Greetings From India!
This past month has been very busy with a lot of traveling. I have not had access to a computer with internet, so I apologize for being MIA with emails and blogs. I’ll recap this past month in India, so this may be a slightly longer blog, but I probably won’t go into as much detail, so be sure to follow up with me through emails, or when I get back if you want to hear more. I am headed into Nepal next so please be praying for us!
Right before leaving Myanmar/Burma I was placed on a new team, three out of the five teams were changed. This is a pretty big event in itself, and probably should have it’s own blog, but as internet access is limited I’ll refrain from talking about it in detail. I will say that it is difficult having team change. I really felt that the team that I was on was really starting to connect, and that we were connecting on a deeper level. We were all being very intentional, and vulnerable with each other, we stopped shying away from conflict, and we were embracing community in its rawest from. I still get to see my old teammates throughout the race, but it is definitely not the same as traveling and living with them 24/7. My new team is awesome though! You should click on their links on the left hand side of the page. You should also check out http://jeanneroeser.theworldrace.org/ Jeanne is our team leader, for some reason her link does not show up on my page. I have really enjoyed this past month with my new team. It will definitely take some time to build the same report that I had with my old team, but I am very optimistic and excited to be journeying with this new team. Our team name The Beautiful Leftovers comes from our first night together in Myanmar/Burma we went out to this little cafe place on the street to have a meal together. While we were eating we had multiple young women, and their kids come and beg for money from us. Instead of ignoring them, or just handing them some money we pulled up some chairs and invited them to eat with us. As we did this more and more people came to our table. At one point we had a Hindu man, a young buddhist monk, and two families eating with us! How amazing that we were all eating and fellowshipping at a table that God was at the head of. We all laughed, ate, played games, danced in the street, and really just enjoyed being human. Sometime I can get lost in the “Projects” or the “Goals” and I just forget to be human, and to invite someone to eat with me. We now always leave a chair open at our team table wherever we go. Sometimes we have folks join us on our Journey and sometimes its just the team. Both are beautiful!
After leaving Myanmar/Burma we headed to Kolkata India. We stayed near “The Mother House” a place that Mother Teresa set up to take in people off of the streets, some old and dying others, are victims of sexual trafficking, and others are disabled and can not take care of themselves. http://www.motherteresa.org/07_family/volunteering/v_cal.html We volunteered for three days, and it was truely amazing! We went to one of the six houses in the area. The house we served at was a place for the elderly to come and basically pass away in peace. Before I go on I need to state that I have always had a HUGE appreciation for nurses, and home health care workers etc. I have always thought that I could never do that because I would struggle with helping someone to use the bathroom, and to have to clean them after etc. This may seem like nothing to some people, but for me it’s a huge obstacle. Well on my first day volunteering I just have to say God really helped me overcome this obstacle. After cleaning the floors and walls in the men’s area I was asked to help a gentlemen to the bathroom. Like most of the men here he is restricted to a bed or wheelchair and cannot move on his own. His limbs were very stiff and difficult to move, he must have only weighed 80lbs. I picked him up out of his wheelchair and carried him in my arms…. Like I would a child… But he wasn’t a child he was a full grown man, who lived a full life, and was now dependent on random strangers to help him do anything. I wanted to cry out for him! For his independence! But all I could do was carefully walk him to a bathroom, and after we was finished ensure we was clean, and then dress him and carry him in my arms back to his bed to lay down. Sometimes you have so many emotions going through you that for me at least it is very difficult to identify them all. Thinking back on it now I still can’t wrap my mind around it. It was and is truly humbling.
All three days were basically the same at the Mother House our team would arrive in the morning at the main location for tea and toast in the morning with the sisters and the other volunteers, then all of the volunteers would go to one of the six houses to volunteer that day. My team and I always volunteered at the same place, so I’m not sure what was normal for the other houses, but for us. It was common to arrive do laundry, clean dishes, massage the men and the women, help them to the bathroom, feed them, etc. There was one gentleman there who I would serve food to and bring water to and he always seemed kind of upset. He never would talk a whole lot or anything. If I asked him a question he would give a short answer, or just a quick motion. This happened for the first two days. On the third day I had decided to borrow a guitar from another team to play some music for the residence. I don’t know a whole lot, but I figured they might enjoy it. Well after doing the normal morning chores the sisters let me bring the guitar out. The gentleman who seemed angry all the time saw me with it, and used his walker to walk over to me, and I began to play and he smiled SOO BIG and began to sing!!!! So then I smiled SOO BIG too!! One of the sisters told me that he needed to get exercise and that he didn’t really want to walk, so I began played the guitar and walked backwards while he would walk towards me singing the whole time. We then made it to where a most of the guys were sitting in the eating area, and he and I gave them a little concert, and at the end they all clapped and were encouraging us! This was a huge climate change for the men. Usually they would just sit and stare, rarely smiling. As soon as I finished volunteering that day I went to a local music shop and bought my own guitar.
