Morning Prayer

Lord God, Almighty, and everlasting Father,

You have brought me safely into this new day:
Preserve me with your mighty power,
that I may not fall into sin, nor be overcome with adversity
In all that I do, direct me to the fulfilling of your purpose through Jesus Christ

Amen

40 things you need to know

There are many things one learns from spending an extended period of time in a different country. Many things are expected because they're part of the culture. Other things are unexpected that you learn because our culture has ways around these things! So I made a list of the things that I have learned that I never thought I would ever need to know, until now:

1. Too much washing detergent is a bad thing. Your clothes can actually be too clean. Stop laughing at me all you house moms and house grandmas because I had no idea!! My clothes always feel extra dirty so today when I was doing laundry I was generous with the detergent I was using. First of all...its made for a high efficiency washer. Initially when I bought the detergent I thought to myself: My hands are very efficient! But I was wrong!!! They do not compare to the spin cycle 3000 we have at home. When you use too much detergent your clothes become "crunchy". And since your hands are most likely raw and red from washing all your other laundry already you will just have to suffer through "crunchy" clothes.

2. Comfort is a state of mind. There is nothing to be said for this except for that sometimes to fall asleep you just have to think cold, soft, thoughts and forget about the fact that your are laying in a puddle, drenched in your own sweat.

3. If you will yourself to like something it eventually starts to taste good. But it usually takes 3 weeks.
*******Disclaimer! This doesn't work with spicy food. Spicy food will still be spicy even if you imagine it dull***********

4. Sometimes you just gotta buck up and pee in the dirt. Make sure you appreciate your toilet today and be extra nice to it always, because some of us sometimes have to settle for a hole in the ground.

5. Sometimes people just want to hold your hand...even if they've never met you....even if you really don't want them too.

6. Ant killer is a lot more effective with out the EPA modifying it to be "safe for the environment"

7. It only takes 15 minutes to get new glasses. All this bologna your eye doctor tells you about a week wait for your glasses is ridiculous. Here they have the lens cutter in the back and the frames are sold by a "what you see is what you get" basis.

8. If you are white, no one feels sorry for you. If you happen to trip they will laugh at you because you are obviously foreign.

9. Smelling fresh is a privilege not a right.

10. Power outages allow you to reflect on different people groups....like the Amish.

11. UNO makes time fly.

12. Time is relative. 30 minutes? 5 hours? It's really all the same....oh did you need to be somewhere on time?

13. We spend wayyyyy to much money on the doctor. When will America catch on and make ALL drugs over the counter...makes life simpler.

14. Cows and Buffalos look very similar. Their milk is very different though, don't let the color fool you

15. My brother, Sam, when he was 5, once said, "Whats even the point of matching??" Someone in India heard him and agreed.

16. Speed limits are not necessary. Neither are sidewalks. Or crosswalks. Or any traffic laws at all really...

17. Your true friends will make an effort to keep in touch with you. And love you even from all the way across the world. The other people you thought mattered...really don't.

18. Who needs a helmet when riding a motorcycle?

19. Technology is amazing. Who isn't impressed with the fact that we can Skype, FaceTime, chat, email, and do anything else with someone who is thousands of miles away!!

20. Bugs in America are relatively small. So are mice and snakes. Be grateful!

21. Underwear is overrated

22. America does NOT have enough Holidays...the kids are out of school at least once a week here

23. American men don't value our ankles and shoulders enough.

24. An impromptu dance party is all you need to get through the day sometimes

25. Someone always has it worse than you

26. Simple things to you are very difficult to others. You ask for rice and they bring you shrimp curry...

27. Sometimes you need to care about yourself...but sometimes you have to care for other people first

28. Brothels are a real thing. A real terrifying thing. And there are no "emergency help" buttons anywhere to save you if someone snatches you

29. Being run over by a semi truck is a legit fear for some people

30. North Carolina could offer some great insight in terms of road building....

31. You haven't lived until you've anointed someone's pregnant belly with oil....that you've just blessed.

32. All great movies were based on the dreams by someone under the influence of malaria medicine

33. Being a celebrity isn't all its cracked up to be

34. Talking about your poop is OK

35. Be grateful the only thing men in America have a problem with is putting the seat down. Men in India just pee on the side of the road. And don't try to hide it...if you know what I mean......................

36. Watching your dinner get killed in front of you really makes you contemplate the question: Will there be chickens in heaven? ...it also makes you sympathize with PETA....then you remember that you need to eat

37. Good friends will remind you of your purpose when you have forgotten it.

38. Sometimes you just gotta cry. Even if you have no reason.

39. Be thankful EVERYDAY for the Mexican influence on food in America. Sometimes the only thing that will help is a burrito.

40. God has a purpose for everything. We take that for granted too much. God even has a purpose for the bad things. And you find out those purposes a lot quicker here than in America....or maybe we just miss those things in America? It's harder to miss those purposeful opportunities in America because we are so focused around all our great stuff. Next time you think you don't have a purpose...get off your iPhone, get over yourself, sit back, and look around because God probably wants you to do something AMAZING for Him :)

But the Greatest of These is Love

After a week in the ICM office we have really gotten a good feel for Indian methodology in the office, and the attitude of the culture in general. During orientation, James made a comment that startled me a little bit. He said to us, “I have to run a tight ship here, if someone does not show up for work, they do not get paid. People need to work in the office, they can’t just work from their office at home.” I thought to my self: DUH! Isn’t that how its supposed to be? I brushed it off, amused that he felt he had to make that statement and forgot about it.

