home

It’s strange to think that in three days, I was scheduled to leave. I’m settled in, I feel like I’m home. I feel like India is my place!

Look! I have ice cream in my freezer!

I have chocolate Indian cookies (known here as biscuits, along with crackers, chips, and anything else crunchy and bread-like!) oh, and don’t even think I haven’t been

dipping these double-chocolate-overkill version of oreos (they’re called pure magic,

and the advertisement doesn’t lie!) into my nutella. I told you, I’m on a chocolate kick! I can’t stop eating it! The girls on the master’s team are all doing P-90X together, and I feel like I should start, too. ALL I eat is carbs and chocolate!

Well, and fruit. Yummmmmm. That’s possibly one of the things I’ll miss most about India. I’m not a huge fruit person in the States but the fruit here is DIVINE. You’ve probably never had a litchi, but it’s delightful, let me tell you. It looks like a strawberry, but you peel back the hard skin to reveal the slimy white meat, and there’s a big brown seed inside. The taste is something comparable to a grape… but different. But yum guys. Im serious J

Today we had another kid’s camp, and I did love it once again. I took pictures and saw a lot of the kids I know already. There was one girl who just fell asleep on the floor in the middle of all the hustle and bustle - I couldn’t believe it! She just passed out! After awhile of just watching her there on the marble floor, I couldn’t take it anymore. I sat down next to her and gathered her up into my arms and let her sleep with me. It’s been really really hot here lately, and one of the volunteers said the case was probably that she was so hot in her home that she got no sleep last night. mm. what a privilege to hold her precious snoozing self underneath the air conditioner and pray for her and love on her.

preciousss

after kid's camp we had a volunteer lunch that consisted entirely of chow mein. Now, after 5 days straight, a lunch that has chow mein and no supplement can seem rather bland, so i got brave today and poured some of the dipping sauce into the smaller portion of my handy-dandy sectioned off paper plate. I had seen the aftermath of the red sauce earlier in the week when some red-faced coughing Americans ran by me looking for water, so i steered clear of that and carefully selected the green stuff. i twirled up my dry pasta on my tiny plastic fork, dipped it in the green delight and shoved it all right down the gipper. WHOA THERE! right when it touched my tongue, my whole head started to burn. i thought it might inflate and popright on the spot like i was in one of those airhead commercials or something. I wasn't sure if i was just a wimp, though, so i kind of tried to keep my agony quiet while i chugged some water and piled the dry pasta, on extinguisher duty, onto the flames i was breathing out my pie-hole. a couple of people noticed, and we had a good laugh. When one guy came by later talking about the sauces and mentioned how the green is so much worse than the red, i felt a little better (maybe i'm stupid but at least i'm not a wimp!) I just got over the tingle in my lips. man. food here is so intense. :)

tomorrow, we have medical camps and then Pathshala and BSP. i'll hopefully be getting at least 10 more pictures and bios of the BSP kids, at which point i'll move on to either CHEP or Pathshala. Things are going really well.

mm:) love from delhi,

julie the purposed.

my smallness.

good news!!

i feel much better today :) i guess that nastiness was just a 24-hour bug. i even felt good enough to play some settler's. we had a great night together... i just love getting to know these people better and better. they make my soul glad. oh! and i made chai for ALL OF THEM, per my friend Prabin's request. i was nervous that it wouldn't be good enough, but they all really liked it! i was SO PLEASED with myself.

Today is our day off, and i've done my laundry as usual, some schoolwork as usual, and just lounged around, as usual. i also ventured up on to the roof our our building, though, which was rather exciting. There are what's called "soul projects" to be completed for my biology class, and i was doing one today as i sat surveying hudson line. I was reminded of all the buildingtops i sang and prayed from in Peru, where nearly every building has an accessible roof. after my time of meditation for biology (the one part of the class i actually do enjoy and find profitable), i came back up with my camera, and for some reason found myself mildly obsessed with random building paraphernalia... and ants.

i don't know why, but i find beauty in it all, in the details, in the smallness. it reminds me of how big our God is!!

i'm also reminded of the truth from Romans 1 where it says that the Lord's power and divine nature can be found in the things which have been made. He's sustaining, and his divinity is infused in all that i see.

maybe that's why i love it so much.

...okay, time to take my practice GRE-- it's due tomorrow.

wish me luck.

love from delhi,

Julie the small.

oh no....

ohhh, yes.

i've escaped health issues thus far, but i woke up today with some definite problems. i'm feelin the stay in bed as long as possible vibe... unless i'm running to the lou, that is. i didn't even wake up today til around 1, haha. it shouldn't knock me out for too long, though, i'm planning on resting today, and luckily tomorrow is our day off so i'll chill all day tomorrow too.

it's all goooood.

yesterday i got 10 of the BSP tutoring kids interviewed and photographed =] i'm excited to use my down time to put their packets together (after doing my mounds of schoolwork, of course!)

tonight is supposed to be game night... and i'm hoping i don't have to miss settlers with all my friends! i overslept this morning though and missed church, so i don't want to look like a sleaze who just wants to play games instead of being spiritual (and singing for the offertory, which i was sUPPOSED to do today. oops. don't worry though, i let them know i might not make it.) it's good i'm down today though, instead of being out for a whole day of ministry. i got stuff i gotta do!

Prakash has gotten to the point where he'll call me by name, and say "bye Juldie!" when i leave. we're buds for real. we dance together, play bat-ball together, we chill together, and i throw him up in the air as a form of exercise. i'm so glad he's an element of this trip; of this summer. i've really, really missed kids in my everyday life which consists of Christian 20-year olds all day every day, punctuated by the occasional 40 year old professor. I guess if the point of an internship is to solidify your career path, then this one is a success. I love being around kids, i have a heart for kids, i understand kids. so many of these children will creep up next to me when i'm sitting on the floor with them, afraid to actually crawl up on me but just wanting to be able to touch me. i reach out and touch as many as i can. i rest my hands on their knees or put my arm behind their back or scoop them up and set them in my lap - they desperately need a sense of assurance, a sense of being loved. i let them tousle my thin light hair, and i point out any similarities i see between us. "look! you have bangles, i have bangles!" usually when i do that, the girls will play with my bangles for the rest of the day. i hope they know, even though i can't tell them, that i love them from the pits of the bottom of my heart. every child here has moved and changed me to being a little more of the compassionate and gracious woman who i envision myself to be someday.

how wonderful it is to have the opportunity to love.

