what a great day.

oh my goodness. i had such a good day in the gach. and for those of you have started your dinner time prayers for my nepali friends...i think its working. what a great day with them! and for those of you who don't get my prayer letter updates...basically i just asked for some back up in the prayer department on behalf of my beautiful nepali friends in the gach. (i'll post the full letter later) its the kind of day that's amazing and heart breaking all at the same time. hearing stories that make me want to step outside and throw up and at the same time grab my friends and never let go. stories that will haunt my dreams and follow me into my prayers. and i think of these precious little ones and dream. and ache for more vision on their behalf. the road is just beginning as each week our relationships with them deepen. and trust is woven into a friendship. like the bracelet they tied on my wrist this afternoon. and i find myself hoping against the odds, for freedom. and dignity and childhood restored, although from this side of their drawn curtains its sometimes hard to hold on tightly. as a friend of mine said last week while visiting...the sex trade, the trafficking of women and children might just be what our children look back on with unbelief, asking how it was possible that people allowed such horrid oppression to exist...just as we look on the hitler and rawanda...i think he might be right.

every monday i get to hang out with these sweet nepali girls. so while you're waking up each morning (that is, if you live in north america...i don't know what it is if you're in the UK...or south america...and nepali cuz's i guess if you're sitting down to afternoon cha 15 minutes after we are here in india...) then remember us as you sip your morning coffee or make your drive to work. this kind change is going to take a lot of prayer. pray for freedom for these girls. creativity and vision as we build friendships with them. and favor with the madams and owners that we meet. i'm believing for radical rediculous answers to your prayers...

and as a side note, while hanging out with one of our friends and her husband this morning in the gach we got on the topic of tattoos. (which i happened to learn the bengali word for today...) and her husband suggested that i get my name on my forearm. and a dragon on my bicep...why? i cannot really understand. but we concluded that while it would help to strike fear into the hearts of men who might try to touch me on the streets i might have a harder time finding a husband. why you might ask...he said because eveyone will think i am a "ninja". oh, that's why...

well another week has flown by. there's been a spell of relief from the heat today, maybe only in the 90's is my speculation. the nepali folks came on a rough week...sweat fest 99 was in full swing. but even in the midst of sweat fest. it was a great week, being with friends, sharing and learning and having way-too-late night discussions, processing everything from sex slavery injustices to the likelyhood of us dating in india...

we had a lot to fill our minds as we sat through a week's worth of aftercare training, it's a different kind of tired to work the muscles of emotions all week being pulled and torn and reminded about the reality of the jobs we've all come here to do on behalf of our friends in the red light areas. and i'm sure more will filter out as i begin to think about it all. for now i leave you with a treasure from the week...

last night we saw the fastest spider i have EVER encountered in my whole life. and it was HUGE. like the length of a small grapefruit maybe, seriously. and he had fangs, though i wasn't about to be close enough to examine those suckers. and when jesse stood to "calmly" move away from said deadly fanged spider it ran. and yes, i mean ran. not even like "oh the spider is startled and scampering to safety", no more like "oh this spider is full of venom and hatred and has been shot out of a 22 shot gun ready to attack". all that to say, by the end of it all, with a wet wall (yes, sarah tried to stun him by throwing water...i think it helped) some yelling and wacking and more yelling by andrew, and jesse kristin and i bravely encouraging from the other side of the room...all that was left was a little vemony grease spot on the floor and a sad looking copy of the economist who doubled as our greatest weapon.

brook, andrew, and jesse. so glad you could come and be with us for a week. our south asian cousins. glad i get to partner in this journey with you all.

bloomin hot.

it is bloomin hot ( as my mom might say). yesterday 102 i heard. but in light of the heat, a few positives...in doing laundry wet clothes dry in no time on the line. helpful. today i got myself out of bed by 6:32 (that's for you melissa) thanks to the built in heater/alarmclock that is kolkata these days and to went to get our mail at the mother house. which was a treasure trove of goodies and well worth the saturday early morning venture. josh casper, you rock. thank you soooo much for the treasures. they are and will be deeply enjoyed. and shiela. what perfect timing. our coffee had run out, and it was going to be a long few months without any good caffiene at our disposal. (even in 102 degree weather a person needs her fix right.) anyways, along with the coffee i recieved what appeared to be a log of chocolate. well i had to fork into it and see exactly what it was in its former life...and upon my first few bites i realized that thanks to 102 degree heat my chocolate covered espresso beans had become a huge bar of melted coffee and chocolatey goodness. it doesn't get any better than chocolate espresso logs. ha. another plus, we burn off calories in the summer just by simply existing, now that's a deal isn't it! and of course mango season is fastly approaching. i bought my first kg. just this afternoon. i'm sure they will be lovely. and if that wasn't enough goodness for one day. our dear wmf family from nepal is coming for a visit tomorrow!let me introduce andrew, brooke, and jesse. (and kristin and i in the middle) of course i hope they don't read about this heat until after they've arrived...then they can't cancel their tickets...

so as i wipe the sweat from my brow and try to find the sweet spot under my not so high powered fan...i'll just keep on remembering, hey at least i'm burning calories by just existing.

peace.

a brain's outline for the evening.

alot swimming around this brain of mine. not to mention its finally hot. and i mean, seriously hot folks. i've heard 103 by tomorrow. we'll see. some friends gave us a generous gift to stay at a hotel with AC this weekend, so i'm not too worried about 103 numbers...i'll be munching steak, swimming by the pool (complete with compulsory swim cap), and lounging in freezing cold AC for two days...oh the suffering.

