There are a lot of things I could write about for my first on-the-field blog. I could tell you a story about how Jackson and I waited for five hours for a KFC to open in the Mumbai airport, only to find out it wouldn’t open for at least another three, and ultimately having to settle for a mutton Whopper at a beef-less Indian airport Burger King. I could tell you another story about how I can be an idiot and lost my awesome floral bucket hat (which I begrudgingly decided to take after my father persuaded me) out the window of a moving bus during an 8-hour drive. I guess I’m not in the mood to share a somewhat entertaining story irrelevant to the work being done here, but at the same time I can’t share too many details of our work, locations, and names for the sake of Adventures and their contacts. I guess I can share about India and what a cool and interesting place it is.
In all honesty India is the country I was least looking forward to. I was glad to be getting it out of the way first. I expected it to be over-crowded (due to overpopulation) and full of dirtiness and bad smells which aren’t things most Americans are used to. So far I’ve been right, the only difference is that I absolutely love it. Our first travel “day”� took almost three thanks to Hurricane Irma pushing our flight back a full day, followed by a 13-and-a-half-hour flight to Qatar, a five-hour layover, a four-and-a-half-hour flight to Mumbai, a 12-hour layover (involving the previously mentioned KFC let-down) and then a solid two-hour flight to the final location where we would later spend a few days getting culturally acclimated. The whole experience was exhausting, I felt like all I did was get on and off planes for a month and I was waiting for this World Race to actually start. We aren’t allowed to leave airports during layovers so none of us got any fresh air for three days. It wasn’t until a bus picked up the squad from the airport that I finally got to experience this place.
I have never left the country except to go to Canada for various hockey tournaments involving myself or one of my brothers. Canada isn’t extremely different from the part of the USA that I live in, so it wasn’t a culturally shocking experience. India on the other hand is drastically different than anything I’ve experienced. In the short bus ride from the airport to where we were staying I realized that in India there are literally zero traffic rules. Cars, buses, trucks, motorcycles, tuk-tuks, everything going every direction as fast as possible. All pull out at stops and hope no one hits them; the traffic system is so chaotic that it works perfectly and I can’t tell if India is full of really bad or really good drivers. Traffic horns are so frequent in the city that you can’t go one second without hearing them, and no that is not an exaggeration; I have become completely desensitized to the sound of vehicle horns. We were given freedom to explore the city during our “orientation” and it was very helpful in order to truly develop an understanding of the country. The people and structures are very different, and so is the climate, I can’t remember the last time I wasn’t sweating. The land is full of tropical jungle vegetation as well. On the 8-hour bus ride between where we flew into and where we are now I got to see much of the land, and to my surprise there were some rolling hills. It reminded me of the foothills of the Rockies or Sierra Nevada, only covered in dense vegetation and it is all very beautiful. The rooftop view of where we are staying allows for both a sunrise and sunset over distant mountain peaks and I feel truly blessed and confident.
I’m very excited for what the Lord has in store for my team. In terms of our monthly activity my team has been assigned “construction”�, which involves landscaping, interior painting, miscellaneous organization, and no construction. This “construction”� is based solely in the building that the squad is staying, and my team for the most part is disheartened at what our task for the month is. Don’t get me wrong, our job still needs to be done, it’s just hard for us to hear other team’s tasks such as “playing with orphans”� and after the first day having them come back with miraculous stories. In case you don’t understand every other team gets to leave the host building every day and my team does not. It’s hard to appreciate what we get to do in India but who are we to question the will of God. I’m ready to do whatever we are called to do and even though other preferred tasks aren’t for us this month we still have 8 more and this will be a perfect opportunity to grow as a team, if as a cohesive body we decide to stop being selfish. The Lord is still using us to bless others.
Sitting here writing this blog has made me think of home. Mainly because in the time it’s taken me to write this excessively long blog I’ve been bit by a mosquito exactly 9 times. It reminded me of how most of the guys have set up their tents as a form of bug netting, and while setting up mine a note from my mom along with a bag of candy fell out. I’ve already found hidden in my bible a note that I’ve read and more candy in my daypack. The note I found with my tent I’m deciding to save and read for a time I need it, I hope you understand. I can actually picture my dad reading this last paragraph and getting all worked up about how my mom didn’t tell him she was hiding stuff for me and he would’ve too but humble things like this just add to the reasons that my mom is the best person I know. I miss everyone, mainly my family, and my girlfriend, but I don’t feel sad or homesick in anyway, and I feel like the Lord has blessed me with confidence for this journey and I feel ready for anything. This month in India I will not have free access to Wi-Fi or my cell phone, I only get it Wednesday mornings form 7:00am-12:00pm in India which equates to Tuesday night 9:30pm-2:30am EST. In case any of you would like to communicate with me this is the best time to do so. I am also still fundraising so please feel free to share this with the World. Thank you for your time and I will hopefully have a real story for you next time. I apologize for the lack of pictures but the lack of solid internet collection is preventing me from uploading them here, so when I have good connection I will upload all the pictures I want to share.
