india, day 6

march 10, 2010

Well, today is rest day...and my birthday!  :) We got up at about 5:30am this morning so we could be on the road to Ranipet by 6:00am. We are heading to a hotel in Ranipet to kind of rejuvenate ourselves after the crazy week it has been so far. This gives us the opportunity to sleep/rest in a bed, take a shower, and just be able to relax and process through everything that has happened thus far. I'm really looking foward to this.  :)

I got to finally call my family for the first time since I've been here. I got to talk to my mom, dad and my brother. It felt so good to talk to them and find out how home is. It made me realize how much I miss them and home. I've been doing so great so far not really thinking about home or missing it...but today after talking to them, it made me miss what was going on in their lives. Wishing that they were here with me experiencing everything wonderful that I'm getting to experience.

However, this is such an amazing experience for me and so I need to soak in every minute that I possibly can. But for today...I'm thankful to have the opportunity to rest. Rest my heart, my mind and my body. As much as it seems that we aren't doing a lot of hard labor, just the meeting with families has been draining...in a good way. It's always nice to be able to take a step back and look at what you've been through so far and try to process everything you've seen/heard.

When we got to the hotel this morning, it was like a breath of fresh air. We get to sleep in BEDS...in rooms that have AIR CONDITIONING! :)  We also got hot showers which felt so amazing! You never know how much you take for granted at home until you have to do without elsewhere. I'm still so happy that I decided to come on this trip and step outside my comfort zone. It's been an experience of a lifetime and I'm not sure if I'll get another opportunity to do something like this again. I am so happy to have the chance to go out and do God's work and spread His love.

{steph, me & sarah}

{palm trees by resort}

This morning its been nice to get a small break from the team as well. They are all certainly amazing and such a fun group, but I haven't had much alone time since I've been here, so it feels great to just hang out alone and relax and listen to music. I haven't really had the chance to really think through what I feel about the trip. This trip has been such a whirlwind for me. To sit down and process my thoughts has just been crazy. I'm not sure if this is something that I will do again or I might do it over and over again. :) It's so overwhelming while I'm still here that I'm not sure what will happen if the opportunity arises for me to come back. I love the feeling of doing God's work for Him, but am struggling with being so completely out of my comfort zone. As much as I can say that I hate routine, when you're pushed above and beyond your normal routine, it's always nice to get back and have the comfort of your home, your bed, your shower and even your family. I love my family so much and it shows when I am so far away from home, how much I miss them. I hope my family will get the opportunity to experience something like this someday. I think they would benefit greatly from it.

{sunset in kalavai}

It's amazing how much better I'm beginning to feel now that I have had a chance to decompress and let my mind wander. I feel like I'm starting to be able to process through my thoughts and be able to survive the rest of the week. The people of Kalavai have made me realize how things could be for me and that I have so much to be thankful for.

This afternoon we are heading into downtown Ranipet to go shopping for Saree's (indian clothing). That will be such a fun experience and I am so excited to be able to go. I'm excited to see how the culture is in a bigger city and just go out and have a fun afternoon...:)

{downtown ranipet}

{indian woman in ranipet}

{rochelle & i on the bus ride into ranipet}

God has been ever present on this trip giving me the strength  to not only survive, but to continue going knowing these people need God's love. It is so unreal how drastic their life is compared to mine. But I appreciate each and every one of these people as they are teaching me life lessons that I will be able to take home with me and continue to improve.

One girl in this village has just captured my heart. She is a beautiful young girl named Monjou. She is a goat herder for her family's goats. She is out in the blazing sun all day long herding the goats and making sure they feed well and are well taken care of. With goats being well taken care of, they can produce up to 2 or 3 kids. If they only produce 1 kid, that means you haven't been taking good enough care of them. About a year ago, one of their family goats only had 1 kid. That was not good enough and therefore her mother beat her as this was no acceptable. Monjou was so hurt by this and didn't want to live her life like that. One of the days when she went out to tend to the goats, she ate some poisonous berries in hopes that she wouldn't have to live this life anymore. Her friends were able to find her in time and bring her back to get cared for so she wouldn't die. That is when Raj from Life Missions & GCC intervened and has helped this family out to know what is most important in life...their family and God's love for their family. This story just touched my heart and it is so completely amazing to get to know Monjou while I'm here and to hopefully have an impact on her life. She is a beautiful girl inside and out and I have so much hope for her that she gets what she wants for her life.

