Jumping a month backwards into India, I finally have time to put up some photos of this crazy country.
Enjoy!
This was my view for our 8 hour bus ride from the airport to the orphanage.
From my window, I tried to capture as much as I could of my first glimpses of India.
Temples, shrines, idols, chaos, fishermen villages, dust and colors surrounded me.
We finally arrived late at night in Ongole.
We lugged our bags up these 3 long flights of stairs in the heat…it was no less hot at night than in the day.
Our team "The Chosen Ones" were chosen to leave that night and head to our final destination with a pastor named Isaac.
We carried our bags back downstairs and piled into his car, exhausted but happy.
We arrived at the orphanage at 1am, and I took this picture the next morning.
The team was feeling some spiritual warfare the next few nights…strange noises and dreams.
We hung up verses around our room and prayed every night.
Mmmm, the menu for the month looks delicious!
…too bad we can't read Telagu….
(Despite the language barrier, we came to conclude, however, that every meal was SPICY…
…going in and coming out.)
Dogs are everywhere in India. The animals I saw the most were:
1) Cows. Imagine driving down a busy road and not only needing to swerve to miss the millions of people, taxis, cars coming down the opposite side of the road, trucks, busses, ox pulled tractors and beggars, but there is a pile of 4 cows sleeping in the road. The cows are sacred though, so best not hit them!
2) Dogs. (Was that chicken we ate today…or…?)
3) Chickens and roosters. We see them least of all…because…well…lets just say we played the "how many chickens are left today" game. There was always one less after lunch!
This is where we slept:
This is our shower, toilet, sink and
friend frog who joins us in the bathroom often.
Can you spot our frog friend in this photo?
I guess he was trying to brush his teeth with my brush…gross.
Pastor loved showing us around.
On our off days, he took us to tons of places in India.
Boat rides, the ocean, and street vendors.
Tasty breakfast off the streets. I began to CRAVE spicy street food.
So cheap, so tasty, and so spicy.
This is my breakfast of a little cup of chai and some spicy somosas.
We got a bag of noodles cooked fresh in front of us mixed with carrots and spicy cabbage.
SO DELICIOUS.
We paid for them and ate them on top of the church's
roof overlooking the city and watching the sunset.
The children at the orphanage stole my heart!
The were the sweetest things ever.
We were never without bracelets, drawings and berries
from them.
These 4 rarely left our sides, they did anything with us and though we
couldn't understand a word each other said, we were so close.
I shared the story of Esther with the girls and told them how they were princesses.
[They stole my camera and took the following head shots….
which worked out nicely in remembering each of them so well!]
The craziest experience of India: the rat killings.
We would often come back to our room to find giant rats running around
our beds, eating our food and hiding Rae's medication in the cabinets for
them to eat later. They were weird and scary, and after I ended up (don't ask)
locked in a small dark bathroom with a giant rat running around my feet,
we decided to set traps.
We caught a total of 9.
Their method of killing the rats was putting them in a sack and slamming
them to death on the ground. Very…humane?
Either way….here is one of the scary rats we caught and killed.
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We went to different churches every Sunday and preached and sang for the congregation.
Everyone rushed the alter at the end to have us pray over them and bless them.
When we got to the homes at the villages, they threw petals on us and handed us roses.
Villagers draw these designs on the ground at night for decoration and welcome.
We went into countless homes to talk and pray with the people.
We prayed for healing and peace in many homes.
We definitely attracted crowds as the children ran
through the village announcing white people were here!
This little girl had just given me a huge kiss on the cheek before this photo was taken,
she melted my heart!!
On the way home from ministry that night, pastor pulled over and got us fresh coconut juice in coconuts. So delicious!
So that summarizes India! It was definitely one of my favorite months so far.
We are finishing up month 5 in Nepal, it's hard to believe this trip is half way over.
This month has been a hard one for the team, but month 5 is usually a hard one.
It's right in the middle and everyone is tired and homesick, but this is the month
God usually does the most, and I can't wait to update you on what's going on here.
I am SO CLOSE to being fully funded!!! Only $1,400 away from being DONE fundraising.
I have one month to get that into my funding account, so if you can help in any way,
please click the 'support me' link on the left under my photo.
Thank you so much for your prayers, dedication and support on this journey so far,
even in the hard times I know you guys are praying and reading my blogs, and some days
it's what keeps me going!
Love,
rach.
