Typical Trip to Village (Journal Entry)

“But I trust in you, O Lord. I say, You are my God, my times are in your hands.”
~ Psalm 31:14-15a
“Be strong and take heart- all you who hope in the Lord.” ~Psalm 31:24

We arrived back in the village a few hours ago. Golu, Diksha and Latta were thrilled that we were back and were running around like crazy for a little while. We showed them pictures and such- they were so happy to see us again. It was nice to see them too.

Our trip was pretty much uneventful, which is good, but now there isn’t a fun story to tell! And then again, the trip that we took today would have been considered VERY eventful by just the ‘normal’ person in America probably. I told Robin, “You know, sometimes when people say, ‘wow I can’t believe you are over there, doing that work, and in those conditions,’ I want to reply, “it’s really not bad, we’re used to it, it’s no big deal’ and then sometimes I think, ‘you know what, it is a big deal- I can’t believe how much we put up with!”

What does our trip to the village look like? At least, what did today’s trip look like? Today, we ate lunch, and hiked up the stairs to the road, walked to Joshi’s store and waited for a jeep. We were there about 10 minutes standing waiting. Joshi came out and gave us two stools to sit on and wait. I asked him if a jeep would come and he said yes. So we waited. Jeeps came, but they were all going the opposite direction.

Finally, after about 40 minutes, one came. It’s very unusual to wait that long for a jeep. We asked him how far he was going and he was going to B town, so we went with him that far. That jeep ride consisted of Robin’s chair falling down while she was sitting on it, Robin getting sick, and us going through a herd of cows and goats. Once in B town, we asked for another jeep going to M town. The shortest path to the village is between B town and M town. There was a jeep going (we didn’t ask when, but just got in). I asked if he knew the path to the village, and could tell us on the way. He asked someone else and they knew. We said okay, but realized the guy who knew the way wasn’t going with us…so how would that help us? Anyway, by the time the jeep left, another older man had gotten in and the driver pointed to him and simply said, “Jogda” – the name of the village. I asked him if he was going there, he said yes and that he would lead us. After a short jeep ride, we got out of the jeep at a different place than where we have gotten out with Anju, but the path we took down ended up meeting with the path we knew. So, we took it and arrived here- approximately 3 hours after we left- no too bad!

We sat outside with the kids resting and cooling off- we were both hot and sweaty from the hike, but didn’t dare ask for hot water for a bath, because you just don’t do that at this time of day- it's just weird :)

Now, we’re sitting here typing and it’s as if we never left. Aunty came in and talked to us for a little while. We sat by the fire for a short time and washed our faces…There was a spider (sill is a spider) in our room when we got here- just like last time. It really feels like we never left at all- except that I’m wearing clothes that I didn’t have before- that honestly feels a little strange!!! Haha!!!

"Easiest Train Ride so far...well, maybe not" (Email Update)

Email Update September 21, 2005

Short Version
* “Easiest Train Ride so far…Well…maybe not”
* “The best place for stories is in a village”
* Picture of our backyard

Medium Version (I have a longer version of this story- ask me if you’re interested)
“Easiest Train Ride so far…Well…maybe not”
Our trip to our new town included the following "bonding opportunities"
- Settling happily on our train with the other two girls who will be working in the same people group
- Discovering that our train did not go to the city we wanted to go to.
***(Excerpt from longer version of this part of the story:)
“The ticket wala (man) came along and checked our tickets. We asked him what time our train would arrive in the city we were going to. It took him a few minutes to understand when we said the name of the city…Finally, his response was, “This train doesn’t go there.” And he walked away.”
- Getting off the train at 2 AM in a town none of us had ever been to
- Swerving around dogs while moving our mounds of luggage from the platform to a waiting room
- Doing most of this in the dark when the power went out
***(Excerpt from longer version of this part of the story:)
Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, about half way through moving the luggage, the electricity went out. Let me say that it was darker than dark- and of course South Asian faces are dark naturally, but when the lights are out- you really can’t see them! And it didn’t help that there were random dogs laying in the middle of the platform- in the middle of our luggage path. I was amazed at how quickly we found flashlights- we were the only people at the station who had light!
- Trying to rest curled up in two chairs while listening to the frequent announcements over the loud speaker
- Waiting for morning light
- Hiking in the rain to track down a taxi
- Getting coolies to take our stuff from the waiting room to the taxi
***(Excerpt from longer version of this part of the story:)
One interjection here- when you’re the only foreigner, or one of a few, word spreads fast about what you’re doing. The coolies were waiting near the door to our room, knowing we needed help with our luggage. They started to gather it up and walked away- no worries, they knew where our taxi was and where the luggage needed to go. Our stuff got wet, but it all got packed – we too felt like luggage packed into the jeep!
- Proving to the taxi driver that we could get all of our luggage in his taxi
- Sitting packed together for 5 hours on winding mountain roads
- Arriving safely