I have held a steady job for as long as I can remember. When I was 14 (which was the minimum age you could work in NC) I started working for the Taekwondo school I was attending.  Following that, I took a job at Trader Joe’s and remained there all through high school.  After my time at Joe’s was done I hopped around the church working in different places of ministries, and finally took a position at the YMCA where I remained until the day before coming to India. So you could say I am pretty well educated on work place ethic and behavior, and showing up to work was always right there on the top of the employer expectations. In fact, usually it was an unspoken assumption that if you didn’t show up to work you would probably be terminated.  None the less, perhaps James felt he had to say that since he doesn’t know us and he doesn’t know how we act in the work place.  Clearly he thought it was a necessary bit of information to cover.

I learned later that this work ethics detail was actually a necessity.  One of the American’s that is also working with ICM, later confided that what we may have assumed about the nature of our obligation to the work place was not shared by my fellow Indian co workers.  They won’t call, they won’t think up an excuse; they will just not show up. And from what I understand, the boss is lucky if it’s only for one day!! It is not uncommon for an Indian to be absent from work for days at a time, or for the week, or even two weeks!! And, it is completely acceptable. No one gets fired and no one even gets reprimanded. They might be questioned as to where they were, but that’s the extent of the interrogation. This is crazy to me! Comical even. How can you just not show up? What about responsibilities? What about your coworkers?

Reflecting back at former places of occupation, I considered this; At Trader Joe’s, if one person did not show up we had to rewrite the entire schedule for the day! One person could throw off a schedule for 50 people!! If someone didn’t show up to work at a day care we had to call in a whole new person! And if I didn’t show up to the YMCA one day the whole day would have been thrown off.  There would be no office person to make sure the headcounts were right, to check children out, or to make sure the right kids showed up that day. My point is: at any job I’ve had if someone didn’t show up because they didn’t feel like it, it would create chaos and frustration for the other team members. However, in India, it does no such thing (from what I have experienced).If you don’t show up, work that you were supposed to do just doesn’t get done. If someone else was relying on your work to get done and they can’t do it because you’re not there, they’ll probably go home too.

Initially, I found this both surprising and comical.  But after awhile it made me a little angry.  In most places in America this attitude would be scorned.  We pride ourselves on progress and are frustrated by anything or person that gets in the way or slows it down.  We aggressively pursue solutions to our problems and failure to step up gives you the reputation of being lazy or apathetic.  I know we are imperfect but it is very difficult for me to wrap my brain around a culture that seems to lack the same drive.  When you begin to realize the difference of objectives, you can’t help but be disheartened by how much of this affects the rest of their country. You begin to understand the trash piles on the ground and the huge landfills right on the side of the road. You start to understand the poverty and the beggars on every corner.  Suddenly, the half completed buildings, the unfinished roads, the power outages every 2 hours, the dirty water, and the extreme lack of organization all makes more sense.

I am finding a lot of frustration in this. Previously, I didn’t cast blame on the cause of the imperfections of this country; the trash, the constant chaos, the disorganization. It made me sad to see it all and it made me wonder if there was a solution to the problem and ask if progress was an option. It is sobering and disheartening to consider that the culture so strongly contributes to the problem.  So, I have to ask; if the motivation in the people was there, could their problems be solved?  While I still have so much to learn about this culture I have not seen yet that the motivation is there. They have accepted their own defeat and have settled into this chaos!

I can’t help but wonder how much the cast system still plays into this. The attitude for centuries has been that you can’t move up from what you were born into. If you were born into a lower class, that’s where you will stay, and where your children and your grandchildren will be. Perhaps this apparent lack of motivation is an echo of that belief system.  They were born into this place in its harrowing and they were also born to only know how to accept their lot in life. There are very few who are here to teach them that they can be the solution to the mess that they’re in and that there is hope beyond the trash heaps.

The saddest thing to me is seeing the million and millions of dollars that go into the construction of their temples. They are definitely beautiful and they are everywhere. The colors are fantastic and truly the entire building is a piece of art. If only they put less money into their idols that can give nothing back to them. If only that money was put into a trash system, or into a water system that could provide clean water. Wouldn’t that be more beneficial to the people? What if the effort people made to create sanctuaries for their fake God’s was actually used to make their own homes and villages a sanctuary to meet their basic needs?    

Eric and his wife Tisra are here from America working in Sarah’s Covenant Homes, more commonly known as SCH, in the homes for the disabled children. He had such an excellent point. From the time this country was established it has been trying to prove something to the rest of the world. At first it was to prove to England that we were our own country. Then when we became our own country it was to prove that we were necessary, and that we were a force to be reckoned with. America wasn’t going to fail because the people had much too much determination to let it fail. We came from generations of determined people that wanted more than anything to succeed. When England took over India they initially befriended the people here. They became their friends, and then one day they just took over. When England left India they didn’t leave motivated people they left confused people. They left a government in the same shambles that it started with. The motivation to be its own country wasn’t there.

