Back to the blogging world
My apologies for my lack of correspondence the last couple weeks. They’ve been plenty busy, but alas I need to let my faithful followers (the few of you that actually read this) in on all that’s gone down. Luckily, because of the density of events and lack of remembrance on my part, you’ll get an easy to read, pared down version of the last two weeks.
Vilage
Krishna, Jenny, and I were out in the village last Mon-Thurs. Pratim joined us Wed, with two guys from a church in California that support him. Things there were pretty normal. I got to share the 1st night during fellowship and Krishna the 2nd, since Pratim wasn’t there. I talked about Lazarus and how Jesus has the authority and power to raise up the dead, yet is our close friend and weeps for us as well and not some far away God in the sky. We just need to come to him and ask. Krishna spoke on different kinds of life (physical, spiritual, eternal). Wed, Krishna and I were able to help Rakesh finish up the bathroom the summer team built for his family. So I spent the afternoon mixing cement and shoveling dirt. Of course, my plush American hands blistered, but it was fun to do manual labor.
One of the other afternoons, Jenny was able to play this recording she has in Hindi about Jesus for the kids (they came down every afternoon to play. so we were a daycare/circus rides for a few hours each day.) most of the kids have short attention spans and ran off, but Puja was glued to the recording and wanted to hear it again the next day! So cool to see someone so interested in the gospel at such a young age.
The last night was a huge praise! One of the guys that supports Pratim (a pastor) gave a simple gospel message out of Romans and invited anyone to confess Christ with their mouths if they believe Him in their hearts. At first no one volunteered to, but later on Meena (Rakesh’s sister) said she’d like to verbally confess Christ! We figured, living with Rakesh and all, that she was close, so having her finally say Jesus was her savior was great to hear! Praise God for all He’s doing there. It’s encouraging to see all the people that show up for fellowship and how He’s slowly building up a small church here in the younger generation. Just keep letting the gospel and God’s word make it’s way in their hearts and pretty soon things get rolling. Less than 2 years ago there were no believers. 1 year ago there were only 3. Now there are around 8 with more on the cusp. God’s moving and it’s incredible to watch!
Delhi/Agra
Friday night the EMI interns and myself headed out to Delhi for the weekend +mon/tues to do some sightseeing and the like. It started out as rough as you can get. We were waitlisted on the train to Delhi. So when we got to the station thinking we’d have tickets (usually when you’re waitlisted you get on easy), we found that the 7 of us had 2 berths on the train in the sleeper class. No a/c and no room for an overnight train. We all got about 1/2 hrs of sleep (maybe) the whole 10 hr ride. We tried sleeping up 3 and 4 to a bed. Didn’t work. Nick, Mark, and Cara were troopers and just slept on the nasty train floor (they’re my heroes) so Deb and Katie shared a bed, and Nate and I had one too. Sleeping in the fetal position with about a 3x2ft space for your body is impossible. Luckily some guys left at earlier stops prior to Delhi so I jacked their beds for the last couple hrs of the ride.
Anyways after getting into Delhi and haggling with our hotel that made no sense (more ranting here, but it was ridiculous) we finally settled in. Most of us decided to just push through and get some sites in then sleep early. Deb and Katie were running the Delhi half marathon the next morning.
We checked out Himayan’s tomb (google it for the history). It had cool ancient architecture and was quite impressively built. Afterwards some of us checked out the Lotus temple. This building is awesome. Looks like the sydney opera house, but is symmetrical. It’s also a temple for the Baha’i faith (a very universalist, po-mo faith in my opinion) and we came when they were holding a 10min prayer service. So the four of us that went decided to sit in and observe. It was interesting to say the least. The inside is a huge hall that echoes like crazy, so it was difficult to hear what was being said, but different people would walk up and sing a hymn, or recite different prayers. A psalm was even recited at one point. Having that time there, in the silence, was actually a great time to convene with God too and pray over the temple and those practicing this faith, so I was glad God gave us an opportunity to claim Christ’s name over a place that needs His truth badly.
Afterwards we came back, got food (at an awesome restaurant next to our restaurant that was probably the grungiest place i’ve eaten in and lowered roti in a basket through the roof), and headed to bed.
Sunday we woke up and tried to get to the finish line to see some staff and interns finish the half marathon. They all finished rather close to each other so it was pretty impressive. I was tempted to run more when I got back to the states, but then I remembered how much I hate running. Dream quickly squashed.
While the runners went back and cleaned up, the rest of us checked out the Jamamashid mosque in Old Delhi. This place was pretty sweet too, with similar arched, vaulted architecture seen in a lot of the older buildings. The coolest part is going up one of their minarets and seeing all of Delhi around you. Delhi from above looks crazy and much different than when you’re on the ground. I think it’s easy to get caught up in the dirtiness when you’re walking around, but from above it’s a beautiful Indian city that’s sprawled out for miles with small, big, contemporary, ancient, colorful buildings throughout. Some people were sitting on their roofs flying kites too, so it was just this sweet picture of the city.
