We’re home!  It was so sad to say goodbye to all of the friends we made throughout our trip, but we are thankful to have time to rest now.

Alot happened during our last week in India…

Friday: This was our last day at kids camp.  The entire week leading up to this day we told stories about JC.  So the last day we talked about the resurrection and how G wants a personal relationship with everyone He has created.  We got to talk to them about hope- and that even though their circumstances won’t change, they can have freedom from despair by the power of JC.  We also made beaded bracelets that told them of the good news, so that they could go home and share the stories they learned with their families.  Our kids hung around a long time afterwards just to be with us.  It was terribly hard to say goodbye to them.  We walked out and sprayed a can of “snow” (it came out like silly string but it was foamy and white) so all the kids enjoyed playing in the “snow”, in 110 degree weather.  It made for a sweet goodbye.  We left in rickshaws to go take our translators out to lunch.  But on the way, our rickshaw runs into a car and creates a HUGE dent.  The car driver gets out yelling at our rickshaw driver, and within one minutes theres a crowd of about 30 people surrounding us- all yelling in Hindi.  So the three of us quickly get out and into another rickshaw to catch up with our translators, who we can no longer see in front of us.  Lunch was great, it was good to get to sit down and relax with our translators to just talk.

Saturday:  We went over to an Indian family’s house for lunch.  They served us yummy potatoes and biryani with chicken.  The couple pulled out their keyboard and sang us a few songs in Hindi.  Then Grace got to get her guitar out and we sang them a couple worship songs.  It was a sweet time of fellowship.  That night we went to the market in our neighborhood and ate at dominoes.  A couple of young beggar girls followed us there.  So we thought, why not invite them in for dinner?  So we went outside, brought them in, and ordered them a pizza.  Their eyes are so big the entire time- and their hands covered their mouths in awe.  They spoke absolutely no English, but it was fun to just sit and make silly faces at them and us all laugh.  No doubt they had never been in a place like that, much less had people order food for them.  We enjoyed their company and simply wanted to communicate to them that they are loved.

Sunday: It was our last time at church so we said goodbye to all of our friends.  We then headed off to another small church nearby to hear one of the teachers at ASL give a sermon.  We said goodbye to a few more friends there and left.

Tuesday: We met some fellow believers earlier in our trip at a m organization called TruthSeekers Int’l.  One of the men had invited us to go to a slum school that he had started..  So the 3 of us took a taxi with him over to far west Delhi to visit a Muslim slum.  It was really heartbreaking.  Its a pretty large slum consisting of houses mostly made of blue tarps over bamboo sticks.  The school was in an abandoned building nearby b/c if class was held in the actual slum, too large of a crowd would have gathered.  And when i say school, it really just means a tarp spread out on the ground for the kids to sit on.  No blackboard, no paper or pencils, no chairs, no door, and no roof.  Just a few kids eager to learn to read and write.  We taught them a few english songs, worked on pronunciation, and played duck duck goose (which they LOVED).  We then headed into the actual slum to see the bamboo hut that the man we were with built.  We were all immediately bombarded with women and children wanting to shake our hands and talk to us.  We took a few pictures and left quickly b/c it wasnt extremely safe for us if too large of a crowd gathered.  On our way home we saw a man on the road dead b/c he had just been thrown off his motorcycle.  That really shook us all up.  And made us think about the urgency we should feel to reveal the mystery of Christ to these people.

