One of the most difficult parts of ministry from the first week in India was…………eating.
I know. Sounds rough, huh?
Well, before I go any further, I’ll admit that I actually enjoy the food.
The rice, the chicken, the fish, all the curry soups and sauces, the chapati, the naan, all of it – I’ve enjoyed thus far. And while the spiciness does occasionally make my eyes water, it doesn’t bother me that much. I enjoy spicy foods.
The difficult part, however, is the amount of food we have to eat.
To give you an idea, here’s an example of what some of our meals have looked like:
Part of the Indian culture is to make sure your guest’s plate is full throughout the entire meal. The moment we seem to have eaten at least 1/4 of our food, they come out and spoon more food onto our already large plates.
First plateful
“Okay,” I think. “Round two.”
After eating as much as I can, I look at my plate and it almost looks clean. An overwhelming feeling of relief sweeps over me…until the woman comes out with more.
Despite my efforts to gently say “No, thank you” and put my hand up indicating so, she still piles it on my plate.
So. Much. Food.
Because we want to love, serve, and honor these people who open up their home and put in the time and even their own money into preparing the meal, we have to eat it.
All of it.
So once we’ve finished our three servings of food, we’re done.
Or so we think.
To finish off the meal they bring out a tray full of fruits.
I absolutely love fruit, and I think it makes a great dessert! But when I already feel sick to my stomach, I don’t want to put anything else into my mouth.
The fruit must be eaten though.
Piece by piece, I slowly eat, trying not to think about my overly-stuffed stomach.
And if there are a few pieces that haven’t been eaten in the end, the woman will pick them up and place them in our hands.
“Okay, thank you,” is all I can say.
(I should also mention that each time we eat, the people who are there always watch us. I don’t know what kind of meals these people eat or how often they eat, but I so wish I could take the excess food and give it to them – especially when it’s their children watching.)
Each time we leave these homes, it’s all I can do to keep from doubling over and regurgitating the meal I just ate for three.
For our first week of ministry we did this twice a day. Lunch and dinner.
It was like having two Thanksgiving meals in a row.
Most mornings I skipped breakfast (my favorite meal of the day!), and the mere thought of eating any kind of snack in between lunch and dinner made my stomach churn.
Never have I ever eaten so much food in my life.
The good news is, though, is that our team leader spoke with the pastor about decreasing the amount of prepared meals for us (not just because of our stomachs, but mainly because of financial reasons).
So thankfully we’ve been able to manage most of our meals this week.
Just wanted to give you a brief glimpse of one of the challenges from ministry in India thus far.
Stay tuned for more.
Here’s my prayer request:
Pray that either the Lord expands our stomachs and helps us go into the meals better mentally prepared, or that the people kindly prepare less food.
Thank you!
