HYC New Delhi: Cheyanne Jackson

"HOPE Youth Corps was the best experience of my life." Cheyanne Jackson shares how HYC helped her on her journey to becoming a Christian. So many young people give their life to Christ after going on HYC. Cheyanne was baptised last month, and this month, just a few weeks later, her travelling companion to the New Delhi HYC, Ryan Toomey, was also baptised!

"In December of 2014, I took a trip to New Delhi, India that changed my life forever. HOPE Youth Corp morphed my perspective on the world. As soon as I arrived in New Delhi, I met disciples from all over the world- India (of course), Australia, France, different parts of the U.S., and the Philippines, to name a few. These people set an example of how to serve the poor and have a heart of Jesus. Their attitude and mentality helped me change mine and gave me a heart for the needy.

The difference between New Delhi and the United States was like night and day. One of the jobs I had was cleaning and painting someone’s house. Sounds easy, right?

Not at all! I could not believe the condition their house was in- they slept on a plank of wood, the ground was dirt, and the house was made of concrete. There were rats- dead and alive- on the floor, and my room was bigger than the entire house. After fixing up their house, I still wanted to do more for them, however, the smiles on their faces showed how grateful they were that people took the time to come to their house and fix it up.

Another experience I had with HOPE Youth Corps was going to the leprosy colony. To be quite honest, I didn’t know leprosy was still an issue in the world, but, in India, there’s an entire community set aside for them. One thing we all got to experience was bandaging the patients’ wounds. Mark 1:40-41 MSG says, “A leper came to him, begging on his knees, ‘If you want to, you can cleanse me.’ Deeply moved, Jesus put out his hand, touched him, and said, ‘I want to. Be clean.’” This is just one of the many cases Jesus healed someone with leprosy, and just like Jesus, I got to experience something that was similar. It is so amazing to be a part of something which Jesus was a part of.

In my last big experience at HOPE Youth Corps I spent time with the kids at the HOPE school. We played games, danced, and gave each other henna tattoos. There was a fifth grade girl, named Tanu, that taught me the importance of friendship, and how important it is what we do with our time by including her friends in everything she did. I was supposed to be serving her, but it felt more like she was serving me. She offered to do henna tattoos on me, and asked me to dance with her and her friends, her heart was always serving. Tanu taught me a lot about giving, that time is precious and what we do on this earth should be for the good of God and others.

HOPE Youth Corps was the best experience of my life. It played a huge factor in my becoming a disciple on August 25, 2015. I was able to see God’s love in a way I had never seen it before- through serving others. I now aspire to serve the poor and help others and I plan on doing many more Youth Corps in the future. I am so excited to see God’s purpose for my life and I am so grateful to God through HOPE for changing my life forever."