Monday-Wednesday:  So after kids camp was over last week, we recognized that we had a few days free before we left on Thursday to go back to America.  We decided to hold a “Success Seminar” at ASL for the adults.  Its very common that during the sunday night conversational English clubs, that people want to talk to us about how to have a better life or make more money.  We thought that we would attract alot of people by holding a discussional seminar that talks about these things and what real success in your life means.  And we did!  We had about 10-12 people show up every night to simply discuss what it means to achieve success.  And every night G continued to lead our conversation to more and more Truth.  Monday we talked about what hinders success and what aids to success- more of a conversation about achievement- i.e. getting a degree, finding a job, etc..  Tuesday night we had them talk about why they wanted to be successful.  This led to them sharing that they ultimately want either money, happiness, fame, or satisfaction.  The last night was truly an experience of God’s power.  We introduced the question of what is your purpose in life?  B/c if achieving success wont bring you lasting happiness, what will?  The people of India are very very religious and eager to talk about the idea of a god or gods- whatever religion they may be.  So they started asking us what we thought our purpose was (by this time they were just dying to know what we thought true success was).  We couldnt help but talk about JC and that we believe that we can fulfill our purpose each day that we live- by loving G and being obedient to serve and love His people.  Basically by the end of the night, they had pulled the gospel out of us, simply b/c they wanted to know more and more about this God that we believe in.  I even ended up handing out a few bibles and they were fighting over them- cause they wanted to read more about JC.  We were really in disbelief about how far our discussion had gone.   And i had even told them like 3 times that class time was over and that they could leave- but they just wanted to stay to ask questions.

We are all very thankful to the people who made this trip possible for us, in financial support and in prayer.  And thanks for keeping up with our travels on this blog!  God bless.

-Rachel

If you’d like to seem some of our photos, go to both of these links! (you dont need a facebook account)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2045671&id=1549260087&l=16b0b25a34

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2045687&id=1549260087&l=e6eef16a4c

Yesterday morning we headed for church which started around 9:30, we’ve been so blessed to have such a great community of people there that are so accepting of us, inviting us to hang out and even play futbol, we’ll see if it ends up being more watching than playing for us, but we’ll see.  The services are longer than what we would usually call normal, but every second we soak in finding joy beyond what we deserve.  Electricity here randomly turns off and then randomly turns back on, ranging from a few seconds to 30 minutes or more, this happened during church yesterday, this was such a joy, getting to praise the same big G*d without our comforts, recognizing devotion rising within our uncomfortbility and our hearts leaning more in, such a blessing!

Through the first house we were located at we were able to build a friendship with the people that help take care of it and quickly found out that they were believers!  They acted as guardians for us, calling in to check up on us and making sure all was well, weeks after we weren’t even staying at the house anymore, they remembered that one of us was sick and called to make sure we were ok, overwhelming us with kindness that was obviously from the L*rd through them.  They told us that on sunday nights they have a pr*yer meeting from 4-6 and that they would love for us to join them, we finally had the chance yesterday.  Walking there we had no idea where it was located and searched but failed and finally called the man who has been calling and checking in on us, I told him where we were and he said to stay there and he would come get us, 2 minutes later he’s coming down the street on a motor scooter, he took us all back individually on the scooter to the house, so fun!  We walk into the house and there’s a circle of books on the floor, we have a seat and find out that the books were hindi new testaments and song books.  We soon found out that we were going to take part in a very traditional indian house church, starting in worship using a music box that looks similar to an accordian, the room was filled with voices that were singing straight to the L*rd, recognizing we didn’t know hindi they sang in english L*rd I Lift Your Name On High, we all wish we could have recorded some of the worship we were able to take part in.  Next, we went around the room and shared in what ways this past week G*d has been faithful and has worked, first in hindi and then translating into english for us, there were 13 of us in the room.  The stories these people shared from what the L*rd’s done made us realize that we were in a room of people who were devote and radical in their faith for the name of JC, stories of standing against the millions of gods worshipped here, standing up against the caste system, people having huge influence and using it to share the freedom found in JC.  After all of us sharing one of the men spoke somewhat of a sermon but was more interactive then most sermons, and then we took part in the L*rd’s supper.  Rather than bread and grape juice they broke a coconut representing JC death and His body being broken for us and then poured coconut milk in our hands to drink, such a cool experience!  We ended in worship again and then stayed around to talk for a little while, they asked if we would join them for dinner but we weren’t able to, but we had chai and talked for a while with them, hearing more about the m*nistry they had, these people are doing great things for the L*rd’s name!  They invited us back over for dinner, so later this week we’re going to go and eat with them, talking about what f*ith means here in India and what it mean in the US, we’re all excited to share and listen!! 

