Happy as a clam.

It seems that I should have learned by now that God’s timing is perfect and flawless.  Time after time, though, I seem to think that mine is better. 

For the past week, I’ve been struggling with the realization that the end of this trip is now in sight.  It’s not because I don’t want to go home, or anything like that, but more so that I have let life and school here become normal.  I’ve let myself slip into a routine and that was the last thing I wanted to do.  I didn’t come to India to be comfortable but I felt like I was letting myself do so.  This could have been prompted by the fact that we didn’t travel anywhere this past weekend for the first time in quite some time and that prompted boredom for the first time quite possibly since I’ve been here.  Before I knew it, though, God put things in my days that brought new challenges, learning experiences, and things to laugh about. 

Saturday, we threw a surprise birthday party for the only guy on the team – it was his 21^st so we took him to Arabian Fried Chicken (the closest thing we can find to fast food, although it takes a good 45 minutes to get your food) and bought him American junk food as gifts. A Halloween party closely followed the surprise party that evening, where our program assistants made homemade pumpkin donuts for us.  We all dressed up with whatever we could find, which took some creativity.  Two other girls and I went as the cast of Aladdin, because we have lots of scarves and genie pants.  I was Jasmine, one girl was Aladdin and one was the Genie (who we painted blue with acrylic paint).  We played charades with some of our Indian friends who had joined the party and had a great evening just hanging out with one another. 

Monday, we had our 15 minutes of fame.  There was a press conference held for us.  As much as I wish I could say this is a joke, its not.  We were interviewed and asked very vague questions about our time in India, because, apparently we have taken Coimbatore by storm.  Aside to answering questions, we were asked to stage a fake classroom scene featuring artwork from one of the art classes offered at the school.  To our surprise, we were featured in three different newspapers, both Tamil and English.  We have become even more of celebrities than we were before and have had random people stop us on the street to tell us that they read about us in the paper. 

Following the press meet, we went to visit a Jain temple.  Just when I thought I had been as perplexed as possible by foreign religions, I was proven wrong.  On one of the first days of class, we learned that Jains wear all white, including facemasks, and carry brooms to sweep away germs.  Unfortunately, that is about all we learned about these people and as we headed to the temple, we were generally anticipating seeing a bunch of white-clad germophobes.  Unfortunately, this was not the case in any way, shape, or form when we arrived.  No one was wearing white, let alone carrying a broom.  The temple had a similar feel to that of a Hindu temple except with many swastikas used as décor.  We learned that Jains believe in 24 gods and only certain gods are present in each temple.  They hold life in high regard and do not eat or consume any kind of food that destroys life (this includes plants that are grown underground).  The swastika represents well-being, not the Nazi party; don’t worry.  One of the program assistants explained the Jain religion to me as follows:  Jainism is to Hinduism as Jehovah’s Witness is to Christianity.  That really helped me get a better grasp on the idea.  These new religions keep challenging me in what I believe, but more on that in a little while. 

Yesterday, Wednesday, was a great day and a complete blessing.  It was an internship day.  At FFC, if a girl is never adopted, she will be married off after an adequate husband is found for her.  If this happens, all of the orphans presently at FFC as well as all of the staff hold a wedding reception for the newly married couple.  Yesterday, I witnessed this firsthand and got to be a part of the reception.  This couple was different, however, and the marriage was not arranged, but rather a “love marriage,” which is very uncommon in India, let alone for an orphaned girl.  This girl was married to the love of her life at 5 am, and a reception followed at FFC.  These receptions are a big deal – everyone gets dressed up and brings gifts. 

