Allie in India

Im back in America

2008-07-25T13:36:00.000-07:00

i returned yesterday around 3 in the afternoon. i was so tired after almost 24 hours of traveling. i fell alsleep around 8 PM and slept all night. it feels real good to be back. i had a wonderful time, but there is nothing like the feeling of coming home. i feel more relaxed and at ease. we will be in re-entry camp for the next three days. we are just having different kinds of team meetings and discussing our summer. it is great to see the other groups too and hear about their summers. everyone got home safe and sound and there weren't any disasters! :) im very excited about returning to south carolina this sunday. oh and Happy Birthday daddy!

Its coming to an end...

2008-07-21T09:11:00.000-07:00

today we finally got to visit one of the red light districts in mumbai. we were informed that mumbai has the largest amount of red light districts in Asia. all of our hearts were broken today. we first went a little store front which was a school for the children of the prostitutes. it is a ministry that Joyce Meyer, an american evangelist, sponsers and the church of the nazarene partners with. we were told that the children who are admitted can spend the night there and then go to school until noon, as well as eat lunch. the children are allowed to spend the night because the mothers are doing business in the homes and the children have no where to go to get away.
i was shocked and still dont quite understand how it all works. we walked down one of the streets (more like muddy alleys) and got to meet some of the women who the ministry is counseling and trying to get to leave the area. many are sold into the brothels, which are rooms no bigger than a typical dining room or den. there is a "mother" that owns the house and the women pay her and she provides food, shelter, and business. we were told that most of the time if the women try to leave they are caught and severly beaten. so many are trapped there. about 6 women live in each room and have a little cot the size of a couch. that is their area and where they do their business. i cant even imagine.... the pastor who was showing us around said the place is packed at night and that they are all doing business in the tiny room altogether. there were no curtains and no privacy in the rooms. one of the women took us to her cot and showed us around the room. we just stood there in astonishment.
we got to talk with and pray for the children who were in the school. they were wonderful and sang us songs they knew. then 6-7 of the women came in and we shared a short message of God's love and that we would be praying for them and their children. they were all very recpetive. pastor told us many of the women were starting to ask questions about leaving prostitution. after we prayed with them one lady decided she wanted to leave. we were so thrilled! please be praying for her, her name is Hacina. she has 2 children and is pregnant with a third...and she doesnt know who any of the fathers are.
the ministry also has a home where they take the women's children and let them live there. the child has an opporutnity to grow up in a healthy enviroment and go to school. the home has about 40 children and it also has a place for the women to stay if they decide to leave the brothels, this is where hacina will stay.i still cant fathom how a child just sits every night outside of its house while 6 women our doing business inside. it breaks my heart.
This is a heavy burden on my heart and i am praying for these women daily. God loves these people so much and my heart was breaking for them the whole time i was there. when asked to pray today, i stumbled over my words for a second not even knowing what to pray. i cant even comprehend living in and around these situations.

tomorrow we are going to visit the home that the children and women live in. it is an hours journey away so we are leaving very early. this is our last full day in india. we are excited to come home but very sad the leave our new family here in india.

Back in Mumbai

2008-07-16T09:28:00.000-07:00

we arrived back in mumbai today safe and sound from our 2 1/2 week visit to khopoli. it is great to be back, but saying goodbye to all the kids today was awful! there are 18 children and i know each of their names and most of their stories. all of them either have very abusive homes, no fathers and very poor mothers, or completely no parents at all. yet they are the most spirit filled and happiest children i have ever met. they were all asking us if we would forget them, when we were coming back, and if we would phone. it was so hard to leave. but we are glad to be back for one more week. we are visiting the slums tom. and friday. and next monday and tues. going to the red light districts. our schedule is packed from here until next wed. when we fly out.

tonight was a good night. we had a prayer meeting and got to see many friends we had not seen in a while. then auntie made us a wonderful meal!! BEEF! ha ha i miss beef. chicken is great and we eat it alot, but its not beef. haha yeah im definitely my daddy's girl. :)

ok so this is the last week!

