It’s the end of week two in Manipur, India and all I have to say is wow. It is beautiful here! The mountains and sunsets are fantastic. I would post pictures, but there isn’t enough bandwidth. I’ve been trying to cancel my car insurance for the last two weeks and the website won’t even load. Oh well.
As I shared in my last post, we had a lot of time to hang out in airports on the way over here. After 3 different flights, and a fairly long bus ride over roughly 48 hours we finally arrived at our ministry location in the village of Selma in Manipur, India. I remember when we were all lounging on our backpacks and napping on the floor in the last airport, I turned to one of my squad mates and expressed, “I feel like I haven’t showed in two days.” They glanced at their watch and responded, “Bird, it’s Friday. You haven’t showered in two days.” Oh the joys of international travel!
It is all squad month so we have everybody here. It’s like it was at training camp all over again but since we all know each other by now, there are a lot less awkward pauses. The food is fantastic, our ministry host is amazing, and the ministry days we have had have been very fruitful (we started a bit slowly the first couple of days to let the jet lag wear off.) I never thought I would embrace going to bed at 9pm and waking up at 5:30 every morning, but the sun rises around 4:30am here, and sets about 5pm so everybody is on an much different schedule than I’m used to back home. It’s pretty wild, I must say. Last night I stayed up ’til 10:30 reading and I woke up feeling like I partied all night.
The only place we can access wifi is at a little place called Life Cafe, roughly a 15 minute walk into town from where we are staying. I thought the lack of contact was going to be painful, however, it has been pretty nice. I’ve been able to be present where I am and focus on building community and ministry, rather than trying to catch up on gossip back home. From what I hear, several of the parents were freaking out and calling the emergency line to see if their kids were still alive. Just for the record, no news is good news, folks!
This week has been full of adjustments, cold bucket showers, squatty potties (which are actually pretty great), feet being muddy from the moment I step out of the shower, everything staying damp, mandatory mosquito netting, remembering to take my malaria meds every day, strange looks from locals, kids peeing on the sidewalk, crazy traffic rules (there are none), cows meandering the streets, great Indian food, horrible Indian candy, games with kids, great ministry, and actual bone chilling spiritual warfare. From triumphs, to challenges, I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I can truly say for the first time in a while, I know this is right where I am supposed to be. Thank you for all of your prayers, love, and support! Love y’all.
P.S. We are shooting a new spoken word video soon. Stay tuned until the end to find out how you can get involved with this amazing ministry we are partnering with here in Manipur!!!
