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.