itinerary
flights
devotional
photos
blogs...
Ansley Chambliss
Thelma Cheetham
Becca Childers
Cathy Crosland
Mel Dunlap
Steve Hellier
William Hellier
Katherine McClellan
Sharon McClellan
John Miller
Jimmy Mitchell
Keely Naughton
Francesca Pefianco
Iain Robins
Marijane Robins
Matt Simpson
Brittany Stokes
Janek Witharana
Matt Wright
brittany stokes blog...
tuesday, march 18, 2008
Ms. Seefeldt once said that India is a land of contradictions. I am now realizing how true this statement is. It is so rich, yet so poor; so ancient, yet so modern; so different from America, yet so similar. As we drove through the cities, I saw a man selling hand picked grapes on a dunkin doughnuts ad and slums perched between advertisments for everything from coke to cellphones. There are woman decked out in beautiful traditional saries next to men in jeans and a t-shirt. Ms. Seefelt says that there is an ongoing struggle between those who follow the traditional culture and those who want to be like the western culture. It 's kinda funny, because they think it's fashionable to wear our clothing, while we all think it's fashionable to wear theirs. I don't know why anyone would want to give up this beautiful culture to conform to ours. It seems like such a terrible trade.
monday, march 17, 2008
So much has happened, I don't even know where to start. I will say though that India is the most beautiful place I have ever seen. I can't go 5 minutes without having my breath taken away by the beauty of the Himalayan Mountians. Everything is beautiful here, not just the mountains, but the people. They are all so amazing. Manoj, our guide, is the most godly man I have ever met. He led us into several mountain homes to pray for the people there. One was to ask for God's healing on an old man, the other, to thank God for healing a young epileptic girl. Just being around him is helping me realize the power of prayer and the power of God. His wife, Nasrene, is also such a wonderful woman. I wish I was more like her. He told us of a time when they had no money to pay the teacher's salarys and she willingly gave up her wedding jewlery to pay it. All of the people here are teaching me so much about God and resiliance and the ability to rejoice even when it seems they have nothing to rejoice about.
Wow, there is so much more, lets see if I can run through everything. We've had some low times, such as encountering a tibetan protest and srampling off a mountain trail to make way for about 25 guys carrying a massive generator down a rocky slope, shouting all the while. Oh, and dropping my phone in a Indian toilet, aka hole in the ground was not very fun as well. But we've also had so many good times. Today, we hiked down to a small mountain school where we sang and danced with the children there(yes, I now know traditional Hindi dance). They were so cute! They taught us hindi songs and we taught them english ones (the hokey-pokey was a hit). I don't think I've ever had a better experience in my life, both in the physical and spirtual sense) I will never be the same after this trip. I don't know how I'm going to go back to the states and be content. I finally feel like I can make a difference in somebody's life and I don't want that to change. I definitely want to come back at some point in time, or at least to some place like this.
sunday, march 16, 2008
So far, this trip has been amazing. I am absolutely in love with India. It is so gorgeous! So much has already happened: I've seen dozens of monkeys (no elephants yet), my hand was attacked by a henna-wielding Indian woman, and I've already bought half of the gifts I need to get. But that is just the material stuff. Just seeing the way people live here is more eye opening than I could have ever wished for. Just today we saw a dirty young boy with a painted mustache on the street playing the drums, while his sister strode by pulling her arm out of socket several times in order to scrape in some kind of money. I am so grateful that I've been able to have this great experience. I can hardly put it into words. So far, no words seem adequate, but I will keep trying to find some that are.