We started this week off with an awesome painting job… mint green, purple, dark, and light blue are always super colors for a church. As we were beginning to paint we began to sing hymns, like we do, and all the sudden we hear Beyonce blasting through the speakers… hahaha Kingsley loves our music and made sure to bring the cds we’d been listening to on our numerous car trips! The time painting went by so fast though, and it’s been awesome to do some of what I thought most of this trip would look like. But as I said in the YIM update, I never would have learned what I have from God and my teammates had it been all work or constant moving, even if this is what I enjoy. I honestly can’t say that I wish this trip had turned out any differently. I am so thankful that I couldn’t run, I love that we had so much time to spend with the CDC kids, I love that we were able to travel so much, I love that my face was stuffed with food, I love that I couldn’t understand the church services, and I love that my teammates and I had so much time to spend in the word, relaxing and coming to know the God we’ve been acquainted with for so long.
One of my favorite, but possibly also one of our hardest experiences here happened Saturday night. One of our favorite elderly couples had invited us over for dinner, and we were super excited about going. That morning when I woke up I prayed that God would give me one more insight that day, one more way to grow. Also, at every meal, and during our group prayer time, each person who prayed asked God to bless our time with the family, and I really questioned why. We’d never prayed for house visits before they happened, especially not ones we were so excited about. During group prayer I also prayed that our team wouldn’t be divided, and immediately I wondered why I had prayed that… we’d really never struggled with division before.
While we were waiting for the food to be cooked Joseph and Silva’s first son, Joseph, arrived. He was extremely loud from the beginning, but at first I just thought he was proud of his English skills, because they were actually pretty good. However, as the night wore on he became more and more obnoxious and it became very clear that he was drunk. He shoved food in our faces, all the while shouting “Hallelujah!” and saying other crazy things about God that made no sense at all. I began to get extremely frustrated, simply because the night was really just not going as I had planned. We didn’t even get to talk to Joseph or Silva, and the food I ate wasn’t out of love, really only fear of what the man would do if I said no. I left that place unexplainably angry, as did one of my other teammates. When we got back we all agreed we really needed to debrief over the night. When we began one of our teammates was very quiet, but when her thoughts finally came they struck each one of our hearts. She told us that the man reminded her of her homeless friends (she is extremely involved in a homeless ministry in Kansas City) and that it really frustrated her how that man had been treated that night. Our first reaction was anger, denial, and extreme justification, but when it came down to it, she was absolutely right. That man was just as much a child of God as we are. If he was outside and I was the one serving him, maybe I could have accepted him, maybe I wouldn’t have attempted to ignore him in order to somehow show him that I didn’t agree with his lifestyle. This is ridiculous, but it really was my mindset. But that night, it was his turn to serve, his turn to show love for love in return, and I refused to give it to him. His mother constantly repeated “my son, my son!” and I was so incredulous as to how she could still be proud of him, but how many times has God done that for us, calling us his children, even though we are clearly embarrassing Him. So many times I’ve claimed the name of Jesus, but if anyone looked closely at all at my life they could see how far off I was… At times I was blind, but others I knew exactly what I was doing. But yet He still is proud of me, He still continues to love me, not just when it’s convenient, not just when it looks good, when it fits well into His life, but always. God was absolutely at work before we even began this night… as we were leaving I remember thinking God clearly forgot to bless our night, but in reality He went way beyond what I could have asked our imagined.
Our last night in Musiri, after a day full of packing, cooking with Kingsley’s mom, and doing all kinds of last minute things, we began our amazing final evening with the kids. We stepped outside in our saris and were almost overrun by kids, so excited to tell us “sari! Beautiful!” We blew bubbles with them for a while, but that was extremely stressful. So we moved on to pictures, but that proved to be just as if not more stressful. All the sudden two of the girls grabbed me though and started shuttling me up the stairs, both with their arms around me, one holding my dress up so I wouldn’t trip. We stepped on the roof to see all our beautiful kids, the teachers, and each of our favorite church members at our goodbye celebration. Kingsley had our music playing, including, but not limited to Backstreet Boys, and the weather was absolutely perfect as the sun began to set. Person after person came up and thanked us, each with another gift, something else to gladly stuff into our suitcases. As the night began to wind down each child came and kissed us, telling us multiple times goodbye. Our 3 favorite girls each began crying, pleading us to come again next year, to promise that we would. We exchanged addresses with some, but that was really the best we could do. One boy, when we asked him his, replied, “behind the church!” I can’t wait to tell you each in person more about this night! We will miss those kids and the amazing people of India so much, but we know without a doubt that God worked in us through this trip, that we were where He wanted us. That in itself is a comfort I cannot describe. I can’t wait to see all of you!! Thank you so much for the ways each of you have supported me… I know I’ll never know the impact your prayers and love have had! Familia, see you on Sunday!!!!!!!!!!
Monday, July 20, 2009
I'm done, but God's not!
We started this week off with an awesome painting job… mint green, purple, dark, and light blue are always super colors for a church. As we were beginning to paint we began to sing hymns, like we do, and all the sudden we hear Beyonce blasting through the speakers… hahaha Kingsley loves our music and made sure to bring the cds we’d been listening to on our numerous car trips! The time painting went by so fast though, and it’s been awesome to do some of what I thought most of this trip would look like. But as I said in the YIM update, I never would have learned what I have from God and my teammates had it been all work or constant moving, even if this is what I enjoy. I honestly can’t say that I wish this trip had turned out any differently. I am so thankful that I couldn’t run, I love that we had so much time to spend with the CDC kids, I love that we were able to travel so much, I love that my face was stuffed with food, I love that I couldn’t understand the church services, and I love that my teammates and I had so much time to spend in the word, relaxing and coming to know the God we’ve been acquainted with for so long.
One of my favorite, but possibly also one of our hardest experiences here happened Saturday night. One of our favorite elderly couples had invited us over for dinner, and we were super excited about going. That morning when I woke up I prayed that God would give me one more insight that day, one more way to grow. Also, at every meal, and during our group prayer time, each person who prayed asked God to bless our time with the family, and I really questioned why. We’d never prayed for house visits before they happened, especially not ones we were so excited about. During group prayer I also prayed that our team wouldn’t be divided, and immediately I wondered why I had prayed that… we’d really never struggled with division before.
