Over the last three days, so much life has happened! I feel like I’ve lived an entire week in a 2-night, 3-day spanse of time…which means I should probably get it out there to y’all. 🙂
My new team (team “Beast Mode” – salute to all my Washington friends) has been dealt an overwhelming amount of adventure, spiritual stretching and team-building experience since we arrived in India only a few days ago. In truth, it would take me writing a novella to adequately capture every event from everyone’s point of view! So, in the spirit of blogging, I’m going to post a [hopefully] short, non-descript summary to give you a taste of EV-ER-Y-THING!
FRIDAY
Upon waking up in our guesthouse in south Kolkata, my team and I packed up our bags in preparation for changing rooms for the night due to a Hindu wedding reception party that needed our rooms and had booked 3 months in advance. After a brief A Capella worship session in one of the rooms, team values and expectations of what we want people to see in our team were discussed. Two gentlemen, Carlton and Ken, arrived shortly after to talk about their ministry, their lives/experiences and being a potential partner with World Race (sending more teams to help their ministry in the future). During this meeting, they invited us to join them at a ministry school up in Gangnapur from Saturday morning to Sunday evening, to which we said yes!
The meeting ended with 3 of us going to lunch (or so we thought it was just lunch) with Carlton and Ken and 4 of us going back to a laundry shop some of our guys had visited the day prior.
Regarding the laundry shop, God had set up a divine appointment for our guys to be there at that place at that time on Thursday. I say this because, after asking to pray with a man sitting on the side of the street and being taken to a laundry shop owned by another man, the Lord miraculously summoned a crowd of onlookers as our guys proceeded to pray for anyone who needed prayer. Man after man came up and healing after healing happened. The Lord healed 20 people, to our knowledge, that day. Wow…unbelievable! (Or is it really?)
The 3 of us who went out to lunch with our new friends ended up riding on 3 buses, 2 ferries, 1 automatic rickshaw, 1 taxi and 1 tram; eating the “#1 biryani in Kolkata”, some sort of Indian breakfast dish, langcha (dessert) and 3 separate cups of chai tea (Indian people speak this tea-lover’s language); taking so many pictures and being the object of so many pictures; sharing genuine conversation about spiritual matters in the Church; visiting one of the biggest train stations in the whole world; traveling to an underpass where a bunch of slum kids live who Carlton is beginning to reach out to and give an education (we played some hand games with the kids and learned a new handshake signifying friendship…man, it was good for me); met Heather, Carlton’s wife at the ministry office in downtown Kolkata; and watched the last 20-30 minutes of “90 Minutes in Heaven” in a room above the ministry office. It. Was. Intense. Then we went out to eat as a team when we all got back home.
Turned out that the 4 people (Kara, Janea, Jeremy and Alex) who went back to the laundry shop today had a crowd waiting for them when they arrived. People had heard about the day before and brought their relatives, asked for healing. And, from what I heard, those 4 spent 2 1/2 hours straight just praying for people. One after another. It was estimated that over 100 people experienced some form of physical or spiritual healing that day. ….yeah! Haha I know, right! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?! (I confess, sometimes I wrestle with its realness, even though I believe the Lord is a God of miracles.)
Once dinner was over (or should I say…once the naan was over…), we headed back home only to run across the wedding party partying down the same street our guesthouse is on. 6 of the 8 of us (not me, admittedly; I was spent from the day) joined in and shook their groove thang right alongside the wedding party. Later, after everyone was back at the guesthouse, we found out that, in fact, we all needed to sleep in the same room due to the wedding reception guests. So all 8 of us slept in one 18’x10′ room that night.
SATURDAY
6 of us woke at 5:30am to pack our daypacks, hop in a taxi (yeah…we squeezed all 6 of us plus the driver into a taxi car), meet Carlton’s family, another man named Bernard and Ken at the train station to catch a train to a village named Gangnapur, north of Kolkata. The 2 train rides (totalling 2 1/2 hours) was full of good things (conversation, pictures, cultural education, jellybean-type candies, and breakfast in the form of egg bread with chillies) ended with us jumping (literally) onto the bed of manual rickshaws (meaning bycicle-powered) to be taken to the school.
