Welcome to the YWAM India and Nepal Team Blog!

Hi there from the YWAM India and Nepal Team! Throughout our eight weeks on outreach, Mariah and Courtney will be writing the blogs to update our friends and family back home. We're so excited for this journey that we're about to embark on but before we mention what we'll be doing and where we'll be going, we want you to meet our team!

From back row left to right: Lukas, Ben, Courtney, Mikkel (Staff), and Marlena
From front row left to right: Pia (Staff), Oddvar, and Mariah

A little bit about our team: 

*Lukas~from Bellikon, Aargau, Switzerland.  He loves Jesus, sports, friendships, and snowboarding. 

*Ben~from Sussex, England. He likes the sun, surfing, art, reading, and Jesus. 

*Courtney~from St. Louis, Missouri, USA.  She likes competing in triathlons, traveling, journaling at coffee shops, hanging with friends, and falling more in love with Jesus. 

*Mikkel~from Oslo, Norway.  He loves traveling, Christmas, and snow. 

*Marlena~from Ojai, California, USA.  She loves surfing and enjoying life with people.

*Pia~from Schiers, Switzerland.  She loves being creative, going for walks, people and their stories, and life. 

*Oddvar~from Sandnes, Norway.  He loves surfing, chilling, Jesus, being awesome, and playing guitar. 

*Mariah~from Holland, Michigan, USA.  She loves the band United Pursuit, peonies, fall leaves, quality time with God, and jumping for joy. 

Where We'll Be and What We're Doing:

Now that you've met the team, we'll fill you in with where we'll be going and what we'll be doing. Our plans are subject to change but what we know so far is the following: 

Week 1-2: Coimbatore, India

We'll be serving at a YWAM base. We'll be visiting a disability children's home, going to a leper's colonies and helping with other ministries. We'll also be doing street evangelism, helping a school, and supporting long term missionaries.

Week 3-4: Chennai, India 

We'll take a 13 hour train ride to Chennai. We will serve in a couple orphanages, potentially building a new orphanage, and preaching at a few different churches. 

Week 5-6 (8 days): Lonavla, India: 

We'll take a domestic flight to Lonavla and do street ministry and potentially some medical ministry. 

Week 6 (5 days): Varanasi, India 

We'll take a domestic flight to Varanasi. We're staying at a hostel and still working with contacts but we think this time will be relying on the Holy Spirit at every step to see what He wants us to do. This place is known to be the holiest city in India and has the Varanasi River where people believe if you put dead bodies in there, you'll be re-incarnated quicker or if you're injured you'll be healed if you dip yourself in the River. 

Week 7 (1 week): Kathmandu, Nepal 

We'll take a short flight to Kathmandu and stay at a missionary base for a week and be doing kids ministry, open air evangelism, going house to house sharing the Gospel and praying for needs, helping to get street kids and prostitutes connected with great organizations that can help them live a healthy self-sustainable life and learn about Jesus. 

Week 8 (5 days): Treking through the Himalayan Mountains 

We'll go to remote villages and talk to unreached people about Jesus! How cool will that be!! 

Our Goals for Outreach: 

As a team, we prayed about our goals for outreach and thought these were key ones we'd like to focus on: Unity, Prayer, Rejoicing Always, Honesty, Faith, and Selflessness

We are so stoked to go to the nations to make God's name great! We've been practicing a few dramas that we will perform at churches and on the street. Please pray for our travels as we head out on April 27 and that our team will have boldness as we share about God's love. We aren't sure how often we'll have access to the internet but we'll keep you posted as much as we can! Talk to you soon, 

India and Nepal Team