I’m excited to say that we’ve officially landed in India (as of two weeks ago)! I’ve been wanting to go to India since before I even signed up for this race; this is my favorite place I’ve been to so far. We currently live in school dormitories outside of a local village; the locals here are very friendly and kind to us. We’re living in a rural area, it’s very apparent that many of the locals here have never seen many white people such as us before. I can say confidently say that this is the first time I’ve been asked for a picture of myself before. I’ve loved being able to play soccer with the kids here.
One thing that surprised me about the town we’re staying at is that the entire town is openly Christian; I was not expecting to see very many Christians in all of India, let alone an entire town of believers. We even got invited to a Christmas party at a local school where we sang Christmas and worship songs.
I’ve noticed that Malaysia and India has a lot of homeless people and drug abusers on the streets. I’ve fallen victim in the past of ignoring people on the streets because of awkwardness or inconvenience when in reality I should’ve shown them love and affection. I’ve been told here that the hardest part of being homeless isn’t worrying about food or shelter, but it’s being ignored and being looked down upon on a daily basis.
I used to always tell myself to ignore homeless people and addicts because they only want drug money. While I have definitely experienced my fair share of people begging for drug money both in America and Asia, it never hurts to show God’s love to people on the streets; spending five minutes helping someone could make their entire day. This can be shown by either giving them supplies or just simply loving them and asking them how their day is. Some of my best ministry opportunities I’ve had these past three months have been with people living on the streets; the people I’ve talked to are always amazing people who just want love and affection. It’s easy to dehumanize people in these situations, I’ve done it myself, but they will always be children of God and we should love them as family.
I’ve been having an amazing time these past few months! Thank you to all who’ve made this trip possible! We also went on a six hour mountain hike the other day, it was gorgeous!
