Story of Seven People in Guwahati

“Who needs a bungalow and all the luxury it can contain in it?  Buda (common Nepalese word for husband), I am so grateful to God for such a joyful life in this little room!” blurted my wife as we were squeezing in under a little blanket we just bought a few days ago.  The weather in Guwahati had gotten a little chillier from last week forcing us to look for a blanket.

As I put my head on the pillow and began to think how the Lord has led us thus far; so many things came to my mind to be thankful for.  The room where we make our living these days has a small iron bed for us to sleep on, a desk on which my books, a computer and a printer have been making their residence.  And, it also has an old steel closet which the landlord was planning to throw when he rented us this house; it is all dented and squeaky when moving.  But my wife bought a can of paint and by herself did the painting; making it more suitable to the eyes so that we can keep a few items inside.  Most of our clothing and necessary items are in various bags; shocks and under garments have found their place in a few plastic bags.

When I think about my wife; Proverbs 31 seems a little too stingy in describing a truly virtuous woman.  When I decided to follow the footsteps of the Lord Jesus Christ; forsaking all and taking up my cross is all that dominated my thinking.  No other dream except serving the Lord for the rest of my life.  There was a time I thought of not marrying; as according to Paul and my own senses told me that the person who would become my wife will suffer in this world which will in turn affect my walk with the Lord.  But a few years into the ministry; a strange yearning for intimacy with a wife of my own started to tug at my heart.  A prayer I prayed was “Lord, you know me more than I know myself.  I don’t know what kind of wife would be good for me.  So, Lord, please give me a wife you think is good for me”.  I must have prayed that prayer countless times and one day, there came a gentle little lady who captivated my heart.  With great struggles, I succeeded to capture her heart.

When we married, we had our two little suitcases we carried from our college days.  There were no family members from either side to attend our wedding.  I had no money to buy a wedding gown for my bride or a suit for me either.  We were willing to be married with our old clothes on.  But a sister in that little church where I was ministering borrowed her wedding saree to my bride and another sister bought a suit for me.  It was a miracle (such miracles would become a normal part of our life).  We could not afford a reception; just a cup of tea and some little snacks for the guests who attended our wedding. 

When all our guests had said goodbye to us, we both closed the door of that church and went to a house where a room was given to us by the missionary who had hired us to take care of that little church.  The house was empty and cold.  A simple bed was placed in an empty room for us.  The kitchen was just bare; nothing in it to cook or even to boil the water.  It was a cold Kathmandu January, and having no warm clothes during the whole day, my newlywed wife was already shivering with fever.  Hungry and tired, we stepped outside the gate in the dark and saw a little stall where a lady was selling some noodles.  In that little corner of her stall, we both sat on two plastic stools and waited for the noodles.  Sadly, the lady took some unknown revenge on us and put a bag full of salt in those bowls; we just tasted and left.  Our first night was sad and happy.  Sad because my wife missed her family in India and I had nothing to compensate her sacrifice for me.  But before she said yes to marry me, I had explained to her that I am a man with nothing worldly in my hands and that she should be willing to stay with me even under a tree should I not be able to afford a proper place to live.  She had agreed to follow me so long as I would follow the Lord who had called me. 

Knowing the call of God in my life; she had made that vow to serve the Lord together no matter what the challenges.  As we began our journey as husband and wife; challenges did come.  But what a joy it was to have a companion who was stronger than I to face them with graceful determination.  I have shed so many secret tears of joy for giving me a companion who has totally and absolutely followed my footsteps even when she knew nothing as where the Lord was leading me.  The trust, the love, the commitment she showed in serving the Lord with me made that passage in Proverbs 31 look wanting.  There have been years, at least five of them once, when I could not buy a signal new dress for her.  She found ways to mend old ones into wearable!  But there has never been a single day when I heard her complain about anything in life.  Ever joyful, ever grateful and ever hardworking!  At one time, her only sandals broke on the way becoming completely unfit to wear.  The next day, she walked from home to a nearby shop barefooted to buy a new pair.   

However, we also saw God’s amazing provisions and abundance of blessings in our lives.  Corers of rupees passed through our hands for the ministry.  Then came a time in our life where our own earnings could have given us all that we wanted to indulge in this world.   Life in South Korea was wonderful.  As hardworking as we were; we made more than we could ever imagine in Nepal or India.  But this little companion of mine always saw other’s needs more pressing than her desire to indulge in some little luxury.  People from third world nations go to a nation like South Korea and begin to ask for help; especially the gospel ministers are famous in taking the Korean friends in guilt trip to milk from them.  But the Lord blessed us so much that we could offer some relief to our much needy Korean friends during our stay there.  A cozy apartment, a suitable car, good paying job and a growing ministry was something we could not have imagined before.  In addition to that; the Lord blessed our ministry in Nepal but whenever we visit there, we still enjoy sitting in our old living room furniture of some 20 years ago that have lost some of their legs and paddles.  Now, those pieces have become so precious reminders of God’s faithfulness.    