A heart so full.

mmmm, this place.

i finally got a sieve so i can make chai in my own home! this is my first attempt... it was good (not as good as Indian-made, but good) and i'm so excited to show you all how!

i got to help cook yesterday at the Malakar's house for all the people who came over for the World Cup opening game last night! it was fun dicing onions for probably an hour and cutting up chicken to make pasta. It was more fun to sit around with everyone on the marble floor, eating and drinking, cheering and hollering, teasing the people who sided with Mexico when South Africa scored the first goal. Sometimes in this fellowship, i just feel so contented, and i know beyond a shadow of any kind of doubt that i am literally supposed to be here. mm. my heart says YES.

So after the university work on the tenth, Ashok and I and two of the girls from the Master's team named Kelly and Jennifer decided to get brave and go eat some authentic back-roads Indian food.

I was a little worried when I saw the place, but the food was FANTASTIC. we loved it! we were preparing ourselves mentally for the sickness we thought would follow, but none of us really had problems! we were really pleased... and now I want to go back there. this is kelly eating her hot pepper... she was really brave, but the aftermath of that tiny bite was like niroshima in her mouth! i just love the progression of her faces :)

I've been going to the children's tutoring program in the mornings called Pathshala. It's amazing and wonderful, and i've only been three days but already i get to help out! i'm singing educational songs with the kids, and soon i'll start reading "moral" stories with translation from my friend Krishan. Andrew, the other short-termer who just arrived, has been going with me. The children are between 2 and 10, and man are they exactly what i came here for! they have kind of a haunted look about them sometimes in their fixed, intense stares - they're so intensely beautiful, but so innocent at the same time. i really really love them.

there are so many stories not to forget, but right now i just want to tell you the one thing that has me the most excited. I now have a genuine, all-me, productive purpose.

i'll be taking pictures of the kids who get tutored here through the programs of BSP, Pathshala, and CHEP. i'll have a translator help me ask them each a series of questions and i'll write a bio on each one. i'll get the info all put together in photoshop, and i'll have brochures printed out. i'll bring them back to the States for people (just like YOU) to sponsor monthly throughout their education. What i really like about this, is the fact that it's 1) ongoing, and 2) a domino effect. These children are exposed to PMI, and they are learning what we're all about. they are getting a good education through your sponsorship, and will go on to college to become well-respected members of society. Having grown up with PMI, though, they will have a different perspective and will have learned truth. These young men and women are the hope of India. they will return to their families and spread light wherever they go.

and i get to be a part of it.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

monkeys and meat.

It struck me today that it’s possible there’s such a thing as too much blogging. I thought about apologizing for so many posts so frequently, but even if you happen to be sorry I write so much, I’m not! ;) haha, it’s really my main journaling effort while I’m here, and I’m doing everything I can to keep my experiences straight.

That being said, I have a couple of experiences to note! J

Number one: took some pictures on campus today! The universities are so nice and it’s always cool to see how no matter where you go, people are people; girls are still girls with a love for shopping and relationship talk, boys are still boys with a need to kill things and feel respected, and college students are still college students with a hunger for acceptance and a desire to be emulated. We all want to be loved, really. [We all want just a little respect.] anyway, after the campus work, we were walking around checking out some of the nicer campuses, and we got to a point that I’d never seen before. I asked Prabin, our leader, if we should continue on our current path or turn back. “Oh, we should probably turn around,” he said nonchalantly, “to keep going straight is only if you want to see more monkeys.”

Ok, let me get something really straight with you guys, lest you make the same mistake as Prabin. There should never be a question in your mind -

I ALWAYS want to see more monkeys!! Needless to say, straight was our direction of choice. There is like a sort of jungle on either side of this pathway which is apparently rather long. We walked a very short bit of it, and only saw about… six monkeys. (six legit monkeys in their natural habitat!!)
Prabin said there’s usually so many more… he even told us to keep our stuff on us so they wouldn’t grab it, which conjured up images of “night at the musem”.

Anyway, that was a stellar ending to our campus work for the afternoon. I also really liked this afternoon because Prabin told me some of his story as we walked through the Delhi University campuses. I love the relationships I’m building here… it’s really cool to see such good people opening up.

You know, I haven’t really been grossed out by India yet. Hadn’t, I should say, until today. Today after some really good conversation with Heather which included a possible job for me right now that’s more specific than “hang out on campuses and watch over the teams” (hope with me it will become a reality!), she commissioned Erica, Tiffany and I to go out and get the necessary food items for cooking dinner. We went to the grocery and got 2 kg of potatoes… I made the clerk bag them and I’m still not sure how much a kg is – I feel like a stupid American with no sense of conversion factors – and then we stopped by the chicken shop for meat.

Wow.

I walked in, greeted by the welcoming and open arms of some skinned and beheaded small animals hanging upside down, with fuzzy tails still attached. The manager was lighting incense just as I entered, and he needed to finish his duties to the painting on his wall before he could acknowledge me. I showed the store clerk what I needed, and we waited for some other person to attend to my every wish. This tiny shop made of marble consisted of a small standing area and a front counter that looked something like a donut shop from the states with a selection of meats displayed in a glass case. Half of the rest of the tiny space was elevated, featuring cutting stumps, huge knives, hanging hooks, and pans of gizzards and blood. As we waited for the man who I later found would be cutting our meat on this elevated section of store, I noticed that the lower section where I stood was rather infested with beetles and the huge Indian ants I’ve become so accustomed to. One man came in the shop while I was waiting, and as the door was closing behind him, something scampered in. yes, a rat ran across my path today, and I couldn’t quite keep myself from jumping and gasping softly. It ran right into the store clerk next to me, and he made an exclamation of his own. I was beginning to wonder how much more of this place I could take, when my meat cutter finally walked in barefoot and sat down on the elevated portion of floor. He measured out 3 kg of boneless chicken, and began to place it on the marble next to him. I noticed that as he measured, he had moved his knife with his foot, and was holding it there in place with his toes, to keep it out of his way, I thought. My thoughts were quickly proven wrong as the man began his deft work on the chicken – slicing and dicing… yes my friends, with his toes.

Though we ate the foot-rat-meat this evening, and it was delicious, I think I may just send Josh to get the meat for us from now on.

i think probably the grossest thing depicted here, though, is the proximity of that man's chai to his panful of grizz. oh, my gracious... what a life.

still healthy in delhi,

julie the monkeylover.

i in the slums of orient are.

Guess what? My sniffles are almost totally gone! I feel so much better, and life just feels easier when I have a working head, nose, and throat.

