India! part dos:

The last couple of days have been really good!!! I LOVE INDIA! I would even go as far as saying that I would maybe want to live here! I love the people and I love the food and I love the clothes! (I'm actually having a ball with all the jewelery and clothes here... so be prepared when I come back in full Indian dress! jk.... kinda.) Yesterday we had our off day so we went to this cool market where they had all this pretty jewelery and stuff for really really cheap. I got some cool punjabi pants that in all reality look like hammer time pants but one of the indian girls said that it was the latest fashion in India. So yeah I'm pretty trendy and Indian. No big deal.
One thing that's really hard about India is that there are beggers EVERYWHERE. And we are told not to give them money because the money doesn't normally even go to them, they have to give it up at the end of the day to someone else. So on the way to the market there was this beautiful Indian girl who was begging us for money. She was so dirty but you could so see that under all of that was this beautiful woman that God loved. He doesn't just love me. He doesn't just love you. He also loves this woman. I mean I guess I always knew that, but God really showed me that in that moment. People treat these people like dirt. Or worse. So I felt like God really didn't want me to just walk away and ignore her pain. So instead of giving her money, I gave her my lunch.
So I'm really excited for debrief week in February because well first of all I'm going to have a crazy shopping spree... But we're going to the Taj Mahal and we're going to ride ELEPHANTS!!! yeaowl. that's right.
Today we went to a church service and it was in Hindi and English. My team sang a song and I gave my testimony for the first time ever. I was so nervous. But I didn't faint or anything so that's a good thing. We saw a bunch of monkeys on the way to church and of course, lots of cows. yeah... just walking in the street. They outnumber your average squirrel. And that's the truth. The other night at 4:30 in the morning we were awoken by a HUGE parade with a full drumline and trumpet marching through the street outside our house. That's India for ya.

baibai
al