Indian Transgenders

There I was minding my own business, happily counting pills. The prayer and counseling area was well covered, there wasn't a huge crowd of people, and individual packets of 30 pills was the most pressing need. So I was counting out small black pills, surprised at how difficult counting was. Hadn't I mastered this in kindergarten?

Then Mike told me he had a new assignment for me. We had heard all day about the Indian transgender community that was invited to the medical camp that day. This was a community of cross-dressing men, men who had received sex change operations, and other folks in their community. They are a curious group in Indian culture. At the same time revered and outcast, they live in isolation. They live in their own community and people don't associate with them. But they are also a sort of priestly sect. They describe themselves as "equal to the gods." And when someone requires a special blessing of a new home or a new child, they are invited to come offer a prayer and blessing for the occasion. Because of their isolation, they often serve as prostitutes in the community and a large percentage of them are affected with HIV.

This was the community that was visiting our medical camp that afternoon. And this was the new assignment Mike had for me. Thangaraj, the OM leader in Dharmapuri, wanted someone to come talk to the group, to share the gospel with them, and above all, to ensure them of their value as humans. Joel Budreau and Jon McCormack and I banded together to form a team to take on this task.

We spent the first few minutes talking with them through a translator learning a bit about them. There were almost 20 of them gathered under a tent behind the medical camp. We learned some more about their lives and their desires. They said they wanted to come to church because they had no joy in their hearts. They wanted to be happy. They said they wanted to know about Jesus.

So we told them.

Joel, having learned a gospel presentation a few days before from Corinne, shared the story of God's love for the world. How God had created people to share that love with. How people had turned away from God and were separated from Him because of their disobedience. How God had sent His Son, who was God Himself, to earth to receive the penalty for that separation. And How people were now able to be reconciled to God through Jesus and receive the joy in our hearts that comes from a relationship with God our Father.

They were transfixed. After Joel finished, our friend and translator Muthu, continued and shared some more about God's love for them. Then she asked me to pray for their conversion. She invited them to stand up if they wanted to receive this Jesus as their Savior. If they wanted to know Him and be reconciled to God as their Father. All but one stood up.

As I led them in a prayer acknowledging God as their Father and expressing their faith in Jesus as their Savior, wind blew through the camp. It was as if the Spirit's movement couldn’t be contained in the hearts of these people. As God moved in their hearts, He had to move in the camp. The Spirit at work. The air blowing past. People hearing of the gospel and responding to God's love.

You never really know what happens in a moment like this. Did each of these transgendered Indians really "become a Christian" at that moment? Do they understand the full nature of the gospel and the unique revelation of God in Jesus Christ? Are they part of God's kingdom? Only God knows. As we walked away, my comment to Joel remains my conclusion. "I'm not really sure what just happened there, but I'm sure it was a good thing."