South Asia || Weeks 13, 14, & 15

And… again I fell a little behind with writing. And… again I felt like these weeks weren’t very exciting! And… then when I thought about it there were actually some pretty cool things that happened during these three weeks.

Amit: Two of my friends (we call them the hippies), work with an organization here that helps blind people and teaches them different skills. This organization is so cool, they even have a program that teaches blind students to use computers, and one guy is a web designer!! How he can do that without being able to see, I have no idea, but… I’m really impressed. The hippies teach outdoor education skills to blind people who would like to learn to rock climb or canyoneer. They have one student, Amit, who is really determined to climb Mt. Everest! And honestly, I believe he can! A blind man from America climbed it a few years ago, but Amit is from Nepal, and he would be the first blind Nepali to climb it!

The Lake: The hippies were getting ready to go back to America, and I only had a few weeks left as well, so we decided to all go out on a boat together! We have a lake here and people are always going out on boat rides, it’s really pretty! So, we got all of our friends together, including Amit, and went out on the lake! It was so fun getting to spend time with everyone and just have a relaxing day. But, for me the coolest part was hanging out with Amit. some of our friends were jumping off the boat and swimming. Amit wanted to do it as well, the only problem was that he had never been swimming before! He had a life jacket on, and we explained to him what he should do and so he stood with our friends on the edge of the boat, and they all jumped off together! It was SO neat. One of the best things I have ever seen. At first you could tell he was terrified, but then once he grabbed on to one of the guys he actually started swimming. It was so cool. And the whole time he just kept asking if we were taking his picture! Ha! They have a program on their computers that will tell them who is in the picture, all the different colors, and what’s happening in the picture, so he always has his camera with him and loves taking pictures with his friends. Eventually they all came back in the boat and he was so excited about having gone swimming. Can you imagine just jumping off of a platform having never been swimming before? And not only that, but never even seeing a lake before? He has so much bravery and so much delight in trying and experiencing new things! It was so inspirational!

The Hippies: The next couple of weeks were filled with lots of goodbye parties for the hippies. After living here for the better part of two years, they were going back to America! I’ve only known them since I got here in January, but they have become very good friends! It was really fun getting together with friends and all hanging out one last time! It was sad to say goodbye, but I know that once we are all back in America, we will get together!

Village: Something else we did during these few weeks was plan our next village trip. It kept getting delayed, but we finally made a plan to go during the last full week in April. We will continue the art programs and also bring some volleyballs and basketballs along so the kids can play with them! This village is up in the mountains, so it has the potential to still be pretty cold up there! And, if the weather is clear, it’s possible to see about 16 different peaks!

Blessings.

South Asia || Weeks 9, 10, 11, & 12

Well… Oops. It’s been a while since I’ve written anything down. Honestly I was thinking that things around here haven’t been very exciting, but as I was thinking through everything that has happened the past four weeks, I guess it has been pretty eventful! I don’t remember the exact weeks that things happened so I’ll just write things as I remember them.

Grace: As I mentioned in my previous posts, when we came back from the village Grace was home! We were so thankful. But then we found out that her family had disowned her because she shamed them by “not being a good enough worker” at her job overseas and having to rely on foreigners to come home… I mean, seriously?? Not only is Grace one of the smartest, most hardworking people I know, but she did this whole thing in the first place so that she could provide a better life for her two sons. There is a group of about 6 of us here who are friends and are the ones that helped our friends bring her home. When we heard this, we were all really devastated by the news. So, we got to work and built a little room in the back of our friends’ restaurant that she works at and now that is her new home! We all had fun building the little room and making it nice for her. It was a bit difficult, because building materials here are a little… not up to par. But we managed to make it work and it ended up being really nice!