So my camera’s getting kinda beat up here, but I knew it would – hey, that’s why I bought it!! this trip has made me want to get some new lenses realllly badly, but even with my limited equipment, people here still ask me if I’m a journalist. Haha. Nottt even close.

So hey, let’s take a poll: how many of you out there would judge me for getting a nosering?? It’s such an India thing, and I just love it! also, it’s so cheap here to get one – fifty rupees max (that’s around one dollar, if you didn’t know). At this point, since it’s cultural and since I’m here, it’s clearly not a rebellious thing that I just want to get done, but I’m not gonna make a rash decision. All the girls here think it’s a great idea, though; the moment I asked Menaz if hers hurt she was ready to take me out to go get one! Sometimes it’s kind of a trashy thing in America (obviously no offense to any of you readers who are sporting one) but here it’s just normal, and beautiful! Hey, it could be a good conversation starter.

Picture time! Today was a beautiful cold day in India, and after doing all my laundry,

I went for a little walk through Hudson Line to take some pictures. I didn’t get anything spectacular, but I had a nice walk anyway. This precious little slum girl is saying “Namaste”.

I found tons of pretty flowers,
and tons of dogs.

It started to rain a little, so I made my way back to my house.

Okay, next order of business: let me introduce you to someone!

This is Peter’s mother. She lives on the ground floor of the building that Tiffany, Erica and I are staying in, and she’s such a good woman. She doesn’t speak much English but she makes magnificent Chai and she’s so hospitable and sweet. She always tells us “we are your neiiighbor!” and wants to help us out. I think she’s beautiful. I know she’s wonderful.

Well, along with my changing sleeping behavior, my eating habits have also begun to shift. Thank goodness I started to take a shine to Asian food before I came, otherwise I’d be getting realllly skinny! Who here remembered from geography class that India shares a border with China, eh?? Along with the extensive menu of 1) spicy chicken or 2) spicy rice and potatoes offered in India, there is a plethora of oriental stuff! Plus naan… but I tell you about naan every day. oh, and people eat tons of fruit. Now that, I like. Me and my mango juice, as I told you before, are getting pretty friendly. Along with that, you know how when you even think of India, people start handing out immodium? Well, not to be crass, but I have not even looked at all the immodium I brought; in fact, I’m a seasoned sufferer of the opposite bodily effect! CONSEQUENTLY, I’ve become quite familiar with prunes. Nothing like a plump sun-withered fruit to complete my image as a regular world-travelin’ fool. Yep, Prunes and Maaza and honey corn flakes is my morning routine. And actually, I really like it! I may continue to partake in their shrively goodness when I get back to the states.

So let’s finish by talking about how good I am at being Indian now. :)

Today, I independently and successfully: washed and hung my laundry, took a walk without getting lost, took pictures, showed someone around to the market and the ATM, went grocery shopping at two different shops and bought chai, ordered a pizza using the correct phone number which came to the correct house at the correct time, and did TONS of schoolwork for these online classes.

I think I may be about to try and successfully shave my legs with no running water! That would make my day complete.

With love from Delhi,

The regular, oriental, and successful Julie Terrall.

extra, extra!

well, it seems i can't sleep.

i'm excited about my day off tomorrow - i'm gonna go shopping and buy chai since we have a stove in our little home now :) and i'm gonna get to be the best chai maker there ever was and teach you all!! and i'm gonna do allll my laundry, and i'm gonna eat chocolate and take pictures... somehow. i can't go to the slum by myself, but i'm told i'll go on tuesday. let's keep our collective and international fingers crossed for that, shall we, readers? thanks. :)

ok, remember how i told you about the university work we've been doing? well, after some time working out in the hot hazy scorching sun that causes sweating, smelliness, dehydration and death, the campus team stops in at the cute little cafeteria of whatever campus we happen to meet up and have refreshments AKA a goblet of something cool and refreshing and fruit-flavored that has been blended in a communal food processor along with all kinds of other delightful fruits. well, one day we were just chilling, waiting for our happyjuice (Maaza is my drink of choice these days... mostly because it comes in its own bottle and i get to skip the sketchy food processor bit. ha. it's basically mango juice. everything mango here is awesome; i think it must be the national fruit or something. i'm hoping in my heart i can find maaza back in the states, cuz i'm starting to become somewhat dependent on it, i think...) and one of the many camera men on campus started trolling the cafeteria grounds. He started to move people around and he asked us to sit at a specific table. we obliged, no big deal. he must want the cafeteria to look busy, i thought, so he'll shoot only one side after filling it up. he took some pictures of us specifically - though he didn't pose us i'm sure we were all aware of his lens jutting out at us and we all had a photogenically merry time together for a few minutes until he left. it was no big thing, just a passing moment. or so it seemed... no, friends. this moment was not as passing as i initially had thought! Prabin, the leader of the campus work (who is Fabulous at it, by the way) got a call a couple of days ago, asking if we wanted to include a tagline about what we're about and why we're on campus under our PICTURE IN THE TIMES OF INDIA. ha! that's right, i come to India for three weeks, and i get in the national newspaper. it's to be expected... i'm kind of a big deal. i think i always knew it, but now it's been confirmed. good thing i was wearing my cute kurta!

well, things are still swimming along quite well here. Number one... Prakash is in love with me - i know this because he has taken it upon himself to learn my name, and because sometimes he cries when i leave. Number two... Josh is learning to cook from Kagui - they made some stellar fried rice and chicken tonight... wow, yum. Number Three... i'm still developing my relationships with the girls here - i got to lead the women's fellowship time tonight in Study, and what a nice time that was! I felt more comfortable with them than i expected to, and we had a very profitable talk. i learned a ton just preparing to lead! Number four... i got to have some great conversation with Heather tonight. I really appreciate getting to know her, and i feel like we can be great friends. she's gotten to the point where she's comfortable joking around with me, and i think that's a good place for me to be. Number five... i've learned to sleep in a multitude of ways after a lifetime of never sleeping in any position other than that of a fetus. i think my favorite here is stretched out on my back with my arms above my head. i don't know if it's cooler or better for sleeping on the ground or what, but i like it. my neck still hurts from the one time i fell asleep in the middle of the day, just konked out after flopping down on my stomach. i woke up drooling hardcore and stiff like none other! note to self: don't abuse neck muscles or hydration reserve in this manner again.

well, i'm still trying to do what i can to help the malakars out. i think it's funny - usually i never notice the little things that need to be done, but here i'm so aware of anything i can do to clean up after them or make their lives easier. I can only hope my presence is more of a benefit than a burden to them.

i am their intern, after all! :)

okay, i'm going to try and go to sleep again.

yours truly,

maaza slurper && newspaper star.

ps:: though i made it sound like a ball of fun, don't try tummy time at home, (i'm a trained professional sleeper on a closed course.)

