Times like these never last, but I tipped over the hourglass

        My last week in India and entry back into Brisbane.

        We went down the mountain into a town called Siliguri.  We stayed at a bible college where they have a 2 year bachelor degree.  Its funny because we thought we'd go there to teach things on the bible, that's kind of what they implied.  Come to it, we did open airs for the first couple of days.  Which means, we would go into a common area, like a market place or a park, start to play music, dance around, then preach the gospel.  We weren't able to do this before as it can really cause a commotion and be a legal problem for us, we ended up doing 5 in 2 days.  Anyway, I loved it.  How cool that all these people come to just hear what we have to say.  I was elected by the team to give the gospel, which made me nervous, this is probably the first time any of these people have heard the good news of Jesus, and might be the last... no pressure.  The Lord guided my words and we saw some amazing seed's come, people raising their hands wanting to accept Jesus as Lord. God is Good.
     The rest of the time in Siliguri was amazing, we got to hang out with the students, play volleyball, and play worship on the rooftop, heck I even sat in on a theology class, they were talking about cults and I spoke a little bit on Mormonism, as its not so popular in India they didn't know much about it.  We taught the students about children's ministry and showed them how to do a skit that we do everywhere we go.  They took care of us, hanging on our every need and want,  they just wanted to show us love, and boy did they ever!  Thank you Bible college, you guys were awesome and we'll truly miss you.
 
     After this, we traveled.  11 hour train ride to Kolkutta, stayed there for a night, then 4 hour plane to Singapore and another 8 hour plane to Brisbane, Australia, which is where I write this now.
   Its quite an experience coming back into this side of the world.  It actually reminded me of going to India.  You know, we thought we were prepared, we read books and talked to people who had been there, looked at pictures and even watched movies, but going there is a whole different story.  Living life there is to truly jump into the culture, its something you can try to prepare for as much as you want, but until you've done it, you'll never understand.  Probably like parenting!   Well coming back to Australia is the same kind of idea.  Its really quite hard to put back into words.  The common view is that is easy to see just how much we waste here, and that is true, but I'm seeing just how nice it is here.  There isn't trash everywhere, I can drink the water safely, there's toilets with TP, and it feels like theres so much room everywhere.   I truly loved India, and loved the people, I'll miss it, but I am glad to be back in Australia.  Coming back to friends here that I had become so close to in 4 months time, then leave each other for 2 months.  It makes me think further about coming back to Colorado, where home is, where I'll see friends I've known for years as well as Family.  What a beautiful moment that will be.
        India as a whole, what can I say?  I've only had a little time to think it over and talk to the other teams to swap stories, but I've already come to realize that India was where God wanted me to be.  I think I got to see the most change, and from that, we ourselves changed a lot, we had to in order to adopt the culture and in order to do effective ministry.  Already I get asked, 'well what was the hardest part' and I don't have a simple answer for what seems like a simple question.  It was just a different culture, a different way of life, honestly life is harder there.   Throw any middle class westerner there for over 2 weeks and its going to be a struggle.  Just as I was leaving though, I felt adjusted, and not adjusted as in its what I prefer, but as in I didn't realize the difference anymore or miss the American way of life.  Maybe that what makes coming back to Australia so difficult.  I'm starting to see what I missed, which was hard to see because I loved the Indian people and will always have friends there.  I will end with this statement that has been said many times before;  I am so blessed to have been born and raised in America.  And it takes leaving to realize just how much of a blessing that is.

More to come soon.

Chained to him,
J





I <3 Darj

Oh drum set, how I've missed you. 

Open air. Gospel. 

#VolleyballLife

Street outside the college. Cows everywhere! 

