The Unexpected Adventures

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The Closing Post

This trip was an amazing experience for everyone who went on it. We were all humbled, and we learned so much. Though this blog is meant to be just a small window into that experience, I hope that your view on missions was challenged or that you were impacted through each post. Thank you. 

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An Expert Interview

During this past month I had the opportunity to Interview Reverend Jenny Duncan about the purpose of missions in general as well as at our school specifically. It was an extremely insightful interview where I was able to learn much about missions as it applies to us as a school, as a denomination, and as a group of believers. The following are the questions and responses of the biggest part of the interview. 

  *The following responses are paraphrased or summarized and not necessarily word for word*

  How did Missions start at VFCC?

In 1939 two Bible schools came together. Northeast and another school forged VFCC.  Valley Forge was always a place for people that were definitely going into ministry. The school had already had formed a mission, and they considered themselves a sending organization.

  What are a few things that we as a unified group of believers have learned or used to define our Mission over the years?

1. AG as a whole has understood its part in sending labors. We have not pulled away from the mandate of the missionary.

2. Somewhere in the process we differentiated between US and Foreign missions.

Foreign missions became more “esteemed” than local or US missions. It’s a growing pain, but one that we are working through.

3. The broadness of how we define the call of God has increased. It’s not just pastors preach and ministers minister, but you could be a Digital media and minister through that.

  I believe that the call of God theologically starts with your talents and your gifts. You should be very focused on the OWNERSHIP of God: What your talents and your gifts are through Him. Top that off with the missionary potential that we have, and He can make such amazing use of that both here and abroad. This is something that the AG is learning and figuring out.

  What is this separation of US and Foreign Missions?

Both “types” are working together and have always worked together. I think there should be more of a focus on the masses here because so many have come from other places and are more receptive here than they were there. There is such a large missions field open. There are many people who get great training, but the thing about this training is that it can be used both here and around the world. There really isn’t a separation between these two; we are just learning how to work them both together.

  Do you think one of the big things that unifies missions work is the Unifying Heart of Christ?

Oh no doubt. There are many elements of many truths, tenants, of the Great Commission, of Matt. 28, Mark 16, etc., that all show Christ is redeemer. When He was on this Earth, Jesus left one village for another village. He was on a mission. There was such a push of the Holy Spirit to share the Gospel around the globe from west to east. That heart that is driven by scripture. That is shown by example in Peter, Paul and Jesus. Then, the moving of Pentecostal revivals are all going to lead back to Jerusalem for the Second Coming. The church of America will certainly have to interact with this belief and action of this belief.

Is there a specific Fundamental truth that we have focused on?

There are the truths on the church, truths 13-15, Ephesians 4:11 among other verses, the Great Commission, doctrinal beliefs from tenant #1 to the death burial and resurrection to tribulation all focus on Christ as redeemer and we have to get the word out! Every single one of the doctrines has pushed us to wrestle with the lost rightfully so. Any theology that isn’t practically hands on is not good theology

Theology has to move from the head to the heart to the hands to the feet. That is where redemption happens.

  How does secular missions differ from our missions?

The transforming power of the gospel separates us. We are not just satisfied with just giving physical, but giving the power of Christ in Jesus name. We are ABOUT the good news. We love to go, we will attack for Christ because it’s not right (social injustice, hunger, loss, pain). We will attack it with the idea that there is a higher goal. We should go so that someone can be free and see the love of Christ. We find injustice, hurt and the ills of society, but we don’t just offer fleshly needs because we can’t fulfill all those needs. We can’t solve all the society’s ills but we can give them Jesus Christ and a way into eternity.

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Related Sites

Our mission team’s main blog site. 

http://himalayantrekindia.blogspot.com/?spref=fb

  A collection of pictures from the same region our team traveled to in Munsiyari.

http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/Asia/India/North/Uttarakhand/Munsiyari/

  A resort out of Munsiyari that provides both entertainment and guiding them throughout the mountain area

http://wayfareradventures.com

  Travel/History guide of Munsiyari

http://www.journeymart.com/de/india/uttarakhand/munsiyari.aspx

  A simple guide to India.

http://www.chiddingstone.kent.sch.uk/homework/india/dailylife.htm

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What Impacted Me

It really is hard to narrow down our time in India to just one thing. This trip was such an awesome journey and such an amazingly humbling experience. It was by far the hardest thing I've ever done, but this trip in its entirety was just such a blessing. When it comes down to it, I would have to say that the biggest thing that impacted me was the extreme sense of sacrifice that literally everyone showed while in the mountains. At the slightest hint of our arrival, people would just give. They would stop what they were doing, offer us tea, bring us into their home, and put everything aside so that we, as their esteemed guests, would eat and enjoy ourselves. They just had such a willingness and sense of sacrifice for people that they had just met...It was so humbling meeting these people who, though they have so much less than each of us, were willing to give us everything. Then I realized that, though we didn't have anything physical to give them, we were able to share with them the very Truth that is at the core of everything we are. We got to spend time with them talking and sharing the love that is inside of us for them. And the best part? They listened. There may not have been a mass revival upon ever village that we "graced" with our smelly presence, but we got to plant a seed. One that is very young, and is still in fresh soil, but a seed nonetheless.

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Journal - Day 2

 After a good 20 minutes of walking, we finally stepped outside the first gate. We were greeted by fresh, Indian air. Not at all what I was expecting.

Truthfully, I expected air filled with onions and curry. Even when leaving the second entrance, we were hit with a different smell that was not bad at all!

