Sundar Singh: The Final Journey (Part Ten) With Printable

Are you ready to hear more about Sundar Singh’s journeys? Our Sunday School teacher told us the rest of his story this morning. Sundar spent the rest of his life traveling wherever God sent him. He felt a special burden in his heart for the people of Tibet, and he tried to go there whenever he could. He knew how dangerous the trip was, but he was not afraid to die. He told people that one day they may hear that he had died in Tibet, but to not look at it as though he had died. He wanted people to remember that when his body had died, his soul would be alive with Jesus forever.

God had many places for Sundar to preach. As people in the West heard about this preacher who traveled the countryside on foot, wearing a traditional robe, and walking barefoot, they were curious. They wanted to know more. They wanted Sundar to come and preach in their churches. So, Sundar did. He preached all over India. He traveled to Nepal, Burma, Singapore, Japan, China, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Scotland, Ireland, the United States, Australia, Egypt, Israel, Switzerland, Germany, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. He wrote books and received countless letters from people who wanted to ask him questions and learn more about God.

Sundar knew what it was like to be poisoned, imprisoned, and tortured, and he knew what it was like to preach in huge churches to thousands of people who couldn’t wait to see him. When he suffered, he prayed and asked God for the strength to do whatever he had to do. When he was praised and honored, he didn’t forget God. He knew that God was the One who had sent him to the big churches, just like He had sent him to the tiny villages. Someone asked Sundar one time how he felt about all the honor and respect people showed him. He told the story from the Bible when Jesus rode the donkey into Jerusalem and the people praised Him. The donkey got to walk on the cloaks the people threw down because he carried Jesus. The donkey was treated special because of who he carried. Sundar said it was the same with him. People treated him special, not because of who Sundar was, but because of how special Jesus was, and that is the message Sundar carried.

In April, 1929, Sundar left once again for Tibet. He was thirty-nine years old, and he could hardly wait to reach Tibet and preach. He stopped on his way and asked the superintendent of a leper hospital to mail a letter for him. The letter was to a friend and missionary in New Zealand. In the letter, Sundar told him that he was traveling to Tibet and did not know if he would return. He asked his friend to come take care of his house if he did not.

In November, the papers reported that Sundar had disappeared. His friends went into the mountains to look for him, but they never found him. We don’t know if Sundar slipped and fell in the icy mountains or if perhaps a village leader got angry about his preaching and killed him. Today, only God knows what really happened to Sundar on his last journey into Tibet, but we can know one thing. We can know that Sundar’s body is dead but that he is alive with Jesus now and forever. That is the message he crossed the Himalayas and traveled around the world to tell people—that there is only one way to know for sure what will happen after you die, and that is to believe in Jesus, the only One who died and came back to life and can offer each of us eternal life with Him. All we have to do is ask.

“Dear God, thank You for the life and courage of Sundar Singh. Thank you for sending him to people all over the world to tell them about Your love for them. Please help me to go wherever You send me, whether it is to my neighbor’s or the library or even the grocery store. Help me show people how much You love them and tell them that all they have to do to be forgiven and for You to make them new people is to ask You. Thank You. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.”

You can print today’s missionary story about Sundar Singh here.

Have some fun with a Travels of Sundar Singh free geography printable.

 

Sundar Singh: A Surprise Rescue (Part Nine)

I’ve been thinking about Sundar all this week, wondering how—or if—he would ever be rescued. We found out this morning in Sunday School what happened. He spent three nights at the bottom of that awful, dirty, well. Then finally, he heard someone take the cover off the top. Whoever it was lowered a rope to him. He clung to it with the little bit of strength he had left. The stranger pulled him to safety, put the cover back on the well, and disappeared. Sundar never saw who it was.

Sundar crawled to some bushes, hid himself there, and fell asleep. Hours later, when he was strong enough, he cleaned up in a stream and washed his clothes. He was so thankful God had sent someone to rescue him, and he wondered what God wanted him to do next. As he prayed and waited, he realized God wanted him to go back to the same people who had thrown him in the well and tell them more about Him.