I believe our own countries success in contrast to India is based on our faith.  Our Declaration of Independence begins by saying, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." And as a people and a government we endeavor to uphold this.  We strive to combat apathy in our own country as well as in other nations.  The bible has lots to say about laziness.  In fact laziness (or sloth, which is apathy) is considered one of the Seven Deadly Sins, and the God treats laziness as any other sin. The bible says that a man who is lazy simply will go hungry. (“Slothfulness casts into a deep sleep, and an idle person will suffer from hunger.” Proverbs 19:15) God did not create us to be lazy. He is not our babysitter and nor will he allow us to lay back and do nothing and yet provide for us. God says in the bible that we need to trust in him and he will provide for us, but that does not give us the excuse to do nothing. I think what God is trying to tell us is that if we trust him enough to sacrifice our comfort for Him, He will not let us go hungry or grow weary. This does not mean sit back and watch TV, have fun and party, and not work because you don’t feel like it because you are trusting God to provide. (“For even when we were with you, we would not give this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.” 2 Thessalonians 3:10). Perhaps this country missed out on what the bible has to offer about the fruit of apathy. We can’t deny that our heritage was rooted in Christianity, and our ancestors were a lot of really hardworking people. This is apparent when you look at our American history.  We are privileged to have such a solid foundation and should never take that for granted or rest in it.  Ultimately, we should follow the example of our forefathers and remain hard working.

The same spirit that our nation was founded on confirms for me the need for the gospel in India. This is a solution.  The knowledge that you are deeply loved by the God who created you and values your life is defense against sloth (apathy). This truth can be the motivation to pick their country up of its feet and experience the greatest gift of life that God has given them!! I thought this was significant to share.  It isn’t complaint, but an attempt to reiterate how much we, as Christians, are needed. We have something great to offer these people in the realization of God’s word.

In turn, countries like India should inspire us. We can’t be lazy with our faith. We need to get up and utilize the gifts that God has given us! This doesn’t mean that we all have to GO to India or even focus our attention solely on India. But as Christians we need to put the work ethic that most of us have and put it towards our faith. What if we put as much effort into our faith and spreading love as we did at work to make money? What if we were paid by how many people loved or helped a day, or by how many times we thanked God for everything He has blessed us with? Would we all be pretty poor?  I realized that I could be pretty poor.  He gave us a sense of a work ethic so we could provide for ourselves and get necessary work done, but also so that we would not be lazy and sit around and let our gifts go to waste! Don’t be a lazy Christian and let your “trash” pile build up or your “water” go bad. Utilize the blessings we have and share what God has done for you!! We can’t pride ourselves on being productive or progressive if we neglect what God has created us to do!!  After all, without love, I am nothing (I Cor. 13:2)

  

“The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied.” Proverbs 13:4

“Whatever you do, work heartily…” Colossians 3:23

Sending Love Your way!!

Grace

The fun new Punjabi I got today :)

Powers OUT Baby!!!!!!!

Hey Friends,

So excited to share that I am feeling back to normal and was out and about today!!! It was a slow start for sure but I was so happy to finally get out of the apartment!!

Our first stop was the sweet babies home at SCH to see our favorite babies of all time!!! They are so sweet and so cute and so much fun to play with. I have a favorite there for sure, but don't tell the rest of them! Meet Miss Chelsea, sweet and smiley, until you get on her nerves. Watch out for her eye rolling and then she'll stick her cute tongue out at you. Luckily I think I am growing on her because she was all smiles today even though I caught her as she was waking up! So sad to leave all the babies though, they always cry as we go which of course is heart breaking!!

Oh the many faces of Chelsea

Sweet Baby, smiles when she woke up today!

Such a cutie :)

