Ministry: Covenant School of Worship (CSOW) and Covenant Worship Women (CWW)
This month was interesting because we mostly had split ministry. The women partnered with CWW while the men worked with CSOW.
Women:
Prayer and worship ministry
Inviting women to events
Hosting women's Christmas party
Making connections and building relationships in the community
Both:
Slum ministry: visiting the slums and building relationships with them by sharing God's love and praying for and with them
Helped with hosting Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve parties and Christmas service
Taking part in worship for church services
Creating power points for church worship
Creating music videos for worship songs
Uploading pdf files of music
Organizing and creating excel documents for worship program
Other administrative tasks as needed
Men:
Building relationships with men of Covenant Worship
Preaching
India is a semi-closed country which means that you can be a Christian, Hindu, Muslim, etc but you cannot convert to a different religion or try to convert anyone to yours. This meant that our ministry was less about evangelizing than in Africa and more about just showing love however we could.
Language:
Telegu and other state languages (Telegu is spoken in Hyderabad and the surrounding area)
Hindi
English
For one of our Christmas celebrations we created Christmas Pictionary and there were many things that don't translate:
Gingerbread (they have ginger bread but it's bread that tastes like ginger)
Pumpkin pie
Evergreens (they have Christmas trees- which are any tree they decorate but they also have a cone tree like ours when it comes to fake ones for decorating. Since it's so warm most of the year, there's not really a tree that's not "evergreen")
Rudolph or reindeer
Elves
Manger
Mittens (they know gloves though)
Stockings
We definitely learned that a lot of American traditions don't carry over!
Other random things:
-The people of India know how to worship and do so powerfully. The music is loud and enthusiastic.
-There is a head bobble that is used constantly. If you are asking a question, the bobble means "yes" and if you're still talking it means "I'm listening" but just like in America with our nods, it can also just be used to act as if you're listening when you really aren't any more.
-Same as all of our prior countries, there are different prices for foreigners and locals and most of them are subject through change through bartering. Amanda, who was told she looked like she was from North India, got much better prices than the rest of us. This may be that she's just good at bartering…but we're not convinced!
-Street food is WAY cheaper than trying to cook for ourselves. A giant plate of noodles was about 30-40 rupees and 66 rupees was the exchange rate to the dollar while we were there.
-India food is delicious but it's in your best interest to ask for it with little or no spice because the spices have an after kick that most of us couldn't handle.
-Many women in India dress double covered, meaning they would wear a loose long shirt (called a Kurta) that covered to their mid-thigh or lower. They would also wear a scarf around their front. Ankles are also not allowed, and women would wear loose pants (similar to the Hammer pants in the U.S.) or looser leggings. We kept this dress code while at Covenant Worship which made the month a little bit more expensive but the clothes have beautiful patterns and colors so many of us kept at least some of them.
-Women are treated differently in India and there is a preference towards wanting male children. This was one of the hardest things about being in India to me, the sense that women were somehow inferior and I know that we as foreigners were excluded from being treated that way but seeing it and feeling it was difficult and I ache for the woman of India. It seems this may be changing somewhat and I'm optimistic that it will continue to change.
-The caste system is now illegal but you still see reminders of it in how some of the service people and likely "lower" caste are treated. This seems to be changing as well.
-To become a Christian in India, you lose any upper standing you may have had. Some of the men at covenant worship were disowned upon their decision to become a Christian. Others have had their parents attempt to convert them back through bribes such as cars (and cars are a big and rare deal in India).
-There are a ton of people in India; even with more limited cars, the pollution in big cities is intense between the motorcycles, autos (scooters with passenger areas), buses, and other vehicles.
-Times a stranger asked to take a "selfie" or photo with me:
12
-Times I was randomly interviewed: 1
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