This meant that I had the chance to get dressed up and wear my sari.  In case you are unaware, a sari is literally one huge piece of fabric (6 yards to be exact), which is simply wrapped around you.  You wear a custom-made blouse on top and a petticoat on the bottom.  Since I have no idea how to wrap a sari, I had to have a neighbor wrap it for me.  It is important to understand that when a sari is wrapped, it is basically just tucked in and safety pinned in four or five places – not very secure. It is quite a process though because it is so much fabric. When it was partway wrapped, the neighbor said, “This no good.  You too tall, need extra long.  This not okay.”  Basically, if a sari was pants, I was rocking the high-watered look all day long. That same neighbor told me I wasn’t complete without some jewelry and proceeded to go to her closet and get me a set of earrings and a necklace that matched perfectly.  I also had to wear bangles (which I bought with the sari) as well as a bindi, out of respect, because the wedding was Hindu.  Upon arrival at FFC, the grounds of the orphanage were completely transformed; chairs were set up for guests and blankets were spread for the children.  I was greeted with a traditional Hindu blessing and an additional marking of sandalwood powder above the bindi.  One of my favorite little girls was thrilled to see me and came running when she saw me; she grabbed my waist and tugged.  All that hard work on the sari quickly came undone, as the pleating unraveled and the pins came loose.  A 14-year old girl swiftly took me aside, stood on a chair and rewrapped the sari for me.  Thank goodness for her.  She took me to get tea and one of the older women who work at FFC saw me and made some exclamation in Tamil, which I took to mean that my sari was inside out (I would have never been able to tell, it was not obvious).  She took me aside and rewrapped the sari.  I could tell as she was working on it that it was loose and kept trying to explain that.  When she was done, I showed her and she looked appalled and wrapped it again.  Apparently it takes upwards of 6 Indians and many tries to wrap and American properly in a sari.  After all of that, it was time for the reception to start.  Another girl from our program and I sat in the front row; we were so excited.  The bride looked breathtakingly beautiful.  After about an hour, we had the chance to go give our gift to the bride and groom (wedding candles) and then take photos with them.  Eventually, it was lunchtime.  Unfortunately, lunch “feast” consisted of rice and very spicy sambar.  On the bright side, I am pretty sure I’m going to be a beast for spice when I get home; I could handle the spice without water, which is something I certainly would not have been able to do a couple of months ago.  After lunch, we had the chance to talk with Rani, a volunteer teacher at FFC (she was adopted from FFC to Canada at age two).  She has an amazing story and I feel so blessed to have the opportunity to know her.  It seems that every time I leave FFC, I am filled with so much joy that I can’t even explain it. 

Today, I have to give a shout out to the amazing Hess family and my phenomenal family who absolutely made my day with care packages today! You all sure know how to make a girl smile!

Now, back to religion.  For one of my final papers, I chose the topic of Hinduism because it perplexes me and frustrates me so much.  Last night, we had a team debriefing and the topic was on living as a Christian in a Hindu context.  It was during that meeting that it struck me – I have been approaching these foreign religions in the wrong way.  Rather than automatically comparing it with Christianity and being overcome by fear, I should be doing my best to understand exactly what they believe and why.  That is my goal for the rest of the time here, to understand and to love (without judgment).  85% of India is Hindu – that is a pretty large number.  We are supposed to paint the world a picture of Jesus and I want to do that to the very best of my ability.  1^st Corinthians 9:19-23 says, “Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.  To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews.  To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law.  To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law.  To the weak I became weak, to win the weak.  I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.  I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.”  One last interesting fact.  Only 2% of the Indian population is Christian and of that 2%, 80% are Dalits (the Untouchables) who generally convert because they have nothing to lose.  The upper caste tends to shy away from Christianity particularly because they have things to lose in society.  I’m still grappling with what exactly I think this means for Christians, but I think it’s a call to not forget those who we do not view as “the least,” to remember the people who don’t appear as clearly to be in need. I'm not saying the focus shouldn't be on the least because Jesus says "whatever you do to the least of these, you also do to Me," I'm just saying we can't forget the others.  

A Jain Goddess

Us with the bride and groom.

These girls bless me.

Kids at the wedding reception.

Beautiful bride and groom.