20 Days Left . . . Wait . . . What?!

Hey Everybody!

Things I Have Learned:
-Coloring with crayons is fun no matter how old you are.
-God’s timing is perfect.
-If you truly pray for something with all your heart, God will answer.
-I love my team. (I knew that, but I especially felt it this week.)
-Dogs that aren’t potty-trained should not have the run of the house.
-No matter how nice it looks outside, you should always take an umbrella with you. Always.

Wednesday, a group of us went to a nearby village called Almas. Our first stop was a government-run school. There were around fifty students, and only four of them were girls. Someone said that the only reason those girls were there was because their parents were teachers and saw the importance of sending their girls to school. Otherwise it is only considered necessary for the boys to get an education. Which is ironic considering that, at least in the villages, the women do all the work and it isn’t uncommon to see groups of men standing around during the day doing nothing. But they get the education…. Interesting. We sang a couple of songs with the kids and taught them the hokey-pokey. ☺ Then we passed out Dum-Dums and brought out coloring books and crayons. Every child got one coloring page and two crayons, and were then encouraged to share the crayons with those around them. It was really fun to watch them color – a couple of the kids tried eating their crayons. One of the missionaries who went with us said that that’s why she hands out Dum-Dums first – so the kids can put the sucker in their mouth instead of the crayons, which is the next thing handed to them. ☺ We gave the coloring books and crayons to the teacher before we left. We got back to the house around 3:00. I took a nap, then helped make rhubarb cake. That was a nice taste of home!

Thursday and Friday, the team split into two groups and visited schools again. I honestly wasn’t looking forward to visiting schools because I knew for sure that I would feel overwhelmed. Something that I have struggled with from the very beginning is how everyone stares at you everywhere you go. Apparently this is just something you do in India, but I always took personal offence to it because the staring made me feel objectified. Like I wasn’t a person, just some new freakish thing for everyone to look at. I think this has kept me from really developing relationships with the people, because I feel their eyes, meet their stare, assume I know what they are thinking of me, judge them, and then feel offended and overwhelmed until we leave.

Anywho, the school we visited on Thursday was a 40-minute drive away. The whole drive there, I prayed that God would empty me of me and fill me with His love. I prayed for a major attitude shift. I prayed for strength and endurance, that God would guide my every word and action. When we got to the school, they called the kids out and they lined up in front of us – in military precision straight lines, an arm’s length apart. Wasn’t expecting that. They sang some songs for us in Hindi. I recognized a couple of them, and I think all of the songs were Christian.

Side note: The schools we visited on Thursday and Friday are considered Christian schools because they are run by Christians. But the teachers are Hindu and the students are generally Hindu also. The Christians purposely hire Hindu teachers as a way of spreading the Gospel. They are required to teach the children stories from the Bible and the kids memorize scripture. The kids also learn Hindi, English, Math, Science, and I’m sure other subjects as well, but I can’t remember right now.

After the kids finished their songs, we introduced ourselves and taught them a song or two in Hindi. Then we told the Creation story with the help of a translator. One of my teammates did the speaking, and the rest of us put on a skit. There was a Jesus/God, an Adam, an Eve, and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. When we talked about how God created animals, we would shout out an animal and have the kids make that animal sound. We had them barking and growling and jumping around like monkeys. ☺ It was a lot of fun. Then we talked about how God created man, and how he only gave one rule: that the man and woman couldn’t eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. We had someone act as the tree and hold their arms out with an apple in one hand. (This may or may not have been me.) Then Eve walked over and “plucked” the apple and took a bite, then gave it to Adam and he took a bite. Then we talked about the fall and how Jesus restored us to God through his death on the cross. In terms kids would understand. ☺

After the story, the younger kids colored and the older kids played games like duck, duck, goose. I helped with the coloring group, handing out crayons. A lot of the kids would sit with their coloring page in one hand and their crayons clutched in the other, unsure of what to do. I would take one of the crayons out of their hand, lay their coloring page on the ground in front of them, scribble on it a little bit, and then hand the crayon back to them and motion for them to do as I had just done. Once they figured out what they were supposed to be doing, they colored like it was their job. I think they would have colored until the sun went down if we didn’t run out of coloring pages.

We took a break so the kids could eat lunch, and then one of my teammates shared his testimony. Then we told the story of Shadrach, Meshack, and Abednigo. When school was over, they got into their lines again and we passed out Dum-Dums and cookies. And we were done.