When Sundar appeared back in the village, the people were shocked. They thought he was dead. The leader grew very angry—someone had betrayed him and rescued Sundar. They arrested and questioned him again, but Sundar didn’t know who had saved him. The leader was furious—the traitor had to be punished. All of a sudden, one of the men realized there was only one key to the well, and it hung on the village leader’s belt. The leader knew he hadn’t rescued Sundar, and he hadn’t given the key to anyone else. The only answer was that the God Sundar served had real power.

That scared the village leader very much, and he ordered Sundar to leave his town and never come back. Sundar left and continued preaching until it was time to leave again for India. But it would not be Sundar’s last journey to Tibet. A few months later, he would cross the mountains to preach once again.

“Dear God, please help us be brave and trust You no matter what. Thank You that You are stronger than anyone and anything else and that You will never ever leave us. In Jesus’ Name I pray. Amen.”

You can print today’s missionary story about Sundar Singh here.

Sundar Singh: A New Idea (Part Five)

Finally this morning at Sunday School our teacher told us what happened to Sundar Singh that night he lay sick from the poison. Sundar had just heard the doctor say that there was nothing else that could be done for him. The doctor was sure he would not live through the night. But Sundar didn’t want to die. He knew there were things God still wanted him to do. There were people he needed to tell about Jesus and His love. So whenever Sundar was awake, he prayed and asked God to heal him and make him well again.

When morning came, Sundar was still alive. Not only that, his stomach didn’t hurt anymore and he didn’t feel terrible like he had. People could hardly believe it! The doctor came a few hours later to plan the funeral and instead found Sundar healthy and sitting outside in the sunshine! Sundar knew God had healed him.

Sundar went back to school, but when the people who had poisoned him found out that he didn’t die, they came and caused trouble at his school. So Sundar left again, this time going to a hospital for people with leprosy. The hospital was run by Christians and Sundar was happy to help. While Sundar was there he realized something important. Most of his people looked at Christianity as something that was just for Westerners, people who came to his country from Great Britain, the United States, and other countries. They didn’t think Jesus had anything in common with Indians. Sundar needed to find a way to change that. He wanted to show people that Jesus loved everyone—whether Westerners or Indians or anyone else. Just like Jesus had followers from many different lands, Jesus wanted people in every town and village to know that He loved them, that He died for them, and that He had risen again.

So Sundar decided to do something he didn’t think anyone else had ever done before. He decided to dress like a sadhu. A sadhu was a holy man in the religion of many of the people. They wore saffron (orange) robes and taught the people about religion. But Sundar would wear the saffron robes and teach the people about Jesus. He purchased the robe and started out on a journey, walking from town to town.

Now when Sundar started talking to people, they listened because he looked like a sadhu. But when they found out he was a Christian, most of them wouldn’t listen. Still, some did, and that encouraged Sundar to keep telling everyone he could about Jesus. He never knew who would listen and choose to believe in Jesus.

A lot of times Sundar was kicked out of the villages. No one would give him a place to sleep or anything to eat, and he spent many nights cold and hungry. Sometimes people got angry with him. One night when Sundar had found an abandoned hut to sleep in, he had an unexpected visitor. A villager came and warned him that there was a plot to kill him. He couldn’t stay in the hut any longer. Sundar picked up his blanket and set off into the wilderness. He knew what kinds of animals lived out there. Just one bite from a dangerous snake could kill him. And there were always the tigers. But it wasn’t the first time that he needed to risk his life to tell people about Jesus.

He took his blanket and headed out into the wilderness.

“Dear God, it hurts our feelings when people don’t like us because we believe in You, and it makes us sad that they don’t know You yet. Please help us to keep learning all we can about You so that we can share it with others. Please help us to remember that You are always with us, no matter who likes us and who doesn’t. Thank You. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.”

You can print today’s missionary story about Sundar Singh here.

Sundar Singh: Will Anyone Be His Friend? (Part Four)

Have you ever felt like you didn’t have any friends? Even though it is never true because Jesus will always be your friend, it’s easy to feel lonely when you don’t have anyone to hang out with or do things with. That’s how Sundar Singh felt after his family and friends got mad at him for believing in Jesus. Our Sunday School teacher told us more of Sundar’s story today.

