Today I will be thankful. I have many things I can be thankful for and it would be wrong of me to just ignore them and pretend they aren’t there. I decided I need to try and express something I am thankful for every time I write! Some good advice from someone who I really look up to helped me remember that thankfulness brings joy.
The past week has been pretty full of good things. Last week, when I was at my lowest, it just happened to be Diwali, the Hindu holiday known as the Festival of Lights, where they set off tons of fire crackers and all of India lights up at night! This definitely boosted my spirits. We didn’t have school that day since many of the kids here are Hindu. This seems strange that they would be at an Adventist school, but they believe in our God too, they just add him to the list of their gods. We ended up going into Vempalli and seeing our new good friends who gave us a meal and let us watch their neighbors set off fire crackers in the drizzling rain that wouldn’t let up. Some of those fire crackers are unbelievably loud, like a bomb going off in the room next to you. When we returned to the school, we only got to our room for a second before we heard more fire crackers going off and boys yelling. We headed over to the boys hostel to see what the commotion was and found a couple hundred boys outside lighting every type of fire cracker you can think of in all directions, and jumping on or dancing under the sparks! I thought boys in America would go a little crazy with fireworks, but they are nothing compared to these guys! I’ve never seen so many little boys with matchboxes and fireworks in hand ready to show us more. I had sparklers shoved into one hand while another boy drug me around by the other hand to show me different fire crackers being set off, all within a small distance of each other. This experience felt so good! We bonded with the boys and let loose a little bit and instead of just being their white English teachers, we were their buddies.
This weekend, three sponsors from America came to visit the school. They sponsor a number of kids here and were part of the originally building and start up of this school so they usually come back every year and visit for at least a little while. One of the sponsors, Sue, was like a mom to us this weekend! She made a point to get to know us a little and shared some useful information about surviving in India. It was so nice to have her here for the weekend. On Sunday we went to Kadapa to buy some food and such to get us through the next couple months and we were treated to the Cuddapah Café for lunch. This place was a blessing in itself ha! The food was so good, the closest thing to western food I’ve had since we’ve been here. They even had pizza and a veggie burger (both with an Indian twist of course). We even got to finish off the meal with some ice cream… We felt so spoiled. All I know is that I will be so grateful for all the conveniences I have at home. Such as a place like Walmart that has everything in one store. You can make one trip through the place and have everything you need in 10 or 15 minutes! Although it can be fun to look at each shop that specializes in only one item, it does mean you have to plan on a couple hours to find everything you need. Having Sue here as our "mama" definitely gave me some comfort that I've missed!
You know what is funny? I’ve never been that in to pumpkin carving at home, I usually don’t have much artistic talent or the patience to get through it. But carving a pumpkin in India (or at least we think they are a close relative to the pumpkin…) was pretty refreshing! The vegetable we found is kind of ugly and green and looks like it could be a very unripe pumpkin, but supposedly it doesn’t ever turn orange here either, so who knows. It was fun and everyone loved to stop and check out at our three pumpkins that stood out on our balcony railing with candles glowing inside. Honestly it looked like we carved some watermelons ha!
I think God has been doing a lot to fill my time and energy with things that make this place more than just a hard location to live far away from home. We’ve had some spice added to our lives in the last week and he knows I need it!
The Bible has always been kind of a big, ominous mystery book to me, but I happened to stumble into James once, and the first chapter really hits home. I have tried to use it as a counselor at MiVoden, especially because a lot of my girls come from broken families. The very first chapter talks about faith and endurance and how our troubles are opportunities for great joy and when our faith is tested, our endurance has a chance to grow. It’s funny to look back at now, because when I read this chapter for the first time, I didn’t really feel like my endurance was growing at all in my troubles, but I used it anyway to try and encourage the girls in my cabin. Now that I look back, I think the act of sharing was part of my growing endurance even though it felt strange and maybe a little fake on my part at first. The more I shared, the easier it was to explain what I believe and it made me feel like I had a little more understanding in my own heart for the hard things that have happened.
And now I’m here in India! Sometimes I feel very lonely, but I keep telling myself, troubles are a chance for faith and endurance to grow, and that is one of the reasons I am here. So I have to be thankful for those times, because they are shaping me into who I am and being thankful makes you happy!
Good thoughts! And here is a poem that your blog made me think of, it's long, so sorry for the long comment. :) Haha
ReplyDeletewith the night falling we are saying thank you
we are stopping on the bridge to bow from the railings
we are running out of the glass rooms
with our mouths full of food to look at the sky
and say thank you
we are standing by the water looking out
in different directions
back from a series of hospitals back from a mugging
after funerals we are saying thank you
after the news of the dead
whether or not we knew them we are saying thank you
in a culture up to its chin in shame
living in the stench it has chosen we are saying thank you
over telephones we are saying thank you
in doorways and in the backs of cars and in elevators
remembering wars and the police at the back door
and the beatings on stairs we are saying thank you
in the banks that use us we are saying thank you
with the crooks in office with the rich and fashionable
unchanged we go on saying thank you thank you
with the animals dying around us
our lost feelings we are saying thank you
with the forests falling faster than the minutes
of our lives we are saying thank you
with the words going out like cells of a brain
with the cities growing over us like the earth
we are saying thank you faster and faster
with nobody listening we are saying thank you
we are saying thank you and waving
dark though it is
— W.S. Merwin
You're doing a great job writing, and I appreciate all the positive thoughts. I could use a little of that even while here at "home". Have fun traveling this weekend! :)
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