It's been One Week since you looked at me.

Dearest friends and followers of my blog (and family members) I am here to happily announce that we are in the final week of the SBS! That means that on this upcoming Friday evening we will have our graduation ceremony and go out to a nice hotel to eat delicious dinner and also dress up in our fancy outfits and take lots of fun pictures and laugh about the stupid things we've done over the past nine months. I cannot believe it has come up so fast! It has already been over one year since I arrived here with my new two year commitment which has, as you all know, turned into a lifetime commitment pretty much in my getting engaged to an Indian man. A very handsome Indian man at that!

As this school is coming to a close I am getting prepared (very slowly) for Titus Project coming up on the 11th of July. If you remember, I came and did Titus Project last July and spent three weeks as a student learning how to teach and then 5 weeks on an outreach to South India teaching others how to study the Bible inductively and helping them understand the big picture of the entire Bible. Now Titus Project is coming up again, and since I already completed it, I will be staffing it! This means that two more teachings are in store for me in the coming month. The two classes I will be teaching the students are How to Present Your Lecture and Learning Styles. Everyone learns in different ways and we must cater to all audiences in our lectures and sermons. Visual, auditory, kinesthetic, creativity, math/logic, etc. Also, the students will have to prepare and present 4 different teachings during the three week training time and I will have the joyous opportunity to listen to them teach and evaluate them! So here I am, I started out as a student, ended up a teacher of students, and now I will be a teacher of teachers! But I must remember that I always remain a student. Plus, in Matthew 23 Jesus clearly tells the Pharisees that they have but one Teacher and one Leader, who is Christ and they should not lift themselves up as leader or teacher. Of course I am a teacher (we all are) but I am not THE Teacher, and I would have no voice if it weren't for the Teacher. It is he who teaches through me, like I could possibly teach anything without him!

Also, after this momentous week, my dearest housemate, Franziska will be leaving me and going back to Norway. It has been too good to be true living with her for the past 9 months. She came in at the right moment and is leaving at the right moment (according to God, not to me) and I am sad to see her go. She has quickly become a friend, sister, and mentor in my life. My home has been an oasis in this desert of missions in a strange culture mostly because she was in it. My house will not be the same without her and neither will my heart. But she will shine and grow and blossom where she is going, and I will still be a part of her life and she will still be a part of mine. It's just sad we won't have our Saturday morning breakfasts anymore, or our late night tea talks, or our PP times (power prayers). But the end of one season is only the beginning of another. I'll miss her terribly, but that's okay 'cause she'll be back, if not for the next DTS then for my wedding! Ha ha ha ha ha.



That is myself and Franziska. I will definitely do the ugly cry when she leaves. Who says I haven't already?

And now to end with some observations of cultural differences:

1. After seeing a commercial here for mango juice: I don't understand how mango juice can quench your undying thirst on a hot Indian Summer day. It's like being so hot and sweaty and then suddenly thinking, "I just need a nice glass of cold milk and I'll feel better." No, you don't. Like Ron Burgundy said, "It's so hot! Milk was a bad choice." in the same way, Mazaa (mango juice) is a bad choice when you're hot and want some relief.

2. I am not sure if [most] Indian men even know what deodorant is.

3. Motorcycles don't need to go into storage when it starts pouring rain! All you need is a nice rain-jacket and pants combo and you're set to ride that bike all day long! Seriously men, Indians drive motorcycles even during monsoon, and it literally pours rain all day long for days.

4. You're a family of four? You don't need a car, motorcycles also double as a minivan for growing families. One time I saw five boys on one motorcycle. They also transport ladders and gas cylinders on motorcycles. It's quite amazing. People in America do not know what driving is (or packing), but if there's one thing Americans do know and are quite good at: safety.

5. I think the most difficult thing about living in India and working with an organization here is realizing that Indian people do not see "time" the way Westerners see it. They do not plan anything at all, and everything starts late, and it drives me crazy most of the time. I'm trying to work on my attitude in this area, I mean I can't change hundreds of years of their culture, but it's hard. As an American, every second counts and if something takes longer than it has to I get frustrated. "Time is money" has been pounded into my brain, and now I'm in a place where time seems to not even exist. I wish I could get used to it, but I always end up feeling offended that my time set aside for someone else is not seen as important as I think it is.

6. Food is so cheap! If it's in season and native to India. Apples are dang expensive here, but mangoes are SO cheap right now! One dozen bananas = 44 cents. A dozen eggs is 79 cents. 1 lb. tomato, 1 lb. onion, 1 lb. green pepper altogether is the same as $1.77 (approximately). These are all reasons why even helping me out $5.00 a month pays for half my monthly groceries! $10.00 a month is my electricity bill. If six people give $20 a month that covers my rent! You do the math.

