Nature's Trifecta: monkeys, spiders, and bees

God has been blessing us with situations lately that are preparing us to GET OUT OF INDIA! Okay, I'm just kidding. Kind of.

First, Chris was deathly ill this weekend. "Deathly" may be a bit of an overstatement, but he did say it crossed his mind a few times. It's been going around the school for a while now...a 24 hour flu that makes it's victim MISERABLE and then is just done. In addition, he's had some severe bouts of butt-disease (diarrhea!) Needless to say, his body is ready to be in a less hostile environment!

Second, my emotions are ready to be in a less hostile environment! Our time here has been fairly tame....until this week when India's mother nature decided to make up for the last 9 months in one all-out attack. Nature's Trifecta bore down on me with a hatred never before witnessed - in the form monkeys, spiders, and bees.

Monkeys
We keep hearing these stories about monkey attacks. One lady was attacked and fell over the cud last year (breaking her ankle), a 3rd grade girl was bit on the arm. As a result, I've often spent walks home imagined my own response to a monkey attack. Obviously I'd start with a round-about kick to the lead monkey's face, and probably let out a tarzan yell or hiss for good measure. And as I look on in my statuesque kung-fu stance, the monkeys would run away yelping. Right?

Wrong. (Warning...this tale not appropriate for the faint of heart!)

Last Monday I was walking to school when I noticed a monkey to my left. I passed it confidently, stomped a few times, and continued on my way. A minute or so later I glanced back to see that..he's still following me. No cause for concern. Another minute. Still following. Slight concern. My attention was so focused on not feeling any concern that I didn't notice myself suddenly surrounded with monkeys. Ahh...crap. Well, now what? I continued to walk confidently and tried to swallow my fear. Out of the blue I hear a screeching/hissing behind me, and suddenly...the monkey from behind JUMPED ON MY BACK! I totally flipped out, and started screaming and running. Enter: scene from Lord of the Rings where all the monkey ork-things surround the Fellowship in the underground dwarf city. There were literally 15 monkeys running at me from all sides. (mom, don't be afraid...it all turns out okay!). One jumps at me from the left, grabs my arm, and I really take off. I kicked a baby monkey with my right foot, which opened a hole big enough for me to push through and...freedom. I run down the road screaming and crying, and luckily run into two of my good friends. They calm me down, and I only cry for the next 10 minutes. :)

Spiders
Two days later I'm taking a shower (I try to do that once in a while!). I finish up, wrap my hair in one of the towels, and start drying off with the other one when...a "4-inch in diameter" spider crawls out of the towel and starts crawling up my arm. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?! I again scream (waking Chris up in the process), throw my towel down, and continue to freak out for the next 5 minutes.

Now, let me assure you that these are no Iowa spiders. These are BIG SPIDERS. Hairy, black, thick, ready to suck the life out of a small rodent if given the chance. And, it was on my arm. Chris was, of course, my hero, and killed it for me. It was another rough start to the day, though.

Bees
If this had been an isolated incident, I would have thought nothing of it. However, in the context of this week, I was SO MAD! We have a bee hive outside one of our windows, and often get bees in our house. They're really lethargic and easy to kill, but it is pretty annoying to have a floor full of dead bees. Lately, though they've been wonderfully absent, and we really haven't thought much about them.

On Thursday night, though, as I was talking with Chris from another room, I step down...and step right on a dead bee's stinger. And while I know this is not unique to India, I was annoyed. Monkeys, okay. Spiders, maybe. But really, enough is enough. :)

Just for the record, we really do love it here. Surrounded by mountains, communing with nature...I just wish we didn't have to commune so closely!

Book #4: A New Kind of Christian (part 1)

We're reading this book in the home-church Chris and I are involved with. We're not finished with this book yet, but I'm being SO challenged and encouraged by it that I wanted to process as I went. I keep feeling really frustrated as I read, because there are all these new and crazy concepts that I don't have time to process! So, I've decided I'm just going to re-read and discuss and re-read and journal and test against scripture...and ultimately be patient.

The over-arching suggestion is that we are "modern" people. We are modern students, modern teachers, modern parents, modern children, modern friends. Because of when we were born, our mindset is modern, our lifestyle is modern - our entire framework of comprehension is modern. We therefore, have to consider the fact that our Christianity is also modern. Consider these medieval beliefs...

- The world is the center of the universe. This belief was driven by the church (we are made by God, and therefore of ultimate importance), and therefore it was extremely heretical to say this was untrue.

- Witches must be eradicated. We never look for "witches" now, and would certainly never consider burning someone at the stake or trying to drown them to see if they were actually an evil being. However, this was common practice in the medieval church.

