An Indian Graduation
Hey everyone! Sorry it’s been a while since I’ve updated you! We have been pretty busy over the last two weeks; a lot has happened since I last blogged! The students we’ve been working with for the past 20 days graduated from the Covenant School of Worship this last Saturday. The Friday night before, we took them out to our teams favorite restaurant to celebrate and get lots and lots of biryani. On Saturday we got to throw them a huge graduation party with cake and balloons and the whole nine yards! My team was apart of the graduation ceremony as well, and we all shared testimonies and/or songs that we had practiced. We each got a “diploma” and took millions of pictures with everyone. All of the girls on my team finally got to wear the saree’s that we bought a few weeks back at Charminar and it definitely felt like prom all over again haha. We had so much fun dancing and eating and celebrating together. They whole thing ended up being around five hours long (three hours longer than my high school graduation lol), but it was definitely worth it. The students ended up going back to their homes that evening and it was definitely bitter sweet. We all sort of knew that the chance of seeing any of them again was very slim, and we were honestly trying not to cry, but then one of the students smiled and said “goodbye brothers and sisters! I’ll see you all in Heaven!” and we all lost it. I know it’s such an amazing thing to look forward to and to think that one day I will see them all again in Heaven, but it definitely made saying goodbye hard.
The guys that work here at the house have been so much fun to hang out with! I don’t have any brothers or brotherly figures in my life, but the guys here have basically become my older brothers. They mess with me all the time, laugh as I fail at eating with my hands, and poke fun at the way I attempt to speak Telegu, but they also genuinely care so much about each of us. A few of the guys took us out one night to get JFC (basically the Indian version of Chick-Fil-A) and bought us a ton of their favorite food. We sat on the curb and just shared it all while talking, laughing and enjoying each other’s company. The food was soooo good and the company was even better. One of the guys, Michael, woke up early on Monday morning just to take a few of us to his favorite street food vendor for an authentic breakfast. I had no idea what anything on the menu was so I just told him to order something for me that was his favorite. It ended up being this amazing potato/curry/crepe thing called masala dosa. He taught me how to make Indian chai and he has this funny song he sings after something goes his way that goes “hallelujah sute mahima” which means “praise and glory to the lord” and now he has all of us saying it. Michael and another guy, Babu, also took us to this tiny little house bible study at their friend’s house last Thursday and were so patient with us as they tried to translate what they were saying and vice versa. It was such a cool experience to be a part of a bible study in a society where Christians are not fully accepted, and to have these two guys translating everything so that we could fully be a part of everything was amazing. I’m so grateful for each of them and I know it’s going to be so hard to say goodbye next week.
In between finding cute little coffee shops, hanging out with the guys that live at the house, eating candy with the kids that live down the street, and just messing around with my team, I definitely learned a lot more about myself and about worship in the past 20 days than I ever thought I could know. While it has been hard, and I’ve been pushed outside of my comfort zone too many times to count, I have also grown in my confidence. A month ago, I would have never dreamed that I would have led worship two times for the CSOW group and once for an Adventures World Race group of 50 people. I would have thought it would have been impossible to write a song in just fifteen minutes and then present it in front of my class, singing and all. I’ve definitely laughed (and cried) over the silly mistakes I’ve made, but God has really used this opportunity to break me of my fear and worry and to prove to me that I really can do anything through Him. In a way, God used the students to demonstrate how faith and trust in Jesus can change how bold and confident we are in Christ.
We’re getting ready to leave for Nepal, we only have a little less than a week left here! We leave next Tuesday morning and while I’m super excited to go, I’m so not ready to leave India. I’ve built so many friendships with the Aunties that cook for us and with the guys that live here and I don’t want to say goodbye. I know that there are so many things ready for us in Nepal, but this month flew by so fast! I can’t believe that I’m 1/3 of the way done with my trip. That’s just crazy! I really appreciate all of your prayers and the constant encouragement from you all. Our team has been so blessed with health and safety. Thank you so much for your constant support! I really appreciate all of your prayers.
~ Hannah