With his family and his friends all angry with him, school became the only place Sundar enjoyed. His teachers prayed with him and helped him learn more about what it really meant to be a Christian. They told him not to give up and to keep standing for Jesus.

And do you know what happened? The other boys began to notice. Some of them were angry, like his old friends who bullied him because he was a Christian now, but three boys decided to believe in Jesus, too.  Sundar was so happy! But now that there were four Sikh boys who had chosen to believe in Jesus, the town got really angry. It had been bad enough that Sundar had chosen to believe in Jesus, but they would not put up with four boys believing in Him. The townspeople forced the Christian school to close and convinced two of the new Christians to give up their faith in Christ.

One boy named Gurdit wouldn’t stop believing in Jesus. He ran to a mission far away where he could be safe. But later, some people Gurdit knew convinced him to come back to his home town. When he did, someone killed him.

Sundar couldn’t believe how many awful things had happened. He must have wondered if things would ever get any better. He took a train to another city and started going to a Christian boarding school where he lived while going to high school. Then he got a letter from his family. They wanted him to come home. He didn’t know what to do. He was scared. When Gurdit had gone home, someone had killed him. Would someone kill him to?

He prayed a lot and finally decided that God wanted him to go home and see his family. While he was there, his uncle showed him a treasure of money and jewels that he said he would give to Sundar if he would quit following Jesus. Sundar said no. Then an important leader offered him a very special job that would pay a lot of money and would make him look very important—but only if he stopped believing in Jesus. Sundar said no again.

There was one more thing Sundar could do to let the people know that he had no intention of giving up his love of Jesus. Sikh boys were not allowed to cut their hair. It grew long and was twisted up inside the turban that they wore. Even though he knew what it would mean, Sundar cut his hair.

When his father found out, he was furious! He said once and for all that Sundar was no longer part of the family. His family would pretend he had never been born. Sundar was thrown out of the house and told to never come back. It would be like he no longer had a father or brothers.

Sundar was so sad. He loved his family, and he didn’t want to leave them, but he loved Jesus more. Jesus had told His followers in the Bible that sometimes following Him would mean their families would be angry.

There was only one place left Sundar could think of to go—back to the boarding school. He bought a train ticket and started back. But he started to not feel very good. His stomach hurt, and he threw up. But it was different than when you throw up from having the flu. This time when Sundar threw up, he realized what had happened—someone had poisoned him. Someone was trying to kill him, just like they had killed Gurdit.

He knew he would not live long enough to make it back to the boarding school. He prayed that God would help him. That’s when he remembered that the very next stop the train was scheduled to make was in a town where one of his Christian teachers from his old school lived. Sundar got off the train, went to the teacher’s home, and collapsed. When he woke up later, he heard the doctor telling the teacher that there was nothing else to be done for him. Sundar would not live through the night.

I couldn’t believe it when our teacher told us that we have to wait until next week to find out what happened! Does she have any idea how long a whole week is?

“Dear God, please help us obey and follow You, no matter what. Thank You for the friends and the people in our lives who love You and believe in You, too. Please help us when we feel lonely to trust You, and please help everyone whose family and friends don’t know You yet to be patient and to keep praying and trusting in You. Please help everyone to trust in You. Thank You. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.”

You can print today’s missionary story about Sundar Singh here.

Sundar Singh: The Unexpected Visitor (Part Three)

I have been thinking about Sundar Singh all week and wondering who he met that could have changed his mind. Finally this morning it was time for our Sunday School teacher to tell us.

Sundar stayed awake all night. He didn’t want to live any more. He was tired of not knowing the truth about God. When it was almost the time Sundar had decided that he would end his life, something started glowing in his room. He didn’t know what it could be. The glow grew brighter and brighter until he saw someone standing in the middle of the bright light. When he finally realized who it was, he could hardly believe it.

It was Jesus.