My team and I also really connected with the other volunteers at the Mother House. After we finished a shift there we would all go out for food, and then some of them would stay with us, and spend the whole day with us whether we were just sitting and talking or going to see a sight somewhere. We also really connected with a local guy who was my age. He owned a little food vendor stand in between the Mother House and our hostel. We met him on the first day, and we ate there at least twice a day everyday. He would show us around Kolkata, and we would arrange boat rides on the Ganges, he took us on a tour of the Victoria Memorial, and really just showed us the culture. In turn we were able to share our culture, and our faith! He was very open to hearing about Jesus, and is now reading a bible that we gave him, and we will email us asking questions about it, and about Jesus! We also were able to share our faith with many of the volunteers who also stay in contact with us, and want to learn more about Jesus. It’s amazing what God can accomplish through you when you stop trying to be a missionary, and you just start living as a human being who knows Jesus.
After leaving Kolkata we headed to Imphal India, which in the Manipur state. We stayed with a ministry contact their and partnered with them through medical camps, vbs, and the hospital they run. We stayed with the Hmar tribe, a people group who were head hunters before the first missionary came back in 1910. They now have a huge minsitry called Bibles for the World, and they translate bibles in other languages, as of 2010 they have provided over 100milliion bibles! They have a hospital, a child sponsor program, and a seminary. This all came about from one missionary who defied England and visited the Hmar tribe in 1910, but was only able to spend 5 days with them! There is an old but great movie that you can find on youtube that gives more of the history “Beyond the Next Mountain” you can also visit http://biblesfortheworld.org/home-2/in-memoriam-dr-rochunga-pudaite/ to read a short bio on the founder, and the histrory of how a headhunting tribe is really advancing the kingdom! Its an amazing story!
During my team with the Hmar people I managed to get injured after playing Ultimate Frisbee with some friends. I dislocated my ankle, and one of my metatarsals on my left foot. If your going to get hurt on the race through pray it happens here in Churchanpur (Manipur India) the hospital is very close, and everyone took such great care of me! I was immediately taken for x-rays with cost $4.80, and then I was taken to the home of a physical therapist. It was late at night which is why I went to his home. He had to set my foot twice, and so they gave me a towel to bite down on, and a couple of shampoo bottles to squeeze. It was really painful I’m not going to lie. There is video of it, that I try and post when I get access to it. He then put a hard cast on, and said I have to wear it for at least 2 weeks. I have about 5 more days now. Wearing the cast has been pretty frustrating, but still good I am definitely learning to receive constant help with pretty much everything. My team has to carry all of my gear, they help me up and down steps as I tend to fall crutches can be frustrating especially when they are to short. The day after getting hurt a few of the teams were going to climb up the tallest mountain near where we were staying. They would not let me go despite my best attempts. I then decided to hike my own mountain. So I hiked up one called prayer mountain. On the way up I kind of had it out with God because I was upset and frustrated because I held back from hiking the other mountains, and I knew I wouldn’t be allowed to go to the medical camps etc. For anyone who doesn’t really know me I should explain a couple of things. One I get hurt a lot! Two I try not to let it prevent me from doing things. Hence my being hard headed and climbing a different mountain on crutches on my own. I’m not saying I make the best decisions, but in this case it was good. Sometimes I began to believe lies that I can’t do things. Sometimes you just have to prove the devil wrong. So on the way up the mountain I yelled at God wanting understanding why this happened, and to just vent my frustration. When I reached the top I was very tired, and so I sat down to rest. When I did I just looked at how beautiful the mountain that valleys were. On my way down I felt like God was telling me that He knew I would hike with one leg to any village or up any mountain to share the gospel, to love on people, and to just explore what he has created. But that I really needed to focus on letting people humble me and carry me, like I had to carry the gentleman in the Mother House. I need to stop trying to be independent, and to learn to lean on other people when I need it.
Please continue to pray for me as I travel, and for the people I am traveling with and the people that I meet. Also please be in prayer for my fundraising I still have a $3000 left to raise by the end of this month.