-thursday nights we have a great little gathering of friends who eat together followed usually by some form of prayer/discussion/song whatever. this past week the topic turned to olympic games, yeah we can find spiritual application in anything around here. but namely the issues surrounding tibet. should we support a country that is blatently witholding human rights (china) by supporting the games they're hosting. i myself am glad that tibetans are finally getting a voice, altlhough rallying and tackling olympic torch runners might not be enough to gain independance. perhaps if more of the world took a stand, refused support of the olympics, chose human rights over business opportunity...something would begin to move. but sarah, passionate articulate sarah, made a great point to conclude what i thought was a stirring and inspiring thursday night...change has to come from within. the chinese themselves have to see and fight for the change. we as outsiders can hoop and hollar, and even shame the chinese goverment by boycotting things like olympic games but the lasting change will come from within, when people become aware of the issues and fight for change. then freedom will happen. and as we brought this topic down to our level we processed how this how change will happen in Sonagachi, and other red light areas in kolkata. this is how things change when a place's own people desire something to move. lets pray for heroes to stand and speak up for change in all places from Tibet to Sonagachi...

-also it seems i'm on a roll of reading books about the middle east. three cups of tea is a must read. and i've just started a new one called the sirens of Baghdad. they paint pictures with complete opposite colors. one man fighting for peace one man fighting for revenge. and it continues to reemphasize my longing to see a movement of peace and reconcilation and a breakdown of the ignorance we all seem to live in. i'll make it to the middle east one day...no doubt.

-this week some Kiwi guys came to visit SB. the ladies sat and laughed and talked through their entire visit...only later did i come to know that they were planning my marriage to one of them, on the basis that he seemed not to comb his hair...just like me...hmmm. i'm feeling glad they have such high standards for me. if this record keeps up i'll find that shining star in no time.

-one beautiful little nepali girl i've written of before has written a letter to her family this week. and for the first time in the two years since she's been enslaved, they might be able to get news that their young daughter is still alive. practically brings me to tears every time i think of her. she's never sent a letter prior to this week because she's afraid they'll see the post office stamp and know where she is...but since our wmf nepali friends are making a visit soon (yeah cousins!) they'll be able to send it from nepal and no one will have to know where her greeting came from. i cry out for hope and life and freedom for this little one. though most days it seems so impossible. i won't give up yet, the fight's just started.

well i think thats enough for one long blog. i wish i could post a fan on here to blow the hot air i'm experiencing as i type this, maybe that will be the next application they add to these crazy things. but instead i'll just say goodnite. peace.

huncha...

ahh learning new languages...
in an attempt to jump start my nepali language learning i tried to take advantage of having a captive teacher during our treck in nepal a few weeks back. trying to sieze as many teachable moments as possible i would sidle up to our guide, gonga, asking a few random vocab questions, you know things like, "how do you say...we're climbing a mountain or i'm dying climbing up all these stairs or i would kill for a big juicy steak right now..." whatever.
here's the problem with language learning. misunderstandings and assumptions...
on one of our many water breaks i overheard gonga talking with some fellow nepalis and noted a few words i'd hoped would be useful in exploring. first mistake.
and this is a glimpse of how the rest of the teaching sessions went...
me: "gonga, what does huncha mean?"
gonga: "eaass"
me: "what does it mean?"
gonga: "eeaaasss"
me: "what?" (and as i turn to point at my ghetto) "do you mean aasss?" (and yes i did point)
gonga: "no!, eeyyeeess."
me: (sheepishly) "oh, yeess. oh gosh. that wasn't good."

so there you have it folks. not always a good idea to mime out what you think you're learning in nepali. because there's a fairly hig percentage rate that you'll be wrong and end up being highly culturely inappropriate.

Where you go I will go...it reads.

Take me where you are essentially. lead me to bind the brokenhearted. Grabbing hold of captives, offering a word of life.

Where you go I will go...it reads.

and i marvel at the profound simplicity, a promise coming to pass.

And i steer clear of beggars but run to the prostitutes. Greet the widows in joy but keep my hands in my pockets. And i should have given money to a man yesterday. I looked away. And he was gone.

I keep looking at people-and seeing them as fellow human beings, and its starting to mess me up. A man on a bed. Visits 14 year old prostitutes and all i can think of is how he's some woman's son. that he's had a childhood, pain and fear and history. And now i see him in a fraction of a space in time. In a brothel, on a bed, searching.

A man with turned in legs and trembling hands asks me for money as i buy my lunch. And i look away. Shuffling from one distanced glance to another he continues on. I reach into my purse, too late. He's nowhere. And i wonder at the image of Jesus I refused to serve.

A boy crawling on all fours down the the busy Park Street. 5 Star hotels, sugary coffees, fried chicken available here. And i look away embarassed by the boy whose back refuses to let him walk. And my mind turns to the book i just read about a similar boy and i can't help but wonder at his shame.

Where you go I will go...

When i tattooed this promise. I had no idea the steps to follow.