we set off from Tamil Nadu at 5:30 in the morning and were on our train by 9:30 after a quick breakfast with our favorite pastor that we've met. We said we needed to use the washroom so he led us to a small sink, but we really needed to use the bathroom, which was out back by some defeaning machine... so different from home!
Our train ride took 28 hours but we had bunks and I really absolutely loved it! The only somewhat annoying thing were the people that walked through every 2 minutes, no exaggeration, and yelled out "Tea!" "Caawfeee!" We had little picnics for every meal on our bunks that we couldn't sit up straight on because the bunks were 3 high, but it was actually really fun, and Kingsley even brought our jam that we consume like crazy!
When we got off we waited under a bridge where we saw a small child just drop their pants and pee on the sidewalk! Finally Kingsley's friend came and we got on another train that was absolutely stuffed full of people but we luckily had a seat and some men beside us were playing backstreet boys so even though the rain was streaming through the window we had a lovely hour ride in that train!
There's so much more to say but people are waiting for the computer so I'll write more later! We saw our first white people here though and absolutely stared like Indians!! love you all!!
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Saturday, June 20, 2009
momma's birthday
Mostly the days here have been very similar since I last posted, except for mom’s birthday… that night at the CDC they totally surprised me with a birthday cake for mom and I got to serve it to each one of the kids!! It was so sweet and so many people told me to “send your mother my birthday greetings!”
We don’t do a lot during the day except “take rest”, and the other day the 4 of us were exploring what God was doing through that. One thing that was mentioned was for prayer, because if we were at home, we would never make the time for it like we do here. Still, I had been feeling guilty, because I don’t think I’ve ever in my life felt like I prayed enough for others, or that it was good enough, but I had no idea what was “good enough”. Yesterday during the 1 ½ hour sermon entirely in Tamil (it was for pastor’s appreciation day… what a way to be appreciated) I had a lot of time to think and read my Bible though, and I came to Luke 11:1-13. This passage contains the Lord’s prayer, which is so simple and straight to the point. It made me think of the verse that talks about not babbling on and on like the pagans do. This passage also says to approach the throne with boldness, believing in what you ask. I think a lot of the time we don’t ask things, because we’re afraid of not receiving the answer we want. However, we know that if we do ask, God will answer, maybe not the way we had hoped, but he will answer. And we need to ask specifically, rather than just generalizing. Just because I pray “please bless Peter”, once more, does not make it happen. If we ask over and and over it’s almost like we’re not trusting that God actually hears and answers. And this frees me to pray for other people, rather than worrying that I did not pray for my mother to be blessed one more time. As for praying without ceasing, it’s more of just being aware that God is constantly there, and keeping Him present in every aspect of your life. Prayer is really about keeping the lines of communication with God open, something that is absolutely critical in every relationship. If I don’t talk to one of my friends for awhile, they’re still my friend, but we’ve lost something in that time we don’t talk. We can catch up, but we still missed out on a part of each others’ lives. I would really like to hear each of your thoughts on prayer and what it means in your lives!
In the CDC the kids get hit with rulers when their grades aren’t up to what the headmaster thinks they should be. At first I thought it was just their culture, a form of discipline I had to accept. But then the 6th standard kids took a test, and the average was 12 out of 50. Each one of them was hit and yelled at, and this I could not just accept, because somewhere the teaching had to have been wrong. If everyone was doing poorly, it could not just be the kids’ fault. This school is the only place most of these kids hear about God, and how is that showing God’s love at all? I don’t have the answers; this is just something all four of us have been struggling with here. I won’t be on for awhile probably… on Monday we embark on a 31 hour journey (3 hour car ride to the train, 27 hour train ride, and 1 hour ride to our hotel) to Mumbai. After we leave there we’re going to Karela, then to the mountain where Kingsley lives most of the year! We’ll be gone for 2 weeks and I may or may not have internet during that time. I love you all though, and will post again as soon as I can!