“The best place for stories is a village”
We had a meeting with Karsten (the director of the country we’re in and with whose family we are currently living with) about possible living situations and best place for stories. It turns out that while many of you could consider where we are currently living a village, we will most probably be going to a more “real” village- (2 hour jeep ride from here, then an hour walk to the village). 'Village' means that there is minimal or no electricity, no phone or internet connection, as opposed to towns, which usually have at least one phone and electricity for part of the day.

We will spend the month here in this town learning the national language and possibly start on the village language, living with an Indian family where we can practice our language and maybe even learn to cook! After our training in Thailand we’ll be spending 2-3 weeks at a time in the village working on stories. That is the tentative plan for right now. Both Robin and I are excited about this plan, although there are many unknowns that await us- such has been our life the past several months. Please continue to pray for transition- as it looks like transition might be the only stable thing in our life here!

Our Backyard
Below is a picture of our backyard- a beautiful view of the foothills of a mountain range. Think of this picture as 180 degrees around you- that’s our home! The view makes the inconveniences of life here durable and inspiring! (Notice the bird flying in the upper left corner!)

Praises:
* Safety arriving here- in spite of our dilemmas…good bonding time with each other!
* Health- so far, so good!
* Beautiful weather!!! The first two days were very cold and gloomy- although that has been the case for Robin and I the past month- but yesterday and today have been the most beautiful days one can imagine!!!

Prayers:
* Continued language learning- and possibly start to learn the village language…
* Good relationships with our new landlord and family
* Friday- we will go with our leader here to a Bib. college to do a brief presentation on storying – it should be interesting since we haven’t received our formal storying training yet, we’re not sure exactly what to do! Pray for wisdom and clarity in explaining how stories can be used in this culture.

I can’t express to you my excitement about being here and beginning to really experience South Asia. My dream is coming true, and it’s all because of God’s grace and your support- what a blessing.

I look forward to writing again!

~ Elizabeth
“I love you, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.” Psalm 18:1-2

Trip to Den town (where I did my student teaching in 2003) (Journal Entry)

Anyway, today I went down to Den town to visit Bindiya’s family as well as Katare Ma’am and go to PTS for church. Wow- what a day. It was so nice to be with people I knew and be in a place I called home at one point! I had a really nice time.

I left our guesthouse this morning around 8:30- already a half hour later than I wanted to leave- but couldn’t leave earlier due to no water to take a shower. I did get a shower before leaving, so the half-hour late part was worth it. It was even better since Goldy (one of the guys who took us on motorcycles on Saturday) saw me from his jeep and offered me a ride down the mountain! What perfect timing. I had just started out and was able to get down the mountain about an hour quicker than I would have if I had walked! And, the bus was there and left in about 10 minutes so again, perfect timing.

The bus down went well- I tried to watch how people got off the bus, and I thought that they just kind-of yelled at him and he stopped. I figured out that they whistle when it’s all clear and he can go again. So, what did I do when I wanted to stop? Well, first I asked a guy near to me to ask the driver. That guy either didn’t understand or didn’t want to talk to the driver. So, I had to kind-of yell. He looked at me like, “what’s wrong” and directed me to the door of the bus- but we were still moving! Basically, I realized that when you want to get off, you move to the door (while bus is in motion, of course) and then yell from there. Anyway, he did stop long enough for one of my feet to touch the ground! Haha.

I walked back a little bit to Bindiya’s road- I had remembered it from before! Anyway, I spent time with Diksha, Mr. and Mrs. Arora, Bindiya and Bindiya’s fiancé! She told me a friend was coming to visit- she didn’t say on the phone that it was her fiancé! Wow! I’ll have to write more about that later also since I’m not sure Bindiya’s ready for that! Anyway, it was a really nice time with their family.

