You need faith for this...
"A" for away but also "A" for AMAZING!
As northbound we had a challenging project to complete within 14days. As soon as we got to the orphanage in India, our ministry started...
Our projects include children's ministry and transform the physical appearance of the orphanage by scraping, sanding and painting the walls.
We prayed for R25 000 to complete the project and bless the children. God miraculously provided R14 900! He also led a Hindi business man to give us R1100 discount on materials we needed, as well as sandpaper for free when he heard it is for the orphanage. We also paid R1 800 less than our initial budget for the cement. By this we can testify that God provided enough to complete the project and bless the children with aircons. Now, that is unbelievable!
Each one of us experienced India differently, but most of our team felt that India was tough to get used to: we bathed in a bucket of water, which we had to fetch ourselves, and we did not have a flushing toilet. A few times some had runny tummy, but luckily nothing to serious. By that we can testify that God answers prayers.
We learned that we have to be transparent about how we feel and that we have to trust each other in that.
God pursued each one of us in special ways like just embracing, motivating and letting us know that He listens to us.
During debrief we talked about the smells of India: to be honest we did not experience India as a smelly country (we expected it as really bad).
We experienced that the streets are dirty with the garbage that is laying around.
And one cannot forget about the traffic! Toot toot... make way... toot toot... BRAKE!
Centimetres from each other the tuk-tuks and bikes wil stop and make way as the traffic flows. Quinton was almost run over by a motorcycle and the rest had to squeeze our way through close encounters. It's CRAZY!
After an amazing time at the orphanage we had 3 days of being tourists. We took that opportunity to visit the Taj Mahal. A planned 3-4 hour busride took us almost 6hours. By the time we arrived at the Taj, we only had an hour to enter and look around. So with only half an hour we had to rush through and back to the bus. That was an experience itself!
After all that has been said, I have to admit that this has only skimmed the surface of any India experience. Someone once called India a sensory overload. This is definitely true! And with the amazing way God worked added, we all agree that India is simply and truely indescribable!
Now this part of the journey is finished, and we look forward to part 2: Nepal...
