Some days on the World Race, ministry looks nothing like you would have thought. This is especially true, when you enter a new country and have your first day of ministry. This is exceptionally true in India. Here is a timeline of our first day of ministry in India.
7:30am Wake up on the roof of the church sweating. Can’t sleep any longer because it’s too hot
8am too hot to move, laying in a pool of my own sweat
8:15am realize our contact is coming up stairs and we have no clothes on…quickly scramble to find something not offensive
8:16am Jon in laying on hot cement outside his tent and our contact approaches him saying something about breakfast
8:30am breakfast is ready, too hot to move downstairs so we continue laying around
8:45am suddenly realize I need to pee…find Lauren and Morgan and we make our way down the street to the shack with a hole in the ground
8:47am realize this shack that I use for the bathroom is the same place we bucket shower
8:49am make our way back to the church where breakfast is waiting for us
8:53am sitting around waiting on Wes and Jon to come downstairs so we can eat
9am examine breakfast and come to find out it’s couscous with Indian spices and sugar on the side to put on it
9:01am breakfast is served and we get stared at because we are using sporks to eat instead of our hands
9:02am I remind Lauren not to eat with her left hand
9:15am sitting around waiting to find out our ministry plans for the day. Get news we won’t be doing anything until after lunch
9:19am just kidding, we’re heading to a school in 10 minutes so we need to get ready
9:20am girls try to figure out what to wear that’s not offensive, but also not super hot
9:21am boys try to wear the traditional skirts they bought to ministry, but get shut down and are told to put pants on
9:30am finally ready to go
10am arrive at the school and get bombarded by Indian children
10:05am get out assignment “go into the classrooms and teach the gospel”
10:15am get asked by a teacher to sing the national anthem
10:19am they ask us to write down the national anthem in their notebooks…only problem, we don’t know all the words
10:25am “can we have your autographs”
10:30am we are given sprite to drink and apples and grapes that we can’t eat because they washed them with their water. The boys don’t realize that and eat it, us girls shove them in our purses for later
11:45am get picked up by a school bus to go back to the church
12:30pm lunch is ready. They serve us rice and potato curry…we are still using our sporks
1:30pm Wes, Jon, and Morgan embrace the heat and head into town. I stay back to nap
2:30pm wake up sweating and look to my right and see a trail of ants right beside me. I try to shoo them away, but they won’t move, so I guess I will
3pm Us girls get measured for our Punjabi and saree’s that we bought. We try to explain that we are bigger than them and they need to measure our arms and thighs. They don’t understand because of the language barrier and we hope for the best. We pray we don’t bust out of them like the Incredible Hulk
4pm Finally headed to the village. Cram 9 people in a rickshaw made for 5
4:30pm arrive in village and get handed coconuts with straws…we’re supposed to drink the milk, but none of us want it. We sip it really fast and they take that as we want more
5pm Split into two teams and head out to pray for people. We get asked to “bless this oil”
5:45pm head to a house we prayed at earlier for some buffalo milk chai
6:15pm meet the other team back at the church and we are handed bottles of soda to drink…apparently the Indian heat makes you thirsty
6:30pm time for more prayer…this time as one big team
7:15pm back to the church we go…we are told to get ready to lead some songs in front of Sunday school
7:45pm we sing songs like “Our God,” “Set a Fire,” “Lord I Lift Your Name on High.” We obviously need to reconvene and figure out some kids songs because the kids are staring at us with blank expressions
8pm more chai
8:15pm Lauren is up…time to give her testimony
8:20pm She’s done…time for more preaching, not by us though. We just sit and pretend we know what’s going on, but also try not to fall asleep because we’re sitting in front of everyone
9:20pm time for more prayer, over EVERY SINGLE PERSON there. People ask us to pray many prayers of blessings over them
9:35pm dinner is ready, we can smell the spice from the door
9:37pm I am the only one who brought my spork…I decide to use it proudly
9:40pm Lauren tries to explain she doesn’t eat chicken…they keep putting it on her plate
9:42pm Wes starts sweating from his eyes
9:47pm Wes can’t take anymore
9:50pm Morgan, Lauren, and I realize we are going to be the “hearty” eaters this month
10pm head back to the church
10:30pm to shower or not to shower? NOT
10:45pm baby wipe shower will have to do
11pm head up to our “homes” on the roof
11:25pm the five of us pack into Lauren’s tent to set the tone of being in India by watching Slumdog Millionaire
11:30pm super hot…trying to decide if I want to bail
11:50pm really considering it now
12:30am re-arranging time
1am movie ends
1:01am FREEDOM
1:06am cops stop in front of church and start yelling at Wes
1:07am Wes stares and yells “come at me”
1:08am Jon lays flat on cement to try and not get seen
1:10am cops finally leave
1:12am finally crawl into my tent
1:16am “buzzzzzzz” must find that mosquito and kill it
1:17am success
1:18am INDIA DAY ONE: COMPLETE
1:20am zzzzzzZZZZZzZZZZZZzzzzzzZZZZ
