OK. So at 12:00AM I could hear bells and pooja chants begin...so I ventured outside. When people build houses here, before they move in, they have these big ceremonies and family will travel from all over the country to come dedicate the house to the gods here. This is the new house across the street from my place decorated for the pooja worship.

They do the pooja worship in order to keep evil away from their homes. My presence was readily accepted by my new neighbors and I got to take in the Indian custom. I asked why it was taking place at this time of night...they said it was the best time for this worship. Here are some pictures...

Hindu priests setting up offering area at the front steps of the house.











Their feet among the offerings...









                                                  
        
  Inside the house, and Hindu priest watches as the owner pours dahe on the fire...

The smoke is supposed to chase off evil things...so they burn this fire and previously the Hindu priests were sitting around it chanting and throwing things into it...Everyone moved inside and participated in bowing down to the gods around the fire...they showed me around the house and the smoke was so thick my eyes were burning so we had to go up out on the terrace...












So, everyone left the house at 1:30 AM to "take their dinner" and I was told I could go for the evening since I had already "taken my dinner". I was invited to come back for the morning pooja at 6:30AM...I think I will drag myself out of bed to attend this pooja to see what takes place. We talked about what Americans did when they built a house. I told them "we just move in". They thought that was interesting.

If salvation is by anything other than grace alone...then wouldn't God owe 'us' something? Could God ever be in debt to any human? A question raised at work this week...

It seems as though I should have some things to say...but lately it seems as though I am dry. I have been having some cultural issues lately...but mostly I am hung up on the arranged marriage aspect of life here...today I watched a very popular Hindi movie about how because a man married a woman he fell in love with, he was out cast from his family. She was not "good enough" for his family.

I have been seeking to understand and respect this aspect of the culture here, but it is so hard for me to fathom. I respect my friends when they marry, out of obedience to their parents, someone they do not love...much less have met more than once...many have only seen a picture...but I also hear the pain in their voices which comes from deep in their hearts as they tell me of "being in love once, but I was not allowed to marry because of wrong caste". Or, "be glad you are free, fly like a bird". 

Could I do it? Could I obey my parents and marry someone I had never met? Can you come to love someone because they are who you are married to? Could I handle being an add in a newspaper and hope that my statistics were good enough to get me married? Could I imagine going to school and earning a degree, knowing that I would never use it, as I would be married right after graduation and expected to stay in the home for the rest of my life?  Could I handle living in a society were girls are considered a burden to the family instead of a joy? A society where if a girl is not married by 21, some places you get till 24, you are considered undesirable.  A society where sex testing on pregnant ladies is illegal because parents try to abort the female babies? A society where in the paper you read about poor men killing their daughters because they can not afford their future dowry. A society where the men hold the female responsible for not having a male child and consider them cursed because of it. A society where poor girls get married as early as 13 to older men because it is the only way they will be married. A society that claims the people are better off when I have yet to meet a woman whom I can see hope in their heart? I take that back...I have met 3...and they all have hope because of Jesus...

Sometimes I feel so hopeless here, that there no way I can help to make their lives better...I suppose that is why my hope is in the Lord...I alone can do nothing...but His Holy Spirit...can change things...His Word, can change things. Prayer, can change things. His love can change things. His salvation, can change things. Circumstances, sometimes, may not change...but hearts....those can change...I want to see this place changed...maybe not physically right now, but eternally...

A M worker friend of mine, who lives in the North, just sent me this pic of his new Royal Enfield. Pretty sweet I must say....not only the bike but his surroundings as well...

Ah, I admit it, I love "Top Gun"...This song always fires me up...so I thought I would let you all enjoy for the day...And NO it is not because of the volleyball scene!!

Hello Auntie! The greeting I received upon the accent to my apartment this evening, by the little girl who lives down stairs. Any elder woman/girl here is called Auntie as a sign of respect. I do find it satisfying this little girl finally called me Auntie, as before she was always SO shy and would never talk to me other than formalities in answering when I would ask her a question.

