Me and Sudheer (Suresh�s brother) greeting the people at a relief camp
Monday, November 27, 2006
Back Again (sorry to be gone so long)
So I know you wondering: where have I been for the last month. And I know some of your minds you’ve been thinking the worst case scenarios: she’s falsely imprisoned in some slimy Indian jail; she’s bedridden with malaria, abducted by aliens. But no; nothing so Hollywood chic as false imprisonment has kept me from writing. The Lord has been blessing me with good health and I am not lucky enough to be one of the chosen few to be abducted by aliens.
So what, you ask, has kept me from writing…I don’t know.
I have plenty to say (no comments) it has just been difficult to find the time. Since my last entry I have been to Bombay twice to help with the IPP sewing center at Bombay Teen Challenge. The district I live in along with a couple other districts were ravished by a cyclone that has left 1000s homeless and many more without work or food and 3 teams from the UK and USA have come to visit Harvest India (they are a refreshing blessing but a whole lot of work and stress).
So I guess I have some stuff to tell you guys.
The Cyclone
For those of you that don’t sit around and watch the worldwide weather channel you may not know that the area I live in, in Andhra Pradesh, was hit by a big cyclone. For 6 days it rained non-stop. We only had power for a few hours everyday and that was usually in the middle of the night. Although now I hate to admit it but it was a nice time; we ate dinner by candle light, played board games, and just stayed around the house (in a strange way it kind of felt like Thanksgiving or some family holiday). But now knowing what I know I wouldn’t have enjoyed myself as much…You see my district and the neighboring district became so flooded that many people lost there home and the laborers have no fields to work in as the vast majority of crops in our area were submerged by the water. This is extremely damaging because without work the people have no money to buy food.
Things are a little better now since the waters have almost fully retreated. We conducted many relief camps thanks to Rockharbor and a couple other sponsors like the UK team that was here with us immediately after the cyclone. In any case it will be a long time until things are back to normal so please keep my surrounding villages in your prayers.
Bombay
My trips to Bombay are always interesting and eye-opening. To start, it takes about 12 hours for me to get there and I am not exaggerating when I say it is literally a myriad of planes, trains and automobiles. The most memorable event of my October trip was my trip to the red-light area. Ena and I took a taxi through the district and were trying to get pictures (per IPPs request) but the residents of that area were not to keen on being photographed as you can imagine. We were struggling to get any good shots because the taxi driver wouldn’t slow down enough. After a picture was snapped it was like a signal went out, the women saw us coming and they didn’t like the view. They started screaming and chasing the car a few even threw rock (big ones) at us; one missed my head by inches and left a big dent in the taxi. After that the taxi driver suddenly decided to take a late lunch and made us get out of the car. He dropped us on the corner and charged us a bunch b/c of the damage. But God is so good!!! The LORD sent an angel in disguise as a taxi driver. He got out of the car and stood with us and let us sit in his car, he was on fire for Jesus and has an amazing testimony. He got us home safely and was a huge encouragement to us.
The highlight from the trip I just got back from was my opportunity to meet with Bombay branch of International Justice Mission. What an honor and pleasure it was to meet with individuals that are like-minded, passionate about justice for women and children enslaved in prostitution.
Its times like this that I feel like I have to pinch myself because 4 years ago I felt called to do something for enslaved women and children and here I am doing exactly that. And although I wish these moments would happen more frequently I am reminded that God’s timing and plans are always perfect.
TEAMS
The teams have been a huge blessing. It has been nice to have some strong and independent women to encourage me. Also, their excitement to see God moving helps to reignite the hearts flames.
The most exciting thing I can say about teams is that Rockharbor is coming in exactly 1 month. Which means, my best friend Claire will be with me in India in just 30 short days.
Oh, I can hardly wait.
I have made a paper chain to help me count down the days.
So what, you ask, has kept me from writing…I don’t know.
I have plenty to say (no comments) it has just been difficult to find the time. Since my last entry I have been to Bombay twice to help with the IPP sewing center at Bombay Teen Challenge. The district I live in along with a couple other districts were ravished by a cyclone that has left 1000s homeless and many more without work or food and 3 teams from the UK and USA have come to visit Harvest India (they are a refreshing blessing but a whole lot of work and stress).
So I guess I have some stuff to tell you guys.
The Cyclone
For those of you that don’t sit around and watch the worldwide weather channel you may not know that the area I live in, in Andhra Pradesh, was hit by a big cyclone. For 6 days it rained non-stop. We only had power for a few hours everyday and that was usually in the middle of the night. Although now I hate to admit it but it was a nice time; we ate dinner by candle light, played board games, and just stayed around the house (in a strange way it kind of felt like Thanksgiving or some family holiday). But now knowing what I know I wouldn’t have enjoyed myself as much…You see my district and the neighboring district became so flooded that many people lost there home and the laborers have no fields to work in as the vast majority of crops in our area were submerged by the water. This is extremely damaging because without work the people have no money to buy food.
Things are a little better now since the waters have almost fully retreated. We conducted many relief camps thanks to Rockharbor and a couple other sponsors like the UK team that was here with us immediately after the cyclone. In any case it will be a long time until things are back to normal so please keep my surrounding villages in your prayers.
Bombay
My trips to Bombay are always interesting and eye-opening. To start, it takes about 12 hours for me to get there and I am not exaggerating when I say it is literally a myriad of planes, trains and automobiles. The most memorable event of my October trip was my trip to the red-light area. Ena and I took a taxi through the district and were trying to get pictures (per IPPs request) but the residents of that area were not to keen on being photographed as you can imagine. We were struggling to get any good shots because the taxi driver wouldn’t slow down enough. After a picture was snapped it was like a signal went out, the women saw us coming and they didn’t like the view. They started screaming and chasing the car a few even threw rock (big ones) at us; one missed my head by inches and left a big dent in the taxi. After that the taxi driver suddenly decided to take a late lunch and made us get out of the car. He dropped us on the corner and charged us a bunch b/c of the damage. But God is so good!!! The LORD sent an angel in disguise as a taxi driver. He got out of the car and stood with us and let us sit in his car, he was on fire for Jesus and has an amazing testimony. He got us home safely and was a huge encouragement to us.
The highlight from the trip I just got back from was my opportunity to meet with Bombay branch of International Justice Mission. What an honor and pleasure it was to meet with individuals that are like-minded, passionate about justice for women and children enslaved in prostitution.
Its times like this that I feel like I have to pinch myself because 4 years ago I felt called to do something for enslaved women and children and here I am doing exactly that. And although I wish these moments would happen more frequently I am reminded that God’s timing and plans are always perfect.
TEAMS
The teams have been a huge blessing. It has been nice to have some strong and independent women to encourage me. Also, their excitement to see God moving helps to reignite the hearts flames.
The most exciting thing I can say about teams is that Rockharbor is coming in exactly 1 month. Which means, my best friend Claire will be with me in India in just 30 short days.
Oh, I can hardly wait.
I have made a paper chain to help me count down the days.
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