Awake Youth Conference

This weekend I found myself at the 2013 Awake youth conference in Pune. Awake is hosted by an unusual collection of churches in Maharashtra, committed to accurate exposition of the word of God. In a country of nominal Christians and false teaching of every variety, it is incredibly refreshing to encounter a group of pastors and believers who stand firmly and passionately behind the truth. Our trip was equal parts amazing, exhausting, and strange.

Amazing because we had the privilege of taking four of the young ladies we disciple to spend three days sitting under God's word. The gospel was proclaimed in its fullness, and we were challenged to take up our cross and follow Christ. There was no wishy-washy-feel-good nonsense that you often face at typical youth conferences, but rather a magnificent exaltation of the Savior. A holding forth of Christ as being eternally, infinitely worthy of every aspect of life. We were reminded that he should be our greatest ambition, greatest treasure, greatest relationship. For me, it was a reminder of what brought me to India, something that often gets lost in the day to day busyness of serving. It is appalling to me how often I serve and do, motivated by things other than a love for Christ and a desire to see him lifted up. Just because I made one decision to move to India, that doesn't mean I don't still need to choose every day to pursue him above all things. 

Exhausting because we had to get up at 4am to start the 7 hour bus journey on Friday, only to travel the same distance by train two days later. It was a sleepless night before the trip because we had all the girls staying over, and I had a spot on the very hard floor. To exacerbate the exhaustion, we had roommates at the conference who seemed unable to sleep later than four in the morning, and entered the room very late at night. In addition, for me, having constant and concentrated people time for 3.5 days is a recipe for exhaustion. But it was totally worth it. :) Plus, it made me thankful once again for a home to escape to, when the efforts of relationships and cultural maneuvering become overwhelming. And very grateful also that God has graciously made a way for us to take a day of rest each week. 

Strange because in spite of the fact that we were among the small handful of foreigners, we were most decidedly the least westernized people at the conference. It was quite hilarious, actually. There was one group discussion with all the girls on day one, and it somehow got around to how we should dress as Christians. As I looked around the group, I realized that Bec and I were literally the only ones wearing traditional Indian clothing, all the Indians were wearing jeans and t-shirts. Although I am constantly growing in my awareness of how much the caste system has influenced and does influence every area of culture and life, I am still amazed when I see how completely it has created different classes of Christians. Pune is a much more developed city than Nasik, and the Christians there seem to have top socio-economic status. It was bizarre to feel self-conscious not because we were foreigners but because we were too Indian!! Most of the crowd ate with forks while we ate with our hands. English was the primary and only language spoken, except that the sessions were translated into Marathi on radio devices given out to the few Marathi speakers. 

Our Nasik group plus our roommates.

Our two roommates in particular were thoroughly westernized - two very independent single Indian women with typical 9-5 office jobs. They brought everything with them from hairdryers to toilet paper and were shocked that we'd each brought only one backpack for the weekend. They referred to Marathi and Hindi as the 'languages of the local people', which they speak only if absolutely necessary. It was quite odd, as they were born and raised in Maharashtra so these should be their languages as well. They complained about the facilities and changed clothes about three times a day. It was surreal to sit there chatting with them in the mornings in our simple Indian nighties, while they wore stretch gym pants and talked about how they didn't even own any salwaars (traditional clothing). 

Entertaining our girls during some free time. 

I was very proud of our Marathi-speaking girls. Though they come from very different backgrounds than the majority of the crowd there and tend to be shy and hesitant, they jumped in with enthusiasm and had a blast. I think they were impacted by those they saw who have vibrant walks with Christ, without being unduly influenced by the lure of the modern life.