{sarah & monjou}

It's stories like this that help me realize why I'm here today and why GCC is doing this. I just hope that we can reach out to all the people we possibly can to help them find the love of God. I'm so thankful God gave me the opportunity to experience this and I'll never forget the impact this has made on my life.

india, day 5

march 9, 2010

Today was another long day. We were in the village again working with the families and got to hear more about their life story. It's just so awesome to get the opportunity to sit here and listen to these. The faith that these people have in God is just astounding considering the life they have been given. After we spoke with some of the families, we took a walk through the village and got to see where each of them live, and what type of house they have. It's just so sad to see the way these people live and how they have nothing...but are so grateful at what they do have, and what God has provided for them. It was just really overwhelming for me.

{children in the village}

One amazing woman told us a story about her turning her life over to God. She had some things in her life that she wanted more then anything. A job for her husband, a healthy family, and a little girl. She kept spending more and more money on different Hindu gods in hopes that these gods would answer her prayers. As we sat there and listened she came out and said that as she kept searching for answers within the Hindu gods, she realized that God was chasing after her...trying to get her to trust in Him and follow Him. She completely turned her life around and put her full trust in God and gave up worshiping the Hindu gods. After trusting in God and turning her life over, her prayers started being answered. Such an INCREDIBLE story that brought me to tears, and made me realize exactly why God brought me here...

It's been difficult for me, emotionally, spiritually, mentally and physically so far. Just trying to get used to another country, being exhausted from the heat and the work, but more then anything, being mentally, spiritually and emotionally drained from listening to these stories and just trying to process it all.

I'm at the point in the journey where I've met multiple families, I'm getting to know the children and I know what their lifestyle is like. I just wish I could snap my fingers and for everything to be better for them. Or that is how I see it. Even when I say that I'm tired of being dirty, uncomfortable, and ready to have normalcy back...this is how these people ALWAYS live. They don't have a clean home to go back to, or even a job...they don't get to leave the village to find something better.

{Clarinda & Rosie...the girls we worked with all week}

But I realized that that is ok. This village makes these people happy. They don't long for the things like I do, because this is what they are used to. The simple way of life for them is what makes them happy. As long as they have a home, their family and God...they are content. I would never want to take that away from them. The amazing things that I learn from these families just astounds me. I need to learn to be more trusting like them. Trusting that God will provide, that they will stay healthy and that they live a good life.

{indian woman hard at work}

I hope that as much as they are teaching me about life, I am teaching them the same about God. I want to walk away from this trip feeling like I brought a piece of God's love to this community and that they see God through my heart, my actions and my words.

I am so blessed to be here...

india, day 4

march 8, 2010

We woke up this morning around 6:30am. We were served chai tea as we were coming out of our tents. That stuff is amazing! Kind of helps me forget Starbucks a little bit while I'm over here...:) It is already about 85 degrees, but the breeze feels good. We got to hang out with the children this morning and just play with them before we had to start in on our work. It's so much fun to just be around the children as they are super excited every morning to see you.  :)

{Monjou, Sarah & Gwendema relaxing before the day starts}

{adorable Chandra Madhi...she stole my heart}

As we ate breakfast, about 11 children got dressed in their school uniforms and were getting ready to head off to the English Intermediate School. Only 11 of the children in the village are being sponsored by GCC so far and are able to attend this school. It's an expensive school and so none of the children in the village were attending school before we started working in the village a couple years ago. Our hope is to continue to send more children to the school as we raise more money to be able to send them. The rest of the children stay in the village during the day or they help work for their families. It was so wonderful to see these children be able to attend school. I just wish they all had the opportunity to go. So sad...:(

{the 11 children that attend school}

After breakfast, I got the opportunity to take my first walk through the village. Wow...I don't even know where to begin. It brought me to tears. A couple of the children went with my group, and just held our hands as we walked up and down the streets. These people have absolutely nothing. They have made huts out of straw and mud and everything is so dirty. There are government houses that were also built for them, but because they are considered the "untouchables" they used cheap material which is causing most of the houses to collapse. Each time we come, we try to build a couple houses for them to get them out of the huts and into a home again. Words just cannot explain this or how I feel right now. It just crushes my heart that this is how they live...and they know nothing different. As I was holding the little girls hand, it broke my heart to think that this is her way of life...and that she doesn't have great opportunity for a future ahead of her.

