Day 3: Mumbai and Church in the District

Today we were able to see some sights around Mumbai and do some shopping with Devki and Savita, who traveled with us last July. It was sooooo good to see them and be able to spend some quality time with them.

It was fun to be out on the streets with them and having a reverse role then last summer. When we went out on the streets we would bring lots of attention. When you see 4 white girls on the road in India everyone stares. So Devki and Savita spent a lot of time directing us. As you will see in the picture above w

e saw "STD's" all over the place. STD's in India are cheap calling places and not what we think of them. But it was weird to see STD on most signs.

We also saw some of the local fruit and vegetable stands. I so wanted to go purchase the fruit but knew that I did not want to be sick for the rest of the trip. Fruit was definitely my most missed food while on the trip.

Shopping was fun. We tried a few Indian dresses and the bartering that Devki and Savita did for us was appreciated. We did find a small treasure shop that had some one of a kind Indian clothes. Both Sonia and I purchased some unique dressy Indian dresses. Oli found an amazing sari but chose to not purchase it.

We also went by some American food places like KFC, which if you know me is not one of my favorite places. But thought it would be fun to take a picture with the delivery bikes. This

brought much attention but was fun.

As soon as we got back to the hotel from our shopping and city adventure our car was waiting to take us to the church service in the District. So we took our adventure across town to the District. BTC rents a church facility on Saturday evenings to have a service for women of the District. The service was very moving to see people worshipping God. I truly enjoying being services around the world and seeing how people worship God. We were able to talk to some women who work in the brothels but feel drawn to church. Continue to pray that these women will be drawn to Jesus and come out of this lifestyle. Also the children from the shelter were at the service. It was so fun to see them. Some of them even brought their balloons to church.

After the service we went to a "sizzler" restaurant with Deveraj, his family, and another family that is part of the BTC staff. Your food is literally brought out on sizzling plates. It was a fun experience and we all enjoyed the food. Then off to a natural ice cream shop where the others enjoyed some homemade ice cream. As you see from the sign to the left, "You cannot return or exchange your ice cream". So don't even try.

What a good day of seeing some of the Mumbai city, reconnecting with some of the girls Mindy and I traveled with, and worshipping with people who loved the Lord in a place that is oppressed.

Day 2: Visit to the Red Light District

On our first full day in India we woke up feeling pretty rested. We had a funny breakfast at our hotel and then we transferred back to our original hotel. Deveraj, the leader of the ministry, met us and we sat down and he oriented us a little bit about what we would be seeing today.

Then we began our adventure through the streets of Mumbai to the District. Driving in India is always an adventure. Besides the bumpy roads you have cars going everywhere, cows walking do

wn the road, people walking all over the road,

LOTS of honking, and whatever else seems to find its way to the road. They also drive on the

left side, which makes it even more fun for right side of the road drivers. The thing we found most interesting was we did not see any accidents and the cars were not all beat up. With the crazy driving you would have thought there would be accident everywhere. But it seems

the people of Mumbai have perfected the art of crazy driving. I have decided that if you learn to drive in India you can drive virtually anywhere.

On our ride over we learned a lotabout the city. Mumbai property is very expensive. Fo

r a regular flat it is about $300,000. Also they are not as concerned about the outside of the building. Many of the buildings looked run down but the insides are really nice. We saw some of the old city, some of the slums, some of the upper class, the ocean, and the new bridge around the city.

Then we entered the District. It was interesting to see the different buildings in the district. It is streets and stree

ts of buildings that are used as brothels. We saw the brothels that taxis literally line up outside to take women to hotels. We saw some of the women hanging out on the street. We saw the c

hildren who desperately need love. Going into the District you could feel the heaviness.

The ministry we were working with, Bombay Teen Challenge (BTC), has a free HIV/Aids clinic and Dental clinic in the District to be able to build relationship with the women. We visited the HIV clinic first where some of the outreach staff had been praying for 5 hours. It was awesome to talk to the staff. They have amazing patience. It is not easy pulling women out of this lifestyle. Many of them feel worthless and used. They don't think they can do anything but what they are doing. Many have debts they have to pay off from being sold. Others have a hard time trusting anyone. So the staff spends time building relationships with the women. This is the

only way to be able to gain the trust to bring the women out of the lifestyle they are currently living. The HIV clinic has been a great help to women. About 60-70% of the women have HIV . Which means there are many children affected as well.

Also, while were down there we saw a Hindu festival in the streets. They were slaughtering chickens which was real interesting.

Then we walked over to the dental clinic. This is the newest addition to the ministry and has been so helpful to women. In the last few weeks they were able to help a fourteen year old girl and were able to talk her into leaving the District. What an amazing thing to be involved in.

Then we went and visited a couple of brothels. We were able to speak to a few women but most of them were sleeping because they had to be up and getting ready for the night in the next hour. We talked to one girl whose debts are all paid and she is free, but is scared to leave. She does not know why anyone would want to help her or that she would be able to do anything if she came out. She is very close to leaving and beginning a new life. Please pray for her.

It was so heart breaking to walk the streets and know that in a few hours that the streets would be filled with women who are trapped in a lifestyle they did not choose.

Our last stop in the district was the children's shelter. BTC used to have the shelter open at only at night for a place where the children could come and not be in the rooms with their moms. But recently they made the decision to make it a 24/7 shelter. It is now more like a transitional shelter. The kids live there and they either send the kids to school or homeschool the kids. The kids are so thankful for this opportunity. BTC works with the kids and then when they a

re able they transition them to the homes outside of the city.

It was so sweet to be with these children. Many of them are down the road from their mothers but do not see them. All they want is love. We were able to do some songs, balloons and just love on them. They were so happy to see us and it was mutual on our part.