While we were waiting for the food to be cooked Joseph and Silva’s first son, Joseph, arrived. He was extremely loud from the beginning, but at first I just thought he was proud of his English skills, because they were actually pretty good. However, as the night wore on he became more and more obnoxious and it became very clear that he was drunk. He shoved food in our faces, all the while shouting “Hallelujah!” and saying other crazy things about God that made no sense at all. I began to get extremely frustrated, simply because the night was really just not going as I had planned. We didn’t even get to talk to Joseph or Silva, and the food I ate wasn’t out of love, really only fear of what the man would do if I said no. I left that place unexplainably angry, as did one of my other teammates. When we got back we all agreed we really needed to debrief over the night. When we began one of our teammates was very quiet, but when her thoughts finally came they struck each one of our hearts. She told us that the man reminded her of her homeless friends (she is extremely involved in a homeless ministry in Kansas City) and that it really frustrated her how that man had been treated that night. Our first reaction was anger, denial, and extreme justification, but when it came down to it, she was absolutely right. That man was just as much a child of God as we are. If he was outside and I was the one serving him, maybe I could have accepted him, maybe I wouldn’t have attempted to ignore him in order to somehow show him that I didn’t agree with his lifestyle. This is ridiculous, but it really was my mindset. But that night, it was his turn to serve, his turn to show love for love in return, and I refused to give it to him. His mother constantly repeated “my son, my son!” and I was so incredulous as to how she could still be proud of him, but how many times has God done that for us, calling us his children, even though we are clearly embarrassing Him. So many times I’ve claimed the name of Jesus, but if anyone looked closely at all at my life they could see how far off I was… At times I was blind, but others I knew exactly what I was doing. But yet He still is proud of me, He still continues to love me, not just when it’s convenient, not just when it looks good, when it fits well into His life, but always. God was absolutely at work before we even began this night… as we were leaving I remember thinking God clearly forgot to bless our night, but in reality He went way beyond what I could have asked our imagined.
Our last night in Musiri, after a day full of packing, cooking with Kingsley’s mom, and doing all kinds of last minute things, we began our amazing final evening with the kids. We stepped outside in our saris and were almost overrun by kids, so excited to tell us “sari! Beautiful!” We blew bubbles with them for a while, but that was extremely stressful. So we moved on to pictures, but that proved to be just as if not more stressful. All the sudden two of the girls grabbed me though and started shuttling me up the stairs, both with their arms around me, one holding my dress up so I wouldn’t trip. We stepped on the roof to see all our beautiful kids, the teachers, and each of our favorite church members at our goodbye celebration. Kingsley had our music playing, including, but not limited to Backstreet Boys, and the weather was absolutely perfect as the sun began to set. Person after person came up and thanked us, each with another gift, something else to gladly stuff into our suitcases. As the night began to wind down each child came and kissed us, telling us multiple times goodbye. Our 3 favorite girls each began crying, pleading us to come again next year, to promise that we would. We exchanged addresses with some, but that was really the best we could do. One boy, when we asked him his, replied, “behind the church!” I can’t wait to tell you each in person more about this night! We will miss those kids and the amazing people of India so much, but we know without a doubt that God worked in us through this trip, that we were where He wanted us. That in itself is a comfort I cannot describe. I can’t wait to see all of you!! Thank you so much for the ways each of you have supported me… I know I’ll never know the impact your prayers and love have had! Familia, see you on Sunday!!!!!!!!!!
One of my favorite, but possibly also one of our hardest experiences here happened Saturday night. One of our favorite elderly couples had invited us over for dinner, and we were super excited about going. That morning when I woke up I prayed that God would give me one more insight that day, one more way to grow. Also, at every meal, and during our group prayer time, each person who prayed asked God to bless our time with the family, and I really questioned why. We’d never prayed for house visits before they happened, especially not ones we were so excited about. During group prayer I also prayed that our team wouldn’t be divided, and immediately I wondered why I had prayed that… we’d really never struggled with division before.
While we were waiting for the food to be cooked Joseph and Silva’s first son, Joseph, arrived. He was extremely loud from the beginning, but at first I just thought he was proud of his English skills, because they were actually pretty good. However, as the night wore on he became more and more obnoxious and it became very clear that he was drunk. He shoved food in our faces, all the while shouting “Hallelujah!” and saying other crazy things about God that made no sense at all. I began to get extremely frustrated, simply because the night was really just not going as I had planned. We didn’t even get to talk to Joseph or Silva, and the food I ate wasn’t out of love, really only fear of what the man would do if I said no. I left that place unexplainably angry, as did one of my other teammates. When we got back we all agreed we really needed to debrief over the night. When we began one of our teammates was very quiet, but when her thoughts finally came they struck each one of our hearts. She told us that the man reminded her of her homeless friends (she is extremely involved in a homeless ministry in Kansas City) and that it really frustrated her how that man had been treated that night. Our first reaction was anger, denial, and extreme justification, but when it came down to it, she was absolutely right. That man was just as much a child of God as we are. If he was outside and I was the one serving him, maybe I could have accepted him, maybe I wouldn’t have attempted to ignore him in order to somehow show him that I didn’t agree with his lifestyle. This is ridiculous, but it really was my mindset. But that night, it was his turn to serve, his turn to show love for love in return, and I refused to give it to him. His mother constantly repeated “my son, my son!” and I was so incredulous as to how she could still be proud of him, but how many times has God done that for us, calling us his children, even though we are clearly embarrassing Him. So many times I’ve claimed the name of Jesus, but if anyone looked closely at all at my life they could see how far off I was… At times I was blind, but others I knew exactly what I was doing. But yet He still is proud of me, He still continues to love me, not just when it’s convenient, not just when it looks good, when it fits well into His life, but always. God was absolutely at work before we even began this night… as we were leaving I remember thinking God clearly forgot to bless our night, but in reality He went way beyond what I could have asked our imagined.
Our last night in Musiri, after a day full of packing, cooking with Kingsley’s mom, and doing all kinds of last minute things, we began our amazing final evening with the kids. We stepped outside in our saris and were almost overrun by kids, so excited to tell us “sari! Beautiful!” We blew bubbles with them for a while, but that was extremely stressful. So we moved on to pictures, but that proved to be just as if not more stressful. All the sudden two of the girls grabbed me though and started shuttling me up the stairs, both with their arms around me, one holding my dress up so I wouldn’t trip. We stepped on the roof to see all our beautiful kids, the teachers, and each of our favorite church members at our goodbye celebration. Kingsley had our music playing, including, but not limited to Backstreet Boys, and the weather was absolutely perfect as the sun began to set. Person after person came up and thanked us, each with another gift, something else to gladly stuff into our suitcases. As the night began to wind down each child came and kissed us, telling us multiple times goodbye. Our 3 favorite girls each began crying, pleading us to come again next year, to promise that we would. We exchanged addresses with some, but that was really the best we could do. One boy, when we asked him his, replied, “behind the church!” I can’t wait to tell you each in person more about this night! We will miss those kids and the amazing people of India so much, but we know without a doubt that God worked in us through this trip, that we were where He wanted us. That in itself is a comfort I cannot describe. I can’t wait to see all of you!! Thank you so much for the ways each of you have supported me… I know I’ll never know the impact your prayers and love have had! Familia, see you on Sunday!!!!!!!!!!