{i'm lovin' it.}

so here's the deal. i've been informed that my boss at home is basically a waffle and my job a no-go, i've crunched on the financially related numbers, and i've been signed up to lead an event the day after my date of departure sooooooo..... it's official.

i'm staying.

i have enough money to stay an extra fourish weeks, so i'm gonna keep it to two or three to be safe with the plane ticket and all. two months in india, babyyy! ba-da-ba-ba-paaa [i'm lovin' it]

things have been going great here again, i'm settled into a little more of a groove i feel like. i'm singing and playing piano tomorrow with the singing team which is such a fun opportunity... it's my fourth time singing for events here. sometimes i think i've changed since my childhood in that i always used to want to be a performer, but now i feel like more and more i'm becoming a behind-the-scenes person... i feel i'd rather be setting up or taking pictures than being up in front of people. i guess i don't mind the occasions to do so, though, since i'm basically 'Indian Idol' at this point ;) but enough about me... (don't make me sing... anyone, anyone?)

let's talk about the events of the day. i went onto the campuses to recruit PMI volunteers, which on different days can go different ways. it's realllly hit-or-miss. haha. sometimes, i'm that white face that draws everyone's attention and bright smiley focus, and sometimes, i'm that nuisance who happens to be bothering the girls filling out their applications. i get smiles, i get stares, i get that puzzled and slightly frightened look that turns into a bug-eyed and open-mouthed silence which you might see on the face of a person who has just been approached by either a celebrity or a talking donkey. i met a sweet girl today named Shiva who seemed very overwhelmed, but thankful for the offer of help i extended to her. she seemed interested in what PMI had to offer, and we chatted a little bit before she told me she needed to get back to her form because she had to turn it in quite soon. i really hope she comes by - she was probably the sweetest girl i've met this week on Delhi University Campus.

after the campus work with the PMI staff and two members of the Master's college team, we came back for lunch and i did finances with the Malakars, after which i got to sing some with Kagui who's leading the songs tomorrow. they were going to have me just play piano (yes, sorry that i'm dumb and american and i need chords to figure out songs on the piano. yes, i mean to tell you that i can't figure it out on the fly for the first time in front of a whole crowd on sunday morning. yes, i know you're northeast indian and have music in your blood, but my blood is noteless, so give me a break!!) but they found out i can also sing harmony, so i'm going to try and do both at the same time. whoosh, they work you hard here in India. i should have guessed, when a rickshaw driver will pull four grown men across town behind his little bicycle with his tiny toothpick legs for fifty cents.

speaking of rickshaws, what an excellent transition point into one of the best stories yet.

Peter asked me to take the team to Kamla Nagar and back for dinner so they could see the market and... so they could eat, obviously! well, i mustered up all my strength, gathered up all my hindi phrases, put on my meanest bargain face, and set out to find six rickshaws to carry us all to market. we searched and searched to find six together who would understand, and finally we found them with the help of a saintly motorcycle rider/translator. hooray, we made it to kamla nagar! i paid one rickshaw driver all the money and told him "Ap saab Kaliya," "this is for all of you!" he split it among them and we walked to McDonald's [ba-da-ba-ba-paaa], and i felt so proud of myself. i'm such a hardened indian traveler! However, while eating my little chicken wrap in the cool of McDonald's, after the classic american "COW! COW IN THE STREET!" shouting fiasco (which of course thrilled and highly amused all the Indians at that fine dining establishment), i realized. i had to do it all again to get us home. "Oh well," i thought, as we walked back down the street, "i'll find the courage to put on the hard bargain julie face again." and it worked! i got a better deal on the six rickshaws we needed and we were whisked off to the infamous bizzhotel. I'm starting to feel like a game show host at this point, because i must add... "But that's not all!" The rickshaw-wallas (anybody who DOES something here is a walla. iron people are presswallas, shop-keeps are shopwallas, etc. what a fun suffix, eh?) had misunderstood me, been too eager to get going to listen to me, or had taken some wrong turns in order to get more money out of me by spending more time getting to our port of debarkation. in any case, they all stopped at the wrong place and i told them again where we needed to be. They rolled those big brown indian eyes at me and pedaled on their way, but in the process the six of them were separated. no big deal - they know what they're doing. True, on days when the rickshaw-wallas DO know what they're doing. ours happened to continue to stink more than the stinky river next to PMI (and let me assure you, it is quite stinky.) and deliver us all to different places. the MOST unfortunate part of all of this ruckus is that in the pairing of students to ride in the rickshaws, the two had been left un-partnered were myself and Joe, the leader of the team - the only two people with phones. we jumped off our ride close to the hotel, threw twenty rupees at our rickshaw-walla, and began sprinting after the three rickshaws carrying the team away from us. what a sight we must have been - two cute little americans racing as fast as their flip-flops will carry them down the construction-riddled dirt road of Hudson Line. but alas, even in our speediness, we did not catch them. we walked across the highway to the hotel, hoping their drivers had been better than ours, but they were not there. "nightmare," i whispered under my breath as Joe did his best to keep his cool. The team has been here less than three days - i doubted their abilities to communicate with the rickshaw-wallas or to find their way back on foot from the neighboring communities, and i was scared straight. Joe went back to the road where we were dropped off and i waited at the hotel to see if the team would show up as i called heather, peter, and josh hoping for assurance or ideas. i paced back and forth, checking every rickshaw that passed for their beautiful white faces. i felt a little scared for myself, walking alone next to the metro after dark, but for the most part i was too consumed with my worry in having lost this precious team! finally, just as peter called me back to tell me that four had been dropped off on the Malakar's doorstep, i heard someone call my name from a distance. The remaining six girls had walked back from Hudson line to the hotel, and what a welcome sight they were! i think i felt something like the father of the prodigal son as i jubilantly explained to peter that they had finally found their way home! i called a relieved Joe, who either stayed much calmer than i or hid his angst exceptionally well, hugged them all, and breathed a huge sigh of relief. i'm not a genuine Indian yet, folks! From what i know, though, i couldn't really have prevented what happened unless i knew Hindi, so any American leader would have had the same problem that night. (just so you don't think i'm incompetent and directionally challenged.... though now that i write it down, that's probably more accurate than not!)

i'm still a little mortified at the potential outcomes of the evening, but here come the new mercies in the morning.

what a day! what an adventure! what an excercise in trust.

with love from delhi,

julie the rejuvenated.

two posts in one day - wow!

