So, we’ve had curfew now for almost 10 days straight. I say almost because we had a 2 hour break from curfew on Saturday so that everyone in the entire valley could go out and get the food they would need for the next however many days until the next few hour curfew lift. Ug. Anyway, Eid was last week and it was so much fun. We were able to have a very good meal with the family upstairs and a few of our friends, including our supervisors. We had three other Eid invitations for the other two days of Eid, but we weren’t able to go because of the strict curfew that was imposed on those days because of some serious tension in other parts of the city. It has been a little rough spending so much time inside and not being able to be out with anyone doing what we thought we were coming here to do. However, last night, we had a good fellowship and study time with our supervisors and they reminded me of a few things that I’ve been half ignoring, half forgetting. First, G.d brought me here for His own purpose and He wants me to be here. Second, even if He brought me here to teach me a bunch of things about myself, that is all right. I shouldn’t feel guilty because some things you can only learn outside of the comfort of your own culture and home. I realize that the Father doesn’t need me to do anything. He is accomplishing His own purposes in this place and He would continue to do that whether I obeyed and came here or not. He doesn’t need me. (I have to keep telling myself that because it is so true and I forget that a lot) Anyway, I likened it to when I was little and I always wanted to help my dad in the garage building stuff or outside adding on to our house. Of course he didn’t need me, but he would let me help by doing something small, like holding the tape measure. He never needs me to actually hold the tape measure, because he is pretty much a pro at measuring things, but he wanted me to help. It is like that now, the Father doesn’t need me to help Him in any way, but I want to help and I truly believe that He delights to have us join Him in His work. He involves us to teach us things and so that we can build relationships with others and live out the love of His Son. It is all a part of what grace is. I keep learning that my plans aren’t necessarily what the Father has in mind. His plans are much bigger and better than mine anyway, I just need to be patient and let Him do His thing. I know that in this time He has so much to teach me. I just have to be diligent, pray often, and listen. If any of you know me, you probably know that listening isn’t necessarily my strong suit because I like to talk, a lot, so that is a learning experience in and of itself. Anyway, a few things for you to lift up: that I would be more diligent in my pr.yer life and that I would listen to what the Father wants to teach me. That we would develop relationships with the girls in our neighborhood (I miss having friends) (By the way, we got to meet a bunch of our neighbors last week and they are all very kind, definite answer to pr.yer!) That the people here would simply seek the One True God in their religious zeal and that He would reveal Himself in ways that would lead them to the truth.
Love,
Kallie-Jo
P.S. Did you think I’d write a blog and not tell you a story? J Don’t worry here it is! So we were hanging out upstairs one afternoon, bored as usual, and our landlord’s wife offered to take us next door to meet the new bride that was living there. For weddings here, after the wedding for like a week, the whole groom’s family stays at the house all day hanging out with the bride and waiting on the new couple. AWESOME huh? During that time, friends and family can come visit that weren’t able to make it to the wedding. Anyway, we were super excited because we hadn’t been out of the house in days and we were really stressed because we weren’t meeting anyone in the neighborhood. So we went over there and we were led into a big sitting room. There were several ladies around and after they asked us the few questions we can answer in Urdu, the conversation quickly switched to the mother language of the people and we just sat there and smiled. One of the younger girls about 12 years old, kept bringing in people to introduce to us. Finally, they brought the bride in with all of her jewelry that she has to wear for a long time (a few weeks I think) and we met her. She sat with us for awhile while we took chai, but she seemed very sad. Apparently, she misses her family. Later, we met the groom (her cousin), too. While sitting there, this man came in with his cell phone and made us take several pictures with the bride and then took a video. It was rather embarrassing and I was just praying the whole time that the picture of us wouldn’t end up on this country’s version of facebook. After that, we sat for awhile talking to a girl in 8th class, about my little sister’s age. One of her cousins came in and said that she was going to do mehendi (henna) for us. She started with me and did a very pretty design on my right hand. Then she did Caprice and then she even gave some to our landlord’s wife! While watching the others get their mehendi done, one of the aunties yelled at me the whole time to keep my hand straight, but not too straight and to not put water on it for several days, etc. I just smiled and nodded at her. I understood what she said, but there was no way I wasn’t going to wash my hand for a week. After that, the girl that was introducing us to everyone came in giggling and asked if we wanted to see the bride and groom’s bedroom. I was like, “Uhhh, are we allowed?” I didn’t really want to because I thought that was kind of weird, but she insisted, so we followed her into this bedroom where there was a huge bed with a big orange bed spread and decorated with flower petals and garland hanging from the ceiling all around it. I held back laughter as I walked in because the bride and groom were kind of shoved in a corner on the floor taking chai together and half the family was sitting on what was left of the floor space in the room watching them. They were all kind of watching cricket and talking. We were taken to the other side of the room right next to the bed and they made us eat some nuts and dried fruit. I wasn’t really hungry and when they told me to eat, I said I couldn’t because of the mehendi on my hand. One of the aunts laughed and began to hand-feed me nuts and raisins. I couldn’t stop laughing at this point because it was just ridiculous. The woman that was feeding us chatted with us for a while about her family and about our families. She was very nice. Then they led us into the kitchen where they fed us some waz wan left over from the wedding, which was spicy, but delicious. While in the kitchen, two of the kids brought in their English homework and showed us what they do for tuitions. Tuitions is just time spent with a private tutor that supplements school work and they help the kids study for exams. Anyway, while showing us this work, we got introduced to more cousin-brothers who were just arriving home. One of them they introduced by name and then one girl proudly said, “He is the boy that goes out and throws stones!” I choked a bit on my water and said, “Oh! That’s nice.” I wasn’t really sure how to reply to that one. Anyway, it was a really fun evening and I’m glad that we were able to make friends with that family. We are going to visit again today and hopefully they will come visit our apartment once all the wedding excitement settles down.
