India - 7/24, Ashagram

When we left Jubilee, The land only got greener.  This was greener than Seattle.  The rain fell gently and I could feel it washing more than just my skin.  We had left the comparatively posh vehicle that we had been using up until this point and now we were in a rattling tin can of a jeep with the familiar, and somehow wonderfully, uncomfortable seats that I usually had bumped around in on mission trips. I took a back bench seat that was along the side and felt something shift.

It felt like a mission trip now.

God had my attention.  He was doing something.  I was being softened and strengthened at the same time.  I could hear what He had to say better and I would have more power within me to respond.  We bounced and rattled over the road, dodging cows as we went, and I had absolutely no idea where I was going.  Casey across from me was almost bouncing in her seat, and not from the bumpy road.  We came around the corner and we saw the sign: Welcome to BTC.

We pulled into the compound and next to a building I guessed (correctly)  was the dining hall.  Casey threw open the back door almost before we had come to a stop and was off.  I waited a little to make sure we had stopped and followed her out the door.

 Before my shoe hit the pavement, I was suddenly overtaken.  This place had a healing spirit that crashed over me like water, and it was strong enough for me to sense it without looking for it.  I had known that I was dry.  I had known that I was tired and that I had become hard over the last few months.  I hadn't been able to shake it, so I tired to ignore it.  I wore my spirit of restless longing like a cloak.  It had wrapped around me every morning like a weight before I could even get out of bed.

It was gone, and I felt it go.

I was momentarily stunned.  Nothing like that had happened before.  I almost turned around to see if I could see where it went.  I was amazed.  Months of bearing this ugly and constrictive burden, and suddenly it was gone.  I was free without even asking to be freed.

I didn't know what I had just stumbled into, but this was just the beginning.

We went into the dining hall to eat our lunch.  We had plates and silverware. I had thought that we would be eating like the kids would: with our hands.  I was certainly thankful that I had them.  Trisha told us that they make food special for us every day that isn't as spicy, and usually serve it in between the two meal shifts.  Trisha and Casey started making jokes about the chipatti, rice, daal and chicken gravy they served us.  It was pretty good.  Casey said, "I hope you like it, because this is what you're getting from now on!"

When we finished, Casey and I walked down a little path to a dirt patch.  There were a bunch of boys playing soccer.

One guy stopped almost in mid-stride and ran over.  He called her by a Hindi nickname and gave her a hug.  I noticed his voice right off . . . this guy was a singer.  He didn't look necessarily Indian, actually, he looked Nepali.  Two boys got out of the nearby chairs and he insisted that we sit in them.  He introduced himself as Inder, and I liked this kid already.  He had an easygoing smile and was very refreshing to be around.  He took a genuine interest in me and asked me a few questions.

Inder

 While this was happening, a lanky teenage guy in a shirt that would have been green if it wasn't covered in mud yelled from the field, "CASEY!  Want a hug?"  She laughed and said, "No, Alok, I don't." She got several other shy waves and smiles from the field.  She was obviously well-loved here.

 

Alok, pretty much being himself.

Another guy came up with a small pack of young boys around him.  He joked with Casey some before introducing himself as Kartik.  He had several inside jokes with Casey and asked about me a little.  It was evident to me that he was a leader of some kind for the smaller kids as the younger ones watched him talk to the both of us.

One of the little boys started yelling in Hindi, and seeing that he had an audience, stole the hat off of another guy's head and basically acted like a goof.  I later found out:  This was the infamous Rupen.  This was not an act.  This was really how this kid was.

A few more guys ran off the field and said hi.  It started raining, and suddenly an umbrella was over me.  I hadn't even seen who had handed it to me, only that there was one there.  I found out later:  this was courtesy of a guy named Balaji.  He hadn't introduced himself from what I could tell, and he was already back on the field.