We don’t do a lot during the day except “take rest”, and the other day the 4 of us were exploring what God was doing through that. One thing that was mentioned was for prayer, because if we were at home, we would never make the time for it like we do here. Still, I had been feeling guilty, because I don’t think I’ve ever in my life felt like I prayed enough for others, or that it was good enough, but I had no idea what was “good enough”. Yesterday during the 1 ½ hour sermon entirely in Tamil (it was for pastor’s appreciation day… what a way to be appreciated) I had a lot of time to think and read my Bible though, and I came to Luke 11:1-13. This passage contains the Lord’s prayer, which is so simple and straight to the point. It made me think of the verse that talks about not babbling on and on like the pagans do. This passage also says to approach the throne with boldness, believing in what you ask. I think a lot of the time we don’t ask things, because we’re afraid of not receiving the answer we want. However, we know that if we do ask, God will answer, maybe not the way we had hoped, but he will answer. And we need to ask specifically, rather than just generalizing. Just because I pray “please bless Peter”, once more, does not make it happen. If we ask over and and over it’s almost like we’re not trusting that God actually hears and answers. And this frees me to pray for other people, rather than worrying that I did not pray for my mother to be blessed one more time. As for praying without ceasing, it’s more of just being aware that God is constantly there, and keeping Him present in every aspect of your life. Prayer is really about keeping the lines of communication with God open, something that is absolutely critical in every relationship. If I don’t talk to one of my friends for awhile, they’re still my friend, but we’ve lost something in that time we don’t talk. We can catch up, but we still missed out on a part of each others’ lives. I would really like to hear each of your thoughts on prayer and what it means in your lives!
In the CDC the kids get hit with rulers when their grades aren’t up to what the headmaster thinks they should be. At first I thought it was just their culture, a form of discipline I had to accept. But then the 6th standard kids took a test, and the average was 12 out of 50. Each one of them was hit and yelled at, and this I could not just accept, because somewhere the teaching had to have been wrong. If everyone was doing poorly, it could not just be the kids’ fault. This school is the only place most of these kids hear about God, and how is that showing God’s love at all? I don’t have the answers; this is just something all four of us have been struggling with here. I won’t be on for awhile probably… on Monday we embark on a 31 hour journey (3 hour car ride to the train, 27 hour train ride, and 1 hour ride to our hotel) to Mumbai. After we leave there we’re going to Karela, then to the mountain where Kingsley lives most of the year! We’ll be gone for 2 weeks and I may or may not have internet during that time. I love you all though, and will post again as soon as I can!
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
rebellion
I have become a hellion while away. I am now driving motorcycles through the streets of India and have tattoos covering my hand, arm, and foot… ok fine, it’s henna, and it was a scooterish thing, but hey, when else have I been able to say that? The henna is actually amazing… Kingsley had a lady come do it for us that actually makes a living doing it! To do the four of us it took over four hours, but it looks so amazing! One of the girls also has large scribbles over her other arm… the teacher she works with in the CDC (Child Development Center) just took her hand one day during class and started working away, then when finished leaned back and proudly said, “My first time!”
A couple nights ago we went to pick up some more mosquito oil to try to combat the large red bumps that continually cover our bodies, even our eyelids, and the owner of the stand gave us “cracks” (firecrackers) to welcome us to India, so we set those off, then Kingsley taught us to drive the scooter. For those of you who have ever doubted my driving, I would like you to know that I’m the only one he actually lets drive it on the road, and he said I could drive his car, because “Thompson is a very good driver, I trust her very much!” (Everyone calls me Thompson because they just don’t get Aubrey)
Saturday there was a medical camp for all the CDC children. A big banner was strung with our faces blown up larger than they really are, and we really felt like celebrities or something. The only problem was we did basically nothing at this so-called medical camp… Jen and I, the nursing students, sat and watched the doctor, in order to absorb his knowledge I suppose. I actually hope I absorbed nothing though, because his diagnosis techniques were extremely sketch and he only used herbs tested on rats (I know all about them… he didn’t speak English so he just gave us the herb book to read) After approximately 2 hours of sitting watching him do whatever he was doing the kids were allowed to come talk to us, so we spent the next hour learning Tamil words (I know about 30 now), and singing with the kids, which was really awesome! The doctor worked for 7 hours, but thankfully we got to come inside about 4 to practice our songs for the next day… there were supposed to be 3 doctors but 2 had some sort of emergency.