I then left- feeling bad for staying so long. I walked to the Vikrum stand and caught a vikrum – sitting halfway on the seat between two men as there wasn’t really room anywhere else. I got off at PTS and went to visit Katare Ma’am- and Mr. Katare. It was such a pleasant visit- I felt so at home with them and was happy to be there.

Train Story (Mass Update)

“Aap kahan jaeangi?” (where are you going?)
“Nass.” (name of town)
“Train nahin hai” (there’s no train) - the woman laughed.

I tried to talk with this woman in Hindi (third from right above- her family/friends are around her) as we waited on the train platform. We had arrived at a train station in a small town, after riding on the first train for 21 hours, (which was already a Plan B- since our Plan A was cancelled due to flooding in the city where we were going to go through!) We arrived only to learn that our connecting train had been cancelled.

Vegetable and fruit vendors on the train platform tried to sell us their goods and beggars (both young and old) came up to us asking for anything we might have- some of them having deformities that are hard to explain and things I’ve never seen before.

We (who are “we”- our training crew- about 10 people) went out of the train station and took a rickshaw (a 3 wheeled motorized vehicle) – We took it two or three people at a time with our huge 70 pound luggage bags to a nearby taxi stand. Once we were there, I had a flashback to one of my first experiences in this great country. Men, young and old all around- looking as though they had never seen a white woman before. My goodness- did they stare and look and look and stare! See a few pictures below.

We were finally on our way. Oh yeah, my luggage was again on top of the jeep. But koi baat nahin (no problems!). Well, that is, until it started raining. Which, of course it did. We had to stop, we put a tarp on the luggage and we were on our way again, without too much hassle.

Oh, but wait- with so much weight with the luggage and people, it really is a lot to ask for an Indian tire. So, sure enough, our tire went flat. We had been driving for almost 2 hours at that point, were out in the middle of no where, and had another hour or so to go- and someone else also had to “go” – to the bathroom…Yep, that’s right. I asked one of our leaders what to do- they said, “you could go ask those people over there, or just look for a bush.” Well, I chose the second option- perhaps I’m a true Indian now?

Okay, we (or rather the Indian drivers who spoke no English) fixed the tire, and we were on our way again. I don’t think we had any more major issues, except dodging the cows in the road and swerving to fit in-between two Ta-ta Trucks (Indian version of tractor-trailer- shorter, but wider).

(Picture of Robin and myself in the jeep/taxi thing!)

We finally arrived at our hotel- everyone still had all their luggage which was a shock, since on
all other trainings in the past, something had gotten stolen!

We are in a small town and it’s been raining ever since we got here, pray that there isn’t flooding here as there has been in a nearby town where more than 800 people have already died. We are on the 3rd floor of a hotel so no worries, but the streets are already a muddy mess…hopefully, it won’t get worse.

We did take a walk yesterday and here is a picture of the street we walked down.
And a picture of some little boys who were playing in the water. We were soaking wet when we got back.




We’re here visiting a partner organization learning about how Indians can take classes similar to
those in the states to learn how to do translation of the Book, etc. It’s neat to be here with Indians who are doing the same things we are and working towards the same goals. What an encouragement!

Something else that one of our leaders shared that was a blessing to me was how when we trust in Jesus, this earth is not our real home. He explained that since his wife and he have been here for 10 years, they feel comfortable here, but not exactly at home. Yet, when they return to their “home” in Canada, so much has changed, that Canada is not exactly home for them either. There is a dissatisfaction with belonging, and settling in because their “home” is not really anywhere here on this earth. He asked the group who would called this town that we are in their “home.” No one raised their hand. They are all taking the training courses from various parts of India or even other countries in some cases. None of us are “at home” here in this town and even not on
this earth. Yet, we have hope because for those who trust in Jesus, we have a home in Heaven where we will be one day!

Hope all is well back “home!” Here is a picture of our group….
Our first real meal after our approx. 35 hour trip!
P+P
Praise the Lord for health and safety thus far!
Please be praying for us as we travel to another major city where we will be for a few days, then
heading off to language school- where some details are still being worked out.