the week in review

Based on how crazy busy the last week has been, this single post is going to be more like 3 posts in one.  India has become challenging as well as comfortable on new levels for us.  The honeymoon phase of the excitement and newness of living in a foreign country has worn off and we are having to learn to work through things more constructively and with more grace for one another.  Each day brings about new challenges to face and process...yet some days bring about the same old challenges that just require time and diligence to overcome.  On the flip side, there are many day to day things that have become second nature for us as we are learning to integrate into Indian culture as seamlessly as possible...even though we stick out like sore thumbs everywhere we go!  We are just about halfway through our time here; it's mind-blowing how quickly it has gone by but we are all feeling much more solid in our groove and schedule.

Just over a week ago, we participated in a ritual that was inspired by the book of Exodus and the story of Passover.  John had been reading in the Old Testament and felt totally captured by how similar Indian rural village culture is to the cultures found in the Bible.  Based on this, he approached the team and asked us if we wanted to buy a lamb and carry out the detailed ritual explained in Exodus chapter 12, the instructions given to the Israelites on how to slaughter and prepare the lamb used to protect them on the eve of the Passover.  Some of the team went out to a local village to visit a shepherd to buy a one year old male sheep without blemish.  After the sheep was purchased, it was transported back to Suresh's home where it was cared for for 4 days.  Last Monday evening, a professional butcher came to Suresh's home and slaughtered the sheep and prepared it for cooking over an open fire pit.  Some of the team participated in watching the slaughter and were appreciative of the once in a lifetime experience of taking part in something so basic to our roots as humans: responsibly killing and utilizing livestock given to us for nutritional provision by God, while being reminded of His faithfulness to His people.  We then shared a huge feast of lamb with our whole team and many of the Harvest India staff.  It was super delicious; we were all stoked to eat some solid meat!

The day after our sheep-feast, we piled into a van and headed an hour away for the Andhra Pradesh coast where we stayed two nights in little beach bungalows that were literally right on the sand!  We were really excited to have a break as a team to just let loose, relax, and play in the beautiful and warm Bay of Bengal where the waves were perfect for body surfing.

The Team

We arrived back home on Thursday where we once again hit the ground running and headed to another college campus to do a night event that we call The Bridge.  It was a small school, very humble in appearances but the people there were very sweet and welcoming.  Most of the students were more reserved than the group at our first college outreach but we still had a great time playing music and games.  Bethany preached an awesome sermon (which was even more awesome since she had previously expressed her hesitation with public speaking!).

Our third college campus event came this past Saturday night.  We set up shop at an all girl's school where 500+ girls came out to participate in The Bridge.  The crowd of girls was SO energetic and fun, it was great to see them apart from boys, they really came to life!  They wanted to be close to us and talk to us every moment they could.  They screamed like school girls at a Justin Timberlake concert when Chris and the guys played a couple of songs.  They were racing to participate in the games and cheered their friends on with tons of enthusiasm.  I was blessed to give the sermon for the night, my first time ever delivering one!  It was a great experience.

Crystal with some of the students

Bethany and her fan club!

The boys, rocking out

Lizzi and some of the awesome girls at the event

Lizzi, Shiny, and Crystal prepping for the night

Taylor and Lizzi leading the Great Pyramid game

One of the game finalists hard at work

After a somewhat restful Sunday, we spent all day yesterday in meetings and planning for our upcoming college event this Friday night at Harvest India.  We are expecting that the number of students in attendance could be huge, as we passed out 1000 flyers and told all the students to bring their friends.  Tons of them seemed interested in attending this larger Bridge event, especially because we told them the 8 of us will be doing a special dance performance (video footage to hopefully follow...).

Last night we were invited by Suresh to attend the Bible Society of India's (BSI) 200th Birthday celebration of the Bible coming to the nation of India!  The event was held in nearby Guntur in a huge lot.  The stage was giant and the set up was completely professional.  We were told that over $300,000 was spent on the stage set up and the event and there were nearly 50,000 attendees each day over the course of the weekend.  Last night was the closing night of the event and due to rain earlier in the day there were probably not quite 50,000 people there but there were still multiple thousands.  It was awesome going to an event where we weren't expected to preach or stand in front of everyone and we could just be part of the crowd...or so we thought!  After sitting down at the event and getting settled in for the program, it wasn't but ten minutes before one of the several camera men spotted us in the crowd and decided to plaster our faces all over the jumbo-tron screen at the front.  It was great fun the first time...and the second time...but 5 or 6 times after appearing throughout the night on the jumbo-tron, we started to feel our "white-celebrity" status setting back in.  Over all the night was super fun; there were traditional Indian dance performances, dramas, music, a 200 person choir, and speakers from all over the world, including the US.

It's hard to see but this is us on the jumbo-tron!

Traditional dancing from Andhra Pradesh