Dear India,
First I want to make clear that this letter could never even begin to explore all of the many things that I love about you.
However I will do my best to share the things that have made my heart broken with sorrow, because I must leave this country of beauty.
Oh India, the moment I stepped on your soul I felt as though I were home. Your mountains and your weather were warm and welcoming, so much so that it made me feel as though I were back in Northern Idaho.
Your dirt roads and your green trees brought a smile to my face.
Above all of your wonderful traits, your people are what I have come to treasure the most. Your people, specifically the people of Manipur, are the most inviting, generous and loving people l have ever had the privilege to know. They welcome my friends and I into their homes, filled us with their delicious milk tea and fried bora. Your beautiful people encouraged us through their words and actions. Never in my life have I felts more wanted or loved by a people I had just met.
Your people did not simple invite me into their house, they readily invited me into their family and entrusted me with their hearts. They blessed me by their humor, which resulted in much laughter, and inadvertently caused me to shed many tears. Yes tears, tears of pure joy.
The people of Manipur have a joy and generosity that can only be explained because they have given their life to the God of the Universe. The Giver of perfect joy.
Though many who live in Manipur have very little in worldly possessions, they are filled to overflowing with the fruits of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, faithfulness, self-control) these people, that I now call family, will always be remembered in the inner most parts of my heart.
I am grieving as I fly away from this beautiful land, but am so thankful for the time that I was privileged enough to live in for two-months. I will continue to pray for you and with a hopeful heart, am hoping to return! I love you India, continue in your pursuit of the Lord!