Just thought i'd let you know that my evening was so nice.

there are these Indian girls who just light up my life! They're all between the ages of 22 and 24, and they're just such sweet and beautiful people who joke and giggle and hug me. this may not seem like a huge deal, but going without any kind of physical touch for however long i've been here got me down more than i thought it would. now that i know the girls better, though, we can all have a good time together. As we were eating our dinner on the floor and laughing at the different circumstances that would come up, i noticed more and more how comfortable i am with their sweet demeanor and how comfortable they are becoming with me. Doubling over in laughter at Menaz or Esther, my dear friend Jesse (who is also interning with PMI) would lean over and playfully slap me on my outstretched knees. this gesture of friendship and simple touch meant more to me than i can even say! i love laughing with them, i love shopping with them, i love getting to know their lives. they are one of the biggest reasons i don't want to leave!

oh, how beautiful is the body of Christ.

now, to sleep.

~with love from one greatly loved.

thinking fondly of the States.

okay. i know being vain is petty and immature, but sometimes i wish i had perfect skin, flowing hair, nice teeth and a naturally photographable demeanor. tonight i was browsing the internet waiting up for my dear friends in Zimbabwe so we can skype, and i saw some gorgeous pictures of friends of mine. (not to mention some really terrible ones of me! haha) i just felt really down on myself, and that's frustrating to me. i'm here, in India, doing things i love, meeting people i love, working on things that reflect my every heartbeat, and still i'm caught up in the prettiness problem. of course everyone has their own beauty and charm, but that's hard to remember when you're popping zits. oh well, i guess it's nothing a little photoshop won't fix.

well, i have new roommates today! Tiffany and Erica are sisters from Austin, TX, and they're both alike and different. they're sweet-spoken, polite and frugal girls with hearts for missions that are quite evident. Tiffany is the elder of the two. She's inquisitive, compassionate, and very much ready to serve others. Erica is younger, she's twenty years old. She's quiet and intellectual, and seems very self-sustaining. i like them very well; they're easy girls to live with.

the masters college team is also here now! they're great, they're verrrry chill. they have taken over the english classes and are doing such a great job. i've really enjoyed conversations with them about photography and life in India. I am still hoping to be as much of a help to them as possible.

so, i'm at this point in my life where i just... need chocolate. i don't even know what it is, but i picked up chocolate cookies and chocolate ice cream at the shop the other day and they are rocking my world! i've always been a vanilla gal, but right now the combination of sugar, rich taste, and that little kick of caffeine is what's getting me through! i guess i'm in a little bit of a slump... think of me if you would - i'm hoping to run on my father's strength. trying and trying here has left me quite tired, and while i can never EVER nap in the states - no matter how hard i keep trying, i find myself needing a mid-day snooze here to keep me from feeling a like a little introverted grumplestiltskin. i'm facing the facts; i'm getting tired.

i also hope to soon find more of a place to fit in so that i can really help PMI. i like what i can do to help Peter and Heather out, but i don't fit in very easily to the categories of english teaching, campus ministry, or slum work that PMI divides itself into. I actually have not been to the Nandlal slum yet, and going is becoming one of my greatest desires to fulfill before leaving. i hope to see it soon!

my chocolate is calling me. off to an evening of Bible study and fellowship!

with love,

grumplestiltskin.

new floormat, inner compass, and settlers champ.

teek hai (OK), soooo, i can't even tell you how happy i am right now.

Prabin, who lives downstairs, just brought up a mattress for me so Tiffany and Erica (my new roomies coming in tomooorroooowwww) can sleep on the two that are here already. he ALSO brought this sweet couch-out-foldable-bed thing which will DEF be staying a minicouch. my body is so happy, and my house looks like a little home!! its cuuute.

tonight i went to the market called 'big apple' by myself and got banana cornflakes. i'm in love with the honey version, so i thought i'd try another branch-out. i also got boxes of tissues. praise the good lord for tissue boxes. (and they're cute!) on the way back, there was one moment in the streets of India that i was lost. i can't tell you how my heart felt at that moment. i was harmlessly mocked by a young man passing by who said in English only "hello"... he may as well have said "give me all your money! i have a knife!" ...i wanted desperately NOT to be noticed by anyone until the panic evident on my face had calmed and i could picture the mental map i had made myself back at my pinkhouse. Thank goodness, the moment was fleeting and i handled myself with class and poise. i confidently turned the right direction - thanks to my trusty innate compass [ha, those of you who know me well are laughing very hard indeed] - and found my way back safely to my pinkhouse with a renewed sense of the importance of... well, sense. and now, i know just how to get back from big apple! :)

tomorrow i get to take Tiffany and Erica shopping at Kamla Nagar, which i looove to do, and i have to buy Josh more dental floss! i promised him i wouldn't use it all putting up the new curtains i bought, but after hanging only one of the two panels, it was GONE. whooops, i feel like a schmutz.

finally for tonight, the Malakars are Settlers fans. furthermore, i have won two of the three games we have already played, after a lifetime settlers winning count of ONE.

i'm staying in India forever. please send money.

oh dear. oh me, oh my. so much to say.

oh, dear. the liberty team has departed us here at PMI to return to their coffee and workout equipment in the blessed United States of America. I have to admit, i got a little nostalgic seeing them go - i was kind of like one of their team... we got oriented to the culture together, fought jetlag together, ate tons of foooood together (and who doesn't bond over food? i'm a quarter italian, so food is in my blood) went shopping (numerous times!) together, and i really connected with some of the teammates. i genuinely like them very much, and it left a part of my heart a little lonely to watch them walk out of my indian adventure. But i've learned so much from them, and i think the time for bucking up and moving on is approaching. i have one day to revamp myself and my place, and then go by myself (woo-hoo! they trust me!) to the airport to pick up the sisters who are to live with me the remainder of my time here.

oh, me. One thing i learned about myself that i want to watch the next time around (the team from Master's college comes in thursday) is that i'm just so dang lazy! as they arrive, i want to remember to take care of the small stuff for them so they can have the energy learn how to adapt to the culture and what they should be doing and not doing, how they should be eating, and how to deal with the differences in comfort level and behavior that they find here. [same for the sisters... whose names i have been told SO many times but still escape me.]

