Well its officially started… we have reached that level of uncomfortable. The past 24 hours have been surreal! Its hard to even explain this place with just pictures and a blog. India is a whole other part of Asia.. Actually it feels like a different world!
I am currently sitting on the top bunk of a train traveling from New Delhi India to Bangalore India. And what a ride it is.
We flew into India over 3 days ago without train tickets because for some reason this is a busy holiday season and we weren’t able to get the tickets we needed, but they usually hold some tourist tickets for people that are visiting but you have to be present to get them. So off the boys went early Thursday (5/5) morning to the train station with our passports as we sat back at the orphanage praying and hoping God would allow this trip to happen- though we knew it was all in His hands. They were able to get all three teams tickets to our locations, just at different times! AmEn! Since the train station was a good hour a half away we all three packed up and headed out around 3pm.. Even though OUR train wasn’t till 9:15- but such is the race! We pull up to the train station and immediately we knew we were out of our element. They told us do not let anyone hold your bags or try to carry them for you or you will have to pay. So we grab our packs and start truckin on into the station.. I have never in my life felt like more of a circus freak- or celebrity in my life. The stares were one thing, but when you look back and acknowledge the stares and nothing happens is when it starts to become a little freaky. We get inside and pick a corner because we have about 5 hours to wait in this way over populated HOT train station. Andrew’s team headed to their 5:45 train and then Rachel’s team headed to their 6:30 train.. And we continue to sit.. And wait
Thankfully for us.. We sat up post right in front of this room where Beka and Trey made friends with the guys with their sweet Ukulele skills.. And we had 2 of the guys from the orphanage come with us. It didn’t take us long to realize that we were the ONLY westerns and ONLY tourists in the train. We looked around and seemed like there were at least 200 eyes on us. WOW All I could do was look at my team and laugh.. I guess we didn’t look as bad as we thought? Ha Not more that a few minutes later this group of 3 guys that have been staring straight at me pull our their cell phone and are trying to take pictures of me from a distance.. So I smiled and posed- DUH! They laughed and came closer and I said hi..
They didn’t understand a word I said. Our “bodyguards” from the room behind came out and ran them out. They came back and the guy in the orange wanted to show off his daughter to me, cutest little girl, they ended up being really friendly! Then another group started with they cell phones and started jumping up on the ledge beside me and continued to take pictures WITH me! Not gonna lie, I needed the confidence booster.. But then a line started.. And the men had to come out AGAIN and shoo the guys off. We were all like whoa what is going on, have they never seen Americans before? They called in one of the guys from the orphanage to come in the room and pretty aggressively had a conversation with them. He came out and continued to tell us to make sure we keep a tight watch on our stuff- which we had already been told a few times, but now being in the train station we were confirmed as to why. About 7:30-8 o’clock we grabbed our packs and made the walk to our platform. Its about dinner time and we are pretty nervous about eating the food, the last thing we want on this train ride is an upset stomach.. So we had a nutritious dinner of bananas and crackers- nom nom nom. Our train pulled up a few minutes early and our friends walked us on the bus and helped us get our things situated. We have a sleeper car which is 6 beds (the middle one folds down while we are sitting) and all our packs are semi slammed under the seat and in our feet room. It is crammed and no airconditioning.. Luckily it is evening time when we get on so there is an ok breeze.
Before we take off a man walks up begging.. And we look at him and his body is covered in scars and his hands are so deformed and shriveled up it is so sad. He pulls out money from his pockets to show me what he wants and I shook my head and said I’m sorry I don’t have any money. He continued to stand there so I put my hands together and said I don’t have any money but can I pray for you?. He didn’t understand so I did it again- hands together saying can I pray for you. He immediately fell to one knee and bowed his head.. I put my hand on his shoulder and prayed for him- I’m not going to lie I was slightly nervous being in a Hindu country as a christian on a train with pretty much all Hindu people. It was going to be a long ride if this wasn’t received well. After I prayed he continued to stay and asked for some water so Trey poured water into his mouth because he couldn’t hold the bottle because of his deformed hands. All I could do was quote “When I was hungry you gave me something to eat, when I was thirsty you gave me something to drink” and I was so excited to be giving a child of God who was thirsty some water. He continued to stay and ask for money and he kept putting his thump to his forehead (I think telling me he was hindu) and then started tapping my leg weirdly.. So the men finally were like don’t touch her and asked him to leave. He came back shortly and sat there just saying words I didn’t understand.. But another young guy came and gave him some rupees and told him to go. This guy became our new suite mate, he had a ticket for standing room only- which seems to be pretty popular, so they find beds and seats that aren’t being used.-which is quite the gamble because- have I mentioned yet how long our train ride is? Oh yeah- 43 hours. Yup 43 hours of sitting on top of our stuff, on a hot, no air-conditioned train. But man am I thankful for this opportunity to serve God in our uncomfortableness
. I keep waking up in a pool of my own sweat, my pillow soaking wet- so I flip over and the breeze cools me off. In spite of this, the attitudes of my team has been great- I haven’t heard anyone complain or be too fearful of the continued stares and creepers, I haven’t heard anyone really whining about the heat or the cramped space (granted we are only 17 hours in.. ha)
But to see us all working together as a team of Soldiers for Gods purpose is truly amazing.
second half of trainride blog to come!
