Moved in with Family (Journal Entry)

September 20, 2005

So we moved in with our new family yesterday. We have a little room to ourselves with a separate entry. It is quite nice. We bought beds the day before and it’s so nice to have a bed that’s our own and will be our own for about a month! We have about half our stuff or not even that under our beds and honestly, I could live off of that for the rest of my life. It’s amazing how little you really need here. I’m not sure how in the world I accumulated so much stuff not only at home, but then brought half of it with me! I would be content to get rid of one suitcase worth of stuff!!! It’s more of a hassle than it’s worth. I suppose I may get tired of wearing the same things, but you can buy a new outfit for a few dollars, and give the other away or maybe even sell it to the tailor for him to make something else out of!

Anyway, our new family is really wonderful- so far! We had lunch and dinner with them yesterday- so nice to have freshly made chapattis and rice with vegetables. We have one new sister, Priyanka (age 13) and a new brother, Arun, (age 16) and one new cousin, Prakash- not sure how old he is. I think he’s a relative of this family, but not 100% certain. Anyway, he’s staying with them also. The father speaks Hindi, the mother speaks Kahani- but can also speak and understand most Hindi. They are very sweet people and we’ve had a very good time with them thus far. I’m excited about learning more language and being able to practice a lot with them. Oh, and the daughter likes to dance too- so of course, I’m looking forward to dancing too! The whole family watched my dances on my laptop the other night and were quite impressed that so many Indians were in America! Interesting.

Today, the sun is shining- there is a little haze, but it will probably clear up soon. The temperature is about 75 degrees- probably more about 85 in the direct sunlight. I took a shower last night- with cold water and washed my face this morning with cold water. I’m not sure how clean I can get with cold water- I can get soap on me, but have a difficult time getting it off! Needless to say, I decided to skip a shower today and get one tomorrow. I think there is hot water in the early morning- at least that’s what our Aunty said (The mother of the family- we call them Uncle and Aunty- for now, til they tell us otherwise). We’re not sure where it comes from, or how to get it…

I’m quite happy here- I made a comment to Robin about seeing the things that have been decided for us as a blessing and one less thing for us to figure out. That’s honestly how I see it. Although I think I could do it, it would be much more difficult for us to come here on our own, find a family to live with and jump right into language and culture learning. Karsten and the other leaders who have chosen this area/people for us have a lot of wisdom and expertise and I think made a perfect decision for us.

It’s true, sometimes I think: What am I doing here? Going to the bathroom in a hole, trying to figure out what to do with my toilet paper since no one else here uses it, washing myself with cold water, having one duffle bag worth of stuff to last a month or more, eating with my fingers, avoiding eye contact with men and boys, making many mistakes in speaking the language, checking e-mail once or twice a week, no friends [yet!], no family, pictures of strange gods hanging in my room, etc, etc, etc. There is an endless list of inconveniences that I could get hung up on.

But then there are the people. They are living here in this region trusting in false gods and will spend eternity apart from God- how can I live knowing that I can help them but didn’t or won’t because I can’t deal with the toilet situation? Yes, there comes a point of ‘this is too much’- even for the most adventurous person. And I may get to that point some time down the road. I don’t expect to always just have this wonderful view of the people and am able to push aside all the other things. I certianly do enjoy a comfortable life too.

Below is an excerpt from Amy Carmichael’s “Candles in the dark”- what a provision from the Lord this morning!

"Training for Service"

“The best training is to learn to accept everything as it comes, as from Him whom our soul loves. The tests are always unexpected things, not great things that can be written up, but the common little rubs of life, silly little nothings, things you are ashamed of minding one scrap. Yet they can knock a strong man over and lay him very low. It’s a very good thing to learn to take things by the right handle. An inward grouse is a devastating thing. I expect you know this, we all do; but it is the extraordinary how the devil tries to ‘get’ us on the ordinary road of life. But all is well if only we are in Him, deep in Him, and He in us our daily strength and joy and song….”