This was from last Tuesday, Feb 5.
This morning we decided to have worship on the rooftop, which is probably one of the coolest things I've done on the race. It's so sweet to start your morning outside with the smells and sounds of India around you while worshiping the Creator in a place were they normally worship creation. One of our neighbors is actually a Hindu priest who makes idols, and he happened to hear us worshiping this morning and came out to listen to us. God was pretty sassy and in the shuffle he put on "God of this City" and "How He loves us" while the priest was listening to us. I thought it was perfect and I couldn't help but smile. Later Jonathan, one of our squad leaders, got into a conversation with him about his faith and hearing about what he believes. I'm hoping something cool comes from that, but prayers would be awesome for our neighbor!
After we got ready for the day, we all went to the Victory house. When we walked in, we found out that it would be nice if we led worship and gave a message to some of the Ayahs. Oftentimes on the World Race, we're thrown into situations like this where you have to preach or sing on the spot. It's helpful to have the attitude of flexibility or you'll just be stressed and anxious the entire time. I think it also helps that we've been doing this for 6 months now and we're used to it. So Stef & I led some worship (along with the rest of the teams singing along, the Ayahs didn't know English), and then Carrie gave a message about what she had learned about herself and her sin from the children laying on their backs, and also gave an encouragement how this work was truly serving the unloved and unlovable, and that was the work Jesus has called us to do. Carrie's really good at teaching and giving messages on the spot, and I'm thankful to have her around because I can always count on her for that.
After playing with the kids for a couple hours, we came back to the apartment for lunch, and Kristi and I left for the India Christian Ministries (ICM) main office to meet again with Sarah. The ICM office is only a ten to fifteen minute walk from our place, and two other World Race teams are staying there this month. It's SO awesome to have other teams around this month. My team is used to being on our own, and a big prayer of ours was to be paired with a team with men on it, especially going to India with the recent events and treatment of women. We're really thankful to be around not just one but three other teams with guys on them. But anyways, at ICM we met with Sarah and figured out our schedules for the rest of the month along with other administrative/logistical things the teams needed to know. We were in our meeting for about four hours (WR leader perks?).
At one point in the meeting, we needed to wait for Sarah to finish up some things, and Kristi and I went upstairs to visit the third location of SCH, which is located on the top floor of the ICM building and has mostly babies. Okay you guys, I fell in LOVE with these children. I can't wait to tell you more about the kids in this place, I've been going there almost every day since I met them because I love them so much.
After our meeting was over, Kristi and I went home and I took my team over to the squad leader's apartment for dinner. We had an incredible Indian meal of naan, biryani (an Indian dish I've basically been living on this month), dahl (a bean/curry/something sauce that you put on the biryani), and another sauce with chicken in it. Half of the time when I eat street food I don't know what I'm eating, but seriously, the street food here is some of the best I've eaten all race. Pray for my stomach please! I haven't gotten sick yet and I'm hoping I don't all month haha :). We stayed at the squad leaders' house until about midnight, chatting and goofing off while playing catch phrase. It was a great night.
By the way–it's almost my birthday (Feb 16 !!) and I still have about $1,100 left to raise to stay on the Race. Would you consider making a donation to my account as a birthday gift to me this year? This has been a life-changing journey for me and the opportunity of a lifetime to serve and experience the Kingdom, and I'm so appreciative of everyone who has helped make this happen. You guys rock! Thanks :).
