Winter Wonder India!!

So this is Manali!! Remember I told you we took a 3 day trip here? The thing to note here is that we went by ourselves. No translator, no friends, just me and Tori and 2 months of Indian experience. The fact that we made it to our hotel after the bus almost left us as a gas station and then ended up dropping us off at the wrong place anyways is a miracle...But we did it! Be proud :)


Our hotel! We were so excited to be on our own little vacation! And to be out of the city! And to be able to breath in air without coughing!




So the animals in Manali were a little on the extraterrestial side. Observe specimens 1 and 2. Yes that is a rabbit. And the second picture ...lets just say it took a while for me to realize that all the baby cows I was seeing were actually dogs.




Now yes, you can consider Manali a tourist spot...but its a spot for Indian tourists, not international tourists...we figured this one out when we only met one white person the entire trip, and he was some crazy hippie from Wales. This is the town wash/bath, busy as usual.






One of the temples we explored.




Prayer wheels.





So here's the part you can laugh at...We thought it was hilarious...








Our guide didn't believe that we'd done this before...haha






Up until this point I had always thought that yaks were mythical creatures.


Riding horses up a mountian..




Welcome to our life of not knowing what anything says ever. Seriously I'm going to get home and just instinctly ignore every road sign etc. This sign could be telling us so many things..."Do Not Enter", "Danger Ahead", directions, names, I don't know!


So our horses take us to the top then we get off to cross the river by foot..




All to get to this. Oh, the temple's there, its just really tiny. And see those icy steps? If we wanted to go see the temple we crossed the river to see we'd have to climb them...without shoes. So we took a picture from the bottom instead :)


BUT there was a sweet ride!


Its funny these sled things were everywhere, randomly too...but I never saw one in use.



Pause for chai. You can find a guy making chai anywhere in India...and random heights in the Himalayan mountains are no exceptions!



Cool, huh?





Monastary in the mountains.





Real live monks people! haha

I went, I saw, and I lived to tell about it!!! Hooray!!

So in a matter of two weeks I went from skiing in the snowy himalaya mountains in Manali to swimming in the ocean in Paradeep. Let me explain.

About 2 weeks ago Pastor Danny says something like "hey, you guys haven't traveled at all since you've been here." Literally 3 hours later we were on a 14 hour bus to Manali...alone. They told us it was going to be cold...so okay we threw in a pair of socks; it was hard for us to believe that anywhere in India could be THAT cold, we had been sweating non stop for the last 8 weeks. Well, we get there and what do you know...ITS SNOWING!! I can't explain to you how exciting that was. We were cold and wet but we didn't care because atleast we could breath! It was beautiful. There were mountains as far as you could see in every direction. We were really proud of ourselves for being able to get around without anyone to help us. In Manali they have hot baths...like natural spring baths. It was really cool but we didn't go in. Also, we even got to go skiing! I'll put up pictures later because what you are thinking right now is what skiing is like in America...which is not what its like in India. haha We rode horses up a mountain and had tea with eskimo tibetan indians at the top...we even got to go into a monastary. What an experience! We were there for only 3 days but we enjoyed it.

So then we get back.
And find out that we are leaving for Orissa the very next morning. The kids at the children home were not happy with that. But we unpacked and packed again and were on a train less than 24 hours later. We went to 4 places in Orissa; Balangir, Rourkela, Paradeep, and Bhubaneswar. There are 125 different dialects in Orissa...needless to say the little Hindi we know was basically useless. I'm pretty sure we spent over 100 hours on a train when you put it all together. We went to another wedding in Balangir, and it was probably one of the funnest times we've had this entire trip. Weddings last for 2 days, and this was the first time we got to see what happens on the first day! In the morning there was a ceremony and then after everyone goes to the bride's house for lunch. After the sun goes down everyone comes back to her house for a procession from her house to his. Its so sad because this is the first time the bride is leaving her house and she's leaving everyone she loves to go live with her husband in a place and with people she barely knows. It's a very emotional moment and the family cries and cries. But as soon as the drumming and music starts the mood completely changes. This is when the dancing begins. All the weddings guests danced the 3 kilometers between the 2 houses...it took 3 hours and 45 minutes. And they would not let us stop dancing. It was seriously the best workout of my entire life.

