Byrdie Indiamazing Time of Summer

Well greetings! Salutations. Peace. Love. All that jazz.

Sitting here on this quiet Saturday evening and just thankful for my home here.

Yes, the sand storms and all.

The picture above was taken a few weeks ago of a sandstorm blowing in. Wind change, gray sky, anticipation all happens like when a thunderstorm comes, but there's just one thing lacking...water :)

Just wanted to post some pictures of my time with Mary Katherine who came and visited me a few weeks ago. We just had the best time! High teas, shopping, road tripping, eating, playing cards, eating, snorkeling, eating...love you MK!

Am so thankful she came.

Two days after she left, I hopped on a plane to southern India.

Ahhhh green....

Ahhhh....what's that smell?

Ahhhh....just kidding.

On the 6 hour drive from the Kochin airport to the mission site, we saw this.

So what do you get when you take some of these guys...

Plus one of these fashionable apparatuses...

Sunday afternoon water buffalo skiing.

Duh.

It's the latest rage.

Back in the van with one of my favorite Dubai families, we were off!

Arrived to a city called Vaiasngtttyfhjfkajbfajfg...

Vatalukkcnyyab...

Vattalucky....

We'll call it What-a-lucky.

Amy and her Tamil*slash*Malayalam*slash*any language with words reaching 20+ letters long is dicey...

The Mathew's family wanted to check out a ministry that began 20 years ago in the foothills of southern India ministering to the local tribes. What an amazing experience! Their 2 oldest teenagers Malcolm (17) and Melinda (16) and yours truly scouted the place for a week.

You know those people the world doesn't know, but are giants in God's eyes??

Well, I was fortunate enough for God to introduce me to some of His men at this place...

On one end of town is the hospital. There is just a female ward, male ward, operating room, and pharmacy. Few other rooms too...just really space for whoever needs it.

They deliver about a baby every other day.

This is Jenny! She's a visiting pediatrician from the U.K. She lived here for 7 months and is now back working in the U.K. but comes here every holiday she gets. Loved her! We had some laughs. She showed us around the hospital and was with us the first 3 days.

This is the waiting room on a Monday. Why is it that everyone everywhere in the world gets sick on the weekend when the doctor's office is closed? I tell ya...

So, we hop on a bus to go the 5 kilometers to the other side of town where the school and hostel is. You can't walk because of the wild animals. Just a reminder to yourself in case you ever forget where you are...oh yeah...India.

T.r.o.u.b.l.e....the good kind :) The boys and girls at the school are all from the surrounding tribes in the hills. There are about 150 this ministry reaches out to. AMAZING things God is doing here.

This is what you do in the land of no internet and T.V. It was really nice!

Some of the school girls...

Byrdie lovin' the week. Walking to the school from Auntie Grace's house. She let us stay with her for the week as her husband (in charge of the missions organization) was away.

The school building. It is kindergarten to year 10. We "taught" a few days. But I think we learned more.

Off to visit a local village to get a better understanding where the kids are coming from...

Local Believers in front of the their tribal church. The man on the left has an insane testimony. You'll here about it in heaven :)

Dr. Murali is the one who started this mission. That's him and his granddaughter, Abigail...stole my heart she did.

Back at the hostel. There are around 300 students that attend the school and of those, 120 live on the mission site's hostel. It's much like boarding school....not that my public school self would know, but that's what I was told.

This is chapel time. Malcolm, Melinda, and myself lead this every night. Were we told beforehand? Oh no :) Good times...God times....

Reached into the brain files and dusted off the "Youth Group Church Camp" file.

"I am a C. I am a C.H. I am a C.H.R.I.S.T.I.A.N..."

"We wanna see *clap clap clap*......We wanna see *clap clap clap* we wanna see Jesus lifted high!"

Here's us in drawing class...Byrdie referred back to here doodling days...they came in handy!

RAIN!! Hadn't seen that in months...

The last Sunday we were there, all of the local tribal churches got together for one big service. Too cool. What a blessing to be a part of.

"On the road again..."

So the second week, the Mathew's picked us up and we headed to the mountains!

"Over the rivers and through the streets...

To grandmother's temple we go!"

Tea plantations. My soul breathed deeply of the 60 degree weather.

Here ya go dad :)

Stopped for chai...a.k.a. milky, sugary, concoction from GOD.

Oh the tastes of outside world food....

Passing through more towns...

So we journeyed and journeyed until we reached the middle-of-nowhere-India.

I loved every second.

Really.

We stayed at this resort called "Jungle Retreat."

Word to your mother.

Jungle Book anyone?? Call me Mogley!

Ahhhh...after a few days in the bush, we then traveled to the bustling-gives-you-black-boogers- city of Banglore!

And what's this country-girl-for-the-past-week's number one priority??

You got it.

Shopping with Sharmila :)

HOT WATER!

Last supper before we headed out.

Well hope this gives you a glimpse. Pictures and words are limiting to capture this experience. Hope my life will live it. And Jesus will be known through it.

For His glory.

Off to Italy next Saturday. Pictures of gelato and spaghetti to come!