- Infidels must be converted or eradicated. This is SO far from modern Christianity (and sounds a bit like a different fundamentalist religion that we're all so quick to fear?), but there were hundreds of crusades where people were forced to convert at the tip of a blade, or die.

There are many more examples of this, but here is the most important concept: at some point we had to break with these traditions in order to get to where we are today.

***According to "A New Kind of Christian", we are on the verge of another "break".***

This next "evolution" of understanding is called post-modernism. The rest of the world is already considered to be in the "post-modern" age. The church, however, is still very modern. Hence: we see a Christianity that seems as though it is non-applicable to every day life. I often felt this in college. I would bring my non-Christian friends to church or to college ministry, and then spend the next few weeks doing "damage control for Christ". To them, it was a different world that they could never fit into. Shouldn't Christ, though, be applicable to lives as they are NOW?!?!

Do you ever feel like you put on your "Christian" face for God-things? Your Christian language, your Christian words, your Christian prayers. Do you have an "every other event" face for the rest? I did (and sometimes still do)...and I HATED it.

I'm years away from forming any solid conclusions about most of the concepts in this book...but I LOVE the way it's challenging my thoughts, and look forward to many hours of contemplation and struggle with beliefs I've always accepted as "absolute."

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ME: I had a period of "falling away" toward the end of college, and as soon as I read this I understood why. I never lost my faith, but I DID lose the "framework" for my faith. I read this and felt "understood".

I feel like a fundamentalist who's losing his grip - whose fundamentals are cracking and fraying and falling apart and slipping through my fingers. It's like I thought I was building my house on rock, but it turned out to be ice, and now global warming has hit, and the ice is melting and everything is crumbling. That's scary, you know? I went to seminary right out of college, and I thought I was getting the truth, you know, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Now I've been a pastor for fourteen years, and for this last year or so I feel like I'm running out of gas. It's not just burnout. It's more like I'm losing my faith -- well, not exactly that, but I feel that I'm losing the whole framework for my faith. You know, I keep pushing everything into these little cubbyholes, these little boxes, the little systems I got in seminary and even before that - in Sunday school and summer camp and from my parents. But life is too messy to fit. The only thing I'm confident about is that I don't have all the answers anymore. (pg. 18)

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ME: The pastor in this book is struggling with HUGE questions, but has no place to discuss/debate/discourse. I have often felt this way, but am driven by fears of being thought a "heretic" or "lacking faith". I wonder...how many more of us are out there?
Are you afraid to tell your people what you're really thinking? Yes, I feel that all the time.

Do you feel trapped by your profession, like you have to choose between your own personal pursuit of truth and the requirement to give an orthodox sermon every Sunday? Yes, yes, exactly.

Do you sometimes feel that your seminary professors are looking over your shoulder and scolding you? Every day.
Are you struggling with some specific doctrines or theological positions? Yes, several.

Do you have any one to talk to about all this? No. Nobody. (pg. 18-19)

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ME: This quote felt like a huge turning point for me. Up until this point in the book, I was yearning to do exactly what this quote says we can't do. Our "modern" mindset is FILLED with neat, organized boxes to put the world's toughest concepts into. My biggest issue, though, has always been - I don't want to serve a God that's small enough to fit into one of my boxes! Without knowing it, I was at war with my own mindset. What if I could get to a point where the process was more important than the product?! What if I could get to a point where I was content in the knowledge that I will never "know"?!?!

"The need to put everything into neat categories is part of the problem. Modern people believed that they could create a nice framework that would pigeonhole everything. So if you succeed in creating a postmodern framework, I think you've just sabotaged it. Remember that the Pharisees were the great pigeonholers and that Jesus told them that many who came out last in their framework would come out first in his. So you'd better doubt and deconstruct your boxes as fast as you construct them." (pg. 67)

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ME: This is one of the passages that I will need to sit and chew on (particularly the parts about scripture). Mostly though, I love how he pinpoints the "comfort zones" of both liberals and conservatives. WHAT IF we started really listening to each other. Could we actually learn from "the other side"?

"What if the real issue is not the authority of the text (scripture)...but rather the authority of God? What if the issue isn't a book that we can misinterpret with amazing creativity, but rather the will of God, the intent of God, the desire of God, the wisdom of God? Iif that's the case, both sides have to wake up and take notice. Conservatives may have gotten terribly comfortable perpetuating slavery or the extermination of the Indians or the subjugation of women or the marginalization of minorities or the exploitation of the environment because they can use the text to justify it, and liberals may have become terribly complacent because they've kind of dispensed with any clear word from God other than 'Be nice modern American consumers and citizens of liberal democracies.' But if there is a real, living, active, relevant desire of God and wisdom from God that needs to be brought to bear on our concrete life situation, then both sides had better move to the edge of their seats, start praying, start listening to each other, and start reading the Bible in fresh ways for all the new wisdom they can mine from it, don't you think?" (pg. 73)

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ME: I loved this quote (written in a Jamaican accent!), and know it will encourage me on days where we feel drained and confused.

