India trip [day 7.]

So, I realized that my title days aren't days I've been gone, but days I've been in India, just to clarify. I've been gone nine days.

So! I have officially survived my first week! It literally feels like it's already been a month. Seriously. It's insane.

I have no way to upload pictures to my Mac yet, considering I forgot to bring my card reader, but Cyril keeps promising we will go get a cord, so I will have a picture post soon.

This week has been a busy one so far.

On Sunday morning I went to my first church service. It was amazing. It's so different than the services here. Never have I seen such unbridled joy to be in the house of God. From the moment I walked in [shoeless, of course. this is holy ground.] all I saw were smiles. Everyone ran to me and touched my face and said how beautiful I was and everyone wanted me to sit with them. Lol. They were so excited for me to be there. When church started, we sang first. It literally made my jaw drop. Every single person in the building [about 115] sang at the top of their lungs and clapped and some people brought tambourines and drums and everyone just worshipped God wholeheartedly. It wasn't a burden to get up early and go to church, it was a blessing. It wasn't tiring to stand and sing, but it was what they look forward to all week. The songs lasted about eight minutes each, and we sang about five. And never did the joy stop. Never did I see anyone stop singing or clapping. They were so ecstatic to praise God. It was so amazing.

When singing was over, they called me up to the stage and introduced me and had me address the church shortly, then gave me a HUGE bouquet of flowers. I was so nervous. Lol.

Some teenage girls sitting in the audience [audience? I don't think that's the right word. Among the congregation.] started talking in Kannada to Sister Jossna, and she translated and said that they all think I'm nineteen or twenty. So I told them I was sixteen. 3/4 of the entire church gasped and put their hands over their mouths. I am not joking. Lol.

Cyril then preached a message about the blind man at the gate that was healed, which he translated for me at first, then he got into it and forgot. Lol. But it seemed like a good message.

Did I mention that anytime someone prays it literally goes about ten minutes? It was so different. I wish I understood the language.

After it was all over, people stay and talk for over an hour. All the children ran up to me and asked me questions in broken English, the most prominent being what my family's names were. When I told them John, Dona, Kate, and Scott, they all laughed. They thought they were the funniest names. Lol. This one little girl never spoke to me, just stood beside me and stroked my arm. She was so cute. The kids were an ego boost too, they all told me I'm so pretty. Lol. They were so entranced by the fact that my eyes were blue. Ha. They all invited me to their houses.

Sunday night, I began my journey to the town of Raichur, about 300 miles and 10 or so hours by train away. But I'll blog about that in a seperate post.

Side notes: I love not wearing makeup.

I've been wearing my hair in pigtails. Yes, it's finally long enough to do that.

Indians think my headbands are funny.

I'm pretty sure my esophagus has been spiced away.

There's a McDonalds, Taco Bell, Dominoes, and KFC here. We're going. I'm scared.

We are having to move. Our landlord came and said we had 15 days to get out. Sooo, that'll be fun. Pray for that.

A school bus for the orphanage got in an accident and some kids died. :[ I'm not sure of any details yet. But pray for that too.

Keep the emails and the prayers coming, guys.

phojotography@yahoo.com