baptisms!

This last Sunday was a special day in the life of my local church here in Mussoorie - Baptisms! We all first met at the church building for worship (and also to congregate everybody together before trying to venture off the mountain as a group). The chosen baptism location was in Dehradun (an hour and half drive down, except during tourist season when traffic is nuts ... oh wait, that's now). So the church hired a bus that holds 44 passengers which is why we fit slightly more than 50 people. There were also personal cars and motorbikes. Anyway, so we left church to head for Lacheewala, a park with a river - beautiful setting, lots of people. Long story short: nine people were baptized, fun playing in the river, and great chicken biriyani (a deliciously flavorful Indian rice dish). And then back up the mountain we went.



Ah, food.

Anybody for a game of cricket?






Baptism: what a beautiful witness/sign of God's grace and forgiveness and the church's role in compassion and edification

And finally, just floating on the river. Good day.

exit & re-entry

I just wanted to send a quick note out (though with really slow internet, "quick" should come with a disclaimer).

I am doing my exit interview at the end of this week. eMi does this about a month before departure so that what is discussed about re-entering our home culture and leaving the culture and community that we have learned to call home ... these things can soak in. We will talk through what stumbling blocks we might encounter, what specific things could trigger culture shock, and how to move back in with as much grace as possible. Also on the agenda is how I have seen God here and how I feel God has changed me. So many deep, introspective ponderings and questions. I will let you know if I pass. (just kidding).

Two new interns have arrived from the states, and two more will arrive in two weeks. The summer interns here first went on a project trip and then have come up the mountain to continue and hopefully finish the work they have started. It was fun to listen to their stories of all the "firsts" they experienced during this first time in India. It reminded me of when I first arrived and the newness of everything. There is something spectacular about it - seeing God's children here and His amazing creation with fresh eyes. I want to hold onto the part of that which enables me to be utterly amazed at the depth of God's movement ... every where I go.

monsoon rolls back in

(This makes more sense ... though it is sufficient to be a stand alone picture ... with the previous post, and also the one before that. Just to let you know.)

This is looking towards Dehradun (the big city down from the mountain where I live) on the same sunsetting evening as the Himalaya picture prior. The clouds are starting to roll back in. And we had another storm that night/morning. You can actually watch the clouds climb up and over the hills as they move north. Once again, absolutely beautiful.

monsoon clears (momentarily)

(This post makes more sense within the context of the last post.)

So monsoon cleared and cleared the dust with it. This is our view from our front yard. Foot stool to the Himalayas. Sunsetting over the mountains. Beautiful! This is the clearest that I have ever seen the mountains. Not only is the first layer of snow caps visible, but also a layer behind them. Honestly, I was just happy to stand outside without feeling wet with the ability to see the hills nearest our hill (one layer back).

I am sure I am now no longer to seek pity for situations while living in India (like the fact that I am still wearing three layers of clothes at all times ... and it is June!).

monsoon = rain

So many people around Mussoorie have been saying that monsoon is here, has been here, and it was early - really early. Let the fun begin.
Exodus 40 - God settled over the tent of meeting like a cloud ...

One of the best things about monsoon season is that you can know, visibilly, that God's presence dwells witin our camp ... thickly many times and as the season progresses, continuely without stop. How to describe it? How about "dense fog advisory" for the whole day with on and off rainshowers (heavy at times), and on and on wetness (which means always wet). It is spectacular to see cloud at your feet - white cloud vapors flowing at ground level and eye level and roof level and sky level and ...

I know I am making it sound absolutely wonderful, where you might be tempted to say, "I want a monsoon too!" Let me simply emphasize that everything is wet, all of the time. Everything turns green with growth because of it. The grass (yes, grass appears), the leaves on the trees, the trunks on the trees, even the roads grow green! Some of it is leafy, but most is mold - and lots of it. The mold has not hit heavy yet but I have been told to just wait. No more hanging clothes outside ... they will just get more wet.

Does anybody have a slip-and-slide? That could be really fun living in the mountains with a constant sprinkler/hose source.