During the car ride back, I realized that I had thoroughly enjoyed myself at the school. Not once did I feel overwhelmed, even with all the kids and their open, curious stares. For the first time, I understood that they were staring because they don’t see white people very often and that they didn’t mean anything negative by it – something I knew in my head from the very beginning, but my heart took four weeks to figure out. For the first time, I looked into their staring eyes and kept eye contact and smiled at them – and watched as they smiled back and then looked away, embarrassed. The kids have a cute way of smiling – I’ve noticed that they tend to tuck their lips over their teeth and look down, like they don’t want to smile a full-teeth smile but they do at the same time. A shy smile. Does that make sense? But you can tell that they are pleased that you noticed them. I can’t describe it, but it is very rewarding to see the reaction you get when you smile at them. I wish I would have figured this out a long time ago, but God’s timing is perfect and for some reason He wanted to keep me in the dark until today. I couldn’t stop smiling when we got back, and that whole afternoon/evening I was overflowing with joy and love. God answered my prayer – He emptied me and filled me with Him. “For out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks” (Matthew 12:34). This is what I journaled that night: “Right now, I am overflowing with God’s love – I can literally feel it pushing at my skin from the inside and for the first time in a long time, I can feel my heart beating against my ribs. I am filled to overflowing and I feel so alive.” Mmm. Good day. ☺

The school we visited on Friday was a little farther away, but we did the same program.

Friday night there was a strong, unpleasant smell in our room. Three people walked through and commented that it smelled like pee. That was the longest night of my life, trying to sleep. The smell was especially strong in my corner of the room, and the only way I could sleep was if I had my head covered in blankets. So anytime I moved during the night and my nose was exposed to the air, the smell would wake me up. Saturday morning I got up and showered, then went on a search for the source of the smell. The power happened to be out, so I grabbed my flashlight and started in my corner of the room. I didn’t have to search for long. Under my bed, directly under my head, there was dog poop and a dried spot of dog pee. It had literally been there long enough that the puddle of pee wasn’t liquid anymore – it had dried. I don’t know why we didn’t smell it before. I grabbed a couple of the other girls who sleep in the room with me, and we had a cleaning party. We moved all the beds and swept and mopped the floor. In the process, we found poop under another bed also. Biscuit. Needless to say, the dog (Biscuit) and I are not on speaking terms right now. When the power came back on, I washed bed sheets and hung them out to dry. That night I had fresh air and fresh sheets. ☺ So good.

Yesterday started as any typical Sunday – church and lunch. After lunch, we came back to the house and I helped snap green beans for maybe half an hour. Snapping green beans, listening to country music – can it get any more Iowa than that? It was wonderful. ☺ Then I helped make some muffins – one batch cheese, one batch with strawberry jam filling. We had a team meeting in the afternoon and had a time to share family pictures, which was really fun. A couple people forgot to bring pictures, so they drew stick figures. ☺ Then we just talked about how we have been feeling lately. I love team meetings – I always leave feeling recharged.

We leave for another camping trip tomorrow, hence the Monday update. Our previous trip was supposed to be our last, but the team really wants to go back one more time, so we are. When I found out that we were going back, I was really not excited. I don’t mind sleeping in tents with tons of bugs and not showering for four days – that stuff doesn’t bother me. But I feel like the main point of these trips is to visit the villages, and that is very overwhelming for me. I was even thinking about asking to stay back – the idea of having the house to myself for four days was very appealing. But I’ve been praying about it, trying to discern my true reasons for not wanting to go, asking for God’s clear guidance, and last night at the meeting it was like he tapped me on the shoulder and whispered in my ear. I need to go on this camping trip. I’m still not excited about going, but I know I need to be there. So I’ll go. So, pray for me? Thanks. We’ll be gone for four days again, getting back on Friday.

Last night I was sitting with a couple of other girls, and one of them shared a verse that her boyfriend had shared with her. It’s Exodus 14:14 – “The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” In Today’s New International Study Bible, there is a footnote for that verse that says “A necessary reminder that although Israel was “ready for battle” and “marching out boldly,” the victory would be won by God alone.” Wow. I can really resonate with this verse, because I feel it is extremely relevant to this trip. When we feel like we aren’t doing anything meaningful, when we think we aren’t having an impact, this verse reminds us that our only job is to “be still.” God is working through us and He is fighting for us. At least that is how I interpret it. ☺

Today, the girls went to the bazaar to get our sarees made and to do some shopping. We were there pretty much all day. It was cloudy when we left, and of course I didn’t grab an umbrella. And of course it started raining as soon as we got there. But I shared an umbrella with another girl and we had some quality bonding time. ☺

I need to pack for our trip. We plan on leaving tomorrow morning unless the much-anticipated monsoon shows up before then.

Oh! I have to tell you about an India moment I had last night. I was getting ready for bed, and there were bugs everywhere. Literally everywhere. (That’s what we get for killing all the spiders.) Anywho, I pulled my toothbrush out of its holder, and there was a dead bug on my toothbrush. On the bristles. I pulled it off and went ahead and brushed my teeth, and never thought twice about it. That would never happen in America.

Prayer Requests:
-Safe travel for the team as we head to the village tomorrow.
-The as-of-yet-evasive monsoon season to stay in hibernation for a few more days.
-Health and safety for the SOSers wherever they are all over the world and as they prepare to come home.
-My new mindset to stay firmly in place for the rest of the trip.
-The continued unity and bonding of my amazing Apex team.


Current total number of pictures: 379
Current total number of videos: 22
Number of full memory cards: 2