MISSION TALK | KAIROS GLOBAL | FEBRUARY 2022

Author: CC MANOJ

Intro: CC Manoj speaks about how his whole family went on a month-long mission to Nagaland. 

I am CC Manoj, a planter from Idukki district in Kerala. I live with my wife and four children in Kattappana.

Every Jesus Youth is a missionary. My Jesus Youth journey began in 1992. In all the training and formation programmes of the Jesus Youth movement that I attended, I had never heard of becoming anything less than a missionary. Going from one college to another to start small prayer groups was my first missionary experience. It was my daily goal to share my Jesus with at least one person I would meet that day. And every new conversation that happened in this regard was considered an achievement. I strongly believe that my sole existence in this world is for evangelisation, moreover to become a missionary. 

I admired missionaries and gradually the desire to become a full-time missionary grew inside me and it became my passion. During the Jesus Youth conference of 1997, I got a chance to pray for the state of Mizoram¹ as it was the mission of my zone to pray and work for Mizoram. That’s how the Northeast Indian Mission came into my notice. The sharings of Fr Dheeraj and the missionary couple, Alexy and Shiny, strongly influenced and triggered the missionary in me. I was always eager to read as well as listen to missionary stories from across the globe. Along with that, my close friend Binish went for mission work to the state of Nagaland² and I was constantly motivated through his status updates and mission place stories.  

I had always dreamt of a mission journey to the North-eastern states of India. But every time, it kept getting postponed due to family emergencies or professional uncertainties. Finally, I decided to undertake a one-month mission service to Nagaland, along with my family – Ushus, my wife and our children, Chrisline, Christoph, Staffan and Philan. 

I am a cardamom planter by profession and leaving behind the plantations for a month was a huge question before me. I had to complete the harvest, process it and make other necessary arrangements. Entrusting my house to someone was my second challenge. But soon I began to witness God’s providence and one by one everything was arranged. A neighbour of mine offered the services of his labourers for my harvest and together, we managed to complete it in three days – this in a normal scenario is a next-to-impossible task. This was the first miracle I witnessed since I decided on the mission trip. I was surprised to see how many steps God takes towards us when we take one towards him. My faith deepened when another neighbour of mine voluntarily agreed to look after our house till we returned. He actually came over and slept in our place every day we were away, to make sure our home was well taken care of.  

We got ready for our travel and all of us were excited until my mother, who had come home and stayed over for a day, tested Covid positive. All of us ended up with Covid and this left us utterly disappointed. But by God’s grace, our recovery was faster than normal and all of us recovered completely. When our kids shared these miraculous experiences with the villagers of Nagaland, they were very surprised to hear our testimony. Our journey finally began happily on 21st October 2021.

Our pure intentions for the mission were to know and experience the culture of a different place and to share our Jesus with them. We also hoped that it would be a great learning exposure for our children. Sometime back, when we were travelling in Kerala, we stopped at a small way-side teashop. While we had no problems having tea and snacks there, our daughter began to find fault and complain about the ‘cleanliness’. That she was finding it hard to cope with the food and local ambience there was an eye-opener for me. I wanted my children to know how people were living happily in other parts of our country, with minimum resources and facilities. I wanted to teach them through experience to face life the way it comes, with gratitude.

The excitement of being a part of the evangelistic mission of the Catholic Church was there on the other side. Receiving blessings from the Bishop of Nagaland and joining his missionary activities in the diocese was a dream come true for us. We felt like we were at the heart of the Catholic Church. It was a blessing as well as a proud feeling to be the official missionaries of the Catholic Church in the village of Konoma in the state of Nagaland.

Konoma is the first green village in Asia. 2% of the village inhabitants are Catholics, which may be around 1000 in number. There is one parish church in the village and two station churches under it. There are also schools run by the Church. The Catholic Church runs a beautiful mission in the place. Though majority of the villagers are farmers, they enjoy a good standard of living now. It was a blessing that many of them understood English, though they weren’t well-educated.

One incident surprised me. We were planning to do a Taize prayer in the Konoma parish church and by chance was able to get in touch with the church pianist. During one of our house visits, on All Souls Day, our lunch was arranged at the pianist’s house and there I met her sister. While we were discussing the Taizé songs with the pianist, her sister intervened and took charge. She spoke English quite well even though she had studied only till sixth standard. She even translated one of our Taize songs from English to their native language and composed it with the help of her sister. Our Taize prayer became an unforgettable experience for my family, with their support and help.  

Most of the parish activities are taken care of by catechists there. But I assume that a deep God experience is missing in the faith of the parishioners. A renewal experience can deepen their faith and convictions more.

This mission has influenced all of us, especially our children. They have come back as totally different individuals with deeper understanding and firm convictions. They have a disciplined prayer life now and there is a vast improvement in their interactions and communication etiquette. 

One day while sharing our experiences with the villagers, my eldest daughter also prepared a small sharing. On seeing this all the three younger boys too wanted to share like their sister and were ready. Though I helped two of them with it, I discouraged my youngest child, who was only 5-years-old, thinking that he might not be ready. But to my surprise, he requested the parish priest onstage, took the mike and said ‘God bless you all’ with confidence. I couldn’t believe my eyes; were it not for this trip, my child wouldn’t have gained this confidence at such a young age.

The mission also helped to shape our perception about missionary activities. We wish to spend the rest of our lives as true missionaries along with Jesus. We have dreams of arranging Taize prayers in the parishes of our locality, along with confessions. The children have already started learning music for this. We have given all our dreams to God Almighty and pray for his will in our lives.