Lord of the Rings & Leeches

Hey Everyone!

Happy Belated 21st Birthday, Sis! Love you!

Things I Have Learned:
-The hand soap in the downstairs bathroom at the house smells like the soap at my grandparents' house.
-Spaghetti and garlic bread is amazing no matter what country you are in.
-Leeches are very sneaky creatures.
-That Twix candy bar in the Indian store? Looks yummy, yes? Don't buy it. It expired two months ago, as you will find out after you take the first nasty bite.

You know that post from last Thursday? Friday was the complete opposite. Friday morning I called home and talked to Dad for a good 20 minutes. When Mom got on the phone, the power started acting goofy. In India, you never know when the power is going to go out. The power went out twice, so we finally had to hang up. While waiting for the power to come back on, I picked up my devotional and read: "Have you the slightest reliance on anything other than God? {...} Are you relying on yourself in any particular in this new proposition which God has put before you? {...} "Ye cannot serve the Lord God"; but you can put yourself in the place where God's almighty power will come through you. {...} You say - But God can never have called me to this, I am too unworthy, it can't mean me. It does mean you, and the weaker and feebler you are, the better." Wow. The power came back on and I called Mom back - we ended up talking for another 40 minutes. It was so good to talk to them!

Then after breakfast I was doing dishes with another girl on the team. We had an awesome conversation about the trip thus far and realized we had been having a lot of the same feelings about not knowing our purpose here. She told me how she had been seeing God use me during this trip, and that really opened my eyes to how I have been a blessing in some way. Sounds selfish, but it does make me feel better about being here.

THEN I checked my emails and had a very encouraging email from the wonderful Rachel Rager. She is such a blessing to me. :) Love you, girl!

AND THEN a couple of the other girls wanted to watch Lord of the Rings: The Twin Towers. So I joined them. By the time that was done, it was time for a late lunch. Then I made peanut butter bars with one of our missionaries. Then I went upstairs and found a note laying on my bed from one of the guys on the team. (At our previous team meeting, we had drawn names and then it was our job to write an encouragement note to that person.) So his note was very encouraging.

AND THEN (nope, not done with Friday yet) after supper we watched Lord of the Rings: Return of the King as a team. And by the time that movie was done, it was 11:00 and time for bed.

God used all of Friday as a reminder that I am here for a reason. And I still don't know exactly what that reason is, but, right now, that doesn't bother me.

Saturday was also awesome. After breakfast we had a team meeting and then we all went to the bazaar. We ate lunch at Domino's Pizza (yes, like the Domino's in America). In about 20 minutes, the ten of us completely devoured five large pizzas, three orders of chicken wings, and three orders of breadsticks. Delicious. Then we walked across the street and ate ice cream at Baskin Robbins. :) It started raining really hard on the way back and since we were walking uphill, we were literally walking up a stream of water. It was dirty and deep enough to cover my feet when we trudged through. We were soaked by the time we got to the main part of the bazaar, and we stopped at a coffee shop to call a taxi. We ordered hot drinks while we were waiting and I had the most delicious hot chocolate. When we got back to the house, I took a hot shower and ate a light supper. Then the girls watched Sister Act and then we all went to bed.

Ok - phew. Still with me? On to Sunday. (These past four days have been very eventful.) In church on Sunday, part of the team joined the worship team. They led four songs - two in Hindi and two in English. They did a really nice job! After church I stood up and my left foot felt sticky. There was something red on my heel and at first I thought I had stepped on something. Then I saw a small black worm-like thing crawling on my shoe. A leech. My first leech. In India during monsoon, leeches are everywhere. They are so small, you have to really strain to see them, and once they are on you, you don't feel them. Apparently when they bite you, they inject something that numbs your skin in that area. I don't know where I picked this one up, but the edge of my pants must have knocked him off and when I stood up I stepped on him. When you empty the blood out of them, the leeches themselves are tiny - maybe a quarter of an inch long and real skinny. I sat down and used some toilet paper and hand sanitizer to wash off the blood. The bite mark looks just like a mosquito bite - small and red. So I guess I can mark "have blood sucked by leech" off of my India "to do" list.

Anywho, the main Sunday event I wanted to write about happened after all of this. After a chai break, they have youth group. Every week, a couple of people from the team have shared their testimony during this time. And this past Sunday it was my turn. I was nervous because I have never really shared my testimony before. But I wrote it all out and used my paper as a reference while I spoke. I wasn't as nervous as I thought I would be (the leech did a good job of keeping my mind busy) and I think everything came out coherently. I felt good about it when I was done. :)

Ok - Monday. Still here? Almost done - I promise. After breakfast, one of the long-termers offered to take the girls to a nearby village (called Dehradun) to go saree shopping. Of course we all took her up on it! :) It was an hour and a half drive to Dehradun. Once we got there, we spent four hours walking around, looking at all the shops. We all got material for sarees and I found some material for another outfit. We all bought bangles to go with our sarees and we all bought clip-on nose rings. Just for fun. Don't worry Mom & Dad - I'm not going to get a real one! We got back to the house when the sun was going down. It was a very full, fun day.

And today? Well, not much happened today. I picked up my sandals in the bazaar and helped with a bunch of cooking this morning. Tonight we went to a long-termer's house for supper. She wanted to have us all over before we left. Tomorrow a bunch of us are going with one of the missionaries to a village. It is an hour's drive away, not far from where we normally go camping. Then Thursday and Friday we are visiting schools and taking coloring books and crayons. I'm really looking forward to that, since a lot of these kids don't see crayons very often. I am excited to see the looks on their faces. :) This Thursday will be the "three weeks left" point of the trip. Wowser.

Whew! Thanks for hanging in there, all! I really appreciate you taking the time to read my blog.

Prayer Requests:
-Continued health and safety of my team in India, and for all the rest of the SOSers around the world.
-Safety for SOSers returning to the states, and pray that reverse culture shock doesn't hit them too hard.
-Safety for those of us who are going to the village tomorrow.
-Anything else God puts on your heart to pray about. :)