Adventures in India: A special day...

Wow! It’s been a long time since I updated my blog, and I’m suddenly feeling a bit overwhelmed with how long I anticipate this might become!

Most of my recent updates have been related to the things that Brent and I have been doing here in India. Today will focus a little on that but will be more about how God is working on my heart.

This week was a special week for me. I shared the gospel with a non-believer for the first time in my life. It’s sad for me to admit that it took just 10 days shy of 27 years for that to happen, but we serve a patient and persistent God who doesn’t give up on us, and I’m thankful that He’s given me the opportunity to do this.

I’ve been getting to know lots of people from the office, and they’ve been so patient in answering all my questions about the Muslim and Hindu beliefs. We’ve had some good conversations, but I hadn’t been able to really tell them about my beliefs yet. On Thursday I had lunch with my friend, Richa. I really wanted to get to know her better, so we talked about our families, where we’d gone to school, what we liked about our jobs, what made us happy, etc. Then she asked me about American weddings, which she thought were very fascinating from what she’d heard and seen in movies. I did my best to explain some of it and told her that sometimes movies aren’t very realistic. I told her that often people follow traditions but don’t understand the meaning behind those traditions. One example is the wedding vows that we take. I told her that for Christians, like me and Brent, we think of our vows in terms of a covenant. We promise to love each other and remain faithful to each other until we die. I shared that it was a similar concept to how God made a covenant with us. She was also curious about the big wedding dresses and wanted to see pictures of my wedding. I shared that we wear white to symbolize purity.

After lunch we got back to the office, and I sent her pictures from my wedding. I wasn’t sure if she’d understood what I meant by covenant as we talked over our meal, so I emailed her a follow-up to our conversation and shared the entire gospel message! I related our need for a Savior, Christ coming to be that Savior and cleansing us from our sin (that’s where purity comes in…similar to the white wedding dress), and how God promises that if we believe and follow Him, He will never leave us (the covenant…a far better covenant than the wedding vows since God will never “divorce” us). It was such a neat experience, and I’m so glad that I was able to share with her. I really like Richa and want to continue to grow our friendship. She might even move to the states at some point in the near future, so I told her I’d try to get her invited to a Christian wedding with me!

This was definitely the highlight of my week, and I’m praising God for such an amazing opportunity. I have full assurance that it was provisioned entirely by Him, because I had no intention of sharing my beliefs during that lunch and would never have thought to relate a wedding to the gospel. But it just seemed so clear to me at the time that there is a connection and that was exactly how I was to relate it. I’d had a really meaningful quiet time with God that morning, and I felt His Spirit leading me as I talked to Richa. I hope it’s not the last time I’m able to do that!

Over the past two weeks, I’ve had some very high moments and some very low moments (sometimes in the same day!). I compared it at one point to detox. When a drug addict goes in, they go through a period of shock and physical pain as the drugs leave their systems. As I’ve come to India, God has been revealing sin in my life that I didn’t even know was there that has to be purged for me to be effective. It’s painful, but I know that I’ll be so much healthier at the end (just like the drug addict in detox). I’m thankful for the pruning, because He tends those that He loves, just as a father cares for his child. God has taught Brent and I to communicate more effectively as we learn to support each other in this new environment. He’s revealed Brent’s wonderful qualities as a leader to me and grown my love and respect for him even deeper. He’s stretched me outside of my comfort zone and asked me to do things that are beyond myself (physically, emotionally, and spiritually). But I’ve already seen Him work in my life these past 2 weeks in ways that blow my mind. I feel like a changed person, and there’s a part of me that is already grieving the time when I have to leave India and return to the states. I’ll be glad to be home for sure (man, I really miss Target!), but this is a special time and I feel certain that it’s completely ordained by God for my benefit, for the benefit of the Indian people, and ultimately for His glory.

Week 2 has been a lot easier in terms of a schedule and routine. I struggled a bit the first week to share my time with Brent with other people. I felt jealous when he’d want to go out with people, because I’m used to having more down time to do what I want and to rest. God’s literally transforming me before my own eyes (I don’t even recognize myself sometimes, and that’s a GOOD thing!), and I’m recognizing the selfishness in that mindset. It is good to have alone time, time with my husband, and time to rest. Even Jesus needed that. But I don’t need as much as I allow myself at home. My time, just like my body, my finances, and everything else, is not my own. God’s lead me here for a reason, and sitting inside my apartment “relaxing” is not the reason! It’s honestly nothing short of a miracle how my attitude has transformed this second week. I still have momentary lapses where the old self rises and says “that’s not fair!”, but I’m able to suppress it and recommit myself to God’s plans. I’ve really enjoyed going out with people and getting to know them (even if it means eating on a schedule that I don’t like, staying up later than I’d like, not sitting at home in my PJ’s…), and He’s also been faithful to provide me some quality time with Brent as well. Such a blessing!