After the service, we met up with one of the girls we’ve gotten close to from church at one of the markets in Delhi, we walked around looking for random things.  The market was packed!  Squeezing through people to keep up with each other, these are some of the coolest times for us!  No one is out during the afternoons much because it is so hot, so they all go out at night when it’s cooler, so we get the chance to be immersed in people and see so many different things.  Being called into every shop we walk by and bargaining for deals, it’s been a fun experience!  G*d’s presented opportunities while being out in the markets in talking with sellers and leading conversations to the L*rd and what we’ve been doing here.  It’s very interesting to  see the kindness of people here, going out of their way for us (which has a lot to do with us being from America) but also for each other.  This has been something we’ve thought about a lot, being encouraged by their kindness, but also wondering if the motive behind it is dealing with their karma, which is what many of them believe, changing things up, this many times leaves us in a place of confusion and not knowing exactly how to receive this kindness.   

We’re really enjoying the kids camp and are very sad that it’s quickly coming to a close, tomorrow is our last day with them, so sad!!  We could really use your pr*yers for tomorrow, we’re presenting a lot of things to the kids and trusting the L*rd to make way for it.  Thank you for your pr*yers, the opposition is threatened and is throwing many things our way, so continue to pr*y!  Thanks for keeping up with us!!

Kaity

Greetings from Delhi!

Kaity, Grace, and I are glad to be back in Delhi.  We got back Saturday night from Dehradun, a hill station city about 6 hours north of here by train (it was super fun to ride the train and see some Indian countryside).   The place we stayed at was absolutely gorgeous.  We were placed on the side of a mountain, green trees and brightly colored flowers everywhere, and mountains for miles on each side of us.  The campus was well kept and very clean.   There was a large platform at the top and  we could look out over the entire city of Dehradun- we were all just in awe of G’s beauty and how blessed we were to be there. 

Every summer for the past several years, a couple families who live in India put on a MK camp for the kids of believing families from all over North India.  There were kids from the UK, Australia, Korea, America, Norway, Denmark, Nepal, and India.  It was amazing to see people from all over the world gathered together b/c of one simple commonality- JC.  We got to hear from alot of the parents on drop-off and pick-up day  about how they ended up being m’s in India and all the different kinds of ministries there are here.  Not only were we wowed by all of the parents’ faith, but the kids as well!  All three of us had a different group of kids to share a cabin with and hold b studies for.   We were all so impressed by the stories some of these kids had to share, ways they have been witnesses to their nonbelieving friends, and their servant hearts. 

Here’s what a normal day might look like:  wake up, staff meeting, go wake up our kids, morning devo, breakfast (yummy indian food all week!!!), morning celebration consisting of songs, a preview to that day’s theme, and games (led by different counselors each day), b study/recreation, lunch, quiet time, playstation (arts n’ crafts, sharp shooter, or water sports), free time, each cabin performs a cheer, dinner, party, worship/talk on Daniel, bed time.  Whew! such long days but good days!  We also went to a water part one day- and got to wear really cool Indian swimsuits!  We thought it was funny the way that when the wave pool turned on, everything else shut off- i guess for lack of water.  So we had a park-wide party in the wave pool every 45 minutes.     

Each of us got close to come of the other counselors as well.  There were a few Indians, some j-men, and also short term volunteers like us.  I dont think there’s anything that makes people get to know each other faster than a week at camp.  We plan on keeping up with these friendships for a long time- campers and counselors. 

But now we are back in Delhi, missing the clean fresh air and beautiful scenery, but happy to get back to our work here.  We are beginning to recognize more and more the importance of our work at ASL.  We’ve been planning our our next two and a half weeks (all we have left here!!)  We’ve decided to introduce to them the character of G thru OT stories, go into the life and miracles of J, and then share the good news.  Having walked through the streets of the neighborhood we’re holding camp in and heard stories of what life is like in this village- we really just want our message to be of hope.  Not only hope for eternal life, but an abundant life now.  That despite what their life looks like right now- they can have joy, satisfaction, and peace thru knowing their Creator.  We’ve also recognized how much of a blessing it is that we had to just pull kids off the street as opposed to having kids sign up and pay.  We now dont have any responsibility to teaching them English (even though thats still what we are doing).  But we are able to shift our focus to more important things.  We teach them short sentences with sign language each day and two of the teachers at the school who live near by said that thats what they hear these kids yelling in the streets all day long.  Things like “peace, love, and joy flow from J” or “G’s strength delivers me from trials” or “I am special and loved by God”.  To hear those things shouted in the streets is just kind of amazing. 

