A Week Later-- THE INDIA POST (1)

You beautiful, patient reader, you.

I can't really explain why it's taken me so long to get this post to you.  For some reason, I've been reluctant to share about India--there's so much to share, and I feel almost overwhelmed by the responsibility ingrained in what I've seen and experienced.  How can I possibly do that 11 days justice in a meager blog post or two?  Answer: I can't.  It's going to take my entire life.  This trip has shaken me up, rearranged me, and prepped me for something, though I'm not entirely sure what that is yet.

But let's start at the beginning.  I wrote a lot while on this trip.  I wrote over 50 pages in my journal.  The vast majority of those are for me, but there are some important gems in there that I'll pull out as excerpts, while some posts are very deliberately for you.  I'm going to post a series of posts rather than one very long one--I think I would be more inclined to read what I'm going to write if it was formatted in that way.  If you feel differently, toobadsosad.  Go write your own blog.  And then tell me what it is so I can follow it :)

So, as the first post, let's start with the incredibly long plane rides to the other side of the world...

6:10pm (5:40am India time) Jan 13, 2011

I'm on the plane.  It's happening.  I'm going to India.  After all that prayer and preparation, God has put me on a plane. How amazing!  This is just so beautiful.  Sweet Lord, you take such amazing care of me.

Now then, after a rather tasty plane meal, down to business--expectations.  I expect to be overwhelmed, and I think I'll love it.  I expect my patience to be tried by all these kids, but I pray that God will intervene and take that opportunity to grow me in new ways.  I expect to want to go back--to be CALLED to go back.  I expect I'll be disappointed about the food and excited to get back to my Bombay Grill.  But maybe I'll love it!  Maybe I'll be the only one who loves it!  I hope to get close to those that I've already connected with thus far on this trip.