Week 1 2012

India Blog Post July 3, 2012

WE HAVE ARRIVED!!! It’s unbelievable that this trip we have planned for and talked about for months is here; that we are here, in India. India is a crazy, amazing place to experience because even as I write in our hotel room tonight, I can still clearly hear the sounds of many horns blasting on the street. As much as movies, books, and pictures can attempt to prepare you for an Indian adventure, they will never do justice to the feeling that dwells in this land. There is a vibe here that makes you feel insignificant and important all at the same time.

I’m going to attempt to give you some details on our journey here, but honestly the days have all run together; time travel does that to you. Our lives the past two days were spent sitting in airports or sitting in airplanes, but many little laughs and joys were shared in the process.

While waiting in Atlanta, many last minute phone calls were made, Chinese food was eaten, tears were shed about leaving our LaLa’s, peeks were stolen to compare one another’s answers on our Personal Development Plan (PDP) and Kelsey kept the rest of the team waiting… as usual.

While waiting in Heathrow, Travis slept like a mummy on the cold floor then did pushups in the middle of the airport to warm himself up, Rachel and I randomly ran into a friend from Greenville who now lives in Amsterdam, and Nathan was taught how to play Spades by the ever lovely Carly.

While waiting in New Delhi, Mary Emily dropped her boarding pass without realizing it but was saved by Travis, most of us purchased items with rupees for the first time ever, and Heath (our fearless leader) proved that he was definitely out of it because he was so tired.

The most exciting thing that occurred during travelling happened today in Delhi’s airport. Before we were even able to discover the joy of the aforementioned experiences, we basically had to repack many of our bags in order to make the weight limit. Apparently, the amount of checked bags we were each allowed went from two to one, so quite a bit of rearranging occurred which involved many of Rachel and Kelsey’s belongings being dispersed into many different bags. We worked so well as a team that even this seemingly frustrating circumstance wasn’t a big deal and we overcame it like it was nothing. I was so proud to see how well we all worked together and stayed levelheaded without getting annoyed or negative because of the change in our circumstances.

On our last flight, everyone was so tired, dozing in and out, that half of us don’t even remember that flight. Needless to say, we all need the rest that our very comfy hotel has to offer. Tomorrow, the girls are going shopping and such, while the boys go off doing some kind of “athletic adventure.” We are here. We are safe. We are tired. We are going to bed. Goodnight. Love from all of us to all of you.

Posted by Rebekah

Smells Like Bacon

In India, we often joked that Americans smell like meat because when asked to describe the smell of America, people apparently say meat. This was only a joke until, to our surprise, when we arrived at the airport in Chicago it actually smelled like bacon. Weird. Anyways, we have been safely back in America for 2 days now! It’s hard to believe we just spent 6 weeks in India, but it did happen. In the next weeks and even months, we will continue to process what we saw, learned, and experienced. And though we are glad to be back, I think most of us still have India on the brain in some way or another. Some days I find myself filtering America through Indian eyes whereas before, I filtered India through American eyes. I think that just goes to show that G0d gives us the ability to adapt to another culture because we have the universal g0spel to deliver to them.

Before we flew out, we spent a few days in Delhi shopping in the markets, debriefing, and adapting to the real heat, which is similar to South Carolina weather. J Amy Chasteen came to Delhi with us for a few days, and we loved getting to see her! We had a great time talking through our trip a bit, laughing about the funny things (of which there are a lot), and just enjoying each other.

There is too much I could say in a concluding blog post for a six-week trip to a third world country. But I think I would say, G0d has shown himself faithful. He provided for all our needs and has blessed us immensely by teaching us new things and hopefully changing our hearts to reflect His more. Thank you for all your pr@yers and support throughout these past weeks! It was evident that He was holding us tightly everywhere we went. We will miss the place, but our hearts are burdened for the people. For now...

Namaste, India.

Flight info

Parents,
We will be leaving from Delhi in a few hours at 12:30am India time. We are flying American airlines and our flight number is 293. Our flight from Chicago to Charlotte is also American number 285. Sorry for not emailing you, my computer is currently down. See you in the states!

Upward ponderings on the Taj Mahal

Six of us who hadn't been to the Taj Mahal before took a road trip yesterday to see it. Left at 6 AM and got back over 12 hours later. Long and tiresome but definitely not regretted.

Reading Isaiah 40 for my QT on the way there was appropriate: "All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field.... Surely the nations...are regarded as dust on the scales.... To whom, then, will you compare God? What image will you compare Him to?... He...reduces the rulers of this world to nothing" (v. 6, 15, 18, 23). This I had in my mind while we were there. The yards and architecture is awe-inspiring; but the inside, being just the mausoleum of the Shah and his queen, felt quite empty. "All this for this?" was my thought.

I was seeing firsthand one of the Seven Wonders of the World, standing in person within its very immensity. Then in subsequent thought, the word points me to the "incomparably great power" that is our God (Eph. 1:19, end of Job). Set above all is He. My concept of God's majesty has been informed and greatened by reading Tozer's Knowledge of the Holy:

All our thoughts about Him will be less that He, and our loftiest utterances will be trivialities in comparison with Him.

The Taj was a pretty tremendous thing to see. I can say I've seen one of the most majestic man-made structures the world has to offer. Yet I am left to dwell upon this thought: "What image will you compare Him to?"

A week of Service

This past week was all about serving our friends. About ten different families participated in a Hindi language class and we were given the opportunity to care for their children. The days looked a little something like this: start out with a couple games, then do some songs together, a lesson, and a craft. We taught the children about the life of Paul and how the Father provided for all of his needs. It was really cool to see the children grasp just how much the Father loves His people.

Yesterday afternoon, all the adults and children met together in our big meeting room after the last session of their language class. The children performed some songs that they have learned during the course of the week, the verse of the week, Philippians 3:8, and one of the young girls told the story of Paul's life. We leaders then led the whole group in some songs and shared a meal together. It was great to be able to love on our friends by caring for their children while they were learning more about the Hindi language.

Reflecting and Refreshing in Udaipur

This past Friday through Tuesday, our team went to Udaipur in Rajastan for a mid-summer excursion. We had a great time resting and reflecting together as a team. We were able to spend a half day with the L0rd to reflect on all the things He has been teaching us this summer. Each student came back from that time with new things to share and a renewed passion to be in India.

We also had the chance to do some fun things like swimming and shopping. We even got to see the new Harry Potter in 3D one night! I must say, I think the movie theaters are way better in India. It was only 100 rps to see the movie (i.e. $2 dollars) and we sat in really large, cushioned seats. It was great!

Another exciting adventure was taking a 12 hour night train from Udaipur back to I-town. I was nervous about how well we'd sleep, but everyone seemed to do fine! I did wake up a few times when trains passed us and honked their horns.

I'm so thankful for the time we had to reflect and bond together as a team. Please pr@y for us these final few weeks in I-town. Pray we would be bold and get after it!

The hotel we stayed at in Udaipur (I know, not too shabby right?!)

Jackson! We loved getting to spend extended time with his family!

Jack, Sambo, and Sarala

I love all of the bright colors in India!

Our entire group!

Our summer group

The beautiful lake in Udaipur

The men

All those little specks in the sky aren't birds...they're bats!!

The gorgeous view from a restaurant we ate dinner at one night

Orphanage

Today we spent the day at the orphanage. We had a great time loving on the kids, teaching stories and songs and playing games. Tomorrow we leave for our midsummer excursion and are looking forward to the time to relax, spend time as a team and come back refreshed for the rest of the summer. 

Here are some pictures from the orphanage today...