I arrived in India on Monday afternoon. We went straight to the Hilton Hotel to have lunch. That hotel is amazing- so beautiful. Every inch of that place screamed luxury. Even the napkins in the bathroom were probably made of silk! It was just amazing, better service here than in the United States. They had an outdoor pool that looked straight out of a resort magazine.. so beautiful.
We went back to Rebecca's place and I got settled in. It was awesome to be back in India with Rebecca. This time there is a new intern who is here for 8 months- her name is Michelle. She was an English high school teacher for 4 years until God just tugged at her heart to step out and go to India. She is such a sweetheart and God is using her in such mighty ways in India.
On Tuesday we went to this coffee shop where we got some real good coffee and planned out our two weeks. If there is anything I have learned last year, it is that is good to have things planned out and prepared but always ALWAYS ALWAYS leave room for change. It was hard for a person like me who tends to be detail oriented, however, God moves in so many ways and keeping Him in a box would be taking away some of His glory and not allowing Him to move in ways we could never imagine... also things do not always go as planned in India- or in ministry itself- and your plans should be flexible otherwise you will miss out on the many blessings.
Our theme for these two weeks is: Learning how to glorify God with your body. In a culture that exploits women in so many ways- fashion, entertainment, media, etc.. your mind is wrapped around the idea that your body should look a particular way, dress like them, and use and move your body a certain way. Bollywood does an excellent job promoting promiscuous body movements especially in dance. They have ruined the beautiful Indian culture by making the dancers wear less and dance more provocatively. We are aiming to try and teach these girls that dancing does not have to be that way, rather you can actually glorify God through dancing!
There are so many ways you can glorify God with your body- the way you act, the way you dress, what you do to your body, what you allowed to be done to it, and especially how you dance. I am going to teach the girls how to use indian dance, body worship, and american dance to bring praise to God as well and having fun while doing it.
Here in Delhi there is an Assemblies of God School that is run by Vinita. It is for grades 1-7 and it has come a long way. They have so many programs for the kids such as State Day(dressing up to represent each state in India), environmental day, Mothers day, they Celebrate Christmas.. and so much more. It is pretty amazing to see that this school is so well rounded, and all the students are taught to read and write in English.
She is also in charge of the Home of Hope here in Delhi, which houses 4 girls right now.
After visiting the school, we picked up the girls from their school and drove to the Home of Hope. The girls are so Precious! They all came and gave me a hug even though we just met. The girls are 11, 9, 7, and 6.
We taught them the verse: 1 Corinthians 6:19- Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.
It was a little hard at times to teach these very young girls the depth of this verse, however the two Didi's that work there helped us to try to relay the message to them. Of course the kids minds would wander from time to time, but they seemed to be slowly following what we were saying.
I then taught them bhangra moves and it was so much fun to dance with them! They loved learning the moves and one girl would get frustrated when she couldn't keep up... ahh they were so precious!
We then took all the moves that I taught them and would dance to a really fast worship song! It worked out so well!