2008-07-12T23:28:00.000-07:00

we were informed a few days ago that we will be leaving this wed. instead of last friday! it didnt matter to us, just more time with the kids! we celebrated katie's
21st birthday party last night! it was so mcuh fun. we had a huge cake and it was all eaten by the end of the night. it was a wonderful time and katie said this was the best birthday she has ever had.
tonight we are going to a catholic mass then going to eat in someone's house. they go to the church and graciously asked us over tonight. we are excited about returning to mumbai because while we are there we will get to visit the red light districts. we will also get to go in and pray with the women in their homes. we are trying to get everything in because we only have 10 days left in india!

last week in khopoli

2008-07-08T02:21:00.000-07:00

well we have done a lot of sightseeing the past couple of days. we visited 2300 year old buddhist caves, visited the city of Pune and went to the Pune Zoo, visited a cool waterfall with the children in the home, and also have been visiting and eating with different people in the church every evening. it has been alot of fun seeing india and enjoying the tourist things but i (and we the team) are getting frustrated because we had hoped to do more hands on ministry with the people. we have mainly been just visiting people in the church and being treated like kings and queens for the past week. it is really sweet and we appreciate everything but i want to serve them and really talk, minister, and create relationships with the nonchristians and the poor. we are leaving friday to go back to mumbai where will get to go back to the slums and visit the red light districts which we found out are huge.

on a brighter note we did get to visit a girls home and a school for the mentally handicapped. the girls in the girls home are the children of the prostitutes in the red light districts. when the children of these prostitutes are around 10 or 11 they themselves start into prostitution themselves. there is an organizatoin that sends ladies into the red light areas and visit the homes of the women. they pray with them, minister to them, and tell them about the home and if they would like to put there daughters in it. it gives them a chance to have a normal life with opportunity. its such a sad cylce these women are caught in. they sad most of the women are taken from the villages in the rural areas with promise of jobs and better life. then they are sold into brothel for 40,000 rupees a piece. the younger the girl the more money they get. it is disgusting. so these women who were sold into this as a child dont know any other life than prostitution. so while it is hard giving there girls up, they do it to get them out of the situation. it was great getting to meet and spend a day with the girls in the home. they were very sweet and welcoming.

india does not offer schooling or assistance to special needs children. mainly all mentally handicapped children stay at home their entire lives and never do anything. its so sad to hear the stories. the lady to runs this school goes to the nazarene church. she pays for everything out of her own money. she is now seeking some government help with paying the teaches the school employs. we went 2 days to the school and got to spend an hour or two meeting the children and observing the classrooms. the children were precious and it was inspiring to see her vision and love for the children.

i cant believe we only have 2 weeks before we leave india! it has gone so fast and we have experienced so much.

hello from khopoli!

2008-07-01T00:15:00.000-07:00

hi everyone, sorry it has been a while. this is the first time i have been able to get to a computer since i have been in the village of khopoli. they have a small internet cafe but the electricity goes out whenever it feels like it so i hope i get through this message.:) things are going great! we are experiencing a whole new side of india. urban and rural india are totally different! i am definitely meant for the rural side of things. the air is clean with no smog, there are mountains all around us. everything is green and waterfalls can be seen right from the orphanage window. it is a beautiful place.
the children are the sweetest and we are having a great time being with them everyday. i write in an earlier blog about them, explaining how things work in the orphanage. we have been eating with them, playing games, and walking them to school everyday. the girls and boys go to separate schools so we take many trips back and forth. but we dont mind it is nice walking around the city and marketplace. the children are so well behaved. in church sunday they all sat on a mat on the ground. they sat quietly and sang the worship songs for an hour and a half.
sunday afternoon a man in the church came to pick us up and take us out to his chicken farm. it was so much fun! and we got to see amazing views of the country side. we got to walk along a river, take pictures, and waltch people plow rice fields with plows and oxes. then at the chicken farm he let us run around and catch the chickens with our hands. haha it was great and i got some funny pictures.