Oh, but when the rain stops ... glorious! The rain clears out the sky so much. The Himalaya mountains seem at arm's reach (okay, a little farther than that). Yesterday was one of those days. Just before sunset, the clouds broke and God's glory broke through. I am trying desperately to get a picture posted. For now, I am sorry to leave you with only: "it is absolutely stunning easy to stand in awe of God's masterpiece."

distracted

I have been really distracted these last couple of days. It has been hard to keep focused. It is like at some point I turned a corner where I knew that I am leaving India and this chapter of my life. Even though I still have seven weeks, I feel like I am on my way out. I would like to stay in it here. I still have a bit of work to do; I am still living here in Mussoorie in community; and God still wants to continue to shape me. And it does not help that there is this large "white board of destiny" that holds our lives in four month intervals. It is now the beginning of June, May is erased and September will be added in its place right next to the already posted June, July, and August - all laid right before our eyes in the center of the office. I do not know about the rest of ya'll, but our year seemingly goes by three times as quickly. So no wonder why I feel like I am already back in the States and needing to figure out what life will look like in 2009 (nevertheless for the rest of 2008).

holiday with kelli - part 3

The Taj Mahal is incredibly large and incredibly ornate. I was fascinated by the detail work of the marble and the beautiful in-lay work with other precious stones. The mausoleum itself was much less interesting than the progression through the gates and courtyards and the approach to the building. Stunning. We were given foot covers or “booties” (as I affectionately call them) because thousands of people removing their shoes would be chaotic, even for Indian standard. After the Taj we went to the original Red Fort (where the Mughal emperor first established his kingdom before moving it to Delhi). Then back on the train and back to Delhi we went. Tuesday morning we all took it easy and watched a DVD and hung around. The guys left to catch the afternoon train back up to Agra, while Kelli and I had a late lunch at a Westerner’s restaurant where we could order pasta and thick milkshakes. We went shopping to get a curta (Indian style shirt for Kelli), ate dinner with some friends, and then taxied to the airport to send Kelli off and back to the States (and I immediately left for a train station to take the night train back).

Needless to say, when I arrived at 8am Wednesday morning, I was wiped out and quite sleepless (I am never good at sleeping on trains). Began work again on Thursday and half of Friday, prepared for the office’s intern BBQ, and left Kelli to once again (in a short amount of time) adjust to a new time zone. She graduated and headed out with her college age kids on a mission trip through UMCOR (United Methodist Church On Relief) to Kentucky. Then she packs up her things and moves out of her apartment to start her appointment to two small churches on the gulf coast. So, essentially, she is not yet allowed to breathe … while I enjoyed my weekend and started right back to work.

holiday with kelli - part 2

Anyway, we went to St. Thomas Basilica, where his remains were once buried. Chennai is one of two places where it is believed that the apostle Thomas arrived in India. It is a beautiful church. We spent a couple of hours there. We then went to a hill spot (St. Thomas shrine) where it is believed he was martyred. The first day there was both encouraging and disappointing: Christianity is much more visible here than in the north (window stickers on cars and driving by churches) even though less than 10% of Tamil Nadu is Christian; some of these Christians here seem to be worshipping St. Thomas (or even more sad) or a statue of him instead of the only one how deserves our worship. Besides these architectural things (which I found fascinating) and an abundance of, to me, random relics (which Kelli, as a learned clergy person and master of divinity, found intriguing), we spent time at both a snake park and reptile park – what do you expect while being escorted by four men? I enjoyed it, and Kelli even pet a baby crocodile. On our second and last day in Chennai we went south of town down the coast to Dakshina Chitra, which for my San Antonio friends is like a really cool Institute of Texan Culture. The complex showcased traditional living of south India (Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh). We saw potters, weavers, painters, housing, worship, wedding, and such all in traditional South India style. I even got a henna tattoo there. Awesome place.

Then it was back to the airport to go once again back to Delhi. This time (Sunday) we stayed around and toured about. We got an early start so that we could go to a church that my sister’s Austin church supported. It is in the north part of Delhi and we were staying in the south. So after a rickshaw, metro, change lines to another metro, and walking around, we arrived … somewhere. I had gotten us lost. After an hour of wandering, we gave up and headed back to find a metro station to continue with our day, when lo and behold! There before our eyes was the landmark that we had been looking for. So an hour and a half after the service, we got to church – took pictures and left. We went to Delhi’s Red Fort and Jama Masjid (the largest mosque in India). Then utterly exhausted, we went back to our temporary home. The next morning, we got up at 4am to catch the morning train to Agra. Upon getting off the train, we were found by two of the interns at eMi2 (Ryan and Ryan) who came along to see Agra with us. First stop: the Taj.

