First Month!!

Greetings! My partner and I have spent our first month here settling in, getting acquainted to the city, and doing language study. We started out with finding an apartment with the family here in charge of logistics. It took a while to get settled in because things in SA move a little slower than at home! This city is smaller than Delhi and is a little less congested which we like. The people are also a little more traditional. Most are very strict vegetarians and so finding an apartment where we could cook “non-veg” was a problem at first. We are basically adjusting to a mostly vegetarian diet although we try to find ways to eat some kind of meat every day. The temperatures currently are at the highest for the year. The months of May-July are the hottest with temperatures around 105-115 degrees each day. This is probably one of the hardest adjustments and requires staying indoors in the late morning and afternoon and drinking lots of water.

 For the month of May our focus was on studying the local language. We were going to a school every day for about 2 ½ hrs with two teachers who are also believers. They would have us practice verb tenses and learning sentence structure and learning the alphabet which looks completely different!  They would even have us read the Bible in the local language to help learn the characters. It has been really fun but also a lot of work! We feel much more equipped to go out into the community but we will pick up language again in August and September because there is still much to learn. The best thing to do now is practice, practice, practice what we do know.

A couple of college student volunteer teams have arrived in A city which is the reason for a break from language. We will now be guides and partners with these college students as we seek to actively begin going out to meet locals. The main places that we will go include parks, coffee shops, malls, and slums. We are hoping that one place we could do alot is in the slum (poverty) areas of the city. The people here are very excited to meet Americans and talk and take pictures. We will be hopefully working alongside national partners to do Bible story-telling and arts and crafts with the children in the slums. Parents can get involved too. We are also hoping to visit some of the several local college/ universities in an effort to meet students. They will usually have at least some English background and love to practice with Americans! This will be a sure way to lead conversations to spiritual topics and hopefully new relationships. In the evenings when the city really becomes alive, we are hoping to go to local parks and coffee shops and hang out areas in an effort to do the same sort of out-reach. One team coming to A city will actually be putting on a play for the community. This is a student who was a past J-man here and had lead drama performances in the city during his term. His plays usually have a very direct spiritual application and he employs people from every spiritual background to be a part of the drama. It will be held open for the public for three nights in June. This will also hopefully lead to spiritual dialogue and new relationships. This summer with the volunteer teams is really a time to initially develop what may lead to the ministry my partner and I participate in for the next two years of our term.

April Update

Pyare Pita (Dear Father)

Tune Humse Kitna Pyar Kiya (How much you have loved us)

Mere Paapo Se Chudane Ko (To release from my sin)

Aapne Bete Ko Kurban Kiya (Your Son you sacrificed)

Hindi Praise Song

Orientation in Delhi

Greetings prayer partners! I landed here on Wednesday the 13^th and went full speed ahead! I have had the privilege to meet up with all of the other Jman going to South Asia that I met at orientation in Virginia and it has been wonderful going through our first two weeks together. We have been a great support for one another and I hope to continue to keep in touch with them as we prepare to disperse next week to different cities in South Asia. There are some great families here in Delhi that have helped us with orienting to South Asia. India is a wonderful place. People here love Americans and as we walk down the streets or ride in rickshaws we often feel like the next big movie star! I have really enjoyed my first two weeks here. We have done many things including visiting different parts of town, visiting religious sites, shopping in the market, a cricket game (they take it very seriously here), trying different types of food, and visiting a variety of churches around Delhi. The city is a busy place and can sometimes carry some interesting smells, but Indian people are very welcoming, the clothing is colorful and fun to wear, and the food is some of the best I’ve ever had. Spirituality is a great part of the Indian way of life and the “lostness” can be quite overwhelming at times. There are idols everywhere and there are many spiritual practices here in India. Babies have black under their eyes and shaved heads to ward off evil spirits because they believe evil spirits will steal their children if they are attractive. The temples are filled with images, statues, incense and bells that they use to wake up their gods. They offer money, food, and drink to their gods in efforts to gain blessings and favor. I have also met South Asians who worship the Lord Jesus and Him only. They often suffer for bearing the name of a Jesus follower. I know God is doing a great work here and I’m reminded daily that He alone can penetrate the darkness here and shine the light of hope and forgiveness that we have in the love and knowledge of Christ.  I feel that it has been a privilege to be able to come here and I can’t wait to learn and see more! Thank you for your support!

 

Drop Box

Prayer Card!!

A Borrowed Puritan Prayer

THOU GOD OF MY END,

Thou hast given me a fixed disposition to go forth and spend my life for Thee, if it by Thy will let me proceed in it; if not, then revoke my intentions. All I want in life is such circumstances as may best enable me to serve thee in the world; to this end I leave all my concerns in thy hand, but let me not be discouraged, for this hinders my spiritual fervency; Enable me to undertake some task for thee, for this refreshes and animates my soul, so that I could endure all hardships and labours, and willingly suffer for thy name.

But, O what a death it is to strive and labour, to be always in a hurry and yet do nothing! Alas, time flies and I am of little use.

O that I could be a flame of fire in thy service, always burning out in one continual blaze. Fit me for singular usefulness in this world. Fit me to exult in distresses of every kind if they but promote the advancement of thy kingdom. Fit me to quit all hopes of the world's friendship, and give me a deeper sense of my sinfulness.

Fit me to accept as just desert from thee any trial that may befall me. Fit me to be totally resigned to the denial of pleasures I desire, and to be content to spend my time with thee.

Fit me to pray with a sense of joy of divine communion, to find all times happy seasons to my soul, to see my own nothingness, and wonder that I am allowed to serve thee. Fit me to enter the blessed world where no unclean thing is, an to know thee with me always.

Thank you for visiting my Blog.

India is still mons away at this point. Our estimated arrival date is around the first week of April. I created this blog as a way to stay in contact with people at home in order to share about my life in India. There is still much to discover about what I will actually be doing there and much of that will come when I get there as that can change (several times) while I am there. For the most part it will be about developing relationships with Indian people and learning the culture and language. The beginning months will be heavily focused on language training. It will take a good while to really master a conversational level of language! I may be going to a language school or assigned a language partner, whichever will again be decided once I arrive in India.
On January 25th I will go to Virginia in order to do a general orientation/ training over two mons. We will be living in dorms on campus with the other people who will be traveling to various parts of the world. The purpose is to develope a community among all of us who are traveling overseas and to prepare us for living for two years in a foreign country. I will be able to come back home for two weeks after this training around March 29th until the date that is set for me individually to go to India. All the individuals going to South Asia (India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Maldives) will meet together for our first two weeks overseas for more specific orientation to South Asian people and culture.
So this is sort of a general timeline of the next several months. This blog won't really be updated during the months before India and until I have established internet in India (may take a couple weeks) the updates may not be regular. Thank you for your interest in me going to India. I truly feel blessed and so grateful for this amazing opportunity! I know that there is much to learn and experience and I hope to keep you in the loop.

Namaste,

Alicia

Practicing posting pictures!!

This is Ashley and I taking a picture on my cell using the black and white option. Fun times!

Mi y Lore!! I miss you!

                                                        

Goofing off at Thanksgiving!