I'm just trying my best to keep us all singin'

     I've only been writing blogs since January, that's just about 7 months, and I constantly question if its doing any good.  If people are reading it, or inspired by it, or care about what I'm doing (besides my parents, Hi mom!).  So every time I come to write a new one I tend to look back and think, is this worth doing?  Well the answers to my question came in many different ways this week. First, writing this helps me to work through things.  This is probably obvious to most of you and you can probably play it out like I'm a struggling movie character in a classic horror movie, everyone knows that the monster/zombie/murder is hiding behind the door but for some reason the character in the movie just doesn't see it!  Second, I come to check out my views of my blog every once in a while and see that on average, there are 155 views to each blog I write.  That to me is crazy.  So thank you for caring.  Third, is more physical evidence.  In the past few days I have gotten a few E-mails of people telling me that they were touched by something that was said in my blog, people that I've never before talked to in my life, that happen to come across it. And so I will continue on expressing my thoughts and feelings here and working through things.  Just know, that I really do appreciate all you readers, and I love when I get feedback or comments or E-mails from you, I love seeing the outside perspective of things. So thank you!  Dr. Watson once said in my psychology of human sexuality class that being in Love blocks the same neurotransmitters as being high on substance (such as cocaine), and so it can significantly damage our decision making ability.  I am clearly in love with Jesus, so maybe my neurotransmitters are a little blocked and I could use some help from someone more sane!

      I was just talking to Caitlin here (20, Canada) and I was telling her just some things that I see in her and we began talking about before DTS and now and the changes that we see in each other.  This is a pretty common topic these days and will probably be even more common over the last month here.  I've come to realize more and more that I didn't get what I was coming for.  I didn't get the hard biblical teaching I thought I would, or the seminary style of lectures I was looking for, or the beautiful piece of paper that says you know the bible.  But, all in God's plan. I came to realize,  instead I got lessons that I would have never thought I was looking for.  How to live in a Christian Community.  How to be a Light among the Lights.  A crash course on missions. A deep, impact full personal relationship with Christ. A chance to see the world.  A chance to serve Christ.  A deeper love for people, God's Children. And So many other things.

      Okay, moving on! Things have been cruising over the last week, I still have the same question on my mind of what the next step is, and probably will for the rest of my life, just like most people.  Always seeking for Christ kind of requires that, as God is always moving.  We're coming down to the end of it, there's only 10 more days left until I'll be stepping back on that plane.  I know from experience, this is an easy time to shut down.  To check out and start looking forward to home and basic things that I take advantage of, like a couch that I actually fit in! (People here are just naturally smaller). This is too easy of a mindset to get into. This is the time we have to really push through!   It gets worse though, tomorrow we're saying goodbye to beautiful Darjeeling and headed down the mountain.  The temperature will no longer be a comfortable 68 degrees, but a miserable 93 degree's with a humidity of 90%.  This is one of those times that as soon as you step out of the bucket shower area, you are once again sweating. 
     One of my professors in college once said this the first day of class; "Statistics show that as murder rates rise, so does the sale of Ice Cream."  Now as a young college mind, it was easy to think, 'so, after people go commit murder, they go out for Ice Cream after? creepy'  When the correlation is actually because of the rise in temperature that brings both of these things to increase.  Needless to say, we're not excited to be back in a hot and humid place. 
       It's about a 3 hour Jeep ride to Siliguri, where we will be doing more kids ministry.  Something new is that we are going to be teaching at a Bible College.  I have no idea what I, Jeremy, can teach BIBLE students, who have probably read through the bible 10+ times and are getting their masters in some type of theological study. Who knows, but what I do know is that I can bless the people, and maybe show them a little something of America if they care to know.  Maybe talk about some of the things I've come to learn over the last 6 months.  Who knows. 
      Last weekend was awesome, we went on quite a adventure.  It was a spontaneous journey that lead us to a school.  Now I could talk about the things we did there, children's parties, house visits, church sermons, and the like, but I'd rather talk about Sarah. (not her real name)   She is a true servant of Christ.  She's single, adopted 6 kids, runs the school, runs a church out of the school, and constantly hikes around for hours for fellowship among believers.  She is an inspiration to me and all of my team.  That is Dying To Self, that is what it means to be a follower of Christ.  After all the scheduled ministry was done, we got to just hang out with her and her 6 kids late one night while cooking dinner.  Those are moments I'll never forget.  Playing in the rain while the power is out genuinely enjoying each others company knowing that we have the same ultimate goal: Bring Glory to God. And nothing will ever, ever stop us.




