I've been in South Asia for a little over a week now, and it's been quite the experience already. As soon as we got to the airport for our training our coordinator told us to take a taxi and tell the driver "go to this address." We were all a little skeptical and agreed that it would be something that we didn't tell our parents about. (Sorry mom and dad) We got to our guest house at 3am and were told to be up and ready by 8:30am. It was a long week with tons of information, but it was an amazing week. Every night me and my teammate were given a sheet of paper and told to visit that place by ourselves. One night we were eating in Dominoes and were worrying about how we were going to get back.... we had no idea where we were or how we had gotten there. But it definitely allowed us to see the city and depend on our Father.
One of my favorite things was learning about many of the languages, especially Islam and Hinduism. We would have lessons over the religions and then visit the mosques or the hindu temples. It was crazy to see it in person. With the hindu temple you had to take your shoes of and walk inside. It was crowded with people, all worshipping their gods and praying aloud. Lots of people were selling stuff inside, and if you weren't careful, someone could place a tega on your forehead (thats the red dot in between your eyes). It was really sad to see these people just calling out in desperation to these gods. They would even ring bells to get their gods attention....
At the mosque it was similar, we took our shoes off and had to put our dupata (scarf) over our head because it is "holy". They're in Ramadan right now so they fast from sun up to sundown. I was able to talk to a young girl named Sophia and tell her what I believe and my relationship with my best friend and His story. She smiled and said "I have never heard this story before, but it is a very nice one." It didn't get much further after that, but it planted a seed and I believe He can do what He wants with it now, and I pray He will.
Thursday we went to a holy city for hinduism, every 12 years hindus from all over come to this city, it's the largest religious festival in the world! The Ganges river flows threw this city, and I kid you not, it's the dirtiest water I have ever seen. Many hindus believe it is holy to throw their family members dead bodies in the river, so there's that... Walking down to the river you would see hundreds of people bathing and washing their clothes in the water because it's so "holy". You would also see idols and gods in the water, sinking lower and lower into the mud. There was also a HUGE statue in the middle. It's the statue of Shiva, the god of death and destruction. Me and my teammate were able to talk to a few people, one man was very open to our views, he just said "what you believe and what I believe is all the same." But it's nowhere close.
Please continue to lift us up as there will be days that are just hard and uncomfortable. I am so thankful for you all. Love y'all!
