[Posting on Day 106 – 12.22.17]
Day 104 – 12.22.17
I think one of the biggest challenges my fellow racers and I face in regards to blogging, is this:
Life here is different.
It’s incredible, beautiful, difficult, and awe-inspiring. Life back home can be this way as well, but day to day life here is simply different.
It’s hard to communicate the depth we feel and live in over a digital screen, just like how it may be hard for you to do with the raw reality and emotion of your day to day life. Before I left home, it was easy to only share the pretty aspects of life. Here that temptation is amplified.
Pictures can only show so much, videos only last so long, and words can only be manipulated to a certain extent before I feel repetitive and mundane. I fear my words can’t possibly sink deep enough to convey, this is real. This is how it actually is. Can you see it too? Do you feel this too?
So how is it different?
The only tactic I can think of right now to answer this question is to submerge you into my day. Completely. No reserves, no filter. The complete and honest truth. As cringe worthy as it may be. Right now.
I have a good start for this digital journey of ours.
After I typed, “right now” I took a swig of the French pressed coffee my friends shared with me (legit coffee isn’t too common, so strong black coffee is so exciting). But my sip was primarily coffee grains, causing me to spit it back out into the weird little metal shot glass, getting it all over my chin and shirt.
Welcome to my day! Brace yourself and get comfortable. Because this is not going to be a short read. No no, you aren’t getting off that easy. This blog is going to be long, detailed, jumbled, messy, and probably a little boring. Because that is precisely what every day is like here. If you really want to know what it’s like, then you have to fight through it too. I could just give you 300 words and a cliche caption, but where’s the fun in that? You can split it up over time, pretend it’s a novelette, whatever works for you. But I challenge you to read it. All 2,376 words of it.
Today, I’m behind on my mental to do list. I woke up late beside my squadmate, Makennah, in my tiny tent that was occupied by one of our hosts until recently. There’s no room for me, literally, in my actual team’s room. So I’ve slept on the roof in Makennah’s tent, till it broke at 3am the night before my team got two new team members. I’ve slept on the second floor, that looks like a ginormous parking garage. And I’ve slept squished between steel bunks and bags in my team’s room.
Last night was my first night in my month or so of being here that I slept somewhere that felt my own.
All my stuff is still in my team’s room, including the only place I’m able to charge my phone that seems to always be dead or dying. Current percentage is 19%.
I left it charging in my room last night, so Makennah woke me up saying our meeting was in five minutes. Most mornings at 10am, we have a Bible study, or a segway into team time. I still haven’t gotten to shower, wash my face, or change my clothes yet. But I had time to brush my teeth, which I consider a victory.
I shooed ants away from me as we dove into Ephesians 6. This time right now is considered team time, and today our focus is blogging. So here I am.
Lunch is in a few minutes. The Indian women who work here (some of my best pals) make us milk coffee, chai, and three meals a day. The amount of rice, curry, and chapati I’ve ate this month is astounding.
We eat with our hands. Well, only our right hand. In Indian culture, the left hand is considered unclean, as is the bottom of feet. As a lefty, I admit eating was a very daunting task at first. But now, it comes so naturally I almost forgot to mention it until I remembered silverware is a thing in America.
My to do list consists of grabbing my clothes off the clothes line on top of the garage roof. I washed them a couple days ago up there and completely forgot about them, so I hope they haven’t blown off the roof yet. Because that’s happened.
Update: So my only pair of flowy pants has been mysteriously torn in various places. This will be a new challenge considering if we leave the compound, we have to wear a scarf, baggy pants that cover our ankles, and a Kurta (a long sleeve dress thing). One of my two kurta’s ripped last week, and my only other pants are my jeans. Yay!
We hand wash and rinse our clothes with buckets of water from the bathroom and soap we’ve bought. Takes quite a while. Typically, I have to plot out an hour or two a week to get them done.
I really need to shower. I hope the shower with the normal shower head isn’t being used because that stall is that best. It has the best shower head, a water spicket, a bucket, a squatty potty, and usually a trash can for your toilet paper (if you haven’t forgotten to buy it like my team has for a week). There’s two other stalls. One has a broken toilet that you have to pour a bucket of water into after you use it to flush it. Many people don’t flush it. It’s a smelly stall.
After I shower I’m going to lather on an abundance of essential oils so my mom doesn’t kill me. Germs are flying around. This past weekend my teammate Emma was so sick she had to stay back from a trip to Hyderabad she was looking forward too. I couldn’t go because of money, so I did my best to look after her. She’s the mom on the team though, so it was quite sad. And last night, our new team member Ally, and our translator and driver Anand, began throwing up at ministry. One on either side of our car. It was an hour ride home from ministry, and we had to pull over.
Twice.
Praise the Lord, Anand and Ally are feeling much better now! I wouldn’t be surprised if I got sick, but I’m hoping for the best.
Update on lunch: I just ate. Forgot to wash my hands. Sorry mom.
My teammate Jordan downloaded season two of Stranger Things (shout out to the wifi here), and she said if I blogged then we’ll watch it. So now I’m extra motivated.
I hope I have time to shower before ministry. I need to reapply my scabies lotion.
Oh yeah, I got scabies! Scabies is a bunch of little mites that lay eggs in your skin and itch like heck. Luckily I got the rare kind that doesn’t itch, and I got treated for it after only having it for a couple days. My friend Makennah, my tent buddy I mentioned earlier, had it really bad, so it made sense I had it too. I’m really grateful we caught it early and that it never got super itchy. And the lotion makes me feel very clean.