i feel like i'm really starting to get engrained into this life. i'm beginning to weave myself in as a part of the tapestry, instead of being a droplet of white stain on the rich brown fabric of Delhi. friends, how i do love it here. i know i keep saying it, but i want you to know. i am so happy. i am so blessed. there are moments that i just want homemade guacamole or an oreo, or i just want to wake up and not have to turn on a water pump (or live in fear that i didn't turn it OFF and my power will be shut off upon my evening return), or i just want to lay down on a bed that's at least knee-height off the floor, or i just want to be in a place where every day everything is not covered in a freshly laid layer of dirty dust (dusting at home is just a whole nother concept at this point... it's impressive! every night there is a visible film of DIRT on my mirrror, my glasses case, my hairbrush, anything i've left out), or i would really like not to have to manually dump my sun-warmed shower water over myself, or i just want to not have to remember to shut off the water to the toilet so the tank doesn't overflow onto the floor (flooding. every time.).... but honestly, those moments are fleeting and i don't want to leave. i really want to stay here as long as i possibly can.

oh, my. saw my first cockroach today!! Heather had me buy some cleanerballs to put in my drains to keep the creepycrawlies away, so i haven't seen any yet, but in the stairwell on the way home from the Malakar's tonight, i saw a monster one and got a little tight in the neck muscles and jigglyloose in the spine. ok, WHAT is it about cockroaches that makes them so much grosser than everything? i'm cool with bugs. the ants in my room don't freak me out. spiders of reasonable size i have no problem with. even like worms, no biggie, just walk over them - or - cut them in half so they can have a buddy! but cockroaches, they just give me the google-y-jiibbities. my tongue automatically flies out of my head. my shoulders do the wave. my neck muscles flare like a cobra. but why? they're not abnormally shaped or freakishly crawly or dirty looking, they just look like a long flat pebble that's a shiny rich amber color and happens to have smart long feelers. maybe it's the size that gets me. i dono. in any case, i just walked on by, and thought hey, they don't live in the pinkhouse with me, so hooray for that.

i haven't been using my camera as much recently. i hope to take my next monday (PMI staffers' day off) to wander around Delhi and take a rickshaw to Nandlal, the slum adopted by PMI, to really try and capture the city as much as i can. i think will be a really worthwhile, eye-opening, relaxing and essential day for me to have here... i think i may not feel complete if i leave without pictures! (have i really become that dependent on photography? wow. i'm a lameeee-o. seriously though, i was looking through some of my stuff, and if there's ONE thing i miss about the states, it's my job opportunities as a photographer. i love it, i want to get better and better, and i want. to use. it here. so that's the plan i formed in my brain full of curry, chai and naan.)

i'm excited for a new day. please hope with me that my cold goes away soon, all this phlegm is getting old. (where does it keep coming from, anyway?!!?)

also hope with me, if you would, for opportunity, innovation, and courage as i try to make the most of my experience here with every possible second.

peace, love, and blessings from Delhi.

yours truly,

Julie.

chai, cricket, and rain from heaven.

yesterday, i learned many things.

first of all, i learned how to make chai (YAY!) i went today to the market to pick up some of the tea for myself so i can continue making it everysingledayofmylife, since i LOVE IT, but alas, he was out. i plan on buying like 24 cartons, so if you want one for a gift just call dibs and i'll come to your place and teach you how to make it... hopefully it works the same way in american pots :)

yesterday after chai was the sports day for the PMI volunteers. how wonderful... we had a great time! the planned tournaments (it seems Indians are quite competitive) were cricket and ping-pong. I figured i'd go out and learn a little cricket... why not? i can handle the heat, and my incoordination (what? my mac corrected my word, but i thought it was uncoordination. crazay.) will give everyone a good laugh. iiii was pretty much right. i can't catch a little yellow tennis ball, i can't bat to save my life, and i throw like a very little girl. For those of you who don't know, cricket is very similar to baseball; only about 800 times more complicated. the short version of the rules is that the batter defends the wickets, and the pitcher tries to hit the wickets. if you bat and your ball gets caught in the air you're out, or if the pitcher hits the wickets with the ball you're out. otherwise, you keep batting and running the two bases until Jesus comes. ::cricket matches can go for days. literally:: also, if you hit the ball past the big tree in the middle of the park you get 6 runs. (this may or may not have been a house rule. ha.) sooo, they had me bowl (pitch) like second out of EVERYONE. it's a little different than just throwing the ball, you have to bounce it once before it gets to the batter, and you HAVE to aim for the wickets, otherwise, all the indians think you don't understand and continue to direct you in how to throw (OH, you mean i'm throwing at that guy with the BAT?!?! NOWWW i get it. see, i was aiming over there to the right on purpose because i thought i was supposed to throw it into the bush. thank you, my ways are mended.) I was pretty intimidated when they put me up to bowl, because i don't like being bad at things, but i've learned to laugh at myself so i went along with it. They actually were pretty impressed, i got a couple of guys out. my team was slapping me on the back and saying how auwwe-sum i was doing (for a girl, anyway.) haha. that was pretty rewarding. i DID blow my cover as an all-star when i batted once and lost the entire game for us, though. HA.

Julie Terrall: still the opposite of athletic.
after all the games and festivities (ping-pong didn't go too badly for me... i lost to a Canadian, but we were neck and neck the whole time! haha) we put on a three and half hour slapstick comedy movie... in Hindi. now, let me just get out in the open that i don't usually like this type of comedy in America to begin with. Anchorman, Dodgeball, Nacho Libre, Zoolander, etc.... all fun to quote, but i just don't find it funny or enjoyable to sit through. Add a language barrier to a movie like that and make it twice as long, and that's how you get this movie called "The Three Idiots". woooo-hoo! i was just about to try and nod off to save myself the long explanations of what was going on from a well-meant Indian when i noticed a commotion - people were streaming up the basement steps of the PMI resource center and peeping out the door, chattering amongst themselves. i waited a moment, then got up myself, as much to get away from the movie as to see what was the matter.

i found out when i got up the stairs... it was raining.

every Indian who had noticed was out in the muddy streets. children were running. women were standing and smiling, faces raised to the heavens. men were dancing in the streets. All were drinking in the cleansing droplets, more than happy to feel the cool, moist touch on their skin.

it has not rained in Delhi since September.

Even in the wet season, i'm told that Delhi receives very little precipitation. every rainfall is a gift, a blessing, a momentary hiatus from the oppressive heat.

how beautiful to see these people in their simplicity; to see the true and unashamed thirst of the land and of the inhabitants.

And what an appropriate metaphor. These people need truth like they need water. they thirst for love divine. the few that find it revel in its extravagance; but there is so little compared to the great dry and dusty need. How i would love to come back to quench this land of thirst.

how i do long to be rain.