In our 50s, life had just entered the golden years.  After completing my PhD, getting hired by the same university, and a growing international church to pastor; the Lord shook our nest one more time.  We had to take another step of faith to obey the Lord’s leading.  There were days and nights of agony when the Lord told us to leave South Korea.  Many a times I had asked the Lord to make sure that he really wanted us to come to Guwahati.  I even said to him once; “Lord, my wife suffered so much in her youthful days in Nepal, won’t you allow her to have some good time here in Korea?”  He never answered.  So, we obeyed him and came here.  For one year, we simply wandered around the city and prayed and even doubted if we had heard him correctly.

But then, a few hungry and needy souls began to come in our lives and we decided to pour ourselves into them.  Having been pastors for so long and ministering to so many each week; having had a wonderful congregation to preach to every Sunday, here we were, at times preaching to one or two on Sundays.  Those one or two were also drunkard and addicted.  They could hardly stay awake for ten minutes into my sermons.  There were also few old widows but they neither knew Hindi nor English.  It was a year of despair and discouragement.  How much we poured our strength and material possessions in the life of these needy and broken ones, our dream of a church seemed so distant by the day.    

Our family and friends kept praying for us and one fine day, brother Puia sent an email to me saying he was looking for a church.  Along with him, he brought his mother and little sister.  Brother Puia had met the Lord some years back.  He had totally surrendered his life to obey the call of God in Christ.  He had forsaken the world and wanted to follow and serve the Lord for the rest of his life.  With the hope of serving the Lord, he joined a few ministers to be part of their team.  But his heart was never satisfied as most of these ministers would use him only for their benefit.  Before sending that email to me, he was asking the Lord for direction for his life.  One thing led to another and our hearts got connected to serve the Lord together.  Even now, this brother has so many challenges but even in his mid-20s, he is a very mature man committed to fulfill the Lord’s will.  He is a man freed from the love of money and longs to be used by God.  I felt as if I found a long lost brother!

Then came to us a gentleman by the name of Allen who had served the Lord for three and a half year with Youth With A Mission all over India and another year as a youth minister in a church in Nagaland.  Allen is a soul with no worldly desires for wealth and fame.  He is just about thirty but has no worries of tomorrow as he knows that the Lord will take care of his tomorrows.  Allen and Puia became our two indispensable hands and slowly and surely some more people began to join our fellowship.  But somehow, we could not break the language barriers as neither Puia nor Allen knew Hindi or Assamese.  My Hindi alone wasn’t sufficient.

Along comes brother Siddharth to meet me.  In that first meeting, he asked me to share my testimony and we talked for a long time.  Our hearts clicked and we saw what God can do from people like us who are simply sold out for Christ.  Siddharth has a remarkable story of God’s grace in saving his life.  Just like Puia, he was also praying for a godly fellowship with a person whom he could trust and serve the Lord together.  On his own, he had surrendered his life and everything in the hand of the Lord and had brought so many people to the Lord.  The call of God was so evident in his life.  Within a few weeks of our meeting, he began to interpret our message into the local language and the Lord blessed our union with many new souls.  Brother Trideep was Siddharth’s closest friend.   With his gentle personality, Trideep also won our hearts and became a dear brother to us.  Having a very keen mind, he becomes a calming influence among all of us who are at times very restless to see things happening soon. 

All these four brothers have one thing in common; they have no ulterior motives for serving the Lord.  They have no proper source of income and our congregation cannot right now support them.  But they truly live by faith in meeting their needs.  They never spare their time or resources when it comes to do anything for the work of the Lord.  Over 30 years of ministry experience, I have seen so many people wanting to be in the ministry for money only.  But in these four brothers, I see my own 19 year old teenager totally surrendered to the Lord; willing to carry the cross for the master.  How amazing is the Lord in answering my prayer to be connected with men like these.  Because of these brothers, today we have a wonderful congregation to minister to.  Every week the Lord is bringing new souls into our fellowship.

Just as we were turning into a sizable congregation with four brothers to depend on, the Lord brought brother Rakesh and his family into our lives.  Brother Rakesh is a man who loves the Lord so much.  Over the years, he had been a great source of blessing to many pastors and ministers.  Even when he built his house, he built it in such a way that someday a part of his house could be used for church service.  As we were praying for a better and bigger place of worship, news reached to him about us and immediately he sent the word if we were interested to use his house for the church.  With no hesitation, we made the contract for the house.  But more than a place of worship, we are grateful to know brother Rakesh and his family personally.  Along with his family, he has brought so many members to be a part of our ministry.  

Yes, when we think about material success, we are now living out of our bags as we were doing 25 years ago.  But there is so much joy within our hearts.  We are so grateful to God for these five brothers and along with me and my wife; we are now a group of seven committed to seek God’s kingdom and righteousness in this city.  

Who cares about not having houses and lands in this world!  We simply rejoice in the grace of God who has brought us thus far with his amazing blessings and we are excited for the kind of future he has in store for us.