Learning and Understanding

Hey guys,

Today was rather low key and interesting! I would like to report that breakfast did not contain one hint of spicyness, which was so refreshing for my poor mouth that has endured 2 days of spicy food =). I also found out that I like banana and green peppers when they are cooked a certain way with a sweet and sour sauce in a wrap for breakfast. It's amazing the different foods I have experienced today. Also, for lunch there was a fruit dish, which looked liked barbeque pork, that was called tommy fruit (or johnny fruit, I can't remember but I know it was a boy's name.. lol) and it tasted like chicken or pork in a spicy brown sauce... Simply fascinating.

We went to visit Mr. Rai, the founder of the foundation we are staying with and a multi-billionaire that has created a business school in the center of Delhi and a school for women in need outside of Jaipur that we are going to stop by later. He spoke to us about what it means to have the Hindu philosophy that everyone is made of energy, which is called god, and that energy cannot be created of destroyed; therefore all people do not die but are simply reincarnated. This philosophy then believes that all religions as true because god is everywhere and is Jesus Christ, but was also Muhammad, and the Dalhi Lama, and Buddha, and every person. The only time religion is not accepted by the Hindus is when the religion believes that only their god is God or their prophet is the only way to Heaven. So, in a sense, he was pushing on the Christian ideals that he assumed, as Americans, that we all believed. He was very persuasive for many as he explained his view, which I saw from the look on their faces as they listened. He also explained that the goal in life is to find your inner happiness and to be content with it. Well, to a certain extent I believe that it is important to be content with what God has provided, but my happiness comes from Him and Him alone, and not from my life and what I have. It was almost sad to me that he believed that "looking within yourself at your mind because it is the greatest thing" was the way to be satisfied and fulfilled. I know that many times my mind is actually the origin of my problems and unhappiness and it isn't until God shows me where I need to be that I find contentment and satisfaction. I do not understand how this man was able to talk so sincerely about being satisfied, when I know that living a life based on your own desires and mindset only brings you grief because you will always want more and will always strive to get more power. It is part of our human nature. It is not possible for us to feel satisfied when we are giving in to our carnal (and sinful) desires in life. It got to the point where he was telling us what to believe, not explaining his belief, yet he was telling us that Hinduism doesn't care about our religion and long as we live the way we desire to live. I almost felt like he was trying to convince us that because we are naive American tourists that do not know anything about Indian philosophy we need to have guidance on what to believe once we come to India. I respect his passion for what he was talking about, but it made me so sad that although he taught about being satisfied he is probably not satisfied at all. After listening to him, I really appreciated God's love for us, which caused Him to come and interact with us and fills us until we are satisfied. He is an awesome God.

Well, Mr. Rai continued to tell us about the economics of India and how it is rising more than we think, but that it will take time before it shows throughout the country. I feel like everyone says that here and are concentrating so much on the future economics that they are failing to work on the many problems that they are faced with in India (and even Delhi) right now. It's like they believe that once they have a strong economy the problems will all blow away. Is money really the answer for the poorest country in the world? I honestly think it's going to take much more than economics to reform this country that has been living in the dark for such a long time.

One thing that really got my attention though was when he began to tell us about the school for girls that he founded outside of Jaipur. It is a free school that girls and women can come live at if they are nominated because they are underprivileged. They will learn basic skills like sowing but they will also be educated in English, business techniques, and science. Of course I fell in love with this idea because it is exactly what I have wanted to be involved with in India when I first started learning about the plight of women all through South Asia. He gave us more information and brochures, and we are going to stop and see the school on our way to Jaipur. I am wondering if this is something God wants me to pursue.

Well, after meeting with Mr. Rai, we went to the India gate, where there were so many Indian families and colorful saris and children running around. It was crowded but so much fun! Some of us girls got Henna on our hands by a sweet 12 year old, which has already started to wash off not 8 hours later.. haha. But it was still fun and only about a dollar. We then went to the Indian National Museum, which was almost entirely devoted to sculptures and painting of the Hindu gods, which got tiring after a while. However, there was a really cool room with ancient weapons used in South India, which included Elephant dressings and a saber of Hanuman just like in The Jungle Book (which many of you know I am obsessed with... its the none animated version of course)! It was very intriguing seeing how over thousands of years they have portrayed hundreds of gods in delightful ways, seductive ways, evil ways, and pensive ways and how every god had human characteristics and human downfalls.

My favorite picture was a painting from the Mughal period called "The Nativity" and it was a painting of Jesus' birth, but it contained grand Indian architecture and the people were depicted as Indian royals that were bowing down to Him. This shocked me because the Mughals were Muslim, yet they obviously had a respect for Jesus' birth. It was really neat to see that. I will try to add a picture of it on here, but last time it would not save.

Well, I am extremely tired, but I cannot wait for another excursion tomorrow. It is pretty cool around here where we are staying too. This morning we went outside to find monkeys everywhere in the trees, climbing the buildings, and swinging from place to place. It is almost like they are as normal as squirrels are in America, and the locals laughed at us as we took 30 pictures of the monkeys.

I miss everyone so much, and I really appreciate that yall are taking the time to stay updated on my travels.

Love,

Christy

And the Adventure Begins

Namaste to you=)

Well, let's begin with the exciting news we received when we reached the airport. British Airways informs our group that if we take their plane we will miss our connecting flight in London to India. So they rescheduled us to fly to Doha with Qatar Airways, which none of us were familiar with, and when we asked what country Doha was in they did not know. FYI, Doba is the capital of Qatar in the Middle East next to Saudi Arabia. After a slight uproar between the parents because of recent terrorist attempts Mom was satisfied when a friend told her that Qatar is filled with American service men and is one of the safest airports. Needless to say, I was excited and was looking forward to this adventure.

