Visitors are Welcome

I just wanted to say anyone is welcome to come for a visit. I just had visitors and we had a lot of fun together. I have some more visitors coming in June. I'm banking on being an expert Taj Mahal tour guide by the end of my term. If you can cover the flight, I can cover you here...only b/c it's super cheap. Also, no fanny packs and socks with sandals are allowed. Another stipulation is that you aren't allowed to ask me a million questions...a thousand will do. When my family visited me in London, they drove me insane w/ the questions. Eventually I just started to make up answers.


Since I mentioned fanny packs, I've got a funny story that involves Edgar and his fanny pack. When we were younger, we went skiing for our fam. vacations. As we grew up , we stopped wearing a ski bib and started wearing the pants and a ski coat. Well, I don't think Edgar has upgraded his ski suit in the past 15 years. One key item of his ski suit is his fanny pack. It's horrible. Edgar once was on the ski lift a few seats ahead of Mary Kathryn and me. If you've been skiing you know, the ski lift circulates on a revolving belt thingie, and only one side of the lift is occupied while the empty seats return to pick people up. Well as we were almost to the place to get off, we noticed Edgar circling back around w/ all of the empty seats. As he was trying to exit the lift his fanny pack got stuck and he couldn't get off. He was wearing his fanny pack on his back side and it got wedged between the back-rest bars. Of course, I was young, so I was embarrassed when Edgar yelled, "Don't worry...my fanny pack got stuck." Now I think it was the funniest thing ever. I think we gave him such a hard time about the fanny pack incident that the last time we went skiing he didn't wear it.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the little story about Edgar. Seriously visitors are welcome...

A Few Pics!!!

Here are a few pics. of my second trip to the Taj...I have visitors in town that's why I went again. The pic below would be cool, but that one tree is in the way. Also, notice the blue skies... I don't see those much in my city.

Monkeys are like squirrels here. I think they are cute, but the locals are scared of them b/c they will attack you for food.

It Didn't Work

Is anyone willing to send a BB gun over??? I think that would solve the problem.

Taking Care of Business

Today after our language lesson, I waged war on the local pigeons. Every morning pigeons land our A/Cs and make crazy noises and fight each other. It's like my A/C is the neighborhood WWE wrestling ring. We asked our tutor what the word for barbed wire was and immediately after our lesson we headed to the market to find some. We never found barbed wire, so we settled for chicken wire. Before I could rig the pigeon contraption, I had to clean our balcony. It was gross. As you can see in the pic. below, my lovely note to the pigeons and the ammo in my hand. The next pic. is the finished piece. It looks so ridiculous, but we haven't heard any pigeons yet.

I'm ill

I don't feel well and I cannot sleep. I would call and bother people, but I'm in such a bad mood it wouldn't benefit anyone, so instead I'm downloading more country music. I must have a fever. Oh wait, I don't have a fever it's just 90 degrees in my flat.

The other night, I washed my hair was drying it when I thought I was going to catch on fire b/c I was so hot. I've come to the conclusion that it will be months before I completely dry my hair w/ a hair dryer. Then I came to a better conclusion...that I want to learn how to braid my own hair. If Trudy is reading this I'm sure she's dying. I promise I won't bust out a long jean skirt anytime soon, but I think these women are onto something w/ braided hair.

Do women really dress like that today? If they are believers, is that what they think Mary and Martha wore? Girls easily can dress modestly and not look like they belong to a cult. Who would want to believe if they thought they had to start dressing like that? Sorry if I'm offending people. I'm ill remember. I go with, "If Jesus walked past me on the street, would I want more clothes on?"

I'm sort of joking about this whole thing. Have a good day!!!

I'm in Love w/ Aaron and Hur

I'm hooked on Aaron and Hur. I love what they did so much that I wish they had cooler names b/c I would reserve them for if I had a son some day. I really can't stand the name Aaron, sorry if that's your name, and Hur...what kind of name is that?

Let me set up the scripture that I love so much that involves them. It's in Exodus Ch. 17. It comes after Moses has led the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt. They were on their fun tour of the desert when the Amalekites attacked them.

v. 10-13 says, "So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill. As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. When Moses' hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up-one on one side, one on the other-so that his hands remained steady till sunset. So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword."

