Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Mehindi, Friends, Babies, Biryani, Chicken Stomach, & English Class (aka a REALLY Long Update)...

Hi, everyone! I know it's been a while since I've blogged, but the past couple of weeks have been crazy!

I have many different pictures to share, so this will probably be a long blog!

A couple of weeks ago, our program supervisors came to visit to see how we were doing and to encourage us and help us with anything we needed. We had a great time with them, and I am so glad that they were here! They helped us a lot with some things we were struggling with, and they were so encouraging!


This is a picture of my teammate, Stephanie and I, along with Sarah, our program supervisor with a new friend we made who works at one of the malls here. I don't remember her name, but I call her Didi, because that is a term of respect used to refer to an older sister. She was really nice, and she gave us free dessert! :)


So, the mall that we went to that day has a food court named Burp! You get a Burp! card that you put money on like a debit card, and that is what you use to buy food. When you're done with it, you can get any money back that you put on the card. I thought it was kind of funny that it said, "Burp!" :)

The next several pictures are of the Victoria Memorial that is here in our city. We went for a short visit one day with our program supervisors, Kyle & Sarah.
















The next two pics are with our friend that we met here, Honey. She was definitely sent by the Father on a day that Stephanie and I were pretty discouraged. She helped us with our taxi driver and rode with us to dinner, and then she ate with us! Steph got to share a little bit with her, which was great-- we were pretty excited!  Be thinking about her when you talk to the Father. We haven't been able to meet with her again, but I am hopeful that we still made an impact. :)





I noticed this picture on the wall of our guest house. Think it's kind of appropriate for this blog, don't you??? :)


The next couple of pics are of us working at a Baby Care center here in our city. This was probably one of my favorite parts of the whole trip so far! I absolutely LOVED getting to love on these precious little ones, and I am really excited that we are going to get to go back on Friday, one more time before we leave! I have really missed getting to spend time with the babies at Benton, and this was just amazing! :)







So, we have been practicing Mehindi (Henna) once a week for the last couple of weeks, in preparation for our Mehindi party, which we had today! We use this as a tool to tell stories from the Word. This one was my practice sheet for this week-- this story is the fall. I am thinking about possibly mounting this one on some canvas and framing it. :) It is MUCH harder to do Mehindi on someone's hand than it is on a piece of paper, though! I will share more pics of our Mehindi party later, including a pic of me doing it on a national's hand. :)




Random monkeys on the street in New Market! I hadn't seen any monkeys yet this summer, so I made sure to take a couple of pictures. Too bad they were performing, though.



How many Americans can you fit into the back of a South Asian SUV? We counted 11, lol! :)

The next couple of pics are from our biryani night. Stephanie and I went over to one of the j-man's flats and learned how to make biryani from our national Sister, M. It was lots of fun, but I am not sure I really got the recipe down exactly right-- I will try to figure it out from my notes when I get back. :)






This next one might come as a surprise to those of you who know me pretty well, lol. So, the boys went out to the market to get chicken for us to put in the biryani. They came back with a whole one. M. prepared the "innards" with spices, and she and S., her husband, ate some and offered it to us as well. I thought, "Hey, I'm in South Asia. Why not? When will I ever try it again?" So, I tried raw chicken stomach...


It actually wasn't that bad, since all I could taste were the spices, lol. Steph wanted to get a picture since I was the only one brave (or crazy-- probably the latter) enough to try it! I definitely paid for it later! This was probably not the smartest decision I've ever made, lol. I was nautious for 2 full days! Thankfully, phenagryn is readily available! :)

Now for the Mehindi party pics... :)

So, since this week's story was the Fall, we acted it out to help re-tell it before we put it on anyone's hand. These next couple of pics are of our "actors". (I decided I would be the photographer, lol).







See if you can figure out what is happening when, lol. :)

These last set of Mehindi party pics are of the actual Mehindi part, lol. I did my first hand today! :)



Me doing Mehindi on our national friend's hand! She was a good sport, since this was my first try on a real hand! :)


Me doing Mehindi on A's hand. 



L. doing a hand. She's getting to be pretty good at this!


L's 3-month old baby girl, H. She wanted to be in on the fun, too! :)


Mid-way through doing A.'s hand. 



The finished product! What do you think??? Pretty good for a first try, right???


Our national friend and Mehindi artist, M. doing Stephanie's hand.


L. doing S.'s hand.


So, this is a bonus pic-- we all had name-tags at the party, and one of our j-girls was kind enough to write our names in the language of our State. I think it's pretty cool, don't you?



Our English students-- I have so enjoyed our classes! We have had many opportunities to share Stories from the Word, and we have even had a couple of nights where we almost got to Share the Good News! Be thinking about them when you talk to the Father-- they pretty much just accept Him as one of many, so ask that He will soften their hearts and help them be open to the Truth! :)

Anyway, that is all I have for tonight! I cannot believe that time has gone by so quickly! We are only in our city for another week, and then we go back to the capital city for debriefing. After that, we will be back in America! I have to say, I had no idea what to expect when I came this summer, but I am glad for this experience-- I actually don't want to leave! Thanks so much for thinking of us when you talk to the Father! We appreciate it so much!

-ML-


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