Ok, so here's the plan..

The team and I have just been chilling at the Asir's house in Chennai for the past few days shopping, touring the area, and connecting with the youth and people who visit the house. But I just sat down with Augustine Asir and he gave us a brief overview of the intern jobs we'll be doing these next few weeks:

June 1-3: Youth retreat by the Chennai seashore (we'll be planning several programs. Right now it's looking like we'll have a dance program, a song program, a craft program and three different sessions on healthy living, friend relationships (peer pressure, forgiveness, and something else?), and how we view ourselves. All this is up in the air though.

June 4th: Wedding reception for Binesh at the Asir house

June 6th-12th: We'll travel by car to Pondicherry (about 3 hours south of Chennai). I think once there we'll be doing some more program stuff?

June 17th-30th: We'll fly to Mumbai. We'll be staying in our own apt. but family friends of the Asirs will check in on us periodically. We'll also be in touch with staff from the middle school we'll be teaching at. As it stands now, I believe one team member will be teaching English grammer and one will be teaching history for sure. It looks like I will be teaching Biology and helping teach basic algebra.

July 1st: We'll fly back to Chennai

July 4th-6th?: Well be working with missionary staff at a leper colony about 40 minutes away from the Asir's house

July 8th-9th: We'll be taking an overnight train again back to Jim Asir's house in Madurai

July 9th-14th\: We'll be working with local children in Madurai

July 14th-15th: We'll take the overnight train again back to Chennai

July 16th-17th: Leader's retreat (for Word for the World?) at the seaside in Chennai

July 19th-24th - Working in the Chennai Word for the World headquarters with staff in the morning. We're hoping during the evenings to connect with the Chennai headquarters for the International Justice Mission, but we're still waiting on feedback for this. (pray!)

July 25th-27th: Sight seeing and shopping (this may be skipped depending on how the International Justice Mission connection goes! :):)

So, yeah. This is our tentative schedule for the next couple of weeks. We still have a lot of planning and coordinating to do, but I'm not worried because I know God's got it, so it's all good! :)

Please continue to pray for the wholistic health of my team, the Asirs, and everyone we meet.
Please pray for the Holy Spirit to absolutely take control of our lives and of all our interactions with ppl.
Also, please pray for us to understand the Tamil and Hindi languages better. We're picking up on it some, but it will still be a barrier when we're working with the school children.

Awesome! Thanks again for all the support and prayers you've blessed me with! I know seriously none of this would be possible without wonderful people like you  :):) God bless!

- Jenni

First few days in India

So, I've finally made it to a computer!

Everything went well with travel for the most part. I met Andrew - a fellow team member from Bryan college in Tennessee - in the Chicago airport. We had a lot of confusion in the Delhi airport where we almost didn't get our bagage, but the man I had sat next to on the way from the U.S. helped us navigate through customs and whatnot, so it was all good! Also, Andrew and I had to stay in the Chennai airport overnight. But yet again, God sent people along the way who helped us get where we needed to go. Side note: the Indian sunrise = amazing.

Once Andrew and I landed in Madurai, we were picked up at the airport by a pastor, his wife and child, and a driver who took us through Madurai and the surrounding villages and up into the mountains to the village of Kodaikanal for the Word for the World sponsors' conference. It was there I was able to meet the other two team members Shannon and Katelyn and the Asir family. God gave me this time to get used to some of the Indian customs and make some cool connections with the people at this conference. The children I met were so smart and many speak several languages! I've been trying to pick up some Tamil, but so far I've actually been more successful with remembering Hindi.

After about 3 days here (without cell service btw, Mom :P), we moved a little further down the mountain to St. Peter's boarding school which was located actually in the village of Kodaikanal. We stayed here for about another 3-4 days for the Word for the World staff conference. It was more difficult to make as deep of connections at this conference because it was much bigger and more structured. But it was amazing getting to meet some of these missionaries from all over India and see how God is filling such beautiful people with His joy! I also got to speak for a few minutes at this conference wit the help of two translators (Hindi and Tamil) which was a great experience. My team and I also performed a couple of skits for the talent show (one of which I where we taught them some teching moves and the marqareena (did I spell that right? ha, sound it out!). One awesome moment was when Auntie Asir went to the market to get us some bananas. I hadn't had fruit since I had left for India a little over a week ago. And PTL, I nearly cried for joy :) But my favorite part of this conference was meeting the young boy I befriended. God used this child to break my heart. This I know is a good thing.

