On the plane ride to Hyderabad, India I watched a movie that said, “It won’t be easy until you’re right in the middle of it.” I liked that because that’s how I feel being week one on the world race. It might not be easy now, but just wait.
We got spiritually and emotionally ready at “Launch” and it was good. We flew to Qatar and it was good. We had a short layover, then flew to Hyderabad, India and it was good. We crammed 58 people + big packs into a bus not fit for that much and it was really, really good. But then we got to the place we would stay for the next 4 days and things got harder.
There have been a few moments where I look up to God and I say, “Absolutely not, God. Why the heck am I here? Did I really say I would do this for 11 months? Why is it so difficult to wash my hair from a bucket, will my feet just be filthy all the time, and what does a girl gotta do to get some toilet paper around here? God give me something here.”
And then he gives me people because He knows my heart and knows that that is what I truly need. He sent my Alyssa when I said goodbye to my parents and she even washed my hair one night. He sent me Courtney to wash my feet and Keeley to hangout with at 4:00am when we are awake and jet lagged. He sent me Saraya to adventure with, Paige to get me to go on a run, and a consistent serving of Chai from Anna Grace. He sent me Caitlin to make me laugh, pretty much at all times, and Lindsey to hold my hand when we ate dinner in complete darkness.
For a second, I almost believed that I didn’t have anyone, but God has given me special gifts in the form of special humans.
We spent 4ish days in Hyderabad and we learned all about the culture. We ate dosa’s every morning from a street vendor, rode in auto’s around town, and tried not to get hit by cars in the street. We ate a lot of spicy food that they insisted was not spicy…and went shopping for Kurtas in hopes that we would maybe look like we fit in? We met a restaurant owner that took us to a prayer room to worship with his family and we even found a Starbucks. And if we are being honest, I went to Starbucks to just go to the bathroom comfortably maybe once or twice.
Then we went on a 10 hour bus ride to Bangalore, but that is another story for another time.
