Engaged in India

Almost Home

2006-05-04T10:12:00.000-07:00

We only have a few more days left in India. It's so hard to believe! We look forward to seeing our friends and families and to familiar food, but there is so much that we are going to miss. A couple of days ago we talked as a team about what we will miss and what we won't miss. We talked about people that we will never forget. We talked a lot about our time here. The next day we all shared Bible verses that we relate to our time here. It was such a great time sharing and listening. We are currently working on the program that we will share when we return to the US. It is hard to fit in everything that we would like to share during that time. We are so excited! Our last week of programs here was so amazing. We spent the week in villages. My favorite! One night (after we had taught the Sunday school children songs earlier in the day) some kids came to the home we were staying in, and we ended up singing and dancing with them as they requested song after song. It was so wonderful! Right afterwards we went and did a program at the church where we saw a lot of the same kids. When we were in another village, they took us to swim. Some of us did not have other clothes to change into, so we just watched. The guys, including Dave, were bathing in the water (with pants on of course). Dave's upper body including his face got washed by an Indian man. It was so funny. The look on Dave's face was amazing! At another village, we had a day where we were able to rest most of the day and had a program at night. Joshua and I took a walk to look around and see if we could meet some people. In one area we saw some families outside. Joshua decided he wanted to try to play five rocks (a game some of the children play) with the children. He got out his rocks and tried to get some of the children to play with him. We couldn't speak the language. Some of the children tried and others were too shy or embarassed. They were all laughing and trying to get each other to play. One of the older ladies stepped up and started tossing the rocks. She was so good at it. She tried to get me to toss them and catch them like she did. I was awful at it, and they all got a good everytime. We had such a good time with these people. I got my camera out to take a picture of them. They were so excited to see themselves on my digital camera. The lady that tossed the rocks wanted me to take her picture tossing the rocks. I took a video clip of her, and she loved it. I also got some of the girls to sing a song and dance while I took a video of them. We had such a blast with all of them. On our way back to the place we were staying, we saw an old lady on her porch. She saw us and as we walked down the road she got up and kept looking at us. After we had turned the corner Joshua decided that we should go back and visit her. When we went back she we still looking down the road as if she was waiting for us. We visited with her (still not being able to speak the same language) and a few other people that had gathered. Then we prayed for her and went back to the place we were staying. We were able to get out and walk around the village a few more times that afternoon. That night we did a program in the church. It was our last program in India. During my sharing the power went out. It was so amazing. As soon as the lights went out, the pastor said maybe two or three words and the whole church started singing a song until they were able to get a lantern set up. I love how in a lot of the churches in the villages and sometimes towns that we have been in the pastor will talk into a microphone hooked up to speakers outside the church and people will sing into the mic to call people to church for gatherings besides regular Sunday service. Sometimes the children will all sing together or they will have someone (maybe a child or maybe an adult) sing songs through the speakers that are being blared outside the church. And then the people will start gathering. There are so many other stories to tell. I will try to keep posting them even when we get back to the US.

2006-04-23T08:49:00.000-07:00

Howdy everyone! I have somethings that I have written about that I am trying to get typed in when I have time, so somethings may be a few weeks old or out of order. If it is not from the day that I am actually typing it in then I will put the date it is from. Since the situation in Nepal has gotten worse and more dangerous, we are not able to go to Nepal. This was very disappointing for us all. Our team has also talked about how it just seems too easy to be able to just cancel our plane tickets. We can't imagine what it is like to be living in the middle of it all. Nepal is certainly in all of our prayers, and we try to keep up with the news. Since that left us with a few more weeks in India on our hands new plans had to be made. We are currently back in Hyderabad where we started back in January. We spent the morning and afternoon at a Pentacostal church today. It was really great. Joshua gave a sharing and Dave preached during the service, we spent a couple of hours with the Sunday school, and then a few hours with the youth (college aged is considered the youth in churches in India). Tomorrow we leave to spend a week in villages. I am so excited for this. I was thinking just last week or so about how I really wished we could spend some more time in villages before we left. Praise God! After that we will come back to Hyderabad for a few days to work on our return program, and then it is off to Bombay for two days. We fly out of Bombay to come back home. We will get back on May 8th. God's blessings and lots of love!