holiday with kelli – part 1

My intern holiday officially began when I caught a taxi at 3am to get to Dehradun to catch the 5am morning train to Delhi. I wandered around Delhi, slowly making my way south, discovering how the metro works and what you have to do to get the rickshaw drivers to go where you want to go at a reasonable price (convincing them that I am not simply a foreign tourist who doesn’t know where I want to go and what that should cost). I stopped over at a new friends’ house where I was asked to stay for dinner. They had [real] beef hamburgers. I had forgotten how much better beef tastes than buffalo; they were so good. And before and after dinner I played with their three kids. One of my sister’s friend’s parents and I went to the airport and unintentionally hung around there for several hours (Kelli’s flight was late by more than two hours). It was good to talk with her about India and south India and politics and the States and my sister’s visit and her family … we had lots of time together.

The next morning we headed back north and up the mountain so that we could hang around Mussoorie and so that she could see where I live and work. Sadly, the Himalayas was partially covered up by haze so the crisp snow-covered tops were not visible – its okay though, I showed her pictures of the glory of God’s creation. I was utterly mean to her by not allowing her to go to sleep until late afternoon (well, you have to get through jet lag some how). The next afternoon, we headed back down the mountain (taxi) and south (train) back to Delhi to catch an early morning flight the next day to Chennai. By mid-morning we landed in Chennai and was received (and retrieved) by one of my sister’s seminary friends, Prayer (his name translates to prayer from Tamil to English). He, the driver, and two of his friends gave us a tour of Chennai. We had fun together and they made fun of how my sister eats Indian. It was partially my fault, I admit, because I took away her eating utensils. Also south Indian food is more spicy than north Indian, which she could handle neither.

no time to breathe

This has been an intense couple of weeks. In short summary: at the end of April I went to LCH (the hospital close by) after being sick for several weeks with what turned out to be intestinal bacteria, and after two rounds of antibiotic am feeling better; had been preparing for my sister’s visit to India and our travels around (trains, planes, automobiles – literally); first Tuesday in May the fun began with me traveling down alone to Delhi to retrieve my sister; our travel back up to Mussoorie; our travel back down to Delhi; our flight to Chennai; meeting up with my sister’s seminary friend and his friends and touring Chennai; our flight back up to Delhi; us wandering around Delhi; our train to Agra; our train back to Delhi; my sister’s flight back to the states and my train and taxi back up to Mussoorie; and then finally, yesterday we had a bar-b-que hosted and prepared by us four interns. So today is finally Saturday and a day of rest. Thank God! What a great time it was, though.

Yesterday was also the first anniversary of my dad’s death. I had absolutely no idea how it would impact me. I don’t know, maybe like birthdays, anniversaries just do not mean much to me. Matt Pinkstaff (eMi2 staff) and I headed down for the last 9th grade girls’ Bible study at 6am. We talked about Luke 15 (the parable of the loving Father, lost son, prodigal son). The main point was that life only comes when we are in the Father’s presence and He is our treasure, what makes life worth anything. Then we came back up and had our daily office morning devotional and prayer time. And then a pretty standard day – until was began our food preparations for dinner. It started storming with crazy wind and nearly horizontal rain by the time we wanted to make our fire in the grill. So we would run outside to turn our chicken and potatoes and peppers and such, get very wet, and run back inside. Anyway, so no meltdowns, no hysterics, no weeping, no somber attitude.

I have been thinking about it often though for several months (and will most likely continue). I oscillate between convictions: my life is forever changed and I am not at all different. I guess both can be partially true. I feel that I am doing things that that I was in preparation to do (international missions, architecture, graduate school, involved in church), but I also know that I look at life differently. I admittedly am a planner (to the extent of going back in my calendar to fill in what has already happened), but now I have a difficult time understanding people who are not. If you want to do something, get it scheduled and do it … don’t leave it in “someday” land. I do not want to die with regrets about how I lived. There are many things that are now empty promises that can never be fulfilled between my dad and I. His ambiguous plans of “one day we will do that” hurt more than starting with no hope of doing them at all.