Yesterday we drove for 3 hours to go to another church… the people there were wonderful and more of them spoke English, so we had a really great time with them! After many many pictures we went out to lunch in an auto (I’ll show you a picture if you ask) and then to a really cute little ice cream parlor with soft serve ice cream!! After the pastor showed us many home movie type things, we drove to another church where the service was on the roof during sunset!! Definitely in my top three favorite worship services ever! Think African American church worship to Indian songs… the piano player was absolutely AMAZING… who knew India had accomplished keyboardists? I asked him how he learned though and he said he asked God!! He didn’t even look at the keyboard, and everything was by ear. I was supposed to play the songs we sang, but somehow we lost the small scraps of paper that I had written the notes on, so I was (extremely wonderfully) unable to play! Afterward he had me play though and I played him How Great Thou Art, and he loved it so much he recorded it. He was just sure he could guess another song I knew, but unfortunately I know absolutely nothing else by memory, but I promised I would send him some recordings when I get back to America. During the service we each shared our testimonies, then they prayed for us and we prayed for them, and at the end they put towels around our shoulders and gave us gifts! The people here treat us like we’re queens, when really we’re nothing, and they are the ones we should be thanking and giving things to!! Before leaving training camp they warned us that many people don’t like Americans, but it is absolutely the opposite here…and I just don’t understand why. They also believe that our prayers mean more somehow, so person after person asks us to pray for them, but it’s absolutely our privilege! I want so much for God to absolutely break me of my pride while I’m here, to allow me to humble myself before others like I never have before.
A couple nights ago we went to pick up some more mosquito oil to try to combat the large red bumps that continually cover our bodies, even our eyelids, and the owner of the stand gave us “cracks” (firecrackers) to welcome us to India, so we set those off, then Kingsley taught us to drive the scooter. For those of you who have ever doubted my driving, I would like you to know that I’m the only one he actually lets drive it on the road, and he said I could drive his car, because “Thompson is a very good driver, I trust her very much!” (Everyone calls me Thompson because they just don’t get Aubrey)
Saturday there was a medical camp for all the CDC children. A big banner was strung with our faces blown up larger than they really are, and we really felt like celebrities or something. The only problem was we did basically nothing at this so-called medical camp… Jen and I, the nursing students, sat and watched the doctor, in order to absorb his knowledge I suppose. I actually hope I absorbed nothing though, because his diagnosis techniques were extremely sketch and he only used herbs tested on rats (I know all about them… he didn’t speak English so he just gave us the herb book to read) After approximately 2 hours of sitting watching him do whatever he was doing the kids were allowed to come talk to us, so we spent the next hour learning Tamil words (I know about 30 now), and singing with the kids, which was really awesome! The doctor worked for 7 hours, but thankfully we got to come inside about 4 to practice our songs for the next day… there were supposed to be 3 doctors but 2 had some sort of emergency.