The nice thing is that in the weeks to come, her family kind of had a change of heart. Basically, she is just disowned for the sake of the family’s reputation. Now everyone knows that her family “did the right thing” by disowning her from their family… but she and her mom and brothers still meet up secretly and talk! It’s kind of funny [in a non-funny kind of way] because there is like a whole team of women that pass along the message that Grace’s mom is waiting on one end of the path and then grace will just go “on a walk” and meet up with her mom and talk. It’s really stupid, but also really sweet. The whole “shame culture” is just something I don’t think I will ever get used to. It’s really sad, in my opinion.

Holi: Holi, or The Festival of Color, is a Hindu holiday. It’s the holiday that has sparked the whole “Color Run” craze in the U.S.. IT IS SO FUN. In other countries and even other major cities here, they do a whole worship and ritual thing on Holi, but it’s pretty much just a day for the kids [and everyone who still wants to be a kid] to throw color on each other! The basic idea is to have a little bag of colored powder, [like the red powder they use for Tikka - the red powder on most Hindu people’s foreheads] greet people you see on the street by putting a little smudge of powder on their cheek or forehead, and say “Happy Holi”. It’s kind of like the equivalent of giving a kiss on the cheek when you greet someone. Except that when you get a big group of people together, it just gets CRAZY and everyone throws color on each other and basically the whole town is painted different colors [for like a week because it stains everything… my hair is still orange…] and it’s just a fun day to be out with friends. We had a large group of foreigners and a few of our local friends and we just stalked up on powder and went nuts. There was a huge parade in town and it was like a big dance party where everyone was throwing all kinds of colors in the air. We also had the idea to fill socks with powder and hit people with them! It worked really well and was kind of like a pillow fight, but with color [and socks, not pillows].

I’d just like to say that at no point during Holi, did I fell “unchristian” or like I was worshipping another god. Quite the opposite actually, it was a really fun time spent with my “family” here, my friends, and even meeting some new friends! Christians do not participate in Holi here, since it associated with Hindu beliefs. I am planning to write more about this a little later, but it’s quite lengthy so I will put it in a separate post once it’s done!

Easter: Well… this was probably the most interesting Easter, I’ve ever experienced. I really can’t post too much about it online, but it definitely had its ups and downs. It's the downs I can't really post about [nothing to worry about, just some local drama!]. But the ups were good! I’ll start with Good Friday. We went to the local church that we attend and showed the Jesus film. We had about 20 people come, mostly kids and a few of the neighbor families! It was really good to watch. Almost all of the people that attend that church are children. The next morning we had church [Saturday is the day off here, so we always have church on Saturday], where we talked about the death and resurrection. We did a little art project with the kids and they really enjoyed it! 

And lastly… we built a mini golf course! Kinda weird, but it’s been really cool building it. We used all recycled materials and it turned out really nice! It’s been fun to play on, too. And the looks from all the local people trying to figure out what we were building were pretty hilarious! Most of them thought it was a rock garden… but it’s been fun to show and teach them to play mini golf!

Blessings.

South Asia || Week 8

The village. I’m not gonna lie, I was pretty skeptical//worried about going to the village. Not only was I sick, but we had just had a really rough couple of weeks dealing with Grace’s situation and I was feeling pretty discouraged. But. We went anyway. And I am SO glad we did. It was me, my roommate, and our translator Joy [that’s not her real name but it suits her, so that’s what I’ll use as her name]. There are a lot of stories to tell and a lot of information to get through, so I’ll give some background, a brief summary of each day, & talk about some of my favorite parts!

So, as I mentioned in my summary of week 7, I had a fever and was throwing up. Not the ideal situation when you have to ride in a jeep with ten other people for 2 hours, then wait for an hour, get in another jeep with 10 different people and then drive up the mountain for one more hour… when it’s super bumpy and the jeep really should only hold 7 people, but the legal limit is 10, so they fill it up all the way. Needless to say, lots of praying took part. But I managed to make it to the village just fine and without getting sick!