The little boy she is holding is her nephew. He turned one this week and I was invited to his Birthday party. It was an interesting event, I was photographed and even put on video. I took the opportunity to give the little boy two gifts. One being the best gift anyone ever gave me, the Word of God. I do like those verses in Deuteronomy that talk about talking of the Lord with your kids. So, in a land where Jesus is not thought of, or pushed aside in worship of other gods, I hope his mother will read to him the stories of Jesus/God . I hope that in looking through these Words she herself will be drawn to the Truth they put forth.

The Word has been so great this week. God has continued to show Himself to me by adding depth to His Words I had read so many times before. The Word of God truely is living and active. How great is it that since Jesus Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered,  He is able to come to our aid when we are tempted? How do we forget what He went through in this world? God has been slowly changing my perspective on life these past few weeks, and while at times it has hurt, or taken patience, it is so worth it. He has allowed me to see what it is like to trust Him, even for little things, like transportation, and see Him come through in such great ways. It is awesome to know that He is all over my big things as well as my little things.

It has also been awesome to see the verses become real that talk about how the things we go through can give us compassion and help us help those who will go through similar things. I have seen how God has used the hardship of my last few months SO many times in these past two weeks to reach out in understanding to those going through similar heart ache or tough situations. Praise God for the hard times as well as the good times. While I have hurt more this year than maybe ever in my life, all of it has been worth it, because of the opportunities I have gotten to minister to those around me.

I got a fish last week...and his name is Blue Fish. Funny how that "will not cloud water" fish food clouds the water. Funny also, that the man here told me I had to put him in filtered water b/c the water from the tap would kill him. Hmm...


I also acquired a bike this week! Yipee! I had just said one day how I wanted a bike, the next day, a lady who is moving told me she needed someone to give her bike to. So, I am now the owner of a green BSA bike, with no gears...Bikes with gears are for sissys anyways! Right. Yeah. They sure do make those hills a little nicer...I will miss them, but will enjoy this step back in time to my younger days when bikes rarely had gears, you had bananna seats, and by pushing the peddals backwards the breaks were applied.  

Geesh. I also got a plant this week. I guess it was the week of acquiring things. Funny enough, again, I was talking of how I wanted a plant, and there you go, someone tells me I can have theirs, and it was the exact type of plant I wanted. Somehow, this lady had managed to kill most of the plant, but I am going to see if I can revive it...we shall see how that goes.

I guess I finally feel like in these last two weeks I have begun to settle here. It is about time I suppose since this is my 13th month in country.

I can only find one of my hiking boots...

All right. I have had enough for one post. I am out.

Road Rage? India will work it out of you...it is so pointless...a road rager would most likely commit suicide in this culture...determined on my way to work today...

The verse that I have read hundreds of times...but it reaches my heart right now in a way that only God could make it...
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trails of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking in anything. James 1:2-5
Don't worry, road rage is NOT one of my trials (becuase if it was I would have killed myself by now)...but there ARE many right now...and my faith IS being tested...and I WILL persevere  Well, "we" God and me, will persevere...that has been my problem...too much "I" in my life...sometimes I manage to forget that I am no longer an "I" but I carry Him around with me as well...making this temple "we".

Ben shared his Kilifi photos with me today...here is one of my favs...

The Sunset from my roof tonight...

I was in the need of some of God's beauty tonight and I found it on my roof...It is normally SO loud here all the time that to be able to sit in peace and enjoy His creation is rare. I climbed to the highest point of my building, up a bamboo ladder, and sat there...It was as if somehow God had made that moment for me...sitting alone up there in a land of 1 billion people, being able to look out over my neighborhood and feel as though He was meeting me there...I miss the sunset...I miss nature...I miss meeting Him at times like that...
At the same time a gentle reminder of the spiritual condition of this place...the shadow in the sunset is something the houses have on them here to keep away evil spirits...when they build a house they dedicate it to one of their gods for blessing and protection...an idol that can not speak, can not hear, that holds no power and leads them astray...

This land is so dark...

What I have been realizing lately is that for the first time in my life God has me at a point where everything is uncertian...everything but Him. I am learning to trust Him in ways that I never knew I needed to...
Mad props to Ben for slowly teaching me how to take pictures! Who knew what all those settings were for!

