I cannot believe that our time in India is ending. There are many things that I will miss, especially the people and the pastors we worked with. It’s hard to try to describe what India is like, so Chip and I compiled a list of things that are pretty common in India. Enjoy!
Here's a sampling of daily life stuff we encountered in India.
- Daily tasks include three men riding on a motorcycle carrying two chairs
- People crowd around everywhere and stare. We even cause traffic jams because we’re American
- There’s an old lady holding a pile of cow poop looking at you like YOU’RE weird
- You are fed chippati at every house you go to
- I mean every house
- It’s no big deal to fit 17 people in a 4 person Tuk Tuk
- Nutella and peanut butter become your food savior
- The power goes off for 4-6 hours every day
- Rice
- Random people stop you to ask you what your salary is
- Wedding parties go by on dump trucks
- Peole bob their heads side to side for “Yes”, but you don’t know what a “No” looks like
- Ice Cream for breakfast is like Christmas
- The only decorations in churches are Christmas decorations
- 79 year old pastors named Paul chase after buses (he literally RAN!)
- Random kids stare at you through your windows, all the time
- People tell you they are giving you tea, when it’s actually coffee
- Women come up to you and ask you to name their baby (we named 3)
- Rice.
- Milk comes in a plastic pouch.
- A name that sounds like David is actually Hishmanachibat (probably not spelled right)
- Your bathroom is also a chicken coop, such that you have extended conversations with said chicken while pooping and bathing. (We love/hate you Frederick)
- Giant cockroaches, scorpions, and frogs populate the bathroom
- Trash can = outside
- You have a million bug bites but have only seen one mosquito
- You wake up knowing there’s a decent chance you’ll see a healing or a demon cast out that day
- You use a microphone in church services (which go out by loud speaker to the whole village) even though no one can understand English
- People sleep on their beds…outside
- Meat goes from beef to goat to buffalo to “I’m not touching that sketch meat.”
- It’s not uncommon to spoon standing up with two random men on an hour long bus ride.
- When in doubt “Namaste out”
- Burning piles of trash are the norm
- Wearing a necklace means you’re getting married
- You get gasoline in water bottles from a street vendor. Oh yeah, that’s Sprite right next to it, better not confuse the two
- Turn signal = car horn
- Rice
- At least one person in your team always has food poisoning or diarrhea
- Everyone is willing to accept Jesus, but not as the only God
- Making eye contact is an invitation to have a conversation, despite the language barrier
- You wear sunglasses all the time to avoid said eye contact
- You have to pray over the sound of a cow peeing 5 feet from you
- People have great rhythm, but no unified sense of rhythm or time when clapping
- Everyone in church takes turns leading a worship song
- Part of your breakfast is leaves from a tree growing outside your church home
- Mirt…man skirt
- Sound systems and radios have one volume level: loud
- You spray DEET on yourself before bed time
- You drive on the left, and by left I mean, mostly left, sometimes right and usually in the center, dodging other motorcycles, bikes, people, sitting cows, dogs, chicken, and herds of goats
- Pastor Rajesh is just always around. “Where did he just come from” (Love that man)
- You have to ask if the water is safe to drink
- Praying over a headache turns into casting out a demon
These are just some of the small things, but hopefully you have a better idea of what life was like for us this month. Our team has been amazingly blessed this month. Our hope is that we were able to plant seeds this month that God will continue to grow and that the communities would be blessed as a result. It is somewhat hard to leave, but we have faith that God knows what He is doing and will work everything out in His time. It’s absolutely incredible and an absolute privilege to be part of the expansion of His kingdom. Watch out Nepal, we’re coming!