We had planned a beach trip this evening with some of the people that are here with the World Race and also with some of the Americans that are working with ICM. We planned on having a bonfire and fireworks and hotdogs (chicken of course) but as soon as we got to ICM it started to pour rain and we had to postpone our trip until tomorrow night! So instead we headed back to the apartment! There we ran into a new, but dear friend, Naomi!!! Oh my goodness she is just the most sweetest person ever. Earlier that day we found out that 90% of our "modest" clothing we brought was considered scandalous, especially to the village, so we knew we had to go shopping for some traditional clothing. Not to mention, also, the Indian people are always honored when Americans where their clothing and since I will be living in the village is seems appropriate. So when we were telling Naomi about our clothing whoas she graciously took us clothes shopping!! Poor Stuart had to come with us, but he was a great sport and remained positive. He even lent his best, big sister, ever some money when she ran out...oops ;) Don't worry Dad!! I paid him back! We had to take our clothes to be made by a tailor since all of the clothing is bought in pieces so that it can be made to custom fit your body! Pretty cool! Then Naomi took us to go shopping to help us make our very own American meal (Indian Style). Shopping in India is very very different than shopping in America (duh). First we went to the MORE. which is an Indian grocery store. They have most of what you would need to eat, but don't get too creative because their selection is pretty general. We got green beans, potatoes, milk, butter, and olive oil. We then had to head to the streets in search of bananas, lemons, and grapes. We told her that we wanted chicken for dinner and asked her where we could find a butcher. I had something like "The Meat House" in Cary pictured in my mind. A small store with different meats in a cold refrigerated case. Of course not as fancy as America, but something similar. What we actually found was a small shack on the side of the street with LIVE chickens. Well, we ate the freshest chicken you will ever get tonight. The poor chicken. I looked the sad creature straight in the eyes minutes before its untimely passing. My only hopes is that God has a special place in Heaven for all those sweet chickens that are served as dinners.  :( I can easily see how going vegetarian would be easy here. I knew that eventually I was going to have to kill what I eat but I just wasn't expecting it to be so soon. However, we all bucked up and brought it home to cook. In true Indian style, midway through cooking dinner, the power went out. Luckily we had a gas stove top to cook with (no oven of course). It took an hour to cook potatoes, chicken, and beans with light provided by the flashlights on our iPhones (which seemed kind of wrong to us at the time -haha). Finally we sat down to a very American dinner in a very Indian setting a.k.a candlelight. Naomi told us that she loved American food and so we asked her to join us and she was so happy. We felt like it was the least we could do after we dragged her all over Ongole in search of fabric that we liked. It was sooooo good and such a great taste of home. Finally something that didn't make our stomachs turn (yet, at least)!!

Sari and Punjabi Shopping!!

Yummy mashed potatoes, green beans, and chicken

We expected the power to come on after thirty minutes. But after 2 hours we were all pretty bored, hot, and tired of being in the dark. India turns their power off because the city realizes that they don't have enough electricity to serve the entire city so to conserve power they turn the power off for a couple of hours. This happens daily from 9-11AM and 3-5PM. During those times we have no AC, no internet, and no lights. It is not so bad during the day because there is sunlight to see by and we are usually occupied with other things to notice the lack of AC or internet. But tonight was brutal. We had no way of knowing when the power was coming back on and no way of seeing except for candels, cell phones, and flashlights. This obviously has its glitches because the flashlight really eats your battery so when your phone is dead there is no way of charging it and no way of knowing if you'll have an opportunity to that before the morning when you need it. I know, I know, first world problems for sure. Kourtney and I finally decided to try our luck at some henna and Tressa willingly sacrificed her feet. We definitely came up with some "creative" drawings. Tressa said she didn't care, but I would like to hear her opinion of her feet in two weeks when our "beautiful" drawings are still there!!! HAHA!

"Space Station" by Grace :P

What a Beautiful Creation

 Just as all of us had stripped down to the bare minimums, the power came on!!!! (Don't worry, Stuart had left by then) Praise the Lord for AC!! I promise to never take electricity or AC for granted ever again!! Not having power for just three hours truly makes you appreciate what you have. Excited for what tomorrow brings, and can't wait to get our tailored made, traditional clothing. Definitely loving the happy things that I am doing even though I am not in the village!

Sending Love!! Thanking you for all your prayers and blessings!!
Grace

New Beginnings

Hello All!

The interns had our first day of work on Monday! It was just our orientation but we got our official job titles and learned exactly what the expectations were and what we would be doing. As planned I am assigned a different orphanage every month that I will be staying in to basically be a "mom" to the 10-12 girls that are living there. I will cook, clean, wash, help with homework, and of course play with them every day! I'll be able to have an office day Monday where I'll be able to Skype and update the blog and catch up with friends! I am so excited to begin!!

The plan was to leave for the villages this afternoon (Tuesday) but unfortunately, as things usually happen in India, that was not quite what happened. I'll try to spare the gory detail but around 4 this morning I realized I was not going to be going to the village. I spent the whole day in bed sick, sick, sick!! I am so lucky that there is currently an American family working with ICM who was able to explain to everyone at ICM what was going on! Also thanks to Jake and Becca Taylor for listening to all my graphic symptoms and telling me what to do and what medicines to take. Finally about 9 tonight my fever broke and I'm feeling a little back to normal! Thank God for no needed hospital visits and for caring friends and family back in the US!! Silver lining? Figuring out how to make Netflix work in India and watching my all time favorite TV show, Charmed!!! :D

Bummed a little though because this will put me back a week from going into the villages. I'm grateful that it's even an option to stay in an air conditioned apartment with normal bathrooms and kitchens while I get back to normal but sad that it even has to be an option! Trusting that God has something up his sleeve this week and excited to find out what that is!

Hoping to get some much needed rest and looking forward to getting better and finishing this week out strong! 

Sending love!
Grace

And the Adeventure Begins!

Well team 2 is finally gone and the 4 interns are all alone! I don't know if I speak for everyone else but I am really missing home and missing the team!!! It has finally become a reality that this is the next 6 months of our lives (23 weeks, 165 days, 3,960 hours, ect) Its hard to believe that the next time I will see the states it probably will be freezing, NFL season will be ending (we arrive home super bowl Sunday afternoon, just in time to party of course), and my 23rd birthday will only be a month away! I don't think life has ever felt the real before.