{blue houses are the houses that GCC is helping build}

{government houses that are crumbling}

{straw huts as homes}

{government housing}

As the day wore on, my team got to speak with some of the heads of the households.  Over the week, that is our team goal. To figure out the demographic information of the households (how many people in house, names, ages, education level, type of work, monthly income, etc). It was so interesting to talk with them and find out what brought them to this village, and to find out that most of them didn't even know how old they were. That just really hit home with me...so hard to realize that the way they live their life is so completely different then what I've always known living in the US. And to find out that they didn't even know their own age just baffled me.

{a mother with her sleeping baby}

{indian woman we interviewed about her life story}

After we found out all the demographic information about each family, we had the opportunity to hear if they were becoming Christ followers or to see if they were still following the Hindu gods. Over in India, they believe that they are not 100% christ followers until they are baptized. So even if some of the families were not worshiping their Hindu gods anymore, they still didn't believe that they were considered a christian until they got baptized. In talking with the people about half of the families believed in Jesus, but were still worshiping their Hindu gods. The other half were Christ followers and believed that there was only one God...and no longer worshiped Hindu gods. It was so cool to see the transformation that we were doing for them over there. Only about 5 people in the village have been baptized as of now...but we hope to continue to work God's light into each of them on upcoming trips by bringing up there, down here.  :) I pray and pray that we can be a beacon of light for these people while we are here and that we can help them as much as possible. I want them to learn to love God more then anything and know that He will provide in the hard times.

The thing that was most interesting for me to hear when I was talking with the families was that they were all happy. They were happy with their families, and their way of life, and were happy that we were working with them to help their village get better. They lead such a simple life, and have very little...but still find the best in everything they can. Something that struck me deep in the heart...

{the most adorable little boy that I got to hang out with all week}

I never knew just how lucky I am to be where I am at in my life. This has been a real eye opening experience for me...and it's only Monday.

india, day 3

march 7, 2010

What a night. I think we finally got settled into our rooms around 4:00am. Sarah and I discussed what we will be doing this week making sure we understood and could check with Jack before we headed out on our journey. We turned the lights off at about 4:30am. Starting at about 5:30am, dogs started barking, horns blaring, birds chirping, you name it. I even had taken some sleeping pills and those didn't even help much. I got comfortable and think I finally fell asleep around 6:30am. I slept for probably 2 hours. Total of about 7 hours in 3 days..yikes!

Psalm 25:1-5

To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul, in you I trust, oh my God. Do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me. No one whose hope is in you will ever be put to shame, but they will be put to shame who are treacherous without excuse. Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are my God, my savior, and my hope is in you all day long.

Psalm 27:13-14

I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.

What a day today turned out to be. After lunch we took a 3 hour bus ride to the village of Kalavai. Along the way we stopped along side the road and tasted coconuts. Boy, were they disgusting. :) I thought I was going to love them because I love anything coconut, however these seemed to have a very distinct taste. :)

{the man we bought our coconuts from}

{mmm, so tasty!}

After stopping to taste coconuts, we got back on the bus to continue our journey. We arrived in Kalavai at Pastor Sam's house around 7:00pm that evening. They threw us a big celebration and gave us lots of fruit and chai tea. So very tasty!

{our welcome to the village along with fireworks!}

       {fruit & tea time in Kalavai}

We left Pastor Sam's house and headed to the area where we'd be staying. Wow...the people and children were so welcoming and so happy to see us! We played around with the kids and took lots of pictures for most of the evening. It was a blast! It is just amazing at how thankful the people are that we are here. It's so overwhelming the amount of children that are just so happy to see us. Makes me feel absolutely amazing on the inside. 

