5/14/10

Well I don't feel like writing a novel tonight, but I will touch on some bullet points I remember:

• I showered for the first time while in India and actually had hot water! (furnace run) The chickens blocked my entry at first as they were devouring a dead fish that made me almost gag...
• I got 10,000 rupees out today--sounds like SO much money when it's really only around 200 dollars.
• MET THE GIRLS!!!! They are lovely. Jesus, may you keep doing redemptive and renewing things in their lives!
• Helped them a little with their English and math but mainly observed for the 1st day.
• Ate lunch with them at Smyrna (the name of their school) and ate with our hands! (Insert slight culture shock here.) I thought eating rice with chopsticks was challenging enough, and now I was expected to eat with my hands?! needless to say, I made quite a mess but no one seemed to mind; I was even corrected to use 5 fingers instead of 3. (So much for trying to be delicate!)
• Susai (such a kind man and the driver for FF) drove all of us to the 114th annual Ooty flower show. I stuck out like a sore thumb being the only white girl there, but I had a great time! The girls immediately called me "Didi" which means "sister" in Hindi; it made my day for sure!
• The girls are very affectionate. They asked me to show them a few dance steps at the school, then told me to not dance in public--haha. I couldn't help it; there was music playing in the gardens and I couldn't help but sway ever so slightly!
• One of the girls, Esther, said she likes to "worship the Lord [in regards to dance] but doesn't like the kind of dance that's in the movies". . . Something about what she said struck me. It was as if God was in the process of her redeeming her innocence by that statement alone, as she was drawn to the purity of dance.
• Visited Anik's home today--I am so impressed she speaks 3 languages fluently! She is so wise and has SUCH a big heart (as she has to because she is the direct person in charge of the girls)! Possibly the most influential person to these girls...and rightfully so!
• Came home, napped for an hour.
• Skyped some favorites til the wee hours in the morning!
• Realized how "cool" (for like of a better word) God is (yet again). I feel like He's been telling me "the prayers of my people are sustaining you" and that's EXACTLY what Leah has been praying for me! She's been praying for safety (my other leading "personal" prayer request at the time) and that "God would sustain me" because she "didn't really know 'exactly' what to pray for"...funny, right? Meg also sent me an incredibly encouraging and jam-packed message with a verse about sustainment and a ton of other stuff I still need to process through. Thank you again, Megan!
• Slept the whole night for the 1st time since leaving for my trip!
• Funny God/moth incident. There was a giant moth in my room making a lot of noise and (having a slight girly girl streak in me regarding bugs) I was not about to go to sleep, although I was exhausted. So I begged God to let it leave my room (Meg is teaching me to "barter" with God, haha) and just seconds later after it was spastically flying around my room it got caught in one of the rafters and that was the end...Thank you God for caring about the little things.
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