Feeling this homesick brings me back to my freshman year of college.  I remember how deserted and how alone I felt with out my family. I wanted to love the newly found freedom, but being away from what I knew was scary and intimidating. It didn't help that before I even got to Campbell I decided that I was not going to like it. I didn't even make it the weekend. The minute I heard my roommate was leaving for Myrtle Beach I called my mom and told her I needed her to come get me. I so much wish I could call my mom and tell her to come get me now. For some reason I can't wrap my mind around the fact that I am miles and miles away from her. That home is half way across the world.

Yesterday was spent doing school work and watching TV. I felt like wallowing and being mopey and unhappy. I was angry at the team for leaving, even though I knew that was irrational, and I was sad that I wasn't going with them. I struggled with the fact that I had chosen to stay. Nobody made that choice for me, I had decided that on my own and I was angry at myself for making that decision. Looking online caused me to be even angrier. I was angry at the people who were still living their lives, who were having fun, who were going on with out me. I was sad that everyone wasn't sad, that I felt alone. Misery loves company: I have never experienced the truth in that statement until now. Most of all I became angry at God. He should have stopped me, given me a sign that told me not to come, given me more of a reason to stay. I wanted Him to tell me that I needed to be home, that there was more purpose for me there than there was here. My prayers, as sometimes prayers can be, were more like arguments with God. I begged him not to make me stay here. God should have known that I couldn't handle this. God should have remembered my freshman year of college and realized that I haven't grown as much as I thought I did. And I think He was sad for me. I think he felt my pain, and I felt like He was sympathetic. God patiently waited, and when I was done yelling, and when I was done being angry at Him; He answered me:

Psalm 23: 1-6 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

I was reminded that David, one of the most faithful men in the bible, was scared too. David was often so scared in fact, that he continuously disobeyed God and yet God continued to love him and provided for him always!

Isiah 41:13 For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, “Fear not, I am the one who helps you.”

Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.  

John 16:33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” 

Psalm 119:105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. 

Matthew 6:25-34 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you. Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear? the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. the kingdom of God and his righteousness,and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."

God knows that I am human. He knows that I am scared and He knows what I can and cannot handle. God knows my every thought, He knows what makes me excited, and He knows what makes me sad. God never planned for life to be easy. He never planned for it to be fun. But He clearly says many times that if we do things in His name he will always watch over us and protect us. That He won't leave us, and that He won't let us down. He knows that I want to be home, and He knows that I am sad, but He also knows the things I don't know. The things that are to come. I believe that He will never let me down, that He would not send me on this adventure just to fail or to be unhappy. I have to have faith that there is something that I am going to accomplish here.

Knowing this does not make it easy. I still miss my friends, my mom (a lot, Hey Mom!!), and my nice clothes. I miss driving my car and I really miss plain chicken, and clean bathrooms. However, knowing that God has a plan, makes it easier to push through. It makes me not want to give up and it makes me happy to know that the future holds something special. It makes me appreciative of what I have. Happy to know that in 6 months I will go home to the people and things that I love, and humbles me to know that I can go home, when some people can not. It makes me grateful for what I have and happy that I am blessed. If this is the only lesson I learn here, it will be worth it!!

I would hate for you to get this far just to end it with out funny stories or comedic relief from our last week!! Here you go, the top funniest pictures and things that happened to our medical team.

11. BALLOONS!!! In India balloons equal chaos as we found out many times the hard way during our kidjams. The kids love the balloons so much they will fight anyone off for one and try to grab it out of your mouth while you are blowing it up. Even the adults get a little crazy over balloons. We learned our lesson by the last kidjam though and decided to skip out on the balloons.

We decorated Beth and Emily's door for Beth's 20th birthday!!!

10. Chicken Resuscitation. One of our team members, Allison, was trying to catch a baby chick, but was failing miserably. One of the locals tried to help her but accidentally killed the baby chicken in the process. Instead of accepting defeat he tried to give the chicken mouth to mouth (which did not work). It was a sad ending, but surely funny to watch!!

9. New Glasses!!!

Couple with their new glasses!

8. Our never ending quest for plain chicken. When we asked for Chicken Cutlet this is what we got:

chicken heart?

7. Setting fireworks off on stage, while music is playing. At one of the concerts a man kept setting off his homemade fireworks on stage, among all the electrical equipment, during the music. It was extremely loud and a serious fire hazard, but funny none the less!

6. The power going out. The power in India goes out unexpectedly at the worst times ever. Whether it was during a concert or at a medical clinic the power would go out with out warning. The best was watching the locals try to fix it by cutting wires and rubbing cut wires together...scary!!!

5. I blessed and anointed a pregnant lady's belly. This is something that I never thought I would ever do in my entire life. I was pulled of the bus and handed oil and shown a big belly (7 months pregnant). Obviously I prayed over it and rubbed the oil on it. Haha, still can't tell you how I am feeling about that. Honored a little, weirded out a little, but funny!!

4. Over 50 extremely intense games of UNO. Thank goodness for UNO! It prevented us from being carsick, bored, and kept us up late way too many nights. I have never played UNO so competitively though, some games lasted over 30 minutes. Great for team bonding though!

