I guess if I am being accurate, change is already here. Sorry for the lack of updates, our internet was basically down this past week so trying to get anything posted did not happen. I'll give a brief rundown of events and I have a couple of blogs to hopefully get posted in the next 24 hours.
We finished up ministry in Bangalore this past week. It was hard to leave seeing all of the cool contacts we had and the amazing opportunities God had given us. We finished up our time by doing a day-trip to Goa, India as our main ministry contact was there and she invited us home to meet her family. Goa is a beach resort area on the western coast and was supposed to be amazingly beautiful. The trip didn't quite turn out as we had planned. To put it shortly, we took a 12 hour trip on basically a yellow bus, followed by 4 1/2 hours in an SUV over partially undeveloped mountain road to spend 30 minutes at the beach before getting back into the SUV for the trip back, then a 2 hour trip in an SUV with 19 people in it and 2 riding on top, followed by another 10 hours on the bus. I was happy to be home and I'm not sure my whopping 30 minutes on the beach was quite worth it. But, it iis a very funny story.
Monday we had to be up at 4:30am to go to the airport. Unfortunately, our ride thought it was 4:30pm so we had a few hiccups before getting to the airport about an hour before our 7:30am flight. We flew to Delhi (such a blessing compared to the 41 hour train ride side) and then caught a 12 hour train to Varanasi. Once in Varanasi, our hosts for the next few days picked us up and drove us the 4 hours to our home away from home until Saturday. This is the ministry site that one of the teams has been at all month.
It is basically a giant hospital/school complex. I'd say it is at least 6-8 city blocks in size and is all fenced in. We aren't allowed to leave the compound, but have plenty of room to hang out and relax.
I realized that it is the small things in life that sometimes provide the most joy. For example, for the first time in a month I am sleeping on a bed and not the floor. I have a room to myself actually (it is more of a porch), but a huge blessing. The bathroom has a shower and a mirror. I realized in the Delhi airport that I hadn't looked in a mirror in a month. That is a bit scary. I even heard the rumor of a washing machine which would be like Christmas.
The big news for today is that I now have a new team. It is typical at 3 months that they switch the teams up. As we are completing three months, today was that day.
I will introduce the team more, but I am now with Cody, Rachel, Emily, Becca and Steve. It is bittersweet as it is exciting to have a new team and look forward to what God has next and yet sad to leave the people you have spent every day with for the past 3 months. It is hard to picture life moving forward with them in another part of Nepal, but that is life on the World Race.
I'll try to update more on my team as well as the last weeks of ministry in Bangalore as well as our ministry placement in Nepal. I am lobbying for working with the Sherpa's at Everest Base Camp, but I don't think that dream will be fulfilled.
