Heyya, folks!
Over the past few weeks, my team and I have been traveling around a lot and have arrived at our final destination of the race! We are now in Kathmandu, Nepal and the weeks we have been here have been such a unique blessing from the Father. However, before I get into all of that I want to take a minute to recap the last month of India because it was pretty awesome
It started early one morning when we piled into the beds of pickup trucks, sprawled our on our packs, and surrounded by a couple weeks worth of food we headed to the hills! Oh, what an adventure it would be!
After 16 hours of climbing higher and higher we reached our destination in Longthulien, a remote village far off in the hills of northeastern India.
The village was absolutely gorgeous! Surrounded by jungle, free growing fruit, and the constant sound of songbirds, this place was an absolute haven. More beautiful still were the people that filled this place. We lived in the school, about a half hours walk from the main part of the village. The community that surrounded that place was awesome as each person there was so committed to the education of the children in attendants. Think of it as a village within a village. Immediately surrounding the school were two hostels for the kids that lived on campus permanently (supported by American sponsors) and the faculty and teaching staff.
Our time in Longthulien was spent loving on the kids of the school. Each morning we would teach class for three hours and then play games in the afternoons. It was such a sweet time of fellowship getting to know the kids and learn about what it’s like to live so far away from major cities. Life with this bunch was so much different than what we experience back home and I loved every second of it!
*Father, would Your love continue to shine out in the far off reaches of Your world! May we never take Your intentional love for granted. You know the stories of each child in those hills and cherish each one. How great is Your love!
Like I said, each morning started with us teaching class and the first morning we did not have much time to prepare. Something to know about me if you don’t already, when in doubt or needing to think, or just any ole time… I play Mumford music…. like a lot. They’re my jam. Sooo, whenever I heard what we would be doing that one fateful day I went, grabbed my little guitar, and taught the 8th grade class a song. Here is the link to our first performance!
In other news, India eats a lot of ginger. It’s in all sorts of stuff and I have more than once’s bit into a small chunk of what I thought to be potatoe only to find my senses overwhelmed by the little root. This picture was taken inside one of the bamboo farming huts the villagers construct to make the harvesting time more convenient. As you can see… there is a lot of ginger.
Because ginger is such a commonly used thing in the hills, the villages came together to celebrate the common folk remedy by throwing a big festival! What a time it was!
Yakob, Jaky-Baky, Jiggy-Moon-Bear, this guy has been by my side since day one. Team changes couldn’t split us apart! For this days adventure, Jacob and I were watching Braveheart, when we became inspired to go exploring on the mountainside… during a torrential downpour. What a time it was! As any young boys would, we decided to become one with the tribe by grabbing the biggest sticks we could find and wack through the bamboo like jungle men. Did we get filthy? Yes. Nearly get struck by lightning? Maybe once or twice. Confuse the stuffing out of a few villagers in the huts? Guilty as charged. But what a memory was made!
Well, those are the highlights or our ending time in India. However, if you want to read more about our adventures and how the Father is working in the last leg of our trip, go check out my follow up blog detailing our ministry in Nepal! I’ll see ya there!
Have a great day!
Through His grace,
Colby
