Random...as Usual

The last week has been extremely busy, with Trish coming back from Texas last Thursday, visiting a Tea Factory on Friday, and celebrating Teacher's Day (every 5th of Sept. in India) on Saturday at Havillah School, where I'll be teaching every Wednesday.

Interesting Tidbits:

*There was a strike on the way to pick up Jeff and Trish at the airport on Thursday where all vehicles were blocked, so (to make a long story short) I ended up approaching the group of men who were blocking the road to ask if we could go because "I had to catch a flight." While this was not entirely true, we did need to get to the airport. Miraculously, they let us by. After I turned to go back to the car with Gopal (our driver), this huge group of 100+ men started howling/cat calling, whatever you want to call it. I chuckled to myself and was slightly embarrassed. It was the first time I had used my being an American woman to my advantage and it probably won't be the last.

*There is a Hindu festival called Puja which starts at the end of September. And almost everywhere you turn, there are groups of men collecting donations (usually just 10 rupees, which is just a few pennies) for decorations or offerings to the gods, etc. We were stopped on Thursday probably 7 times by these groups. Every time Gopal would tell them that we were Christians, and the first few let us go. But after we picked up Jeff and Trish, many decided to argue and demand that we pay. Jeff was wise in saying that it was just a donation not a tax, what they were doing was extortion, that he would not ask a Hindu for money for a Christian celebration, and ultimately we did not want to give to their gods. At one point, there were several men who surrounded our car to make sure we did not drive off, and all we could do was pray. But one time God provided a gracious man who was insistent that we be left alone and another time the police came and let us go. It would be so easy to simply pay. So pray for courage in these kinds of situations especially coming up during the month of October, and that we would have opportunities to share Jesus.

*Please pray for Trish and her health. More times than not, she feels tired and shaky. She is having to transition back into Indian life and started to take Indian medicine because it is a whole lot cheaper. So pray for its positive effects, that the salmonella will be gone when she goes back to have tests again.

*I was able to watch the season opener of Alabama football at 5:30am this Sunday morning (because of a neat little gadget called SlingBox), so that was a good taste of home. Roll Tide! During halftime I was able to talk to my roommates, JuJu and Christa, on Scype. Christa (also known as Critta!) got engaged on Saturday!!! So it was really fun to listen to her and Josh tell the story. I'm so happy for those little lovebirds!

Hope you enjoy the random pictures and video from the past week...