I made it!

Hello friends and family!

I MADE IT TO INDIA!!!

Sorry for the lack of blogging, I’ve spent the past few days with Alli (what a BLESSING!) getting adjusted and learning about our ministry here. It’s been a whirlwind, and there is no longer internet at the house (apparently it wasn’t too reliable), so I finally made it to an internet cafe. Sadly, I can’t plug up my laptop here, so all my videos and pictures can’t be uploaded at this time! I also can’t get any of my emails from my AIM account ([email protected]) – so please send them to my gmail account instead. I’m so sorry! I’ve been working hard on the video blogs though, so we’ll figure out how to get them up online soon. In the meantime, here are some updates…

INDIA UPDATE ::

India is amazing! The people here are so beautiful, as are the clothes and culture. Everyone is so kind and quick to love.  There are some adjustments though, like the 1.2 BILLION people here – driving is definitely a challenge! Not much personal space and lots of questions and people staring at us – we wave and smile a lot (I guess all those years in pageants paid off after all, ha!) We travel by car or rickshaw most of the time, the latter has been quite an adventure!

It’s very cold here – probably around 40 degrees at night. No heat in the house and no hot water – which means NO SHOWERS! AGH! It had been 6 days for me without even washing my hair, so Lynette and I went today to a ‘beauty parlor’ and got a good hairwashing for only $150 Rupees (less than $4.00! Money well spent!) No lice yet – praise the Lord!!!

The food has taken some getting used to – WOW is it SPICY!!! Good thing God healed me from my acid reflux disease when I was in Swaziland – I have praised Him for that often on this trip. So far so good! I’m enjoying trying new things.

The downside to India is the pollution – to say everything is dirty is the understatement of the year. We can’t seem to keep anything clean, we live over a trash heap, there is raw sewage everywhere, and there is always a haze (which we’re breathing). When I stepped off the plane it looked like the airport was full of smoke – there is dust in the air, plus incense in every store burned to their idols, and burning sacrifices of sorts too. They also burn their trash, and with 1.2 billion people you can imagine the pollution from cars, buses, motorcycles and scooters everywhere too! But we are surviving… I praise God often for healing me from asthma in Swaziland too! (He must have known He had a trip to India planned for me then!)

MY ROOMIE

My amazing roomie has finally arrived – Lynette Lee from California (who just finished The World Race in November). She has been a godsend – what a blessing! We truly are kindred spirits in so many ways! We have laughed a lot – she is QUITE the West Coast DIVA (I don’t know how she survived The World Race) and now she’s with the Southern Belle pageant girl – there have been more hilarious moments the last few days than I can even count. We make quite a pair! I can’t wait to post my video blog introducing her!

God is teaching us a lot through each other, and showing us in every detail how He has placed us together for a reason. We are working on this trip to establish a music partnership and import business to benefit orphans (more on those later – please keep those plans in your prayers!) and He is blessing those plans in INCREDIBLE ways! I’m so excited to see all He has in store for us over the next couple of weeks!

ADVENTURES

Our living conditions and travels are an adventure – I have heard Lynette and Chris say multiple times “It was NOT like this on the World Race!” – ha, and I thought they would be prepared?! Apparently I am getting ‘initiated’ quickly into the WR lifestyle (or a little more challenging actually). I hope all my WR friends are laughing at that thought right now!

Though everyday has been an adventure here, there have been some moments worth sharing. Already we’ve gotten lost in a rickshaw on the way home one night, had a flat tire on the side of the road one day, and then had our car almost impounded by the police! HA! (And yes, there are video blogs in the works for you to experience those adventures with us – don’t worry). Through it all though, God has been teaching us flexibility, patience, and FAITH – and He has come through EVERY SINGLE TIME! Our God is SO faithful!!!

MINISTRY

My favorite part… the ministry! I can’t even begin to express to you how incredible this first week has been! We have already visited 3 orphanages we’ll be working with, and 3 leper colonies. The children and the lepers are so precious. I have fallen in love with them all.

There is an appalling amount of persecution here. I had no idea before coming just how terrible it is. The stories I’ve heard already have been horrific. “Missionary” is almost a cuss word here – we have to be so careful what we say to the people we meet. The government wants to close down the orphanages we are working with – orphans here are considered the lowest of the low – beneath your feet in the caste system. For these reasons, I can’t tell you specifics about the people or the places we are working with – not even the names of the orphanages for fear the government will close them down or imprison or torture our Indian contacts here.

I can tell you though, that God is at work. I know exactly why He has brought me here, and I have so much work to do in our main orphanage next week (and lots of money to raise when I return home). Please pray He goes before me in all this! I can’t wait to get some video blogs and pictures up – these children are so beautiful, and they truly love the Lord with all their heart! They pray powerful prayers and dream big dreams! What a blessing to get to pour into them these next few days… He is truly building relationships here that will impact me for the rest of my life!

PRAYER REQUESTS

There is so much to ask you to pray for, but first let me say THANK YOU for already praying! I know you have been praying in POWERFUL ways – I have felt it everyday and even shared with the team here how I KNOW you are all praying. How do I know? Well first of all, I made it here safely. But on top of that…

The warning I got over and over and over before coming was “Whatever you do, DON’T DRINK THE WATER. You will get SO sick!” No problem, I thought. I brought my water bottle and Alli showed me the first day where to get the filtered water. It wasn’t until day 3 that I found out I’d been getting it the wrong way!!! I’d been drinking UNFILTERED tap water from India for 3 days! (and did I mention we live in the slums?) But you all must have been praying powerful prayers, because I haven’t been sick even once! PRAISE THE LORD! THANK YOU!

Please keep the prayers coming. Pray for my health and for Lynette and the rest of the team too. Today is the first day I’ve had a sore throat and I’m really feeling bronchitis coming on – all the pollution is finally getting to my lungs. The cold house we’re living in isn’t helping much. Lynette and I are both getting a cruddy cough. Please pray against any sickness and for healthy lungs!

Please pray for our safety while traveling. We will be traveling around Delhi doing ministry a lot over the next week. Then on the 9th, Lynette and I will travel to visit the Taj Mahal, and on the 13th, we’ll be traveling back to Delhi to fly to southern India for the 2nd half of our trip. Please pray for safety since it will just be the two of us – pray God will send His mighty angels to surround us everywhere we go!

Please pray for wisdom, guidance, and clarity as we set up these partnerships, and as we choose where to go and what to do over the next 2 and 1/2 weeks.

Please pray for the team of amazing young women who are staying here for 3 months to serve the people of India! Pray God’s blessing on them as they learn to live in community and begin their ministries here at the orphanages and leper colonies.

Please pray for God’s strength, grace, and love to be poured through us into the children and the lepers. Pray He will continue to show His incredible love for these people in unmistakable ways – pray that His glory will be shown and His name made great in ALL we do! Let us love extravagantly – that they would know Him by the way we love them!

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I’ll be working in the next few days to find a way to post some video blogs and pictures, and working on another blog He’s laid on my heart. Thank you SO much for all the prayers you’ve already sent up on my behalf – I continue to be grateful for you all everyday! I miss ALL of you SO much already – thank you for the comments on my blog! It made my day to read them all!!! Keep checking in, and keep those prayers coming please! Love and hugs to you all!

In HIS hands ~ Ericka