Yesterday we drove for 3 hours to go to another church… the people there were wonderful and more of them spoke English, so we had a really great time with them! After many many pictures we went out to lunch in an auto (I’ll show you a picture if you ask) and then to a really cute little ice cream parlor with soft serve ice cream!! After the pastor showed us many home movie type things, we drove to another church where the service was on the roof during sunset!! Definitely in my top three favorite worship services ever! Think African American church worship to Indian songs… the piano player was absolutely AMAZING… who knew India had accomplished keyboardists? I asked him how he learned though and he said he asked God!! He didn’t even look at the keyboard, and everything was by ear. I was supposed to play the songs we sang, but somehow we lost the small scraps of paper that I had written the notes on, so I was (extremely wonderfully) unable to play! Afterward he had me play though and I played him How Great Thou Art, and he loved it so much he recorded it. He was just sure he could guess another song I knew, but unfortunately I know absolutely nothing else by memory, but I promised I would send him some recordings when I get back to America. During the service we each shared our testimonies, then they prayed for us and we prayed for them, and at the end they put towels around our shoulders and gave us gifts! The people here treat us like we’re queens, when really we’re nothing, and they are the ones we should be thanking and giving things to!! Before leaving training camp they warned us that many people don’t like Americans, but it is absolutely the opposite here…and I just don’t understand why. They also believe that our prayers mean more somehow, so person after person asks us to pray for them, but it’s absolutely our privilege! I want so much for God to absolutely break me of my pride while I’m here, to allow me to humble myself before others like I never have before.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
falling in love
I’m falling in love with people who give so selflessly, expecting absolutely nothing in return. I’m falling in love with people who live in contentment, in situations we would never dream of being acceptable. I’m falling in love with people who respect each other so much, but still know how to have fun, who still have amazing senses of humor. I’m falling in love with children who are so well-behaved, with such an intense desire to learn. I’m falling in love with people who still hold marriage as something sacred, people who don’t just reside in the same house, they truly love. I’m falling in love with a place where eating is an act of love and gratitude, rather than a selfish thing. I’m falling in love with a place where I don’t worry about running, about the way others see me, because everyone just loves. I’m falling in love with a place where a nap is an everyday occurrence, actually encouraged. I’m falling in love with people who know the meaning of Christian fellowship, who come together to eat and their conversation actually turns to God, something that rarely happens in our version of “Christian fellowship”. I’m falling in love with a place called India.
churidhars
Well mother, I was beginning to feel like we made a dire mistake in not constructing those lovely skirts, considering I had 2 pairs of pants, and very luckily 2… I threw in the 2nd pair at the last minute, but finally 2 days ago we were finally able to go to Trichy to get some new clothes. The department store we went to was absolutely amazing! It was 4 floors full of Indian clothing, and was very much like old time dept stores… you picked out the things you wanted under the careful watch of a salesman, then they were somehow sent down to the bottom floor to be paid for and picked out there, so you were able to continue shopping! Complimentary coffee and tea were given, but not necessarily appreciated considering that Indian department stores do not have air conditioning…I am now the proud owner or 4 churidhars… I must say I felt somewhat silly as I flew down the road behind Kingsley on his motorcycle in my puffy purple pants, but I guess I look the part… except that my skin isn’t quite the right color.
We also went to a candy store while in Trichy and to eat lunch at a wonderful little air conditioned place where you ate off banana leaves. From Trichy we went to a little park with paddle boats and a very sketch swinging boat like the one at Frontier City… yes we rode it, and only by the grace of God am I still alive!
Sunday we were in charge of the children’s lesson, we sang 2 American songs and one Tamil song in the service while I played, 2 teammates shared their testimonies, and after the service we taught the youth a song. One boy named Eugene (who is 20… youth goes to 25 here) told me I look like Britany Spears… he also told one of my other teammates that she looks like Kate Winslet though, and she’s half Jewish, with dark brown hair and olive skin… not quite Kate Winslet, but close. That night we watched Slumdog Millionare with Kingsley, and he gave us his views on marriage and love… very different from the American point of view but very beautiful at the same time. After that we spent at least an hour on the roof… when I get home y’all better be ready to talk about God, where you’re at, the things you’re struggling with, the things God’s helping you with, on a regular basis, because I absolutely getting used to it and loving it. Love you all!!
We also went to a candy store while in Trichy and to eat lunch at a wonderful little air conditioned place where you ate off banana leaves. From Trichy we went to a little park with paddle boats and a very sketch swinging boat like the one at Frontier City… yes we rode it, and only by the grace of God am I still alive!