After leaving the shelter they took us on a tour of the city. Showed us the Taj hotel that had the tourist attacks. We were going to go inside but Hilary Clinton was there and she blocked off all the entrances. Her brigade also caught us in traffic a few times. We had to sit in traffic for about 2 hours because they would close the streets when she would come through. We were read for her to go home.

We had a wonderful traditional Indian dinner and then back to the hotel to get some rest. This was truly an eye opening day. It was heartbreaking to see the hurt among the women, but also rejoicing to see how a difference is being made.

Update

Hey Everyone! Sorry for not blogging more when we were in India. We only had access to Internet the first 2 days and then we were in the jungle, literally. So over the next few days I am going to try and blog a little bit about the trip. Thank you to everyone who prayed for us and supported our trip.

The trip was amazing. I am glad to be home, but was not read to come home. I could have stayed. The people we met have tremendous hearts and God is doing some mighty things. All I can say is WOW!

Adventure in Traveling

Hello All! I am writing from Mumbai India. We made it safely, but had an adventure. The team left Greensboro, NC at 4pm on Wednesday, July 15th. The flight to Atlanta was nice and short. We were in Atlanta for 2 1/2 hours. While in Atlanta there were two planes full of Army Soldiers leaving to go serve overseas. It was neat to see them in preparation to get ready to go serve the country.

We boarded a nice and full flight to India. Luckily Mindy, Rebecca and I got an exit row so we had lots of leg room. We had to sit in the plane before take off for an hour. We had nice flight attendants who danced and rapped for us. I was making friends. We had movies on demand, which was exciting. I got to watch lots of movies I had been wanting to. I had 6 movies on throughout the flight but slept through 2 of them. We had 3 full meals on flight. We flew over lots of countries and waved to people we knew.

When we got to Mumbai there was a bad rainstorm so we got to do circles over the ocean. It was like being at the race track, which was exciting for me. I liked watching our circles. So with the extra time in Atlanta and the circles we were in the plane for 17 hours. Isn't that exciting! I was never more ready to get off the plane.

We made it through customs and got our baggage smoothly. Then because we had so much luggage they let us just go through so they did not check our bags. What a praise!!! We have lots of extra goodies to pass out. So it was great they did not check them. Then we exited the airport and the humidity hit. I have been to Florida but this was HUMID!!! We were able to find our ride pretty quickly, which I was glad to get some air.

We started our journey to the hotel. The city was interesting to see at night. The ricshaws were fun to watch our driver get mad at. So we pull into our hotel and were told to stay in the car.Oliga, Sonia and I were in one car and Mindy and Rebecca in another. Our car was making up stories of why we could not get out of the car. Our stories were a lot better then the real story. There was a leak in the hotel and so they were sending us to another place.

So we finally arrived at a destination to lay our heads. We were all sooooooo exhausted. We did not sleep much on the plane so we had been for many hours.

Traveling day was good, but long:)

India in 5 Days

I am taking a break from telling the stories of the girls today. We leave in 5 days. I can't believe how time has flown and we are preparing to leave. I am excited to tell you that with your help I have raised all of the funds needed to go in this trip.

THANK YOU, from the bottom of my heart. My life has been touched by each of you who got involved in this. Know that you are impacting lives around the world and not just helping me go on a missions trip.

This trip has truly been a journey for me and it has not even started yet. As of two weeks ago I was not sure that I was supposed to be going on the trip. I wanted with all my being to go, because I wanted to see the girls we traveled with and I wanted to see first hand what God is doing. I also have a huge heart for the women in the Red Light district who need restoration. But I felt some unease and went through a week or so of questioning whether I was supposed to be on this trip. I believe it was a challenge from God to make sure I was seeking His face.

I am so looking forward to getting on the plane to begin the next leg of this journey. Please keep the team in your prayers. Pray for travel, health, and that we will be open to how God wants to use us.

R's Restoring Joy

R's story was one that broke my heart because she had such a sweet spirit. She loves people so intently and it was hard for me to understand how anyone could hurt this beautiful girl.

R grew up in a very poor family. She said as a child she was very disobedient and would just roam the streets. She started drinking when she was eight and hung out with very bad crowd.

Her parents sent her to her aunt and uncle's house to try and settle her down. While there her uncle and cousins raped her. She said she was so angry and confused at how her own family could do something like that. Her uncle and cousins would tell her she was worthless and dirty now. Her sister worked the Red Light District in Mumbai, but she was unaware of her line of work. Her uncle would tell her that she was just like her sister.

She ended up going to be with her sister in Mumbai in the Red Light District. While there she came in contact with Bombay Teen Challenge (BTC). She had always wanted to go to school. She was able to join BTC. She had a lot of anger to get over and could not understand for a long time why the staff was so loving. After awhile she fell in love with God and realized she needed to have a relationship with her Heavenly Father.

R is now on leadership at BTC to help other girls who are hurting. She does correspondence schooling while learning sewing vocation. R has such a beautiful heart and spirit. She desires to help other girls and woman not have the same thing happen to them. She loves the Lord with her whole heart. It was very convicting for me to see how passionately she loved the Lord.

Only 9 more days until we leave for India. It is incredible to think all that God has done to prepare me for this trip. I am so looking forward to seeing the girls we traveled with last year, but also seeing the ministry as a whole. God has done some incredible things through BTC. This is going to be a hard trip because of the nature of what we will see, but our God is so amazing that He has restored many hearts and lives.

We definitely need your prayers. There are 5 of us going on the trip. Please pray for travel and health. Also, I still need about $800 for the trip. If you would like to be a part of this trip and these amazing stories of restoration you click here.

THANK YOU to all of those who are praying and partnering with this trip. I look forward to telling you what God did.