"When I was young, my grandmother used to point to the mountain ranges that stretched from east to west just inland from Port Maria. She would say, 'If you find you-self on one mountain peak and you wanna get to anodda higher one, den dey is only one way up, and dat is to go down fust.' " (pg. 116-117)

**Please know: I love Jesus with all my heart. :)
I've just decided to believe that He's big enough to handle my questions.

Shishya School and Orphanage

Last weekend, Chris and I visited an orphanage called Shishya...and it was wonderful. :)

I connected with Amanda Lehman through our blogs. She commented on mine, I commented on hers, and then we both kind of tabled the connection for a few months...until March 31st, when we randomly (or not so randomly...God?!?!?!) ran into each other in the bazaar. We were out celebrating my birthday, and she and some friends were hiking up in Mussoorie on a long weekend break. We started talking to the group of white people, and suddenly realized that, "hey, you're Amanda!" After exchanging e-mail addresses, we went on our way.

I e-mailed her a few days later, and asked if Chris and I could come for a weekend visit. Amanda has been working at the Shishya Orphanage for 2 1/2 years, and is a WONDERFUL example of Christ's love in action. Needless to say, I was really excited to spend some time with her and the kids.

So, early last Saturday morning, Chris and I jumped in a taxi and headed down to Dehradun/Selaqui village. What should have been 1 1/2 hours turned into 3 (as the school/orphanage is fairly remote and our taxi driver got VERY lost!), but we eventually rolled up to a gaggle of boys splashing happily in the reservoir/pool. YAY!

We spent the afternoon playing Bible Memory Match, putting puzzles together, and just visiting. The orphanage is staffed almost entirely by volunteers - both long and short term, so it was really fun to visit with the people working there. And the boys were adorable. I think those of us who haven't spent much time in orphanages have this "Olive Twist" picture that all orphanages are filled with despair and gloom. Not so! These boys have 20 brothers, 8 moms, 3 dads, and love life! We heard a few of their stories, and while it's evident that life hasn't always been so happy, these boys are very loved.

A few things struck me about this orphanage. First, all the boys learned to speak English. While English is a very prominent language (and I think one of the national languages) in India, it's not a given that everyone will learn to speak it well. These boys, however, DO...which will give them a great footing for success in the future.

Second, this is a Christian orphanage. In a country where Hinduism is dominant and persecution of Christians is alive and well, these boys are living in a beautifully supportive, nurturing, Christian culture. I played bible Memory Match with Bharat, and every time he got a match he'd yell, "Ha! I found Jonah!" or, "There's the angel Gabriel". He knew all the bible stories. At the beginning of each meal, one of the 3rd-5th grade boys initiated prayer. At Sunday School on Sunday morning, every boy proudly recited a memory verse for one of the volunteers. I felt like I was in the presence of a generation of hope for India, and it was so exciting!

Third, the orphanage is almost completely self-sustained. The boys tend a garden, they milk their cow, and they harvest wheat to make the flour to make chapattis. The older boys make all the food, and the younger boys help with lots of the chores. And while it's a lot of work, they seem very happy to do it. It ended up that our visit fell during the wheat harvest. So, at 3:30 every boy threw on his work clothes and headed out to the fields to gather the hay and bring it to the thrashing machine. The older boys worked the machine, and the volunteers/younger boys brought the hay to them. We ended up working from 3:30-7:45...it was exhausting, hot, dirty work. And, the boys never complained. Most of them even thanked us for helping them with the work...with big smiles on their faces! And then, of course, everyone jumped into the pool without a moment's hesitation. :)

**Check out Amanda's blog post about the harvest...gives a good "play-by-play" of the whole process, and has some great pictures!**

Fourth, life is unbelievably simple. Every lunch they eat rice and dal. Every evening they eat chapatti and dal/aloo (potatoes), or something equivalent. Every Friday night is "protein night". Everyone brings their plate to the food, eats with their hands, and washes their plate when they're done. No tea breaks, no snack breaks, and the large gaps in electricity had almost no impact on daily life. One of the volunteers told me she lives on $4,000 a year (and that INCLUDES 2 round-trip tickets home for around $1,400 each!). Life is just simple.