Once we were there, we were greeted with such hospitality! Everyone was so friendly and so thankful that we had come to the village to teach their kids. There are about 15 believers in the village and then lots of other familes who follow Hinduism. We were under the impression that we would just be doing an after school art program type of thing for about 20 kids… Um… well instead they had us come teach English at the school during 7^th period to grades 0-5 [approximately ages 4-12]. So… after changing our game plan a little bit, we came up with a pretty good system, we chose 4 stories [Creation, The Fall, Noah, and The Birth of Jesus] to teach in the school. I know that seems like a big gap between Noah and Jesus, but we only had four days of being at the school and the main point of the stories was to show God’s original plan, how sin entered the world, how God offered a plan of redemption, and how ultimately the people were still evil, so he had to send a Savior to the earth to rescue people from sin. Then after school, all of the kids were invited to the church and we had crayons and paper and art projects for them make! We also taught them a few games like Red Rover, Gorilla Man Gun, and Red Light, Green Light! They really enjoyed it and each day a few more kids would come! We ended up having 47 kids come to the program!! On Fridays the kids get out of school early, so we watched the Jesus film for kids. They were all extremely interested and they remembered the stories from our classes. The next day is Saturday [the day off, and the day they have church] so we told them that we would show another movie [we have another version that has been edited and is told by Mary Magdalene and tells different stories than the kid’s version] in the evening if they wanted to bring their parents. And for the kids from other villages they could come back in the afternoon. And they came back… more on that later!

Ok so here is a brief schedule of what our time in the village looked like:

Day 1 – Friday – We arrived, got settled in, walked around the village and then went to bed early. Normally the believers in the village have fellowship on Fridays, which they did, but we didn’t go since we were sick.

Day 2 – Saturday – We got up, had our morning daal bhaat [rice, veggies, lentils] and lots of tea [loaded with black pepper to make you “feel warm inside” – not fun when you still feel really sick], went to church, then played with the kids all afternoon!

Day 3 – Sunday – We met with the school officials and got everything ready to go. Then they threw a big party for us and another man that had come back after serving in the army and was donating money to the village. They killed a goat for the party [I ate two pieces of it, well, one, and then I hid the other one in my mouth and waited until I had an opportunity to spit it out]. And they had a big ceremony at the school. It was raining the whole time so I felt kind of bad because everyone had to stand outside, but it was so nice and they made tons of leis for all of us out of marigolds and rhododendrons. It was so exciting! We thought that we were going to start teaching that day, but everyone went home after the ceremony… so we just played games with the kids!

Day 4 – Monday – Today was the first day we had class, but I didn’t go. I got a second round of sickness so I basically just laid in bed all day. So… That’s all that happened.

Day 5 – Tuesday – I wasn’t feeling all that great, but I didn’t want to miss much so I got up and Joy told us that Aama [that means “mom”, she is the lady whose family we were staying with] was sick and couldn’t get out of bed. We went into her room to pray for her and she could barely move her body at all and she was crying from a horrible fever. We prayed for her and that the fever would go away. We had plans to go to a neighboring village that morning and so after we prayed for her we went had tea with a few families. We were gone for maybe 2 hours and when we came back Aama was in the kitchen cooking and laughing… we were like, “wait? Are you not sick anymore?”, nope! God healed her! How amazing! That afternoon we had class and taught the story of the fall of man.

Day 6 – Wednesday – We went back to the other village in the morning to take some pictures for a family that lives there. They were so sweet! While we were walking, I accidentally got stung by this plant thing that puts little needles in you. The cool thing though is that there is always another plant nearby that you can grind up to make a medicine! How neat! [I’m fine]. That afternoon we taught the story of Noah. All of the kids had a really great time.