F L O R I D A S T A T E, Florida State, Florida State, Florida State, Wooo! FSU won this morning...Yes, I said this morning. If you want to catch FSU games from here you gots to get up all kinds of early to listen to them...this morning it was only 4:45...not so bad...ha!

It did occur to me this morning...FSU's fight song says "For FSU is on the war path now and at the battle's end She is great". Well, if we had to classify the games according to the wars of our past...which one would this one be? One that we had to fight hard, did not play offensively as well as we could have, almost lost, but somehow managed to play enough defense to take the win...?? Oh, and just a little more complication...it was non-conference and played on their territory...Anyone have any suggestions? Bring em on...

~EDIT~

Crud-yun! I just got bit by two mosquitos and it is Dengue Fever season around here...
God is pretty awesome. He and I had some serious convos while I was in Africa about how true strength is being able to admit my weaknesses, or even allowing them in a way, while weaknesses is thinking I am stronger than I am. I just went to a friend's site and her most recent blog was about weakness and strength.. I am going to put my journal entry about this here and what she had below that:

I am realizing His abundant grace for me, while longing for it not to be in vain…For when I deny my weaknesses, and therefore my need, that is when His grace for me is in vain…I can honestly admit it is not easy for me to live in that freedom that grace provides. It is a struggle of mine, that I see more clearly now, to not take on the yoke of slavery from which Christ has set me free.

Sitting in my taxi, driving by pineapple fields with Baobab trees creating shadows

on the Kenyan hills, against the setting sun, it hits me that I have fought the idea of being weak.  I have been taught that I need to be strong always, that I need not ask for help, that I need to stay between the lines, that I can do anything if I work hard enough, that less than the best is not acceptable, that being robust is what people value, and weakness causes doubt or maintenance, that tears are not ok, and that struggle is not ok.

God whispers to me that admitting my weaknesses is true strength and that denying them is weakness.  Denying my weakness is rejecting grace, it is rejecting my need of Him. He has told us that in our weaknesses that is when He is strong.

Why is it that in what should be the safest place on earth, gathered together with fellow believers, we are taught judgment instead of grace? Why is it that I expect judgment instead of grace? Why is it that I remove the power He has granted us in each other’s lives through love and unity? Where is true love exemplified? It is exemplified when one is willing to walk into the life of one ridden with decay and disease, their stench so overwhelming, unable to walk due to their condition, to doctor the wounds, encouraging them and battling alongside them, to bring them to healing and life from the One that waits for them with unending love and grace.  

 I find freedom, as the wind blows the few stray curls across my face that have managed to escape their confinement in the clasp that sits at the base of my neck. I find myself accepting and embracing my weaknesses, dependent upon grace. I find myself feeling free like those few stray curls…

2 Corinthians 12:9 My grace is sufficent for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.

An exerpt from Blackaby from Patty's site: Human strength is a strong deterrent to trusting in Christ. When we rely on our own strength, resources, and knowledge, we assume we can handle situations without help from God. We tend to divide problems into two categories: problems that we know require God's help and problems we think we can handle on our own. (Paul had a tenacious personality and an exceptionally strong will. Paul/Barb...peas in a pod I think...) He courageously faced angry mobs as he traveled far and wide to promote the cause of Christ. He had spent the first half of his life serving God in his own strength. However, once God gained his attention, Paul had to learn to rely on God's strength and not his own. Paul was afflicted with a thorn in the flesh (2 Cor. 12:7). Whatever this was, it humbled him. He had performed incredible miracles, even raising the dead, but he could not remove the affliction that God had given him, an affliction that made him depend on God. The world had seen what Paul could do in his own strength, and it was horrifying! Now God wanted to exercise His power through Paul's life. When Paul thought he was strong, he neglected to rely upon God's strength. Only in his weakness did Paul trust implicitly in God. If you feel strong in an area of your life, beware! Often your strength, rather than your weakness, hinders you from trusting God. God will bring you to a point of weakness if that is what it takes to bring you to trust in Him. Do not despise your weakness, for it leads you to trust in God's strength.

I just really like it when timing of truth is so perfect. God rocks! Have a good one yall...

My random end of the day thoughts...
The Rock as we so fondly called it...

I calculated at work today...the birthday phone call I made to my mom from Africa...5 minutes for 20 bucks...not bad, not bad...