Singin' in the Rain, Just Singin' in the Rain

The Monsoon is rearing its ugly head. The rains have started and the entryway of my house will now be permanently muddy until September. Thankfully we have tile floors throughout our entire house which is easy to clean, but almost not worth cleaning because they get dirty so easily in such a dusty or muddy country.

Thanks to my new Fiancée I got a brand new, super awesome, strong and mighty umbrella! I had been using one that was missing pieces and I always had to fix it correctly, re-attaching wires and things before walking out into the rain. This new one I just push a button and it opens automatically and is huge and even has a curved handle so also doubles as a walking cane. Score!

The dog that my house-owners have is either the laziest dog ever in the world, is incredibly depressed, or is dying. I cannot decide which one. She's usually walking around exploring things and is always eager to greet you at the gate when you come home, but for the past 2 weeks she has been laying on the same step outside my door just sleeping. I have not seen her move from that spot really for two weeks! I don't know if some traumatic thing happened to her and now she's super depressed, that's what I like to do when I get emotional and depressed, but I can't. I heard once that when Lady GaGa gets depressed and doesn't feel like doing anything she gets up, looks at herself in the mirror and says, "You're Lady GaGa! You have to get up and moving!" I wish I had some cool nickname that I could call myself without seeming like a narcissist or crazy mo-fo.

If you did not know, the house I rent is somewhat of a duplex. I live on the ground floor, and my landlord lives above me on the 2nd level. It's quite a wonderful little house, I wish you all could come over and see it. I should really post pictures of it at least one of these days, now that it has almost been one year since I moved in.

This week I am teaching Daniel, and though it's full of difficult passages to interpret, the main message is God's kingdom is coming and will last forever and no other king or kingdom can compete. Reading and studying all these wonderful stories of God giving meaningful, creative dreams to kings and prophets, God causing flesh not to burn in the fire, God closing the mouths of lions, God humbling kings, and God showing Daniel exactly what will happen for the 400 years until Jesus comes, reading all these things just reminds me how truly awesome He is. I go about my days knowing He is awesome, knowing he's powerful, knowing he knows all things, but I don't truly grasp how awesome he really is. I think if I really understood how powerful, awesome, and loving he is I would explode. My mind couldn't handle it and my body wouldn't know how to react. Maybe I'd be like Ezekiel who was silent for 7 days after a vision of the glory of God, or Moses whose face would shine so brightly they'd have to cover it. It's so easy to contain and conceal God just for my personal life, but I think if I had a real interaction with him I wouldn't be able to contain my joy, ecstasy, and awe. I get so concerned with offending people, I don't want to be seen as the girl, sister, aunt, who always puts up those "Jesus" Facebook statuses, gross. But in all actuality, I should be completely unconcerned of people and feelings and reputations surrounding me, and be completely concerned with who God is.

For some reason this week (and it's only Tuesday, mind you) everyone is talking about goals, visions, 2-year or 5-year plans. What's your mission statement? What's your vision? Where do you see yourself in 2 years, 5 years, 10 years? Personally, I can barely see where I am going to be tomorrow, let alone 2 years from now. Is it so wrong to not have a plan or even an idea what I'll be doing then? I mean, I know vague things like I'll be married then and most likely be living in India. As for my future and vision and calling, I have no idea still what those are in my life and quite frankly am getting sick of those words, but this is YWAM, that's all you ever talk about. This time last year I was so proud of myself because I had the next two years all figured out for once in my life, but now just one year later I'm back in that confused, what should I do next?, sort of phase. The more I think about it, the more I realize that I always seem to be in this phase. I don't think I will ever have my life figured out. Do you ever feel that way? All I know is I must stay true to my identity, do what I love, and be with the people I love. Wherever that leads me I will be happy. I won't be living an easy life I know, but I know I will be happy.

Romel, the Fiancée, and I are attempting to figure out how he can get a visa to the US to come in August. Please, please, please keep this situation in your prayers and thoughts. If you get any words, a vision, a picture, a verse, anything at all as you pray please let me know. Any encouragement or confirmation is welcomed. I'm worried, being a worrier that would naturally occur, but this time it's a bigger thing. I have faith that whatever God wants is going to happen, and I feel like he will get a visa, but I also know from friends and stories that what we are trying to do is virtually impossible seen through earthly eyes, but after studying Daniel it's safe to say that God is fully capable of doing this, it's easy for him, the real question is does he want Romel to go to the US in August?

I will leave you with this quote from C.S. Lewis, after studying Daniel and also reading a book full of stories of martyrs, I am left thinking what I would do in a life or death situation if I am forced to deny my faith. I think, "I'd definitely be shot, beheaded, burned at the stake for God, but I don't know if I would want to be slowly tortured and killed in a long-lasting painful way." People have been steam-rolled because of their faith! I don't know if I could do that, but why wouldn't I? I won't actually know until and unless I am in that situation I suppose. C.S. Lewis said it best, "You never know how much you really believe anything until its truth or falsehood become a matter of life and death to you."