We have made it to our very first ministry sight! As I should have expected it was absolutely nothing that I expected. As I believe I hinted before, we were going to a small village. False. We actually have found ourselves in the midst of a city, bigger than the first. We boarded our 6-hour bus ride with the locals after cramming all of our bags and selves onto 3 tuk tuks for the 6 of us in order to get to the station. Traffic is crazy. There is no plan, although there is a sense of organized chaos swerving between cows, motorcycles, humans, and buses. I think the louder the horn, the bigger the vehicle and by gosh every vehicle has a right to be heard! Our bus announced its arrive to every intersection and every curve in the road. Between the horn, brakes, and water flooding in from the rain, I actually managed some lovely sleep before arriving at our site around 4 am. We were carted off to the Pastor’s own house and ushered upstairs into his tiny second floor room. Once we figured out how to arrange the 6 of us, we were out cold. One thing I have learned how to do well is sleep in any situation.
It is kind of hard to believe that this is going to be real life for the next 11 months. We are in India. We are halfway around the world from home and in an entirely new culture that is going to take some trial and error to figure out. This morning was spent lazily. We were chauffeured to the market in our very own covenant church van. Everyone smiles and waves and wants to know where we are from. I feel like a celebrity everywhere I go! We bought ingredients to cook curry, and a huge jug of water. Water is paradise and hard to come by. Water for washing must be carried up to the apartment we are staying, and drinking water must be bought. When one sweats as much as they do in India, water is sweet, sweet nectar of life.
We were treated to a delicious curry prepared by Pastor Raja’s wife Meena. Eating Indian style is quite different. For starters, we sat on the floor. One is not supposed to eat with their left hand because the left hand is… well… lets just say they don’t believe in toilette paper. No silverware available, but the rice is tossed around and thrown into your mouth. Did I mention the portion sizes are huge? Not only are you expected to eat a bowl full of rice and curry as big as your face, you are expected to get seconds as well. We are not 100% sure on what the right etiquette is to refuse seconds yet… sooo we may be beginning to gain what Andrew lovingly refers to as the “missionary 40”. After lunch we were treated to several hours of Raja and Meena’s wedding videos. No body warned us that India films last hours… oh and we only made it through part one. Part 2 is for tomorrow.
We were carted off to church later in the evening and were told that we were expected to preach, pray, and provide music. Talk about being thrown in and learning how to swim! We left at 5, only to arrive 3 hours later due to a slight delay with a flat tire. The town was out in the middle of no where and I am sure we were quite the spectacle as Courtney played her Ukulele through town and we sang to pass the time. We opened to door to find 20 ish beaming beautiful children! All so excited to meet and sing to us. We were the guests of honor sitting in front of the open air church while they danced for us. They danced for the Father. It poured rain. That was the least of anyone’s worries and we sat in the rain until no one could bear it any longer.
Men and women piled up to receive prayer. The joy in that place was astounding. So much love and peace we were blown away by the life and love in each of their faces. We were served dinner and were served portion after portion, eating far longer than any of our stomachs could handle. Is this a typical day? I have no idea. I am trying to learn the joy in trying not to guess the next step. All I know is God is good. He is renewing our minds daily and we are being emptied of ourselves so much that we can’t help but press in more and more to His glory.