Little did we know, this airplane was a Boeing 777 with wonderful service and better amenities than any US or European line that I have ever flown. There was much more leg room, a large screen tv on the back of the seat with over 1,000 movies (bigger than US plane tv screens), ben and jerry's unlimited ice cream, stewardess' that actually cared about what you needed, clean bathrooms, an adorable souvenir purse that says Qatar on it for each seat, and a full set of toiletries. It was fascinating! Not to mention the fact that I had a window seat with no one in the middle for this 13 hour flight. I slept well.

In Qatar we had a 4 hour layover, and so we all went on a mission to buy souvenirs proving that we have been in the Middle East. haha. I found a cute rug patterned pouch with Qatar written on one side, and a map showing where Qatar actually sits in the Middle East. It was a very clean airport, but it was awesome looking from my airplane window at the piles of sand everywhere and the walled-in communities with red and yellow lights shining in every direction. We got on the next plane for Delhi, which was just as nice, and got in around 3am (two days after the day we left). We then stood in line for customs for about an hour and half. This is when we started to feel the lack of sleep and were a tad grumpy, but over all we were just excited to finally be in India.

When we walked outside we could barely see anything or breathe well through the thick hazy fog. We got on a bus to take us to the Rai Foundation, and had an hour drive on the bumpiest road that I have ever seen. Delhi is very dirty and dusty, and there is unfinished construction projects everywhere. There are the occasional architecturally beautiful buildings, but it is not what you think of when you imagine a capital city. There are not sky scrapers, but there are old run down buildings all attached to each other with open roofs, where the children play. It feels like we have been pushed back to the past and it doesn't feel like we are living in the 21st century here at all. It is very sad, but eye opening. What I saw in Thailand does not even come close in comparison with what I am seeing here. I will try to attach pictures on here soon.

This morning after we got back I could not sleep like everyone else who slept until 1 in the afternoon, so I went on a walk around grounds and found animals that were a cross between a squirrel and a chipmunk everywhere outside playing in the dirt. They were cute, but of course I only got a few pictures and then went back into the building (just saying Mom, so that you don't get upset that I was outside alone... lol).

After lunch (which was INCREDIBLY spicy chicken), we went on a bus tour of Delhi and we saw the Parliament building, which was one of the only beautiful things that I have seen here yet aesthetically speaking. However, the people and the culture here is beautiful to me from what I have seen so far. The women dressed in bright Sari's and Punjabi suits caring their babies and children through the streets to find food in the market, the men working hard to sell their products on the streets to support their family, and the children that are carefree and running around smiling. Even though there is incredible poverty, the people continue on their daily lives and make due with what they have. It is a beautiful thing. We then went to a fabric store, where I bought a blanket for my bed (because it only has one blanket and no sheets and it gets to 40 degrees outside and is cold), I bought a towel (because the ones here are not very sanitary looking, and a new Indian shirt as the first addition to my Indian garb I will be sporting here shortly.

I am trying to see everything in a positive light (which most of you know is hard for me to do sometimes.. lol), but I am running on very little sleep and there have been many little things that just have not been going right. At first I realized I had the wrong kind of adapter that would not charge my computer, then we thought that there was no internet because it was not working and they could not fix it, the beds are basically a bit on cloth on top of a wood panel, the rooms are very dirty with bugs everywhere, corroding walls, and layers of dust on the furniture, and the walls are so thin you can here every word spoken by any person within a mile, every car that passes by, and for some reason there are alarms nearby that constantly go off. This morning, instead of sleeping, we were cleaning and trying to straiten the room the best we could. I was close to crying, and as I heard my roommate say "I wish I stayed home," I finally turned toward God to give me the strength to continue. I opened My Utmost for His Highest, and of course as always, it confronted me with my selfish behavior. This morning I was wanting to have everything go my way because that was what I was expecting. God really challenged me just by the title of the devotion for today (Dec 29) "Deserter or Disciple" with reference to John 6:66. It reminded me that God told me His will for me, which was the original reason for me coming to India, and every time I complain I am taking a step away from doing God's will for me, which takes away even more joy from my life. I realized that I am choosing to not accept God's plan and His timing when I complain for a different way. So I am embracing what I thought was just an educational tour as a step on God's Mission field, where I know there will be rough conditions that will alter my view of what is best for myself.

So, After this time with God, I then read it to my roommate, Mariam, who is a first year in my Chi Alpha sister core group. We then talked about it and decided to claim this trip for the Lord and not for ourselves. It seems to be working =)

ok, well I am exhausted. I love and miss you all and I hope that you have a wonderful New Years Eve if I can't write you before then.

Love,

Christy

Leavin' on a jet plane...

Well, it is the night before I leave, and staying true to my nature I have not started packing yet =) However, I think there is much incentive to stay up late packing and play fun giddy tunes in order to go to INDIA!!

We will be there for 3 weeks and we come home on January 17. The family and I are driving to DC tomorrow (yeay traffic!) and my flight takes off at 10:10 pm from Dulles. We are hopefully going to find a fun restaurant for dinner and have some fun family time before I take off. It is going to be hard leaving everything and everyone considering I have not even been here for an entire week! I am going to miss my friends from home that I only got a few chances to see this week, but this trip will be worth it and I am so excited!

We have a layover in London in Heathrow and then on to Delhi! I will hopefully send out another little post once I get there. Please pray for our safety on the flight over.

I love you all and will miss you SO much <3