Namaste

Here are some other random pics from the trip, enjoy!

Pieces of God

Like I mentioned, the trip I am on is a school trip- completely unfaith related. Today, however, was one of those moments where I was truly blown away by God's unfathamable hand. 

I was sitting at dinner with some 5th and 6th grade girls having our normal broken English chat about nothing inparticular when out of nowhere one of them says "do you believe in life after death?" We then dove into this incredible conversation about Christianity, Jainism, and Hinduism; about what each consists of and why. The girl that had start ted the conversation then told me how she prays but there are so many gods that she feels that she is speaking to no one, and that her religion does not believe in life after death, but "how can that be? Life can't just end?" Then she asked me to tell her the story of Jesus :) I know for a fact I could never do the story justice, I just hope I got all my facts correct! It's just amazing to me that 5th and 6th grade girls were so immersed into figuring out their faith. I know God uses me to plant a seed and I continually felt myself just smiling at the awe of the situation. 

If that wasn't enough, when I was doing my devotion, the scripture was Isaiah 6:8 "then I heard the voice of the Lord saying 'whom shall I send and who will go for us?' And I said 'here I am, send me'" ahh Jesus, you seize to amaze me :) 

Elephants

This is our dear elephant friend Bhul Bhul. She carried out large butts o the top of the amber fort.. And I'm pretty sure she loved it as much as we did :)

For Better Or Worse

Meet Deepak and Abira. These two were our life savers while at the school. They are incredible people that were our "go-to's" for any and everything we needed or wanted. Abira treated us to chicken and pizza and both of them always provided food when we felt deprived, and wifi when we could go no longer without it. The only fault I found was when Deepak made us all beat root juice... If you've never tried it, spare yourself! 

Jaipur Literature Festival

The group made a special trip to Jaipur for the annual literature festival. This is an incredible event that brings over 200 authors, editors, and speakers. There are many different sessions throughout the span of 5 days on any and every topic you can imagine! I absolutely loved this experience and certainly soaked in mug knowledge!

Taj Mahal

There have been some really incredible festivities on this trip! To begin our tourist portion, we got to visit one of the 7 wonders of the world- the Taj Mahal- or as they pernounce it, taj mahela. For being one of the 7 wonders of the world, I didn't think it was quite what it's cracked up to be, but don't get me wrong, it was certainly incredible!

Anabuti 2

With vast differences from Anabuti 1, this is Anabuti 2. This school is designed to give students coming from slum areas an education. This school pays for all the school fees, uniforms, supplies, as well as lunch and 2 snacks throughout the day. The students coming to this school must be entering 1st grade and at this level their main goal is to teach the students about hygiene, balanced foods, study habits, clean language, and basic survival skills. Seeing some pictures of the places they live is heart breaking. The school makes it mandatory for the parents to drop off and pick up their child from school and teaches parents about involvement. It's really an incredible program!

Going into the classes however, I have never seen such rude, disrespectful, craziness. That includes schools in the US! I so badly want to be sympathetic towards them because of where they come from, but is hard! The teachers in the school have not implemented any discipline and really have no authority. I was expecting this to be my favorite place, but really, at the begining I just couldn't wait to leave each day. By the end, I had fallen in love with the kids :)

They teachers will randomly leave the room and we are left to teach for sometimes up to an hour or two but it's just madness. We get there at 8am and leave at 4. This has absolutely proven to me that teaching is not for me! That is waaaaay too long of a day!