Allison playing UNO (and losing I think)

3. Pottying with a cobra nearby! In one of the Child Development Centers we visited the bathroom was behind a small brick building. Our team was out in the middle of no where and it was a wide open field. Three of us went back there to use "the bathroom" and right after we came out they went back and pulled out a cobra that had been "watching us". Obviously it was promptly killed, but it was a little terrifying knowing that we could have been bit in a very uncomfortable place by a very poisonous snake!! We were a little more careful about checking before we went to the bathroom! Which brings me to.....

Some of the girls and I at the Child Development Center with the Cobra!

2. POTTY PARTY!!! Thank goodness for Beth and Becca and their small bladders, just like mine. We seemed to find a more interesting place to relieve ourselves everywhere we went! We experienced potties from porcelain thrones to "squatty potties" to holes in the ground to slabs of concrete!!! Whenever I needed to go I could always count on them to accompany me. Each time seemed to be better than the next! But the best place....

1. Peeing in a church kitchen. We thought we had struck gold when we came upon this small building that looked like a bathroom. It had a slab of concrete, like many of the other bathrooms we had experienced, laid across two smaller rocks. We used the bathroom happily and went about our day. When we came back to go again we came across women cooking in that same place and we realized we had mistaken a kitchen for a bathroom!!!! How embarrassing!!!! Even worse we ended up having to eat the food they were cooking, I guess thats what we get!! Welcome to India!!

Eating the Dinner the Village prepared with us and YES we are eating with our hands India Style!! Make sure to only use your right hand ;)

Much Love to all!! Missing everyone!
Grace

Team 1 in Ongole.

Our team arrived in Ongole after the 6 hour drive from Nalgonda. We were very blessed because there was no carsickness, breakdowns, or problems (unless you count a light being out at the end) and we arrived at the nicest hotel in India. What a treat to stay here with hot water, AC that works, clean rooms, and friendly staff. Definitely has been a step up than any of our other hotels EVER.

We arrived in Ongole a little bit after 9PM and Kevin had some yummy American style pizzas from a restaurant called Carmel, waiting for us on the balcony. Our team was debriefed on what the next days would look like and we were off to bed to prepare for the days ahead.

Tuesday our team woke up ready to go! Our team headed to a tour of Indian Christian Ministries and got an over view of what they do here in India. There were plenty of employees there to explain what they did for ICM. After our tour of ICM we got to go upstairs where one of the Children's homes was located. This home is for babies that ICM takes in that have severe special needs or medical problems. Many of these children were found abandoned and left to die because they are considered worthless and ICM partnering with Sarah's Covenant Homes, nurses them back to health. Many of these children will have medical problems their entire lives but some of them have gotten the right medical care and are well on their way to living normal lives. They are all sweet, sweet babies and some of them are even being adopted which is the happiest news!!!

After we got a tour of the Babies Home we headed downstairs to the church at ICM where each of the district pastors had set up a presentation of their districts to show the team. There were pictures of their work in each one of the villages and they gave a short presentation of what they were doing for all of the districts. They spoke of their needs and what they hoped to accomplish and what we could do to help. We were able to pray over the pastors and ask them questions about their districts. This is also and area where our other interns, Stuart and Tressa, will be working a lot with and around. Both of them will be working very closely with village development.

Aloe and Macy

Max and Megan

Evan and Kourtney

Tuesday we were also able to spend some time shopping! Shopping in Ongole was a lot different than shopping in Hyderabad. There are not that many shops and there is not really a "shopping district" so our team did a lot of walking. We found some great finds though and some exciting things to send back home!!

Tuesday night our team headed to a Child Development Center in one of the villages.  These centers are made possible through child sponsorship programs. ICM takes children that are at high risk of being sent into the work force or sold into human trafficking and through sponsors in America sends them to school and provides them with a free meal and tutoring after school. Many of these children come from families where there is only one parent, often a widow, who is more likely to sell them into human trafficking so that they are able to buy food for their other children. This was one of my favorite experiences so far! We were able to visit some of these Child Development Centers before, during my last trip to Ongole, and I love spending time with the children and their families there. There were three sweet girls in particular who were so cute and sweet that we got to spend time with. Of course the power went out before we could get our picture taken with them, but they were so much fun! One of them, who was maybe 3 years old, sat with me the whole time and helped me put tattoos on the other children. She was so sweet and so helpful! Later I got to spend time with her mother who was my age and already had 3 children! This little girl was too young to be sponsored because the children have to be school aged but her sister was actually already being sponsored, I am hoping to stay connected with her through these six months and sponsor her when she is ready to go to school after I get home to the states!!  The team got to feed the kids their meal that is provided by the center, which the kids loved! The kids think it is so funny to see us serve them food and are always all giggles when they are in line to eat. Before we left we got to hand out care bags to everyone and we were all sad to leave!!! It was such a great night for our team!

Sharing the gospel with the kids

They preformed some songs and dances that their Sunday school teacher had taught them

Tuesday night our team headed to Carmel, which is an American style bakery, to celebrate one of our team member's, Becca's, birthday! We had pizzas and sandwiches followed by cake and ice cream to celebrate with!