In all, the trip was really wonderful. We were so thankful to get back up into the mountain's cool weather, but were much MORE thankful to have gotten to spend time with our new friends. We brought the camera, but didn't end up taking any pictures. It felt like something we just needed to throw ourselves into, and experience fully - no watching from the sidelines. A truly great weekend!

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Chris was scheduled to speak at school chapel the Sunday night that we got home. It was a voluntary chapel, so not as many students showed up....however, an entire group of boy's from one of the local orphanages DID show up. Chris was WONDERFUL, and after his talk, we had some neat group prayer time. I got to pray with a group of the boys, and again had that overwhelming feeling that this was the generation of hope for India. It was a beautiful time communing with our "little Indian brothers", in the presence of a great God.

Book #3: Outliers - The Story of Success

Reading is pretty big at Woodstock (our free time is rare, but when we have it...people seem to cherish alone time!), and since we got here I keep hearing about Malcolm Gladwell. So, I decided to jump in and see what all the fuss was about!


I read "Outliers: the Story of Success", and LOVED it. It's a non-fiction book about success stories. Usually when we think of a success story, our minds jump to the cliched "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" or "rags to riches" story plot. However, Malcolm Gladwell tells a different story.

He tells each story from the initial "rags to riches" perspective...and then starts to dig. He looks at age, cultural factors, parental influence, employment rates, etc. etc. etc. In every situation (at least the ones he discussed), the successful people worked extremely hard. They also, however, had extenuating circumstances that allowed for a great return on their hard work.

I LOVED this book, and would recommend it to anyone looking for an easy, non-fiction, eye-opening read. :)

Book #2: Stones into Schools

It's been a while since I finished this, but I figured I need a way to keep track of the books I'm reading, or I won't know if I actually reach my 30-books-in-a-year goal! Last year I read "Three Cups of Tea", and in December it's sequel came out..."Stones into Schools".


"Three Cups of Tea" is about Greg Mortenson, and his attempt to summit a ridiculously high peak in Pakistan. He ended up getting hurt and lost, and was taken in and cared for by the people of a remote mountain village. When he asked how he could possibly repay them, they said, "We'd love a school." The story outlines his struggle to fulfill that one promise...and how his humanitarian efforts have snowballed. He is now one of the most respected and sought-after experts on extremist Islam, and is a strong advocate for education (in particular, education for girls).

While "Three Cups of Tea" discussed his work in Pakistan, "Stones into Schools" tells the story of how he and his cohorts of do-gooders find themselves thrust into the world of Afghanistan...and the many, many challenges that accompany that adventure. It's a WONDERFUL book, very challenging, and it's so inspiring to see what one person with uncompromising determination can accomplish.

Day-Trip to Happy Valley!

Last Saturday was a GREAT day. A group of us wanted to go on a hike...and a bunch of us hadn't been to Happy Valley...so off we went! Happy Valley is a Tibetan Refugee Settlement. Since almost all the people that live there are first or second generation Tibetan Refugees, the cultural feel is really different than the rest of Mussoorie. We rode in bicycle rickshaws, visited some art studios, went to a Buddhist Temple, ate buffalo momos, and rode a man-powered ferris wheel. A great day with great people!

An "aha" moment

I've been really struggling to understand what my fears are as we mentally start to prepare to come back to the United States...but I found this quote on a new friend's blog, and had an "aha" moment. THIS is what I fear going back to.

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"The life of uttermost service cannot be called comfortable. 'Comfort, that stealthy thing that enters the house as guest, and then becomes a host, and then master. Ay, and it becomes a tamer, and with hook and scourge makes puppets of your larger desires. Though its hands are silken, its heart is of iron. Verily, the lust for comfort murders the passion of the soul, and then walks grinning to the funeral.' It is true; but it is one thing to applaud it as truth and quite another thing to turn from that lust that murders the passion of the soul, for the sake of these for whom Christ died.

But no one who has done so would exchange this way of living for any other."

-Amy Carmichael, quoting Kahlil Gibran

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Event #8: Corbett Wildlife Reserve!

This is the last of the many event posts...except that we just had a GREAT day today that I may have to include in while. :)


We had a WONDERFUL quarter break, filled with lots of new experiences and great time with friends. We left on Thursday night (at 8:30) to taxi down to Dehra Dun and catch a night train to Kathgodam. This was our first experience riding an Indian night train....and DEFINITELY our first experience on a 3rd class night train. :) It was unbelievably dirty, but also extremely cheap and relatively safe. Overall, a very enjoyable experience! (Sorry for the millions of pictures, but I just couldn't decide which ones to cut!)

