North Heights Lutheran Church
THE BODY AT WORK, TAKING GOD'S POWER TO THE WORLD
Testimonies from India Missions
by Rebecca Vegge
I started att
ending North Heights three years ago and was looking for a way to connect with other people my age (mid-late 20s) and wasn’t having any success. I decided to attend Alpha a year ago, and it was during that time that God prompted me to step out of my comfort zone and go to India with the young adult/medical mission trip this past December.
At the North Heights services, I had heard about the ministries working in India but never thought that I would want to go there. God had a bigger plan for me and now, as a result of this mission trip, my eyes have been opened to a broader view on what is happening outside of my comfortable life here in Minnesota. I have a new desire to pour out love and service to those who need it so desperately whether it be here in the Twin Cities or abroad.
Throughout this trip there were many different joys, heartbreaks, and challenges but each experience kept me yearning to know God more intimately, and I began to listen to what he wants for my life. I was able to make great connections with other young adults at North Heights and also with the individuals serving in India. I would like to encourage anyone who has experienced my same inability to connect with others to step out of your comfort zone and try something new because once you do, God can and will do great things through you.
by Kayla Nowicki
The sounds of ringing bells and beautiful chanting drew me deeper into the darkened Hindu temple. Voices in prayer echoed off the stone ceilings as people milled around individually or in groups of twos or threes. Monkeys swung through the trees, and ran along the walls surrounding the
temple. We had entered the Monkey Temple, home to Hanuman, the monkey god.
After removing our shoes, we walked barefoot into the center of the temple. To our right, a group of men sat cross-legged on the stone floor chanting in unison, ringing bells to alert the gods of their prayers. On the left, a vendor was selling pastries to temple goers as they prepared to bring their offering of sweet treats to Hanuman in order to gain his favor. People of all ages walked around the temple clockwise and then gathered in front the large opening in order to gaze upon Hanuman’s face. Everything except his eyes were shielded by a mask.
In Hindu belief, the goal of going to the temple is to meet Hanuman’s eyes, because then you know you have seen god and have been seen by god. As I watched, individuals laid face down, knelt to kiss the ground, or simply stood with hands folded under their chin in prayer. They then would wipe a finger across the nearby orange pole and swipe it across their forehead. This orange mark showed others that they had seen god that day.
As one elderly lady and her husband turned to leave from the altar, she glanced up at me. In that second of eye contact, I was shocked by the desperation, the emptiness, and the lack of light within her gaze. Her eyes appeared to be shadowed by a curtain that blocked any inner light from shining through. Here was a woman who probably spent her entire life going daily to look into the eyes of Hanuman, believing she was seeing god, and in the end will stand before the real God with nothing to show for it.
As I took this all in, I contemplated the desperation that was in the offerings and songs of these people. I began to feel such sorrow and despair knowing that God’s heart is breaking every second as he watches desperate worship meant for him be directed to an idol. The realization staggered me that each person who worships someone or something other than Jesus Christ will be eternally apart from God if they do not have a change of heart. It pains me to know that someone could try to “see God” their entire life, and in the end still remain lost. 
How many times do we in the U.S. “worship” the possessions we have. We so easily make music, money, fame, jobs, and relationships “gods” in our lives. We take all these desperate little steps to succeed in these areas when really it is just like someone desperately trying to meet the eyes of a god. In the end those steps will mean nothing because they were leading us to a dead end.
These “gods” will not get you to heaven. God craves to have the desperate worship of our entire hearts. He wants to be priority in our lives so that in the end, we can say we truly worshipped and loved God. We should be pursuing God with a desperation that is contagious and in the end, this is what will truly save us.
This truly challenged me because I have not sought after God with strong desperation. I should be making God a priority in my life but sometimes it is so easy to put him aside and finish the daily things I have to do. While on this trip, I realized that God must come first despite obstacles. Just as the Hindus make their religious practices intertwine with their everyday life, I, too, want to bring God into every aspect of my life.
If I really want something, I must pursue it. I must worship him with all of my heart, and everything will fall into place after that. God calls us to be desperate for him and that is what I will continue to strive for even when it gets tough. I want to be desperate for him; desperate for his love and grace. People who are desperate for God are contagious, and I want to be too.
India