I want to be like Aaron and Hur. I have no desire to be a Moses or Joshua. I think so many people in the church want to be a Moses or Joshua, but few want to raise the leaders arms up. I wonder if Moses wore his Old Spice D.O. that day? B/c you know after camping out in the desert he was smelling. We don't like the dirty work. It's our naturally and sinful desire to want to be on top and out front. We, especially me, have fallen into the lie that God's will for our lives will be a role considered grand and noteworthy. I mean we deceive ourselves into thinking eloquent speakers, great singers etc. are really favored by God and that we just haven't been given "good" gifts like them. When we live selfishly with that mentality, our appointed leaders get tired and exhausted and the entire church body suffers as a result. Also, we're robbing God of his glory.

This can be applied to all parts of the church body, not specifically to us supporting the pastor. What about the children's workers? Does your church have the same ones every Sunday? Do they ever get to attend a service? What about greeters or who folds the bulletins? For larger churches...instead of complaining about traffic jams leaving the lot how about you get out and help direct it?

I don't think God ever intended for church to be a place where people arrive, sit through a service, and leave. There's so much scripture that pertains to the role and purpose of the church. Try the book of Acts.

I'm going to go with a passage from Ephesians that focuses on more of what I consider the internal framework:
"It was he who gave some to apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work." Eph. 4:11-16

I think it's sort of self explanatory. We all have a role. It isn't necessarily an act done on Sunday...giving to someone in need, mentoring a young girl, organizing prayer, picking up trash...being His hands and feet. It's whatever it takes for Him to be glorified.

I guess now I should throw in that I haven't physically attended "church" in three weeks. There are reasons. I just wanted to add that not because you needed to be reminded that I'm not a saint, but b/c we too often think attending a service on Sunday is what church is. I'm not endorsing skipping church; I fully promote attending services on Sunday and serving the body on Sunday and all the other days of the week.

"And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another- and all the more as you see the Day approaching." Hebrews 10:24-25

I just searched the word "church" in google images and 48,800,000 results looked like this:

What is your image of church? I couldn't find a image of this:

"They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together...They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved." Acts 2:42-47

Maybe you don't know where to start. Why don't you join me and asking the Lord, "Whose hands am I supposed to be lifting up?" We may not like how he answers b/c for some it may be our husbands, our bitter co-workers, etc. but as long as it's from him, he'll provide the strength.

Turbans and Swords

This past Saturday was absolutely bizarre. The two men in the picture get all the credit. As you know, I've been staying with national partners this past week. Abby and I decided to take a detour on the way home and visit the Sikh Golden Temple. It's in all of the travel books, so we didn't want to miss out. We booked a train to the town where the temple is located. We absolutely had no contacts in the city; we didn't even have our nifty tourist book. We just hopped to get off the train and hoped to find the temple w/out any difficultly. We so easily deceived ourselves.

We knew once we exited the train station the taxi and auto drivers were going to pounce on us like weak prey. They know they can get more money out of foreigners b/c we don't have a clue what we're doing. At most airports and railway stations there are stands that you can pre-pay for a taxi so you don't have to bargain w/ the drivers. We could ask where the stand was in Hindi, but they kept on telling us that there wasn't one. Of course, we didn't believe them. We were literally walking around outside the station with about 10 men following us trying to get us the hire him. Then the man to the left of Abby appeared. At first we were skeptical, but we realized he was with his family so we trusted him. We told him where we were headed and he said he was going there too. He and his family were taking the free bus, so we decided to tag a long w/ his family. While we were waiting for the bus to arrive the guy on the right side of Abby entered our circle. He told us that we looked really nice in our outfits. Most tourist don't wear the suits, so we impressed this guy.

Well the bus finally came. We had never ridden a bus because they are always packed. It pulled in the parking lot and everyone started running to the bus. It was crazy. The dad was holding up my heavy backpack while it was on my back to help me run. Once we got to the bus, we were literally pushing and shoving to get on the bus like our lives depended on it. We had an advantage b/c people were sort of cheering for us to get a spot on the bus. Some people threw their bags through the open windows to reserve seats. Abby and I finally made it onto the bus w/out any black eyes. Abby took one of the seats the guy in blue reserved for us and I went to the back b/c people were motioning for me to go back there. Well once I made it to the back a battle broke out between me and guy who was standing outside of the bus. I tried to put my backpack down in the seat, but he had his sandwich there to reserve his spot. Everyone inside was telling me to put my bag down and sit down. Well this guy was pushing with all his strength against my bag. I just put my weight into it and shoved his hands out of the way using my bag as a shield. I thought I had the battle won.