But he thought Jesus was dead. Then Jesus spoke to him. He asked Sundar why he wouldn’t listen to Him. Sundar had prayed over and over to find the way to God. But Jesus told him that Jesus Himself was the Way. Why wouldn’t Sundar believe Him?

Sundar fell on his knees and asked Jesus to forgive him. He wanted to live a new life. He wanted to follow Jesus. After a while, the vision faded and Sundar didn’t see Jesus any more, but he knew that what he had seen was real. He had a peace in his heart that he had never had before. He even felt joy! He wanted to tell someone, so he ran to tell his father. His father said he was just dreaming and to go back to bed.

The next day, Sundar tried again to tell his father and his family what had happened. His father wasn’t pleased. Everyone in the family were Sikhs, so Sundar was expected to be a Sikh also. Sundar wanted very much to make his father happy, but he knew he could not agree with his father on this one thing. Jesus was real, and He had made a difference in Sundar’s life. He would not give up following Jesus, not for his father, his brothers, or anyone else.

His friends weren’t happy either. The same boys that used to bully Christians with Sundar now bullied him. They threatened to beat him up. Sundar never knew from one day to the next what would happen to him when he left to go to school. But he knew that no matter what friends he lost, or how upset his family became, he knew that Jesus had given His life for him. So even if it meant giving his life for Jesus, he would not turn back.

“Dear God, sometimes it’s hard to follow You when people we care about tell us not to. It hurts when they bully us, and sometimes we are scared. Please help us be brave because You are always with us, no matter what happens. Help us find people we can talk to who will listen and help us when others are bullying us or threatening us. And please help us follow You no matter what. Thank You. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.”

You can print today’s missionary story about Sundar Singh here.

Sundar Singh: The Worst Day Ever (Part Two)

Do you remember last week how I started telling you the story of Sundar Singh? Things went well for him at the Christian school for several years until the worst thing Sundar could imagine happened. One day, when he was fourteen years old, his mother died. He was so angry! He was mad at everyone and everything. He started causing trouble for his teachers at school. He got a group of boys together and formed a small gang, harassing and scaring the Christians whenever they could. He was determined to rid his village of Christians. He stopped going to the Christian school and went to another school a few miles away.

Just when it seemed things couldn’t get any worse, they did. Summer came and Sundar started feeling very sick. He had contracted malaria. He knew it could kill him. He was terribly sick for months. As fall came and the time to go back to school grew closer, he started feeling better, but he was still very weak. He knew he was too weak to make the trip to his new school every day, so he gave in and asked if he could go back to the Christian school since it was close by. They allowed him to come back, even after all the trouble he had caused.

This time when he went to school, he didn’t misbehave or harass anyone. But he was miserable and tired and sad. He just didn’t want to live like that anymore. So he decided to do a very terrible thing. He decided to end his life. That night, he got a visit from someone he never thought he’d see.

I can’t wait until next week when our Sunday School teacher tells us who came to see Sundar. Do you have any idea who it could be?

“Dear God, sometimes terrible things happen that hurt so badly. We end up feeling so sad and so miserable that we don’t know what to do. Please help everyone who is sad and hurting to find You and to ask You and others for the help they need, because You are the One who gave us our life and You are the Only One who can help us live our lives until You take us home. Thank You. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.”

You can print today’s missionary story about Sundar Singh here.

Sundar Singh: A Seed Is Sown (Part One)

Have you ever walked barefoot outside? Have you ever tried to climb a mountain that way? It’s not usually a good idea to try to climb anything without the right kind of shoes. You can slip and fall and get hurt very badly. But Sundar Singh knew God was calling him to walk across the mountains to tell people about His love, so Sundar went, even though he wasn’t wearing any shoes. But wait, I’m getting ahead of myself. I need to tell you who I am talking about.

Sundar Singh is the name of a missionary our Sunday School teacher told us about this morning. He lived in India at the end of the 1800s. He was born and grew up in an area called Punjab. Punjab is in the northern part of India, and it borders Pakistan on the west. The land is some of the best land for growing things anywhere in the world. Seeds love to grow there! The land is well-watered and special varieties of rice and wheat are planted there. These varieties produce a larger crop than others.

