TRINITYWOMEN on A MISSION: Mission India
Hello. My name is Diamond Gaines. I am 21 years old and a junior in college. I took one year off from school and thought that I would be behind in reaching my dream but God taught me otherwise. I hope to one day be a missionary. I may not have any specifics of where I want to serve and what I want to do on the mission field but I do know that this has been a growing desire that God has placed on my heart.
India was a place I have been dreaming about going to since I was in high school. I had a friend on my high school track team from India who always invited me into her home. Every time I came over, I got a snippet of what it would be like to be in India and I loved it. It felt like a dream when earlier this year I caught myself eating dinner with my hands in a village home in the country of India.
August, 2014 was when I got the e-mail from Eurasia Pipeline asking me if I were interested in participating in an internship. I knew that I wouldn’t be in school for a while, so I asked for more information. The representative responded by sending a list describing the available internships in a few countries. I knew that they would all be great, so it was hard to decide.
The week that I returned from the LA Dream Center missions trip, Eurasia Pipeline called to ask if I were interested in going to India. I was so surprised. I replied with a stuttering “Yes”. The representative proceeded to conduct a brief interview, asking for more information about me, such as my hobbies, where I’m from, where I go to college and more. She also asked me what I wanted to do. I had no idea. Then she posed the following question, “If you could do anything on a missions trip, what would it be?” I told her that I would travel with all of my belongings in one backpack, tell people about Jesus and live life with them. She responded by saying that she had exactly that kind of internship available. I was so excited that I may have squealed a little. She contacted the missionary in charge of the internship opportunity. In turn, the missionary contacted me and told me to go on Southeastern University’s scheduled two-week missions trip first. He told me that, if after that experience, I still wanted to participate in an internship, I could start after the missions trip. I contacted the missions trip leader right away and began the process of joining the team of students who would serve in India.
I had the hardest time raising funds for this missions trip. Money came in really slowly, especially considering the fact that, in addition to having to raise funds for my fare and other travel expenses, I needed to purchase a backpack and hiking boots. To complicate matters even further, in the midst of fundraising, I lost my job. I was devastated. My money for the trip was due by the end of April and I was unemployed. I had to solely rely on the Lord. Just one week before my missions trip was to begin, everything fell into place. God used His people to provide all of the needed financing. It was incredible the way He pulled things together. I ended up raising more than I needed and I am truly blessed.
I left from Florida for India on May 10, 2015 with my teammates from Southeastern University and felt as ready as I’d ever be. Our first leg of the journey was to New Jersey, which was only about a three-hour flight. From there, it was a fourteen-hour flight straight to New Delhi. Upon arrival, I couldn’t believe the conditions, even in the airport. We headed out to grab our bags and meet the missionary’s assistant.
Everyone looked the same. The humidity was thick in the air. It was 10 P.M., so I didn’t get a full view of India until morning. I couldn’t sleep. I opened my window to people driving on the left, walking or riding bikes.
We had an eight-hour drive the next morning and one stop for food. Through the rocky, dry roads we went, in and out of several different markets riding at 60 miles per hour, hearing numerous horns being blown, dodging people walking across the street and darting around slower drivers. This type of reckless driving didn’t change once we reached the mountains where there are no guardrails. By the end of the ride, I had a massive headache from motion sickness.
We reached our first village, called Bhimtal, where the missionaries are planted. They bought us appropriate clothes to wear as we prepared to minister in the villages. One of the items that we were given is a kruta, which is an Indian-style dress that many women wear with pants or leggings. Flip flops and sandals are popularly worn because of the constant need to take them off each time you enter someone’s home. We first spent some time with the residents of the girls’ home that the missionaries have; it’s located next to their house. We sang with them, played with them and did devotions with them afterwards. We had dinner with the missionary family, which was rice and curry (a food we ate for breakfast, lunch and dinner during our time in India.)
It seems that half of our missions trip was spent traveling. We had a four-hour drive to the next village where we slept on the floor of a village family’s home for two days. We spent a lot of time just loving them and getting to know them because it wasn’t a Christian home and missions is frowned upon there. It was exciting.
The majority of the homes were clay-made. In each place that we visited, they would lay carpet down for us to sleep on and they always offered us their seats and even their shoes. They wanted to do whatever made us comfortable. The last night we were in that village, I finally felt like family. It was hard to leave.
It took four more hours to arrive at the next village. It was much more rural and smaller but the family with whom I stayed had a little more wealth than the first one. They didn’t have to go out to fetch water like the first family. They had a fountain that came through a pipe in front of their home. Their toilet was inside of the house and it was a little more clean and comfortable.
We spent more time with this family. They were Christians, so we got to share our testimonies and have devotions with them. Physical touch is their love language. So there was a lot more horse play. It was a lot of fun. I felt as if I was with family.
They loved my hair. They kept touching it. Some people asked if my hair was real. My last moments were spent sitting around with a group of women who encouraged me and staying up late at night laughing hysterically with a few teenage girls who went back and forth telling lame night-time stories.
I am so grateful to the Lord for allowing me the opportunity to experience the fulfillment of my dream of going to India. While I chose not to participate in the longer-term internship at this point, I look forward to being used by God to share the message of the saving power of Jesus Christ with those that don’t know Him somewhere in this world.
