the gospel; I’ve met fathers who, even though they are the only believers in their village, hold a church service in their small living room every week.

I am a coach, and every week we train hundreds of athletes. Most of these athletes are young men in military school, who have to qualify for the military because the only other option is going back to their village. 

One of the men who runs a military school has been bringing his students to our gym for over a year, and he is good friends with our ministry leader. He sees Jesus in us, and he’s told us how he can see something different about us.

He now believes Jesus is the one true living God, but he can’t call himself christian. He asks us to pray for him and his military school, he’s read the Bible and believed it to be true, and has accepted Christ into his heart. 

Although he can’t bring himself to call himself a christian, I just know Jesus is rejoicing in heaven. He didn’t just accept Christ with his words, but with his heart.

This is the movement we want to see. We want to see the people of this region accept Christ, not just as a religion, but as the only living God. We want to see change in their hearts before anything else. That the first, second, and third generation of christians would feel freedom to be fully themselves with Jesus.