Day 6

Day 6
May 29, 2011
Today was my first experience of church on base. It is a Christian church and being there it made me reflect on so many aspects of life as well as my journey to India to begin with. About 4 years ago now I was sitting under the Colorado sky when I accepted a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Since that moment my life still has had its ups and downs, but when looking back now I would have never guessed I would be where I am now. After so many years of feeling unworthy and having no purpose God continues to remind me that He chose me! I am here in India by no accident. Never would I have imagined God using me to do His work, in India at that. The thought makes me smiles and renews my strength. The love from friends and family from back home has been essential and I want to thank all of you who have encouraged me and supported me along the way. The neat thing about going to church is to see the whole new meaning worship songs take on according to different situations… “the hope of nations”… “trading sorrows”… “ your grace is enough”… “ the heart of worship”. It amazes me to see just how universal and wide spread our faith really is. Even in the darkest or most poverty stricken nations our God still remains. He will be faithful. He is reaching out his hand to all of us…the only thing we must do now is grab onto his open hand and let Him pick us back up. The people of India who believe in Jesus are so passionate and truly live out their faith! I truly believe that God has a plan for India’s youth! He is moving and he is working! So many issues must be addressed and it may be centuries, but I am confident that the Lord is moving! Next to us in church was a group of orphans who are in the middle of a rigorous tutoring program in order to gain entrance into one of the schools here. If I were to just look at them and saw the smiles and joy that they had on their faces I would have never guessed what their background was. They love their teachers and are so eager to learn.
I have decided that Sunday’s will be a time to reflect and debrief my week here. I cannot tell you how blessed and thankful I am for my friends that I have made here. They have passion and hearts that strive to serve others over themselves. They offer me relief from the daily strains and emotions experienced here. They are a refuge that I can talk to about something I experienced and touched me, but best of all after a rough day they are there to allow my mind a mindless relief by just having a good time or exploring other areas of the city. We share the same cravings to give our stomachs relief from constantly spicy foods. For breakfast we were so excited just to have cereal…I was actually surprised that cereal does not taste of curry and spices. Indian food is good and interesting, but an occasional change that reminds you a little bit of home is always needed. We had a good time last nigh unwinding by watching Slum dog Millioraire. We all would have never imagined watching that movie in India a few years ago when it first came out. It was cool to compare Hollywood’s image of India compared to what we have already experienced and let me tell you they did not really have to exaggerate anything. Even the kids in the film are in real life from the slums. The makers of the film actually paid them to be in the movie. The little Letika in the film was actually almost sold to someone soon after the film for the price of around $300.00 American dollars. Luckily investigators found out about it, but this is just one child. Imagine how often it happens to children all around India! Please pray for our upcoming week and the people who we will be reaching out to!
With love from India,
Leah