Strawberry Twizzlers...they don't seem to ruin in India like other edibles...

Crazy that a bomb went off killing at least 40 people in the exact place I was in Pak less than 3 weeks ago...Why is there so much unrest in the world where people feel like they need to kill each other over stuff? I hope the friends I made while there are ok...time will tell

Why did I get that pain in my heart today when a friend mentioned going to Turkey next week...

In India Dean is spelled Din and Evan is pronounced Even

Arranged Marriage???

Ever have one of those moments when someone makes a comment to you and you just laugh at the seeming obsurdity of it? I had one of those moments when a co-worker told me she thought I was SuperWoman...
So, sitting at breakfast in Africa one morning I felt something bite my belly, I look down, see nothing, wonder at my sanity, and finish my tea...I go to put my swimsuit on for the beach and a centipede falls out of my pants...now if I was SuperWoman would I have done my little "jig" half dressed while yelling "Marcy, Marcy, Marcy!!!"....hmmm. Maybe not...it feels good to fall from superherodom ya know....?

Is Steve really "admiring my world famous blue pottery from Pakistan" or has he spied the peppermint patties I have stashed in there...

We watched Gone with the Wind tonight...Scarlet, I mean REALLY!

During the flick:

Me: hmmm, I am kind of annoyed that for the past 20 minutes Scarlet just does not get it...I mean, she likes him right? She has that smile, does he not see her smile, why can't she just not get mad and tell him she loves him? Does she not see he loves her?

The boys(uh hum, excuse me, the men)Ben and Steve: try for the last 2 hours...

Me: Is love really that complicted?

Steve: It is life...

Me internally: I sure hope Scarlet is not my life...but you know...maybe it is part of all of our lives to at least some degree...Pride standing in the way of something that could be totally amazing...sad

Ben: I really thought Ashley got sawed up at the lumber mill...there should have been more killing in this movie...

Ah the weekend...

UGH....Computer wigging out on me  So, I just called work and they seem to think I have a worm...ah the joy...so maybe I will update a little more today as I spend the rest of my afternoon backing up my computer and hope it will let me get it done instead of shutting down on me and refusing to restart...On a happy note,I did just catch a glimpse and see that FSU won their two games while I was gone...Yipee! and have moved back up the ranks slightly...Go Noles!

Update..my computer has been fine since the incident before...however I am running scans at the present moment to see what I can find...so in the mean time...a few more photos and hopefully the story of my journey...

So, the trip starts off with Ben and I getting to Niarobi, and Ben's bag is MIA...Diana TOTALLY used the terminology and thought of you! So, ends up Niarobi is to be our place of stay for the next few days while we wait upon Ben's bag to be found...and we work on making arrangements for the rest of our trip...Third World living...really changes how you approach life...

Not so much is memorable about Niarobi in particular...Oh, well let's not forget the place called Carnivores...yeah, serve you all kinds of meat...don't get that where we live...I had osterich, gazelle, croc...and some other stuff I don't really remember at the moment...worth a visit should you hit Niarobi...ANYWAY...

I did have an encounter with a boy whom I think I will not forget any time soon...Here is his story: So, we stay in a Bpst guest house, so tons of M's from all over are in and out all the time...one night while watching Sports Center, yes, you got that right, we got to watch some American sportish stuff, a man came in and asked if we wanted to go bowling. I was game, Ben and Marcy, whom have not seen each other in over a year are not, so I leave them to themselves. I head off with my pizza in hand, with an M from Kenya, to meet his son and a group of others for a night of bowling. At dinner, before meeting up with the rest of the crew, John, David, and I enjoy pizza and John tells me stories about God directing him that give me chills all over my body. God is awesome you know...works in ways that can not be mistaken for anyone else...
So, after some COOL stories from John, I take it upon myself to teach David, a young Kenyan boy of 9, how to shoot the paper off his straw across the room...The kid has amazing aim! After some play David sits back down to finish his pizza...he has stripped all the meat off his meat pizza, which he totally ordered, b/c he says it hurts his mouth...John, his adopted dad, leans over to me and tells me it is because David has sores in his mouth that are a result of AIDS. A boy of 9 dying in Kenya as a result of being born with HIV...his sister joy, 5, had died 3 months earlier after losing her fight...The feelings of immense sadness brought tears to my eyes...I hope my heart never forgets David...In light of his truth new perspective was drawn from my heart...David, 9, dying of AIDS, told me at dinner without one complaint..."Jesus is strong and good". He complained not and trusted much...how much should this be my own reality? I hope I never forget how David grabbed my hand and we swung him up the flights of stairs as he laughed with glee, I hope he continues to give high fives and tens when people do well at something just like I taught him, I hope he turns ten, I hope he lives long enough to bowl for the second time in his life..I hope his trust in Christ will remain with me when I go to open my mouth about a present condition in my life that I don't agree with, understand, or think I deserve...knowing that above all else Jesus is strong and good...

