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!!!!!!!!!!