Now that we are HOME!!!! We thought it would be fun to share some of our stories through out the year that didn’t quite make it into the blogs.
Sleeping Buddies!
Some of you might have heard of our sleeping arrangements while in India! It was month five and we were in the capitol city, New Delhi, in one of the hottest months of the year. That meant it was about 110 degrees the whole time we where there. We were privileged to stay at and work with a place called Asha Orphanage. Since there were so many of us this month, we had our team plus 2 squad leaders, the sleeping arrangements were a little different. Justin and I had a room at the orphanage and the rest of our group stayed at a nearby small apartment. Our room at the orphanage consisted of two twin beds, a table full of stuff, a dresser and a desk. Sounds fancy right? It actually was pretty good considering all of our accommodations this year, but what we underestimated was how badly outside factors would affect our month. Since we were in India in the summer we would fall asleep in our own sweat each night while getting eaten alive by mosquitos. I would fall asleep almost every night with my fan in one hand and the mosquito zapper laying next to me in bed. One night in particular I woke up because there was something scratching in my hair. I thought it was weird but quickly went back to sleep not knowing whether I actually felt something or not. I told Justin the next night that I had felt something and that I thought it was either a rat or a roach. We had seen both in the room before. “Surly it must have been a roach,” I told myself, because this seemed to be the lesser of two evils and easier to cope with. The next night Justin woke up to the same scratching in his hair. He quickly sat up and stared at his bed waiting for his eyes to adjust, but didn’t see or hear anything. He decided to check under his pillow as one last precaution. As soon as he lifted it up the RAT jumped off his bed, onto his pack, then to his guitar case and finally onto the floor where it ran for safety. Yeah you guessed it, we had a pet rat that liked to burrow into our hair. And when the burrowing stopped the rats resorted to running up and down my legs while I was sleeping. One night I was actually quick enough and swung at the rat and felt it on the back of my hand. But for the rest of the month, besides laying in our own pools of sweat, being bit by mosquitos, spotting roaches of all sizes, and fighting off rats, we slept like champs. Gross…
Tiffany in our fancy room, and her “glowing” while she sleeps with her fan and mosquito zapper.
Upside Down the River
Our team decided to go on a white water rafting trip while in Nepal. One of the squad leaders (Chelsea) and I (Justin) opted for the individual kayak instead of the rafting experience. The guides somehow were under the impression we were intermediate kayakers, which was news to us. We found this out halfway down the raging river when they instructed Chelsea to abandon her kayak and join the others in the raft. I think it had something to do with the constant circles she was doing and how she liked to go down the rapids backwards. I think she was just trying to show off. Anyway, we began to hit some class 3 rapids which were a bit tricky even for our expert guides. In the middle of one particularly difficult stretch of rapids I flipped upside down and found myself in a tight spot. The skirt, which keeps the water out of the kayak, has to be pulled to release me. There is a small tab that we are supposed to pull on if we ever flip upside down. Since I didn’t know the roll technique to get me topside this was the only option. I had had to pull it a few times during this trip to release myself from the kayak so I wasn’t too worried. So, I’m upside down, holding what little breath I could take in before I capsized, and reaching for the tab. The only problem is, the tab is nowhere to be found. It has been folded underneath the lip of the kayak and is resting safely inside the kayak with the rest of my body. I’m not going to lie, I was a bit nervous about what to do next. And as if it couldn’t get any worse, my head begins to crash into rock after rock under water. Thankfully I was wearing a helmet which took the majority of the beating, but it did nothing to help me get my bearings and focus on what to do next. I was slowly running out of breath and options. Finally I grabbed as much as I could of the stretchy fabric of the skirt, and when I had a handful, I ripped it from the mouth of the kayak. Instantly water began to rush in and push my body out and up towards the sky. The whole ordeal probably lasted less than a minute but it felt like a lifetime to me. As I look back I think, “not to bad for an “intermediate” like myself”.
Before our adventure…and after our adventure. Normally it takes 2 hours to get down the river, but it took us 4!!
Tiffany’s Special Diet
We spent month 9 back in Swaziland working with 10 care centers. Our days where pretty full with planning, visiting the care centers, teaching, and clothes distributions. In between these things we helped out around the community where we lived. We played sports with the kids, helped at the clinic, and visited the gogo’s (grandmothers). One day I was really tired and was going to relax before cooking dinner that night. I had about an hour slot and I was going to try to take a hot shower and rest for a bit. I turned on the water and there was “hot” water trickling out. “Heck yes”, I thought as I striped down and got ready to jump in. It’s was a bit of a rarity to actually have water come out of the showers let alone warm water. I just knew this was going to be an amazingly relaxing hour. Then next thing I know things went from good to bad to worse in an instant. I began my shower and noticed something where there should be nothing. Before I knew it I had pulled a 6 inch white roundworm out of place I’d rather not mention. I will spare most of the details from you. I can tell you that this little incident completely ruined my relaxation hour. I finished my shower in shock, saying over and over, “surely not,” “surely not.” Then I of course told my team, who at first didn’t believe me until I showed them the proof. Let’s just say for a long time after, we all thought twice about doing anything more than peeing when it came to using the bathroom. Gross…
Need I say more.
It might seem odd but these are some of the stories we remember the clearest. Of course we remember great worship times, praying over people, serving others, ministries and striving to be like Christ. But, it seems that stories like these are ones that really got us out of our comfort zones, helped us identify with other cultures, and change for the better. Not in spite of, but in many ways due to all of our “crazy” stories, we are no longer the same people that we were a year ago. We have been reshaped, molded into something new. I’m sure it will take a lifetime to figure out just exactly how this past year has affected us, but we know deep down that we are changed forever.
