Cooking and Quiet Times

I'm becoming quite the Indian cook if I do say so. See for yourself in the pictures below:

Yeah, I made this, it's potato masala for dosas but I can't make dosa batter yet so I ate it with poori which I also made myself. I love making Indian food with all the seeds and whole spices and leaves and sticks and stuff. Seriously, they use the most raw ingredients and that's what makes their food so good.

My husband tells me I make the best pooris in the world. This is the finished product. Fortunately my four pooris were perfect bubbles, but all five I made for my husband did not work out so well and were flat, but still delicious.

Over the past 29 days (I know cause I started on the 1st of this month) I have woken up and spent some quiet time reading and meditating and writing. Sipping my chai (which I have also mastered recently) and spending some time alone and with my Creator. My days have been more peaceful and I feel more accomplished when I know I've actually spent some down time each day.

Doesn't that look flipping delicious? It tastes like that too.

On Monday my husband and I started an intense exercise regimen. It's just another step in the direction for me to improve my self-control and self-motivation. I hope that we can both stick to it for the full 60 days it requires. 

And that's that my friends, nothing much, just gloating over my cool Indian cooking styles. Perhaps I should start putting step-by-step recipes here.

Won't You Be My Neighbor?

In Minnesota, I never ever really got to know my neighbors. It's in our nature to keep to ourselves, and even though we've lived next to each other for years and years I still might not know their names. How pathetic is that? Now I have an excuse, I haven't really been home for the past three years.

Now I have a new home in a small city in Western India. You can't really avoid your neighbors here. They're always around and love to talk. I've been certainly blessed with neighbors who mostly speak English and I'm sure they're also more apt to get to know me because I'm the foreigner living next-door. Little do they know, I'm the one who's blessed when I get to know about them more. I find myself thinking about them often. It's very different in America. Not just culturally, but let me try to illustrate it for you:

My land-lady and her two sons live above us. They are strong Catholics. The neighbors on one side are Hindus and a big family that lives in a small shack on the property of a bigger house. I believe they are caretakers of the property while the owners live mostly in Mumbai or Pune. They do not speak English so I have not gotten to know them so much, but I love their daughter. She's about 14 maybe, her name is Pooja and she does not really speak English, but we always say hello to each other when we see each other. Her father comes home every night at exactly 11:00. The reason I know this is because at eleven o'clock every night I hear a bicycle bell ring twice as it enters their house.

This is my land-lady, one of her sons and her brother with us at the wedding!

The neighbors on the other side of me are Jehovah's Witnesses. We call them Aunty and Uncle. I only actually know Uncle's real name, but it doesn't matter because they're simply Aunty and Uncle. They have a little shop that sells cookies, milk, eggs, chips, and other necessary things like laundry powder and toothpaste. I know them the best of all my neighbors. I often stop over and drink some chai and chat with them. I tell them when I'm preparing for and teaching different books of the Bible and wish I could go to their meetings once in a while just to see what it's like, but unfortunately they only hold their meetings in Hindi. I see Uncle always studying his Bible and last night came up to the shop as him and Aunty were just finishing up a prayer. They are really two great and wonderful people.

This is Aunty and Uncle's shop, they let us take our engagement photos in and around it.

The people that live just on the other side of Aunty and Uncle are Muslims. Yes, I know, I live in quite the "diverse" neighborhood, it's true. They speak English also and I've only actually talked to them once when the dad of the family told me his daughter's name is also Sarah even though I had no idea how he knew my name was Sarah. Then I remembered I live in India and gossip travels like wildfire.

This is Sarah.

My desire is to get a nice camera while I'm home this winter and come back and take so many pictures of my wonderful neighbors in the hopes to be invited into their lives a little more. The best way to open doors here is with a camera in your hand. You can take pictures of anyone, but if you print them out and actually give them to them you're like some super special being to them. I've been feeling like I'm almost becoming a hermit over the past few months. I rarely leave the house. I remember when I used to go into town almost every day, but now it's been probably more than a month since I went into town! Yikes.

Jesus never tells his disciples that the people would know they are his disciples because of their doctrine or theology. He never says that his disciples would be known for their many denominations and differences and beliefs. But that is what his disciples are known for today it seems. Hatred, differences, disunity, disagreements, money, money, and more money. Jesus said that the world would know his followers by the love they have for one another (John 13:34-35). If I can be known as the girl who loves, that's enough in my book. I just want to love people, and that's it. 

Inspiration In the Midst of Discouragement.

I've been reading biographies about Indian missionaries from long ago. It's about time I learned something about the history of Christianity in this country of mine. I first read a book about a woman named Ida Scudder who was American but born and raised in South India because her parents were missionaries and she always said she'd never follow in their footsteps yet she started the first women's doctor colleges in India and did a lot for the sick women and children of India. Then there was this guy named Sundar Singh who had a crazy life story. He was disowned by his Sikh family because he converted to follow Jesus and ended up walking from village to village in North India and Tibet for many years with nothing but his robe, a blanket, and a copy of the New Testament.

Dr. Ida Scudder

just a little glimpse at the beginning of Sundar's ministry.

These two life stories really inspired me and encouraged me to really seek God's will for my time in India. Sure, I'm staffing the SBS and it's awesome and takes a lot of time and many of these students go home or go out with real truth on their lips. However, I am beginning to see an importance of also getting to know and loving the local people here.