Day 7 – Thursday – We went to the other village again in the morning and had tea and breakfast with another family. They wanted us to take a picture of their family too, so we did and it was really great. The husband is a very nice man and he had been coming everyday to sit with us and play games, but everyday we could smell alcohol on him and from the looks of his eyes and skin, we could tell he was having severe liver problems. We asked Baje what to do about it and he said that whenever somebody tells him to stop drinking, he suddenly becomes very angry. So when we went to their house for breakfast we told him that we didn’t know for sure if he drank a lot [because honestly, we’d never seen him drink], but that we were concerned about his health. I was praying the whole time that he wouldn’t get angry. He told us that he did drink a lot and that he was glad that we told him. We told him that it would probably be best if he gradually stopped drinking, so it wouldn’t be a shock to his body, and that it would probably improve his health quite a bit. He and his wife were very glad that we told them and he didn’t get angry at all [praise the Lord!]. The next day we saw him and he had stopped drinking, and that’s how it was for the remainder of the trip. So hopefully his health will improve! That afternoon we had our last class with the kids and we taught the story of Jesus’s birth. It was so awesome to hear the kids saying “The savior’s name is Jesus”, as we practiced telling the story in English. We told them to come the next day for the movie and they were all very excited! That evening one of the new believers invited us to her house for daal bhaat. She has only been a believer for about 3 weeks or so! So we went and had dinner with her and one of her neighbors who is not a believer. After dinner we sat with them and talked for a while and prayed with them and Joy read Psalm 23 and explained it. It was wonderful!

Day 8 – Friday – We didn’t go teach at the school, because they get out early on Fridays. So we had the kids come to the church at 1:30 to watch the Jesus film for kids. At first there were only a few kids coming in and then all of the sudden all of the kids we had been teaching all week showed up! So they all got to watch they movie and they really enjoyed it!! They even recognized some of the stories from class! We told them that if they came back the next day we would watch another movie! On Friday evenings they have fellowship. Each week it is at a different house, and they basically do all the same things they do during the church service: sing lots of hymns, pray a lot, share how God has blessed them throughout that week, share prayer requests, have someone share something from the Bible, and then sing more hymns. The only difference is that afterward they drink tea. It was absolutely incredible. All the believers in that village gathered in a one-room house without electricity to worship and praise their Lord. This candle was sitting on a little stand and it reminded me of Matthew 5 [which ironically was the passage that they shared during fellowship] which says: 14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” It’s hard to choose a favorite time in the village, but I think it may have been this evening.

Day 9 – Saturday – What an amazing day, we went to church in the morning, where I was asked to speak. I spoke about 2 Corinthians 1:3-7 which says “3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 5 For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. 6 If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. 7 And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.” It went really well [I think]. And as I mentioned before, we had told the kids they could come watch the movie at either 2 o clock, if they were from a far away village, or at 8 if they were local. At the first showing, we had almost all of the kids from our classes come, plus several adults. One older man that came yesterday, walked for about an hour to come back today! It was so wonderful! Then, even more people came to the 8 o clock showing! We had told everyone to bring their families, friends, and neighbors and they did! Altogether, between both showings we had about 90 people come!! But here is the best part of the 8 o clock showing: As soon as we started the movie, the power went off. So we told Joy “oh start praying! We need power to run the projector”… and before I knew it, all the believers started singing hymns and praying out loud so that the power would come back on. We decide to start watching it on the computer until the power came on and it was so tiny, but everyone gathered around to watch it. Eventually the power came back on and so while we were getting the projector set up again, all the believers started singing a hymn called “Dhanybad Jesu” [Thank You Jesus]… what an incredible testimony to the non-believers there! Then we finished the movie. Everyone kept telling us how much they loved the movie! We told them that everything they saw in the movie was a true story and that God loved them all and to talk to the person who had invited them if they had any questions. It was a great night!

Day 10 – Sunday – The day we had to leave… I didn’t want to go! Everyone was so kind and caring. But we made it home safely and just in time for lunch! Our jeep home was supposed to leave at 7:30 in the morning, but at 7:45 we found out the driver had just woken up… We had a little extra time, so we decided to ask the family we stayed with if we could record their testimony. All week I had been asking if anyone knew how long they had been believers, but no one was really sure. So now let me share with you how perfect God’s timing is:

-       4 years ago, my roommate started praying for a girl to sign up for this trip. But semester after semester, only boys would sign up, so she didn’t have a partner.