yesterday was the most unforgetable day. we didnt even know but we were told to be ready by 10:30 to leave. we ended up leaving at 1:30 (ha this is how things work, but its ok!). we went along with a few pastors and a group of koreans. 2 koreans for nazarene missionaries here in india and the third was doing a doucmentary on people groups in india. so we tagged along as they went up to take picutures and video of the villages and people. we travelled way up in the mountains then had to walk another mile to a village. the views were breathtaking. huge green mountains with field being planted right on the steep sides. i had never seen anything like this before in my life. maybe on the discovery chanel, but it was so surreal to actually be there. i have great pictures but i cant put them on right now because im using a rented computer. we went to two villages and there was a church in each village. the people has wonderful testimonies and stories. we were with 2 of the pastors who go and risk their lives to travel into these villages and tell the people about the gospel. it was an honor to be able to talk with these men.
we will be here for another week and a half being with the children at the orphanage and the people in the church. we are very excited because next week we are going to one of the villages out in the mountains and will be doing a program for the children the entire day. please pray for our safety and ministry as we venture back. i love all of you and am so grateful for all the people God has blessed my life with.

Its feeling more like home

2008-06-23T11:47:00.001-07:00

the team and i are really starting to get used to everything here now. we are really enjoying ourselves and are comfortable with everything. we walk to the market, take rickshaws to the mall, ride the train to downtown, and go running on a track with ease. saturday we got to go to downtown mumbai by oursleves. we rode a 40 min. train to the main train station in downtown. it was a halarious experience! so first off we were all on the "mens" car becuase we didnt want to leave phil by himself so us girls were getting some looks. also there is no seat numbers, no one checking tickets, and no organization while loading or unloading. the train stops and it is like cattle boarding a cattle car. pushing and shoving all the way in, shoulder to shoudler. we were all trying to hold on to each other and just laughing. people just hang out the door of the car when it full. the only thing keeping them in the speeding train is there arm hanging onto a handle. it is pretty crazy! the day was wonderful just wondering around and riding taxis figuring our way out around the city. we mainly went to this huge street market and got some awesome india souveniers. we found some other places we would like to go so we are planning to go back another time too.

on sunday they asked us to lead the worship service for the english service. it was great! we sang a couple of english chouruses they new then we taught them some american praise and worship songs. but very easy ones because we sing accapello(haha i know i mispelled that! :)) and none of us a very good singers. then phil preached in both services again. we were also asked to sing a special in the marathi service. we decided to sing "Amazing love" and they liked it. we got many compliments...i think they were just being nice.

this week we are continuing at the school. we make our lesson plans every night before we pray and do devotions together. we just found out we will be leaving thurs. for the orphanage. we are very excited but know that conditions will be a little tougher. bathrooms, food, and access to western like stores will be different. we are going tomorrow to buy toilet paper. we found a place that sales it here and we are going to stock up! ha no one uses toilet paper here. there is a hose in every bathroom and i guess they use that. we are not talented enough to do that without getting soaked ourselves! :) so we are taking alot with us.

At a loss for words

2008-06-22T03:13:00.000-07:00

two days ago Coach jones, my volleyball coach from trevecca died. it was completely unexpected, he was only 51 years old. im am so upset and i really want to come home and be at the funeral with the whole team. please pray for me, but especially for his wife, his family, and his volleyball team.

Working in the school

2008-06-19T08:35:00.000-07:00

hi everyone! sorry its been a while i havent been able to get on the internet in a while. then yesterday i got really sick and ws throwing up all day. yeah it sucked. i was the last team member to get sick so i guess it was just my turn. we started monday working at the school house in the slums. its more like a preschool becuase the kids range from 2-5. we do games, teach them bible versus, and to easy english learning activites. we are having a wonderful time and are meeting many great people. we continuously are giving our testimonies and participating in many of the services. we are now working on planning the youth service which is saturday night. we are going to try to teach them some easy english praise and worship songs since many of the younger kids speak very good english. thank you everyone for your continous encouragement and prayers!

and us in our new sarees!

