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I was comfortable growing up in a Christian family in Nagaland, the North East Indian state. My home state has a Christian majority with hundreds of churches and church members numbered in the thousands. I have the opportunity to read the Bible and the freedom to worship in a church.
For a long time, I had been oblivious to the thousands who were dying without knowing Christ. Thousands who were searching for the Truth and thousands who wanted to worship and read the Bible but had no access to it. They were denied religious freedom. God placed a burden in my heart for them. I knew that God was calling me to bring the gospel to unreached people and places.
For years I prayed for opportunities and open doors. I was passionate about cross-cultural missions. I desired to work in a hard-to-reach community in one of the African countries. God finally opened the door for me to serve in North Central Africa through SIM. North Central Africa is a landlocked country and French-speaking. So, my first task was to learn French.
On March 10, 2020, I landed in Bamako, the capital of Africa for my French language study. It would take nine months to a year. Upon completing the course, I joined the mission team in North Central Africa where I focused on discipleship training. I also stove to build relationships with the people, especially with the children and women folk.
Seeing the ripe harvest and the lack of workers in the field, I am continuing to pray for more of God’s children to respond to His call. The need is great and the labour is hard. But to be able to taste the joy of the Lord and share God’s power at work with my people and church surpasses every struggle and obstacle. My simple prayer is to be a powerful testimony of God’s love and grace.
Misheel comes from North East India. She is married and has two children, a son and a daughter. As she serves God in North-central Asia with her husband, she holds close to her heart Philippians 1:6 (NIV), “…He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
From a young age, I sensed the Lord’s calling to missions. But I did not know exactly what it meant until 2004 when I fully committed myself to Christ.
My church had organised a leaders’ event. I did not sign up for it but attended it anyway with my friends. The speaker shared from Judges 3:31 (NIV), “After Ehud came Shamgar son of Anath, who struck down six hundred Philistines with an ox-goad. He too saved Israel.” The mention of Shamgar struck me. He was from a mixed race but God had called him to save Israel. The speaker challenged the congregation with the statement – “God called Shamgar to rescue the Israelites and now He is calling you, will you give your life to Him?” The Holy Spirit was stirring within me; I started to tear up and that night, I surrendered my life completely to God for His service. That night was the start of my missionary journey.
I spent the next ten years undergoing training to prepare myself for the mission field. Throughout, God was grooming me and at the same time performing many miracles. I experienced what a surrendered life to Christ was all about. Finally, after much testing of my patience, God answered my prayer. On 3rd October 2014, God led me to beautiful North-central Asia. I was all ready and willing to serve, and excited to see where He would lead me.
I had been offered a chance to serve in several other countries but I had chosen North-central Asia because missionaries from SIM North East India were already serving in those other countries but not in North-central Asia. I wanted to be a pioneer in a fresh field.
The process of getting to North-central Asia was slow but smooth. As I left for Kolkata to collect my visa for North-central Asia, I was suddenly seized by doubt. Questions assaulted my mind, “Does God want me to go to North-central Asia? Am I really prepared for it? Will I be able to work there? Is this the place for me?” But the Lord remained silent as I collected my visa. As I struggled with my turbulent thoughts, I recalled Acts 1:8 (NIV) “…and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all in Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” And then I recalled how God had lovingly affirmed my decision to choose North-central Asia over other countries, and how He assured me that my ministry would be a huge blessing to the North-central Asians. My response to God’s call started at a missions training in 2012 in South India where one of the speakers asked us, “If God wants you to work in any part of the world, where would that be and why would you want to work there?” The verse from Acts had simply led me to say “yes” to God’s call. Going to North-central Asia was not yet in the works.
Then I recalled my roots. There is a folklore recounted among my tribe, handed down from generation to generation, of how we the Garo people were from a Mongoloid race and had settled in North East India. I decided then that North-central Asia would be my Jerusalem and I would return to work among its people since my own tribe originated from it. I was subsequently able to offer confidently the narrative of God’s guidance and direction to North-central Asia whenever people asked me, “Why North-central Asia?”
I have served in North-central Asia for the past six years, joyfully teaching at a university and seeing God working in the lives of students as they step forward to experiencing life in Jesus. In my sixth year in North-central Asia, I married the most amazing and godly man, Jonah, who happened to be our team leader. The Lord blessed us with a beautiful daughter and a son. We know that as a family, God has work for us to do. We are not done yet. But whatever God’s plan and purpose for us in North-central Asia may be, we know He will take us by the hand. We will not be alone nor forsaken.