Wednesday morning was our team's last full day here. Kevin showed the team a video that Sarah's Covenant Homes had made about one of the bigger homes called Victory House. Victory House is a large orphanage for about 50 special needs children who Sarah rescued from the state orphanages. Victory Home provides special care that these children would normally not receive living in a state run orphanage. At Victory Home we met Tisra and Eric who moved their family from the states to India after adopting their daughter from India and recognizing the needs. Tisra and Eric are in charge of running Victory Home with their family. I just admire both of them so much for being able to work with such a special set of children. I have to say that I was the most uncomfortable at Victory Home than anywhere else on the trip. I am so impressed with people that have a heart for severe special needs kids and was so impressed with some of our team members that fell in love with Victory Home. I, selfishly, can not get past the smell, the screaming, and the slobber that fills Victory Home from top to bottom.

That night our team visited a girls home for special needs girls. Most of these girls were blind or had another physical handicap. My team in January was able to visit these girls in January, and they are a such a happy group of girls. They are crazy and so happy to see us. The apartment above theirs is where Tressa and Kourtney will be living for 6 months so I am sure we will be seeing a lot of these sweet girls. Our team also spotted our first Ongole rat living below their stairs. YIKES! Our team also had our first lice sighting here as well, which freaked all the girls out a little.

I got a big surprise Wednesday night as our team traveled to a girls home a little outside of Ongole, which is one of the homes I will be staying at for a month! It was also exciting because this is another one of the homes we were able to visit this past January so we already knew the girls and coincidentally are the girls who are in the picture in the background of this blog!!! So excited to finally see somewhere that I will be staying and so excited to get to know them! It was nice to have the team meet them so that they could see what I will be doing for 6 months. Most excitingly, it was one of the cleanest and organized places we went too which is happy and comforting news for me!!

Thursday morning was bittersweet as it was our last day with the team, but exciting because our team thought we were going to have a very exciting Indian train ride experience. As it turned out the train had an hour delay so our team had to drive to our destination, but I know my bus had a great ride anyways! Our team headed to a small village near the coast that the team in January had visited. Since then they had built a school and a development center for the at risk children in the village. We were only able to spend a short time there but it was fun to see the progress the village had made since we had been there last.

Thursday afternoon was a sad, tearful, send off to our team! Hard to say goodbyes even for the people that will see them in a few weeks. I was sad to send off friends, but looking forward to sharing what God is going to do in the next 6 months. Sad to see some of our students off as well knowing that we are missing their exciting college move in days!!! I will miss them dearly for sure. Our team spent the rest of Thursday relaxing (and missing our friends).

Our team has had some much needed rest in preparation of Team 2 flying in this Monday! The rest is nice, but I know that I will be happy to have another team here. We are headed to the beach this afternoon! Excited to see how Indian beaches compare to American ones. Something tells me I won't be seeing a lot of bikinis, surfers, or beach umbrellas ;)

With Love from India,
Grace

"The Lord will hand over to you the people who live there, and you must deal with them as I have commanded you. So be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic before them. For the Lord your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you." Deuteronomy 31:6

Finally Here!!!

Hey Friends!!

Feeling very guilty that it has taken me so long to post. Especially because I am sure you would have all loved to hear how stressed I was the weeks leading up to the trip- just kidding ;) But I do wish I would have had time to post during this first week of getting here, especially with all that has been going on. I think that I will have to do this in parts ;)

Our first team just left a few hours ago! It was so sad to say goodbye to some very special people, but I am very grateful for the team members that are staying for the second week. We had such an eventful week full of pastor conferences, kid jams, and village development programs!! It has been such a fun week and we were able to get so many great pictures and also have so many great moments with the kids.

Our Team!!!

We arrived in Hyderabad very early Thursday morning. The team got to have a few hours of rest time after breakfast and then we headed to the Big Bazaar!! The big Bazaar is basically like the Indian Walmart. It has everything there from fresh vegetables, tools, to clothes. The team was able to pick out some traditional Indian clothing to wear on Sunday. The other interns and myself were also able to do some necessary shopping to begin our new Indian Wardrobe. The team had lunch then went back to the hotel to shower and get ready for one of the Orphanages in Hyderabad, Raja's Home, that GHI teams frequent regularly.

Hyderabad

Glow Stick Fun

Raja's kids are some of my favorite kids. They are so welcoming and happy every time we come its such a great "welcome to India" experience. We were able to bring the kids Domino's pizza, which they loved!!! Kevin had the kids did a 'Call Me Maybe' music video with the team, and then we hung out with the kids for the rest of the night with tattoos, gift bags, and glow sticks!!! The kids had never seen glow sticks before and that was such a fun experience to share with them. I know that I speak for the rest of the team by saying that we always feel really refreshed and welcomed after visiting with Raja's kids. Its a really great way to start our trips, especially for the team members that have never been there before, because it is good preparation and practice for our kid jam teams. The kids at Raja's are no different than the rest of the Indian children in that they are always so excited to see us and so grateful for whatever we do with them.

Eating Pizza and playing hand games with the games with the girls!

