Issac Yang

During the trip I was reading through Philippians and Paul tells his readers to “[do] all things without grumbling or disputing…” (Phil. 2:12) so that we would be children of God without blemish. This being my first trip to India, I prayed that He would reveal to me how He was working on the other side of the world, and that in turn, I would grow out of being the selfish person that I am. Throughout the trip I realized I had been praying incorrectly.

When we arrived at the organization we were volunteering for, we had a time of orientation. In one section of the orientation, we were given statistics and a history lesson about India. With this in mind, almost every day of the week we went to orphanages to do Christmas programs with the orphans singing songs with them, making crafts with them, playing games with them and incorporating the Christmas story in the program through skits for them.

Seeing the leaders and Heather work while we were there helping them I saw just how selfish I was. Knowing how dark of a place they are in, knowing they are the minority, knowing we were not going to be there indefinitely, every member of the organization treated us as if we were family members. They went out of their way to provide us with a comfortable place to stay each night, transportation each day, and good food that we would enjoy. They were the example that Paul was talking about when you are to do things without grumbling.

Going through my journal and notes I took while I was India, the reoccurring theme for me was to live by  Him. Being the introvert that I am, meeting new people, going to the orphanages, spending time with the organization members were all times when the spirit was reminding me to reflect Him and that we should live out Paul’s belief when he says “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” (Philippians 1:21)