Monday, July 13, 2009
oh the crocodiles
While getting ready on the morning of Jen’s birth Kingsley knocked on our door and handed in Jen’s “birthday dress”. However, it was actually a size XL bright orange chooty, and unfortunately did not quite fit 5 foot 3 inch tiny Jen… thankfully Kingsley’s parents agreed though, and later Kingsley told us it was really a gift that had planned to give to someone else but could never find! So instead Jen wore one of Kingsley’s mom’s saris while we all sang her a rousing rendition of happy birthday and ate a lovely breakfast of butterscotch cake.
We then began our first journey for the weekend… a short drive of 5 hours to see some awesome crocodiles… people might tell you crocodiles are cool… they’re not. I’ve seen hundreds, just trust me. But once again, I suppose it’s all about the experience. And I perfected my Australian accent while I was there, which is great news.
That night our “delux AC” room did not include blankets in their definition of deluxe… who knew I relied on a blanket that much to sleep? After a rather restless night we trudged next door to the hotel owner’s house to have breakfast with his extremely large family and have them help us with our saris! They were really funny though and seemed very much like American grandparents. After that we went to 2 services, one that I was blessed to get to speak at. I did not actually feel blessed at all when Kingsley told me I was speaking, because, as I’ve mentioned recently, I’ve been rather confused lately, but God totally gave me the words and I just felt extremely at peace with it.
After a quick potluck lunch we piled back in the car, still in our saris, for another 5 hour drive back up the mountain to the beautiful place we stayed last week for their 15 year church anniversary! As soon as we got to the church a plethora of children met us and led us up the steps, which were painted with all sorts of greetings in English! When we got to the church our bean picking friends were waiting inside… I wish I could describe to you how happy they were to see us and the way I’ve never felt so loved by people I’ve only known for one day!! That whole night was quite possibly my favorite night in India, but I’ll just have to explain this one further when I get home! One person I can tell you about though is Sounder, the church’s NYI president. As soon as we met him he began giving us gifts, but then he started asking where his gifts were! We came with candy, but other than that we were completely unprepared! Jen gave him her watch, because he gave her his “monado” watch, and I gave him a somewhat blurry picture of my family… we’d just cleaned out the car and everything was already in our room, I really had nothing!! We stayed there for over 3 hours, but I could have stayed so much longer… LOVE those people!!
The next morning we got up for a walk… 2 of the girls almost didn’t come, but at the last second they did. Then Jen wanted to go another way, but I’d already been that way running, so I insisted we go another way. After about 5 minutes on that road, there he was, like a beacon in the night… a white boy!!!!!!!! None of us allowed ourselves to think American, but then he spoke! And told us they were 12 more Americans and 2 Canadians in the house behind him!!!!!! It turned out they were actually leaving within that hour, but we stayed there talking to them right until they had to get on their bus. They were basically on a Jewish youth in mission trip, but they were just starting theirs! I don’t think any of us realized how much we had missed talking to people with no communication barrier, and people our own age… I’m sure we sounded waaaaayy too excited, but hey, how crazy is it that we even found them?!!
After our incredibly invigorating walk we, once again, got back in the car and traveled to Coimbatore to see Kingsley’s cousin who was in the hospital because he tried to commit suicide. He is fine, but I’m guessing he wasn’t extremely happy about the multitudes of extremely awkward family that filled his room. Almost no one talked to him, they just sat there in silence for a lot of the time, and then as more of his aunts came they began talking to each other. He was super nice though, and actually knew English very well… he’d read 6 of the Harry Potter books in fact! I’m still unsure of what his reasoning was behind drinking the poison… Kingsley said that his cousin blamed the parents, but that couldn’t possibly be the reason… I don’t know how Kingsley would know but I don’t have any other leads to the story.
After a few errands around town we finally left for home in a car that boasted “dvd! A/c”, although neither one of them worked. It delivered us safely home though and we are back in Musiri for our last week in this wonderful place called India!!
We then began our first journey for the weekend… a short drive of 5 hours to see some awesome crocodiles… people might tell you crocodiles are cool… they’re not. I’ve seen hundreds, just trust me. But once again, I suppose it’s all about the experience. And I perfected my Australian accent while I was there, which is great news.
That night our “delux AC” room did not include blankets in their definition of deluxe… who knew I relied on a blanket that much to sleep? After a rather restless night we trudged next door to the hotel owner’s house to have breakfast with his extremely large family and have them help us with our saris! They were really funny though and seemed very much like American grandparents. After that we went to 2 services, one that I was blessed to get to speak at. I did not actually feel blessed at all when Kingsley told me I was speaking, because, as I’ve mentioned recently, I’ve been rather confused lately, but God totally gave me the words and I just felt extremely at peace with it.
After a quick potluck lunch we piled back in the car, still in our saris, for another 5 hour drive back up the mountain to the beautiful place we stayed last week for their 15 year church anniversary! As soon as we got to the church a plethora of children met us and led us up the steps, which were painted with all sorts of greetings in English! When we got to the church our bean picking friends were waiting inside… I wish I could describe to you how happy they were to see us and the way I’ve never felt so loved by people I’ve only known for one day!! That whole night was quite possibly my favorite night in India, but I’ll just have to explain this one further when I get home! One person I can tell you about though is Sounder, the church’s NYI president. As soon as we met him he began giving us gifts, but then he started asking where his gifts were! We came with candy, but other than that we were completely unprepared! Jen gave him her watch, because he gave her his “monado” watch, and I gave him a somewhat blurry picture of my family… we’d just cleaned out the car and everything was already in our room, I really had nothing!! We stayed there for over 3 hours, but I could have stayed so much longer… LOVE those people!!