Friday the team went to Nalgonda to train pastors in kid jams. Kid jams are programs similar to a short VBS where we teach a bible story and have crafts to share the gospel with the children of the village. Kevin stressed the importance of sharing the gospel with the children, not just the adults, of the villages. Many of the pastor's are not trained in ways to minister to children and so this was a great opportunity for our team to show them an easy way of communicating the gospel to small ears! The pastors were excited to learn and the meeting was a great success!!! At the end of the meeting we passed out bags of supplies and t-shirts to all the pastors. I should know better by now, but there are always so many more people then what we were told to plan for and there is never enough to go around. I am always surprised at the reaction, even from the adults, we get when we pass things out. Its intimating handing out things because people are always pushing and wanting to get more. Often I am able to look past it among the children, because they are young, but its so frustrating when grown men become greedy and pushy when we are giving them things. They can hardly stay in their seats and when they feel like they aren't getting what they want fast enough they start to grab things out of your hands. One even pulled my hair!!! Its hard to remember that they are excited to receive things and to remember to look past it.

Friday afternoon Becca and I got to go on a special pearl shopping extravaganza!! There were so many pearls it was so hard to choose!! We bought a bunch of earrings so that the rest of the team could pick some out too!!

Early Saturday morning the team spilt up into four smaller teams and headed to four different villages. My amazing team headed into a village of thatch-roofed huts and dirt roads. Eager children awaited us and we had so much fun singing with them and teaching them the bible stories. It's so exciting and easy when we have such a receptive and easy group and these kids were absolutely AMAZING!! They were so sweet and excited to learn all the songs. There was one girl there that I wish I got a picture of. Her whole face was covered in puss and boils and it made me hurt just to look at her. I asked the translator what was wrong with her but no one, not even her mother seemed to know. Its such a testimony to how this part of the world lives. Such an easy thing to fix if only she could see a doctor and yet she has to live in pain because her family is so poor. What a great reminder of how lucky we are and how easy it is to take things for granted such as doctors.

Later on Saturday night our kid jam team went to another village. This village was absolutely insane! What started out to be 50 kids soon grew to be 100 kids plus their families surrounding us. We did our kid jam in the extreme heat, but things did not start to get crazy until we handed out some cookies!! It was literally a mob of people trying to get to us and trying to touch us. We were basically trapped in the center of 300 people. It got so crazy that our kid jam team had to be escorted into the pastor's house while we waited for our ride to come. It was very overwhelming and crazy but fun. We sat with the pastor and his wife and we learned that he managed over 750 churches!! Just amazing that one man can handle that much. Our team was definitely ready to head to bed that night!

Sunday morning we woke up early to head back to our first kid jam church to preform two more bible stories and give out care bags filled with toothpaste, soap, and shampoo. I was so disappointed because that one little girl with the boils wasn't there and we had packed her a bottle of antibiotic cream and wanted to send her picture to a doctor. When I asked the pastor where she was he told me that her and her family had traveled over an hour to go to the kid jam!! I was really disappointed because I really wanted to help her!! We managed to make it out of our kid jam village and make it to church only a little late. Some of our members were starting to feel a little sick so we sat outside the church and were able to listen to the service while sitting on a really pretty Indian patio.

Sunday night proved to be more exciting than Saturday night!! We woke up from much needed naps and two of our kid jam members were sick!! One of them being our fearless leader! I realized that I was going to have to step up, which of course I was extremely anxious about especially because this was the kid jam that we were mobbed at the night before! If things couldn't get any worse it started to rain right before we arrived. Luckily we were able to start the kid jam in the small church building attached to the pastors home. Of course there was no AC so after three minutes it began to get very hot. When it stopped raining we moved outside where the power promptly went out (of course). Just as on Saturday night fifty kids soon became 100 which soon became 200 and we were entirely outnumbered. They were a crazy group and it was impossible to control them. As soon as we thought that our ride was almost here we learned that the bus that was supposed to come and get us broke down! And we still had almost 40 more minutes! Luckily we had Kevin there who lead the masses in a great game of Simon Says. We finally arrived back at our hotel and we were all ready for a good nights sleep!!

Monday morning our team (sickies and all) piled into two vans and headed to Ongole. But not before stopping at a local village and blessing some sheep! Perhaps one of the funniest experiences in India so far! We were able to bless each sheep to the village which will use them for food, milk, and money. Kourtney and I were able to provide some comic relief and gave each sheep a well deserved name! Let me introduce you!

Chester

Rocky

Lacey

Estella

Wilbur

Leonardo DiCaprio

Wendy

POOKIE!

Venus

Phoebe

Genevive

Sheep Not Pictured:
Coco Chanel
Jamie Robinson
Daphne
Jane
Bertha
Sydney
Serena
Helga
Paris







They were definitely a rowdy bunch of sheep!!! We had so much fun there and got to see the inside of some of the people's huts!!

After our Sheep Blessing Ceremonies (haha) our team headed to Ongole where we would spend the remainder of our trip!! I am excited to share more about our teams experiences as they only get better and better. Excited for WIFI and more blogging to come!!

Love from India!!
Grace

The verse on the wall at Raja's Orphanage