What Goes Around

At our church each week we have new people stand up and introduce themselves.  We also have people stand if it is their last Sunday with us.  One guy who was visiting stood for both the comings and goings since he was just there a week.  I thought that was pretty funny. Yesterday we had quite a few new people.  Each year at this time we have people moving to Delhi to either work in the schools or the embassies.  There was only one lady who stood to say it was her last week.  She was returning to Denmark or somewhere.  The pastor said, "We aren't going to let you go."  Then he prayed for her. As the pastor prayed I started thinking about saying good-bye.  It reminded me of death (which I probably think too much about).  I was thinking about saying good-bye to someone when they are dying.  How the person will be going to a better place (if they are Christians) and how they are happy and ready for the homecoming.  Sure they w...

I think way too much about trafficking.  I guess it is a hazard of my job.  So when I went for the foot massage course last week I started thinking about how easy it would be to trap someone and traffic them. My friend and I signed up for the course online.  We were sent an email to meet at a specific place and we would be picked up by a driver.  A lady showed up on a scooter to pick us up.  But she could only take us one at a time.  So I sent my friend first (brave of me).  Then I started thinking as I sat and waited.  "What if she is trafficking Sarah?"  "I don't know where she took her."  "We should have gone my tuk-tuk and just followed her on her scooter."  The massage lady came back for me and I got on, trusting that she wasn't going to sell me too. On my ride to the massage course the lady stopped at a 7-11.  I thought, "She could be in there buying drugs to drug me."  She came back out and we drove on down sma...

Today I went with a friend to be trained in giving Thai foot massages.  It was actually pretty simple.  So we went to this lady's house where she would first show us what to do on one foot of each of us, then we got to practice on the other foot.  We also got a nice little book with pictures to remind us of what to do.  So now I am ready to give massages to people.  It can be my fall-back plan.  If I am ever jobless I can go around offering foot massages.

I'm sure hummus is easy to make.  I think you just grind up some beans and add garlic, lemon juice, and maybe some salt and pepper.  Something like that.    Jen, whom I am visiting right now, made some yesterday for dinner.  I should have watched her make it.  But I get to enjoy the end product.  We had it for dinner with other greek food and now I am having lunch of toasted french roll, hummus, tomato, and a cucumber.  Oh the joy of having friends that enjoy cooking!

We flew to Thailand last night with a plane full of Indians.  It is not surprising to be on a plane full of Indians when you leave from India.  And it is probably 90% men usually.  It seems like many of those people on the plane feel like college students going on a Spring Break trip.  They are loud, having fun, and drinking. I got irritated with the people around me.  This also happens after being in India for six months.  I am usually at my cultural stress breaking point.  The three men in front of me where probably brothers in their 50's.  They are all quite large.  Most likely they had a bit too much to drink.  So when we were around an hour from landing they wanted more food, but the food service was closed.  So they were giving the flight attendant a hard time and pushing the call button over and over again and asking for food.  Then they said they would have water.  But when the flight attendant brought the water...

Last week we were on a spiritual retreat with a group of people up in the mountain.  We were surrounded by lakes.  Beautiful! During communion one day a friend sang the song, "How Beautiful" which says,   How beautiful the hands that served The wine and the bread and the sons of the earth How beautiful the feet that walked The long dusty roads and the hill to the cross How beautiful, how beautiful How beautiful is the body of Christ How beautiful the heart that bled That took all my sin and bore it instead How beautiful the tender eyes That chose to forgive and never despise How beautiful, how beautiful How beautiful is the body of Christ   I was thinking about the dead body of Jesus and how the ladies came to put spices on his body.  Even though it was broken and bruised and bloody, it was still beautiful. While we were at this retreat, a guy drowned in one of the lakes.  He was there with two buddies and they were drinking.  He...