Here goes...

So here's a blog that I wanted to write yesterday, but was just too tired. I find myself in the same state of tiredness as we have been going non stop since we got here. I am definitely looking forward to our trip to the Taj Mahal. Since I am tired, I am going to get straight to the point. Yesterday after our main Kids crusade was over with & the team boarded the bus, a few of the leaders & myself, 4 to be exact went in another vehicle, with one of the pastor's & his wife. They are the pastor's to the church who is located on the outskirts of the slum that you might have seen in a lot of my India footage.

We were only supposed to sneak into the slum so we could go see the finished church built right in the middle of it. I say sneak, bec there is still alot of tension & violence happening to Christians, by a Hindu extremist group. The church was beautiful. A great place for people & kids to come & be educated & learn about Jesus. Then we were supposed to get back to our hotel, but the pastor made an unexpected stop. Mind you by now it's pitch dark & we're in the middle of a 8 mile radius of slums, if not more. So I have my mono pod to use as a weapon if things go south. He took us to a hut where one of the kids sponsored through mission of mercy lives. I was kinda irritated to be there. Maybe because I was tired & hungry, Maybe because we had by now drawn a crowd that was surrounding us at this hut, & the ladies were inside but I was the only 1 that couldn't fit inside. Indian's have no concept of personal space bubbles. Absolutely NONE! So I am being pressed upon by people outside. It took everything within me to not flip out. God did check my heart in that moment. I have to be honest & transparent. I have lived in India before & have seen all these things. So forgive me if I'm a little jaded. But in that moment at this little boy's hut, I was disgusted with my level of compassion. So much so I could have thrown up! I call myself a Christian? Yeah right... Jesus would have sat in their hut & talked with a mother who was grieving the loss of her other son. All I cared about was my comfort. I am ashamed to admit this, but I believe God was showing me my heart in that moment.Not condemn me, but to grow me. I was so ashamed of what I saw I wanted to hide it. Know one must ever know. But duh! God knows. & He still loves me. Ugliness & all. Although we were in a potentially unsafe situation, he was watching over us. God is working on my heart condition. I need it. I feel sometimes the American church has got the motions to perform Christianity as may seem down. But where's our heart in all of this? think about it.... thoughts? I'm tired but that's what I wanted to get off my chest. I'm ugly inside, but my God trades beauty for ashes! wow I am posting some more pics below. I must warn you, some are of the violence that has happened up here over the last 2 weeks. They are disturbing. You've been warned. I'm out.

Day 2

So today was the first day of the women's conferences & kids crusades here in Delhi. I must say, for running on 2 hrs of sleep, I did pretty decent. The day did end highly awkward & uncomfortable for me. I found myself stuck in the middle of a Health seminar for the women. Not just any health seminar, but a chat about menstration! Hello. I wasn't supposed to be running the powerpoint for this thing, but some how got stuck running the thing. The ladies on the team sitting off the side got a huge kick looking at my face, as the lady talked about "shedding your inner lining" @#$%^&* So needless to say, I have been educated more than I ever wanted to. But it's late & I have some sleep to catch up on so I'm out.

Back in the motherland

So I am back in India, been a year since I was last here. Already enjoying the food. There is one things majorly different about this trip though. I am with 28 white ladies! Yeah you should have seen the look on the faces of the airport officials when I was strolling off the plane in Delhi with them. It was priceless. I must say though, it's been a pretty pleasant trip so far. No attitudes, or cattiness. But we're only a day in here. We'll see how long it will last. Got to go see the girl Jennie & I sponsor today, well yesterday it's 3 in the morning & I don't know why I'm up. It was a pretty cool moment to see & hug the child you are giving a second chance in life to. It was actually humbling. Weird how that happens. Many of the ladies on the trip got to meet the children they sponsor & so it was just an all round good time. Tomorrow starts the conferences so we'll be at it from 6am to evening. Good times. There has been some recent violence against the church up here in the northern part of India. There have been bombings & killings, by religious extremists who don't want to see people converted to Christianity. One of the pastor's we are working with has been getting threatening phone calls everyday. We have had to cancel some venues where conferences & children's ministry were going take place. So it's pretty serious. Safety is a huge concern so we are traveling in smaller groups rather than one large bus. So all in all it's been a good trip so far. Watched the entire 3rd season of the office on the way here. Definitely helped pass 13 hrs away easily. If you have never watched the office or tried it, I definitely recommend it. It is absolutely hillarious. Well I should go to bed. More to come tomorrow. I borrowed one of the National Mission of Mercy staff's Wireless Broadband card. So no 9$ per hr for internet for me this time. Atleast for most of this trip. Here are some pics to tide you over till tomorrow. I'm out.

Home sweet home

I know it's been a while since my last post but I have excuses! Maybe it's because I started a new position, or I had to weave through boxes to get to my desk in my new office. Maybe it's because our lender kept changing our loan, & we got 19 versions of our HUD! (That's home owners talk) Never the less, yesterday we closed on our house after signing a mountain of paperwork! 3 hrs of it!(there were some discrepancies) We spent our first night in our new home! It was great. I couldn't sleep though. Getting used to the sounds of the new house. I also kept running numbers in my head making sure that what we signed was right. It is quite a great feeling to know that we are home owners! How crazy is that. To be investors this young. Most people our age are trying to climb out of financial debt or recover from bad relationships & choices. So I thank God for His steering & direction in my life. I have another full week before I head back to Stroudsburg, to fly out to India for 2 weeks. So I might be seeing some of you when I get back from India, while I'm still in PA. Then onto our kitchen being remodelled! Can't wait. Stay tuned for pics of our improvement to our home.

OHIO

It's late, & I'm tired but I wanted to drop a note here in my blog for those who I have left behind in Stroudsburg. I miss you guys, but haven't really gotten to think a lot about being so far away as it's been busy since we got here. Still haven't closed on the house yet, our lender is unbelievably indecisive. Be praying for us as we have another appraisal happening Fri & we have to get the garaged stripped & repainted to pass it & get our loan. So tomorrow is going to be a jam packed day of power washing, painting & then my first worship practice. I had to lead worship tonight, I wasn't really planning on it, but there was no one to help out, so I did a sit down acoustic set, with just me playing & singing. It went well I think. Well my eyes are shutting as I type, so that's it from me for now. Tired in Ohio.