Lots of people ask me if I miss India. Which I always find difficult to answer. The problem is that nothing about my life in India and my life in America are the same. It's almost like when I moved to India, I went back in time and now I am coming back to the future. So unless I really stop and think and pause long enough to even think about India...it's hard to miss it. Does that make sense?
Today was a day of missing India. I got an e-mail from my roomie, Laura, in India describing the ends and out of her day and it reminded me so much of my life there. And I missed India terribly. She also shared this....
"Oh, I don't know if B & E told you, but they're planning a jal diksha (baptism) ceremony for next monday. There's several people wanting to take it!! Pretty exciting, but guess who said they wanted to? Deepa's dad!! They've talked to him once and will talk to him again, but Saddhu thinks he's genuine. When I was talking to Deepa yesterday we were talking about stories, and she was adamant in saying that she knew all the stories! She told me creation through the fall in Hindi just because! I was asking her what she thought about them, and she says they're not just stories they are true. She said it with real conviction, they are true, we know it. We all believe the stories, and in Yeshu, my mom, dad, sister, we all believe. And I asked her if she was trying to follow Jesus (or something like that) and she said yes."
Translation is that the family that I invested all my time in is ready to be dunked and their whole family has come to know Jesus!!! This made tears well up in my eyes. So today...I missed India so much my body ached. I also wrote my last newsletter...so India was on my brain today.
Here are some fun cultural things that I am experiencing....
1. I went to the grocery store in shorts. Yes, I went out in public in shorts. I am such a ho.
2. Today, I helped my mom take groceries out of the car and unload them. Is it weird that I enjoyed it?
3. I cleaned house and it actually looked clean when I finished!
4. I have voicemail on my phone. I can check them and leave them.
5. I am still freezing in my parents house...
7 comments:
Hi Alicia,
I wanted to take a moment to introduce myself. My name is Janie. I work with Kim Imai at Sandals. And my husband Matt was on the India Team. I have heard alot about you from both of them.
I also wanted to mention that I was a Journeyman to East Africa from 97-99. I have enjoyed reading your blog and can relate to many of things you have shared about returning to the US.
I just wanted to introduce myself and say I look forward to meeting you.
Take care,
Janie Weybright
Alicia,
Thank you for being honest about the funny little things that are so weird to you know. I cannot imagine wearing shorts. I would love to clean and it be actually clean. :) I cannot imagine how weird it is going to be when I come home. Love ya!
you skank, maybe if you put some clothes on you wouldn't freeze in the ac ;)
Hey Alicia, things are weird here! Tap water, COLD AC everywhere, microwaves, walking across the street, seat belts, no honking allowed... I loved hearing your heart in this post and in your last newsletter. He has done amazing things!! I wish de-briefing was this week because i miss you girls!!
we love hearing about your heart for india. its like a piece of you is still there.
dave got a little chuckle out of hearing of your re-entry thoughts. you are prayed for when God brings you to our minds :-)
India misses you too! :)
Would it shock you to know that just this week, we activated voicemail on our phones? Turns out it's been available this whole time with Airtel and we never knew it!
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