Culture

So I've gotten to experience a few things this past week. A group of us got to go about four hours away from the city out into a different state. It was in the middle of nowhere, but I loved it. We left around 3 last Monday and set out for the small town. The driving was absolutely crazy. In India, traffic laws are more like guidelines that don't actually have to be followed when the cops aren't looking (in cities you can see big street signs that say stuff like "Follow traffic laws," haha). The basic principle to driving in India is to fill the space. If there is room for your car to pass someone, to pull up at a red light, to run a red light, etc., then let the passing begin. It's like a race everywhere you go, but not a very exciting one because everyone has to use tiny fuel efficient motors. And then there are the horns. Oh man, the horns. People use their horns so much here that they will actually blow the horn out. My attempt to explain this in writing is futile. I'm going to take a video tomorrow of a typical ride in the back of an auto rickshaw and post it on my facebook just to let everyone know what it is like.

Anyway the scenery on the car ride to the village was like nothing I have ever seen. This area is located on a plateau about 3-4 thousand feet above sea level, but most of the land is relatively flat. The ground is covered by orange sand and dotted with rocks and some foliage. Some parts are lush, some look like desert. There are a few really unique features though, like the hills of boulders. Some of them are pretty small, but some hills are about like mountains. They are totally made up of boulders that look like they were neatly stacked up on each other by helicopters. On the top of a few of these hills I saw some boulders that were perfectly perched on an angled base and not rolling off with the wind. They look like they are defying physics. I'll have to post some pictures to show you.

The night that we got there we went to an engagement party. We were about four hours late, but that's the way they do it in India. No one even cared. So we got there and were introduced to the father of the bride. As soon as I walked in I got tons of stares. I was probably the tallest person they'd ever seen. Being a white redhead might have had something to do with it as well. They served us dinner outside on huge tables with about forty other people. My native friend got me to sit by him so that he could give me pointers. After I sat down I started to feel bugs crawling on my feet, haha. They were also having dinner. The meal was served on banana leaves. After the banana leaves were passed out, they gave everyone cups of water. My native friend said, "This is to clean your leaf!" He then started rubbing his leaf with the water. I cringed (because the water in India is full of stuff that makes foreigners sick), but mimicked him anyway. After my leaf was "cleaned," they started serving brown and white soupy stuff. My friend told me that the brown sauce was a terribly spicy mixture and the white stuff was a cold milky soup to counteract the spiciness. Next came the rice that also had whole pieces of chicken in it. After everything was on the plate, people started praying. My Indian friend said, "Okay pray, but pray for your own food, then eat." I bowed my head and prayed, "Dear Lord, thank you for this food. Please don't let me get sick... Amen." I started mixing all of the spicy stuff into the rice with my hand (in India all foods are eaten with the right hand) and then took a bite. It was delicious. I ate my fill and then we left rather nonchalantly. Later that night my stomach really started hurting. My friend said that it was the spicy food that did it.

On the last night in the village I got to witness a disturbing Hindu festival. I forgot what it was called, but the partakers of the festival attach hooks to their backs and to auto rickshaws and then haul them to a temple. I didn't actually see them haul the vehicles to the temple, but I'm sure it hurt. Some of them didn't do the hook thing, but instead put poles through their cheeks. It was weird.

I guess that's all for now. I'll post some pictures on my facebook later tonight if our internet is working.

End of week one

So in my last post I said some things that I was totally wrong about. I was far too quick to judge my brothers and sisters, and I'm deeply ashamed of myself for it. If one of you guys is reading this, I want you to know that I'm sorry. A much wiser Christian showed me Romans 14 and I have to confess that I never consider that passage and definitely didn't consider it in my last post. I've started apologizing face to face for a few of those things and I'm finding that everyone here is much more forgiving than I am. Oh well, live and learn I guess. And the matter on the servants? Well Acts 12 makes it clear that the apostles and the early church had a servant so I guess if the apostles had them, we perhaps can have them too. That doesn't mean that I'm totally okay or comfortable with it though. I'm finding out how unprepared for this trip I am. My original plan was to dedicate a good month before the trip to dig deep into the Word and into God. Ha, that didn't happen though and now I'm paying for it.

Friday (actually it could have been Saturday, but I haven't been keeping up with the days) I went with someone on a little tour of the city. It was amazing. I got to see AND touch an untouchable and some low caste children in a slum. He also took me to a local shrine and I have to admit that it disturbed me a little. The idol was ninety feet high. There were all sorts of little extra things there that are hard to write about on a blog, but I'll put up pictures. God is really doing some good here though, and that is good to see.

When I was seven years old, I remember feeling homesick just from being at a day camp. Besides that, I've never missed home. I'm starting to miss home a little bit now though haha. I just listen to Carrion by Parkway Drive and heard that line, "My love I left, my heart I left, with a promise to return." Now I'm getting all emotional and I need to get off this thing. Hahaha. Oh and sorry about the typos.