Tomorrow we are meeting up at a woman’s house with a couple girls who are volunteers here for the summer.  They were taugh how to do mahindi (henna) and tell stories from the B.  They use it as a way to reach people here through an art form they are familiar with, with the good news .  And they are going to teach us how to do it!!  fun!  I’m especially interested in seeing how art is used as ’work’   here. 

Thanks for reading!  This was rather long- but we hadn’t writen in a long time so i figured you would want to be filled in on whats going on here!

Love, Rachel

So, this should be an interesting post…

First off, just to note, Big G is doing some danggggg tight stuff over here!! JC is most definitely in power and shining HIS light in a dark place!! So, G had other plans than what we thought we’d be doing, but what’s new! haha! What do we ever know really!! But just to show, HE knows better! Anywho, so the first day kids were supposed to show up for camp, 4 showed up, we sang a few songs and colored, that was the day before yesterday I think, then they left shortly after. No kids have shown up for the past 2 days after that for camp! Insteaaaad, G had other plans….HE’s given us the privilege of getting to actually train a group of teachers to teach kids in a way that gives JC glory and just how to teach in general. What do we know about teaching?? Well, G is teaching us that HE equipped us with abilities we didn’t even know we had! Goodness! Every nursery rhyme, song, whatever, past classroom experiences, just being taught in the school systems we’ve been in–I mean who knew that so many things would be so useful! G takes the simple and does big things! BAM! So, along with G doing so many ridiculously awesome things! There has also been some very interesting moments HE’s put in our paths! bahaha! Soooo, here’s a couple… Anywho, so yesterday riding back home in an auto (which looks pretty much like a golfcart with 3 wheels and more gusto as far as mph), we stopped at a “stoplight”, if you can call it that, and pretty much here everytime you stop in traffic or anything, swarms of street children trying to sell you various trinkets come up and hassle you to buy whatever they’re selling. And trust me, you want to buy it all, but that realization is that you can’t. Anywho, so we’ve been handing out smartie’s candies instead. Well, this time when we stopped, 4 children surrounded us trying to get us to buy flowers, but we said no and gave them smarties. they came back a few moments later and put the smarties on the ground and proceeded to jump on them and crush them! bah! I hand motioned and ask the little girl why in the world she was doing that. Somehow we understood she didnt like them. okaaaay. haha. But then when we were just talking with them, the “light” changed, and then the oldest kid, a boy probably around 8, reached his head in right where Rachel was sitting and tried to kiss her! BAHAHAHAHAHA! Thankfully, her reflexes kicked in quickly enough, and she moved her head back in time so he didnt make the reach! No kiss for Rachel! dawwww! bahahaha! our auto driver died laughing, and so did we! Then, todaaaaaay, anotherrrr interesting experience!! We were invited to have lunch at one of the teacher’s we’re teaching’s house after class today. Well, so we left with her to what we thought would be her house..instead she took us to a local market near her house, where she had invited 2 of her guyfriends to meet up with us. We thought, ” oh, I guess plans changed and we’re eating lunch here”. We went to McDonald’s and didn’t know really what was going on. They ordered us food and payed for it. After we ate, they were like ” hey, by the way, that was only a snack.” we guessed wrong. then, they told us we were just going to get pudding… So, we were like, “okay, well, only a little pudding because we’re all so full and ya’ll are too kind”. We got to the market that had the pudding, and she told us to wait in the grocery market.. A few minutes laterrr…haha..we turned around to see them buying us what they called “hotdogs” from a vendor. they were definitely streetfood and the cheese looked like sourcream. Kaity took a bite and almost hurled.(sorry Mere). We couldnt finish those. then, we were like ” ok. no more food plllleeease, you are toooo kind.”..five minutes later we turned around and they had gotten us these plates of hushpuppy-looking things covered in green chile sauce. At that point we were beyond full and uncomfortable. They promised there would be no more food. Wrong. Five minutes later we turned around and they handed us a plate of Mosas, which are chicken wrapped in dough. please keep in mind that this is allll street food and totalllly ifffffy. the mosa’s had teeny hairs all over them. But we ate them. at that point, we were pretty ready to go sit somewhere uncomfortably and take a nap in air-conditioning somewhere. Nope. We decided to walk to a nearby mall. On the way there, they stopped by a local popscicle vendor (the least iffy thing we ate), where they bought us orange popscicles. SOO MUCHH FOOD. We were pretty much forced to eat it. It would have been seen as rude if we didnt atleast try it. It was just a very awkward and uncomfortable situation all around. THENNN, you would think the eating ended there. We walked about a mile or 2 to the local mall. thennn, we finally went to her house, where we had thought we were going in the first place. but nooo. haha and her mom had made us moreee food. hah. a plate each with literally a pound full of rice on it and a pound full of Indian daal and homemade bread. throughout the meal, somebody kept being like ” eat, eat”, ” no you are nooot full, you cant be full”, and “drink, drink”, the bottomless amount of orange soda it seemed. you’d think the eating was over but noooo. our plates are taken away. we are sitting there about to burst. then, innnn comes her sister with a huge plate of fruit and a bowl of sugar to dip the fruit in. We left a little after that, and soon got to go home. One of the many interesting and laughable situations we’ve been put in so far. Oh man. and yessss, we were all totally super sick that next day!! hah! HEY!! and since this has literally been a week since I could finish posting this,  GOOD NEWS! We ended up taking in kids off the street for camp! Our camp is up and running! G is soo goooood! HE’s moving mountains here!