The night came to a close in the 10th frame...Peter, whom we fondly called Petra, had just finished strong and was the only one with a higher score as I stepped up to finish out the game as the last bowler...dispite my impressive 3 strikes in the 10th...Petra still finished 1 point ahead of me...ah...I enjoyed the challenge and the cheering of our group all the same...and David was there to give me high ten every strike I made...
So, the rest of the trip. We had planned on the beach and a safari. It all seemed to be going to well...until about 2 hours before our train was to leave for the coast we find out the train has been cancelled. Yep, I guess you can do that there...So, we end up taking the ALL night bus across the country of Kenya...HA! You don't even want to know....don't even want to know...

Lets just say when we finally did arrive at our beach resort...this was a VERY welcome sight...

My computer just shut down on me, AGAIN...oh how I wish I had some good computer know it all friends :) I will leave the Kenya story telling for another time...when I will tell you of the centipede in my pants and the little "jig" as Marcy likes to call it...that resulted from such...

Jombo!!
Kenya was AWESOME! Here is a pic of me and Marcy on our Safari through Tsavo...Have you seen "Ghost in the Darkness" with the man eating lions? Yep, that is Tsavo...unfortunately the lions I saw, while MASSIVE, did not instill fear into my girly heart...they were too busy panting from the lack of water...they were even right among a heard of zebra and did not even give chase for our enjoyment! Drat! But, I guess, when I think about it, I never even like to watch those shows on tv where the animals hunt and kill things, so I am sure while it would have been exciting, I would have felt bad for the zebra had my hope for a good chase come to fruition...
So, I feel as though I have SO many stories and pics, so it might take me a while to get them up on here...
I will finish this entry with a recount of the convo I had with my safari driver upon me innocently asking him what his favorite animal was...
Me: So, what is your favorite animal out here?
D: What do you think?
Me: The lion?
D: The King! (While pumping right fist in the air)
Me: You know, Jesus is called the Lion...(Marcy from behind me "Lion of Judah")
Me: Why is the lion your favorite?
D: Because he is representative of how "man" and life should be...BEGIN LONG DISsERTATION of how the male lion is representative of how men should live their life on earth and how the lioness should serve and do everything for him...Continue dissertation on how independent westerners (females like me) have ruined the way females want to live life in Africa...continue dissertation on how African women have been ruined by thinking that they have a right to share their view point about anything...If he had not gone on for about 15 WHOLE minutes on this subject, without catching a breath, I would probably be able to fill you in more...but I can not recall all of what he had to say about the evils of western independent women...geesh, fella, I just wanted to know what your favorite animal was...for the rest of the safari he would only address the guy in our group...and would wait for him to respond in order to do anything...I guess I at least walked away from that day knowing how D felt about women like me?
Some interesting things I played with on my trip...
The lizards were cool...
Margaret the 50 year old turtle was heavy as junk!

OK, so I look like a total whimp...and I am ok with that...having a constricting snake around your neck is not my most favored position to be in...

There was an awesome reef at the beach and we went exploring and found tons of star fish...
I met a Kenyan who had been diving for fish and things out past the reef, and so I got to play with a live octopus...it was pretty cool too...I had no idea the suction those bad boys had on those tenticles...it was fun...until the Kenyan man decided he would show us how the octopus produced ink and pretty much tore its head off!

And yes, since moving to India, the center part has become a part of my life...will it stay or will it go...only time will tell...