Soon after, we made the trek to the girls' housing where we would be staying. We gathered our things out of the jeep with our borrowed umbrellas and started to get settled.  Our bags were already up the stairs and in our room.  When we opened the door, a huge lizard skittered across the wall.  I think I was the only one who noticed, so I didn't say anything.  I knew a lizard wouldn't hurt anything, and there was no reason to freak everyone else out.  The twin size beds already had sheets and little flat pillows on them.  There were already mosquito nets hanging over some.  I turned on the flickering light in the shower and found that it had the same green stone floor that was used in every other building.  I thankfully wouldn't need my shower shoes.  It had a complicated looking external hot water heater that I already knew I wasn't going to bother with.  I opened the door to the closet where the toilet was and thankfully found a toilet, not a squatty potty.  It had the obligatory trash can for the toilet paper.  It was very simple, but it was all clean.  We turned on the fans and suddenly it sounded like we were back at the airport.  I swatted at moths the size of small birds and laughed.

Now I was on a missions trip!

We went to dinner with the girls later that night.  We sat at one end of the long table we had eaten at for lunch.  The table probably would seat 20, but there was just 6 of us.  After they finished serving the girls their food, we were  brought  chipatti, rice, daal and chicken gravy.  Apparently, Casey wasn't kidding about the food.  I ate it and enjoyed it.  I had the best chai tea in the world with it.  The girls finished eating and left the dining hall, but Trisha told us that we could stick around and finish eating.

Suddenly, one of the boys appeared behind me.  I recognized him as the guy in the mud-covered green shirt from the soccer field - Alok.  I turned to say hi and he playfully glared at me.  I just laughed at him.  "Fine then, nice to meet you too," I said.  I have kids like this in my own youth group, so this didn't phase me in the slightest.  He sat in the chair at the end of the table right next to me.  He picked up my hair and started messing with it like the kids in Jeevan Jyoti had done before.  I was used to this one by this point.  He made fun of the fact that I was using silverware to eat, saying that food tastes better when you eat it with your hands.

Some other boys had arrived behind Alok.  Inder had also joined us, along with many of the smaller boys.  They packed around Casey and Trisha.  One of these guys came around and shook all of our hands.  When Alok got up to go get food, another guy jumped in the chair and sat down next to me.  He greeted me with the biggest smile I think I have ever seen.  He attempted a complicated handshake, but I got lost halfway through and found myself thumb wrestling with him.  He squealed and made a bunch of noise when I got his thumb, but he eventually won.  He then introduced himself as Santosh.  I do believe he was the only guy there that had gel in his hair, and I guessed that the reason why I hadn't seen him earlier was that soccer in a mud puddle wasn't his thing.

 

Santosh, not quite smiling

When I looked up, I noticed that our table was packed.  Every seat was taken and the boys were pulling up more chairs and plunking more of their round metal plates on the table.  I didn't mind this in the slightest.  We were welcomed by this crowd, and I felt at home already.  Alok was still making fun of the way I was eating, and had now moved onto how slowly I was getting the rice into my mouth.  Kartik was in on this one too, trying to give me a crash course in eating with my hands.  When I attempted, I ended up dumping more rice in my lap than in my mouth.

After we had finished eating, Melvin (the one guy on our team) was doing backflips and other stunts at the end of the dining hall and found himself instantly loved by every boy in the entire place.  They played a few games and demonstrated their break dancing.

I kept talking with Kartik, Alok and Inder and I could see why Casey liked these guys so much.  They were goofy teenage guys, but I could sense a lot of depth in them.  I knew I would have fun getting to know them better.

Every so often, a different guy would come by and mess with my hair.  I lost track of how many there were.  Apparently, long red hair is somewhat of a novelty.  Every face I saw was smiling, and I didn't hear an unkind or mean-spirited word.  Every single guy in this place had a spirit of thankfulness and life.  I felt fortunate just be around them and talk to them.

I didn't know it then, but these guys would bless me far more than I would be able to bless them.