-       4 years ago I had thought I was going to a completely different school, only to end up back in Arlington at UTA, and through many, many, many, events, I eventually ended up coming to Nepal for the last semester that they would be able to have a student come.

-       4 years ago [as I found out during the filming of their testimony] this family we stayed with in the village had become believers!

It just blows my mind how perfect God’s timing is. He knew four years ago that one day this family on the other side of the world, in a country I never thought I’d go to, in a village I definitely had never heard of or even knew existed until a few weeks ago, would graciously welcome my roommate and I into their home so that we could help them as they show Christ’s love to their village.

It really makes you think about all the people around you, and all the people you don’t even know exist, and how God has a purpose and a plan for each of them. It’s beautiful.

Well, that’s the village.

Then we came home and ate a ton of food.

Blessings.

South Asia || Weeks 5, 6, & 7

Wow. What an insane couple of weeks it has been.

I didn’t journal very well and I can’t remember all of the small details, so here’s a brief summary of weeks 5, 6, and 7.
***Names with an asterisk next to them have been changed for security purposes***

Week 5:

This week was so great! I started preparing to teach art classes at one of the local church that I have been going to. It’s basically an afterschool program we are putting together where we tell a Bible story and then make an art project to go along with it! This is what we are planning to do in the village in a couple of weeks, so we thought we would test it out on the kids at our church, to make sure they enjoy it and that the projects aren’t too complicated!

I think one of the coolest things about the projects is that they are all made from recycled materials! The only thing we bout were some crayons and watercolors. Everything else is recycled cardboard, egg crates, cereal boxes, sticks, leaves, etc. My goal is to make projects that show the kids they can be creative with whatever they have and encourage them that they don’t have to go out and buy things to be creative!

So far we have had about 5 or 6 kids coming to the classes and we will have more classes next week! They seem to be really enjoying it and we’ve been taking picture of the kids when they finish their projects, which they love!

Week 6:

This week was interesting… that’s for sure.

The ups:

Our art classes continued to go really well! One day, some of the kids were out of town, so we only had about three show up.  The next day we expected to have about the same… But we had 12 kids show up! We didn’t even have enough supplies for all of them. Luckily, I had a sketchbook in my backpack, so we were able to give everyone some paper to color on. On Fridays, kids get out of school at 1 here, so we told them to come after school for a special treat! We made popcorn, brought juice boxes, and watched the Jesus movie for kids. It’s the Jesus movie, but it’s been edited down to about an hour, translated into their language, and has stories that are relatable to kids, plus it has a group of about 4 kids narrating the movie. It’s really good! And we had about 15 kids show up! Praise the Lord!

The downs:

So a week or two ago, we had a going away party for our friend Grace*. She had been offered a job in another country. She’s a single mom of two boys who will be approaching high school soon. She works at our friend Jane* and her husband's restaurant as the head chef and she is a really sweet girl. But she needed to make more money to be able to pay for her boys to be able to go to high school. If she took this job for two years, she would be able to make enough for her boys schooling. Our friends assured her that the minute she came back they would give her a job at the restaurant again! So, as hard as it was for her to leave her family, she went.

On Wednesday of this week, February 13, our friend Jane received a call in the middle of the night from Grace. She was panicked and stressed. Her passport had been taken, she didn’t know where she was, and they told her that she wasn’t going to be making the amount of money that she had originally been told. She had been trafficked. So Jane informed us the next morning of the phone call from grace and we started putting together a game plan. After many, many, emails and phone calls we found out some more information and began trying to raise money. Grace had been purchased by a man for 3500 euros to work for him for 4 years… not 2 like she was originally told. [also, let me just clarify that this was a forced labor form of trafficking NOT sex trafficking, some people have been spreading that rumor and that is not true. She was forced to work for the man, not be a prostitute. Please do not continue to spread that rumor.] Our original plan was to try to raise money so that we could just pay him back for her, buy her a plane ticket, get her a new passport, and get her home.