April 11, 2006 - Kanha National Park, Madhya Pradesh

2006-04-23T08:07:00.000-07:00

Today we went to Kanha Tiger Reserve National Park. It is the place that inspired Rudyard Kipling to write Jungle Book. We rode in two different vehicles. We were in jeep-like vehicles that had two bench seats that were kind of raised (like stadium seating) in the back. We had a driver and a park guide with us. We went out in the morning and then again in the afternoon. The park was closed for a few hours in between since the animals are not out as much in the heat of the day. It was really fun driving around in the forest/jungle (in Hindi there is only one word for both). I think it was yesterday that we had a conversation where we were trying to explain to Sanjay David the difference we thought there was between a forest and a jungle. I'm not sure that any of us really knew what we were talking about. In the morning we went out early. In the first vehicle was Mark, Corie, Tara, Dave, our contact Sanjay David, and a guy from the place where we were staying. In the next vehicle were our drivers from Shadol, Joshua, and me. When we first started out around the park our guide was just pointing out little birds to us. We had been so excited about seeing monkeys and elephants and tigers and such. We were starting to think, "Is this it?" Then our guide and our drivers got really excited about something they heard or saw. We stopped the jeep and backed up and guess what it was...a hen! That's right folks, a chicken. Joshua and I just kind of laughed. It got much better though. Pretty soon we were seeing monkeys, deer, bison, wild boar, and peacocks. It was great! Riding around was so beautiful and so relaxing. To see the tigers you have to sign up, and then if the tigers are spotted (they track the tigers) they take people out to see them on elephants. We were really excited for the elephant ride. So after we saw a bit of the park, they took us to this area that had a muesem and stuff. We ate breakfast in the parking lot and went to the bathroom in the bee infested bathroom. They took us through the muesem. It looked pretty interesting, but the guy guiding us through it kept hurrying us along. We couldn't stop and read or look at anything. It was so annoying. Then I thought that maybe we were hurrying so that we could go see the tigers, but once we got outside we just sat in our jeeps for awhile. Finally they said it was time to go see the tigers. They had called our number. So they drove us out to where the elephants were. There were a few other jeeps out there too. A group was coming back on the elephants. It was a group of young boys. They were all swatting and freaking out. The park people got the boys off the elephant really quick and threw a towel up to the driver to cover up with. The boys had run into a swarm of bees, so they decided that route was dangerous. All the park people were gathered talking. Our guide got back into our jeep and we turned around. We didn't know whether we were going a different way or we weren't going at all. Our guide never told us. We found out later that they closed the elephant rides for the rest of the day because of the bees. We drove around for a while more, and then we went back to where we were staying for lunch. Later in the afternoon we went back to the park. They didn't do elephant rides in the afternoon, but you could see the tigers by jeep from far away. A tiger had been spotted and a bunch of jeeps had gathered to see it. At that point you could only see it with binoculars. We didn't have any in our jeep. Tara had joined our jeep and we had gotten separated from the others. Another jeep let us borrow their binoculars, and we got to see the tiger. While we were looking the tiger got up and started to move, and then it could be seen without the binoculars. It was so cool! We were so excited! We really enjoyed this day driving around in God's creation seeing beautiful wildlife that His hands have made. What a blessing. I started to tear up as we were driving around just thinking about how all creation sings of His glory.

