Other things that I learned/noticed from my Nagaland trip...

1. How "Christian" the state is... All around town, one will see evidences of the Christian-ness of Nagaland... the abundant churches along the streets, verses scribbled on the city walls, shops closed on Sundays, people dressing in their Sun best walking to church carrying their bibles. It's quite amazing what the missionaries have done in the past... how the Nagas, in masses, have become Christians over the last few centuries. But now, we faced another problem of nominalism... where the younger generation Nagas have become lukewarm in their faith. Many think that they are Christians because their parents are Christian, or because they are born in Christian families. However, from the bible, we know very clearly that being a Christian is a very personal decision. We all have to make that personal decision whether or not we want to deny ourselves, take up the cross and follow Jesus. We tried to challenge the students as much as we can on that.. Many times, that's the challenge second generation Christians face... for myself, I always have great fears that my kids will go through that. But I guess we really need to trust God that He is sovereign over all things!
The Naga students always look shocked when I tell them, "My dad is not a Christian", "I became a Christian when I was 11 years old", "In Singapore, most people are not believers". Christianity and Christian activities are so much part of their culture that it's tough for them to imagine a world where majority of the people do not know who God is...




2. The social problems that plague the state...
Even though the state is Christian, there are plenty of social problems that plague them. It just reinforces the fact that men's nature is still sinful... currently, one big problem in Nagaland is alcoholism. Many of the students we met, their family struggles with alcoholism and they are really suffering the brunt of it. One of the gals even shared with me that she kinda like this guy, he also expressed interest in her, but he's an alcoholic and she doesn't know whether or not to get into the relationship. I will definitely say, "Don't get into a relationship with an alcoholic!" But to a girl in Nagaland, so many of the guys are into alcohol that she may be so tempted to get into a relationship for the sake of companionship... it's quite sad... I can see the girl struggling with her own emotions and her desire to please God. I hope that she will continue to remain faithful to God and trust that God will bring along a guy who's prepared to lead her in a godly way.
HIV/Aids- Some of the students shared with me that Nagaland is actually a very conservative state, especially when it comes to dating and stuff. But yet, from what I learned from them, they start dating at a very young age, like 15! And they do it without the parents' knowledge... Apparently, the parents and youth never talk about dating and dating is quite a taboo in the society. Though Nagaland is supposed to be Christian, HIV/Aids is on the rise. Youths lead promiscuous lives without the knowledge of their parents. Our friend shared that there are many babies born in Sep and they are known as the Hornbill babies... this is because in Dec every year, there's a major festival that goes on called the Hornbill Festival, where Nagaland comes together to celebrate the diversity of the tribes. However, people get carried away with celebrations and alcohol and 9 months later, there's a boom in birth rate... I think making a state christian really doesn't solve any problems at all... this is because at the heart of it all, men is sinful and there's nothing we can do to make our state better. We can put on the facade of being Christian, or having laws that ban alcohol, drugs and all, yet the societal problems still occur. It really reflects the broken relationship we have with God.

3. The Christians' hospitality and generousity
As Kevin and Wenjie have mentioned in their blogs already, that the Naga pp have such big hearts! They cook SO much for us and always ask us to go for at least 3 rounds! Haha... I was so well fed then. The food is really quite yummy!!! Especially, the deserts!! It's quite incredible how the women can bake all these yummy cakes from scratch!!
Sub point about the men and women in Nagaland:

a. The Naga ladies make housework+cooking look so COOL!!!
Haha, it's amazing how culture shapes us. In Singapore, if gals are too domesticated and don't focus on career, among your peers, you will feel rather small... as though you're less worthy just because you don't have a high flying career! At least that's how I feel sometimes... in Nagaland, I think if you can't cook, u're probably viewed the same way by your peers! Haha... but i heard that things are changing now, with modernization and all, the younger women are not as good in cooking as their mothers. The ladies (hosts) actually wait for EVERYONE to eat and make sure that everything is taken care of before they start eating!! I can't imagine being a Naga woman and having to wait for everyone to finish eating before I can eat... I think I will have died of hunger by then... HAHA. So useless!

b. The Naga men are so mild and gentle!!!! At least the ones we met.. =)
They all seem gentlemanly and mild. Hmm, that's all i have to say about them. Haha.

I will try to add some more photos later!! =)

Photos from Nagaland

Thought it will be less boring if I share using photos and writing little commentaries on the bottom! =)


Kohima, Nagaland, India- where we spent 7 days... it's actually considered really short for a mission trip. Nevertheless, learned loads and I will attempt to share it in the blog. Kohima is a city set on a hill, where stars are abundant at night. We truly see the magnitude of God's promise to Abraham when He said that Abraham's descendents will be as numerous as the stars in the sky. It never fails to amaze me! I wish we had that kind of sky in Singapore... I was trying SO hard to find the only constellation I can remember from my Astro class- the Orion, and I actually COULDN'T find it!!! Haha...

The gals on the team: (From left) myself (not a super flattering picture.. hehe), Naro's mum (Super cool, funny and loving lady who makes us feel so at ease putting up at her place), Betty (who hates taking pictures), Naro (our beloved host and wonderful sister in Christ), Shu'En (Baby-as known by Naro's mum)

All the students who attended our afternoon talks and workshops at City Church. They were the faithful 20 students who came for every single talk and sat through everything! Though it was a small crowd, it was amazing how God is the same everywhere, in Kohima and in Singapore. We would think that since we grow up in such different cultural backgrounds that we probably have nothing much in common. But after interacting with them for the short number of days, I realized that the struggles that we all face as Christians are essentially the same, just disguised under a different facade. Boy girl relationship problems, struggles with career choice, wanting to do well in studies, alcoholism, inter-racial marriage objections etc. It really boils down to the same sinful human self that we all have in wanting to rule over our own lives instead of letting God rule over us... I led a workshop on "Small Group Basics" on the 4th day. It was quite nerve wrecking, but they loooked like they understood what I was trying to say and some of them looked at me intently and nodding... it was really encouraging when some of them came up to me afterwards and told me that it was an interesting session. Just hope that we will all be convicted by God's Word that we all need to nudge one another along in this long race of perseverance!

More to come later! Sorry there's no sequence to it... just random thoughts and photos. Will try to post pictures that capture the essence of the work there!