India "We're Here!"

The air is thick. Not smoggy, nasty thick, but humid, hot thick. Stepping out of the baggage claim and sucking in my first breath of the open Indian Air was something like breathing in steam from a tea kettle. I was surprised to find the airport was actually very calm and orderly. I had in my mind that it would be crazy, like trying to get through an angry mob with each person trying to carry my luggage so I would pay them. This didn't happen. We were offered help and we accepted it, but everything was calm, orderly and pleasant.

We got all our luggage (10 suitcases and 10 carry-ons of various sizes) out to the parking lot where the men who had come to pick us up began loading luggage on top of the car. I assumed some would go in the white one and some in the red one next to it as it appeared that the driver of the red van was talking with Pastor JohnPaul. This was not so. The red van was not with us. All our luggage was piled on top of the little white 4x4 and we all (7 adults and one 5 year old) loaded up inside. To say it was a tight squeeze is an understatement. 

 

Over the next 24 hours we would continue our journey to Tenali from Hyderabad where we had landed. A 6 hour drive. (If you believe that raise your hand. If you raised your hand you are very wrong.) The trip had some trouble. We got pulled over by police multiple times. JohnPaul said that all our luggage was very suspicious. I found this humorous because we passed many auto-rickshaws, cars and even trucks that were weighed down with many more people-per-square-inch than we were, but it was the luggage that made us suspicious.

We stopped for a much needed rest and leg stretch a little less than halfway through our trip. It was there that dad found this sign about sugarcane  (It's elephant's favorite!) and we also saw a tarot card reader and his bird. The bird was a very cute little guy and mom asked if she could take his picture.

 The next stop we made was a few more hours down the road at the shrine of a Hindu monkey God. It's kind of surreal to see things like this, but it is a huge reminder that's I'm not in Oklahoma anymore. This is by far the most elaborate shrine we've saw during our journey to Tenali, but shrines are everywhere. Ganesh (and elephant god) is one we see on almost every corner.

Finally after an eleven hour drive we made it to the orphanage. As the gates were opened up for us we saw the children who are still here for the summer standing out front waiting for us with beautiful garlands! As we got out of the vehicle they adorned us each with a garland that smelled even more beautiful than it looked and they shook our hands and welcomed us. We had been "traveling" for 53 hours straight. We did rest in a hotel in Hyderabad, but only for the night then we were back up and at 'em.

After the welcome we headed up to the "guest rooms" in the orphanage/church building. Have I mentioned that it is hot here? We are extremely fortunate that they have an air conditioner in these guest rooms so there is at least a little relief from the humidity and heat. Exhausted from the trip we got our beds settled and slept as best we could for the night.

This morning I woke up in India. It was the second time to wake up in India, but this time it was different. The "beeps" of local traffic floated into the room as did voices of the neighbors. I got up put on some clothes and walked out on the balcony by our room. Jealous?

Most of these next pics I snapped while walking around the second story of the orphanage this morning.

Some children playing by the train tracks behind the orphanage. I'm not sure why exactly but I love this photo!

JohnPaul's neighbor's animals.

Some neighboring girls on their roof. I think they may have been hanging up laundry.

One of the men who work here at the orphanage pumping water out of their well and one of the little boys doing chores. He was getting morning water to the animals. I know the green dish is Trixie's. Trixie is a little puppy.

Some more neighbors.

 This is one of the women who live and work here and two of the children.

After awhile they brought us breakfast and then we went down to meet and play with the children. They are so cute, kind and lovable! They always brought chairs out for us and even would take scraps of cardboard and fan us because it's obvious we are not used to the heat. (Later this afternoon I finally got them to stop fanning me. It is so nice of them and they do it to honor and comfort us as their guests, but I also do not want them to feel like they have to serve me. However they still threw a fit when I tried to sit on the ground. Haha! I'll work on that one later.)

Some of the local pastors didn't get the message that VBS will not start until tomorrow so some of these children are not from the orphanage, but the surrounding areas. We had fun and played with them anyway. The suckers were a big hit. :-)

I'm very thankful that today was a day of resting and relationships. We've gotten to spend some extra time with the kids from the orphanage today and have had some extra time to acclimate to the heat and our new schedule. When the electricity has been on (probably about 5 hours out of the daytime) we've run the air conditioner to get a little bit of a break from the humidity. Most of my time has been spent sitting or playing with kids. They tried to teach me a game, a variation on tag. I think I started to understand the rules, but by that time I had run around in the direct sunlight and was getting a little lightheaded and needed to take a break. When we weren't playing games or throwing frisbees they've been bring to teach me Telegu. I'm afraid I am very bad at it. Ha! But, they are patient teachers and always shout and clap excitedly when I finally pronounce something correctly. It's the little things right?

Pray that many kids will come the the VBS and that they will understand what we are getting to teach them. My biggest prayer concern right now is that our culture doesn't get in the way of our message. Because of the caste system here we are automatically revered as a higher "class" because of our skin. I'm praying that what we won't be seen as a novelty for "upper class people" but as a reality for everyone through what Christ did for us. 

Also please pray for the effect the heat is having on all of us and especially the effect it is having on the medical conditions that are traveling with us. We are all trying to drink extra water, but we can only drink bottled water because our system can't handle water from India wells.

I'll post more when/as I have time. Today was a day to rest so I'm not sure how much time I'll have in the next few days. I may just post some pictures here and there. We'll have to see. Thank you for reading all the way to the bottom! I know this will have many many typing errors, (Please forgive me Stacey Winters) but I'm hoping you can forgive them. You never know when the electricity will be shutting off so I'm going to go ahead and post this ASAP.