brush your teeth after eating

This week, my team has been doing something we did not think we'd be doing this summer.Instead of working with women, we have been working at a preschool in a surrounding area, and I absolutely love kids. They are so important for the future because they are the generation that will rise up and lead in the years to come. That is why education is so vital. And it is even more important for them to be taught about the one true *Dad at such a young age. With that being said, I will say that I was not exactly thrilled to find out that my week was going to be with preschoolers. I know the importance of it, but I was a little disappointed to find out that we weren't going to be with the women as much. However, I was reminded that *Dad might have used that to get all of us here and has something better planned for us.Which is true.

Well, Monday morning came, and those kids quickly captured my heart. We played with them, taught B stories and songs, and helped the teachers teach them academic subjects. I was in the oldest class (KG-2, which is 5 year-olds). They are awesome. I have such love for those kids, such a desire for them to know *Dad as well as their ABC's and numbers. A little boy named Chet (one of my favorites) always smiles and asks me and the other "teachers" for approval on his work. I think he tried to speak to me the most out of anyone else in the class in their language, and I wished so bad that I could communicate with him. Another boy named Al was having a lot of trouble writing his cursive a's. He kept making the circle the wrong way and could not get it right. I took him up to the blackboard with me and spent 20 minutes doing whatever I thought would be beneficial in helping him. By the end of it, he had written a few good ones but was still struggling. I thought he might be annoyed with me for trying for so long, but he kept smiling at me whenever I looked at him, for the rest of the day and the rest of the week.

All in all, it was an awesome week, and I truly love each of the kids in my class with all of my heart. I cannot put into words how much I love them, and I know that it is only because of *Dad's love for me that I can love them that much.

The rest of the week was great, too. I and a few others went into the community where we are staying and spoke with a woman. We ended up sharing some B stories, our stories, and p-ing for her. She is not bound to any religion, so be p-ing for that, too. I feel like this is the perfect time for her to see what *Dad is all about. She needs his love, acceptance, and joy. I plan on visiting her every week or so and speaking with her.

If you could also be p-ing for me, that would be awesome. I do make sure to have alone time with *Dad every day, but I know that I have a heart issue and have been getting frustrated about little things.

I hope all is well in the States. Until next time...

TII

The past week and a half that we've been in India has been awesome. A lot has gone on mentally, and I have been trying to focus on love through actions and words. Poverty is very evident in India, and children know how to beg so well, and it truly breaks your heart. When we went shopping for the first time, many kids were asking us for money, but we could not give any to them. I found myself ignoring the kids so that they would leave us alone sooner and not continue begging. I realized how not giving them money doesn't mean I can't look at them. A few days later, we went shopping again. As we were waiting on a crowded street corner, a little boy approached me and another girl on my team and asked us for money. He was holding a baby in his hands and was covered in dirt. I wanted to personalize it, to know him, and to see how he was, because my heart broke for him. I asked him his name, and after a few times he finally said "Jamal." I knew that he would leave once he realized that we weren't going to give him anything, but I wanted to show that I cared in any way I could. After I asked how old he was, he left and continued walking the crowded streets.

Stories like these are not uncommon. I have seen more cripples, more beggars, and more widows than I have in my entire life. *Dad is the only way for them to have hope and to live freely.

While there is so much darkness in India, there is light here, and that brings me great joy. While wandering around in the surrounding community with a teammate, we started speaking with a woman, I'll call her Charlotte. Charlotte is a believer, and we were able to speak with her for about 2 hours. She welcomed us into her home, and Aunti kept bringing us dish after dish of food. I had no idea what some of the food was. Charlotte was the only one in her family who spoke English, but the rest of her family would communicate through her to us at times. We shared our stories and *Dad's stories with her, because she doesn't have the book to read about Him. It was really awesome, and such a joy and inspiration to know a national believer who is speaking with her friends and family about what is so important. As we were leaving, Aunti brought us bangles, jasmine for our hair, and put bindis (dots) on our foreheads. It was her way of showing us love and appreciating us. It was a great experience to spend so much time with an Indian family and to see a young woman who knows the one true *Dad and depends on Him for everything.

Anyway, on Tuesday we took a 16 hour train ride to the place we are staying now. India trains are pretty exciting, and I'd say it was a good experience and a fun time. I really enjoyed looking out at India from the train and observing the people, the villages, and the landscape.

We started working with RR on Thursday. Yesterday (Friday) was a really great day. First, I'll mention that our team of 18 girls is split up into 3 teams, 2 teams of 5 and 1 team of 6. My team helped out with a preschool in the morning. I picked up a new talent--making balloon animals! I'm pretty excited about that. I made a few and then 3 of us gave the ones we made to a few girls we saw outside of the school. It was neat.
Later we were able to make bracelets with the 8 women that are doing the stitching/bracelet making program with RR. It was awesome to talk with the women and work alongside them. I learned how to count to 10 in Hindi, too! But being with them was definitely my favorite part of the day. I'm really excited about the next 6 weeks that we have to work in the different areas RR focuses on.

Keep praying for the team. Spiritual warfare has been active, and p-s would be greatly appreciated for us.

go big or go home

So today we are finally leaving for India. We are all super excited and can't wait to be there. Anyway, it's been a crazy ride already. Even on the first night, God began revealing lies that I have been believing for a while. When we were walking around downtown Atlanta and talking with the homeless, I realized that I have felt inadequate for this trip and have felt like God cannot use me. I was putting God in a box about how he was going to be working in and through me. Whatever happens this summer, I just want to believe that I am empowered by Christ and believe that he will use me to influence the lives of the women in India.

I love and miss you all at home :) Continue praying for unity and strength amongst our team.

-lindsey

anticipation.

I am leaving for training camp with Adventures in Missions in the morning. The time is finally here. So much has been leading up to this trip, and I can't believe it is time to leave already.

As I was packing, I was getting really excited for my time in India. Well, first of all, there isn't too much to pack, because I'll be buying the majority of my clothes in India, which is really cool. But packing is also the onset of the "it's time" mentality, when it really hits you that you're leaving. These next two months are, at some point, going to be exciting, awesome, crazy, lonely, draining, and more. It's going to be a wild ride, but I'm stoked for it. I'm excited to see how God's going to work through my team, but how He will also work on us.

If you'd like to send me an email while I'm in India, please email me at lindsey.a.marks@gmail.com

If you'd like to see what the rest of my team blogs about, the team blog can be accessed at http://india.adventures.org. I will be posting to the team blog and to this blog (the same posts), but you are more than welcome to check out what everyone else has to say.

In the Links section (to the left), there are links to the AIM website, the team blog, and Rahab Rope's website.

farewell.