Chained to him,

Jeremy
jcrob33@gmail.com 

Hike on! 

Tea! So good here. 

No room in the car, so we ride on top. 

House church fellowship. 

The question on my mind...

   Alright I don't know where I'm going to go with this because there is a lot I can say, but only so much that I should over the internet. But this will probably be more of a place for me to vent some of what I'm thinking and feeling over the last week or so, just a heads up...
     We have worship every morning with our team.  Usually just for a half hour or so, and its normally just Ronnie on a acoustic Guitar, sometimes when we really want to get wild I'll pickup and Djembe they have here on base.  Its usually relatively quiet as its early in the morning and no one really wants to talk let alone sing.  Our leaders really have to push us to do it, but its a good thing and we always see the benefit of praising Jesus in the morning and throughout our day.  Anyway, we often sing this song called "Set A Fire" by Will Reagan and there is a line in it that says "There's no place that I'd rather be."   This song and this line has effected me many times and gotten me through some hard times in life even.  It's something that I have to say just about every morning I'm here.  And once I say it I realize just how amazing it is to be here, there really is no place I would rather be, even when its hard and I miss home.  The days are going by faster and faster and things are starting to mix together where I don't realize what we're actually doing anymore or know the schedule.  People at the coffee shop next to base are getting to know us and our orders, its like, we're starting to actually submerge into the culture and lifestyle here.  Something that just wouldn't happen on most missions trips when you only go somewhere for two weeks or even a month.
    Anyway, Last week we did a kids camp again, it was quite different then the kids camp from a few weeks ago.  Honestly, it was a tough one only because we were just kind of thrown into it.  It was a day camp for 52 Hindu and Buddhist kids who didn't speak too much English.  And we were asked to basically run the entire thing.  If you know me, you know that I have some experience in working with kids and youth, and I quite enjoy that stuff.  This just added and extra little challenge. I pulled a lot of the games/activities/songs from one of my all times favorite camps; SKSK.  I constantly go back to that camp and how much I've learned from it while being a leader there.  So, if any of you SKSKers are reading this, just know that the skills you learn there, as in, how to work with kids and be able to stay organized in a large group situation, are valuable skills you will use the rest of your life.  Because of this skill, I was able to help run a great camp, especially with the rest of the team bringing energy and support.
    But back to the origins of this Blog, The question on my mind...
    What the heck am I going to do after DTS?  Suggestions? Ideas? Thoughts?  I mean I have a few of my own but I'd be open to just about anything at this point!  This hits me harder as I was forced to celebrate my 24th birthday last week.  24.  I mean come on.  I never thought I would be where I am now at the age of 24.  I feel like I've barely turned 21 and have just been able to explore the world, and explore myself!  I thought my this time I would be married, or at least on the road to it!  Figured I would be in a settled down place where I would be sitting for the next 15 or 20 years! But instead I'm just a kid and life is only now beginning.  What a ride.
     I first left home thinking that I would just put life at home on pause, and go straight back after DTS to my life at the church, working, same friends, same place.  I've come to find this just isn't possible.  Oh I'm not saying I'm not coming home, I very well could be there for the rest of my life, good old Highlands Ranch, Colorado.  But its not possible for me to run through the same things as before, I've changed, completely.  So now, I have options, where will I go now? Where will I end? What is my 1 month, 3 month, 6 month, and 2 year plan?  I can rightfully say, I don't have one.  Current thoughts.  Right as I get home, I'll actually do a bit of traveling in the states for weddings, vacation, catching up, and such.  During this time I want to push myself to truly read through the bible, as every morning I'm forced to shut it and start the day wanting to instead keep my head in the Word.    But after that, what?  I could come back to Aussie and staff for 1.5 years.  I could go to Seminary for my MDiv, I could look for a youth worker Job, I could move to California.     I honestly pray that God will Close doors, as well as open the right ones.
This has been my prayer:
"I am yours do what you wish, I am yours and I know this.  I am yours do what you wish."