...and lean not on your own understanding.

i'm sleepy, but i had some cool things on my mind today, and i wanted not to forget them.

One thing i keep coming back to is that living here takes so much Trust. that means that the living is hard, but it's one of the things i keep feeling that i love most about being here. I'm not scared for my life, i'm not worried for my safety (though i am taking EVERY safety precaution necessary and possible, dad! promise!). i just know that i have to walk out on faith. I always wanted to learn to be faith-filled - a term i find more descriptive than 'faithful', which brings to mind only marital relationships... not something i need to worry about at this point in my life - but i've never really HAD to be. This place is a daily test of faith. Do i trust that i will be taken care of? Do i trust that i will have the measure of strength i need for the day? Do i trust that i will not forget where i am and wander off down an Indian square? Do i trust that i won't be eaten by mange-ridden dogs or a rabid camel...? Do i trust that my feet will not shrivel up in their own dusty filth and die dark and horrible flaky deaths??? Yes, friends, and i MUST trust all of these things, otherwise i would not leave my pinkhouse in the morning. but i do trust, i do leave, and i enjoy myself immensely. I have delighted myself in my father, and he seems to have given me the desires of my heart. i can truly say i did not even know what it WAS that my heart desired previous to feeling as satisfied as i have in the past two weeks.

hmm, how good he is. be still and know him. taste, and see.

the slum dog and the million-dollar question.

oh hey, slum dog!

sorry, just thought that was clever.

I would like for you to now meet Shiva:

A sweet, slightly antisocial boy, Shiva wandered away from a little-understood game of Duck, Duck, Goose with a blank look on his face and sat on the park bench by himself. it took me awhile to notice him; i was trying to photograph all the action of the game! my personal favorite is the last second before the kids go to sit in their seat after running wildly from their pursuer, because more often than not they'll leap through the air and then plummet down right on their little brown tushies! anyway, as much fun as THAT is, when i saw Shiva blinking aimlessly by himself on the park bench, i wandered over for a chat. well, maybe more of a noisemaking contest :) he'd mutter some childlike phrase in hindi and i'd usually say, "i don't understand you, but the main problem is that you're too cute!" Then i started to just gurgle back at him what it sounded like he was saying to me, and that made him start to smile. I'd roll my r's, and he'd say "brrrrrrrrrr!" trying to imitate me. he crawled up on my lap and i looked right into his big beautiful eyes, and i just started to talk to him. "Do you know just how much Jesus loves you?" i asked him. "Do you know he loved you so much that he died for you, Shiva? Do you kno-" "doo yah noooo...." i heard an echo. He had continued to imitate me. so i started again with the same words, since he seemed to get the cue from my recent question. "Do you know," 'doo yah nooo,' "God loves me." 'gah luffs me.' "Soooooo much." 'saaaah mahch.' "Do you know," 'doo ya nooo,' "He sets me free." 'he sett me fee.' "He wants me to love Him" 'mmm,hem!' "Sooooo much." 'saaaah mahch.' I continued, only hoping that Shiva will someday be captured by the truth of those words out of the darkness into which he has been born. My heart is burdened for these children, who know nothing of light. i sincerely hope that the grace of the Father carries them, and that they find no satisfaction in their lives until they look to Him with newly radiant faces begging Him to show them the love which they are now grasping at so desperately. the beauty in their innocence is undeniable. the struggles which they work through are unbelievable. the power in their potential is unmeasurable.

i guess my million dollar question is, will they decide to choose him? i can't even imagine the force of change they'd be if they did. what a treasure it is for me to be included in loving them.

indian chub

guess who's sitting here using the internet from the comfort of her own floormat??? (and by floormat, i mean bed... it's luxuriously firm, and is cause of the mysterious shoulder and hip bruises! ha!)

it is i, fearless pizza orderer, bucket launderer and temple traveler!

i want to write a thousand things. hmmm. well, for starters, it's clear that my honeymoon period with India is over. the logistical issues and venders and sickness and crazy food and the sheer force of will and amount of focus it requires to hear everything an Indian person says have finally caught up with me. suffice it to say, i'm exhausted! haha... life is still good though, and the Father has never ceased to give what i need.

since my washing machine is freakin out like a two year old or something, i decided i had had enough of waiting (and i saw that i had only one pair of clean pants) and set out to do laundry on my own! ok so here's what i have: one broken washing machine. one full box of powdered laundry detergent. working water spigots. two water buckets. a hamper full of dirty clothes. one community clothesline on the front porch. three flights of stairs. i got going! i used the broken washing machine to set my camera up and take pictures (coming soon to a monitor near you), put the laundry on the floor, the detergent and water in one bucket, scrubbed the clothes, threw them in the sink, rinsed and squeezed them out, put them in the other bucket, and carried that bucket down to the line. that's the simplified version, but let's just say i won't be complaining doing laundry from second floor McKinney next semester :) what an adventure my every day is! i do love it.

today, the team and i went out into old Delhi and saw within the stretch of one mile, a prominent Sikh temple, a Hindu temple, a Jain temple, and the largest Muslim mosque in all of India. it was a very enlightening experience that really helped me understand more about India, having now actually experienced it. At each temple we removed our shoes out of respect (man are indian floors hot!!) At the Sikh temple, we had to cover our heads. we first came upon the people worshiping, and moved on to many different rooms, observing different practices or outreaches of the religion. Peter says it's a mix between the Hindu and Muslim faiths. The most fascianting thing there though was their kitchen! i got to sit with the ladies and make naan (like tortillas) for a little bit, after which we walked out into a big room to see a meal going on. I learned that Sikhs are very socially active, and that they feed the poor and help the needy in India. for some reason, this was particularly touching to me. The Hindu and Jain temples were very quiet and pretty similar. the people would light fires and bow down to the images of their gods and offer food and flowers to them as sacrifices of worship. Jain is a small but influential sect of Hinduism that is extremely conservative. they don't believe in killing ANY living thing, so they're all vegan. there at the temple, they have a bird hospital. It was slightly perplexing to me, and quite the contrast after seeing the help the Sikh people offer to the poor in contrast to the bird outreach of the Jain. After that was the Mosque - a beautiful but somewhat deserted building. we could only bring one camera in, so i was appointed photographer which i DO NOT mind :) ever :). the girls were given kimono-like dresses to cover up when we went in, and Ron, the Liberty team leader, was wearing shorts so they gave him a skirtish thing too... haha.

