The past 48 hours has been one of those epic World Race stretches.
May 24, 2011
2:00 PM – say good bye to our home for the past month…board a bus to take us to the airport in Trivandrum
6:30 – board our plane for Delhi by way of Kochi – this involved landing in Kochi after 30 min in the air and sitting on the plane for an hour while more passengars got on before continuing our flight
11:10 PM – land in Delhi, pick up our baggage, and wait for the other 22 members of ouR squad to arrive
May 25, 2011
12:10 AM – the rest of ouR squad arrives….lots of hugs, smiles, laughter, stories from the month. My heart is happy! All feels well in my world when ouR squad family is all together! 🙂 Wait for their baggage. Arrange taxis to our hostel.
1:30 AM – arrive at our hostel. Looks like a shady part of town, but it’s also 1:30 AM….the hostel itself ends up being a very nice place.
3:40 AM – after meeting with Michael to catch each other up on things, I attempt to get some sleep.
4:10 AM – I’m still awake so maybe I should check my email. The internet’s not working….I fall asleep at some point.
5:40 AM – awaken to a loud knock at my door. It’s Carly. We leave for Agra and the Taj Mahal in 5 minutes. Aren’t I coming?? I slept through my alarm. Probably, should have just stayed up all night. I’m seriously disoriented as I try to get my things together for the day at the Taj.
8:30 AM – Arrive at the Taj Mahal. It’s gorgeous….but doesn’t compare in my eyes to one of God’s amazing sunsets, beach scenes, waterfalls, etc.
11:15 AM – we’ve taken our pictures, walked around and are ready to go. We find an A/C restaurant as it is approaching 115 degrees and we are all soaked in sweat. I’m getting dizzy and have a headache. I need more water and a Coke.
12:30 PM – we spend the afternoon discovering there isn’t much else to do in Agra, and our taxi driver is a bit shady as far as only wanting to take us to places where he will get a commission from shop owners.
2:30 PM – we discover a Costa Coffee. Our whole group gathers here throughout the afternoon. We have a 2+ hour discussion abour relationships. It’s a good time!
6:15 PM – pizza for dinner at PIZZA HUT! Yum!
7:30 PM – back to the train station to return to Delhi. This is where my heart gets all messed up. We get out of our taxis and are waiting for the rest of the group to arrive. Out of the corner of my eye I see a young boy approaching. This is nothing unusual. We have seen so many begging children in India. Wait, what……for a moment I think he is holding a doll. But no, it’s his baby sister. She can only be 5 or 6 months old. She’s beautiful, but so little. Too little to be carried around by a young boy while he begs and hopes to get more because he’s carrying her. Aaaaah! I’m overwhelmed with emotions. After a couple minutes of interacting, although he speaks no english, I gesture to ask if I can hold her. He lets me. I will never forget the next minute. She snuggles into my chest. I’m kissing her on the head, praying for her, holding her as close as I can, trying to give her as much love as I can in my window of opportunity. She gets startled and begins to cry so he takes her back.
A taxi driver comes over and begins talking to us. Now I have a translator. He explains that they are homeless. His parents are alive. He has one other younger sister. Unfortunately, there’s part of me wondering if it’s all a scam. Wondering who this kid is working for and who’s baby is this really. Thinking, she’d easily fit in my purse. If only it were that simple. And there’s nowhere for us to buy milk or food outside the train station.
7:50 PM – our group is present so we move into the station. Shannon spots bananas and asks if we should buy them some and take them back out to them. We do. We walk all over the parking lot and can’t find them. I’m asking Jesus to help us find them. A boy approaches us and simply says come and points. We follow. He leads us right to the boy, the baby…..and the mom, dad, and sister, who’s about 1 and 1/2 and looks sick. We give them the bananas. I pray for the sister and we head back to catch our train.
My heart is touched at a level that has only happened one other time in my life in Mozambique. I don’t even know what to do with it all. All I keep thinking is love always wins. Love always wins. Love always wins. I will love the one that He puts in my path as best I can, and I will trust Him to take care of the rest.
10:50 PM – we roll into Delhi. Walk back to our hostel and get ready to crash.
May 26, 2011
11:45 AM – I wake up. Praise Jesus for sleep! 🙂
Tonight we leave for Bucharest, Romania. Our flight is early in the AM so looks like another night with not much sleep. In the midst of it all I do love this crazy life I’m leading….even if I can’t make sense of it.
