Adventures in Kerala

Jenny and I just got back from a three day trip to Alleppey in Kerala, the state just to the west of where the children's home is located. We experienced our first ever train ride, went boating in the backwaters, and got to see the Arabian sea! It was definitely a fun and learning experience.
We left Monday evening and took a train from Trichy Station. Our first train ride was ten hours long! Jenny and I both got the upper berth in our compartment which we were very excited about. They provided pillows and blankets which we were a little suspicious about, but ended up using anyway. It was freezing! We both slept really well on the train, which was good because we switched trains at around 6am and didn't get to rest much after that. We finally arrived at Alleppey Station around 9:00am and took a three-wheeled little taxi called an auto to our hotel. The staff there was WONDERFUL. Apparently Jessy travels there often and always stays with them, because the staff greeted her and gave us a special discount.
By 11:30 we were out the door again with a friend of Jessy's who had a car and was kind enough to drive us around. We stopped for lunch at another hotel and all had some incredible seafood. We heard that Kerala was famous for their fish and we both love seafood, so we weren't about to miss out. I had some coconut shrimp that was unbelievably good. Jenny had "garlic fish", which turned out to be halibut cooked in a creamy garlic sauce. It was all delicious.
After lunch we rented a boat and driver and took off on the backwaters! Apparently Alleppey is known as "the Venice of the east" because of the backwaters that replace streets in the west side of the city. We were on a boat touring them for about three hours. It was beautiful and so relaxing to just be sitting there with a fresh breeze blowing and the sound of the water all around.

Relaxing on the backwaters

After resting up on the boat, Jenny and I were ready to see the ocean! Jessy's friend dropped us off at near the beach and we walked the rest of the way. Jessy sat down in the sand far from the water and shooed us off to the water. We ran right into the waves and Jenny immediately was knocked off her feet and underwater. I was a little nervous about the appropriateness of getting all wet (every other girl on the beach was staying faaaaaar from the water), but no one seemed to care so I got wet all over too. We arrived at the water about an hour before sunset. It was so so beautiful.

The beach in Alleppey

Seeing the ocean was probably my favorite part of the trip. The waves were huge and we had so much fun getting wet and watching the sun go down. The only downside is the fact that wherever we go, we are watched by a whole crowd of Indians. Indian men were just standing there, not too far away, watching us splash and run around on the beach. It's definitely a weird experience and one I don't think I'll ever get used to. Even so, we had lots of fun at the beach and didn't leave until sunset. We were sopping wet, sandy, and loving it. Jessy, who loved feeding us all day long, bought us ice cream, and then we took an auto back to the hotel. It was an incredibly fun day! I am so thankful that we got to go :)

Praise Report :)

Guess what. We ate with the girls yesterday!! :) This is a really big deal for Allie and I, because so far, the sisters have felt that it is better that we eat in the dining room because we can sit on the chairs instead of the ground and eat with utensils instead of our hands, and basically it's just nicer. I think they have felt the need to keep us as comfortable as possible. But Allie and I have really wanted to eat with the girls, not only because eating with your hands is fun ;) but also because it is one of the few times we get to relax with the kids. They pretty much study and do chores in whatever time they aren't at school, and even though we are with them during that, there isn't a lot of down time for us to hang out with them. The only times we've eaten with the kids was twice over Pongol, and that's it. But yesterday, the sisters let us eat with the kids :) So that was very exciting for the both of us. We were honestly pretty bad at it at first, but the girls showed us the tricks of eating with your hands. I'm getting the hang of it! :) I'm am so excited that I am getting to know the girls better and they are improving in their English and are much more comfortable around us. I'm so excited to have all these beautiful girls as my sisters :)

Prayer Request

Recently... I've been feeling like I'm not the right person for this. Like I don't love the girls well enough or spend enough time with them or say the right things to them or communicate with them well enough. I feel like I shouldn't have come and that someone else should have come with Allie. Not me. I feel helpless and useless and I don't know what to do. I know that the girls have a specific schedule and there isn't a whole lot of time to spend with them, and I know that we aren't familiar with the way Jessy runs things, etc, but it's still really hard on me. Right now I'm just kind of confused and feeling a little lost... I guess I'm just struggling to find my place here... And still trying to figure out how to love the girls well. I don't know if that makes any sense... I know that our trip isn't measured by how much we do, but I still struggle with it because I'm not used to the slower pace here... So if I could have prayer for that it would be great. Thanks :)

Lessons Learned

It's hard to believe we've only been here 11 days! Time passes so slowly here. We have had many eventful days, but we also have a lot of down time, to which I am not accustomed. Before I came to India, I had two jobs, so I am used to being really busy. The woman who runs the orphanage treats us more like guests than helpers.  I wish I was given more things to do here! Oh well. I love being here. I love helping out where I can, and I love spending time and loving on the girls, but... being still, as painful as it is, is good for me, I think. Since I am used to constantly running around, it is nice to sit and relax, at least for a time. Psalm 46:10 "Be still and know that I am God." Not the easiest verse for me.