HE is powerful and fearful, yet HE choses to show us mercy, when we don’t deserve it,

Grace

Hello faithful blog followers!

We’re sorry that we have not been posting more.  We recently moved into a new house and are working on gettting our internet working. 

QUICK UPDATE: our first week of kids English camp has gone so well! we have had TONS of kids and more seem to show up everyday. 

-Rachel

Hey guys!  If you know any songs that you learned when you were in elementary school, primarily those that were used for pre-k and kindergarden, but really anything send them to us!  We’ll explain more later!!  Appreciate it!!

-the girls

Today was our 6th day of adventures here in India.  We can’t even believe its almost been a week!  We are getting very used to living here and we are thoroughly enjoying learning about what everyday life is like in Delhi.  This morning we left for ASL for our first day of kids camp.  We didnt have too many kids show up b/c the village that we are having camp in is a lower income part of Delhi- so they are not able to pay the fees.  But we are praying about simply inviting all the neighborhood kids in and making camp free.  We were able to hang out with several of the local believers and met a couple new girls from northern India who just got here after finishing b school training.  Later that afternoon we headed back into Delhi and met at the house of the MK camp director and helped her plan for camp thats happening in just 10 days!  I wrote a few posts ago that we met two Indian girls at the church that we went to here in Delhi.  We met up with one of them and went to b study for the 17-25 year olds at the church.  We all were very encouraged to meet so many young people following the L here and felt very welcomed.  We hope to continue to hang out with this group of believers.  It just goes to show that the same Spirit that we know and worship back home, is present here as well.  After b study, our Indian friend took us out to dinner at a coffee shop near our house.  She shared her  journey to faith with us and we got to share our testimonies as well.  G is good. And He is encouraging us right and left here. 

Love, Rachel

We’d love for you to p for our health and our battle against the heat.  Delhi is breaking record highs!

Sunday night we headed to the American School of Languages for the first time for conversation hour, having no idea what we were doing, I assumed we would be walking around just talking to different people, asking questions and answering questions.  Quickly I found out that we would be sitting at the front of the room, standing in front of the class telling everyone about ourselves so the students could later be quized, the trick in this was to talk slowly for them to understand, being three girls, this was a challenge.  They were asked to ask us questions, a few were how can we make India better, what do they need to do to make their future’s better, one guy even said he wasn’t satisfied, these men are seeking.  G works in this place, G comes up during every class.  Rachel, Grace and I were sitting in the front of this super hot room watching these things unfold in front of us, my heart was jumping!