Trials

Something is not right. I'm not sure how to deal with the situation here. We have our own house keeper who cleans and cooks once a week at our apartment. She does whatever we ask. I did not come to India to live the rich man's life, I came to preach Christ crucified. This is greatly disturbing me. All of the American's are telling me that it's fine to hire out servants, that we are providing them with work and a decent wage. This is disgusting to me. I know better and will not be swindled into believing such a lie. Jesus said that WE are to serve, not be served. Today was equally disturbing. I basically have done nothing but sit around and eat. I have done nothing productive whatsoever. I've just been lounging with the others at the office. It's terrible. During lunch today we had cheeseburgers and I had to listen to everyone complain. Can you imagine a more distasteful scene? Here we are feasting on burgers and complaining about how the internet is slow, the power keeps on surging, it's hot outside, this burger doesn't compare to an American burger, and then there are children starving to death in slums nearby and dying without Christ. I wanted to stand up and scream, "AT LEAST YOU HAVE FOOD!" I would laugh at this absurdity if it wasn't morally abhorrent. Furthermore, everyone is so concerned about money, food, and merchandise. The name "Baptist" and "evangelical" are paraded before Christ. And no one really has that boldness that I expected them to have. When you read the sermon on the mount or sermons by Paul or anything from the mouth of Jesus, do you imagine them being wimpy, frail, weak, pampered men who complain about not having air conditioning? Heck no you don't, but that's what I'm seeing here for the most part.

I found some people. who spend almost all of their time helping and ministering to orphans and slum children. They teach kids how to read, teach them about Jesus, and can afford to give them one good meal a day (and for some of them, this is the only good meal that is available to them). They wake up every morning at 5:30 to pray and are definitely not getting enough sleep. But they don't care, they are doing God's work. They have seen many come to Christ through their ministry and are extremely joyful. They are always laughing and making jokes and teaching people.

I'm starting to see the evil in India. I learned last week that a man in the slums poured gasoline over his wife and then set her on fire. People watched as she burned to death. This murder was never reported to the police and if it was, they probably wouldn't care because the murdered woman was in a low caste. In India, a man can legally beat his wife if he wants to. I've heard some people talk about seeing it happen in the streets in plain site of everyone. Women aren't treated well here. It seems to be a popular thing in America to say that Christianity is opposed to women's rights. This is absurd. Just look where Christianity has had the greatest influence -- Western Europe and North America. In those regions women have equal rights with men and can get jobs, an education, and not marry if they so choose. Now look where Christianity has not had a great impact -- Africa, the Middle East, India. In those regions, women are treated like property. In the slums, the families are killing their baby girls. They do this because they have to pay for wedding dowries when their daughters marry and to them, it is more shameful to not be able to pay for such a dowry than it is to murder one's daughter.

I'm not sure what to do about all of this. I'll pray and wait, but I'm afraid that I'm going to have to stand up and tell these lazy Christians what's up. Normally when I do that though, things don't end well. We'll see soon enough.

So the flight from Atlanta to Dubai was fourteen hours. I watched more movies during that time than I have in the past year or two. Wow. It seemed like it would never end. Ever watched Orphan? That's the most insane movie I have perhaps ever seen. The plot twist in it totally threw me off.

Dubai's airport was enormous. Not that it had a lot of terminals or much traffic -- the place was practically empty. The entrance area was basically a giant glass case with glass elevators behind it with a huge waterfall behind that. The baggage claim area looked like a palace. This is no exaggeration, people! The ceilings were well over a hundred feet high and it was supported by tons of huge columns. So yeah, I got lost here and had to find a way for my luggage to reach India. I was pretty unsure if it would make it, honestly. I just had a bunch of people telling me, "We help you, we help you!" Then I found some baggage folks who actually found my luggage on their computer and sent me on my way. Cool.

I flew out of Dubai with Emirates. They are quite a snazzy airline. They have good lemonade, plus hot towels that they passed out to everyone. Not sure why they passed out hot towels, but it was cool. Almost all of the staff and the pilots were British. One of them even said "cheers," to me. It made my day.

I got to my destination around five and stood around for an hour looking for David. He was outside and stood around for an hour looking for me. So anyway, an Indian runs up to me while I'm looking for David and he goes, "Mr. Herring?" I reply, "Yes." Then he says, "The man from the organization is here for you outside." I started to get a little suspicious, but went outside anyway and found David. David then took me to a little restaurant and got me my first Indian meal. It was weird, but really good. I got this juice from some strange native fruit similar to an orange but tasting more like a mango. It was squeezed right in front of me and then they served it in some tiny cups. It was delicious. The food was some rice cake things with some fried doughnut thing (it wasn't sweet though, it was nothing like a dessert). The basic idea was to dip the rice in some white coconut chutney and to dip the doughnut in some orange sauce before eating. It was really good.

After that, David dropped me off at my apartment and then I got some sweet sleep. Now I'm at the office checking my facebook. Ministry stuff will start this week and I can't wait.