Day 21

Sangamma and I after art class

The girls with lelia and our "bendi", the indian dots that you wear on your forehead... usually meaning you are married haha.

The lord really answered my prayers for renewal this weekend. Yesterday we took the bus to Panji and on the way back the Lord showed me a beautiful side of India that I haven’t seen yet. I got to see the ocean and the beautiful islands off the coast and women harvesting rice out in the fields and the small boats being rowed by Indian fishermen right up next to huge carrier boats- a mixture of the traditional India and the progressive India. Sometimes I forget that I am in India and then I look around and realize that I am halfway across the world in an extremely cool place unlike anything I have ever experienced in the US. India never registered as part of Asia to me but it really is. Especially northern India is very asian, the people and the culture are both similar to what we would consider traditional asia: china and japan. Southern India where I am is more what you see as India in movies like slumdog millionaire. Seeing the women harvesting rice looked like an image from china and just reminded me that the Lord has sent me to an incredibly cool place and there is so much more than the poverty and dirt that I see everyday. I still do not know where I will be this week and I will probably visit both slums throughout the week but I hope the mainly be in Bina, the slum where the women’s classes are located. I have just started to develop real relationships with them I feel like and I want to continue to grow and be in community with these women.

The lord really taught me this weekend that His love for me is so big that there is no way I could ever fully show these women how much he loves them- and there is no way I can show these women anything about his love alone. If I am not completely relying on the Lord everyday when I am in the slums I will wear myself out and go nowhere. This trip is not about me and I cannot do it alone! “Remain in me and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me…apart from me you can do nothing. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given to you. This is to my father’s glory that you bear much fruit…I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete!” John 15: 4-11 He is teaching me so much about joy and that true joy only comes from Him. Most of all, he wants us to have joy! But he knows that the best kind of joy comes from being in him.

Ok, lecture over. I always feel so cheesy writing these, but its what im learning and I want to share it. Thank you for all the encouragement and prayers… still no internet but im definitely learning to cope with that. Thank you for the continued support!