When Sundar was a boy, a seed was planted in his heart. He wanted to know who God was. He grew up following the Sikh religion. Sikhs don’t believe in Jesus. They believe in a god who is like a strong force but who doesn’t love them or care about them. Sundar learned about many religions that claimed to be true, including Christianity, but he wanted to know for sure. He needed to find out which one was telling the truth. Since they didn’t all agree with each other, they couldn’t all be right. His mother encouraged him to keep looking for the answers he needed. Sundar even went to a Christian school for a while.

Sikhs grow their crops and they harvest the fields but they don’t know about the God who created the soil to plant in and the seeds to grow. They don’t know that He loves us so much that He sent Jesus to die for us. And they don’t know that they can live forever with Him in Heaven.

Even though Sundar wasn’t sure what was true, he knew he had to keep looking until he did. The seed had been planted in his heart and it would not leave. We’ll hear more of Sundar Singh’s story next week and find out what happened to help him decide.

Christians in Punjab are trying to tell others about Jesus, too. Just like seeds that are planted in the soil, the message of God’s love is going out and being planted in people’s hearts. I’m going to pray that it takes root and grows. Will you pray with me?

“Dear God, please help the people of Punjab, whether they are Sikhs or any other faith. Please help them hear that God is real and believe that Jesus loves them. Help them trust You and let Your Word grow in their hearts. Just like You make the rice and wheat grow to feed the people’s stomachs, please help them believe that You are the only One who can feed their souls. Thank You. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.”

If you’d like to learn more about Punjab and the country of India, you can download Bold Believers in India, a free Kids of Courage book with stories and activities.

Another book you might enjoy borrowing from your library is Sundar Singh: Footprints Over the Mountains by Janet and Geoff Benge.

You can print today’s missionary story about Sundar Singh here.

 

Samuel Zwemer: Activities

Look at these fun activities we got in Sunday School this morning all about the life of Samuel Zwemer! They were so much fun that I brought home a copy to share with you. There is a fill-in and a map puzzle. Our teacher said with a little bit of detective work, we could solve all the puzzles, even if we hadn’t read the story of Samuel Zwemer. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!

Activities from the missionary story of Samuel Zwemer

In case you missed them, here are the other three days we learned about Samuel Zwemer and his work in Arabia.

Samuel Zwemer: The Adventure Begins

Samuel Zwemer: Traveling Without a GPS

Samuel Zwemer: Why Did It Happen?

Samuel Zwemer: Traveling Without GPS (Part Two)

What would it be like to take a trip when you didn’t know where you were going and you didn’t have a map to follow to get there? When your family goes on an adventure, do you take a map? Maybe you use a GPS system to find your way. You do know where you are headed, though, right?

Samuel Zwemer, the missionary to Arabia our Sunday School teacher told us about last week, didn’t always know where he was going. When he was growing up, he lived in Michigan and Wisconsin. Then he traveled through Illinois and Ohio with his family on their way to New York. Later, he moved back to Michigan (but not to the same place he’d been born). He finished college while he was in Michigan and had a decision to make. He knew God wanted him to become a missionary, but he didn’t know where to go to seminary to learn to be a pastor. He prayed a lot and visited his father and some of his family. Finally, he decided he would go to seminary in New Jersey.

Off he went traveling again. He loved seminary in New Jersey and worked in New York City, Virginia, and other states while he was training to be a pastor. He prayed a lot about where God wanted him to go as a missionary. He finally decided that the land of Arabia was where God was sending him.

After he graduated seminary and became a pastor, he took a trip that would get him closer to his goal of reaching Arabia. His father and one of his brothers were going to travel to his father’s homeland in the Netherlands. Sam decided to join them and together, they sailed to England. They took a train to Edinburgh, Scotland, to meet with some people Sam needed to talk to about the mission work. Then it was on to the Netherlands.