The next morning we got up for a walk… 2 of the girls almost didn’t come, but at the last second they did. Then Jen wanted to go another way, but I’d already been that way running, so I insisted we go another way. After about 5 minutes on that road, there he was, like a beacon in the night… a white boy!!!!!!!! None of us allowed ourselves to think American, but then he spoke! And told us they were 12 more Americans and 2 Canadians in the house behind him!!!!!! It turned out they were actually leaving within that hour, but we stayed there talking to them right until they had to get on their bus. They were basically on a Jewish youth in mission trip, but they were just starting theirs! I don’t think any of us realized how much we had missed talking to people with no communication barrier, and people our own age… I’m sure we sounded waaaaayy too excited, but hey, how crazy is it that we even found them?!!
After our incredibly invigorating walk we, once again, got back in the car and traveled to Coimbatore to see Kingsley’s cousin who was in the hospital because he tried to commit suicide. He is fine, but I’m guessing he wasn’t extremely happy about the multitudes of extremely awkward family that filled his room. Almost no one talked to him, they just sat there in silence for a lot of the time, and then as more of his aunts came they began talking to each other. He was super nice though, and actually knew English very well… he’d read 6 of the Harry Potter books in fact! I’m still unsure of what his reasoning was behind drinking the poison… Kingsley said that his cousin blamed the parents, but that couldn’t possibly be the reason… I don’t know how Kingsley would know but I don’t have any other leads to the story.
After a few errands around town we finally left for home in a car that boasted “dvd! A/c”, although neither one of them worked. It delivered us safely home though and we are back in Musiri for our last week in this wonderful place called India!!
Friday, July 10, 2009
I hate you food poisoning!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well let’s just say it’s been a hard few days… it started off with my decision to read the New Testament straight through. I’ve read the whole Bible in a One Year Bible way, with small passages from the old and new testaments each day, and I’ve read bits and pieces my whole life, but never in a continual manner. I finished Matthew, and realized just how inconsistent I felt it was, how the things I’d always told myself I believed weren’t necessarily backed up. People have used verses my whole life to prove points that, looked at in context, really don’t match up to what they were saying. I feel like we as a generation have made Christianity what we want it to be, something so easy and full of peace, but really I just felt a lot of frustration. I just didn’t understand so much, and it made me wonder, is my hard heart, like the people Jesus spoke of? I would find comfort in one passage, only to be brought back to my frustration in another. I want my view of God to be based on the Bible, rather than what I’ve always been told, what the world tells me about Him. Please ask me specifically about what I’ve been struggling with when I get home, because I know I’ll be tempted to just slip back into my “I don’t know the answers but that’s ok” mindset. While I know we can’t know all the answers, and even Jesus’s disciples struggled with faith, I want to really know what I can believe, otherwise how can I tell others?
I felt like I had come to so much peace while here, so much realization of who God was to me, but just by reading one book of the Bible I have lost so much of that, and maybe that bothers me more than anything. I don’t want my faith to be that shallow, that easily swayed. The other girls on my team embarked on this journey with me, and they are feeling very similar to the way I am, so please just pray for us, that we would open our hearts to what God has to tell us, and that he would use the next week and half to show us things we’ve never seen before.
Yesterday morning we woke up to paint the CDC and Kingsley told Jen and I that Meret and Tam were sick… we thought they probably just had a cold or something so the 2 of us just started painting… until I threw up. Well actually I went back to paint again after that, like I do, but then I realized that I was basically just splashing paint on the wall and had no idea what I was doing, so I went to lay down, and within with next few hours threw up multiple times and lost much of whatever was in my body, um, another way. Every fiber of my body felt like I’d fallen off a 20 story building and I couldn’t even lay down because it hurt too bad. Honestly I was thinking death sounded pretty great… I don’t think I have ever been that sick in my life. I finally fell asleep about 8:00 and woke up at 3:30 am… unable to fall back asleep because I was so hungry, but absolutely not for Indian food. I remembered there were some fruit loops at the bakery we got the despicable poisonous turnovers things at, so I just sat in a chair til 7:15, when I finally decided to walk across the street and see if that had anything at a little stand there (I’ve never been outside the gates alone… if I hadn’t felt so sick it would have been invigorating) They didn’t though, so I drew a picture of fruit loops and rang the doorbell, then gave my lovely drawing to Kingsley’s mom, who actually figured it out! Today I have felt much better, but I still just don’t feel good, and food doesn’t really work… we have a 5 hour car ride ahead of us tomorrow and the other 2 girls have very similar stories to mine, so we’re gonna need some intense prayer!! Don’t worry, we’re being very well taken care of though… they bought us cake, because you know, that’s what you want when you’re sick, and they were just sure we’d want to drink some oatmeal. Kingsley also offered to carry us to the roof, which could have been awesome if touch didn’t feel like death. He really is super sweet though, and I guess his parents and his grandma both called to chew him out for letting us eat food outside of the home!
Pray for Jen too… her 21st birthday is tomorrow, and she was already a little bummed that we’d be traveling for most of it… 3 sick friends really wouldn’t make it any better! Love you and MISS YOU ALL!!!!!
I felt like I had come to so much peace while here, so much realization of who God was to me, but just by reading one book of the Bible I have lost so much of that, and maybe that bothers me more than anything. I don’t want my faith to be that shallow, that easily swayed. The other girls on my team embarked on this journey with me, and they are feeling very similar to the way I am, so please just pray for us, that we would open our hearts to what God has to tell us, and that he would use the next week and half to show us things we’ve never seen before.
Yesterday morning we woke up to paint the CDC and Kingsley told Jen and I that Meret and Tam were sick… we thought they probably just had a cold or something so the 2 of us just started painting… until I threw up. Well actually I went back to paint again after that, like I do, but then I realized that I was basically just splashing paint on the wall and had no idea what I was doing, so I went to lay down, and within with next few hours threw up multiple times and lost much of whatever was in my body, um, another way. Every fiber of my body felt like I’d fallen off a 20 story building and I couldn’t even lay down because it hurt too bad. Honestly I was thinking death sounded pretty great… I don’t think I have ever been that sick in my life. I finally fell asleep about 8:00 and woke up at 3:30 am… unable to fall back asleep because I was so hungry, but absolutely not for Indian food. I remembered there were some fruit loops at the bakery we got the despicable poisonous turnovers things at, so I just sat in a chair til 7:15, when I finally decided to walk across the street and see if that had anything at a little stand there (I’ve never been outside the gates alone… if I hadn’t felt so sick it would have been invigorating) They didn’t though, so I drew a picture of fruit loops and rang the doorbell, then gave my lovely drawing to Kingsley’s mom, who actually figured it out! Today I have felt much better, but I still just don’t feel good, and food doesn’t really work… we have a 5 hour car ride ahead of us tomorrow and the other 2 girls have very similar stories to mine, so we’re gonna need some intense prayer!! Don’t worry, we’re being very well taken care of though… they bought us cake, because you know, that’s what you want when you’re sick, and they were just sure we’d want to drink some oatmeal. Kingsley also offered to carry us to the roof, which could have been awesome if touch didn’t feel like death. He really is super sweet though, and I guess his parents and his grandma both called to chew him out for letting us eat food outside of the home!