We asked our churches and friends back home to pray, donate, etc. It was incredible the response we received. Almost immediately people started donating.

So the rest of the week was spent planning, praying, not sleeping, and going crazy trying to send out updates, prayer requests, and figure out the next steps.

Week 7:

**I’ve decided to post all of the village trip under Week 8, even though we were there for 10 days and to post the rest of Grace’s story here, even though that actually happened during week 8.**

We continued to go crazy as we found out more information about Grace, made plans to try to bring her home, and prepared to leave for the village on Thursday [February 21]. Jane ended up finding out that Grace had taken out a loan from a money lender in order to pay the job agency that sent her for her insurance, plane ticket, etc. The idea is that you pay the job agency, they send you off, and then you pay back the money once you get to your new job. Because here, money lenders are very corrupt. The interest rates are ridiculous, and until you pay that money back, you are bonded to that person [another modern day form of slavery]. Even if you die, that money still has to be paid back, so then your family becomes bonded to the money lender. This article explains what is going on in Nepal. But it’s not just Nepal, this happens all over South Asian countries, and the world. But it might help you to better understand the situation. So, basically, we needed about 5000 to pay back this loan so that we could bring Grace back and she wouldn’t have to worry about being bonded to the money lender. I mean, why should we rescue her from one form of slavery just so that she could come back home and become someone else’s slave?

Due to all of the craziness we decided not to leave until Friday, and it was a very good thing that we did, because Wednesday night I got very sick… and then everybody got very sick. Like the whole town. Some sort of virus was going around and everyone we know got it. So that was no fun, but we did set out Friday morning for the village [in a very bumpy jeep that isn’t so fun when you’ve had a fever and nausea for 24 hours…], but we made it! We didn’t have much phone service, and no internet access. We were really praying that Grace would be able to come home while we were in the village.

Then one day, we got the news! A text from Jane that said she was going to the airport tomorrow to pick up Grace!! Praise the Lord!! I don’t know if you know much about rescuing someone from human trafficking, but… This kind of stuff doesn’t happen. She was home within two weeks of us finding out she had been trafficked. That does. not. happen.  Ever. Even all the officials were surprised at how fast this happened. And we had all of the money to pay back the money lenders!! So, Grace is home. She’s home! She’s home! She’s home! Praise Jesus. What an incredible story of hope.

Her family has not been very supportive, so if you prayed for her during this time, or you donated, or you just like encouraging people, we are going to make a book of little notes from all of the people who supported her to give to her to let her know how much we love her! You can send me an email, facebook message, or comment on this post with a note for her and I will print them out and give them to her! Thank you all so much!

Blessings.

South Asia || Week 4

Hi there. Things are going quite well this week!

…Mainly because we found a new [to us] restaurant that is a French bakery. They make such good food and we have been going there nearly everyday, haha! They have French baguettes, éclairs, and delicious sandwiches! And when we don’t eat there we have been taking home extra bread and making soup to go with it or making sandwiches out of them! The family that runs it is hilarious and so sweet! It’s farther away than most of the restaurants we normally go to, but it’s so worth it! And we always have good conversations with other people when we go!

I felt like this was such a great week, because this was the week that we were supposed to go to the village, but instead we stayed here and I got to see how perfect God’s timing is. We met so many people this week and sold so many candles!

Plus, we spent a lot of time at some of the local restaurants redoing their chalkboard menus! That was so fun for me, since I love doing typography related work. But it was also just a good way to spend time with the owners and also help them to have something that looks really nice. I love that I’m able to use my love for art to be able to do ministry… in whatever form that may be!

I definitely feel like I’m getting more adjusted to life here. It doesn’t feel like a trip. It feels like I live here. Which is good, because it helps me feel more settled! [Don’t worry, I’m still going to come home in May]. But several times this week I rode my bike by myself to places, which was nice, knowing I could find my way around and get places by myself, and not run into any people or animals or cars or busses on the busy roads… although that might have almost happened… :)

Things I’m learning:

-- How to crochet! One of our friends is teaching us, so that gives me one more hobby to add to the list!

