I am safe. Safe is the keyword. Yes, I am safe. Am I comfortable? That would be a very different answer. This month my all girls team and one other all girls team are staying in a house in southern India. Our power goes out frequently, we do not have air conditioning, no longer do we live in a place with wifi, we ran out of running water for showers, and our drinking water is not clean so bottle water has become our friend. I am sweating an obscene amount. I’ve been guaranteed that I will be getting lice this month. In our living room we for sure have two rats, a flying cockroach, and multiple geckos. Last night we found leaches in our sponges. We’ve been eating the street food because we don’t have a working stove or oven. It’s so hot in our house at night that we sleep on the roof in our tents. Every night the debate starts in my head with “Do I risk malaria and be cooled off so that I can finally sleep or no I continue to feel like I’m about to die in this sauna of a tent I bought?” We travel around in tuk-tuks with at least 7 of us piled inside of them, which is surprisingly fun. I’ve been inside of a tailor shop while a riot started so the shop was closed and the strikers forced us out. Today I crossed off my bucket list walking through a protest line with men yelling and stuff lit on fire.
Despite all that craziness, I have loved it here. Something about India makes me feel alive. Our ministry this month is working in an orphanage for special needs kids. 105 kids live here and I have gotten the privilege to hold the hands of every single one of them. These kids are the absolute greatest. They have the best smiles and they love in the most pure form. Once I got over the initial feeling of being completely overwhelmed that comes from everything that is India, I was able to receive the immense amount of joy that just fills you from being with these little ones and experiencing the culture. These aren’t kids on the spectrum. These are my brothers and sisters. I only have a few weeks with these precious kiddos and my goal is to learn a much from them as I possible can. The Lord keeps telling me he has big things planned for me this month and that is really exciting for me! More blogs are to come! This was just an update to let you know what I’ve been doing. Please be praying!