We went with Kate, Jenny, Stephen, and the Nagarwalla family (Darab, Naz and Vanu). Darab is being his smiley self below. This trip would NOT have happened without his
expert travel agent skills!

Got the name wrong. :)

Our rooms were AWESOME! All the structures were made of mud, and were extremely cool (despite the VERY high temperatures). It was a GREAT place to stay!

We went into the Corbett National Wildlife Reserve two different days. First we went to the section of the park called "Bijrani". This section was really vast and open, and we could see a really long distance.

There were elephant rides in and around the park...but it felt really sad. The whole park was designed to allow wild animals to maintain their natural lifestyle and habitat, and yet so many elephants subjected to a life of servitude. It took a bit of the fun out of it, and I'm not sure I want to ride one anymore.

Ready to go!

Doesn't he look cool?! A real safari man. :)
We saw a tiger print! Even though we didn't ever see an actual tiger, it was exciting to see such obvious signs of their presence.


Tiger scratches on the trees...


These are termite hills. There were TONS of these, and all so cool looking!


We saw a herd of 8 elephants just roaming about!

Lovin' life on our jeep safari!

From a look-out tower

Just wandering the park on his elephant

The second day we went into a section of the park known as "Lohachour". This area was exactly like I had pictured...full of tall trees and hills and fallen leaves. It was picturesque! We didn't see as much in this section, but it was so beautiful that it didn't really matter. :)

We left for this safari at 4:45 AM. WHOA! This was our packed breakfast to-go.

Our group of drivers and guides, hanging out while we took a long look.

Our jeeps!

A cool hawk. :)

We saw a wild boar! And, since wild boar can actually kill tigers (they get underneath them and stick their bellies with their huge tusks), I figure it's COOLER that we saw a boar than a tiger! Doesn't it look like it's superimposed on a background? I promise it was real!


We saw multiple peacocks...so pretty!




The beautiful scene in "Lohachour"

After the Lohachour safari we visted "Camp Forktail Creek", a place that Woodstock-ians usually stay during their time to Corbett. It was all filled up when we were booking, but it was really fun to see it! This tree was right in front of the camp, and we had some climbing fun.

After our last safari we came back to our hotel spot, went for a swim, read for a few hours, and were on our way home again (via another night train). When we finally got home around 5:40 AM, we were quite exhausted. But, it was a GREAT trip!

Event #7: Making Good Food!

One of the most enjoyable things to do on slow evenings at Woodstock is to cook great food with people that you love...this post is dedicated to memories of fine cuisine and good times with friends. :)

Meal #1: Eating fresh fruits and vegetables is much more difficult here, mostly because it takes a substantial amount of time to prep the food. All fresh produce has to be soaked for 15-20 minutes in potassium fermanganate before they can be eaten. The other reason it's difficult is that the vendors sell them to you RIGHT before they're about to go bad...so you'd better eat up fast! We made this meal with Kate and Greg, and had...

Fresh fruit salad (first time eating watermelon since we've been here!)

Fresh lettuce salad (with Greg's homemade vinaigrette dressing!)

Shrimp and mushroom "alfredo" pasta (we don't have the right cheese for an actual alfredo sauce, but it was as good as anything Olive Garden puts out!)

Meal #2: We had a Mexican night! These are virtually non-existent, as there aren't Mexican spices in the bazaar, and the only way you can GET Mexican spices is by bringing them from home. Megan and Jenny offered to share one of their taco packets with us, so we got a bunch of people together and had a Mexican night! It was SERIOUSLY heavenly.

The big event of the evening was making tortillas from scratch!

We filled our homemade tortillas with chicken fajitas. Mmm...

And last but not least, the first lettuce salad of the season...with cut up veggies, hard boiled eggs, AND caesar salad dressing! (also donated from the U.S. stockpile of Megan and Jenny!)

Meal #3: This wasn't so much a meal as an experiment...and I didn't actually participate much. :) HOWEVER, Steve and Kate used our kitchen, so I'm claiming some part in the success of...HOMEMADE BAGELS!!!

This was one of those things that I never knew you could actually make on your own. Huh!

Good times had by all!

Event #6: Hostel Opening!

The biggest event of the semester has been the opening of Hostel Dorm. This now houses the 10-12 grade boys, and has been a LONG-awaited event. :) For a while all boys have been living in temporary housing with quite abhorrent (as I've heard) conditions. But now, as you'll see, they're going to be LIVING IT UP!!!!! It was a really fun ceremony with great speakers, great food, and a GREAT dance afterward. It's so fun to see such vast improvement to the campus!

Photo Credits: Casey Guenther, development office