July 11 from Hilarie

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,  declares the Lord."
Isaiah 55:8
Well, isn't that the truth?! Our ways aren't always God's ways, nor are our plans His plans. Today we had originally planned on going to Vadakodi village to minister and love on some of the women of this poor fishing village.  But, God had other plans. We were told last night that we wouldn't be able to go to the village due to riots and two murders in the areas surrounding this island village. So, we had to try to come up with something to do with our now open day. We decided to start the day off by watching the sunrise at the beach and possibly having devotions there.  So we left this morning at about 5am to head out to the beach. The sunrise was amazing and reminded us all of God's glory. But in the midst of the natural beauty we were surrounded by hundreds of homeless sleeping on the beach in the midst of trash and who knows what else. It just reminded me that His glory and grace extends to all, no matter where or who we are.
The beach ended up being way too distracting and noisy for devotions so we ended up at St. ANDREWS church. The church was closed but we found some chairs and just did our team devotion on the porch of the church. Our devotion was in Gods grace. As we started with prayer and praises the churches security guard showed up and ended up joining us. His name is Solomon and he knew no english,  but joined us anyway. One if the team members speaks Tamil and was able to translate for him. We got to hear his testimony and he asked if we could pray over him and his family, one of his 2 sons is an alcoholic and a mean and angry person. As the guys latest hands on him to pray many of us were tearing up as this ended up being a very tender and emotional moment. Another example of Gods grace extended in our lives. The remaining devotion and prayer time was wonderful and much needed.
The remainder of today we will be praying over people and opening ourselves up to sharing the gospel out in town...and maybe even a little shopping as well. We will also be prepping for our busy week in Bangalore next week. So we will be doing skit practice and other prep work.
I don't always know or understand Gods plans but I am ever thankful that he knows and has his best for us. We are all learning to be flexible and stepping out of our comfort zones. We also are thankful for the extra prep time,  as most of the team only met all together 2 or 3 times prior to leaving.
Continue to pray for us. Pray that we are willing to be flexible to Gods plans for our time here.

July 9th from Hilarie

Vanakkam! (Greetings!)
Well its our second full day in India and all I can say is wow! This place is like on sensory overload. There are so many sounds, sights and tastes. The food is amazing!!! I think im going to end up gaining weight instead if loosing any. Lol The people we have met here are so hospitable and just so lovely.
On the first day here I think Channai the group spilt up. One group went to a fishing village to do a BBS and our small group did a teacher training at a 200 year old cathedral. That was really neat. Both teams had amazing experiences, even despite the extrema heat.
Today was another hot yet rewarding day. Most of us went to an orphanage while Linda, my mom and 2 other team members put on another teacher training to a group of seminary students. I got to go to the orphanage, and it was amazing. I don't have enough time to go on about how awesome it was. But I can say that I totally wanted to bring  a few of the girls home with me!
Tomorrow promises to be yet another hot and humid day. :) there will be another teacher training and who knows what other adventures lie ahead!

India 2012

I will be updating the blog from posts I receive from the India Team.  So far they have made it to Korea, which is the first leg of their journey.  They next arrive in Sinapore and have a 12 hour lay over.  Please continue to pray for safe travels.