Last night we had a Princess Party! All the girls were able to be princesses for one night and wear sleeveless dresses, and show some leg! Ha. It was a lot of fun. We danced for a long time, ate a lot of good food, and watched a funny movie, then danced some more! All in all, it was a really fun night filled with laughter and love. It was nice to not have any guys around so we could just have fun and not swim around in self-conscienceness. We were confident, beautiful, and attractive, without men telling us so.
I wanted to put up pictures of my local outreach, but the uploader is not working at the moment, so I'll just describe it for you. The last few weeks we have been able to go to a new part of the area we were in. It is actually quite far from the rest of our group, but it is in a literal "slum". This was my first week going to this new area and it was very um...eye opening, or I don't really know what word to use to describe it, but the best I can do is say that my heart drops in my chest a little bit and I am instantly filled with compassion and sorrow all at the same time. These people are living in what looks like tents, but they're made of sticks, tarps, and random cloth they have. There are entire families living in these small tents. We also could not really communicate with the children we played with. They all spoke Marati which is the state's language that we are in right now. India has a bunch of different states like the U.S. and each state has its own common language and in some states the different tribes even have their own language, Hindi is the whole country's common language, and with these children only one spoke Hindi and he was too shy to translate for us to the rest of the kids, so it was a little difficult, but they had fun playing Duck, Duck, Goose with us and we taught them a few Hindi songs even though they have no idea what they're singing (nor do I).
You all must be wondering where exactly I am located in regards to Mumbai. I am a 2 hour drive away, and it is quite frightening to think that all that terror is happening a mere 2.5 hour train ride away. One of the attacks was at a train station I will be going to in 3 weeks and all in a city I will be in 3 weeks from now. This kind of thing has been happening often throughout the past decade or more but they say this time it was a lot more thought out and planned. Pray for India, that as awful as this is it would bring the country together and unify the people of different states and tribes. Also, pray for the terrorists that their hearts would be softened and they would give themselves up even if that means they will be killed.
1st Corinthians a.k.a. The Book of Love, or as I titled it, "All You Need is Love" is quite a difficult letter to interpret. There are a million different interpretations for pretty much every paragraph, even every verse in this letter. It's a nice letter though because the Corinthian culture is probably the most closely related to our culture and so all the applications are pretty true to us today. What I have learned from Corinthians? Repent! Repenting is a hard thing to do. It's easy to confess your sin, but to actually repent, turn around, walk the other way from your sin, that is most hard. Usually I confess yet continue walking in the same direction I have been traveling. Also, of course, God showed me my lack of love in certain areas of my life, toward certain people in my life.
This week I was informed of some pretty intense news of family back home. It is hard to be here during this time when it seems like it would be so much better to be home with my family, but I know God has called me here, now, for His purpose. It is like I am forced to apply Jesus' quote, "whoever leaves father, mother, brother, sister for me etc..." Not that I am abandoning my family by being here, but I truly am putting Jesus in the top spot in my life. Needless to say, I have had a small blow to my eagerness to do my homework this week, but no worries, I did complete all of it, except for the Psalms homework, that is a difficult predicament. I don't set aside time during the days to read a Psalm a day (pretty pathetic, I know) then, on Saturday I have to read 5 psalms and meditate on them all and basically it boils down to doing it because it is an assignment instead of doing it to hear God's voice, so this week I am choosing not to do them. I am not here to get good grades.
Here I am at the local hot spot for coffee. Cafe Coffee Day. Unfortunately, there are no Starbucks in the whole of India. Although I've heard rumors there could be one in Delhi, but no one knows if that is a fact. So far, my experiences in India have only been growing in goodness, and in the spirit of Thanksgiving I think I will make a list of all the things I am thankful for here, now:
My mother, she is completely supportive of everything I do and always encourages me more than anyone I have ever known.
My dad, he loves me no matter what I do, even when I get my nose pierced without telling him. He has a giant heart.
My brothers, yes, all five of them. I could go into specifics with each one, but I will say that they all look out for me and I know they got my back no matter what.
American boys in my school. Especially the Titus staff. I think that if they weren't here I would have gone home by now.
My beautiful English friend, she is an inspiration and quickly has become an old friend.
I am thankful that I have girls here I can spill out my insides to and they will surround me and lift me up and sit with me in the dirt if that's all I need.
Rickshaws, they are so amazing!
Stray dogs everywhere that remind me of Peaches the wonder-pet.
Staff that encourage me to not focus on the grade, but ultimately apply what I have been reading and listen to the Spirit.
DTS students that seem to be more mature than me. It is humbling, which I need most all the time.
The familiar staff of Coffee Day. They are so friendly, and the only Indians that don't think I'm out of place here.
God's provision, even when I am not looking for it or praying for it, He continues to bless me and I do not deserve it.
Forgiveness.
My new mobile phone even though it won't receive text messages from Airtel.
Michael Scott, Jim Halpert, Pam Beasley, Dwight Schrute, and all other members of Dunder Mifflin. They are the only ones keeping me sane here!
God's heart for this country. I think it's rubbing off on me.
Milk in a box on the shelf in the store! That's right.
Cool nights and cool mornings.
All in all, I am so thankful that I am in India of all places, studying the inspired words of God with all these wonderful Indians and foreigners. I do not feel out of place at all. In fact, I feel like I belong more than ever. I am thinking I could live here as long as I am with someone I love. I could live anywhere as long as I was with someone I loved.
I cannot believe there are 3 weeks left of the first quarter! I thought this school would take forever, but looks like time seems to have sped up since I have been here. I only hope that it slows down so that I have more time for homework and more time to pass out from exhaustion. Not even physical exhaustion! I cannot believe how tired I am all the time. It is surreal.
Pray God begins to direct my desires to his desires. I want to know the next step after this school, and I have some ideas but I want them to be his ideas. Also, I am struggling with forgiveness and fear right now. I do not even understand my own self all of the time.
Wow, this was long. This is what happens when I don't write for awhile and finally I have a long length of time to update.
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