Hello to everyone from Bangalore, India!
It is crazy to think I have already been gone a week and a half and wow, have I already been learning a lot and a lot has happened. I will try to summarize and give you an update of my life. (It is currently 12:15 p.m. on Thursday)
I left on Monday, June 10 from Des Moines with a wide mixture of emotions. Excited, scared, nervous, anxious, sad, happy and about anything else you could think of. I had a short flight to Chicago where I met up with the other two girls on my team, Kelsey and Erin. We hit it off well and it was nice to finally all be together. We got on a very large plane for an 8 hour flight to Germany and then boarded an even bigger plane for our 9 hour flight from Germany to India. Thankfully the planes were nice. The flights were long but not awful. We landed about 1:15 a.m. on Wednesday morning (which was Tuesday afternoon back home because I am 10 1/2 hours ahead). Praise the Lord for safe and smooth travels and they let us through customs and into the country with no problems. About 3, we made it out of the airport and were greeted by our leaders, Jill and Lydia. They greeted us with big smiles and hugs, and I will tell you right now that they have been a huge blessing and the 5 of us make a great team. Thank you Jesus that they have lived here for 3 months and know what they are doing. We made it to our house and went to bed around 5 a.m. They let us sleep half of the day to try and get a little bit rested up. Jet lag is not fun at all! The rest of Wednesday was a lot of orientation stuff and hanging out. Thursday was our day to go to Commercial Street to buy our Indian clothing. This was an experience like I had never had before and it took no longer than for me to step out of the house to know that I was not in the U.S. anymore. We had to get a rickshaw to travel around (we either walk or get a rickshaw to travel everyday). Words cannot even begin to describe the sights of India. There are people, animals (dogs, cows, goats, chickens, sheep), vehicles (busses, cars, taxis, mopeds, motorcycles, rickshaws, bicycles) EVERYWHERE. Honking and 4-5 lanes of traffic on a 2 lane road is the norm. Shopping on Commercial Street was overwhelming but fun. It definitely threw me right into the culture. I also now own plenty of Kurtas which is what we wear everyday to ministry. Friday we were supposed to go to the stitching center (one of the ministry sites), but plans fell through. Lesson #1 on flexibility and patience. We did prep work and watched a documentary on sex trafficking. On Saturday, we went to a beautiful park for a picnic lunch and had more training in the afternoon. Sunday, we went to the pastor's house for afternoon coffee time and then went to church. It is a small, Christian, English-speaking church and all of the people were so kind. After church during fellowship, there was a beautiful double rainbow. This was an amazing visual reminder that God is with me no matter where in the world I am. Monday was our first day to get to go to one of the ministry sites. We had our first public bus experience which was a day's worth of excitement within itself. We went to the HIV hospital and AIDS orphanage. During the day, we cleaned at the hospital. God really stretched me there because I am not a huge fan of cleaning and many of you know how much I hate hospitals. I knew how important it was through and how much they needed our help. I had to remind myself that God calls us to love and serve everyone. God was working on my heart. Late afternoon, the kids all came home from school and my whole world lit up. I began talking with a 10 year old boy and helping him with his homework. A little while later, him and another boy began playing volleyball, so I immediately joined. I played volleyball and basketball for about an hour with a group of kids and loved every minute of it. They could speak some English, but language didn't even matter because there was joy even with few words. At one point, I heard one of the older boys, probably around 15 years old, singing, "Bless the Lord oh my soul, oh my soul, worship His holy name. Sing like never before, Oh my soul, I worship His holy name." I stopped, listened and smiled. When he stopped, I told him that was one of my favorite songs. He said it was his too and asked me who it was by. I will never forget that moment. God knew exactly what i needed that afternoon. I was sad to have to leave, but hopefully, we'll get to go back on Saturday. Tuesday we were supposed to go to the stitching center but plans changed again, so we prepared lessons for teaching the children for next week. We are getting a very good idea of flexibility and patience :) In the afternoon, I had my first grocery shopping experience in India. We went to Easy Day which is their version of Wal-Mart. It was similar except it had 3 floors which was pretty awesome. Wednesday, we finally got to go to the stitching center and meet some of the women. They showed us the projects they have been working on and then we did a Bible lesson and henna with them. It was challenging with the language barrier but relationships were beginning to form. This afternoon, we are supposed to go to the stitching center again and hopefully continue to build those relationships. Friday we are supposed to go to the aftercare home for the first time, so hopefully by the end of the week, I will have been to all 3 ministry sites.
Here is a very general schedule of what a typical day may look like for me (if there is any such thing as a typical day) :)
8:00-Wake up
9:30-10:30-Team Devotions-This has been a huge blessing!!
10:30-1:00-varies everyday (ministry, prayer time, errands, planning, etc)
1:00-6:00-Ministry
6:00-??-Supper/debrief/house visits/anything else
The people are friendly and the food isn't awful :) We have eaten out a few times at Indian restaurants and I have found things I like. I have not gotten sick yet, so Praise Jesus!! I am beginning to feel more and more comfortable here and I'm sure that as we continue to do more ministry work, I will feel even better. It was a LOT of culture shock the first week and I will be completely honest to say that I miss home a lot and have struggled with homesickness. BUT, God is with me and is watching over me and everyone back home. He has been teaching me a lot and I've been growing. God uses our weaknesses to bring Him glory.
Thank you SO SO much to everyone for your prayers. This experience has definitely been challenging, but knowing the amount of prayer support I have, makes it a lot easier to keep going. Thank you to everyone who contributed to my prayer/encouragement binder. It is beautiful and I read it often. I love it more than you'll ever know!! I was able to read all of my emails today and it was very exciting to hear from so many of you. Seriously, you don't know how happy it makes me! Keep them coming, I'd love to hear from you all!
Here are some specific prayer requests and prayers of thanks that I would ask for:
-All 3 ministry sites. There is a lot of brokenness and hurt
-Safety-Our lives are put into the hands of many people throughout the day, so please pray that we stay safe.
-Continued health-so far we have all been healthy, so give thanks for that and pray that it continues
-Peace-Pray that God will give me peace and the ability to enjoy and live out everyday to the fullest
-A great team and leaders-prayers of thanks for that and that we will continue to grow and encourage each other as sisters in Christ
-That the language barrier won't be discouraging
-Sleep and rest-the three of us haven't been sleeping very well and it is becoming frustrating.
-Relationships-Pray as we form relationships with the people here. That they will be open to us, and God will be visible through us
-Give thanks for the small things and areas that I have seen God work
-For the classes that we will begin teaching next week (tuitions, life skills, young girls)
-That God will continue to shape and mold my heart
This has gotten very long, but i hope it gives you a little bit of an insight as to what my time in India has looked like so far. I will be able to update you about once a week. Sorry to anyone, if i don't get a chance to reply to your emails, I will do my best. Know that i love them and I read them all :) Psalm 19 really spoke to me this morning as I was doing my morning devotions, so I would encourage all of you to take some time and read it.
I love and miss you all very much! Thanks again for all of your love, encouragement and support!
P.S. Shout out to my little brother, Kody, and friend, Blaize, and the rest of the team, as they play in the baseball championship tomorrow night! Congratulations! You'll do great!! Have fun! Know that I am cheering for you from half way across the world!
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