Leaving Swaziland was hard. I didn’t know that I could love so much in such a short amount of time. Even though I was excited for what India had to offer, I was not ready to leave Africa. As I write this, I have been in India for two weeks and a large piece of my heart is still in Africa.
We had a long travel weekend, that consisted of a 22hr layover in a small, but rich arabic country called Qatar, and that was pretty neat. The hotel we stayed in was probably one of the nicest I have ever been to in my life. We even got to walk around in the city for a bit, and some went and dipped their feet in the Persian gulf!
We finally made it to Hyderabad, India early in the morning, exhausted but excited. We went to a hotel to get some rest and have orientation about Indian culture and the ministries we’d work with. This was the first place on the race where we couldn’t drink the water. Even the Indians don’t drink the water from the faucet. Be especially careful not to shower with your mouth open!! Ha.
It was another 8 hour bus trip for our team to go to where our ministry location was in a city called Bangalore. It is a huge city, one of India’s largest. Culture shock was in order right away. We took a semi sleeper bus and it was a night drive. About halfway through we pulled over for a “rest stop” so we could relieve ourselves. We weren’t pulled up next to a gas station or anything, so I knew of was going to be interesting. This rest stop consisted of taking turns to go down a dark dirt path to pee behind a bush…its the World Race yall, and welcome to India!! Luckily there was a guy standing there ‘directing traffic’ so nobody walked back there while we were doing our business. When we got back on the bus, we were all giggling about our first ‘experience’.
We didn’t know what to expect at all when we got to Bangalore, but we finally met up with our ministry host, and he drove us to a nice neighborhood with lots of construction/development. The flats are set up in houses of three or four stories, with one apartment per story. We walked into the house we would be staying at and were amazed at how nice it was. We talked about how awesome it was for a good two or three days. It was a three bedroom, four bath flat with a kitchen, tile floors, leather couch and chairs, and plenty of fans to stay cool (ac is uncommon in places like these). The only complaint would be our little ‘friends’ we live with. One is a cute albino gecko that comes out occasionally, but he is a quick dude, then there’s the 2-3 inch cockroaches that hide in the kitchen cabinets (although Drew did find one running off with his sock one night). We have turned this into a game, Roach Roulette, where we try to guess which cabinet we will find one in, then we proceed to open the cabinet and run out of the room at the sight of one. Yuck. Haha it has been a great source of entertainment though.
Our main ministry this month is working with a children’s home called Jirah Trust. Jirah means God our provider. It is run by an Indian couple, Morong and Sendme. They have 11 kids that they have taken in and three of their own, from ages 3-17. It is a small operation but with big faith in God. During the week, we sing songs, share bible stories, play games, and just have fun with them. They love music. On the weekends, another children’s home from nearby comes over and we have kids club. We have been doing Bible skits for them and they love that. We have done the story of Noah, Joseph, and David and Goliath so far. My job is usually to play guitar when we sing songs, and I also write and narrate the skits. I love it. The kids are also very sweet. Sendme cooks for us three times a day, and it is so delicious! The indian culture is one of service, and we try to help her out, she has finally started letting us a bit. The other night we made spaghetti for everyone! Well, Ali did. She is a superb cook!!
We have gotten the opportunity to participate in other ministries also this month but not very much, since we are busy with the kids. One place we did get to go was this Addiction Recovery home. We all went around and shared testimony stories and it was just so spirit filled! We also get to do a lot of things at the local church that supports Jirah with Pastor. Today, he drove us to an amazing seminary school called Asian Christian Seminary. This place had it going on and so blessed by God. Much fruit is coming out of it!! Its amazing to see all the ways God is working in India, and get to be a small part of it!!