Sunday we were in charge of the children’s lesson, we sang 2 American songs and one Tamil song in the service while I played, 2 teammates shared their testimonies, and after the service we taught the youth a song. One boy named Eugene (who is 20… youth goes to 25 here) told me I look like Britany Spears… he also told one of my other teammates that she looks like Kate Winslet though, and she’s half Jewish, with dark brown hair and olive skin… not quite Kate Winslet, but close. That night we watched Slumdog Millionare with Kingsley, and he gave us his views on marriage and love… very different from the American point of view but very beautiful at the same time. After that we spent at least an hour on the roof… when I get home y’all better be ready to talk about God, where you’re at, the things you’re struggling with, the things God’s helping you with, on a regular basis, because I absolutely getting used to it and loving it. Love you all!!
Friday, June 5, 2009
America should learn from India
3 days ago Kingsley let us sleep for 12 hours during the day, only waking us to eat what would be equivalant to a Ted's meal for every meal. We stayed up for about 3 more hours, then went back to sleep for the whole night! The next day we felt so much better though! After another huge breakfast we went to visit Kingsley's grandma with his wonderful sister ghetsy, then randomly dropped in to a Hindi family's house who rents from their family. They were so welcoming and gave us snacks and lemonade (much to the dismay of Kingsley who was just sure it was going to kill us, but we're all fine) and one of the daughters drew henna on our hands! After that Ghetsy taught us a song in Tamil we have to sing on Sunday, and I learned how to play it and a few more songs on the keyboard. After that we ate more food, rested, and then met the children at the school they run here! They were so adorable, and they had bought us roses for our hair! After that we were instructed to rest more (eat and rest are our basic commands), then we went to visit families from the church. We were supposed to go to 2 homes, but instead the 1st family we visited took us to a very sketch carnival!
After that we ate dinner and we were able to go up to the roof to talk about everything we had seen, but we also talked about the things we're struggling with and just other questions we have about God... it was ideal, absolutely ideal (movie?)
Today we worked on our devotionals we gave to the people we visited tonight... Kingsley really helped us and I finally realized that maybe I really could have my mom's gift of teaching... never thought that would happen! He taught us it's all about relating God to your life, and then back to the rest of the world. The people tonight were so wonderful! They gave us so much food but more than that love... love is something that transcends all language barriers... they actually gave us some nasty coconut milk straight out of the coconut at one house but I was very tricky and said I just had to have a picture of it, so I took it home with me and pinched my straw everytime I took a drink. Other than that I have not had any problems with the food, it really is good, but more than that it just means so much to the people that we eat or drink it!
Tonight Kingsley bought us all jasmine for our hair and one of the girls was very allergic to it, but when she told Kingsley he said no, it's not that, it's all the cold water! He tells us all the time that we drink way too much water, and that we would not be so full and would have better digestion if we did not. All the fried foods we eat are "good for your health!" India is wonderful though... the people here are amazing and I can't remember the last time I felt such a closeness to God... but I'm coming to realize while my relationship with God is important we need to share much much more with other people than we do... everyone has struggles, but we are so selfish and prideful we only worry about what's going on with us, without thinking about how what we're going through could really benefit others. We all have strengths, and we all have weaknesses... we need to share all of them.
ps I'm not going to be on e-mail or facebook barely ever... Kingsley has an addiction to facebook that rivals mine, so computer time is limited, but I have no problem with that :)
After that we ate dinner and we were able to go up to the roof to talk about everything we had seen, but we also talked about the things we're struggling with and just other questions we have about God... it was ideal, absolutely ideal (movie?)
Today we worked on our devotionals we gave to the people we visited tonight... Kingsley really helped us and I finally realized that maybe I really could have my mom's gift of teaching... never thought that would happen! He taught us it's all about relating God to your life, and then back to the rest of the world. The people tonight were so wonderful! They gave us so much food but more than that love... love is something that transcends all language barriers... they actually gave us some nasty coconut milk straight out of the coconut at one house but I was very tricky and said I just had to have a picture of it, so I took it home with me and pinched my straw everytime I took a drink. Other than that I have not had any problems with the food, it really is good, but more than that it just means so much to the people that we eat or drink it!