-- I finished up language classes for now. I feel like I have a good base for starting up conversations. I may take a few more classes later on to learn how to read script!

Things I’m thankful for:

-- The peace that God continues to give me and the way he takes away any worries or fears that I might have!

 Things to pray for:

--Continued health. I am actually feeling really great and haven’t had any more cold symptoms and I haven’t had any headaches!! I am so thankful for that and I would really like it to continue!

-- Once again for the girls we work with and their safety and also that we would be able to build more relationships with them so that they can come to find peace and healing in God.

Thank you everyone for all of your prayers. I can feel them and am so thankful for each one of you!

Blessings.

South Asia || Week 3

Hello! First off, let me say thank you to everyone who has left me comments, sent emails, or left me sweet messages on Facebook! I am so thankful for everyone’s support, encouragement, and prayers! It helps so much to hear from you all! And, it has come to my attention that there are people reading this who are friends of friends, and don’t even know me, but are still praying!! WOW! Thank you so much!

This week we found out that we will have to change the dates of the village trip. The girl who was going to come with us as a translator isn’t able to go anymore, so we will be going with another lady! However, she can’t go until the end of the month, so now we will be leaving on the 21 of February and coming back the first weekend of March! This new lady was a school teacher for many years, so I think it will be really great to have her help when we are teaching and I think the children will really respect her!

We spent a lot of time on candles this week! I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it yet, but one of the main projects we work on here is candles that are made out of recycled wine and beer bottles. We collect the bottles from local restaurants, take them home, fix them up, and make beautiful candles out of them! Then we sell the candles to pretty much everyone! And a lot of the restaurants we collect bottles from, use the candles on their tables! We are on load shedding, which means that in the dry season, there is only about 10-12 hours of power a day. Because of this, it’s dark most of the time. Therefore, candles are very important! So by making these candles, we not only help recycle all of the bottles, but we help people out by giving them beautiful new candles that last for a long time. Most people just use the little stick candles that only last for maybe an hour before you have to replace them, but our candles are bigger and in a holder [the bottle] so they last four about 30-40 hours! BUT the best part is that 100% of the proceeds we get from selling candles go back into the project to help the women we work with who are being trafficked or abused or don’t have any income for their families. It’s so amazing to not only see the help we give these women, but to see the community rally around to help out the project! Neighbors come by all the time to give maybe one or two bottles they have and say “for candles!!”. And people have come over to help in anyway they can! They know that the project helps women so they want to help. Such a blessing. Plus then we get to share with them about why we do what we’re doing.

One of the best things about the candles is that they are a perfect image of the women they are helping. For starters, all of the bottles say “not for sale in India” on them… a perfect reminder that these women are not for sale either. And each bottle we get is unique, some have scratches on them, some are chipped, some are broken. But they all are given a new life and turned into something beautiful. What a blessing. My roommate here had this idea about a year ago and she has worked hard to figure out how to make it successful! It is such a great ministry and so fun to be a part of it and see it start to grow!

Besides the candles, another hobby we took up this week is putting thread in our hair! It’s like the hair wraps you do at camp, or on vacation. You basically just do macramé around a thin section of hair and then you have a little bit of colored thread in your hair! Originally, we just did it because we were bored and though it would be a fun afternoon activity, but then we went to one of the shops and one of the girls we are trying to build a relationship with saw it in my hair and was so excited because she had always wanted one in her hair. So, we went and got some string and did her hair for her! It was wonderful getting to spend some time with her and talk to her a little bit! Who knew that something so simple could make somebody so happy?

Things I’m learning:

-- By the time I come home I bet I would be able to have a hippie commune. Seriously, I’m learning how to make everything from scratch and from all natural products.

-- Language classes are still going really well and I have been able to speak a little bit with people here and there!

Things I’m thankful for:

-- God’s provisions, peace, and perfect timing.