March 28, 2006 - Guntur, Andhra Pradesh

2006-04-18T08:26:00.000-07:00

Today was such a hard day. We did a lot of traveling yesterday. Our train arrived around 1AM or so this morning, and it was probably after 2AM when we finally got to bed. We stayed at a hotel last night. They told us they would pick us up at 8AM to take us to the bishop's house for breakfast. We got downstairs and just waited for people to pick us up. We were all so tired. The last contact had kept us so busy, and we were all exhausted from that. Then this lady (whose name I cannot remember how to pronounce, but we call her Sue because it starts with Sue) came and started talking to us, but she did not seem to know that we were supposed to be picked up. She called the bishop's house, and they were going to pick us up in 10 minutes, which ended up being much longer. I think we ended up eating at about 10AM. I know this is "India time" but it was so frustrating because we were so tired and just wanted to be sleeping. At breakfast, I think they toasted about 2 loaves of bread for us. I don't know why they always want to give us so much toast! They also gave us potato chips and lollipops, and we watched Charlie Chaplin. They talked about how we were just going to go visit some schools today because we were tired and needed to be able to rest, and then tonight we would be singing at a service. Then they had us send someone back to the hotel to get our instruments in case they wanted us to sing at the schools. The first couple of schools that we drove to would not let us in because they were doing government testing. Then we went to a Christian college. We talked to the principal and some of the staff and sang a couple songsd for them. Then theygave us a "small momento" which was a huge plaque! Oh the gifts we have been given. Then they took us for a tour around the campus. By this time I was so tired and frustrated. I needed sleep, and I did not feel well. We were all so tired, and they knew it and knew we needed rest. They did not seem to understand that they were not giving us rest. I was trying to act normal, but on the inside I was in such a bad mood. I did not want to have these feelings. I just wanted to cry so badly. Then we went to a nursing school. We sat around and looked at pictures and talked to some ladies at first and ,of course, everywhere we went wanted to give us tea or "cool drinks" (coke). We were already completely stuffed and full of sugar from breakfast. Frustration! Then we went over tosee the students. They gathered the students, and we sang some songs for them. it was cool because some of the girls knew thesongs and would sing along. I could see the blessing of being with these girls and appreciated that, but I was just overwhelmed by this mood I was in. Then they took us back to the hotel for about fifteen minutes, and then we went to Sue's house for lunch. We ate so much! She just kept bringing out more stuff. Lunch lasted so long! We looked at her picture albums for a while, and left to go back to the hotel about 3:30pm. We could rest until we had to be at the bishop's house at 5:00pm. Sue decided she wanted to take us bangle shopping at 4:30. W went downstairs at 4:30 and waited in the lobby, but she never showed up. When we got to the bishop's house we were told to go upstairs and wash our face for prayer (the church service we were going to). We all went upstairs and washed. Joshua and I were the last ones left up there, and so we got a chance to talk for a couple of minutes. I told him how I was feeling and that I had been praying for release from it. I cried, and then we went downstairs where they served us tea and we looked at more picture albums. We were in these pictures because they were from the ceremonies we had attended when we were here in January or February. Our faces looked pretty funny in the pictures because in most of them we were in the background on the stage where we had been sitting for hours listening to people talk in Telegu and having no idea what was going on the whole time. I started feeling so much better after I had the chance to cry and talk a little. I was still so tired, but I felt free from the frustration and anger. Praise be to God! Then we went to a long church service in Telegu where we sang a few songs. Then we ate dinner, and finally went back to the hotel. Aaahhh, sleep! It was quite a day full of frustrations and exhaution, but God was definitely there holding us up and working in and through us. Blessed be His name!

