kick in the face.

once again... francis chan kicks me in the face. thought this is a good way to start out the new year. here (click on the word "here") is the link to a video about Christ- centered relationships. good stuff.


oh, and interestingly enough, this was not posted at 11:21 pm on Dec. 31st because at that time i was bringing in the new year bustin out my craziest dance moves with a buncha indians and close friends. more on that soon to come.

tony horton's been helping me out...

Moving to South Asia was a pretty big stretch. I mean not many things on a daily basis come across my path and I think, "Oh, this just reminds me of home." Nope. Actually, I'm more likely to think "... this would never happen in America." Then, I have to remind myself I'm not in America; I'm in Asia and just move on.

One of the funnier things I have recently come across that is pretty different here is the concept of exercising. Many people can be seen out briskly walking about 5 am to get exercise. Or there are the type that believe yoga is the way to go and flail their arms about to get the blood flowing. And then there is the breathing yoga which has been recommended a few times-- not really exercise if you ask me.

In our apartment complex, there is a little work out room with a little trainer man whose job is to show us how to use the machines and junk like that. At first, I was pretty stand-offish to him, well, because that's how I am with all Indian men, and because he just started pushing buttons on my treadmill trying to teach me how to use it I guess. I had to politely inform him that I had seen one of these things before, and I knew what I was doing. Then, the staring commenced. Which is pretty normal, but I don't think they had ever seen a woman actually run on the thing before. My friend said she heard them talking about her saying something like, "Oh, she thinks if she runs faster, she will burn more calories...". Wonder what they think about me?

Well, no need to wonder! Turns out my roomie and I are the talk of the gym. We were talking with our neighbor and she was saying how the trainer talks about us and how we can lift all kinds of weights. We laughed so hard! I'm thinking it was that one time I told him to up my quad exercise thing from 10 kg's to 20 kg's. I don't think he thought I could, but when I successfully did it, he exclaimed, "oh..so powerful!" And he just kinda stared like "what has this girl been eating?" Then, the next time I went in, he walked up and saw me bench pressing about 50-60 lbs, which I feel like isn't that much! When he saw me, he just said, "Wow!" Haha. Who knows what I'll impress him with next?

thanks mommm!

I have the best mom in the world. Not only is she talented, beautiful, funny, she is kind and thoughtful. This week I received a package she sent and it made my heart happy. I'm sure it was a nice, intact box when it left her site, but after I saw it, I'm praising Jesus that it made it over the ocean and to my little post office. Below are some pictures of the outside and what I found inside. Love you, mom!

what it looked like when i received it.


musta been a long journey.

all the way from Baton Rouge...

to me!!


goodies on the inside...

granola bars!!!
Praise the Lord for Community Coffee.

thanks mom!! sun comes up at 4:30ish and sometimes it bothers me!

paint brushes!

head lamp for when there is no power or we spend nights in the village.


** I have to give a shout out the the Hyatts-- Peter and Tanya, who sent me my first package. I think I was too excited to actually blog about it. Thanks again friends!

tension

About a month has passed again, and I have yet to blog. I think the craziness that is always around me is starting to become a normal reality and things aren't really seeming out of the ordinary anymore, thus I can't really think of anything to blog about. The horns, the heat, the dirtiness, the smells are just apart of every day life. To say that I am completely comfortable with my surroundings all the time would pretty much be a joke, but it is becoming much easier to live here. Just the other night, my partner and I were having dinner with a sweet Indian lady and even she was acknowledging how hard it is to live in India. So, for her to say that as a national means it's been a bit of a stretch for me to come here as an 'international'.

Something that I have been dealing with since I've gotten here is the enormous amount of poverty. Even if people are able to put food on the table and have a roof over their head, the lifestyle of so many seems to be very harsh, meager and demanding. I don't mean to put down their lifestyle, I'm am just trying to find words for how I am seeing things. I keep on thinking, "WHY was I born into an American middle class family where I could go to school and have food on the table without thinking about where it came from?? Why me?" I was skyping with my sister the other day, talking about this, and I said something like, "... yeah, world poverty-- it's like a huge problem..." I know that sounds so dumb, but it's just me trying to wrap my mind around it, which I have not been able to do.

I was reading a book about the Maoist warfare that is going on here, and it attributed the causes of the movement mostly to poverty, oppression and corrupt government. It gave me some figures to help me grasp the situation more clearly. India has about 1.2 billion people, a mere 250 million of which comprise the middle class. That leaves a pretty staggering rural population, a third of whom survive on less than 12 rupees a day! Even more, 10% live on less than 9 rupees a day. (For all you Americans, 12 rups = 25 cents and 9 rups = 19 cents. That's less than 100$ a year.) The UN Development Program says about half of the kids here are malnourished and about 1/5 of them go hungry, and 3/4 of all Indians don't have access to safe drinking water. If I'm out and about in the city, I don't think a day has passed where women or children have not come up to me asking for money or food. Some choose to beg, some probably do it because they have no other options. Regardless of the reasons, no one should have to beg for food for a living.