A few challenges have arisen as of late. One being our electricity bill seems to keep getting higher and higher which can't possibly be possible. We are not using any more electricity than usual and I heard they raised the prices for electricity but that should not double our bill every month! Two months ago it was one thing, then last month it was double, and now this month it was double the last one! It's just not possible.

But in the midst of all that God is of course saying, "trust me."

Easier said than done.

I also need a plane ticket to go home in November which I know will be provided somehow, but right now looking at it it's easy to get discouraged. Not to mention all of Romel's immigration stuff is coming up and even I have to apply for a different Indian visa and change my name on all my stuff when I go home. All these things take a lot of time, energy, and of course money.

But in the midst of all these thoughts God is of course saying, "seriously, trust me."

While I'm home I'll be hoping to find a full-time temp job asap so that I can make money to pay for visas and more plane tickets and things we really need like external hard-drives and sheets.

It isn't easy living this sort of life, but if I lived comfortably in the U.S. with a full-time job and a car and enough money to pay for insurance and rent and even entertainment then my faith would be very small. I would have no need to depend on God for anything. Here I am given a great and difficult opportunity to truly put all my trust in Him because really, there's no other option but also, there's no other person or being I'd want to put all my trust in.

Those two very different Indian missionaries got everything they needed. Sadhu Sundar Singh never really needed anything or asked for anything yet God brought him food, shelter, and he even went to Europe and England twice and the U.S. once! Dr. Ida Scudder needed millions of dollars to start hospitals and schools in India and God provided everything. I only need a couple thousand dollars, how puny does that look in comparison?

Also, if I never came to India I wouldn't be married to an incredibly attractive dark-skinned, brown eyed man and I wouldn't get to see this beautiful country when I leave my house.

The man himself.

Just Venting and you know...venting.

Oh how the story is unfolded. Sometimes we are so surprised to find out what is in store for us.

Remember when I said we were trying to find a cheaper place to live? Yeah, well today I requested an 11-month lease with our current house. Yes, the one that recently raised our rent. The one with the obnoxious, stinky, flea-ridden dog. The one that has welders coming and ruining my life every day for the past month. But, what can I do but sign an 11-month lease? I mean there's nowhere else to go. We also need to have an official, signed rental agreement so that I can register here at the Foreign Registration Office (FRO) and also so that when I'm home in November I will have an easier time filing a form for my husband's Spouse Visa.

It's not what we wanted, but it's apparently what is best for us according to the Almighty One. You know, the One seated on the throne. He kind of knows what is best for me and everyone for that matter.

So we're stuck in the same old house for the next 11 months. Actually, I do quite love this little home and now I'll have an excuse to get new curtains and try to decorate it up a little more!

This also means we'll be needing more finances...as if that wasn't already a word I hate using in these entries and e-mail updates. Yikes. But seriously. What newlywedded couple doesn't need money? Especially ones that are volunteering at a non-profit which isn't paying them anything but in fact we are paying them to work here! Especially ones that are trying to also start the US Immigration process for the husband in the relationship this year (which will cost almost $1,000)! Especially ones that barely have enough money to pay rent, electricity bills, gas, and food!

I wish there were ways for me to make money here in India, but I just can't on my tourist visa. It's so easy in the US. Life is just easier there. Perhaps that is why I'm living here in a country where everything, yes, everything is incredibly difficult and drawn-out. I mean it takes people years to get their passport! It takes bribes to get anything done quickly around here, and I am very much opposed to giving bribes. Remember our marriage certificate terror a few months ago? We had to go from Kathmandu to Delhi only to find that we also needed something from Mumbai so then we had to get the one in Mumbai then mail it to Delhi then get something there and then fly back to Kathmandu ALL SO THAT THEY WOULDN'T EVEN GIVE ME THE ENTRY VISA ANYWAY.

Oh man I am so fed up with the way things are done here some days. I mean a lot of people come for a few days and say, "wow, India is really growing fast and will soon become one of the major countries of the world!" But I say, no. No way. India has a very, very long way to go. Until and unless this whole corruption nonsense gets taken care of and starts improving and the rich actually begin to care for the poor. Ain't nothin' gonna happen with this country except get more and more corrupt.

Wow, a little rant of mine.

Anyway, yeah.

Green things, pressure cookers, and mold.

I love waking up in the morning to the sounds of the neighbor's pressure cookers.

I enjoy the fact that one of my friends here makes the absolute best channa daal parathas I have ever tasted in my entire life.

My goal for the next few months is to learn how to cook using our pressure cooker. I will no longer be intimidated by those little monsters of pressure. They can be very scary to someone who is almost positive they have a slight anxiety disorder. But I will learn how to cook with them, I will not be afraid anymore.

I don't go outside very often these days because it's wet, cloudy, and grey. However, all the plants are SO GREEN I CANNOT EVEN STAND IT IT'S SO BEAUTIFUL.

Here we have the downfall of living in an area with really, just a lot of rain during the monsoon. Mold. It gets EVERYWHERE. In your closet; on your clothes; on your poor camel leather sandals you bought just before the wedding; on your suitcases; it's enough to drive anyone crazy with the look, the feel, and the smell. Thank God I'm not allergic to any molds (that I know of...)

Last, but certainly not least, I have included the greatest picture of my husband ever taken by human hands. 

I love this guy so much it's ridiculous.