March 21, 2006 - Somewhere in Tamil Nadu

2006-04-02T21:11:00.000-07:00

So there is so much to write about today. First we left the cool place we were staying at, and got on the road for a couple hours. Our first program was at a school for kids affected by the tsunami. We had to do a totally secular program. We didn't really like the idea of doing a secular program, but we ended up having a lot of fun with it. We weren't sure which songs to sing, so we just changed the words to some of the songs we usually sing. We changed Allelu, Allelu, Allelu, Alleluia, Praise ye the Lord to How are you, How are you, How are you, How are you, I am fine. It was so funny to us because when you ask anyone here how they are doing they usually say that they are fine. It is like the auto response or something. At the beginning of the program, when Dave was introducing himself, he asked the kids, "How are you?" and they all responded with the typical, "I am fine." When we did the puppet show Dave and Mark switched roles. Dave was the lion puppet. The lion puppet is a little different to hold than the rest of the puppets. Dave had the lion floating up in air, and Billy Bob (Mark's puppet) commented on his flying. We got some of this on video tape. Then we had lunch. The people brought so much food, and then they all left while we ate. Finally we were able to eat a mealwithout a bunch of people standing behind us watching! We talked about how ridiculous it was that they made so much food six people to eat! We had chipathi (a really good flat bread) and rice. Usually they serve us either rice or some kind of bread, but not both. We are all so tired of rice, and so we didn't take any. Since there was no one watching us eat, Corie and Dave sprinkled a little bit of rice on their plates to make it look like we had eaten some rice. After we ate we had another long bus ride to our next program. This one was at a school. There were about one thousand kids at the program. We really enjoyed this program. At the beginning of this program they put garlands around our necks as is their custom. We have gotten all kinds of different garlands. We had gotten this kind before. I call it the Mr. T (which makes me think of Sean) garland because it is big and has a lot of gold stuff on it. I don't understand why they make this kind and give them to people, because the stuff they are made out of leaves yellow stuff on you and your clothes. Oh well! After our program we got on the bus to leave. Some of the kids came up to the door and the windows to shake our hands. This one girl came back to shake my hand five different times. It made me laugh. Then there was this boy who was a little confused on his English. To ask my name he said, " My name is?" and then to tell his name he said, "What is you name," and said his name. It was cute. Next we went on another long bus ride to a place for leprosy patients and did another program. It was interesting because they weren't really responding to any of the action songs, but then they asked for more action songs. Then we ate dinner there. We had a fun visitor during dinner. I was eating my banana after my meal when this unusually large cricket, that seemed to fall from the sky, jumped on my plate and started eating my rice! Good thing I was done with my plate. We all laughed so hard. Then we had another long drive to the place where we are staying now. It is a girls boarding school. We met the lady who runs it at a dinner we had at an Indian restaurant in Minnesota right after training. We have a big room and a bathroom with two toilets, two showers, toilet paper, and a trash can. Tonight when we were in the bathroom getting ready for bed, Corie told me that there was a trash can. I replied with much excitement saying, " This place has toilet paper and a trash can! Wow! This place is so nice!" I am easy to please these days. So on our long bus ride today I finished reading Blue Like Jazz. I enjoyed it. There were several chapters that I read tonight that really spoke to me. During the last chapter the author, Don, talks about what he thinks Jesus would do if He was sitting at a campfire and Don walked up to Him. He talked about how Jesus would listen and want to know his story. He talked about how Jesus would speak truth to him. Jesus would share His love with Don, but He would also rebuke him. Jesus would tell him of the gifts and blessing He had given Don and how he should use them. I enjoyed thinking about this for myself. It really made me self-evaluate.

2006-03-20T01:24:00.000-08:00

So I love going to villages! We went to one again last night and it was so fun. We got to hang out with the kids while we were waiting for the program to start. Some of the kids near me started bugging each other and slapping each other. There was music playing so I started clapping my hands and they all started clapping too. I would clap different ways and slap and wave my arms and they would all follow. I even looked up at one point and saw an old man way at the back clapping with us. It was fun. Afterwards they fed us a wonderful meal. During the program I was doing my sharing and the man who was translating for us did not know a lot of english. This made for a difficult sharing. We ended up with 3 people on stage trying to understand and translate for me. We have also recently learned some songs from the kids in english. My favorite consists of the lines Jesus power, super power (while making an ok sign with your hand) and satan power, zero power (while making a big zero with your arm going round and round). It is really funny and gets stuck in our heads constantly.

2006-03-08T23:14:00.000-08:00

So, I don't really have time to figure out how to start this, so I'm just going to dive in. India has been amazing so far. There are times of craziness, times of struggle, times of confusion, times of complete joy, and times where you just have to laugh. Right now we are in Nagercoil in Tamil Nadu. Here are some things that make me laugh right now. Every time we eat our contact Lazarus talks about how we do not eat enough. He acts worried about us, and he usually makes comments about me not eating very much. Meanwhile, we are all trying so hard to squeeze yet another mound of rice into our stomachs. So, this morning at breakfast Lazarus was trying to get us to go for a third helping of food. Corie told him that we were full and that he should eat it (in India, usually guests eat first and then the hosts eat). As I was walking into the other room, I heard him respond by saying "No. I don't eat very much." "What?!" went blasting through my head. I just had to laugh. Then there are the girls that stalk us outside our windows. Corie, Tara, and I sleep in the same room at Lazarus's house. The windows are made so that you cannot see clearly through the glass. Inside the glass windows there are decorative bars and then curtains. The girls have started to open the windows from the outside and stare in at us. We came into our room to rest yesterday, and they spotted us. The girls had opened the windows by Corie's bed while we were gone. They all came running to the window and sat there staring and talking and giggling. It was very awkward. Not all of the windows have locks that work, so we cannot keep them from opening the windows. Tara woke up this morning to girls staring in at her through the windows right next to her bed. It's kind of funny, but kind of strange and uncomfortable too.