India
Sean
Earlier this year I was in the city Dharamshala in the mountains of Northern India. Dharamshala is a very culturally diverse city. There are many Tibetan’s exiled from China that live there, even the Dali Lama himself calls Dharamsala home. This makes the city a large tourist destination for westerners studying Buddhism as well as Yoga.
About three weeks in to our month long stay we had done a lot of service and ministry, but I had felt like God called me specifically to India over other countries I could have gone too. I found myself wondering, what am I doing here?
Vicky is a shoe shiner.
We had seen him in the upper part of the city here and there… But it was on a visit to the slum in the lower part of the city that Vicky really caught my attention…
I have learned that photography breaks down walls and opens doors.
This particular day I was taking and handing out family portraits with Polaroids in the slum. Vicky, who had just gotten out of school for the day, walked up. He was instantly intrigued by my camera and began asking questions about my different pieces of equipment. I began explaining how a light meter works, pointed out the different parts of the camera and what they did. Before long Vicky was experimenting with my light meter and reading off camera settings to me. Unfortunately our bus was leaving soon so we had to leave.
I found myself in conversation with God asking to meet Vicky again. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to go back to that part of the city before the end of the week when we would be leaving for another part of Asia. I had the idea to go look for Vicky the next day when I had a narrow bit of time off. The plan was to find Vicky while he was working as a shoe shiner… assuming he would even be working, let him fix my shoes, take photos of him, and then teach him photography with what Polaroid film I had left.
The next day I dragged my roommate out with me to assist with a photo shoot I didn’t know for sure was going to happen. I told him if we didn’t find this kid on the main street we could just go back home. We looked up and down the main street and Vicky was nowhere to be seen. Discouraged I told my roommate we could go back unless he wanted to look down this other side street with me. He conceded and we continued our search.
Not a second after getting down this side street we see Vicky running towards us. We told him we were looking for him… “NO! I was looking for you!” he exclaimed. We were at first a bit confused but then realized that our meeting at that moment was an actual answer to prayer.
After getting my shoes fixed and taking pictures, I was able to walk around the city with Vicky and teach him some photography basics for about two and a half hours. During this time I grew to love Vicky as a friend. Here is a kid who lives in a slum, is working, and going to school. Having the privilege to be able encourage him and to invest in his life like this still confounds me.
After he had used his last Polaroid and we headed home. He began to ask me what my tattoos mean. For those of you who don’t know, I have an illustrated summary of the gospel on my arm. I explained to Vicky that, we were created to be in relationship with God, but that we said no to that relationship that God sent his son Jesus to die so that if we follow him, we can be restored to that relationship with God.
Vicky said he wanted to study about Jesus more... but did say “I think I might want to follow Jesus.”
The next day Vicky showed up at a church service we were at in the city, and later I also saw him hanging out with some of our friends who are working there long term. I realized that God brought me to India to play an integral part in the process of God drawing Vicky closer to Himself and showing Vicky that He loves him.
About three weeks in to our month long stay we had done a lot of service and ministry, but I had felt like God called me specifically to India over other countries I could have gone too. I found myself wondering, what am I doing here?
Vicky is a shoe shiner.
We had seen him in the upper part of the city here and there… But it was on a visit to the slum in the lower part of the city that Vicky really caught my attention…
I have learned that photography breaks down walls and opens doors.
This particular day I was taking and handing out family portraits with Polaroids in the slum. Vicky, who had just gotten out of school for the day, walked up. He was instantly intrigued by my camera and began asking questions about my different pieces of equipment. I began explaining how a light meter works, pointed out the different parts of the camera and what they did. Before long Vicky was experimenting with my light meter and reading off camera settings to me. Unfortunately our bus was leaving soon so we had to leave.
I found myself in conversation with God asking to meet Vicky again. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to go back to that part of the city before the end of the week when we would be leaving for another part of Asia. I had the idea to go look for Vicky the next day when I had a narrow bit of time off. The plan was to find Vicky while he was working as a shoe shiner… assuming he would even be working, let him fix my shoes, take photos of him, and then teach him photography with what Polaroid film I had left.
The next day I dragged my roommate out with me to assist with a photo shoot I didn’t know for sure was going to happen. I told him if we didn’t find this kid on the main street we could just go back home. We looked up and down the main street and Vicky was nowhere to be seen. Discouraged I told my roommate we could go back unless he wanted to look down this other side street with me. He conceded and we continued our search.
Not a second after getting down this side street we see Vicky running towards us. We told him we were looking for him… “NO! I was looking for you!” he exclaimed. We were at first a bit confused but then realized that our meeting at that moment was an actual answer to prayer.
After getting my shoes fixed and taking pictures, I was able to walk around the city with Vicky and teach him some photography basics for about two and a half hours. During this time I grew to love Vicky as a friend. Here is a kid who lives in a slum, is working, and going to school. Having the privilege to be able encourage him and to invest in his life like this still confounds me.
After he had used his last Polaroid and we headed home. He began to ask me what my tattoos mean. For those of you who don’t know, I have an illustrated summary of the gospel on my arm. I explained to Vicky that, we were created to be in relationship with God, but that we said no to that relationship that God sent his son Jesus to die so that if we follow him, we can be restored to that relationship with God.
Vicky said he wanted to study about Jesus more... but did say “I think I might want to follow Jesus.”
The next day Vicky showed up at a church service we were at in the city, and later I also saw him hanging out with some of our friends who are working there long term. I realized that God brought me to India to play an integral part in the process of God drawing Vicky closer to Himself and showing Vicky that He loves him.