Then the man starting pulling my bag out of the window and screaming at me. At this point a crowd had formed around the outside of the bus and all the men in the back of the bus were trying to keep my bag inside. I was sort of laughing b/c I didn't know what to do and I didn't think the guy was going to be able to get my bag through the window. Others on the bus were laughing at the guy yelling at me too. I felt like the screaming and tug of war w/ my bag was lasting forever. Then the guy in blue started hitting the man's hands with his sword. The smile immediately left my face b/c I didn't know what was about to happen. Thankfully he didn't take the sword out of the case and the guy let go of my bag and the bus pulled off.

If I had this whole ordeal on video, it would provide laughs for years. You can see the handle of the guys sword in the picture above.

We finally reached the temple. I wasn't too pumped. Mainly b/c I don't get excited when I see hundreds of people worshipping a false god that they think lives inside the Golden Temple. Here's a pic. of the temple. Men and women are allowed to go inside to be in the presence of their god.

Afterwards we ate food that was served to us like this:

YUM!!! Is All I Have to Say!!!!

There were a few other odd events, but I've already written a book.

Witnessing people being bound to false gods helps me grasp how fortunate I am. Not fortunate to have nice clothes and plenty of food, but to have a personal relationship with the One True God.

Please pray that people in S. Asia will come to know the truth...that they will know the God in this scripture:

"The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would see him and perhaps reach out to him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being." Acts 17:24-18

Oh yeah, the red buckets of sand are fire extinguishers.

We're Back!!!

We're back and I'm so happy. I have some good pics and a funny story that involves a sword fight over my backpack. That's a bit of an exaggeration. I'll write about it later b/c I can't tell a story in a paragraph; my stories turn into books and also I'm watching on of my favorite movies Dan in Real Life. If you've seen it, my favorite part is when the family exercises together. I just picture my family exercising like them and it cracks me up. Also, I think Steve Carell is hilarious.

These aren't Salvation Army buckets full of sand, but I bet you'll never guess what they are. I'll give a hint that they are found on the outside of buildings. It has taken me five months to figure it out. I'll enlighten you in the next post. You probably can guess it though.

Holi...

I'm rolling out of town in a few hours, so I'll be w/out internet for a week. Therefore, no new post. Although, I've been sort of a slacker with them anyway.

I will leave you a story that may make you laugh or be thankful that you have a car that has windows. There is the holiday here called Holi. I have no clue what it means and neither do the people. I could ask 10 people and they would all give a different answer. This is what I know and have experienced about it. It's just makes it ok for kids to throw water balloons at you. The actually holiday isn't until March 11th, but a week before they start throwing water balloons and spraying people with water guns. On March 11th, everyone gets in the streets and throws water balloons full of dye at each other. Here's a picture I found on the interent:

A few days ago, Abby and I were in the market and she was hit with a water balloon from behind. She said, "Allison, I just got hit w/ a water balloon!" Of course, I started laughing...then even harder when I saw the huge wet area on her back. She said, just wait you'll get it soon. Well my day came yesterday. I was in an auto coming back from the park and bam it happened. I started screaming, "NO NO NO!!!" I think I scared the auto driver. The first balloon hit me in the face. It felt like I had been pegged with a dodge ball. It left a red mark. Then a few other balloons came in the auto. That's what I get for laughing at Abby. One day I'll learn.

Since we'll be staying with a family on the trip...I'm not sure if they will let us play on the 11th. Hopefully they will and I'll have some fun pics. I'll update when I get back.

Christmas in March

Yesterday, I received a little love from my friends and family in New Zion. Little is an understatement. The package was huge. It literally was hurting my back as I was carrying it from the office back to my house. Here's a picture of my happiness:

Everything could not fit in the picture. The box was full of cards, pictures, and snacks. Whoever gave the Oatmeal Creme Pies...Rocks. Thanks so much. You know as a kid there are certain presents from Santa that you remember receiving b/c you got so excited. This package ranks up there with the Christmas that Santa gave Mary Kathryn and me a golf cart.

Seriously thanks so much!!!! Abby said, "Your church sure does love you." Yeap...pretty much and I love you guys too. Thanks for all of your support and prayers!!! I promise I couldn't do this without you.

Also, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMMA!!!!!! My birthday card to you is Proverbs 31:28-31. It's corny, but true. Read it.