Anyways.
I also need to break away before ministry and have some time with Jesus. Since I woke up in a hurry, I didn’t have quiet time. Quiet time is a necessity here. The race has shown me how truly introverted I am, and how drastically my day shifts without time with the Lord. Usually the second floor is my spot. The huge open room, natural light, and windows overlooking the incredible architecture of the college across the street. It’s beautiful.
My team has ministry every day except Saturday’s and Monday’s. We leave between 4ish and 6ish in the evening and Anand drives us in his car to a new village/church every night. Babu, Anand’s partner in crime usually comes with us as well. They both are incredible musicians and they let us use the AUX cord even when we scream Taylor Swift out the window.
I want to halt here and go deeper. There’s something special about these car rides. Sometimes it’s only 30 minutes, sometimes it’s two hours into the mountains. No matter how long the ride, it’s almost always around golden hour. We roll the windows down and pass around the AUX, jamming to anything from Hillsong to Twenty One Pilots. We take in the smells, the many, many smells. From the street food, to the sewage stench that inspires Anand to whip out his Febreze and spray the vents.
The sights are even more stunning. Night after night, village after village. Women in elegant sarees walk through the slums. Kids take bucket showers outside their huts. Tuktuks packed with people zoom by. Endless crop-filled fields between towns, with mountains rising behind them. Men lounging outside tiny shacks and shops. Teenagers running barefoot. Poverty stricken neighborhoods. Sacred cows and herds of goats. Statues of Hindu gods, or gold statues of politicians on every corner. Vibrant colored temples adorned with flowers. Double takes from anyone who sees our car full of white people.
Every day makes you feel like you’re traveling the world. One night it sunk in: it’s because we are. I am.
This is the world beyond my imagination. This is what I’ve dreamed of doing for years, and now it isn’t a dream.
At ministry, one of us gives a testimony, one of us preaches, and we do a worship song or two on my ukulele. We participate in their worship. Clapping and putting our scarves over our heads for prayer. We admire the bright streamers and how many people can fit in a tiny cement room. The attendees at every church we go to spend the service on their knees, or raising their hands high, with eyes clenched shut, praying loud and proud. At the end of every service, our team splits up and we pray for any and every person who wants prayer.
Every night I get to pray for dozens of individuals. Some with pain or disabilities. Some with struggles within their family. Others just want a blessing over themselves and their family. With every person I pray for, I specifically pray they would know and be filled with the love of Jesus and the spirit of the one true God.
After we pray for everyone, we go to the pastor’s house for dinner. We make sure to ask for small portions because they give very generous servings, but usually the women give us three chapati too many and an abundance of rice anyways. It’s amazing.
After dinner, we pray over the pastor and his family and head home. Sometimes I fall asleep, other times I’m in the far back of the car where every bump is an earthquake. The style of driving here gave us all a heart attack at first. But now we’re mostly used to it. Except when Anand passes a car and plays chicken with in-coming traffic.
Again, sorry mom.
I usually try to sleep by 11:30pm. But sometimes we get back from ministry late, and after hanging out with my teammates, checking wifi, and getting settled for bed, it’s 2am. But hey, it happens.
In Bible study this morning we were challenged to pick up a new healthy habit. Mine is going to be waking up around 8am or earlier, because usually I roll off my sleeping pad around 9am.
In the process of writing this, I’ve been tickled by Mary (one of the women who work here), I’ve walked to a little store to buy a Sprite (and petted puppies on the way back), and I’ve listening to my friend talk for 30 minutes about all God has been revealing to her. I’ve gone to ministry. Twice. I’ve hugged my crying teammate Jordan as she realized we only had five days of ministry left, and I shared two lollypops with a young girl. I’ve spent hours trying not to lose my mind in a deafening church service, as little kids set streamers on fire and popped dozens of balloon decorations with candles. I’ve leaned against that church wall, desperate for silence and for air. Only to be sweetly brought back to sanity by a tiny girl who gently took my hand, and looking up at me with the brightest eyes and the warmest smile. I’ve had cake hand-fed to me by strangers, and I’ve had a mysterious infected scratch appear on my arm. And much, much more.
It isn’t pretty all the time, as you’ve read and seen. But that’s what makes it so beautiful. It’s diverse and every day holds countless moments that shock me, rock me, and uplift me. God has blessed me with this opportunity to see the world, and bring the love of Jesus to what seems like the ends of the earth. I don’t ever want to lose my appreciation and respect for life here. I don’t know if anyone could ever paint a clear picture of it, but I hope this gave you a glimpse into just one of these wild days.
If you’ve read this far, I commend you and appreciate you. Thank you all for your never ending love and support. And oh, one more thing!
I’M FULLY FUNDED!
Thank you, thank you, thank you. My heart is so full. If you have a monthly donation set up, go ahead and feel free to cancel it because I no longer need it! I love you all madly.
If you want a visual of life, and a few images of me, click this link to check out this amazing video my teammate Jordan put together. And shout out to her as well for the photos you see throughout this blog.
http://jordanschaeffer.theworldrace.org/post/along-for-the-ride-india
Also, here’s a video she made of me and my spoken word. Check it out!
http://jordanschaeffer.theworldrace.org/post/just-a-bunch-of-kids-spoken-word
Keep the faith.