In Rourkela we stayed at the church's other children's home. I know its probably getting redundant when I say that the kids were adorable. But let me tell you!! :) They were really shy. They were all living in Pastor Paritosh's house. 11 kids. Because there weren't enough beds for everyone, they all slept on the floor - even Pastor Paritosh and his wife! They could stand sleeping in a bed when the kids had to sleep on the floor. That couple was really amazing. They took us with them to some of the villages they were ministering in. These villages were so remote we had to walk through the bush to many of them. There were witchdoctors and voodoo and really creepy stuff you think doesn't exist in real life...well it does. On our way to one village I picked up a bracelet that was on the ground and put it on my wrist...the Pastor's son, Jason, nearly flipped out at me. He took it off me and threw it away. He said that the people practicing witchcraft put spells on things like that and leave them for people to pick up...yikes! There are some villages with only one Christian family in them. They need so much prayer and encouragement. One family we visited had been outcast by the rest of the community..they weren't even allowed to get water from the local well! On the way to one village they told us that the people there still practice human sacrificing...great! How do you encourage people like that? "Hey, you hang in there and try not to die for your faith...I know how you feel???" What would they think if they came to America? I'm embarassed by how much we take for granted, how much I take for granted. Forks people, we have forks! And soap! And water that won't cause tumors! And lights! And towels! Towels! And most people have a bible even if they're aren't Christians! And they can read it whenever they want without a witchdoctor doing mantra on them to try and kill them and their family...So I just told them that God loves them, that they are precious, that He is thier father, their husband, their best friend, their king. I mean, that applies to all of us, right? Whether we are living in a village, or going to the next business meeting, its something we all need to know. Not just to hear, but to KNOW. Its the reason they don't mind facing a spiritual and physical battle every single day. No one fakes being the church kid here. Its real.

ALSO i went to the beach and it was sweeeeeeeeeeet.

You'll see more of the trip in pictures I promise!

Keep praying! 2 more weeks! I can't believe it!

Love, love, love! -Kate

What do you mean there's no ice water in India?!

They looked to Him and were radiant, and their faces will never be ashamed. - Psalm 34:5

Today was a good day. We went with Pastor Danny to another sister church after he finished the main service. It was the one year anniversary for the other church, so it was an important occasion! We spoke and prayed for people and they were really fun to fellowship with. Later we went to the houses of some of the people in that congregation. One lady, Sulinda, took us to her house...we had to climb a ladder to get to it! It was exactly like the movie Aladdin...that's the best picture I can give to you! Sulinda's nick name in the church is Mary Magdaline..because of the life she used to live and the one she lives now. They said the first time she came to church she was drunk, but now she is a leader in it! Another cool thing about that particular church is that almost every person in the congregation is from a Hindu or Muslim background..meaning none of them were born into a Christian family, they are all first generation followers of Jesus! It started with one family who, after committing their lives to Jesus, held a bible study out of their home. When it grew to 45 people meeting in one tiny bedroom, they decided to start another church close by, the majority of the congregation being the people they affected in their community! Pretty cool, huh? :)

In other news...we STILL havn't adjusted the 10 hour time difference!

Akash's Big Day!

Akash is a little boy who's staying in the children's home. He is 7 years old and freaking adorable! Earlier this week we took him to get surgery...to get his 6th finger on each hand removed! He is so much fun to be around and Tori and I hate to let him out of our sights...and he won't let us out of his! He loves music and he LOVES to dance :) I hope you can catch a little of his personality just from this short blog...then you'll understand why we melt when we're around him!





















Getting the iv..he was such a brave boy!



Dressed and ready!



Akash and Eunice Mami.



Preparing for the big event :)




He was in surgery for less than 30 minutes!




He's a new man!



Big boys don't take long to recover!



After and hour and a half in the recovery room he was cleared to go home...he pulled out some of his signiture dance moves right on the hospital bed.




Tori and I are on recovery duty...we spend all day with him...for emotional support :)
..But I think he's the one that takes care of us.

The Taj

5am on a 3 hour train ride to Agra. We made friends.



Camel!



Red Fort in Agra. When the king who built the Taj Mahal was overthrown by his own son, his son was kind enough to lock him up here, where he could always have a clear view of the Taj...a memorial he had built for his favorite wife after her death. Hey, you might have been wondering!



This is what every city looks like in India.



Why traveling is scary.



One of the bagillion random people we took pictures with. Which celebrities do we look like exactly?



Look at me standing in front of one of the wonders of the world!



They were supposed to go over our shoes.



How many people can say they played crazy 8's in the Taj Mahal?



Rajin IS a legend!







Notice the people taking pictures of US.



Pretty amazing, huh?

Another elephant! :)

Bicycle rickshaw...a.k.a. taxi.