-- Supportive friends and family back home.

Things to pray for:

-- Obviously, we are working a lot with trafficked women. So please be praying for all the girls we work with and their safety.

-- I am feeling much better and my cold is gone! So thank you for all who prayed for that! I really appreciate it!

-- Please be praying for the village we will go to at the end of the month! Since we aren’t going now, that just means more time to pray for the ministry we will have there :)

That’s it for this week!

Blessings.

South Asia || Week 2

Two weeks. In just a few days, this will be the longest I’ve been away from home without my family [it’s kinda funny going from 2.5 weeks to 4.5 months away, but I’m excited]!  And honestly, this time has gone by so fast. There were a few moments this week where I just wanted to be back in America for a minute but most of the time I really feel at home here. I forget that the terribly uneven roads, 14 hours a day without power, teeny tiny dirty hole-in-the-wall restaurants, petting street dogs, and riding my bike on the other side of the road [while having to dodge cows and water buffalo] aren’t things I would normally deal with. And I am so grateful for that! Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to put down South Asia or say “woe is me, I only have power for 10 hours each day”… I’m just saying, that’s life here. And I love it!

Quite a bit has happened this week, so I’ll hit the highlights:

-- I started language classes! It’s going really well and I am learning so much! It has been really helpful to know even just the basics. My roommate always makes me practice whenever we get in a taxi or we meet a new shop owner. But everyone gets so excited when they find out that you’re learning and they try to teach you simple phrases or words!

-- This week, we met with some local pastors and proposed our idea of going to teach art classes and Bible stories in the villages. It was so exciting to get to go to the churches and basically have a staff meeting, but it all be in a completely different language. I loved it! [Plus I was able to follow along enough to know whether they thought it was a good idea or not thanks to what I have learned in class so far].  So, on February 1, we will go to our first village and be there for about 13 days! We are using simplified versions of the mehendi [henna] stories and starting to come up with a project for each of them that teaches different art techniques. I could not be more thrilled//thankful! This is what I have always wanted to do and I just can’t believe it is actually happening, let alone how much God has been preparing me for this, even long before I knew I would be coming here. We will do this program in 3 different villages throughout February, March, and April!

-- I cannot emphasize enough how perfectly everything is working out. It is so evident that God has His hand in the work we are doing. And I can feel the prayers from all of you. Thank you so much!

Things I’m learning:

-- The traditional greeting here is “Namaste”, but all of the Believers here say “Jaimase” which literally means “Praise the Messiah!”… How awesome, right?? They have decided to set themselves apart and greet each other in a way that praises the Lord! The coolest thing is when you are talking to a new person and [if they are a believer] when they discover you are too, they say “Oh!! Jaimase! Jaimase!” and they just get so excited!

-- I learned two songs on the banjo, ha. Who would’ve known that I would have to leave Texas and come to South Asia to learn how to play?! I need quite a bit of practice, that’s for sure, but it’s still fun!

Things I’m thankful for:

-- A loving and supportive church family back home that sends me encouragement and teaches the Word correctly. So many churches here are corrupt or other Westerners I’ve met have lost respect for the church because their churches weren’t doing things the way they should be and I’m thankful I can say otherwise and give them hope that people out there actually pay attention to what we are supposed to be doing as believers.

-- I am beyond thankful that I haven’t had any problems with culture shock and for new friends here who are like a big family! It has made the transition so much easier.

Things to pray for:

-- Health. I am still battling a cold or allergies… I’m not really sure what it is but I sneeze and cough every few minutes and it’s not very fun.

-- Safety. Please be praying for safety as we travel to and from the villages in a week or so and even now as we are at home. There are protests going on throughout the country [which shouldn’t effect us too much since we will be in the villages during the main days they are happening], but we still want our friends and neighbors back home to not have any trouble while we are gone!

-- Continued unity amongst the people we are working and partnering with.

Thank you all so much for the support and for taking the time to read this!

Blessings!