Sam enjoyed getting to see the country his father had come from, but he knew he couldn’t stay there. God had called him to go to Arabia. He needed to meet one of his college friends who would be an important missionary partner. His friend had graduated from seminary a year earlier than Sam and had gone ahead to Beirut, Lebanon, to continue studying to be a missionary. So from the Netherlands, he sailed up the Rhine River to a city in Germany where he caught a train to go to Italy. From Italy he sailed to Lebanon.

In Beirut, he met with his missionary partner from college and prayed about where in Arabia to go. They visited cities in Egypt and continued to learn as much as they could that would help them be missionaries. At last, Sam knew where in Arabia God was sending him—Aden. It was a long journey through the Red Sea from Egypt to Aden, but Sam was excited and eager to go. The ship made many stops along the way, and Sam got to see the town of Jeddah, in Saudi Arabia; a port in Sudan; the new Italian colony of Eritrea; and finally, he landed in Aden.

He was twenty-three years old when he arrived in Aden, and he still didn’t know where exactly God would send him or what He would have him do. He didn’t have a map of his life in front of him, and he didn’t have a GPS to tell him if he took a wrong turn. But he knew God knew where he was going. He prayed and trusted God. He moved in the direction God led him, like Abraham heading to the Promised Land. God had told Abraham, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you” (Genesis 12:1 NIV).

Along the way, God led Sam to friends and coworkers who helped him find the next step. And God showed him that he was on the right road. I can’t wait to find out where Sam goes next!

“Dear God, sometimes adventures are fun; sometimes they can be scary. Please help us trust You to take care of us and show us where we need to be. Help us to pray and pay attention so we don’t take wrong turns. When we make mistakes, and don’t know where we are, help us to remember that You never lose sight of us even for a second. Thank You. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.”

Endnote:

SCRIPTURE TAKEN FROM THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION ®, COPYRIGHT ©1973, 1978, 1984 BY INTERNATIONAL BIBLE SOCIETY. USED BY PERMISSION OF ZONDERVAN. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Here is a printable version of today’s missionary story about Samuel Zwemer.

Samuel Zwemer: The Adventure Begins (Part One)

This morning in Sunday School, our teacher told us it was time to leave India and learn more about another part of the world. Today, we started learning about a boy named Samuel Zwemer, who was a missionary to the land of Arabia when he grew up. But the story didn’t start in Arabia. It started in Holland, where Sam’s parents were from.

Sam’s parents had taken the long and scary journey from Holland across the Atlantic Ocean when his mom and dad were engaged to be married. It was a dangerous trip, but God kept them safe and brought them to a new home in a new land. They lived New York, then later in Michigan, where Sam was born. The first home he remembered was his home in Wisconsin, where he lived until he was six years old.

I think Sam and I would have been friends if we’d gone to school together (which of course we couldn’t because he was born in 1867). Sam loved adventure, just like I do. He loved going to new places and meeting new people. He loved to imagine what might happen and dream about the things God might call him to do.

Our teacher only told us part of Sam’s story this morning. She said she’ll tell us more about him next week. So far, the thing I like the most about Sam is the way he knew God always had a plan. Some of the surprises that happened in his life were fun—like when he was six years old and he and his family got on a train in Wisconsin and moved all the way to Albany, New York. Some weren’t as much fun—like the months spent working with a threshing crew who threshed grain on farm after farm, all through the long, hot summer. Some were sad, like when his mother died when he was nineteen.

But Sam knew that God was always in control, even when things were scary or hard or sad. He remembered what Jesus said in Luke 12. Jesus said God doesn’t forget about a single bird, He won’t forget about us. We’re worth more than lots of birds! God even knows how many hairs we have on our heads. If He cares about such a tiny detail, won’t He also care about the big and important things that happen in our lives?  I’m going to pray and ask God to help me remember not to worry because He cares about everything that is happening in my life.

“Dear God, thank You for caring about me so much that You even know how many hairs are on my head right now. Help me trust You to make things always work out, whether things are fun like taking an adventure, or tough like a hard job, or even sad. Help me tell other people about Your love for them. Thank You. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.”

Here is a printable version of today’s missionary story about Samuel Zwemer.