After this conference we made the trip down the mountains again back to Madurai where we stayed at Jim Asir's house for the night and for most of the next day. It was great actually being down in the heat of the city. I think because I had come to India expecting the heat, the cold mountain air of Kodaikanal was just too much for me and the light clothes I had packed! Madurai was great though because it really gave me time to connect with the Asir family better and feel at home enough to really get some rest in.

Last evening we took the night train from Madurai which was super fun. I seriously love this team God has given to me for this summer - they are amazing and have encouraged me to grow so much! We arrived this morning in Chennai and will be staying at the Asir's house for 3-4 days. It's great here. Really hot. But it's beautiful. These people are beautiful. And God has already been using them to teach me so much about how to grow closer to Himself.

So far the biggest challenges I've had have been extremely human challenges like getting used to their diet of mainly starch and meat or having your food sometimes served to you hand-to-plate - and these challenges are extremely humbling for me. But already God is using this time here to teach me so many things. I already learned so much about love and service and furthering His kingdom. And I can already feel my perceptions of the world changing just from this short time in India. I can't wait to see what else He chooses to reveal to me during the rest of my time here!

Please continue to pray for:
the Asir's ministry
the spiritual, emotional, and physical health of the team
the Asir's family and all those connected to them
my family back home
and for me to continue seeking and being open to God and the people He places in my life

Thanks! :) Hope to post again within the next few days! Love yall! :)

Departure!

Hey,

I can't believe it's here already. INDIA!
Yikes. I don't know if I'm ready. I'm not sure I'm ever going to be ready. But, ready or not, it's happening! Now. Because even if I'm not ready, HE is :)

So, here's the game plan. I get up at 9am tomorrow to drive down to Omaha. I catch a flight at 1:15pm and arrive in Chicago around 2:45pm. There I'm going to meet up with Andrew Smith who is a student from Bryan College and who's team I will be traveling with while in India with Augustine Asir. Once in Chicago, we'll have about two hours before we catch our flight at 4:35pm to Delhi, India. From the looks of this, we'll be in the air here a VERY LONG time. Like, forever basically. We arrive a long time later at 5:45pm THEIR time in Dehli. Sooo I don't really know how long this will translate, but I've heard it's close to a 21-ish hour flight. So yeah. 

Ok, this might be a good moment to let you all know that I struggle to grasp time changes. I think the time difference between Iowa and India though is approx. 10 1/2 hours. So, if it's 7PM here in Iowa (dinner!), then it's 5:30 AM in India.

Once in Dehli, Andrew and I will wait for our 8:00pm (their time) flight to Chennai, India. We'll get in to Chennai around 10:45pm their time and have like a 12 hour layover in the airport until we can catch a flight to Madurai, India. I don't really know what time it'll be once we get there.. But I'm going to pretend jet-lag is just a myth, so it shouldn't be a problem!

I'll try to let everyone know asap that I've arrived safe and sound. Thanks for all your support, people!
You rock! :)

- Jenni

Hi

So, this is my blog!

As you probably already know, I have been blessed with the opportunity to travel to India this summer through Northwestern College's Summer of Service (SOS) program. Currently, I'm looking at leaving May 17th (which is coming up here pretty soon!) and returning July 28th or July 29th.

During my time in India, I will meet up in Chennai with Augustine Asir and his family who are missionaries for Word for the World. This organization does outreach to people living in leprosy colonies and slum children. I will also be meeting up with small team of about 3 or 4 students from Bryan College in Tennessee. Although it's difficult to know precisely what we will be doing ahead of time, the team and I will most likely be traveling with the Asirs and doing outreach projects with Word for the World.

I intend to do my best to log on here at least once a week to keep everyone updated on where I am and what I'm doing. But computer access might not be very reliable depending on what parts of India we are staying in, and I will be sharing one laptop with about ten other people. So, I'll do my best and I guess we'll just have to see how it goes! :)

I just want to thank everyone who has played a part spiritually, financially, emotionally, and logistically to help pull this trip together! As many of you may know, God has always given me a passion for justice and showing others the healing love of reconciliation with God through Christ. And I am seriously considering some form of international Social Work as my future profession. So, I joyfully anticipate everything this unique experience is going to teach me about myself and how to serve God better through loving others. Please pray for God to humble my spirit during this time and to bless me with a mind ready to learn, hands ready to serve, and a heart ready to experience a little bit more about what it truly means to love. Also, please pray that I gain a deeper understanding of foreign missions and whether doing Social Work internationally (whether that means in a foreign nation or state-side) is in God's plan for my future.

Thanks again! :)

- Jenni