Can I Blend In?

I am continually amazed by my everyday routine here in Kodai. My prayers have been answered because every morning I am awake and have the desire to read from the Bible. I have never been so disciplined in having the Bible in my everyday life. By doing this I have had many moments of revelation of God and specifically Jesus. The last few weeks I have been trying to discover whom Jesus IS. What were his likes, his dislikes? What did others think of him? How did he treat his friends and his elders? I am trying to get to know him just like I would get to know any person on this Earth. Of course this means I have been reading a lot of New Testament but I flip back to old every half a week or so to the Old and getting myself more acquainted with the trials and joys that God’s people has gone through. There is something about reading the Bible as a story and not JUST as a devotional sense. Looking at it as a larger picture helps us see the themes and love that God thought so important that it is ALL over the Bible. Again I am still searching for someone to come along side of me and to disciple me for the rest of the time I am here.

Last week had some excitement of its own. A guy (Peter) from the International Department of the University of Montana came to visit KIS and of course we met him and showed him around a bit. His idea of coming to the school is try to get a stronger connection between our schools and try to recruit students to coming to Montana for college. In his honor, a dinner was thrown for him at my neighbor’s house, the Principal. There were a handful of people at the dinner including myself, Karissa, my French teacher and family, Karissa’s cooperating teacher, the principal and his family, and this guy who is visiting. We all had so much fun talking and it was great to start verbalizing the differences between here and US and starting to tell stories about this wonderful place. It made me look forward to telling stories when I get home.

On Friday after a long day of school, I went to dinner with Peter, Karissa, Leah, and Leslie to get my favorite southern Indian food: idly and dosa. At dinner we were informed by Peter that he is going to write a short piece on Kariss and I for the university’s front page of their website. Finally I got home late and went to bed as soon as possible considering I was going to wake up at 5 am the next morning to go down the mountain for shopping!

In Coimbatore, a group of us went shopping at the mall and of course I went for the clothes! We began eating lunch and then split up to do our shopping. My first stop was the bookstore and I got a few more books to read while I am here: The Longest Ride by Nicholas Sparks and another that someone recommended. Then I found some beautiful blank cards that I cannot wait to use when I get home to write to friends and family. I next went to a clothing store and tried on tons of kurthas (type of shirt) and pants. Taking a break from the shopping, we all went to a movie at the theatre, which was such a great normalcy even though it was a kid movie (The Lego Movie). Also to say it was $2.50 to go to the movie!! It has been SO long that I paid that little for a movie. After some more shopping and eating dinner we left around 8 pm and got home a little after midnight. This grand trip of shopping totaled to 9 new kurthas, 5 pants/tights, 3 books, cards, and lotion. Here are some pictures of the beautiful clothes!

Sunday was accompanied with the need of doing laundry therefore I spent most of the afternoon in water and watching some lovely Jane Austen movies! Monday evening after school, Karissa and I went to our friend Leah’s house and her ayah (maid) had cooked food. So after a great dinner we watched a chick flick and laughed the night away. It was amazing to have a typical girls night even though I am still surrounded by so much unknown.

I hope you had a great week yourself and that it wasn’t too hard to read my writing. I know that sometimes my thoughts aren’t fully complete and I have a hard time expressing them. I would like to leave you a question that I have been thinking about a lot lately. Take time this week, month, year to discover what you think…Do you believe that Jesus can give you the power to walk up to a lame man and tell him to stand? Love you all!