Pray for India: November 2014

Even though I have been living here for several months now, I am still learning new things about the culture here in India. As I have shared in the last post how there are times when it gets lonely and difficult here, I feel like I have hit a mark where Bangalore feels like home. I find peace in situations that used to feel uneasy. I am not fully adjust to the culture here, but I can say that God has definitely given me a bigger heart for India and the people here as I continue to live here. Simple interactions I had with people are now becoming more meaningful. The time I spend with the students and staff is now becoming more intentional and personal.

As I am currently teaching fourth grade English, Pastor Abraham has shared his heart for starting up special education here at St. Paul School. He asked me to join him as he starts this up and asked for me to pitch in the experiences and (minimal) knowledge I have about special education. If this were to happen, I would no longer teach fourth grade starting the end of January and would devote most of my time here in February in training and preparing the teachers for a special education class (two teachers along with about six students with special needs). We are not quite sure exactly which specific special education we want to start up, but please pray with us and that St. Paul School will be a school where Christ's love is shown to all kinds of students, especially to those students with special needs who are often harshly rejected, ignored, and teased by their peers and adults.

One thing that really gets to me here (that seems to be so normal to the people living here) is when the power goes out. It goes out maybe two-four times a day lasting anywhere from five minutes to two hours. The reason why the power goes out is because the city tries to limit its usage; therefore, they distribute the power by shutting off the power in sections of the city. At times, the power goes out for a full day or even more, depending on the construction going on nearby. When the power goes out, I resort to one of three things: I take a nap, pray, or go for a walk/ride around where I live. Sometimes, the power goes off in literally the worst moments possible. The time has finally come when the power went out while I was taking a shower at night. Showers have been really cold lately since the weather is pretty chilly and cool throughout the day. It feels like I am showering with a bucket of iced water.

It was sports day last Friday at St. Paul School. That day, the power was out the entire morning and early afternoon as they were cutting trees nearby the school. Therefore, there was no power (they call it "current") which meant that the microphones and speakers were useless. However, they still carried on with the program having the speakers and announcers just using their regular voice which only the people around them were able to hear. Performances were cut short as the portable speakers ran out of battery, and all these issues seemed to be no problem and normal.

Restaurants and stores (usually just markets) close between 2pm-7pm anywhere from two to four hours. This is their "break" time or their "lunch break".

When it is a student's birthday, I guess it is part of the Indian school culture to have the student bring chocolate (candy) for everyone in their class and to go around the school giving it to each teacher. At first, I thought students coming into my class and giving me chocolate was just because they wanted to share their snack, but it turned out that those students were coming in for their birthday celebration and for months, I didn't shake those students' hands.

The chips, drinks, and packaged foods have a date on the bag/bottle. In America, this date usually means "good before" or simply its expiration date. I carried this knowledge with me here, and for the longest time, I wondered why every drink, chips, and foods were expired wherever I went. A couple weeks ago, I figured out that this date is the "manufactured" date and usually has a "good after three months of opening the package".

Lastly, I want to share an experience I had. To make this complicated story short, I was finalizing the paperwork for my scooter purchase. The shop asked for additional money after we have finalized the price and the scooter was paid for. At first, I paid the additional price, but later went back in to ask specifically why I had to pay more when the price was finalized. The story and situation is actually quite confusing so I am going to leave that out. In conclusion, I went back and was adamant about getting my money back and I did! The only thing that seemed sketch about it was he first asked for a set amount and right after I questioned him, he reduced to half the amount. It just made no sense why he asked for more when we both signed that the price was paid in full. Whether he was trying to cheat me to get more money, or if he was being honest and there really was a miscommunication, I don't feel bad about getting my money back because we both signed the form where it said the price I paid was the final price. It almost made me feel proud that I was that much closer to being an Indian! :)

One of many meals I share with Naomi and Purna! Sharing meals with them has definitely been one of the highlights here! :)

Sports day!

This is the Kindergarten race as they hop on all four!

As the school ground is not that big, they have creative sports where it doesn't require too much playing field!

Steak?! Steak! Score! One of many great meals with Pastor Abe filled with meaningful conversations, accountability, and full stomachs!

PU College chapel every Wednesday. Last week, I shared a message with the PU students during chapel.

These are freshly blended fruit juices (pineapple to the left and orange (tangerine) to the right). Made of only fruit, sugar, and ice!

Bulgogi, yukejang, and rice. Korean food :)

This was on Thanksgiving (American holiday) last Thursday. I am glad I was able to share a part of my American culture with them!

Sorry that this is upside down. I can't figure out how to flip this, but this was an ad in the newspaper. This person is an AECS graduate who traveled 250+ countries playing music and spreading the gospel.

Today was Thanksgiving service at BKC. Some amazing Korean food once again!

The brother on the way right is Dongjoon. He is from Korea and he came with a short term mission team back in 2012. He is currently backpacking around India for three months and decided to stay here at St. Paul School for three days. He left tonight so please pray for his safe travels and that he wouldn't get lost or seriously injured!

The last two days, the four of us had a lot of fun spending time with each other!

There haven’t been too many updates the past two weeks. Last weekend was sports day at AECS. There were a total of four teams and many sports were played over two days. There were competitions and tournaments from basketball to volleyball to football (soccer) to eating contests to bible games and so on. My body got wrecked! I was sore for about 4-5 days and had trouble moving around the first two days. Regardless, I had a very enjoyable time and it was a great opportunity to grow closer and spend more time with the students at AECS.

Today was children’s day here in India. At St. Paul School, we were supposed to have sports day as a part of children’s day, but it was postponed due to the weather. So instead, they had a singing competition and Naomi and I went around the school judging the competition. I also went to a funeral today. It was for an elderly lady who lived in front of PUC, and she passed away this week. President Chung asked me to go with Pastor Yohan to the funeral, and the whole service was in Hindi (or different language other than English).

During the week, teaching my fourth standard English classes are ongoing as well as discipleship group with the 2^nd year PUC students. I have put counseling on hold for now as it interferes with the timing of the discipleship group. On Sundays, I am still serving in the youth group.

There are times when it gets difficult, lonely, and homesick. I miss home, my family, my friends, and ANC. But at the same time, it is such a blessing to be here. To be surrounded by people who love Christ, and also people to share the gospel with. People who come from a totally different culture than mine, but yet brothers and sisters I am able to fellowship with. As serving in the ministry here is the heart God has given me, spending time with some of the people here outside of ministry has definitely been memorable.

As my half way mark has passed, please pray that during the next four months, God would continue to use me here to disciple the students, to share the gospel in every given opportunity, and to encourage my fellow brothers and sisters along with the pastors, professors, teachers, and other staff members.

This was a few weeks back. Pastor Abraham took out all the AECS staff to a day of eating, playing games, and fellowship. A mini-retreat and a day of refreshing for the staff.

A month ago, there were huge rainstorms that went on for about a week or two. A good portion of the books at AECS were soaked as they were being stored in the basement and the basement got flooded.

Indian currency fun fact: You can tell if the bills are real or fake by looking inside the flower (cloud) shape. When you just look at it from one side, it looks like a random design.

But if you put it up against the sun or light, it is the number of the rupees the bill holds. The other half of the design is on the backside where it becomes full when you put the front and back together through the light.

These are counterfeits. You can see that there are no numbers (or the half designs) inside the flower.

This is (was?) a Hindu god that was worshiped for basically being massive...? This sacred tree was struck by lightning during the rainstorms last month and therefore, its branches were cut off.