It’s Friday night, and I’m sitting on the roof of our compound, looking out into the city just in awe of what I’m taking in. I keep asking myself is this happening? Is this real? It’s incredibly surreal. I’ve been asked all my life if I’ve ever been to India, and I’ve always said no. Now that I’m here and at rest, I’m just going over everything that’s happened since launch until this point.
My God, launch was such a gift. Getting to meet up with my peeps that I’ll be doing life with for the next year was so awesome. The most amazing part of it was having my parents there to be a part of the journey with me. We got to worship together, and I got to pray huge prayers over their lives. So many people have come up to me to tell me how awesome they are, how my mom is super cute and how they want to put my dad in their pocket to take him with us. My dad’s presence was definitely felt. Once the parents were gone, squad mates, people from other squads, and even AIM staff came up to me to tell me how awesome my dad was, how they really appreciated his transparency in the father’s group, and how they could really tell his heart for the Lord. It’s already pretty awesome to know a man like him, but for him to be MINE, it’s an honor. He wasn’t really feeling his youngest daughter leaving to travel the world for obvious reasons, but to watch him wear his “proud world race parent” t-shirt and having both of my parents’ support means the world to me and gives me the confidence to go forth into the world and do what the Lord has called me to do. I thank God for giving me such a solid foundation.
Ok, so travel day(sss) were DRAAMMMAAAA!! Sooooo, how about we spend the entire day in the airport Monday to make a flight for 7:25pm, then five minutes before boarding, we find out the flight is canceled due to the plane arriving damaged! Suupppeeerrr crazy! We ended up having to go to another hotel, which we didn’t make it there til about 11pm, BUT we had three meals comped (free fancy food.. awesome!) We spent the next day having to wait it out to see if we’d be able to catch another flight, while keeping all 50 people together. We made the 7:25pm flight, but didn’t take off til around 10ish, which made us almost missed our connecting flight in Qatar. Our plane was fancy, there were tons of movies and tv shows to watch, the food was pretty tasty, and I slept about nine out of 13 hours. It was great! We made our connecting flight and landed in India around 3am Thursday morning and reached our destination around 6am.
Ohhh India, the land that will burn your taste buds off if you’re not prepared. Thank God, I’m from New Orleans and can handle some spicy food. Everything here is sooooo different from the way we do things in the states. Instead of using toilet paper, you use water hoses or little buckets to clean your butt. You eat rice and curry (gravy) with your fingers, which will stain your nails yellow, the Dominos pizza has different flavors of spicy chicken instead of pepperoni or sausage, and the traffiiiccc lawwddd! Lol. PURE CHAOS!! Cars, tuk-tuks, and motos not abiding by any traffic laws. I’m legit surprised that we haven’t witness an accident. It’s like only an inch separate the vehicles driving on the street. And they honk that horn about every two seconds! We had to cross a busy street to get to the mall and thought it would be better to use the cross walk. Lol! I don’t know what’s so funny about dodging several motos and tuk-tuks, but it was the most hilarious experience yet!
All in all, we’ve had some weird and uncomfortable moments, but this is it. We’re here. The world race has begun. I’m just still in shock and awe about what God has done in my life. I’m literally in India and on my way to travel to several other countries to serve God’s people, and to just live for Him. That’s my responsibility for the next year. It’s sooo surreal. I can recall back in September 2015, starting a new position at my job, and listening to the song “Yes,” by Shekinah Glory on repeat, and how I had given the Lord my yes and gave Him full access to my life. That was the beginning of all of this. Now I’m sitting on a rooftop in my namesake, preparing my mind and spirit for the year to come. Wow. Now when someone asks me, “Hey India, have you ever been to India?” My answer, you already know. ??