Pray for Jen too… her 21st birthday is tomorrow, and she was already a little bummed that we’d be traveling for most of it… 3 sick friends really wouldn’t make it any better! Love you and MISS YOU ALL!!!!!
Thursday, July 9, 2009
I'll miss you Kotagiri!!
I got to get up and run one more time, then we said our goodbyes to the wonderful people of Kotagiri before we headed to Thermopaly (that spelling is crazy wrong but of well). We drove for 7 hours and as we went down the mountain it got hotter and hotter, but it really wasn’t a bad drive at all. We were going to visit Kingsley’s best friend Devaraj and his new wife Pushpa! Initially we were supposed to stay in a hotel “because they’re newly married”, (I laughed at this comment and Kingsley told me I am the initiator of all things bad.) but for some reason they changed their mind, so the four girls got to sleep on the roof!! They almost insisted that Devaraj sleep up there with us, but finally we convinced them that we would actually live, as long as we had Kingsley’s phone (I actually have no idea what that would have done, but hey, it made them happy). While sleeping on the roof sounds ideal, it actually sucks. Not gonna lie. But hey, we asked for it!
When we first got there Pushpa came to talk to us, which was really cool… most people here doubt their English so much that they won’t even try to talk to us, but she was so sweet, and insisted upon giving us more mahendi! We were a little scared, considering the other stuff covering our bodies had just come off, but she only did our palms and they were very pretty, not to mention that it made her so happy. After that we went to a CDC for mentally challenged kids that was actually really awesome. The kids were so sweet, and if what Kingsley told us and the way things appeared is true, they’re really well cared for. We were supposed to only stay for a few minutes but we were having so much fun playing with the kids that we stayed for over an hour!
The next day we visited another CDC and some women with AIDS who also work with AIDS awareness came to talk to us. The craziest thing was that almost all of the ladies had gotten HIV because they’re husbands are truck drivers, and would sleep with prostitutes while they were on the road, then come back to their wives. All of these women had still stayed with their husbands though. They were amazing ladies and they really made me miss my AIDS hospice friends back home. After that we went to a leper colony, where Kingsley told us you contract leprosy from the flies… which were swarming us… I really know nothing about leprosy, but this was a very interesting place. You really couldn’t tell any of the people had it, and all we did there was sing our 2 Tamil songs for them… sometimes I just feel like a tourist here looking in on people’s lives like they’re a novelty, when I really want to get to know them, to somehow show them that I love them.
At lunch I fell asleep at the table… I may be able to sleep most anywhere, but even this is kinda crazy for me. We were supposed to go watch people make handbags, but Kingsley insisted we take rest, so I slept for 2 hours on the concrete, then we left for the CDC again. It wasn’t so much of a surprise when I blacked out in the road on the way in, but still rather inconvenient. The CDC leader had them take me to his amazing house (with a western toilet, the first one we had seen in about a week!!) and I recovered quite well there. That night Tam and I got to talk on the roof, and she just asked me the simple question “Who is God to you?” I think that’s a question that needs to be asked a lot more, really to anyone and everyone. It just opened up so much for us, but also made me realize how important it is that I know who God is to me. It started to rain then though, so we were moved to the porch, where I was watched intently, like really Indians standing over my bed to made sure that I was taking rest. Finally they left though and we were able to sing patriotic songs very quietly, since it was the 4th of July. Maybe not the most amazing 4th, but hey, definitely different. Some people come back from these trips hating America, but while there’s definitely things that America has wrong, I am still absolutely proud to be an American.
When we first got there Pushpa came to talk to us, which was really cool… most people here doubt their English so much that they won’t even try to talk to us, but she was so sweet, and insisted upon giving us more mahendi! We were a little scared, considering the other stuff covering our bodies had just come off, but she only did our palms and they were very pretty, not to mention that it made her so happy. After that we went to a CDC for mentally challenged kids that was actually really awesome. The kids were so sweet, and if what Kingsley told us and the way things appeared is true, they’re really well cared for. We were supposed to only stay for a few minutes but we were having so much fun playing with the kids that we stayed for over an hour!
The next day we visited another CDC and some women with AIDS who also work with AIDS awareness came to talk to us. The craziest thing was that almost all of the ladies had gotten HIV because they’re husbands are truck drivers, and would sleep with prostitutes while they were on the road, then come back to their wives. All of these women had still stayed with their husbands though. They were amazing ladies and they really made me miss my AIDS hospice friends back home. After that we went to a leper colony, where Kingsley told us you contract leprosy from the flies… which were swarming us… I really know nothing about leprosy, but this was a very interesting place. You really couldn’t tell any of the people had it, and all we did there was sing our 2 Tamil songs for them… sometimes I just feel like a tourist here looking in on people’s lives like they’re a novelty, when I really want to get to know them, to somehow show them that I love them.
At lunch I fell asleep at the table… I may be able to sleep most anywhere, but even this is kinda crazy for me. We were supposed to go watch people make handbags, but Kingsley insisted we take rest, so I slept for 2 hours on the concrete, then we left for the CDC again. It wasn’t so much of a surprise when I blacked out in the road on the way in, but still rather inconvenient. The CDC leader had them take me to his amazing house (with a western toilet, the first one we had seen in about a week!!) and I recovered quite well there. That night Tam and I got to talk on the roof, and she just asked me the simple question “Who is God to you?” I think that’s a question that needs to be asked a lot more, really to anyone and everyone. It just opened up so much for us, but also made me realize how important it is that I know who God is to me. It started to rain then though, so we were moved to the porch, where I was watched intently, like really Indians standing over my bed to made sure that I was taking rest. Finally they left though and we were able to sing patriotic songs very quietly, since it was the 4th of July. Maybe not the most amazing 4th, but hey, definitely different. Some people come back from these trips hating America, but while there’s definitely things that America has wrong, I am still absolutely proud to be an American.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
traveling in the Nazarenemobile
The next morning I got up and was allowed to go running, which was absolutely amazing!! The fact that there’s even space here to run without being hit by some sort of vehicle was a miracle. I got some awesome looks in my running tights, but everytime I would smile or wave the kids on their way to school would get these huge smiles on their faces and start giggling. We left for somewhere that I can’t remember the name after that to head for our elephant safari. On the way we stopped at this Chinese restaurant that played Kenny G music! The drives here are always absolutely amazing and I can remember thinking that I would be perfectly content if I never got out of our little Nazarenemobile. When we got to our safari site a monkey immediately stole Meret’s snack, then we were whisked away for our elephant ride. The problem was that we all had to pee like none other, so the safari leader talked some random people into letting us pee on the floor of this little building in their yard… can’t say I’ve ever peed while using the person in front of me for support until this trip, but it’s a memory I wouldn’t trade!
