Dear India.. (ramblings to and about India)
I will never forget crossing your roads and how it seemed almost a game with my life, one of my teammates always says, “just close your eyes and walk!”. It was a wild frantic dash across the street with rickshaws and motos barreling at me from both directions.
My mornings won’t be the same without the small cup of steaming chai that greeted me every morning.
(my mornings often started out with reading the Bible, journaling and small cups of delicious chai!!)
(a typical breakfast here in India! Delicious curry and a form of Naan!)
So many people grimaced and said they would pray for me with you being my first month, but far into the Manipur region where I had to bundle up each night, began a sweet journey of 11 months, one I won’t soon forget.
Your Wai Wai (prounounced “why why”) noodles were my favorite and I always squealed with delight over the warm coconut cream noodles for dessert that I could have backstroked in.
The hospitality of your beautiful people easily gave me and my southern roots a run for its money.
What being the hands and feet of Jesus looked like on your soil..
~We got to lay hands on and pray for people that had come to receive a medical check up
~Spending days helping build a church, a hospital, and a brick wall
~Little Davita said “sister, come play games with us..” and we giggled and danced and ran in circles, she braided my hair and it made me teary eyed to say goodbye to her sweet face
~Packing blankets for local villages
~Praying for a high government official and attending a special lunch
~Spending the day working in the kitchen to help the locals prepare food for our squad for the day
I forgot how time consuming it can be to wash clothes by hands and how cold bucket baths can be but you reminded me very quickly.
(my teammates Dylan and Jessica washing their clothes!)
And in the same breath I forgot how much I love entering into a different way of life and how sweet it is to not have everything so convenient, how I love walking everywhere and trying different food.
I rode into you squished on a bus with half of our bags in our laps and the other half on the roof of our bus, wide eyed and excited, smiling to myself and thankful that the good Father called me out into the Nations once again. I cried in the corner of our bright colored tent as I missed the treasures of people that are currently in other parts of the world and thanked Him that I have people that are worthy of tears. I leave thankful and full and rich and better for stepping foot in you and I can’t wait to see what month two holds for me.
In His service,
Destiny
(next month we will be in the city of Katmandu where another array of opportunities will be our ministry, from working in orphanages to ministering to street kids and addicts, to rescuing and speaking life and hope into sex trafficking victims, and I am SO excited!!)
(it was SO much colder in the hills of India than most of us had anticipated, most nights I went to bed with ALL the layers on)
We closed out our time in India with an epic hike through tall brush up to the top of a mountain. It was challenging but so worth it!
This picture doesn’t even do it justice!!
A small glimpse into what construction life looks like overseas. We packed rocks and dirt into bags and then pulled them up onto the roof of the hospital using this pulley system!!
