South Asia - Oct 2008

Last month, I had such an amazing opportunity to spend a week with one of my best friends in her current home in South Asia. She had come home (to the USA) the week before my trip, so we were able to fly back to SA together. That was a special treat...you know...because that was a REALLY long flight...and isn't it so nice to have a BFF to lay over on in the airplane? You can't do that with just anybody.

Once we finally got to her flat...about 48 hours after we started...I was zonked. The jet lag hit me much harder than I thought it would, so most of that first day was spent hanging around her place, playing games with the kiddos, and sleeping on the couch for a few hours. I hated to miss out on a few hours in the middle of the day, especially my first day there, but my eyes would just NOT cooperate with me.

The kids were an absolute DELIGHT the entire week. They both give the absolute best hugs ever and I was grabbing one every chance I got. Leigha and I had a little bit of special one-on-one time together one morning before her mom woke up. I had been reading Job in my quiet time, and Leigha got up one morning early and joined me. It was quite a little discussion we had about God's faithfulness in some of the very worst circumstances. I don't know if she'll remember it quite like I do, but it is one of my stick-with-me memories from the week. I just love that sweet little thing!

Early in the week, we talked to my mom on Skype. If any of you know my mom, then you know she takes 75 pictures minimum in the span of an hour and documents every detail of EVERYTHING that happens. Well, she asked us if we had taken many pictures yet. Um....not really, I had to confess. I had been gone about 4 days at that point and had taken a total of 3 pictures. Mom was NOT happy with us. So we decided to make a better effort. Here are some of those first ones taken.

Me and the kids playing stack-the-dominos.



Here is Tiff laid up in the bed giving Leigha "feedback" as she tried on old clothes to rid up her closet and make room for new clothes that Leigha's friend had sent her from home. All of the old clothes that didn't fit well anymore were given to some of the neighbor kids that Leigha is friend's with....handing down clothes....cute clothes....a great relationship builder. :)



Here's a picture of a bicycle rickshaw. I didn't ride in one of these, but we did ride in one. Tiffany just forgot to take a picture of me in it. Sorry, Mom. At least I got a generic picture of what one looks like. They are all over the place. We actually rode in one back from the vegetable stand right down the road. It was close enough to walk back, but Tiffany wanted me to have that experience, so we rode. I thought that was incredibly sweet of her! Thanks, Tiff! And thanks again for stepping out of that comfort zone to take me to the veggie stand! I'm proud of you. They live in a very noisy and busy neighborhood. It's not the easiest thing to get out and go for a walk down the road...two women with two kids....white women....with no man. The stares can be a little intimidating. But she did it for me....and I love you for it!



About mid-week, we headed out into the city with their ministry partners. We walked to the top of this old grain silo...which I can't remember the name of...and you could see the entire city from up there. We took that opportunity to pray for their city. There are many gods worshipped in that place, but we prayed that the One True God would one day be the only God of that city.





After that we headed down to one of the ghats (I think that is how you spell it). This is an opening where people can get down into the Ganges River. They go there to sacrifice idols they have made. They go there to bathe in the water...some of the dirtiest water, if not the dirtiest, on the planet....believing that the water of the Ganges can wash away their sins. It is an amazingly sad place.



Right beside the river was a temple that we were allowed to go inside. We had to take our shoes off at the door. I was a little grossed out by that, but did not want to let the opportunity pass me by. I was so glad I went in. There was some kind of worship service going on while we were there. We saw musicians playing inside and they allowed us to take pictures.



Just inside the door was this statue of the monkey god that they worship.



On top of the temple was this tree. Actually, I think the temple had been built around the tree. They worship the tree. There was incense burning beside the tree.



From the top of the building, we could look out over the Ganges and see people bathing in the water. I've had some amazing opportunities over the last couple of years to see many different places. Each time as I've prepared to go and as I was going, one of my prayers was that the Lord would give me eyes and ears to see and hear the things that moved His heart. He has been faithful to answer that prayer on each trip. On this trip, that moment for me was standing on top of this building. As I looked over into the water and saw this one old man...going under the water....raising out of the water...over and over....raising his water-filled hands to the sun god who he was worshipping....as I watched that, I felt the Holy Spirit well up inside me and all I could do was cry. I stood there for the longest time praying for that old man...that somehow his blinded eyes would be opened....that God would place someone in His path to tell him the Truth...that the Holy Spirit would move alone to reveal to him Truth. Oh, my, I cry now again just thinking of that moment. How God's heart must break every day when He looks down and sees His lovely creation worshipping every other thing except Him. I felt His heartache in that moment. I don't want to ever lose that feeling. Even since being home, I have found myself more and more praying that God would give me those eyes and ears even here at home...at work...in my community. He is answering that prayer, too. I'll share soon.



Here we are waiting for our pizza. Yes, there is a great little pizza place there in their city. It was a yummy treat! This is one of only a few pics of us together. Again, sorry, Mom. :( We're terrible, we know.



After lunch, the girls wanted to get mihindi...or henna tattoos is what I called them. These guys were FAST. I think five of us got one and we were all done within about 10-15 minutes.







After mihindi, we shopped a little bit. Here we are in one of the silk shops. You see us all holding our arms high and blowing while the mihindi was drying. We were only supposed to be here to get some silk for our friend Amy. However, it was all SO beautiful and cheap, I just could not resist and ended up getting three pieces for myself, too. Not sure what I'm going to do with it yet, so if you have any ideas, let me know!



On our final full day there, we took a taxi out to one of the villages to meet up with the rest of our team. Below are a few pictures from that day. It was an amazing day where we met with some local believers and were able to encourage them in their walk. Tiffany got to tell a bible story to some children and did a most wonderful job with that. I was kind of paralyzed at that particular moment because we were not aware they were going to ask us to do that. I know lots of stories from the bible....lots. I've taught many, many children's classes, so I even know how to tell a story to kids. But in that one moment, every detail of every single story I know went right out of my head. I could think of a story...Noah, Jonah, David, Daniel. I could name off the story just fine.....but tell the details of the story.....nope....gone. I was such a loser! :) But Tiff picked right up with it and away we went into the mouth of the whale with Jonah. It was a fun story...told by a super fun storyteller!

So our time together came to an end much too quickly....much.too.quickly. We didn't get nearly accomplished all that we had planned to do that week. Nevertheless, it was a most amazing week with the most amazing friend ever. It will forever be a week etched deep in my memory. There's something so very special about friends. Something very rare about best friends....really, really special friends. But that week, I realized the wonderful joy of being with that kind of friend in a really, really dark place and ministering together among "the least of these". I am blessed beyond measure and so very thankful to my God for who He is and how He allows us to join Him at His work.....made even more special by sharing all of that with a friend.

Tiffany, I just love you more than any words could possibly convey. I'm so very proud of you and Steve and all you are doing to impact that city for God's Glory!