The elephant ride itself was fairly uneventful and the fact that the poor thing frequently got beat by a man walking behind made it not really that amazing, but it’s still cool to be able to say I’ve ridden an elephant I guess! After that we went on a bus safari and mostly just talked to the little boys sitting beside us, because the safari basically had a few deer and bison on it, and a “wild” elephant that was chained to a tree. After dinner Kingsley let me drive his stick shift car through the forest, and at one point we even saw a real wild elephant. Apparently they are very dangerous though, so our hired driver drove after that, and we eventually came upon at least 8 more elephants! The next morning we heard that elephants and bison were outside our door at 6 in the morning, but we were fast asleep… the minute we woke up Kingsley had us wading through a freezing creek… Meret fell in and grabbed me, to which I kindly responded, “If you pull me in I’ll punch you in the face.” Let’s just say we were all a little edgy. Meret was able to fashion a skirt out of Kingsley’s shawl though and we headed on our way with her jeans flying our the window to a stand full of more types of amazing bananas than you could ever imagine! Pretty much for the rest of the drive home it rained, but even that was amazing… it was just so beautiful and peaceful and I didn’t want to be anywhere else. We also stopped and got homemade chocolate, fresh plums, mangoes, and carrots… who knew carrots could taste so good?! When we got back to our little cottage we ate the various foods we’d accumulated on the side of the road and gave each other pedicures… definitely one of my favorite days in India!!
The next day we visited the self-proclaimed best rose garden on earth… it was pretty awesome, but the best part was being invited to play a way cooler version of duck duck goose with a huge group of Indians, ages ranging from children to older adults!
When we got home we went back to the wonderful church/house and celebrated Jen’s sister’s birthday there… love those kids!! We also found out while we were there that’s it’s totally cool here to marry your cousin… hmmmm
The next day we thought we were leaving Kotagiri but Kings changed his mind and decided we would paint a church! So after a lovely 4 mile run we headed to begin the biggest scraping job of our lives. Kingsley had it in his head that we had to get every single bit of paint off… it was looking like Jesus would come back before we finished the job but thankfully a delightful lunch came first. Really though, I was getting rather discouraged, but then Jen started singing hymns and it was like the time flew by… Brian Lee, you were right all along, you can have fun doing ANYTHING as long as you’re with the right people! After lunch we went to work in the fields picking beans with these hilarious ladies! They were just sure we would understand Tamil if they spoke a little louder, but quite unfortunately that wasn’t true! One stuffed a leaf of some sort in my mouth, which I tried to chew, but was then hit by another lady and told to spit out, because apparently it was some kind of drug, and “Christians, no!” accompanied by very exaggerated hand movements! Eventually it got to just be us picking and an audience of people watching us, while occasionally they asked us to show off our dancing skills.
We were told before we ever left for Mumbai that we would have an opportunity to do laundry, but that was actually a lie, so underwear and other clothes now have levels of dirtiness for us… Jeffrey you might not love it here. It really is amazing though and Kotagiri has been such an amazing part of this trip, and so much of our team bonding has happened here!
The elephant ride itself was fairly uneventful and the fact that the poor thing frequently got beat by a man walking behind made it not really that amazing, but it’s still cool to be able to say I’ve ridden an elephant I guess! After that we went on a bus safari and mostly just talked to the little boys sitting beside us, because the safari basically had a few deer and bison on it, and a “wild” elephant that was chained to a tree. After dinner Kingsley let me drive his stick shift car through the forest, and at one point we even saw a real wild elephant. Apparently they are very dangerous though, so our hired driver drove after that, and we eventually came upon at least 8 more elephants! The next morning we heard that elephants and bison were outside our door at 6 in the morning, but we were fast asleep… the minute we woke up Kingsley had us wading through a freezing creek… Meret fell in and grabbed me, to which I kindly responded, “If you pull me in I’ll punch you in the face.” Let’s just say we were all a little edgy. Meret was able to fashion a skirt out of Kingsley’s shawl though and we headed on our way with her jeans flying our the window to a stand full of more types of amazing bananas than you could ever imagine! Pretty much for the rest of the drive home it rained, but even that was amazing… it was just so beautiful and peaceful and I didn’t want to be anywhere else. We also stopped and got homemade chocolate, fresh plums, mangoes, and carrots… who knew carrots could taste so good?! When we got back to our little cottage we ate the various foods we’d accumulated on the side of the road and gave each other pedicures… definitely one of my favorite days in India!!
The next day we visited the self-proclaimed best rose garden on earth… it was pretty awesome, but the best part was being invited to play a way cooler version of duck duck goose with a huge group of Indians, ages ranging from children to older adults!
When we got home we went back to the wonderful church/house and celebrated Jen’s sister’s birthday there… love those kids!! We also found out while we were there that’s it’s totally cool here to marry your cousin… hmmmm
The next day we thought we were leaving Kotagiri but Kings changed his mind and decided we would paint a church! So after a lovely 4 mile run we headed to begin the biggest scraping job of our lives. Kingsley had it in his head that we had to get every single bit of paint off… it was looking like Jesus would come back before we finished the job but thankfully a delightful lunch came first. Really though, I was getting rather discouraged, but then Jen started singing hymns and it was like the time flew by… Brian Lee, you were right all along, you can have fun doing ANYTHING as long as you’re with the right people! After lunch we went to work in the fields picking beans with these hilarious ladies! They were just sure we would understand Tamil if they spoke a little louder, but quite unfortunately that wasn’t true! One stuffed a leaf of some sort in my mouth, which I tried to chew, but was then hit by another lady and told to spit out, because apparently it was some kind of drug, and “Christians, no!” accompanied by very exaggerated hand movements! Eventually it got to just be us picking and an audience of people watching us, while occasionally they asked us to show off our dancing skills.