We stepped onto the street to madness. Try and follow:

We crossed a street FILLED with vehicles to the main sidewalk. But even on that side, the curb was packed full of vehicles. 

Our leader decided to take all of our bags to a local hotel for safekeeping, and he needed a volunteer…

SO. I volunteered.

It wasn’t until I got in the van with a load of American stuff (not to mention our entire load of supplies) that I realized a couple things. I’m an American who just hopped into a van about to drive a solid 20 minutes through traffic in the middle of the capitol of India with two Indian men who I didn’t know. Slowly everything came together. But before I had a chance to freak out, I breathed, then just said to myself, God’s got you.

Like I said, it took a solid 20 minutes or so to get to the sketchy, alley apartment where we promptly unloaded everything.

Our guide, who I would later find out is one of Tim’s close local friends, decided we should take different means of transportation back to the rest of the group.

So we walked, rushed, and pushed our way through SCORES of people and various means of transportation.

The roads were filled with people trying to get everywhere, and I quickly learned that the horn is everyone’s best friend in India.

Also, the choice to obey stop signs, streetlights, and crossing zones are seemingly optional.

We stopped briefly for my first Indian food experience. I had a spicy, Indian burger-thing. Not bad.

We continued into an underground train system where we flocked to through the gates to get on a packed train to another part of the city.

From that exit we hopped on a three-wheeled auto rickshaw that took us to the market place to meet our group.

But through this adventure, I saw many things that just really took me off guard. There were homeless everywhere, men and women were sprawled on the streets and sidewalks begging for money, and I passed a man whose legs were too swollen for him to move. There were kids and families in need, and so many people running around doing whatever they could to draw my attention. There were entire sidewalks covered in pornographic material. There were people of all backgrounds hurriedly traveling through the streets going every which way. There were uniformed men everywhere with checkpoints and guns of all sorts (FAL, M16, MP5) pointed carefully at each passerby. It was overwhelming, to say the least. 

With Christianity being only 1% of the religious population, I couldn’t help but wonder about each person I passed. Through the entire trip back, I easily passed a thousand people in arm’s length. And to think, these people share little to none of what I believe…

After 30 minutes or so, we finally made it to the local market where the girls were busy looking for appropriate outerwear for the upcoming week.

 The market was filled with vendors and assorted items. They even had monkeys running around and above the vendors.

After we finished gift and clothes shopping, we all headed to India’s own Dunkin Doughnuts! Everyone got to relax and slow down for a few minutes.

 Just fyi, it is at Dunkin that I found out that pretty much all Indian bathrooms smell like curry…

 Afterwards, we traveled by underground train (which was super busy and crazy).

After a while, we made it to a different part of New Delhi where we traveled by the bike powered Tuk-Tuks. We traveled in with 2 per vehicle (one guy, one girl to be safe) and went on quite a ride through the city.

We got a little worried as we all lost sight of each other at times, but after awhile we all made it to the same location.

We stopped at this popular, back alley restaurant where we had some amazing food. We had a leg of lamb, Tandoori chicken, pancake-like Roti, and rice.

After we got right back to the Tuk-Tuk rides.

They took us to the train station where we waited for our bags as the cold evening set in.

While we waited, we passed this fenced in area that we later found out was a temple. There was a loud, constant banging sound, like a large bell or gong that Muslims use to keep their gods awake long enough to hear their prayers. There were statues all around the area, and there was a man in religious garb beckoning us toward the temple grounds. The entrance held a large cow statue to which several men prayed to and kissed on their way in or out. Truthfully it felt dark and foreign. The rights, the prayer times, the different procedures for each god… it seemed so mechanical in nature. For where I saw, it was a religion so rehearsed that it was more of a thing to do. I know that’s not the case for many people, but it made me wonder how many people really LIVE what they profess to believe…

Tim showed us the temple so that we could get at least a little glimpse into what they live and believe… And so we did.

We moved to the train station where we waited for our train.

The bathrooms were pretty horrible, so many waited for the train bathroom.

The trains that we were taking are called “Sleeper Trains” because in each section there are different compartments. In each compartment there are 8 bunks/bed for passengers to sleep on.

We were all tired, but after some minor confusion with some locals (we were given the exact space as a family) we all got settled in.

There was a boy who spoke some English (first person to casually interact with me in English). He asked me where I was from and he told me that I looked like number 20 from a Pennsylvania sports team.

The train was pretty sketchy. It felt like we were on a Concentration camp train: bars on the windows, chains holding the beds up, dirty floors, thin materials that made up beds, etc…

There wasn’t much room so I didn’t sleep very well. Thankfully though, I we got at least a little sleep. 

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Journal Post Guide

Warning: My journal posts are sporadic, vary in length, and often do not follow grammatical syntax. These are my raw journals edited slightly so that they are more comprehensible to everyone that is not me. The End. 

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This video captures much of what we experienced in the form of beautiful images. 

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Our view of one of the villages we visited on Day 2 of hiking in the Himalayan Mountains. The village is overseen by Mount. Panchchuli. 

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Introduction

My name is Zachary Snyder and I’m enrolled at Valley Forge Christian College. This blog serves 2 purposes: to remember and to share. I have been blessed enough to have multiple opportunities to travel the world to serve others. I’ve been to the Dominican Republic and Ecuador, and the initial posts on here will be about my most recent trip to India. Lord willing, I will be going to many more places in my lifetime, and as long as I do, my trip journal will be right here. Enjoy and God bless each and every one of you!