2008-06-13T08:59:00.000-07:00

pictures of Jyoti's brithday party and me in the entrance way to her apt. building

2008-06-13T08:41:00.001-07:00

First visit to slums

2008-06-13T08:21:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we went to the slums....finally! all week we have been wanting to go, but there have been other things to do. we had church meetings, prayer services, and birthday parties. it has been a great week in getting to know the people in the church. the slums were what i expected, but i still was shaken up. i cant prepare to see something like that. we drove into the slum through a muddy dirt road with mounds of dirt and trash. kids were running around in the muddy trash water that smelled of sewage up to their knees. many were naked running around and playing. this set the scene of what we would see inside. it was like walking around in an infomercial for adopt-a-kid. the houses were made of sheet metal and anything that they could find. chickens, starving dogs, and rats walk around freely. the church of the nazarene runs a small school and community development center in cement house located in the slum. it has been summer break for the past months but school starts back this monday. we are going to be teaching english to the kids and helping conduct activites during the day. we are very excited for what we will be doing in the next few weeks. we are now in the process of planning lesson plans for english. the fact that they speak only marathi throws in a little loop hole. and it is like an old-fashioned shcool house where all the kids are different ages. haha please pray for us! we will need skill, patience, and the cooperation of the kids.

2008-06-08T11:15:00.000-07:00

2008-06-08T11:11:00.001-07:00

Pictures!

2008-06-08T11:06:00.000-07:00

sorry, i have not been able to download pictures from my camra. i finally got some on the computer!

Sightseeing and church

2008-06-08T03:56:00.000-07:00

yesterday we went sightseeing around downtown mumbia and it was great! we saw the huge, beautiful, and ornate taj mahal hotel. then right beside that is the gateway to india which was gorgeous too! this was all on the harbor which was huge. the whole city circled the whole harbor, it is the biggest city ive ever seen, and the most people i have ever seen! there was a huge market down this street and we shopped there for a while too. downtown is very pretty with really pretty architecture. i saw the first white person at the taj mahal hotel, it was so wierd. i just waved at them even though i didnt know them. they waved back and had the same look on their face. haha it is definitely different being the minority! there were otehr tourists around taking pictures and stuff but they were all indian. it was so funny! three times people came up and asked if we would take a picture. i thought they meant take a picure of them so i said yes, but actually they meant could they take a picture with us. ha we all felt like celebrities! they just want to take pictures with us. one family put their babies in our arms and took a picture. random people just pull out their camra phones on the streets and take pictures of us standing there and shopping.

today we went to church. there is an english and marati service. phil preached at both and did very good! he is a really good preacher. it is really funny because they all call him pastor phil! now we call him that sometimes...he doesnt like it. :) its raining alot now but we dont mind. it has cooled things down ALOT! we are going to go get henna later today. i think i want it on my feet. Oh and yesterday i went and picked up my sari from teh tailor. it is so pretty!! i cant wait to go to the slums tomorrow! im ready to meet all the children and just love on them. the children are all so beautiful here!

The Orphanage

2008-06-05T12:40:00.000-07:00

We spent an entire day at the orphange yesterday and i will never be the same. we drove an hour and half out of mumbai in to a smaller city. the nazarene church and orphange are all in one building. the pastor of the church and his wife and the pastor who runs the orphange and his wife also live in the same building. the children sleep in a room upstairs. they just got bunkbeds a few weeks ago, before that they were sleeping on the floor. but there wasnt enough money to buy mattreses or sheets so they have a peice of wood laid down in the middle of the bed with a small carpet over that and the children sleep there. there are 16 children in all and we were told that some are HIV positive. all of the children only speak marati, the language spoken in the state we are in, but it didnt hinder our time with them at all. we were with them from 10 AM- 9 PM. we did many things including: played soccer, played with balloons, hot wheels cars, painted the girls nails, sang songs (they knew several in English), ate lunch, and ran around throwing kids in th air. the children were so full of life and happy to be with us. they wore us out! haha it was great though, we just arent used to the heat. they have filtered water there to drink but nothing is cold it is all a litte warm. they went and got us a bottle of cold coke but the wrapper was off the bottle and the expiration date was well exceeded but none of us cared! it was the best coke i have every had! Pastor Omega, who is in charge of the children, is such a Godly man who truely understands the mission of God. he loves the children so much and they love him. they are always wanting attention. the children are so well discplined! i have never seen children so well behaved, seriously. they wake up every morining at 5:30 AM and pray, sing worships song, and recite scriture. the children know many versus by heart. they recited to us Psalms 100, 102, and 32 by heart. we were all floored! also 2 of them named all the books of the bible for us too. these children are so smart. they also pray, worship, and recited scripture in the evening around 7 PM. we got to be there for this time. the children were on their knees with hands raised and eyes closed for 30 minutes! they were truely worshiping, i could see the holy sprirt in their lives. i was talking to pastor omega and he said that he has requested for a refridgerator, freezer, TV, and mattreses but they just isnt enough money. i cant even believe he is running an orphage without a refridgerator or freezer! everyone here has such a stong faith, yesterday at the orphange challenged me in many ways. please pray for these beautiful children, pastor omenga, and his wife.

