Short(er) and Sweet and Sour

I’m trying something different today. It’s 4:30 p.m. here in India and I’m going to try and do my blog wrap-up now. When the evening comes around, everyone is so whipped that all we want to do is go to bed. Staying up until 1 a.m. doesn’t make the list of “Smart Things To Do In India”, so since we have a bit of downtime and most of our planned experiences are behind us, let’s do this thing!

Today was a total change of pace for us and a great experience all around. We didn’t have to be anywhere until 9 a.m.! So, naturally, Debbie C. woke up all of the guys at 5:30. We’re super glad she’s feeling better and has rejoined the team (kidding…we are seriously glad she’s back with us). She reminded the guys that today was Mother’s Day and that we should make homemade cards for all of the women. She was right to call us out and remind us…but in our defense, it was 5:30 in the A.M. Maybe we were going to bake a cake or something! Give us a chance to fail first. We really poured ourselves into the cards, too. We made Top Ten lists, drew pretty (by dude standards) pictures, wrote poetry, composed crossroad puzzles, printed whole chapters of scripture in them…I can’t say for certain, but I’m pretty sure it’s the best Mother’s Day they’ve ever had. You’re welcome, ladies. By the way, Happy Mother’s Day everybody…especially our moms and wives who we can’t be with today. If you see our moms or wives today, please hug them for us and let them know how crazy we are about them.

Onto the update. After Art Class we gathered together for breakfast and devotions - but we were also treated to some friendly faces. Last Monday, villagers from around the North River Mission Center where we are for this week traveled a REALLY LONG WAY to visit the Poonthanthalam Mission Center, which they had never seen. Remember Monday’s blog when I shared how Leon and Justin had ridden in the back of that truck to the Mission Center on Monday morning with all of the kids? They were here first thing this morning to wake us up. We’re still all kinda reeling from having to bid adieu to our new family at Poonthanthalam - and it’s still really sad to think about - but seeing this kids today was a gift from God. We headed over to the church (which is about two feet to the left - the Church is attached to the Mission Center) and “God O”’d all over the place. We led in some songs and we did FOUR Grain Game illustrations for the church. Leslie shared her Giode presentation, Justin presented his newly crafted Gospel story using the PinWidget, Debbie C showed off her superior cutting skills with the Impossible Journey and I did a NEW Grain Game about Christ being our only hope. The GG requires only three plastic cups and a thumbtack. One cup has one hole in it, one cup has about 20 holes in it and a final cup has no holes. In this spiritual battlefield, the teaching is really needed. So many imperfect gods requiring good works to save is contrasted to Christ. Using a volunteer, you pour water into a cup with one hole in the bottom over his/her head. Naturally, the water falls onto the kids and everyone gets a good laugh. You point out how just one hole ruins the cup (one sin ruins our chances at God’s perfect standard) and then the water is poured into the cup with many holes (also above the kid’s head - a beautiful marriage of liquid and hair) to show the reality of how much sin is in our lives. Finally, the “many holes” cup is placed inside the cup without any holes to show how an imperfect creation, placed inside a perfect creation can be made whole and effective again. A great teaching…and you get a kid messy. My kind of church service.

Naturally, being with our Indian brothers and sisters in worship, we took the opportunity to sing “Power in The Blood”…and the look on their faces was priceless when, after a few verses and choruses, this team of “White people” (their favorite thing to call us) busted out the chorus of “Power In The Blood” in Tamil. And we nailed it. They loved it and than as THE CHURCH we joined our voices together, in their language, to declare the victory we have in Christ. This is one of the best experiences I have ever had. Next India trip, you need to go with us if only to experience this one event. Also, the rice. We eat rice at EVERY MEAL. HUGE portions of rice. With our hands. Pretty sure India is Heaven (not just because of the rice…but it’s a factor). Following our time of worship, we joined the church for lunch (RICE!). Then, some of the village children asked us to visit their neighboring village and the whole team went to visit. And since we didn’t use any of the balloon animals at Poonthanthalam, I took a pack of balloons and three pumps - and apparently the whole village will turn out for balloon animals. It was a great time. Also, super hot. But it is amazing how far balloon animals will go towards building a relationship. Seriously, it falls in the Top Three best ministry skills I’ve ever seen. Figure out how to do balloon animals and you’ll always have a friend. Also, as Hanneken just mentioned, it gives a whole new meaning to being “pressed about on every side”.

Well, we’re about to head out to dinner. We have lined up a special Chinese buffet dinner in honor of all of the ladies on our team. Chinese food in India. Let that sink in for a second. But before we roll out, I want you to know what we’re facing this week and where we stand. David said that, unlike Poonthanthalam, the children in this village are not as “civilized” or “educated”. We’ve already seen a little bit of this. We were spoiled in Poonthanthalam as most of the kids at least understand a tiny bit of English. Some were even proficient (as they are former students of the schooling that Mission Center provides). Here…nope. Even the question, “How old are you?” or “Age? Years?” is met with a confused look. We definitely have our work cut out for us. Even Pastor Nandekumar is not as proficient in English as Pastor Gnanam was…which will make tomorrow REALLY interesting. David has some things he needs to take care of down near his condo, which means, for the better part of tomorrow, we’ll be on our own…leading VBS for children who don’t speak our language and an interpreter that may have difficulty understanding us. Pray for this. However…from our experience today, we have already seen one thing: we may not be able to connect verbally with these kids, but on the way to the village, every child was holding the hand of a team member. They are just as eager to learn our names as we are to learn theirs (and they have just as much difficulty!) In just the few short hours we’ve spent with them, we love these kids already. Pray that we will continue to be able to cultivate these relationships across increased cultural barriers. But, we know that Jesus transcends all of that, so we’re not worried a bit. We can’t wait.

For today, please lift up these things in prayer:

1) Pray for the ability to communicate and cultivate relationships with these new kids.
2) New strength and energy
3) A renewed commitment and fresh passion for this mission.

Happy Mother’s Day, everybody (well, mostly moms, but everyone can be included). We’re praying for you and your worship experiences today. Love you guys so much.