Here I am! :) Soooo, we have all arrived safely and are enjoying training. We are in the capital until next Wednesday for orientation. I still feel a little disoriented but our j-girls are doing a wonderful job! Yesterday we stayed inside the guest house until lunch time and we went out for our first local meal. It was delicious! There were eight of us, so we ordered several dishes and tried a little bit of everything. Then we came back and learned what clothing is appropriate and how to buy it. After that lesson, we had to put our new knowledge into practice! I bought two kurtas to match one pair of salwars and my dupata. The dupata is the scarf that drapes around a woman's shoulders and the front of her neck. One of our j-girls explained that the dupata is your virtue, so don't swing it around or allow anyone else (especially a guy) to mess with it. Last night, I went to bed a little after 10 or 10:30, but I woke up at 4 am. I was annoyed that I couldn't go back to sleep, but it was actually a good time spent with the Father because I figured if He didn't want me up at that awful hour, I would be fast asleep! I haven't slept since then, and its about 10:00 pm now, so I'm very thankful I made it through the day! PTL. Today we discussed personal spiritual disciplines and the religions of the regions we will be working in. It was a very encouraging and interesting day, so it didn't seem so very hard to stay awake, even though I was exhausted. (I think our chai break and Lebanese lunch helped!) After lunch, we talked a little bit more and then they sent us out on our own (in small groups) to visit places of worship. We first went to the Lotus Temple, which is this huge Ba'hai temple shaped like a lotus flower, obviously. It was more of a tourist attraction and very few people spoke english, except for the volunteers. We had to wait in this line to enter the center room. Everyone had to be silent. Some seemed to be praying, others meditating, and others were just looking around. It seemed like a lot of people were either there because it seemed like a good idea to cover their bases and others were there truly seeking and some were just there to check it out, like us. Then after, we went to a darga, which is like a shrine of a saint in a branch of Isl.m, called Sufism. It was like a market, but it was a labyrinth of stores and at the center was an area where we had to take off our shoes. People stared and took our pictures, which is apparently common here. We tried to speak with a few people, but we know virtually no Hindi and they didn't know English. Finally, the other girl we were with spoke a little and we followed these ladies out of the shrine area. They were very nice, but they kept trying to get us all to go home with them. We may have done it, but they lived very far away by bus and we thought it might not be a good idea, especially because it took like 10 minutes to just convey that they wanted us to go home with them. Then we wandered in the very crowded market area around the shrine and looked for the way out. We were kind of lost, but finally found a nice auto driver who led us back through the way we came to where all the autos were. By the way, autos are basically a motor tricycle with a metal car like thing over the top that provides for a seat for three people (or five if you squeeze and sit on laps!). they kind of look like cars, but not, I'll try to get pictures up soon.
Anyway, I feel like i've been here for weeks, but its only been two days. I was pleasantly surprised that all the things I thought would be unbearable (like the food and smells) are not that bad. I actually like most of the food and the only places that smell awful are the public toilets of course, and those stink all over the world. I feel very blessed to be here and engaging the people, even though its a little difficult at times, especially with the language barrier.
This post is very long, so if you are still reading, wow! Thanks! If not, well that's ok too! Chances are, if you are still reading this, you have nothing better to do, so I don't feel bad about wasting your time! :) I will write more about our adventures later!
To lift up in pr.yer-
- Overcoming jet lag! I would love to get at least 6 or 7 hours at night, I haven't tried the trick of tylenol pm, yet, but I may tomorrow night!
- Opportunities for conversations with seeking people
- Boldness in those opportunities to use them for the Father's Glory
- whatever the Sp.r.t lays on your <3 :)