So, this is what I live among day in and day out. Do I have a solution? An answer? Nope. I just want to share with you a bit of the tension that has been playing out in my mind these days. I even hesitate to post this because these thoughts feel so undeveloped. But I do know that as a part of my work here, I want to do something that makes a difference. I heard someone once say, "You can't do everything, but you can do something." And I really believe that. I would ask you to consider how you can contribute. What can you do to make a difference? Because you can do something.

I hope to develop more thoughts on this later, but for now I'll try to end on a more positive note. I will say that when I've observed kids in the slums or on the streets, for the most part, there are always smiles on their faces. Kids will be kids. They play in the dirt, sand or trash around them and some how seem to be content with life. Maybe it's just because they don't know about what could be. Nonetheless, Jesus once talked about a rich man who couldn't enter the Kingdom of Heaven because of all the things he had.

Here's a few pics I've taken during my time here.





friends and monkeys


Yesterday was a sad day! For the past 3 weeks of language study, we’ve been in another city. During our time here, we have been blessed to have a group of college students that were also working in this city to hang out with, laugh with, do fun things do. It was just so good to have other Americans to be with. Beyond that, one of those Americans is from my hometown and was nice enough to tote over some goodies with her. Thanks to Melinda (and my kind mother), I am now set in the coffee creamer depart for about 6 months now. PTL for hazelnut coffee!! Here is a pic of the girls about to head out...


melinda and i

In other news, our latest adventure took place a few days ago when we finally met a few of our monkey friends. Yep. Monkeys just took over the place during language study. I’m not really sure if they just migrate from house to house in packs, but about 15ish landed here for about 24 hours. Just by coincidence, that day our gas cylinder was out and we had to go downstairs to make food. So, I poke my head out the door, and there are about 5-6 sitting up on a ledge about 10 feet away. A few slowly walked away after I stared for a while, but one held his ground. After a few seconds, he showed his teeth at me and lunged at me!! Shrieking, we ran inside and slammed the door! Eeek! Monkeys scare me! Later on that day, we went to the monkey temple and were advised not to look at them or show your teeth because that is attack mode—good to know.


 this one walked right up to the screen door and tried to come in!
crazy kids.

lately...

It's been a while since the past post and much has happened. Life has been busy traveling to different cities, and it's made the time fly by!

On the 10th of this month, I had my first train experience-- riding the overnight express to a city in the mountains for a weekend retreat. Being in the mountains was such a blessing! I really can't describe what it does for your soul when you can walk outside in jeans and a shirt and feel fine. Where I'm living, jeans are way too heavy and you couldn't pay me money to wear them. Aside from being the sickest I've been in a while, and having giardia to follow that, it was the most refreshing time I've had since being in country. The sickness, which I'm pretty positive was food poisoning (shouldn't have eaten the veggies!) only lasted 24 hours or so and giardia wasn't too bad. It also does something for my soul being in a room filled with people singing out to Jesus with all that they have. The corporate worship and solid teaching was indispensable. Thanks to all the peeps at ECBC!

After being home for about a day and half, enough time to wash clothes and repack, we hopped another overnight train to the city where we are now studying language. This has also been somewhat of a refreshing place to be. I will say it did take a few days to adjust to the 100+ degree temps, but there is so little humidity, which I think it makes it more bearable. And the power is out more here, but it kinda has a schedule (10-2 during the day). Things have been fine except for that one time the transformer or something blew up outside our window and we slept on the balcony... yeah, ask me about it sometime.

The people who actually live here might think I'm crazy, but I get the "small town" feel in this city of only 3 millionish people. People here seem to be a bit more friendly, and they are solely Hindi speakers which has done wonders when that is the language you are learning. I have been able to hang out with other American girls my own age and had a great time swimming in a pool where I didn't have to wear a swim cap!

Overall, I feel that the Lord has been good to me lately. I have felt a freedom that I have been lacking in previous months. I have been reading a book called "The Normal Christian Life" by Watchman Nee and highly recommend it to anyone. There is a chapter entitled "Holy Spirit" where he talks about the work of the Spirit and encourages a deeper reverence for Him in our lives. Nee says, "Do you know, my friends, that the Spirit within you is very God?...Oh that we might realize the vastness of the resources secreted in our own hearts! The Spirit who dwells within me is no mere influence, but a living Person; he is very God. The infinite God is within my heart!" (p.141) This is something I have been pondering and asking for fresh awakening to the fact that the very Spirit of God lives within me. It's really mind boggling when you think about it.

Lastly, I'll end with another quote I read tonight from the chapter on Walking in the Spirit. He says, "God will not give me humility or patience or holiness or love as separate gifts of his grace. He is not a retailer dispensing grace to us in packets, measuring out some patience to the impatient, some love to the unloving, some meekness to the proud, in quantities that we take and work on as a kind of capital. He has given only one gift to meet all our need: his Son Christ Jesus. As I look to him to live out his life in me, he will be humble and patient and loving and everything else I need-- in my stead."

I love it-- such deep truths about trusting in the resources He has for us. What a wonderful Savior we have.

