Another fruitful day in Manali. The CDHers went back to their internships after a day off in Neha’s village. Laura and Ashley finished up the painting while Kevin worked on the school play and wondered why the power goes out so often!
We learned some basic phrases, but not so easy! We learned how to say:
My name is ________.
How are you?
I’m fine.
Where are you from?
I am from __________.
After VERY little sleep (because of the Rat Parade in our kitchen), we woke up to prepare for a day as a villager. Today, we took a trip to Goshal- Neha’s village. We walked to the shared taxis just down the road from our house and drove to Bhang. Neha was there to pick us up as we would have to walk the rest of the way into her village. The walk was absolutely stunning. We walked over some rickety wooden bridges, and viewed the most beautiful scenery imaginable. Her village was colorful and vibrant today as it is the week of a Hindu festival. This festival is similar to our Groundhogs day. All of the villagers put a box of sand in the temple for a period of time. At the end of the month, they pull the box out to see what the gods have in store for them for the coming year. The darkness was evident this day, but the reception was also very very sweet. Neha’s mother was full of joy to see us. We were the ones that felt blessed to be hosted, but she was blessed to have us in her home. She gave each of us a flower as a welcome gift. Then, she came back around and gave the “newlyweds” two more flowers! The girls spend most of the morning preparing the meal and enjoying conversations while the guys sat with Neha’s father and discussed so many things in broken English! We shared a meal (guys and girls separate due to the space)- sweets, chickpeas, potatoes, rice, dahl, and puri (deep fried bread). We know that it was a great sacrifice for them to prepare and serve us with such an elaborate meal. We are so blessed! After the meal, Neha took us up to a waterfall to enjoy the scenic view from there. It was getting SUPER cold, so we decided to turn around and head back for the day. Overall, today was a GREAT day and a great opportunity to meet some locals in their local setting.
Krishna cooking for us in their kitchen.
Casey enjoying the ginger chai.
Neha's mother.
SO beautiful!
Benita brought over a grocery list for what to buy and she and Thomas volunteered to come over to teach us to cook rice and dahl, the traditional meal in India. As is the Indian way, the power was out for most of the day which limited us to prep certain items (ie, the delicious brownies that Ashley had prepared for the night). However, as is the Indian way, the show must go on. Thomas and Benita came over right as the power came back on. They had also invited Steve, an American that lives a few villages up. So, the cooking began (some with electricity, some without). It is amazing to me that they are not phased one bit by no power. They just light a candle or two and continue in the work. They also brought over chicken to fry.
Our amazing cooks/ teachers!
After spending about three hours together prepping for the meal, we finally sat down (on the floor) to enjoy this meal (with our hands-no utensils required!). The conversations were so encouraging. We really feel like Thomas is one of the first people that we’ve met that totally understands what we are trying to accomplish here in Manali. He is a genuine believer with a genuine heart for the lost. He also shared a lot about discipleship and community (interesting since we are the Community Discipleship Home…) We love this evening and hope that Thomas and Benita can really pour into this program.
Pastor's wife and Shaanu in the kitchen.
Anku, pastor's little girl. She is a character!
This morning, we attended the local church service again. It is challenging to participate in the service when over ½ of it is in Hindi. However, it is also very encouraging and praiseworthy to know that our God is understanding so many different languages, cultures, and peoples all at the same time.
After dinner we discussed our book Bruchko together, this book has been the source of some very thought provoking conversations for the CDHers including the role of the Biblical community in decision making, stepping out in faith, contextualizing the gospel, and many other things. We are enjoying this time together for sure!
Another day and another night to come…full of rats…
Lazy Saturdays are probably the best days here. It’s nice to experience a culture and not always feel like we are doing “busy work.” Everyone spent the morning doing laundry, reading books for their book reviews that are due this coming Friday, and hanging out with Neha (Grant and Charlene’s “daughter”). First thing this morning we got to skype with Zach and Ashley! So good to see the almost newlyweds. One reason it was nice to have a lazy Saturday was because we didn’t sleep the greatest last night. We kept waking up from the scratching and rustling in the kitchen, AND NO it was not our CDH friends- it was the dirty RATS again. We couldn’t find them, but they left plenty of evidence that forced us to put out more traps. Praying for some dead rats tomorrow morning!
***A quick ‘book summary’ of a book Justin is reading…feel free to skip if you don’t have time to read it allJ***
Justin is reading a book called Simple Spirituality by Christopher Heuertz and would highly recommend reading this book. It was one of the books that we picked up from Urbana Missions Conference. He walks through 5 topics that have shaped his view on the poor and his spiritual walk.- Humility, Community, Simplicity, Submission, and Brokenness. The great part of this book is that most of his life experiences come from India and it makes Justin think about CDH and the importance of what we are trying to accomplish through this program.
Some quotes from the book for you to think about:
“ Humility affirms our need for God. It is required to approach God. The Scriptures tell us that when we humble ourselves before the Lord, God will lift us up (James 4:10). Humility produces obedience as a sign and symbol of our love for God. Likewise, humility “is not concerned with one’s own advantage but with that of others.” It’s an obvious prerequisite for authentic community”
In regards to Community he says, “those on the margins have a lot to teach us, yet our pride often prevents us from learning from them.”
“I began to see how we give to those who are poor. We figure people who are poor don’t mind what we give them, that they’ll take anything. So we give them our leftovers.
What if Jesus came to the door right now? What would he say? ‘I’m in town for a few days, do you know where I might be able to find a cheap hotel?’ Immediately I would offer Jesus my own bed, insist that he take it. He then might ask, ‘I’m hungry. Where might I be able to get a loaf of bread or a can of soup?’ Of course , I would sit the Master down at my own dining table and prepare a fest for him.
That’s how I would treat Jesus. But how do I treat my friends that are poor? How do I look my neighbors in the eye and recognize the sufferings of Christ in their poverty?”
In regards to simplicity he says “We want to make the issue about what we give, but in truth the issue is about what we keep”
In regards to submission he says, “The rich are tempted to allocate power according to what they own (I am what I have), so that submitting to friends who are poor in any sense is an absurd notion”
More from this book possibly in other blog updates. It’s too good to keep to oneself! So challenging, convicting, and inspiring.
That’s all for today. Listening to Jack Johnson’s Banana Pancakes while Laura, Ashley, and Kevin make us banana pancakes for dinner, then off to the theater (aka our living room with the laptop and projector!)
After lunch we dropped off some brownies and a homemade card for the maintenance guys here on campus. They have helped us out SO MUCH since we have been here (from fixing the tandoor, to helping us fix the toilet, outlets, etc). We LOVE THEM!
The card we made for the maintenance guys.
Tonight was date night away from “the kids.” We enjoyed a delicious meal at Mayur, an Indian restaurant here in town. Jess had Butter Chicken and Justin had Chicken Tikka Masala. We were a little nervous about chicken since the town has been on some chicken strike for the past week or so. A villager told us to be careful eating chicken from places because they may use DOG instead!!! AHHH! After our delicious meal, we came home, started a fire and watched some episodes of the office! Great day.