Being here makes me realize how much I love America. I never thought I would say those words, but it's true. I used to hate living in America. Mostly in Kansas City. KC has no mountains, no beach, no oceans, nothing. Not even big waterfalls. I love nature and I love adventure, so living in Kansas City is really hard for me. I get too restless! But I do miss my home. I miss all the things I took for granted. Even things like coffee shops, fried chicken, bookstores, pizza, and how clean everything is. I miss the people too. I am SO thankful for the time I get to spend here, but being here has also made me appreciate my life in the US. Although, I think, no matter where I go, I will always be a bit restless. As C.S. Lewis says, "Not all who wander are lost." :)

Overflowing

Luke 6:38 "Give, and you will receive. You will be given much. Pressed down, shaken together and running over, it will spill into your lap. The way you give to others is the way God will give to you.”

Yesterday, around 3:00, some men in a truck drove into our yard. They had just come from a wedding, and the back of the truck was full of HUGE pots of food, and they were giving it away to us. :) So we ran and got as many large pots as we had and they filled them with spicy rice, plain rice, a yam dish (apparently only rich people can afford yams here), and some sauce/dressing stuff. It looks like a thick sort of soup, but you pour it onto your plain rice to give it flavor :) Also, we filled two large pots of some sort of dessert: rice cooked in sugar and milk. It's liquid so you drink it, but it is very sweet. In the end, we had 14 or 15 pots full of food. Clearly we had too much for just the 45 of us! We kept three pots of rice, some yams, and a pot of the soupy sauce; but called the neighbors to come and partake in our abundance. We sat on the porch with the large pots around us, as many kids came bearing empty pots and containers. Once the containers were filled, the kids would run home, empty them, and bring them back. :) I was always so excited when we would empty one of the large pots! :) We were out there giving food away until the girls came home from school and the sun had set. We ended giving over half of it away! But since everyone wanted rice and yams, we had a pot of the sweet milk, and a pot of the soupy dressing stuff left over. Finally, we washed off the food stained porch and sat back and relaxed :) I love that I was able to be a part of something so beautiful and simple as giving to the needy from our abundance. You don't need to go to a different country to be a missionary. Even in the business of life, we are called to love and serve those around us. It can be hard at times, but giving should be an expression of love. Not a chore. Not because it's on your "to do list." But because the Lord's love overflows from within you and pours out to those around you.

Matthew 28:18-20 "And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, 'All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

Micah 6:8 "He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?"

An Outing with the Girls :)

Yesterday we had the privilege of going out for the day with all of the girls and Sisters here. We packed sandwiches, fruit, and cookies and loaded everyone onto two buses to go tour a church and a temple. On the hour long trip we sang songs, watched a movie, ate snacks, and talked and laughed together. The church we stopped at was a huge Catholic thing filled with statues and relics and Indians. We ate a picnic breakfast in the courtyard and then joined about three hundred other people inside for mass. I haven't ever attended a mass before and it was definitely a different experience. At the end the priest started sprinkling water all over us and I was pretty shocked. My expression must have been hilarious because all the girls we were with started laughing at me.
When we left the church there was the usual scramble for shoes and bags and counting children before we trouped back to the bus and drove another hour to the temple. When we arrived we all grabbed a buddy and then got in a line together. I'm sure we looked pretty adorable wandering through the temple courtyards holding hands like that. The best part of the temple was the cutest elephant they had in an enclosure off to the side. He was standing and swaying back and forth and swinging his head like a dance.
The temple was crazy huge and fun to walk around, even though we didn't stay for too long. On the way home my mom treated us all to ice cream! The girls were thrilled and sang a thank you song for her that was probably the equivalent to "Three cheers for Brenda!", though I'm not sure because it was in Tamil. Either way it was very sweet :)
We left home at around 7:30am and finally returned at about 6:00pm. It was a long day but really fun and I'm so glad we got to have this fun experience with the girls.

The temple. The elephant. :)

Happy Pongal!

Today is Pongal, the Indian new year and celebration of good harvest and plenty! We were up at 6am singing songs of thanksgiving and cooking rice over a fire outside. The girls had already been up for a while and had decorated the ground in front of the childrens' home.

After the rice was finished cooking, a few of the girls decorated the pots and set them up inside, where we had a special Pongal mass a few minutes later.

For breakfast we ate the Pongal rice and the sweet rice that had been cooking over the fire outside. After the rice we had a special treat: bananas and sugar cane!

After breakfast we played games and then had a lesson in doing laundry the Indian way. I thought we were pretty good at it, but the girls kept taking the clothes and doing it for us, so I think we weren't as good as I thought. ;)

I'm starting to have a ton of fun with the girls! They are growing more open towards us everyday and I've had fun playing and joking around with them. They've even given us a few lessons in Tamil! I can now name my ears, eyes, nose, mouth, lips, and stomach, and wish everyone "Good morning!" and "Happy Pongal!" For some reason the girls thought those were the most important things to learn. ;)
Everything is going well so far! Thank you so much for praying for us! Happy Pongal!! :)