Travel Day

May 13, 2012

What a day! Travel days are always a bit tiresome, but this one was actually quite exciting. We began the day by heading out to a church service. I think we were all excited to see what the service would be like. Surprisingly, it turned out to be pretty similar to the services we have at home. It was wonderful to worship God together, in our language, and with people who shared a love and passion for Christ. The message was given by this quirky British man who seemed to have a heart for service. He spoke (quite entertainingly, I might add) about how we can best try to reach those around us and make an impact for Christ. I appreciated his openness and honesty, and felt that his message was directly applicable to our group as we travel through India representing Christ.

After church (we left early to keep schedule) we stopped for a brief lunch at our hotel and then began the mad dash to the train station. I can’t speak for the rest of the group, but taking public transportation is a bit unnerving. I get confused enough riding TriMet in Portland. Luckily we were met by three guides who seemed travel savvy and proved quite skillful at herding us through the train station. It was a bit overwhelming, and we were certainly a spectacle. While we were rushing around frantically trying to stay together—apparently a talent we do not possess—all the Indians would stop what they were doing and stare, or even whip out the all too familiar cell phone camera to snap a quick picture of us in our mad dash to train car #C1. I can only imagine their conversations at dinner as they swear to their families that they saw 20 Americans dressed in Indian clothing being ushered through a public train station by Indians dressed in American clothing, presenting their photo proof.

To our delight, our train car was roomy, air conditioned, and we were all sitting together. In about fifteen minutes, we’d settled in. I’m not sure what everyone else did with the spare time, but I took the opportunity to catch up on much needed sleep. I woke up a couple hours later when it was time to get off. We had two minutes to get our stuff and ourselves off the train and also to allow others to board; apparently these trains wait for no one! We packed like sardines up against the doors and readily waited to jump off the train. Charles, Matt, and our new Indian friends helped usher us off in plenty of time and everyone made it off no problem. Our guides found our counting system (each of us are assigned a # from 1-20 and we shout them out to make sure we have all 20 #s) quite entertaining and it induced quite a few chuckles at the station.

From here we went to the orphanage. We were greeted by eager, grinning children holding huge handfuls of yellow flower petals. As we stepped off the bus and into the orphanage, the children were quite excited to throw the petals at us. I think they were supposed to shower us gently with the flower petals, but the kids decided to have fun with it, and I don’t think one of us got through the lineup without flower petals in our hair, mouths, and under our shirts and pants. A few of us rebelled and grabbed flowers from the ground and started throwing them as well. But ironically, we ended up throwing the flowers more at each other than at the kids. I’m excited for when we get to spend more time with them here at the orphanage. Apparently all of the kids are currently on summer break, so they greet us at the door with enthusiasm every time we come and go. The kids are SO cute! I think a few of us are tempted to take them home.

One thing I have learned from our times here is that the locals know how to make you feel appreciated and welcome. I truly feel like a guest of honor wherever we go. Although our accommodations here at the orphanage don’t compare to our 5 star hotel in Delhi, I feel far more welcome and at home here. Being with people who are just as excited to have us in their home as we are to be in their home is such a wonderful feeling. Although this is a new experience for most of us, I think everyone is eager and excited to serve Christ with the guidance of the wonderful people here at Alma over the next few days as we venture into the surrounding villages and to get to know the locals here on a more personal level.

--Traci Sirotiak