The runners caught up with us after and we went to check out the spice market. It wasn’t what we were expecting and pretty underwhelming. So we soon just headed back to the metro and went to the hotel. Dinner that night was at a bar next door, and Nick and I basically ordered the Indian version of hot wings (tandoori chicken) and fries, haha. Later we had our own little fruit eating party in the guys room since there were so many fruit vendors outside our hotel. Oranges, guavas, pomegranates, bananas, custard apples. <3 fruits.
Monday was spent traveling to Agra in the morning (2 hr train ride turned 4 hrs), the Taj for a couple hours, lunch, then back to Delhi. We wanted to check out the Agra fort as well, but since our train arrived so late, we just decided to enjoy more time at the Taj instead of trying to rush both.
The Taj was a lot better than I was expecting. I came in with pretty low expectations because everyone tells you that it’s not that great. So seeing it when you walk in was really cool. The building is huge, plus it’s all marble. Just crazy. Going inside kinda stinks since they rush you through and you can’t really see anything (just the tomb of the woman it was a made for), but the building as a whole is great. Intricate designs, grand scales, and great landscaping. There were crowds and crowds of people (lots of Indians like to come here) and they love taking pictures with foreigners. I look the least foreign, so I was left alone, but the rest of the the interns (the white ones at least) got bombarded with people wanting to take pictures with them. Hilarious, but annoying. In the end, we got some really sweet pictures of all of us and were able to enjoy and relax in the Taj. Cool beans.
We finished the night at the same restaurant from the first day (“Roti through the roof” is what we called it. “Roti” is bread for all those wondering.) Then said our goodbyes to Deb as she would be leaving early the next day back to the UK. Sad and weird to see her go, since we’ll be leaving soon after. Time flies.
Tuesday was spent traveling back to Mussoorie. This train was a nice luxury seat car with lots of food. It’s amazing how quickly things that aren’t that “nice” suddenly because incredibly luxurious after experiencing the train ride from hell. So thankful to be on a nice train for the ride back, haha.
That’s about it for our travels. Thanksgiving was spent with the EMI guys (our PI team will be celebrating next week when half our members come back from a conference in Delhi.) We all made stuff, and to be honest, it was a pretty awesome spread considering none of us ever really cooked back home. Beer grilled chicken, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, stuffing, salad, fruit salad, cream corn, grilled jalapeños, gravy, peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, banana bread, pumpkin pie (+ whiskey sauce), and apple crisp. All of it home made. It’s safe to say I was stuffed and extremely impressed by our cooking capabilities.
English lessons are still going well. Rakesh has pretty much disappeared (we literally have no clue where he is), but Raju has been coming out faithfully. He’s been improving quickly and is very eager to do work. I’m hoping God keeps building that relationship the last few weeks we’re here.
No Shave November is still going strong. Unfortunately that means I look pretty straggly…
Prayer Requests
-For God to keep developing our relationships w/ the men in English class, and opening opportunities to be lights and possibly share Christ verbally.
-For the village believers to continue to be strengthened in their faith, especially the newer ones, and to keep bringing love, peace, grace, and truth to their peers, elders, and family.
-For chances to get back out to the village a couple times before I leave.
-For God to continue stirring my heart for His glory and His gospel even as my time here begins to wind down. To let God be God amongst it all and go as the Spirit leads.
Thanks for all the prayers and support! It’s crazy to think that I’ll be leaving in a few weeks, but through all of this ya’ll back home have been an incredible blessing. Praise God for an amazing family all around the world!
Special shot out to my Dad for his birthday! Love you and all you’ve done!
Pictures
Village
what made up our afternoons…
Jenny sharing the “Jesus story” in Hindi.
Shoveling cement with Krishna and Rakesh.
One night in fellowship. The girl at the very left is Meena!
Delhi/Agra
Our train ride in. Those were the only 2 beds we got. Awesome…
Himayan’s tomb.
Sweet light pouring in from outside.
Some shots of the Lotus Temple. We weren’t allowed to take pics inside, but it was pretty cool.
Jamamashid mosque
Shots from the minaret. Delhi in all it’s glory.
The Taj! Too bad that day was sort of musky.
S’more shots of the Taj.
Group pic (self timed no less! Mark’s a pro) infront of one of the mosques on either side of the Taj.
Awesome jumping group pic from the side of the Taj. This one was selftimed too. We are pros. (From L to R: Nick, Deb, Me, Katie, Mark, Cara, Nate) And yes, I went captain morgan.
There is never a bad time to hook ‘em.
Thanksgiving
The spread minus the desserts.
The desserts minus the apple crisp (which I didn’t get a pic of even though I probably did the most work for that.)
That’s all for now. Until next time folks! Less than 3 weeks until I get back. Crazy!
1 year ago • Notes