Out and about

2008-06-03T11:08:00.000-07:00

today they let us sleep in and catch up from the jet lag. it was great just getting to hang around the house and talk to their daughter, Sammy, who is twenty and the "adopted" daughter Aalnkaa. she is 17 but comes from a very poor home so they agreed to let her come and help out around the house to make some money. there is another girl here who is just visiting for 3 weeks. her name is Mara and she goes to point loma. she has become part of the group and we love her. today we got to walk around on the street where the house is and explore all the shops. i bought material to make a sari, the garments are gorgeous! tomorrow me and the other girls are going to get our measurements taken so they can custom make our saris or punjabis. they cost about 400-500 rupees which is only like $10-20 dollars. i still have not seen another white person yet. everyone stops and stares at you all the time. it makes you kind of nervous sometimes. it is a beautiful city, but poverty is always around the corner. the people are all very nice and most of them speak english. tonight we went to a prayer service at someone's house in the church. phil preached and did very well. he was pretty nervous, i think. tomorrow we are waking up early and going to an orphanage where 16 orphans live. we have many gifts and things to play with, and i also brought some nail polish so we could paint the girls nails.

I'm in India!

2008-06-02T13:54:00.000-07:00

we just got into india tonight. we are staying with Pastor Wankhede in his house. they cooked us dinner tonight and it was very good! it wasnt too spicy either! lol it is definietly warm and humid, but we have fans going everywhere. the misquitoes are out, and im practically swimming in DEET. i am very excited about this summer. the pastor and his wife are very sweet and talk to us about any questions we have.the church is right below where we are staying. it is nice to be so close because we will be attending and doing many things in the church. while at the airport these 2 beautiful girls around 7 and 10 walked up to us asking for money. of course the pastor said not to give them anything becuase they are just learning how to become professional beggers. but i did learn how to say "What is your name" in Hindi from someone on the plane so i asked them. they were pretty surprised i was talking to them. i know i will encounter many of these situatons, but it wont get any easier having to say no. we have tomorrow off to catch up from the jet lag. india is 12 hours ahead of Eastern time.

2 more days til India!

2008-05-30T12:49:00.000-07:00

Training camp has been a wonderful experience so far. At first i was a little hesitant about spending 5 days in training, but now i realize how much i needed it. Training camp has help me focus on God and his mission, not me and my mission. It has helped my team really connect too. I feel like we have been friends for years! me, katie, phil, and whitney. Everyday we have been sitting in seminars like "how to give your testimony", "how to being someone to christ", how to "how to run a bible study", and "how to run a childrens church/vbs". The training has been extensive but much needed. also we have had wonderful speakers that challenge us daily. in the mornings we go to a ropes course for team bonding which is really fun. It has been 3 days so far and everyone is ready to get to their site, i know i am! I pray daily that God will do whatever he wants with this summer. I am going to India with no expectations just an open and willing heart. God is so real and evident in everything around me.

The Day Before I Leave for El Paso

2008-05-25T19:46:00.000-07:00

Hi!
I am very busy packing and trying to remember everything that I need. It is a little stressful...I can't believe the time has come! I have been dreaming and preparing for this trip for so long and now it is here. It is so surreal. I want to thank everyone who has helped me prepare for this trip financially, in prayer, or in friendship encouragement. I will be updating this blog as much as I can throughout the summer with pictures and journaling. God Bless!