Well India, it’s been great.

Hello everyone!!!

Katie and I have been having a GREAT time in India. We’ve only been here for 4 days, and we leave tomorrow, so everything has gone super fast! We’re wishing we would have known how great it was so we could have planned to spend more time here! There’s so much to experience, and 4 days definitely doesn’t do Calcutta justice.

These past 2 days, Katie and I have been volunteering at the different Missionaries of Charity homes. In the morning we’ve been working at a home for mentally and physically disabled children, and in the afternoon we’ve been at a home that focuses on palliative care for adults. It’s been really humbling to work with these people and to be able to get to know them a bit.

At the children’s home, we do basic chores, like washing laundry or making the beds. Then there’s a time of physio therapy for the children. Many of them have severe arm or leg contractures and need to be stretched out or massaged each day. Every child has a little booklet that tells a little bit about them and different exercises that you can do with them. It’s really interesting being with these kids, as most can’t walk or speak. You have to pick them up to take them anywhere and you almost feel as if you’re going to break them! During physio therapy time, there’s also a time of singing and listening to music. We all sit in a circle, and it’s really cool to see all of the volunteers there in one room together. We’ve met people from all over the world here, so as we sit in a circle, there will be people from Japan, the Netherlands, France, Norway, Scotland…everywhere! It’s just interesting how the vision and love of one person can bring people from every corner of the world together. But you’re not allowed to take pictures of any of the homes…so don’t be expecting any!!

Getting to know the other volunteers has also been fun! During our lunch break Katie and I usually tag along with some other people and go get lunch, or just walk around the city. They’ve shown us some really great places to eat and have helped us find our way around!

We also seem to be in India during the most exciting time of the year! There’s a HUGE festival that starts tomorrow, called Durga Puja, and it celebrates some strange looking goddess that has 8 arms. Anyways, all the buildings are covered in lights and there’s lots of music and celebrations! Katie and I were walking the streets last night looking for dinner, and we happened to stumble upon a big concert going 0n! We stayed for a while and watched, and let me tell you, there were some pretty awesome acts going on. There was one singer performing, who was apparently pretty well known in the area, but I’ll admit, he was a big hard to take seriously. He was a little bit bigger individual, doing Michael Jackson-like moves on stage, dedicating his songs “to his parents, and to his first love…the audience.” Awesome.

So needless to say, Katie and I are loving India and have been really blessed to see what Jesus is doing here! There are so many opportunities to share your faith with others and learn about theirs as well. We have so many stories that we wish we could share here, but there’s just not enough time to write them all!

So tomorrow we travel back to Thailand for our last stop of the trip! You can pray for safe travels, and that Katie and I will continue to stay healthy and safe. Thanks to all of you who have been praying during the whole duration, we appreciate you so much!

Have a super great day everyone!!!