Well today was a day of many “firsts”. It was our first official full day in India. Our first day of VBS. Our first official church-cooked Indian meal. Our first experience with a “squat-a-potty”. Concluding with our first time being lost in New Delhi. Getting lost in India isn’t too bad, you can always wave over a rickshaw, mention your hotel name, and load up. There are a few ways to describe traffic in India. First, if you are in a car, it is much like the Volkswagen commercial where the lady yells, “Shoot the gappppp!” Second, if you are walking own the street, imagine yourself as the frog in “Frogger” trying to get from one side to the other. Face it, sometimes you are better off just closing your eyes and going for it.
We have figured out that Yvette may not be the best option for the Bible Story part of our day. Last night as we were having “Storytime with Yvette,” she decided to tell the story of Joseph. Now, one of her follow-up questions was, “Boys and girls, do you have dreams?” She then followed up saying, “Well, there was a man named Martin Luther King Jr., he once had a dream. But then he got shot. Joseph also had dreams, and look what happened to him. Boys and girls, the moral of the story is ‘Don’t have dreams.’” Hm, don’t think that would go over too well with our Indian friends.
Our first day of VBS consisted of what was supposed to be 100 kids, but ended up with nearly 150. Our craft queen, aka Big Mama, frantically modified her crafting schedule in order to make sure each kid had something to take home. What amazes me about these kids is that all 150 of them squeezed into a room with no ac, that we would not even imagine trying to fit 40 kids in. Pretty much imagine a VBS in the U.S. where you only have one room and somehow have to manage crafts, games, snacks, and more. By the way, I am pretty sure our kids would never sit still for four hours in a room with no chairs, air, or room to move. Needless to say, they had a blast. We had a hard time communicating as not many of the children knew English. But we had a good time anyway. Often they can understand what we are saying, they just do not know how to respond.
Tracy, our resident celebrity, was quite the hit with her blonde hair. All the boys were staring and trying to scoot closer to her. Many girls wanted their picture taken and chose Yvette to take it for them. Wonder why? She also signed quite a few autographs, as blond hair is NEVER seen in these parts. I am trying to get her to wear it down a little while tomorrow so all the girls will attack her to play with it.
Tomorrow will be much like today. We will get up early, head out to our morning of VBS, then head over to a youth rally to hang out with the youth for a while. We are still a little jet-lagged, so we are hoping tomorrow will be much better. The heat is hard to adjust to. Imagine 105 degree temperatures piled on with humidity that tops that of Atlanta. There’s no reason to even attempt fixing your hair, because it’s all gonna curl up and do it’s own thang anyway.
Hoping to be able to share a neat testimony from one of the pastor’s with you tomorrow. Maybe we can get a video blog going, as long as our “internet plan” is still working. Also pictures are in order! I cannot get the card reader to work tonight, but hopefully will be able to get that up and running soon.
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