I haven't put many picture up lately, and since the mountains were so wonderful, I'll put up a few from there!
there were beautiful flowers all over!
this is me and Sky. she was always ready to play-- this picture shows no different.

me with the amazing back drop!
view of the city from our hotel.





thoughts

Today is my 2 months anniversary in this country. The most time I've ever spent in a foreign country was 40 days, so from here on out is new territory for me. In ways, it is what I thought it would be, but in others it is not.

There is just no way to prepare yourself completely before moving to a foreign country. So much comes with a new culture-- new food, new way to eat food, new friends, new language, new clothes, new way to buy clothes, and new way to wash those clothes, new way to get around the city. Different values are put on time, money and even human life. I think the list can be endless. And honestly, after a while, some of this newness begins to wear on you. You begin to long for the familiar and do a little dance on the inside when you get to eat at Subway or KFC.

Amidst all the 'differentness' of this new culture, I'm reminded from Heb. 13-- that He is the same yesterday, today and forever. I'm learning about His faithfulness to me. I think it's easy to say, "God is faithful", and hear that He will be faithful to you, but actually believing it and standing on it can be hard work. Sometimes I question & doubt so much!

Along with His faithfulness, I think God is always calling me to a deeper trust in Him. I was laying in bed last night thinking about the concept of trust-- specifically trust in God. When I think of trust in a person, I think I almost equate it to loyalty. If a person can be trusted, they are reliable, loyal, able to be counted on, a safe bet to go with if you are in need. I think I need to toss the whole "safety" aspect of God. We all know the C.S. Lewis quote that says, "He is not safe, but He is good." And I agree. His words says He is a refuge for us, but that does not mean He will not push us into risk, unknown, or heartache if the outcome is that we are made more like His Son.

So, I say all that to say, I think it will be worth it. Pushing through the 'newness' of life, being sharpened in ways I never thought I needed, living in this crazy country where nothing reminds me of home will be worth it if I walk out of this experience clinging more closely to Jesus. He is it. He is all that works in my life--- and I'm so thankful for His grace to carry me along on this adventure.

red sequins

Clothing is different where I'm living these days. The culture is more modest, so men usually wear pants and a collared shirt. They get to wear what we like to call "western dress". Or if you're hard at work, you can sport the stylish and usually colorful 'lungi', which is basically a man skirt.

For us women, the transition is more of a stretch. Most married women here wear the beautiful sarees, but I've been told that white women really can't pull that off. For all the single ladies, we just generally have to wear pants and a longer shirt called a kurta. I have a had fun times trying to shop and find things I will actually like. All the kurtas generally have some element of bling. Sequins, rhinestone --anything goes if it adds a little 'pop' to the outfit. Many times I have liked a shirt except for a few key elements. Like the other day, I saw a cute shirt, but as I pulled it out to look at it, these orange aluminum foil-looking sun's are stuck on the front. Nice. It's like, designers make a cute shirt and then just go crazy with all these extras. Needless to say, my wardrobe is pretty small right now.

But I feel like I had a mini-success the other day. I found a shirt I liked except for these rows of red sequins. I thought, "I'll buy it, and cut them off!" And that is just what I did. It took me a good while, but now I have a shirt I like! Anyway, I took a few pictures-- just thought I'd share a little bit from my life in South Asia. It's the little things that count. :)

Here is the first pic. At the neck, there were 3 rows of sequins.



If you look closely, you can see where the stitching is left. :)


home.

I've been able to walk around a little bit and take pictures of where I live. I hope to do this some more, but I figure I'll just post what I have for now. I got a new camera before coming, and I'm still learning the in's and out's-- hoping to get a skype lesson from that pro sister of mine.

oh, the cows...

this group of boys asked to have their picture taken
hard at work selling flowers.


cute little door
where i live! kinda sounds like Baton Rouge!

pictures coming!

I'll update soon. I promise-- I want to go and shoot some pictures of my new place to put on here. Life is going well! For now, think on this. I'll post a paragraph that I'm stealing from another blog that I like.

"If God has something specific for you, you’ll know, I promise. But if He is setting a box of crayons down in front of you (a box of crayons called life) then by all means draw. He’s taught you right from wrong, good from bad, beautiful from profane, so draw. He will be with you, proud of you, cheering you on, so draw. He loves you, so draw in the inspiration of the knowledge of His love. Draw a purple horse, a red ocean, a nine-legged dog, it doesn’t matter. Lets stop being so afraid. Lets live, and show the world what it really means to be grateful we don’t live in a dysfunctional family." -- Donald Miller

To read the full blog, here is the link:
http://donmilleris.com/2010/04/29/does-god-have-a-specific-plan-for-your-life-probably-not/

Life is different.


After having been in South Asia for about 5 days now, energy is escaping me and my brain has been overloaded with the newness of everything around me. After some time to recuperate, I'll post about my adventure of getting here. For now, I'll post some pictures that somewhat capture what I have experienced these past few days.

Cows in the street!


India Gate-- a war memorial to those who fought in WW II.
A little friend that walked with us through Lodhi Gardens... below.
tree in Lodhi Gardens
Lodhi Gardens

Don't think this quite captures the business and noise of this street.
Narrow alleyways-- notice the power lines!

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