Chained to him,

Jeremy

To learn more of my India Outreach. Visit: indiaywam.blogspot.com

Beautiful hikes. Would have been much nicer if I wasn't carrying all our gear! Weighing about 60 pounds. 

All I want is Faith

   Faith, true faith.  This brings everything.  When having true faith, you start to understand how God works.  You start to see things in a different light.  You start to notice things you never have before and realize just how big God is and how he has his hand in every little thing.  "Not a single sparrow will fall to the ground without the father knowing it." (Matt. 10:29)  You start to believe that God really is watching over you, and, not saying that Life is going to be easy, but the father truly wants what is best for you and for his Glory.  Faith brings so much more then I can even try to explain. "Faith Brings Joy" (Romans 5)
     I have a friend at home, and if you know me, you probably at least know of him.  His name is Matt.  He has a tattoo that I never really understood, it reads T.A.H (Things Are Happening).  Sure, he's explained it to me many times about how God was speaking to him over his outreach in Haiti, that even when he doesn't think he is doing much, just stepping out in faith, things will happen, even when we don't see it.  Things are always happening, God is always moving. This is something I had to force myself to remember and believe last week.
    We went to a small town called Mirik, its just down the hill from Darjeeling, but it takes about 3 hours to get there because of the roads here.  Everyone got car sick and wanted desperately for the road trip to end. When it finally did, we got to a church, not in the mood to meet anyone at all, but we were there to meet the team that was putting on a Youth Camp that week which we would be helping with.  I got excited.  One of my favorite weeks in the year is camp.  I end up doing at least two every summer and always have since I can remember.  I went as a camper and as soon as I could be a counselor, I did, then ended up taking a role over skits and preaching and tech and games, and doing everything I could to help because I loved camp so much and it was a place where I saw growth in my faith, even today.
     5:45am, Wednesday morning.  We walk down to the event hall, and I'm ready for a long day of crazy activities and games and deep talks with the students.  First is worship.  This lasted about an hour which was awesome, then lecture just like any camp ever.  I start to feel a little skeptical when I find out the topic is Fear The Lord, something we just learned about during DTS and a deep topic for students.  Lecture went on straight through lunch! A true college type lecture.  I figured after lunch the craziness would begin... I was wrong, more worship... more lecture! Then a break at 3:30, I come back at 6 thinking it would be a fun evening... I start the night out with a short devotional, where my main goal was to make the students laugh! Then, more lecture! and dinner at 8... then sleep at 9.   This same schedule went on the entire of the week.
          Come to the end of the week, I was disappointed, thinking "I hope kids don't go away thinking this is what the Christian life is, that there is true fun and adventure in Christ"  But its a wrong thought to have.  I look back and realize those kids sat there and didn't say a word every single day,  God was moving.  Even though we did nothing but sit in the back and read our bibles, (they didn't speak in english) somehow, I like to believe and have faith that God was moving, and even using us, to glorify his name.  That Things Are Happening, even when we don't see what good we might be doing by just being there for support.  All Glory to God. Please take my life and use it.
    It makes me appreciate the wonderful camps and programs at home, the ones that changed my life as a young student.  Just as I got back to the base I had messages waiting for me about how amazing SKSK was this year (This is the first time in 13 years I've missed it), and that the Liquid students are headed to California for Hume Lake/SD this week.  Students, realize just how amazing these times are.  They go by quickly, grab them, hold on to every memory you can.


Chained to him,
Jeremy

(Team Blog: http://indiaywam.blogspot.com/)

Drum set I briefly played. 

Ronnie giving a Devo. 

Oh my Soul, Rejoice.

    There's many things I would like to say here.  There's many things I would like to tell the world about and share and show.  But there is only time for a select few. 

