India in a very large nutshell 2!

Alright back to Anbu! When I asked him what he believes, I began to wonder if I could really tell him what I believe, the “reason for the hope that I have (1 Peter 3:17)”. He told me what he as a Hindu believes, and the thing that really stuck out to me was that he lives his life striving to not be reborn, while we are given the promise of eternal life, if we will only put our trust in God! How amazing that we don’t have to run from something, but only to someone, someone who’s love and acceptance is given so freely! If I’m constantly questioning the love of someone, I can’t freely love them back. But since I have been justified by faith I have peace with God through my Lord Jesus Christ. This is the reason for the hope that I have…

When we got to Chennai Anbu was so sweet and stayed with me through customs and getting my luggage, and was going to take me to my connecting flight, but then his luggage never arrived from London! So I set off on my own, found a small corner with a fan and a clock nearby, and began to read. During the 2 hours I had to sit there (you can’t check into flights more than an hour and a half in advance) 2 different Indian men came to talk to me, genuinely interested in my life! Each offered to buy me tea, and one had to leave for a moment, but he came back specifically to tell me “bye bye”.

When I got to check in finally I wandered around aimlessly for quite some time trying to figure out how to find a phone, since I realized I had miscalculated the time and would not be with Kingsley at the time I told mother I would, but some man stopped me and asked if I needed to use his mobile! When I finally got to Coimbatore Kingsley was not there, so I simply walked up to another man, asked him if he spoke English, and offered to pay him to use his phone, which he refused, saying he doesn’t care about money. I just like the Indian men.

After sitting on a curb alone (alone as you can get in India) for about 45 minutes, Kingsley finally arrived with this year’s team! Jenna jumped out of the car… I can’t describe all this, but it was wonderful. I thought I might feel some jealousy towards the team this year, or like I didn’t fit in with them, but spending the little time I was able to with them was just so wonderful!! In fact, when they left I cried… when I first got here I was lonely a lot, and really unsure of why I was here, what in the world I was thinking coming alone. Kings handed me his phone to call Ross the night I was the most lonely though, and then on the way back up the mountain Kings and I had a wonderful conversation about life in general, and I just knew everything was going to be ok.

Much to my surprise, a team from Houston, Texas arrived to work on Kingsley’s church in Kotagiri! Karlee and Aaron Webster were in this team (Lynlee’s sister and Josh Baskett’s cousin ) and they were from the church my friends Tiffany and Daniel go to! Oh and some man whose name might be Richard Crow knows Uncle Bob and Aunt Judy, and while talking to his wife, who lives in Bethany, also talked to Kathy Choate! Crazy small world… So to make a very very long story short, I ended up getting to stay with this delightful woman named Glenda instead of in a hotel alone, and I stayed extremely busy for the next few days, plastering, leveling, sifting sand, painting, touring India, etc. AMAZING!! I actually kind of resented the team at first, particularly because of how American they were, how I felt like their mindset was kind of let me come save this place for a week, not let me come live with you, and in the meantime help you… does this make any sense? Really though most of the people were wonderful, I’ll tell you many more stories about them upon arriving home… Oh! The lady I stayed with though, Glenda, got flowers from her husband on their 33rd wedding anniversary!!! So beautiful…

Each night we would put on a VBS thing for the CDC in Kotagiri, which was really cool, cause the kids just don’t get any sort of Sunday School or anything like that, only what they hear in church, if the even go to church, and a lot don’t. But my favorite woman, Silvi, came, and immediately pulled me into the kitchen and started kissing and hugging me! Indians don’t even hug!! On Sunday I was wearing my sari, and the minute she saw me she pulled me into her house and took it off me, calling in 2 other women to fix the mess I had apparently made of it lol. It was so wonderful to be back in Indian church, but I also really missed church at home, which I also love… it’s such a blessing to have finally found a church home, one I can’t wait to come back to!

The dedication of Kingsley’s church was on Sunday evening, and it was also wonderful! This little woman from somewhere in Asia (I know where I just can’t spell it) was crazy and ridiculous, but each day while we were working on the church she would invite people to come to the dedication, and so many people came!! This absolutely wonderful missionary family from Nampa came too, and it was just so amazing to have someone to talk to who really understood where I was at and my feelings towards the past week… I’ll tell you their story when I get home too, since this is turning into 12 pages.

The next morning I took off for Musiri with 2 men who don’t really speak English, stopping for a midmorning snack of a pot of fried rice and fried onions… let the intense eating commence! I’m actually not worried about it though, and the teacher I worked with last year at the CDC told me “last year so broad, this year so small!” hahaha Being back with the CDC here in Musiri has made this whole trip so worth it though… oh goodness I love those kids, and I know without a doubt that they love me! CDC last year wasn’t my favorite thing at all, but this year, well, it’s just wonderful!! The kids now have martial arts added into their curriculum… basically it ends up being the instructor teaching me about a million different blocks while the kids all stare and laugh.

During the day I basically only read and eat, but I’m doing pretty well with it… pray that I could continue to be present, that God’s truth would be revealed as I search for an even greater understanding of who He is, what His love means, and what His call for my life is… I love you all so much, and can’t wait to see you, but for now, I am so blessed to be in India!!