Tonight Kingsley bought us all jasmine for our hair and one of the girls was very allergic to it, but when she told Kingsley he said no, it's not that, it's all the cold water! He tells us all the time that we drink way too much water, and that we would not be so full and would have better digestion if we did not. All the fried foods we eat are "good for your health!" India is wonderful though... the people here are amazing and I can't remember the last time I felt such a closeness to God... but I'm coming to realize while my relationship with God is important we need to share much much more with other people than we do... everyone has struggles, but we are so selfish and prideful we only worry about what's going on with us, without thinking about how what we're going through could really benefit others. We all have strengths, and we all have weaknesses... we need to share all of them.
ps I'm not going to be on e-mail or facebook barely ever... Kingsley has an addiction to facebook that rivals mine, so computer time is limited, but I have no problem with that :)
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
journey to India!!
At about noon on Saturday we headed out from training camp back to El Paso to have a final seminar and an AMAZING prayer walk... 2 1/2 hours of prayer is really something I should try more often. The next morning we left the church at 4:30 to head to the airport! We had a fairly long layover in Chicago but that was nice because I got to talk to my family one last time! From there we flew to Brussels, Belgium on an awesome airplane. I got to sit next to the cutest little Indian boy named Kevin! That flight was 8 hours long but with the constant good and personal tvs the time flew. Because the date changed while we were in the air we were not given our tickets from Belgium to India in the states, so we had to go through customs and security again in Brussels, and even though we were running as fast as we could to the farthest possible gate in the airport, we still arrived at our gate with not even one minute to spare!! We really didn't think we were gonna make it (ps Miriam, we forgot about the time change when we thought we had longer). We finally stepped on our plane though and from that moment on things were different... it smelled different, it looked different, the flight attendents were all Asian, and we were definitely in the minority (we saw 3 other white people). The food they gave us was definitely Indian, but, at least for the first meal, we were pleasantly surprised how much we liked it! On this flight they had tons of movies to watch, so this flight went very quickly as well.
When we got to Chennai we made it through customs (in a rather untimely manner), then made a stop at our first Indian washroom! It really wasn't bad though... working in the fields taught me well!
When we finally managed to push our way through fro our baggage we stepped outside and were greeted by a wave of heat and a mass of people behind a gate, almost like you see in Holocaust movies, except these people were all yelling and were very brightly colored. Thankfully Kingsley, our site coordinator, had a YIM sign though, and we spotted him very quickly and jumped into the 70s style air conditioned van he had rented for us! Driving in India is CRAZY. No one uses signals and they just push their way through, honking all the way. The lines mean basically nothing on the road.
After about 20 minutes of complete amazement as we drove through the city we made it to our hotel place. It was about 1:30 AM Chennai time, so we tried to go to sleep but the actual sleeping was limited at best. Thankfully the next morning we had a hot shower though, well really a shower head in the middle of the washroom, and a very American breakfast of eggs and toast (mom you would have loved it). Kingsley told us what we'll be doing here over breakfast (Jen and I will be helping at a med clinic one day a week, we'll be teaching English, and cleaning the streets with the children). He also told us that at the end of the month we get to go with him to Mumbai for district NYI, so maybe we'll get to see the Mumbai YIM team!! Kingsley shared a lot with us over breakfast, including his testimony,... he wanted to be a vet but God called him to ministry! He's only 25 and extremely nice!
After breakfast we left for St. Thomas's tomb with a local pastor and his 13 year old extremely intelligent and funny chatterbox of a son! At the tomb we had to pay to use our cameras, but it was a very neat experience... rather commercialized but neat! From there we went to get some juice at a little outdoor restaurant where the waiters all wore belt buckles with $ on them. Then we went to the zoo, but apparently animals need a day of rest, and the chosen day is Tuesday! We then went to eat lunch and we got to try all different kinds of Indian food, but it was actually really really good! We also ate with our hands for the first time, which was surprisingly successful!