We were told before we ever left for Mumbai that we would have an opportunity to do laundry, but that was actually a lie, so underwear and other clothes now have levels of dirtiness for us… Jeffrey you might not love it here. It really is amazing though and Kotagiri has been such an amazing part of this trip, and so much of our team bonding has happened here!
Monday, July 6, 2009
the earth is filled with His glory
By the time we left Mumbai we were all feeling pretty homesick, not to mention that we were super tired of hard boiled eggs and toast (hotel Indian food is rather disgusting). I knew that if some change in my attitude didn’t happen quick the next 3 weeks were gonna be absolutely miserable. God totally answered my prayer though, and allowed us to visit Kingsley’s grandma after we left the airport. She and her husband were so incredibly sweet, and they both spoke amazing English, possibly because she is half swiss. She and her daughters made us the best meal we’ve had since being here, and we got to really enjoy just being part of a family again. We left there at about 10:30 to begin our drive up the mountain… we were all kind of dreading it, but it was actually one of my favorite experiences of the trip. As we drove higher and higher up the mountain listening to John Mayer and Jason Mraz the scenery became absolutely breathtaking and the air became cooler and cooler. After what seemed like no time at all we arrived at our awesome little wooden cottage surrounded by more greenery and flowers than you can imagine! The only set back to that night was that as Meret layed down on her cute little bed it crashed through the floor… when we told the pastor who owned the house he simply replied “it’s an old building, these things happen”… the Indians we interact with have such amazing attitudes! As a result of the hole in the floor, which led directly to the ground, our room was quite chilly at night, but thankfully they had given us five blankets each, so we weren’t too cold!
Considering that we arrived at about 4:00 am it really wasn’t a surprise that we slept through our alarm, but it did result in some frenzied getting ready for church… luckily I remembered to through on my running tights under my chooty though! Yes, they did look hot, but hey, I was warm. In order to get to the church we had to climb about 50 steps, and we heard that just recently had they even put steps in, before they just had to climb the hill! After about a 3 hour nap we headed out to another church, where we fit at least 25 people in an 8 by 8 house, with 6 people sitting in chairs… if Americans were as flexible as Indians, I would say we should all have church like that. The spirit was just so there, and after giving our testimonies once again they prayed for us… I have never felt so loved, appreciated, and believed in as I do when these wonderful people pray for me. Sudas, the man who helps Kingsley, was about to go into the ministry, but recently he decided to back out, for reasons that don’t quite make sense, I think we’re missing something because of the slight communication barrier, but his mother was at this church and extremely sad… please pray for Sudas and his mother.
After church we were surrounded by the friendliest people we’ve met here, even though they really didn’t know English. Most people here want to give us things and watch us, but these people just really wanted to be with us. The girls grabbed out arms and directed our every step back down the steps, which was extremely kind considering it was pitch black and freezing out! My wonderful friend Jen compared the drive from Kingsley’s grandma’s house to our spiritual journey… we don’t want to leave what is safe, what feels like home, what is familiar. But sometimes we are called to, but if we do, God promises what he has next is even better. It may not be the easiest journey, or feel like it’s at the best time, but God absolutely has greater things in store for us. We can’t just remain stagnant, we must keep moving, trusting in the Lord with all our hearts, leaning not on our own understanding. In all our ways we must acknowledge Him, and he will keep our paths straight.
Considering that we arrived at about 4:00 am it really wasn’t a surprise that we slept through our alarm, but it did result in some frenzied getting ready for church… luckily I remembered to through on my running tights under my chooty though! Yes, they did look hot, but hey, I was warm. In order to get to the church we had to climb about 50 steps, and we heard that just recently had they even put steps in, before they just had to climb the hill! After about a 3 hour nap we headed out to another church, where we fit at least 25 people in an 8 by 8 house, with 6 people sitting in chairs… if Americans were as flexible as Indians, I would say we should all have church like that. The spirit was just so there, and after giving our testimonies once again they prayed for us… I have never felt so loved, appreciated, and believed in as I do when these wonderful people pray for me. Sudas, the man who helps Kingsley, was about to go into the ministry, but recently he decided to back out, for reasons that don’t quite make sense, I think we’re missing something because of the slight communication barrier, but his mother was at this church and extremely sad… please pray for Sudas and his mother.
After church we were surrounded by the friendliest people we’ve met here, even though they really didn’t know English. Most people here want to give us things and watch us, but these people just really wanted to be with us. The girls grabbed out arms and directed our every step back down the steps, which was extremely kind considering it was pitch black and freezing out! My wonderful friend Jen compared the drive from Kingsley’s grandma’s house to our spiritual journey… we don’t want to leave what is safe, what feels like home, what is familiar. But sometimes we are called to, but if we do, God promises what he has next is even better. It may not be the easiest journey, or feel like it’s at the best time, but God absolutely has greater things in store for us. We can’t just remain stagnant, we must keep moving, trusting in the Lord with all our hearts, leaning not on our own understanding. In all our ways we must acknowledge Him, and he will keep our paths straight.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
finally back!!!!!!!!
So it feels like I’ve been away for forever, when really it’s only been 2 weeks, but so much has happened in those 2 weeks! I’m just gonna post a few days at a time, partly so I don’t overload y’all with info but also because I just don’t have that much time on the computer! I got up at 6:30 this morning even though we arrived at 1 last night just to type these all up (yes I’m as compulsive about getting things done as ever), but Kingsley’s mother was praying so I didn’t wanna use the computer. But here goes… I’m sure I’ll forget things but I’ve tried to keep a few notes to remind myself of the highlights.
I’m not actually sure where I left off in my last blog… I’m not able to get online right now so I’m just making this a word document and then I’ll paste it later, but I’ll start with the night we got to Mumbai, after the train. Kingsley’s friend from Mumbai took us around to see the city, and we got to see the hotels that were attacked by terrorists and the train station from Slumdog. After that night we pretty much spent all our time in the hotel during the day, picking and choosing what we wanted to go to as far as the NYI conference went. We didn’t go to much of the business stuff, but we went to all the worship services and the global services, which were AMAZING. It was so crazy to think that we were really worshipping with people in America, people we knew, at the same time as them. The fact that it was at the same time meant that for a couple services we were up til about 3 in the morning though… everything really was catered to America, which frustrated our leader to no end. For some reason that I’m not really sure of she was from Germany, and she did not hesitate to make her dislike of Germans, or for that matter Indians, known.
