Here’s a few extra pictures from the Exped March month that I feel capture some critical and/or precious memories! I truly am not the greatest at taking pictures during ministry activities since, more often than not, cameras are more of a distance-creator for me than a relationship-builder. Consequently, a lot of these pictures consist of adventures, teammates and outdoor beauty…which are equally as much a piece of this journey as doing formal ministry activities. Hope you enjoy scrolling through! 🙂
Singing hymns with some kids at an orphanage X-Stream Team visited. These children had so much spirit and life!
Those same kids spelled out each of our names in Burmese, and then Aaron gave a brief English lesson.
The temple in front of the famous Shwe Dagon pagoda in Yangon, Myanmar.
Jenny and Alissa walking around the Shwe Dagon pagoda
In Kolkatta, our team got to cross paths with this gentleman, Carlton, who is the director/leader of Lord Jesus Ministries. He is an inspiration (which seems like an understatement), and it was a joy getting to be around him
Some of Carlton’s delightful family, his wife (Heather) and one of his daughters (Miriam)
The train we took to Gangnapur from Kolkata was not lacking air circulation or hand grips, which are both good things because it got pretty packed.
Riding on manual rickshaws from the train to the Christian school in Gangnapur
That one time we put 8 people into a 20′ by 10′ room in Kolkata
The first rain shower we had seen in a month and a half – definitely cause to celebrate and to use the waterproof camera.
We took a scenic 2-hr busride to the Deputy Commissioner’s village where we interacted with over 400 students and ate a delishious lunch.
The exit sign for the Deputy Commissioner’s village!
Photo with some sassy friends while hiking up to the top of a mountain that Japanese soldiers ascended during WW2. 😛
Easter morning atop the Prayer Mountain in Sielmat – such a glorious time full of worship and DA WORD! 🙂 Oh the Lord is good to me…
On Easter, we visited a church and got to witness 20+ baptisms in a nearby river. I’d never been to another country’s baptism service before and it was SUCH a treat getting to see these young people take that outward action reflecting their inward faith.
Some of us were invited to ride on top of a city bus on the way back from the baptisms. Crazy, wild fun! We had to duck beneath tree branches and telephone wires several times. 🙂
Now this is probably one of my favorite memories of the whole month: sitting beneath a drooping, rain-saturated canopy while dodging water (in the form of drops and mist), eating scrumptous grilled chicken, baked beans and rice pudding on our last night in Manipur. It hadn’t rained that hard or that long the whole time we had been there, but the specialness and uniqueness of that time will forever remain in my mind. I was in love.
On our way to Varanasi from Kolkata, we took a 3-tiered sleeper train (again, another “first” in my life). Definitely had me feeling adventurous!
A couple nights ago, our team had the immense, overwhelming pleasure of meeting an Englishman named Kahn, who has been traveling the world but especially loves India and the people here. Such a polite and cheerful guy! Getting to have dinner with him and serve with him at the Mother Teresa home have been a highlight of my time here in Varanasi. 🙂