From there we went to another town and got to do a little shopping, and visit some stone carvings, where some adorable little girls came up and asked us for a photo, then the whole huge family joined in with us and thanked us over and over! We also were able to walk to the beach from there! For Indians it was 20 cents to get in, but for foreigners 5.00! The beach was beautiful though... all the women wore Saris, but they still just let themselves get wet! No one really swam, but according to Sam I was not having any fun because I wouldn't let my skirt get wet! Men were racing around on horseback all over the beach, and the vendors extended clear to the water! By this time it was over 100 degrees, but it just reminded me of OK!
From there we went to watch a very sketch sea lion show, where Jen, Kingsley, and I volunteered and instead of the sea lion doing something cool it just splashed us!
When we got back to our hotel we cleaned up, ate dinner, then headed out for the train to go to Kingsley's town. The train station is really indescribable... soooo many people!! The train was actually a sleeper train though! Not quite like white Christmas, but the beds were much appreciated! However, I didn't sleep more than 2 hours, so I'm running on 16 hours of sleep in the last 4 nights... I think I will now go take a nap!! I love and miss you all!!!!!!!
When we got to Chennai we made it through customs (in a rather untimely manner), then made a stop at our first Indian washroom! It really wasn't bad though... working in the fields taught me well!
When we finally managed to push our way through fro our baggage we stepped outside and were greeted by a wave of heat and a mass of people behind a gate, almost like you see in Holocaust movies, except these people were all yelling and were very brightly colored. Thankfully Kingsley, our site coordinator, had a YIM sign though, and we spotted him very quickly and jumped into the 70s style air conditioned van he had rented for us! Driving in India is CRAZY. No one uses signals and they just push their way through, honking all the way. The lines mean basically nothing on the road.
After about 20 minutes of complete amazement as we drove through the city we made it to our hotel place. It was about 1:30 AM Chennai time, so we tried to go to sleep but the actual sleeping was limited at best. Thankfully the next morning we had a hot shower though, well really a shower head in the middle of the washroom, and a very American breakfast of eggs and toast (mom you would have loved it). Kingsley told us what we'll be doing here over breakfast (Jen and I will be helping at a med clinic one day a week, we'll be teaching English, and cleaning the streets with the children). He also told us that at the end of the month we get to go with him to Mumbai for district NYI, so maybe we'll get to see the Mumbai YIM team!! Kingsley shared a lot with us over breakfast, including his testimony,... he wanted to be a vet but God called him to ministry! He's only 25 and extremely nice!
After breakfast we left for St. Thomas's tomb with a local pastor and his 13 year old extremely intelligent and funny chatterbox of a son! At the tomb we had to pay to use our cameras, but it was a very neat experience... rather commercialized but neat! From there we went to get some juice at a little outdoor restaurant where the waiters all wore belt buckles with $ on them. Then we went to the zoo, but apparently animals need a day of rest, and the chosen day is Tuesday! We then went to eat lunch and we got to try all different kinds of Indian food, but it was actually really really good! We also ate with our hands for the first time, which was surprisingly successful!
From there we went to another town and got to do a little shopping, and visit some stone carvings, where some adorable little girls came up and asked us for a photo, then the whole huge family joined in with us and thanked us over and over! We also were able to walk to the beach from there! For Indians it was 20 cents to get in, but for foreigners 5.00! The beach was beautiful though... all the women wore Saris, but they still just let themselves get wet! No one really swam, but according to Sam I was not having any fun because I wouldn't let my skirt get wet! Men were racing around on horseback all over the beach, and the vendors extended clear to the water! By this time it was over 100 degrees, but it just reminded me of OK!
From there we went to watch a very sketch sea lion show, where Jen, Kingsley, and I volunteered and instead of the sea lion doing something cool it just splashed us!
When we got back to our hotel we cleaned up, ate dinner, then headed out for the train to go to Kingsley's town. The train station is really indescribable... soooo many people!! The train was actually a sleeper train though! Not quite like white Christmas, but the beds were much appreciated! However, I didn't sleep more than 2 hours, so I'm running on 16 hours of sleep in the last 4 nights... I think I will now go take a nap!! I love and miss you all!!!!!!!
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