India or Bust

I decided to start blogging. I have been on summer break for almost two weeks now. The final day of work, July 11th, I went to Jazz on the Green with some friends. Afterwards, I went with a friend to Teaism and she ordered Palak Paneer, which is a delectable Indian dish. I smelled it and sampled it. That was it! My love and passion for India was renewed. That night I made a decision to dedicate my summer break to learning about India.

Prior to this day, I was feeling discouraged about India. I was doubting that I would even go or that I was supposed to go. My pastor later helped me realize that it was due to my lack of focus and drive to actually pursue my passion that was keeping me from being passionate about taking a school for the deaf to this magnificent country.

I conveyed my thoughts of stepping off of this road to India to my friend and she suggested I read the article Apostolic Passion by Floyd McClung. Wow!! This was it. I was hooked! I started to devour the book Perspectives on the World Mission Movement all over again like it was the first time I had ever seen it! Everything I had learned about missions and why it is so important came rushing back to the front of my mind. Grad school and Washington, DC had won over my focus for the past three years, but I'm ready to pursue God's desire to have people from every language of the world praising His name!!

I have three weeks of summer break left. I have learned a lot about India the past two weeks, but TV and sleep are being used as distractions to keep me from increasing my knowledge. Yesterday, I decided to start reading my Beginner's Hindi book. The writing system is called Devanagari. I started learning to write the symbols and actually took my time (have you seen my handwriting?). I am really excited about the change happening to me this summer.

My summer goals:
1. Fast and pray every Monday about people in India and the steps needed to be taken to go there.
2. Learn at least one new thing about India each day.
3. Make an India meal (I am planning an Indian dinner with my family on the 8th).
4. I want to make an Indian friend.
5. I am going to watch at least two Bollywood movies.

The most exciting news of the past two weeks is that the woman who started the school I work at told me I can be on the reproduction board as they are going through the process to multiply the school in a different city!! She said I will be able to learn all of the steps to starting a school. How amazing is God?