During the worship times each region took turns leading the music and there were some really awesome ones… the crazy thing was that English was the common language spoken, because of the huge variety of languages spoken in India. For example, the only other people who spoke Tamil, the language Kingsley speaks, was from Sri Lanka! There were people from Lebanon to California there (they just decided it would be way cooler to attend in India than Orlando… I tend to agree with them!) For one song Kingsley began to dance, just him, exactly like dad!! Worship times were so fun though, but also so wonderful to just sense the spirit across the world, from Ecuador to Germany.
The second day we were there the Mumbai YIM team got to come see us!! It was so wonderful to see them and hear their stories… their Red Light District stories were absolutely incredible. Their leader somehow, only by some miracle, got them in, and within a matter of minutes she was praying with people she had never met before… why have we so overcomplicated spreading the gospel? These stories are so intense but I really want you to hear them firsthand… I’ll try to find a link for one of the girl’s blog. Each night we were there we ordered Dominoes Pizza (yes that’s right!!)… the first night we accidentally ordered four boxes of breadsticks though instead of 4 breadsticks, but don’t worry, we ate them all!! Raj, the Mumbai team leader, also took us to Baskin Robbins every night… the ice cream was amazing but just the time with friends and Raj, who was so hilarious, made these some of my favorite times in Mumbai. It definitely made me homesick too though.
The last day we were there we made a super quick trip to the mall to pick up some things for Kingsley, then we ran out the door to a taxi to catch our flight. The drive of 1 ½ only covered 12 miles… sometimes when we’d be stopped a woman with a baby would come up to our window and point at her baby and her mouth, but Kingsley wouldn’t let us give them money, because he said there were Lords just waiting to take the money from them, almost like they were employed to beg, but that the money wouldn’t go to them anyway. The Mumbai team said they saw some kids begging and their Lord right around the corner… Slumdog was amazingly accurate. This part was so hard though… the women would stay at your window until you started moving again which was sometimes an incredibly long time… Mumbai is a rough city. It has absolutely beautiful buildings and is the economic capital of India, but if you move a few feet, literally, from the beauty, you find huge slums and people with absolutely nothing.
When we finally arrived at the airport Kingsley got out of the taxi and walked in, because you can only have four in the taxi at the security checkpoint, so when we went to get everything out of the back in the midst of trying to get the driver paid and the fact that the four of us girls were pretty shaken up, we ended up leaving the things Kingsley bought at the mall. After making it through security, which was nothing like in America, we also realized that we had brought a man’s bag with us from Bangalore, which is like 10 hours from where we were heading. Kingsley had also lost his phone the night before, so… it just really wasn’t Kingsley’s day. He was so cool about it though and stayed so calm, giving his standard, “no, no, it’s no problem!” Even if he does tell me that when I sing sometimes he thinks the car is having problems, and that when I braid my hair it looks like a rat tail, he’s really a great guy! Mumbai was a very emotional place, and I’m glad we went, but I don’t think I ever want to go back.
I’m not actually sure where I left off in my last blog… I’m not able to get online right now so I’m just making this a word document and then I’ll paste it later, but I’ll start with the night we got to Mumbai, after the train. Kingsley’s friend from Mumbai took us around to see the city, and we got to see the hotels that were attacked by terrorists and the train station from Slumdog. After that night we pretty much spent all our time in the hotel during the day, picking and choosing what we wanted to go to as far as the NYI conference went. We didn’t go to much of the business stuff, but we went to all the worship services and the global services, which were AMAZING. It was so crazy to think that we were really worshipping with people in America, people we knew, at the same time as them. The fact that it was at the same time meant that for a couple services we were up til about 3 in the morning though… everything really was catered to America, which frustrated our leader to no end. For some reason that I’m not really sure of she was from Germany, and she did not hesitate to make her dislike of Germans, or for that matter Indians, known.
During the worship times each region took turns leading the music and there were some really awesome ones… the crazy thing was that English was the common language spoken, because of the huge variety of languages spoken in India. For example, the only other people who spoke Tamil, the language Kingsley speaks, was from Sri Lanka! There were people from Lebanon to California there (they just decided it would be way cooler to attend in India than Orlando… I tend to agree with them!) For one song Kingsley began to dance, just him, exactly like dad!! Worship times were so fun though, but also so wonderful to just sense the spirit across the world, from Ecuador to Germany.
The second day we were there the Mumbai YIM team got to come see us!! It was so wonderful to see them and hear their stories… their Red Light District stories were absolutely incredible. Their leader somehow, only by some miracle, got them in, and within a matter of minutes she was praying with people she had never met before… why have we so overcomplicated spreading the gospel? These stories are so intense but I really want you to hear them firsthand… I’ll try to find a link for one of the girl’s blog. Each night we were there we ordered Dominoes Pizza (yes that’s right!!)… the first night we accidentally ordered four boxes of breadsticks though instead of 4 breadsticks, but don’t worry, we ate them all!! Raj, the Mumbai team leader, also took us to Baskin Robbins every night… the ice cream was amazing but just the time with friends and Raj, who was so hilarious, made these some of my favorite times in Mumbai. It definitely made me homesick too though.
The last day we were there we made a super quick trip to the mall to pick up some things for Kingsley, then we ran out the door to a taxi to catch our flight. The drive of 1 ½ only covered 12 miles… sometimes when we’d be stopped a woman with a baby would come up to our window and point at her baby and her mouth, but Kingsley wouldn’t let us give them money, because he said there were Lords just waiting to take the money from them, almost like they were employed to beg, but that the money wouldn’t go to them anyway. The Mumbai team said they saw some kids begging and their Lord right around the corner… Slumdog was amazingly accurate. This part was so hard though… the women would stay at your window until you started moving again which was sometimes an incredibly long time… Mumbai is a rough city. It has absolutely beautiful buildings and is the economic capital of India, but if you move a few feet, literally, from the beauty, you find huge slums and people with absolutely nothing.
When we finally arrived at the airport Kingsley got out of the taxi and walked in, because you can only have four in the taxi at the security checkpoint, so when we went to get everything out of the back in the midst of trying to get the driver paid and the fact that the four of us girls were pretty shaken up, we ended up leaving the things Kingsley bought at the mall. After making it through security, which was nothing like in America, we also realized that we had brought a man’s bag with us from Bangalore, which is like 10 hours from where we were heading. Kingsley had also lost his phone the night before, so… it just really wasn’t Kingsley’s day. He was so cool about it though and stayed so calm, giving his standard, “no, no, it’s no problem!” Even if he does tell me that when I sing sometimes he thinks the car is having problems, and that when I braid my hair it looks like a rat tail, he’s really a great guy! Mumbai was a very emotional place, and I’m glad we went, but I don’t think I ever want to go back.
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