{the children & families greeting us!}

{ms. lily and her friend}

{the children in the village dancing}

{me & one of my indian friends}

{children in the village}

We then ate dinner and sang worship songs. What an incredible feeling. Absolutely amazing. Now it's time to head to bed...it's about 80 degrees with lots of humidity and we are sleeping in tents. :) This could be interesting! 

india, day 2

march 6, 2010

Yep...still traveling and have been for the last 36 hours. I'm super exhausted because I didn't sleep at all on the first flight to London and now on the second flight to Chennai, I was able to take some sleeping pills and got to get about 3 hours of interrupted sleep. Let's just say I'm at the point where I'm beyond what exhaustion looks like. It's been quite the journey so far and I'm still struggling with the fact that I'm not sure I'm ready for what lies ahead.

We landed in Chennai after a 10 hour flight at around 1:45am. We then had to wait in long lines to go through immigration. Man, what a hot and smelly wait.  :) After we got through immigration, we had to go through security again and then off to the luggage claim to get our 50 green duffel bags filled with supplies. We were greeted by the team we will be working with and they had beautiful flower lei's to give us to welcome us to India.

{sarah & i getting greeted with lei's}

{on the bus ride to the hotel}

We then took a bus ride to a hotel we are staying in for a couple of hours to hopefully catch up on some rest. And also be able to shower.  :) It felt so wonderful to be able to clean up after the many hours of travel, and be able to lay down on a bed to rest.  :)

                          {the hotel room where sarah & i stayed}

{view outside our hotel room window}

{another view outside our hotel window}

What an exhausting trip so far...but I'm excited to see what God has in store for us starting tomorrow and throughout the rest of the week. I'm not even sure where to label my emotions at this point. I could probably break down and cry right now if I wanted, but know that that could be from the long days of travel with very little sleep. I'm ready to go out tomorrow and share God's love but am so scared of the unknown at this point. I need to learn that God is with me in everything...and He will take care of me no matter what happens. I trust in Him that He will use me as a beacon to shine His light...I'm just ready to go out and do it!

I'm off to catch up on sleep! More coming tomorrow...

india, day 1

march 5, 2010

Today has been one of those days filled with lots of emotion. From being super nervous, to very excited, to scared to death! Today is our first day of travel. We met at church at 11:30am for our send off. It was finally becoming real to me. I finally felt like all the hard work of preparation was finally over and it was finally time to go. We had a prayer send off, grabbed all of our gear, including the 50 bags that were filled with Croc shoes, backpacks for the children, books, and clothing, and loaded it all onto the bus for the trip to Chicago.

 {all the green bags!}

Once in Chicago we checked the luggage that carried all of the supplies for the village of Kalavai. After we checked the luggage for the trip to India we went through security and made it to our gate. Our flight was leaving at 5:00pm that evening. We were leaving Chicago and heading to London Heathrow, which was approximately an 8 hour flight. I called my family for the last time to say my goodbyes and to tell them that I loved them and that  I would miss them tremendously. Up until now, I'm not really sure that I've felt much other then the feeling of being numb...as this is such a surreal experience that I have never had the chance to participate in before. I'm so thankful to be on this trip and am excited to see how the rest of the travels go and what India will be like!

{my teammate sarah and i}

i'm home!!!

I'm home from India! What an amazing experience that I have had the opportunity to endure. It was truly a blessing from God to be allowed to go to Kalavai, India to spread God's love and to be there for them. I can't wait to share my experience with you over the next few posts to give you an inside look at my trip. :) I will be gathering all my thoughts and pictures together and will be sharing the experience soon with you! Thanks for all the prayers that you sent my way...I could definitely feel them...:) 

leaving on a jetplane...

All my bags are packed...I'm ready to go...

And I'm off folks! Headed to India!!! :)  I'll be back in 10 days to share my adventure with you! Love you all!

scrumptious!

This...my friends...was the most delish dessert that I've had in a LONG time. Welcome to Outbacks AMAZING flourless brownie with ice cream and whip cream to top it off. Perfect for this gluten free gal. Let's just say my heart is officially content...:) Le sigh.