N's story

N works full time for Operation Mobilization in Bangalore. He has been one of our best translators and has already become a good friend to me, Nolan, and Doug. He shared his story with us tonight.

He said that he wouldn't be in OM anymore except for the example of a brother who came from the UK to serve as a driver for OM. N was working on what OM calls their "teams". These are small groups of young people who serve in remote places doing evangelism and distributing literature. Today, these teams receive a very small living expense stipend from OM. In N's day, they didn't receive any money to live on. Even worse, they had to make money to live on by selling literature. And they had to send a portion of it back to OM headquarters. He described those days as times when they struggled very much. He said every day they worried about whether they would have anything to eat. And water was in scarce supply as well.

In the midst of that time, a missionary from the UK came and served as a driver for their team. He left a nice job and comfortable life to drive around the remotest villages of India. If he didn't drive them, they wouldn't be able to get to a new village, they wouldn't be able to sell their literature, and they wouldn't be able to eat.

One week this driver became extremely sick. He was vomiting, had diarrhea and had a severe fever. His team told him to take a rest - that he needed to get better. But he told them no. He said that if he rested, the entire team would have to fast and he couldn't make them do that. He had to drive so they could eat. And so he drove them that day (stopping very frequently to relieve himself, of course).

N says that man made such an impact on him. He couldn't believe that someone from the UK would come to live like that in India and have such dedication. And here he was, a native Indian, having a hard time adjusting to the circumstances of living like that. He started praying then that God would make him like that man.

And his prayer was answered. N decided to stay in OM and ended up driving around teams just like that man from the UK for more than nine years. Now, he is one of the main leaders of OM South India and a good friend. Wow.