after all the temples, we went out to eat at a hole-in-the-wall place that served genuine awesome Delhi food -- my favorite so far!! i'm gonna figure out how to make butter naan and bake it for y'all when i get back... you may not have lived until you've eaten butter naan and tandoori chicken. YUM.

well, after English class, chat over coffee, and two interviews for my internship today, i ordered pizza in for Raj, Josh Hamm and I since we live in the same house. the ordering alone is pretty challenging just getting your message across, not to mention the fact that i had no menu. Raj is a pretty big guy, so i figured i'd order us two pizzas. they come ( to the wrong house number. MY BAD. i'm sorry i said 2292. but i can tell you the order, the correct house number, how much it cost, and the name on your paper! i promise i'm the white girl who ordered it! please, give me the pizzas!), and as he finally hands me the pizzas, i hang my head in shame. sweet, so in India, medium pizza means like 'could feed a medium sized child'. Raj, as i mentioned, is very tall for an Indian, and i've had dinner with him before so i've seen his eating habits. i decided just to leave the pizzas in the boys' room and leave before they could reprimand me for knowing nothing of indian culture, but it turns out we were ok - we just gave Raj a whole pizza and 4 pieces of the other was enough for me, and Josh said he doesn't eat as late as we were eating so he just had 3. all was right in the world, but NOW i know.

i'm gaining weight with all the good food, but i'm not too worried. i gained 23 pounds in peru and lost it all in the first 2 weeks back in the states. these kurtas cover it all up, too, and i have no mirror in my house except a tiny one so i can't tell if i'm looking a little chubby or not! it's okay either way.

india is worth the chub.

:]

tired but content. kids club early tomorrow.

yeahhtaj.

Well, today I guess I went to the Taj Mahal. wow – it’s still hard to believe afterwards! We spend 10 hours total in the car today. Most exciting animal seen on the road HAS to go to the elephant, but honorable mention goes to either camel or monkey. I’m in an exotic land, folks.

Man, the Taj was beautiful and amazing, and it was fun to share it with my newfound friends on the Liberty team.

I loved wearing some of the clothes I’ve bought here, chatting with our tourguide and teasing Sandeep, my friend and our accompaniment from PMI.

I couldn’t get over the beauty all around us: the white marble shining brilliantly in the white-hot sunlight, culture and history so real and so thick you could cut it with a knife, the hustle and bustle of tourism constantly moving around us. We white folk were treated like literal celebrities! The Indian nationals all sent their kids over all incognito and would kinda take pictures of us on their phones all sneaky-like (well, some were more bold than others). :) I guess white skin is more rare here than I thought. The photos (though you’ve seen plenty like them, I’m sure) surpass any words I could probably supply, so I’ll let them speak for themselves.

haha, yeah, handing my camera over means that the pictures of me don’t always turn out as great as I hoped, but that’s why I stay on the other side of the lens, eh? Oh well, everybody blinks :)

How blessed am I? This summer I have so many awesome opportunities. Who gets to be who I’m being? Who gets to live the life I’m experiencing? Who has the great privilege of seeing what I’m seeing? Well, not very many people. I’m a lucky, lucky girl, and I’ll never stop being thankful for therichness of my life at this moment.

Live well, my friends, and do what you love. It is seriously worth more than I ever knew.

i overflow with thankfulness.

I’m not even joking with you – being in India makes me smile.

I had my first Indian man sing to me yesterday, and it happened again today. What a happy culture! They sing to their women in the streets! Naturally, he just wants to get me to smile at him so we can make eye contact and he can woo me and get his Hollywood impression of an American girl and to marry me and get a green card out of me, but just the sound someone bursting into song with no regard for tune or pitch correction at their first sight of me makes me feel like I’m the heroine of a musical! I can hardly contain my ridiculous grinning until I’m out of his sight, and after that point there’s just no stopping me from beaming and giggling for probably a good five minutes.

Oh, and speaking of streets, I just can’t seem to kick the habit of walking on the right side of the road! I keep moving myself consciously over to the left (with the purpose, of course, of not being run into like a highway bug on your windshield,) but I seem to always end up again on the right, carefully alternating between watching the road in front of me and behind me for cars, motorcycles, mopeds, rickshaws, autos, ice cream vendors, paper collectors, trash trucks (…………………..) and watching each step so I don’t fall into a pothole and make a stupid blonde pale American of myself. Then, to make matters worse, I keep getting distracted because I have new freckles on my nose! I don’t know if you’ve ever had a new freckle on your nose, but if you happen to find yourself looking down the bridge of your shnozz all day (again, so as not to trip and fry like curry and eggs on the pavement – er – gravel – er – dust) like me, you may notice more things about your nose. Anyway, my new freckle of the day is really quite large, or maybe it’s just a strategically placed average-sized freckle that fused like four others together. In any case, it’s quite distracting, and while I’m noticing it and thinking up clever ways to blog about it, I somehow drift to the right side of the road again and again and again. I also have a new freckle on my right hand. Strange…

BUT speaking of noses – gross alert – I forgot about the classic ‘overseas trip’ black boogers! yaaaaayokay, that’s all about that.

If I can take a moment be quite honest, though, (not that I’ve been deceiving you before; I guess I’ll take a moment to be more sober) this Ephesians thing is getting really hard. I come home to pinkhouse happy to be exhausted after a day full of children and Jesus and laughter and labor in legit 113 degree weather, and at 10pm I journal/blog, I upload pictures, I write papers, I work on my two summer classes, I sum up my hours for my internship, I reflect on the day, I read my books, and THEN, I memorize four verses per day …not forgetting any previous day’s verses. Since there are timelines on almost everything except memorization it’s easy to get distracted. I don’t want to fail because memorizing Ephesians 1-5 was one of my specific goals for this trip, and I really want to challenge myself to do it, but shoot! I have to get up at like 6 or 7 these days… and this could get real ugly real fast! The memorization may turn into an all-summer deal, and I just might be okay with that. Even so, I’m going to keep on trying. I am still reading through the book of Psalms this month, though, and I’m loving finding a couple of concepts to kind of marinade my brain in all through the day. mmm. This morning i got to Psalm 23. it sums up my time in India well, i think. my cup overflows... oh yes it does. last night waiting for the food, i felt for the first time i think what it is to overflow with thankfulness. though i am grateful FOR it, america does not make me thankful. material things do not make me thankful. but this place, these people, these attitudes, this work, it makes my heart too full to describe. it literally feels like it's overflowing.

Beautiful stuff. Beautiful life.