Our work with “Youth With A Mission” (YWAM)

At January 1997 I and my wife were accepted to study in the missionary school at YWAM in England. Learning course was 6 months, 3 of them - theoretical part and 3 - practical. One of our teachers was blessed by God with a gift of prophesy. During prayer time he prophesies for Maria and me that the Lord will send us to a nation and He will give us the keys and the strategies for reaching it. The nation was India. Theory time finished quickly and our 8 people team (3 from USA, 1 from South Korea, 2 from Great Britain and me and my wife) already was preparing for our trip to India.

We traveled from London, Heathrow Airport to New Delhi in flight that last 20 hours. We flied from London at 10 PM and after dinner we slept. About 7-8 AM I awoke and looked from the plane window. Under us was Arabian Desert. Until the end of our view were only sands. Unintentionally I compared this with our beautiful nature, with our splendid mountains, our fruitful plains and wonderful Black Sea. We landed for transit change of airplanes in Manama - Bahrain’s capital, where we stayed about 1 hour. The airport was in typically Arab style, built with marble, glaring from cleanness, full of luxury shops, selling expensive watches and jewels. I was impressed of something I saw - there were two rooms, one for men and one for women, made especially for prayer to Allah. From Manama, through Abu Dhabi and Muscat we already flied to India’s capital.

While we flied over New Delhi, we saw big houses with a lot of green trees and swimming pools. At that time we didn’t expect what contrast actually we will see. We landed at 6:30 PM. The airport was exclusively clean, at a top world level. After we passed custom check and go out of the airport, we made the first real contact with India. Air temperature was 36 C’ and there was a strange smell. Later we knew it is from incense which is offered in front of the gods in their temples. A foreigner, who comes in India for the first time loses his mind when meet the reality there, and if there isn’t a guide to help it will be very difficult for him. That’s why our team was welcomed by a missionary woman from Australia who served God in this country for two years. Her name was Jacky. Our group of 9 people got two taxis and departed for a hotel where we would sleep. For the first time in my life I was seeing such primitive vehicles and drivers, who most possibly didn’t care any traffic rules. While we traveled to the hotel and often stopped because of traffic jams, I felt like at every moment someone will come and will rob us. I feel shy to confess it now, but at that time I was scared. I still remember the discomfort feeling when all people stare at me in a way to do some evil to me. Of course, two weeks later we walked among them like we have lived many years in India. As I said, I have prepared few years to meet this country, but when I already was there and saw what the reality is with my own eyes, I told Maria: “What I see is beyond my darkest expectations”. The heat, endless filth, uncountable mass of people, big noise (I have never heard such bee-bee of claxons), unpleasant smells which spreads everywhere, quietly walking cows and Hindu temples - small and big ones, make an impression like one is in some ancient world. After 20 minutes trip we arrived at the hotel where we had to sleep one night.

We waited two hours registration and finally everyone got his room. Our one was a room with a double bed, TV, chair, separated bathroom and WC. It was very hot and my wife found a window, but we were very surprised when we saw that this window was in the bathroom and a half of its glass was missing. When I looked through the window, I saw a trap full with filth and straight at two meters in front of me there was another bathroom with WC (however, its glass was OK). You can imagine the situations we felt, when we had to wash or use WC.

That night was extremely hot, but I immediately asleep however my wife couldn’t sleep and began to pray for God’s protection over us. God told her not even a hair will fall down from our heads during this trip. In the middle of the night from the next room a noise spread from some kind of machine, then at 7 AM we also heard a high sound from an Indian movie. We hoped our next nights in India will be more quiet.

At lunch time the whole team gathered to go to the restaurant for a meal. When they served the dishes, our friend from South Korea, Sang Kyun surprisingly exclaimed, that there was a fly in his dish. It wasn’t strange at all as we know the low hygiene requirements that Indians have. Few hours later we had to go to a long trip to North.

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