Oh My Culture Shock!
The Adventure Begins!
I made it to India!! My team has been here for about a week now and let me tell you, oh my culture shock! It’s definitely very different than America, but I already love it so much. India is massive! I’ve always heard that India is home to more than 30% of the worlds population, but to see it first hand is insane! There are people everywhere and I’m only in one city!
So far, my team has had some free time to try and adjust to the time difference as well as to shop at some markets and visit a few local attractions. As soon as we arrived, we were basically thrown into the culture. It’s still taking some to get used to, but I think we’re all beginning to feel more comfortable. First of all, the Indian head-bobble is a thing! I wasn’t even sure what is was to start with, but everyone does it here. It’s basically like a head nod and a head shake combined which definitely sounds more confusing than it actually is. Everyone uses it as a response to anything you ask or say which is confusing. It’s like yes/maybe/okay and “I don’t know what you’re saying” all at the same time, so you pretty much have to guess at what they mean haha. One of my favorite things to do here so far is to use the local transportation to get around. They use these little taxi cab things here called Tuk-Tuk’s, and oh gosh they’re crazy! Traffic here is already insane, and to ride around in these tiny carts is quite the experience! Another thing that I didn’t expect, but have had to get used to, is all of the staring we get from the locals. Just while walking down the street to go to the market store, we get odd looks from almost every person we pass, and I cannot tell you how many selfies I’ve taken with random strangers. I’m still working on getting used to that!
A few days ago, myself and three others from my team had the opportunity to visit Golconda Fort in Hyderabad. It was incredible! From the top of the fort we could see the entire city and it really put everything into perspective. We are so, so small compared to this world, but to think we have an amazing God who is so much greater is just incredible. I’m not sure if you are familiar with the Hindu religion, but one thing that Hindus do that I had never heard of until arriving here is that they have a call to prayer every morning and evening. They have these huge speakers all across the city that they use to project this music/chanting from so that everyone can hear it. One once in a lifetime opportunity we got to experience was while we were standing at the top of Golconda Fort. They began playing the call to prayer for the Hindu’s, but our small group of believers also felt called to pray over the city and the people, just in a different way than the Hindu’s. It was such a crazy experience to know that while everyone else was worshiping their gods, we were able to worship our God and cover the city in prayer.
Our team was split into two groups for this month; Sarah’s Covenant Homes and The Covenant School of Worship (CSOW). My team will be working with the worship organization, CSOW. So far, we’ve been doing cleaning projects around the house to get ready for the group of students who will be coming to stay with us. Once everyone arrives we’ll be helping to lead worship as well as teaching and participating in outreach ministries. I’m so excited for this coming month and I can’t wait to see how God will use this ministry to reach so many people across the city.
Myself and my team really do appreciate your prayers! Our group has had amazing health so far and our travel days went smoothly without any hiccups. My team has also bonded so well! We all get along and each of our personalities complements everyone else perfectly! God is so good! I will try to keep you guys updated as best as I can, I know that while I’m here at the worship ministry I will have decent access to WiFi. I’m looking forward to sharing even more of my adventures with you!
~ Hannah