Upon arrival, we were met by polite smiles and courteous handshakes, as well as chairs and chai. 🙂 After being given a tour of the expanse of land (cause it was a lot of land), it was announced that a cricket game would commense at 3:30. We rested and ate lunch in preparation, which ended up being a good idea. We played cricket for 2 hours with the kids from the school, learning the rules of the game and the strategies for scoring and how to not instantly loose (ie- guard the wickets!). Everyone made it a blast.
Beast Mode slowly meandered on up to the rooftop once the game ended, and we watched the sunset from the taresse of the 5-story schoolhouse, jamming out to music and admiring the scenery we were surrounded by. Worship practice for Sunday’s service came next, which basically consisted of playing games with the kids (there were about 20-25 of them) for 2 1/2 hours. Song practice happened towards the end, and eventually we were beckoned upstairs to eat some dinner. Bellies full and hearts aglow, we went to sleep in one of the rooms of the schoolhouse.
SUNDAY
I got up early to work out the next morning (it ended up being a work out/worship combo kinda thing…lots of jumping). Others spent some time in the morning praying or journaling on the rooftop, too, until we were called to eat breakfast. Church came after that, which consisted of singing about 10-15 songs and hearing Carlton preach a sermon and then singing some more songs and then greeting one another. We sat around afterwards in the chapel and chatted with Carlton and his family until we split off to have team time on the roof. Towards the end, Richard (one of the school staff/helpers) came to ask us to help prepare the food for lunch. We cut ginger, sliced potatoes and skinned cucumbers.
All of us did different things after that point until lunch was ready. I had the sincerest pleasure of getting to chat with Carlton and Heather’s daughter, Miriam, for awhile, connecting on topics such as siblings, school and food. Heather joined us and then Carlton. Some people were going walking down the street to the boys’ boarding house (includes a swimming pool). I talked with Heather some more and got to see her vision for what they want the place to become someday.
I headed back to the school with Miriam, waiting to eat lunch when my teammates got back. 3 of them (Ben, Andrea and Kara) had gone to pray for a handicapped woman in the community and came back shortly after I had gotten home. Post-lunch, it was time for another game of cricket! With tea breaks in the middle of the game and lighthearted heckling coming from Carlton and the perfect themperature outside, it felt like some sort of strange, yet beautiful movie scene.
No sooner had the game ended but we left the school, saying goodbyes that seemed oddly difficult to say despite the short time we had been there. Then it was back on the manual rickshaws as the sun set over the countryside. The train was easy enough to catch, but with minimal space on the train, several of us were standing up in between two rows that faced each other, holding onto the sides for dear life when the train lurched to a hault at each station. Our personal bubbles were popped…no…exploded. Eventually, people left and we could sit down, but not without some stories.
After getting off the train, we said goodbye to Carlton’s family and boarded a bus bound for a restaurant. The bus was just as packed as the train, except the situation was made more difficult because of the constant stop-go-lurch of the bus’ manual transmission. We all nearly fell at least once. Getting off the bus, we walked a ways to the restaurant, weaving our way through crowds of people. We got our food at the restaraunt and kept walking, boldly (thanks to Carlton) crossing 7-Point, an intersection where 7 separate roads meet. It was wild. Then we boarded another bus, and just as soon as we had boarded the bus, Carlton gave us additional directions and hopped off.
Several kind souls helped us know when to get off the bus before it turned off our course, and the 6 of us were out on the street, walking walking and walking. Eventually we made it and were able to eat our meal from the restaurant!
I’m still replaying everything back through my head, but I know I will never forget the incredible, unpredictable ride these last few days has been.
Lord, you are good and your mercy endurith forever…