Today we were privilegded to here the story of the pastor and the head of the ASL school!  We’re excited to serve alongside him and many others, their hearts are in line with G and it is so encouraging!  A passions been stirred in us for this place, p that G would pour through us in this place.

Earlier last week, we went to a coffee shop where apparently the police had come in a few days ago and taken away their tables, why, no one knows, so now, they only do take away, which is our to-go.  We went with one of the girls who lives here and she told us that one of the men working there was deaf and knew sign!!  I was so excited, but at the same time really nervous to try and communicate, but I plan to go back and see what happens, there is a man who speaks english and signs as well, so if there’s confusion I’m sure he’d help.

It’s been great here so far, record breaking heats take a little bit of getting used to, but G is supplying for us, thanks so much for p for us! 

-Kaity

This morning we had to wake up at 5am to be able to get a taxi and get to the school. We got there and the door was locked, so we waited around until someone came to unlock it. We were going earlier than usual so we could help some of the other people working there go walking around the streets of the area to hangup ads for the kid’s camp on all of the posts down the streets. One of the girls who works there made glue out of flour/water and we took that in pails to paste the ads. The area we were in was an area that looks alot like it hasn’t changed since JC’s day. It had dirt roads, a sewage line running along both sides of the road, roads=more like alleys, 2 story buildings really close together, bare-footed children wearing rags and many naked children running around, trash heaped up everywhere. The farther we walked back, the more we walked into poorer areas towards the slums. We reached the poorer area, still posting ads, and the 2 story buildings on both sides turned into metal and tarp 1 story shacks with the lowest of the low caste hanging out there, where there were families sorting out trash from the city. Our hearts were welling up with love for these people, knowing they are greatly loved by a loving G, and them not knowing. As we walked, we were the best advertisements, 4 white girls and 2 of our indian brothers; we drew a crowd nearly every step we took. For some, we might have been the 1st white women they’d ever seen. We smiled at the children and said “Namaste dosto” (Hello friends) to them, which made some of them smile in a way that made our hearts just well even more. The kids followed us and just wanted to be near us. Seeing them run around barefoot on trash and sewage tore our hearts apart. But all we can do is love them, hope they come to camp, and please be in p for them in any way you can. After that, we walked back to the school and had breakfast on the floor with newspapers and 11 of us sitting surrounding these newspapers. It was so wonderful; it felt like family. We had curry and panchetta (a type of bread) and sprite for breakfast. This morning was my favorite so far. We love India!

Grace

Hey Friends,

Yes its true, we made it here.  We faced no major hurdles as we traveled and are very thankful.    We have been jet lagging the past few days but are hoping to be over it before we start English school tomorrow.  Its been an adventure living on our own but the people here readily help us out with directions.  Transportation here is very interesting but a fun adventure.  Riding in the ‘autos’ (small green/yellow three wheeled taxis) is said to feel as though you are in a blow dryer… and rightfully said.  The high was 114 degrees yesterday.  The heat is definitely making us more appreciative of air conditioning and clean drinking water.  We’ve had all kinds of food since we’ve been here and its only been three days! (Indian, Lebanese, Chinese, and Mcdonalds )    Last night we went to see Shrek 4 and enjoyed experiencing an Indian movie theather- there were assigned seats and they were made for short legged people, but we like watching the Hindi previews and seeing what pop culture is like here.  We went to church with the C’s this morning and met two sweet Indian girls who we exchanged numbers with and are going to b study with this week.  We hope that they will show us around some of the more popular hang out spots for young people here.  We head to ASL (American School of Languages) tonight for conversational English club where i’ll see some of my students from back in January.  yay!  The three of us will be teaching English camps during the day for children and holding a night class for adults for the next six weeks, besides the week we’ll be in Dehradun for MK camp. 

We hope to have more consistant access to internet soon   Thanks for reading!

-Rachel

“Holllllaa”-Grace & Kaity

Word of the week: Sah-Hay-Lee…means friend for a girl. We learned this after we asked one of our new friends if she wanted to “hangout” and she had nooo idea what we meant. Haha! Learning some more survival Hindi! Woopwoop! More to come!- Grace

Hey guys!!  We just want to make sure it works before we leave, 48 hours!!!!

-the girls