(I apologize for the lack of pictures on my blogs this month. We don’t have a lot of opportunities to use the Internet, and when we do, our connection is really slow, if it works at all. I was able to upload two pictures for this blog, but hopefully I can add more later. And I hope to find better Internet before I post my next blog so I can add pictures. Thanks for understanding and reading anyway!)
1) Monkeys! – They’re in the trees, they’re walking along fences as you walk or drive by, they’re walking through the same villages we are sometimes. But watch out! If you have anything in your hands, they might just try to steal it from you.
2) Sharing the roads with “buffalo” (huge black cows), large pigs, chickens, goats, ducks, dogs, and other animals in cities and villages everywhere – It’s completely normal now to swerve around a herd of goats on our way to ministry or pat a cow out the window as we turn a corner.
3) Eating all foods without utensils and only with your right hand – Occasionally we forget not to use our left hand, but our translator and ministry contacts are always quick to remind us.
4) Unexpectedly losing power for hours at a time (on a daily basis) – In our small village, power is not considered a necessity. Some days we have electricity for most of the day. Some days, we have a few flashes of electricity for ten minutes at a time. We’ve learned to charge our electronics when we can and just embrace life in the jungle!
5) The loss of natural laws of physics – How else would you explain a woman’s ability to carry dozens of pots and pans on her head, or how a family of five can drive everywhere they need to go on a small motorbike?
6) Being hot and sweaty all day every day – This is especially true if you are wearing a saree…We are here during India’s “winter” season. I don’t know how the women here do it in the summer!
7) Being served food and beverages by people you just met – Hospitality is a huge part of Indian culture. We are treated as honored guests when we visit new villages each day. (Read my previous blog, “Eating Humble Pie,” to hear more about this!)
8) Not wearing shoes – When you enter most buildings, especially people’s homes, you take your shoes off. Some stores and businesses even ask you to leave your shoes at the door.
9) Wearing bug spray like it’s perfume – Malaria is a real threat here, and I’d prefer not to get it if at all possible!
10) Seeing people worship false idols all around you – I feel like an Israelite in the Old Testament as we come home from our prayer meetings and literally pass by people making sacrifices to false gods. It certainly keeps me in prayer throughout the day when I know how much spiritual warfare is surrounding us in a country where only 2% of the population are Christians.
11) Living in community – It’s not exactly my favorite thing in the world to look up during a service in a village and see a stranger drinking out of my Nalgene because it was there and they were thirsty. As a westerner, I’m not used to the “everything is everyone’s” policy that’s accepted in India. But when that same person who helped themselves to my water will spends their last rupee to buy me a cold Sprite, or carries a plastic lawn chair from their hut to the church so I don’t have to sit on the floor, I can see how kind and beautiful and honoring that policy can be.
Life in India is vastly different than anything I’ve ever experienced. But God is moving in this place, and I feel blessed to be a part of it!