   We've been here about a week.  Soon after writing my last blog we left the base in Darjeeling and headed to Sikkim, which is about a 4 hour jeep ride away, just one state over to the west toward Nepal.  Upon arrival we found that we would be staying in a church, on the cement, with the mice, and mosquitoes, and other creepy crawlies all week.  The first few days were really hard for me. Waking up every hour or so because something would bite Ronnie and myself as we were closest to the door, then waking up at 6:30 to read my bible, then worship, then breakfast, then we just did prayer walks at different temples and hikes through the land.  I was having a hard time.  Prayer walks, though they are cool, its rare to see any fruit from it.  Its too easy to think that its not actually doing anything, but my leaders assure me of the importance this plays.  We hike into the mountains, which can be fun, but not when you have to wear jeans, and its hot and sticky and humid and I couldn't find hiking boots here like I had planned as my feet are apparently giant compared to the people here.  I started counting down the days of when I could come back.  Looking for any type of comfort.  In the negative Nancy mood again.
    But this is not where I want to be.  I want to flourish, I want to love being here, I want every second to count for something knowing that I am doing God's work and spreading the amazing news of Jesus Christ.  Its a daily decision to wake up and want to love whatever the day has in store.  This is a life lesson.  Again, I see the beauty in where I am.  All of a sudden the creatures that are eating me alive at night turns into a game, to see who can get less bites. Embrace hiking and get sweaty and realize that I'm going to eat rice everyday... yummy!  Once in a life time opportunity, lets embrace every miserable moment together, because once we leave, I'll miss them.
   There are a few stories I cannot tell quite yet, as some of what we are doing isn't exactly legal.  Its cool to have to be "sneaky" for Christ.  

    I'm finding outreach to be hard, clearly.  But that's one of the reasons I chose to go to India.  I knew it would be one of the harder outreach locations for me and I wanted to be pushed. I'm learning more and more to rely on God and to follow him with everything.  But I'm also taking practical steps on seeing positive in life.   Even when I'm at a bus station using a squatty potty with no toilet paper and a spider the size of a dessert plate is staring me down. What a ride!  What an adventure it is to follow Christ!

    I should be around most of today if you want to try to get a hold of me.  Facebook/e-mail tend to be the best ways. You can read my team blog if you want to know specifically what I'm doing daily.


Chained to Him,
Jeremy

A Whole New World.

