A few weeks ago, when our squad was still in NE India, my roommate Blair Grace challenged me to write down 50 things that made me feel alive while being in India.
This is one of the best exercises I’ve ever done, and I’ve decided to write one list for each country we visit.
Thanks for reading:)
50 Things That Make Me Feel Alive: INDIA
1. The beautiful oranges, blues, pinks and greens in the fabric that our meal tent is made of.
2. The singing insects that sound like a million and one tiny, shrill bells that sing all through the day and sometimes all through the night.
3. Spontaneous hoards of children playing dress-up in miniature wedding dresses and tuxedos, imploring me to take pictures with them. How could I possibly say no?
4. Having my breath stolen by the mountains every single morning, afternoon and evening as I wind my way to the meal tent.
5. The way the wind feels across my frame as I walk everywhere, greeting and being greeted by everyone with a genuine smile.
6. Chopping all my hair off on a momentary impulse because sometimes, when you’re watching old Winona Ryder movies, her hair is too fabulous to handle and you just have to have it for yourself.
7. Playing volleyball again for the first time in so many years. Also, our team not loosing the first round in our squad tournament.
8. Playing with a Praying Mantis and feeling its’ sticky limbs all over my hands and arms.
9. The way the vehicle horns sound so different here than they do back home.
10. Sleeping in hammocks underneath the starry night sky on an unfinished rooftop somewhere in India. This is life changing.
??11. Chai breaks at the hottest part of the day. It’s a miracle how drinking a hot beverage when you’re sweating somehow makes you cool down.
12. Construction days. Whether it’s breaking up the ground with a hoe, carrying dirt by the bucketful from one pile to another, or hauling bricks two by two in assembly lines.
13. Staying up way too late on the roof, talking deep into the night with new friends, sharing music through bluetooth speakers and sharing the past with them, even though this is a hard thing for you to do.
14. Waking up to the sound of rain hitting your rain fly, but knowing that you’re snug and dry in the hammock underneath it.
15. Belly laughs with my Sisters during every single team time we have.
16. Being read to sleep by my roommate and sister, Blair Grace.
17. Receiving an unpredicted invite into someone’s startling heartache and given the honor of being allowed to see them in their most vulnerable moments.
18. Listening to music with Dahra on kitchen crew days, and teaching him what “Echo chef” means back home.
19. The way an ice cold Coke feels against my throat on a hot day in Northeast India.
20. Dressing up with my teammates as the boys on our squad for Halloween.
21. Singing old-timey songs while painting wrought-iron railing at the secondary school for ministry.
22. Letting the ferocious rainstorms wash away everything you’re carrying emotionally when you get caught in them unexpectedly.
23. Trekking through inches of deep, thick mud in my Chacos and somehow managing not to fall on my butt.
24. Being moved to tears by how beautifully the Hmar people sing.
25. Receiving an unexpected invite to a closed event celebrating the life of a very impactful, very holy man in this area and having the experience change your heart forever.
26. The plate-sized banana spiders that hang out in the trees on Prayer Mountain.
27. Having real, life-giving conversations on systematic theology with the local seminary students when you’re supposed to be helping improve their English by talking about pronunciation instead… Oops.
28. Our first day of ministry in India, when 30 of us crammed onto the back of a flat-bed construction truck and rode standing up through crazy Indian traffic in a heavy monsoon, laughing, screaming, crying and singing for joy in heavy rain.
29. The beautiful Hindu woman who walks a stubborn herd of cows up and down the hill each morning to exercise them.
30. Doing laundry in buckets on the roof and letting everything air dry.
31. Always having 60 people around to hug you when you need one the most.
32. Cramming almost 10 people into a tiny, 3-wheeled auto, careening around Sielmat, and clapping for joy when the auto driver says “Oh yeah, I know Jesus Christ.”
33. Constantly being amazed by the resiliency of the human spirit when it walks in harmony with the Holy Spirit. ??
34. Learning every day how to really live with other people.
35. Pooping on a squatty potty.
36. Discovering rock crabs at the waterfall we climbed together as a team.
37.Finding God in every single face and hillside that I encounter. Imago Dei. Imago Dei. Imago Dei.
38. Dancing to Chainsmokers and Drake with tiny, but strong, old men and women on construction days and seeing their faces light up with true, indescribable joy.
39. The way it feels to laugh together with people even when you don’t speak the same language.
40. Singing “Sisters are doin’ it for themselves!” with my Sisters every time we achieve a little extra happiness.
41. Every single serving of Puri bread, even if it does go straight to the hips. Hips are supposed to be full anyway, aren’t they?
42. The slippery taste of fresh Papaya, as I sit in the kitchen and share life with our ministry hosts. This is something I won’t soon forget.
43. The way my team prays together.
44. Tracing the hand prints of a stunning little girl who instantly befriended me at one of our medical camps, and teaching her how to spell my name after she taught me how to spell hers.
45. The absolutely beautiful face of the mentally handicapped boy who sits at the window of one of the houses I pass every night on my way to dinner. The breathtaking way he squeals “Hello!” and waves at me with such deep joy radiating off every feature. I don’t even know his name, but he has changed my life just by being there every day. What a profound treasure he is.??
46. The way it feels to slip into a pretty dress bought from the market after a fresh shower.
47. Talking about the past with new friends and learning to trust them through the process.
48. Administering sacraments and taking communion with my Sisters as a team, sitting on the floor in a dark room, lit only by the glow from our headlamps, breaking bread together with the Holy Spirit.
49. When a particularly shy seminary student taps you on your shoulder after you spent the better part of an hour trying to get her to open up the day before, and says in a quiet voice, “Please sit next to me in my next class, sister Hannah,” and gives you the most brief of shy smiles. This is the sweetest of small victories.
50. The fact that India has broken my walls and made me start writing again. Really writing, for the first time in years.
And, because I never can seem to follow the rules just right:
51. Listening to Otis Redding sing me to sleep as I lay in my hammock at night underneath that starry Indian sky, realizing that life as I knew it before will never be the same after this month is over, and particularly after this Race has been run. For the first time in my life, resting in the fact that I don’t have to know what’s coming next. The water will clear. I will see when God shows me. I must keep my eyes on Him.
