When I staffed my first Discipleship Training School with YWAM in Thailand, God clearly told me to take a break after every school and equip myself before going back to staff another.
As I was considering what to do after my second school, my base leader suggested I do DTS Equip – a school for training DTS leaders.
I did some research and found a DTS Equip school that was in Battambang, Cambodia. My leader said it would be easy for me to go there, so I started working on it. Everything looked good – the fees were affordable and the visa would be easy to get. I did not have any financial supporters at the time but my leader and other staff at my base said they could help me pay for it. Then God started speaking to me about doing the school in America.
I knew they ran the DTS Equip school in Montana, so I spoke with my leader about going there. She told me it would be very expensive. Then God spoke to me and said that was why he wanted me to go. It was not possible for me, but with him it was possible. I did not have money for the fees. It would be almost impossible to get the right visa. Going to Cambodia was easy; going to America took trust.
I said, “OK God, I don’t have any financial supporters so I am just trusting in you.” Within one week, God showed me what he was able to do.
A girl from Kona, Hawaii was interning at our base and heard how God was encouraging me to go to America for my school. She said, “Why don’t you come to Kona instead of Montana – they have the school there too and I think it would be great for you.”
I said, “No, I can’t do that – Kona is even more expensive than Montana!” She responded: “Come to Kona and I will see what I can do.”
She went back to Kona and, one week later, she wrote to me to say she had raised 2,000 USD! I was totally blown away!
God spoke to me then and said, “See – I have given you the money you need, so go ahead and work on the visa.” My friends were discouraging me, though, saying I would get rejected. One friend told me her visa had been denied and she had lost 10,000 baht (about 300 USD) in the process.
My friends back home in India were telling me that, even if I got the visa, I could be sent home after I landed. I felt like God said, “Go ahead, I am leading you in this thing, you are not making this choice on your own. I am making a story here to be a testimony of how good I am.” So I told my leaders and they said, OK – if that is what you feel, then do it.
I trusted God and prepared my visa application. Then, right before my visa interview, my fiance and I broke up. I felt completely overwhelmed with shame.
That night I decided to run away to Nepal and not tell anyone what I was doing. It felt impossible to tell my friends and family what was happening. Everyone knew we had been planning our wedding. What would I say?
Then the next morning God clearly spoke to me and said, “Do you want to leave everything I am giving to you just because you are in a painful place?” He told me to go and talk to my leaders and not feel ashamed because the break was good for this season and he was going to bring us back together.
God also told me to go to the interview and that he had already given me the visa.
So I spoke to my leaders and went to the interview. The interview was less than five minutes! They did not even ask for my financial information. Before I knew it, I had a ten year, multiple entry visa for the United States.
When I told my friends what had happened, they were all amazed. Everyone who had applied before said the interviews were very hard.
When I landed in America I was nervous but the immigration officer was very friendly. He stamped my passport and said, “Welcome to America.”
I arrived in Kona, but I had spent part of the money I had been given on my flights. The DTS Equip school required everyone to pay their full fees upfront but I did not have all the money.
Then the leaders of the school came to me and said, “We never do this, but we feel God is very clearly leading us, as a staff team, to cover the one thousand dollars you still need.” So on the first day my fees were paid in full!
After that I saw God provide over and over again for me as I obeyed him to stay in Kona and staff there for a season. Every month my staff fees were paid promptly. Sometimes I would be afraid and go talk to the accountant and she would tell me, “Your fees are already paid and you have money left over.” Somehow, anonymously, someone had given to help me. I had enough not just to survive, but to bless others as well. I was even able to send money back to my mother in India to bless her.
Three weeks after I came to Kona, my fiance and I started talking again. Our relationship became even better after taking a break. After the DTS Equip school ended, I traveled to Seattle to meet her family. We got engaged again, had a big celebration in India with my family, and then were married in the United States. Today we are both on staff with YWAM in Switzerland, have welcomed our first child, a boy, into the world, and are continuing on the adventure of following God into the future he has for us!
Prabhu B