Last weekend was our large monthly gathering of all the network house churches. It was such a blessing, and I really enjoyed getting to worship and learn with everyone. Our friend was baptized after the service, and it was so wonderful to watch. Then we all went back and had a huge potluck. After lunch the boys played "football" (aka, soccer) and really enjoyed the day.

Walking to church (with my pasta salad that I made for our potluck)

The location where we met was so beautiful!

Our friend being baptized!

That's his daugher handing him the towel

Fellowship after church/baptism

My friend, Nani, with some of the delicious food

More food!

Enjoying a meal with friends

The boys playing "football"

The week was mainly just filled with work, although we had a couple meals with friends. We had our American friend, Jack, over for dinner on Wednesday night. He’s from the US office and will be here the same amount of time as Brent, so it was nice to be able to provide him a home cooked meal. I made chicken with spaghetti, and then we all went out for ice cream. We have a favorite place here called Corner House that’s very close to our apartment, and I’m on a mission to try every flavor. So far I’ve had fig n’ honey and rum raisin. Both were delicious!

On Thursday night, Brent took me to dinner at Adaa. When we got back to the apartment, we made coffee and had cookies. They have two kinds here that we like in particular: Dark Fantasy (a cookie stuffed with melted chocolate), and Tim Tams (a chocolate wafer with chocolate filling and covered in chocolate on the outside). We had one of each. Brent showed me how to bite off the ends of the Tim Tam, dunk it in coffee and slurp some up into the cookie, and then pop it into your mouth. It melts the chocolate and tastes like brownie batter. So good!

Dinner at Adaa (trying chat for the first time)

On Friday we stayed in and had dinner together and then shared a bowl of popcorn. This is a special thing for us at home, so it was nice to be able to do that here. I really enjoyed a relaxed night at home!

I slept in a bit on Saturday while Brent went to the gym (oops!). After breakfast we headed down to MG Road for Brent to visit his friend Amim. Amim is a Muslim friend who we’ve been talking to about Jesus. He was the first person Brent met in Bangalore, and he’s become a good friend. He owns a shop on Brigade Road, and Brent goes to talk to him every few days. When Brent was in the hospital, Amim actually called to check on him since he hadn’t seen him in a few days. I wanted to give them time together, so while they chatted and drank tea I went shopping around the area. I bought a really pretty wooden bangle and then stumbled upon a magazine shop. They had some outdated magazines on sale for 100 rupees, so I picked up the Fall 2010 issues of Martha Stewart Living and Better Homes & Gardens. I also bought a Fitness magazine since it had some exercises that I can do in my apartment with a stretchy band that I brought from home. I LOVE all of these magazines, and it’ll be fun to look through the Fall issues since I’m missing that back home. That should keep me busy for a while, and I’m thankful for them!

Afterwards Brent and I had lunch and then sat at one of our favorite coffee shops and read magazines (just like back home!). As we were headed home, we spotted the bus coming and took off so that we didn’t miss it. I accidently dropped my sunglasses and had to run back to get them. As I stood up and started running again, I didn’t see a really big tree stump and fell completely to the ground. It hurt pretty badly and scratched me up pretty good, ripping my jeans in the process. Needless to say, we missed the bus. But Brent proved once again that he’s a phenomenal provider and caretaker for me. He took me to a shop and got me some medicine and band-aids (just like he did in Mexico when I fell and had to get stitches there). He’s been taking really good care of me, and I’ll be all healed up soon.

I promise that coffee is normal size...it's just depth perception!

Coffee and magazines...so fun!

Ouch! I just realized that this is the exact same shirt that I was wearing when I fell in Mexico and had to get stiches on our honeymoon. No kidding! I might have to throw that one away!

Started to bruise a little the next day (that's my knee in the middle and my hands on the sides)

Saturday night we went to see a movie with Taha and Aarti and then had dinner and went for coffee. We had some really good conversations about how we can improve the work culture for the Indian office, and I think that Brent and I both learned some things that we can take back to the US office so that they understand the challenges that the Indian people face.

Aarti took me to a store to try on fancy Indian dresses after the movie. This one was too big on me, so I had to tie it on (it's supposed to sit low on the hips and show your tummy).

Me and Aarti

Today we went to church and then lunch with Andrea and Harry. We were at a food court, so I had Subway and the rest of the gang got McDonald’s. Brent’s been dying to try this thing called a McPaneer. It’s like a McChicken or something, but paneer is an Indian cottage cheese. It looked really good in the picture, but he was a bit let down. At least he can say he tried it. We went to Hyper City for groceries tonight, and it was the first time I left the apartment without my camera. I figured a walk to the grocery store couldn't be that interesting. Well I won't make that mistake again. We passed two camels on the way! Hopefully we'll see them again so that I can get a picture!