Its hard to explain where I am and what I've been doing for the last few days.  My physical location is simple enough.  I'm sitting at an Internet cafe in Darjeeling, India.  It's about a 5 minute walk away from the YWAM base here.  But It has already been quite an adventure just to get here.
      We flew into Calcutta (Kolkatta) on the 16th of June.  Sunday.  We went through Singapore as most of you know. But Calcutta was a whole new world.  I'll try to put into words what I saw: I was nervous, I had heard that Calcutta was the exact opposite of America, which is what I wanted to see, but that doesn't make me any less nervous.  We had to stick together and watch each others backs, especially because we flew in late (10:30pm) and needed to get to our hotel.  I threw on my 40 pound back, and a small day pack in the front.  Walked outside and instantly started to sweat because of the heat and humidity.  Instantly people were yelling for our attention, which is intimidating to a group who doesn't really know what we're doing.  We picked one driver that knew where our hotel was, all we had was the address.  He started to lead us away from the other taxi cabs, my internal sensors went off to not go down the ally.  But, against my better judgement, we pressed on with little hesitation.  He threw everything in the back of a tiny van, the size of a 4 door car in the states an another small taxi cab that resembles ones that you would see in classic photo's of England.  And we were off.  You haven't lived until you've been in a Taxi in Calcutta, especially at night.  Weaving through traffic and people, small huts everywhere, trash everywhere, the smell of burn and sewage, all while its so dark you can hardly see things.  Once your eyes do finally adjust to the dark and focus on something, you're already past it. 
     We get to our hotel soon after, the driver pulls Ronnie aside and says "This is not a safe place for you guys, you must be very careful."    That didn't help anything
     No sleep, the sun finally comes up.  All I can think about is, how can we get out of here.  We get in cabs and head to the train station to buy tickets.  But its the wrong station.  We have to go to the foreign station and sit and wait, and wait, and wait.  All the while knowing our chances of getting a ticket for that night are getting smaller and smaller, which might just leave us in a bit of trouble, knowing that we don't have a hotel room lined up.  Then, an answer to prayer showed up.
     Americans.  Its weird to say that they were an answer to prayer, but only an American would understand the true culture shock we had all been experiencing as well as thinking everyone was out to get us.  Thank the Lord.  A few guys that recently graduated from Pepperdine.  They had been there a while and gave us a few tips and up lifting words, they also said we had to try the tea.  It was their new addiction, they would have 4-5 cups a day!
     All of a sudden my eyes were open to just how beautiful this smelly and dirty place was.  People actually cared about me and wanted to help me, any time I asked a question there would be 4 people around me that wanted to give me a answer, and not even in a hope to get money.  Locals just wanted to talk to me about life, and see pictures of back home. The ones that were better at English would help to translate. Every street is filled with people selling things, from banana's to movies, to cloths Oh and the tea! My goodness. It's 3 Rupee's which is about 5 American Cents.  Comes in a handmade clay cup that's not much bigger then the average shot glass.  We know its safe because we see them boiling it.  Too hot to even drink at first.  And when you finish that beautiful sip of heaven in a cup, you just throw the jar onto the street gutter. 
    We ended up having to stay an extra night in Calcutta, which I didn't mind.  I liked it there, I had made some friends, even exchanged E-mail and Facebook accounts with.  We got to go to the Mother Teresa House which was a beautiful moment of peace.  I've always been Inspired by her, ever since 7th grade math with Mr. Babb.  He showed us a video of her.  A women who truly gave up her everything for the well being of others. 
   10 hour train ride got us to where we picked up a taxi.  For that 4 hour taxi ride, I got to fall in love with Darjeeling.  The beautiful views in the mountains as we slowly climbed higher and higher.  Constantly going through little towns we watched the locals interact and noticed just how kind they are and how excited they are to see us coming through.  I've only been here for a few hours, but India, though you're greatly intimidating, I quite like you.

I'll hope to have photo's soon. 



Jeremy
Jcrob33@gmail.com

This has been said so many times, I'm not sure if it matters

Follow God with everything you have.  It is so basic.  Nothing else matters but following him.  But its something that we all know, we've all heard, we are reminded of everyday.  But actually doing it every single day is so much different.  Once we can get this fact into our heart, soul, and mind, it changes our perspective on everything.  "Yes, Everything else is worthless when compared to the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.  For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ." (Philippians 3:8)  

      My team leaves for India in 3 days.  Its the same feeling I had when I came here.  Nervous and excited.  I have no idea what it is going to be like.  We talk a lot about what bad things and warnings and dangers we could potentially have there, but rarely do we actually talk about the good things, which I know are there in full.  My prayer just keeps being that I will fall so in love with the people and culture and even the food, that I don't want to leave.  This would give me and my team true excitement and energy to keep moving on and pushing hard.  As for now, I'm realizing more and more, with everything, just seek after Jesus Christ.  Nothing else matters but to glorify his name.  Thats what keeps my nervs down about leaving for outreach.

    We actually fly into Calcutta for a day, which we have been told that it is the hardest place for westerners to visit because of the huge culture shock.  Which is actually what I wanted.  Then we'll take a 17 hour train up to Darjeeling.  Should be pretty crazy.  Then, we'll be staying at the Darjeeling YWAM base, going from there we will be headed out into the villages for a couple days at a time.  Here we will be doing everything from running kids ministry to running churches to house visits.  We are going to have to be flexable and be willing to do anything because we are there to serve.  There is a chance that my team and I will get the opportunity to speak in a Bible college there.  No clue what it would be about, but it would be pretty cool to talk some basic theology. :)

Here are some pictures of what we were doing last week in Roma on the Pass It On Tour.  We are just there to serve the community.  

    

Nursing home worship!

We were at a pastors house, helping to redo some church chairs
and we took a break.  Ronnie and I broke the Trampoline.

Emmelee.  I'm bringing her home.