I have been slacking big time with blogging. I am still trying to figure out the time warp of the World Race. A day feels like a week but then a week feels as if I blinked and its over. We are already one week into ministry in Nepal and I am still trying to wrap my head around all that happened in India. How is it more than half way through February already?!
Processing and reflecting, something I thought I did well and naturally .. turns out I don’t and its hard! We walked through so much spiritually, communally, and personally that I don’t even know where to begin. I promise I am praying about it so I can share all that the Lord is doing on this side of the world.
What I do know though is I fell in love with India and its people and that God will one day call me back to continue what He planted in my heart over the month. Ministry was rough, but it filled me with so much hope. Many of the 13 villages my team visited was the first time missionaries were ever there. We encountered so many hurting and confused people desperate for the Truth. Calling themselves believers yet believing baptism is their “ticket to heaven” and without it they go to hell; too afraid to pray to Jesus alone in their homes; or just that could not let go of Hindu rituals because disbelief that Jesus is truly enough to protect them. What I can’t wrap my mind around yet is how in all of this, somehow God chose us to be the ones who went to represent Him and break down these walls of confusion His children are trapped within.
Culturally, India is rich in history and amusing for Americans to walk into the every day norms. Here are a few of my favorite take aways:
- Safety comes second. There are no rules for driving. As many as you can fit in the Tuk Tuk (auto) you’re good to go. Lanes, there is no such thing; if you want to pass someone and play chicken with a huge truck at the same time its completely ok. Honking your horn at all times for no reason consistently is preferred. Weaving around the random water buffalo and cows is just another day in India. We have gone down the wrong way on a one way simply because our driver missed the turn into the proper lane and felt no need to correct it so he just drove like nothing was wrong (absolutely terrifying experience).
- Chai is an important part of the day (I am so ok with this). There are Chai breaks most commonly at 10:00am and 3:00pm.
- The infamous India ‘head bobble’ is contagious and unintentionally we have all picked it up.
- Motorbikes and scooters are family cars. The same rule for Tuk Tuks applies here. I think the most we have seen on one motorbike was 6 people. SO CRAZY! They carry ladders, mattresses, buckets, literally anything we would put in our cars they manage to do with a scooter. Most women ride ‘side saddle’ and I am confused every time without a doubt how gravity doesn’t win.
- Raw red onion is a part of every meal. We have watched our host bite directly into one and eat it as well as slurp them out of buttermilk curd, its as unpleasant to watch as it sounds.
- Everyone decorates their trucks and Tuk Tuks. Usually with Hindu Gods but others are just bright and colorful.
- Men hold each others hands as they walk. Brotherly love is so real in India.
<3
