Day 4 & 5 (writing this at 10:23 p.m. day 5)
Day 4
So yesterday was pretty cool. We went to a construction site where they were laying the groundwork for a new Adventist church. When we reached the site we had to climb down a steep incline and very steep steps and I was shocked when I got to the construction zone. The land was terraced, as in layers of ground were cut away like stair steps. My first thought was what?! How can you build a flat church on land like this? The pastor whose church this will be showed me the blue print and it looks like it’s going to be a great church! There were currently men digging four foot deep holes that would be where the cement pillars would go. We were supposed to be going to help with construction, but when my dad jumped in a hole and started shoveling (of course he did) after a few shovels they told him to get out (they said it in a nice way) because he was taking away the work from the men who hired, and they definitely needed the moment.
Next came the culture shock moment. These men who are doing intense construction work all day from essentially sun up to sun down make $5. A DAY! They are doing intense manual labor and I make more than them in one hour sitting on my butt in air-conditioning lifeguarding a pool. Sobering moment for sure. And that $5 is an okay amount of money to them. Crazy. Most people in the U.S.A. wouldn’t even rake a lawn for $5. We need to realize how blessed we are but also DO something with our blessings and help give people in other countries or desperate situations more opportunities! To attend Private Adventist School here is $8 a month! I’m sure so many of us could sponsor a child’s education without affecting our wallet at all.
Next came a pretty cool moment. The first four foot hole at the site was ready to have the first batch of cement poured in. Essentially this was the first foundation of the entire church. And guess who they asked to pour in the cement? Our mission group. What an honor for us. We each literally got to take a bucket and pour the cement in. It was pretty awesome because we were literally laying the foundation of the church. Figuratively and metaphorically because with a church building the gospel can spread so much more. The local pastors were explaining to us that with a literal church building so many more people are interested and will attend a service than if it were just in someone’s house. Quiet Hour Ministries funded this church, about $10,000, and they say construction will be done in 3 months! And it just started today! Climbing back to the main road again made me out of breath and my legs are burning-these people must be in amazing shape! Near this church site there was quite the little farm- what looked like squash, banana, corn and more. It all looked so green and lush. The future pastor of the church was just so grateful. Then a storm moved in and when storms come the sky literally turns white with clouds, where I could see mountains, the farm, and trees before I could now see nothing- just a wall of white! It’s crazy.
We learned yesterday that some church leaders of other denominations told their congregations that their children couldn’t attend our VBS programs so in some areas (our group splits up and goes to 3 different places each night) children attendance was lower. But one VBS has had 140 kids!
Random fact: if you want to be a doctor here in Aizawl right out of high school you go to med school and attend 5 years! Sounds pretty nice to me!!! VBS went well, increased by 10 kids. We had 45. Was able to give a baby blanket away to a mother and her child.
Day 5
Today was fun, although I must say I am just still so tired! Waking up at 6:45 a.m. every morning is the ULTIMATE struggle for me. I sit up and then fall asleep sitting up. My dad is like what is wrong with you?! I also took a 3 hour nap from 8:30-11:30 a.m. and waking up from that was like waking the dead too! This morning we interviewed for the TV show “Missions Today!” that was pretty fun, but they shot it on the roof of our hotel and it was hot! It was nice to be able to share my thoughts about the trip. My dad got interviewed too and he got all mushy gushy about how this was amazing because he got to go on the trip with his daughter and how seeing me interact with the kids was “mindblowing” he loves seeing it. It was sweet to hear him say all of this though, there may have been a tear in my eye? We’ll blame it on the heat 😉
At VBS tonight we had 66 kids! That’s our highest yet! More than double our first night. It was definitely chaotic trying to get them to do a craft and be careful with scissors when you literally can’t speak one word of their language but there’s a few parents who stay and help us out which is nice. All I hear is “Miss! Miss!” from the kids and then they start motioning for what they need. Today the craft we were making was a basket that they had to fold and then I had to come around with tape individually to each child. A few of the older kids didn’t want to wait in the line and successfully tricked me for a few minutes by giving their baskets to a little girl in the front of the line. I would tape her basket, turn around, and then turn back to her and she would have an un-taped basket in her hand again! I was so frazzled I didn’t realize what was happening at first and just kept taping baskets but by the time she had yet again a 5th basket I was like “waiiiiit a minute.” Then the older kids started giggling and gave up the hoax. I had to laugh too, it was a good try on their part that worked for a little! Again they couldn’t get enough of the songs. What’s crazy is that as soon as we open the doors to let these kids in they are rushing inside to help stack the chairs and get out the benches. We don’t have to do a thing, they are just so eager to get things set up so we can begin. It’s awesome. Then when it’s time to leave, a bunch of kids stay behind to help us return the benches and set up the chairs for the meeting. They’re so helpful and sweet. There’s 4 kids that have my heartstrings. One brings her little brother and he’s about 14 months and just about the cutest baby I’ve seen! They know me by name and always try valiantly to have a conversation with me. One little girl just can’t seem to understand that I don’t speak Mizo and just keeps babbling on in full sentences asking me questions while I just stand there and then try to explain to her I can’t understand. It kinda sucks, I really wish I could understand and talk with them!
The kids really seemed to be listening to the story tonight and I really hope they are understanding that Jesus loves them and it’s more than just a story. After VBS we went to a traditional Mizo store (more like a little shack on the side of the road) with my translator. I tried Indian cookies and a mango drink made by Coca Cola but bottled in Bengal. Not gonna lie I was kinda scared to try some stuff because our stomachs are weak compared to theirs! The drink was really good but would have tasted even better with ice. Unfortunately ice is something we are discouraged to have here because it’s most likely not filtered water. What’s interesting is that they don’t refrigerate butter here, so you have to be careful not to eat it because a lot of times it can be moldy.
The sweetest little girl sat next to me for the service tonight and she spoke really great English. She told me “I really wanted to be here for your health talk last night but the school gave me too much too study. The heat makes it really hard for us to study in the classroom.” I’m guessing her school has no AC at all! Then she told me a greeting to say in Mizo up front when I started my talk on the benefits of drinking water. Well since she wanted me to I didn’t want to disappoint her, so I went up there on the stage… and completely butchered that greeting! Ha even my translator was confused! But I got some chuckles and smiles out of the audience so hey whatever works.
Today after the sermon a man came up to my dad and was just saying how excited he was to be at our service. He just converted to Adventism from being a Presbyterian and had been Adventist for 2 weeks. He was saying how he loved how everything we said was from the Bible and how much he enjoyed learning tonight. (Tonight the sermon was on the state of the dead).It’s nice to see someone so fired up and excited about the faith.
The days are pretty long though. We wake up at 6:30 a.m. and we head to the meeting sites at 3:30, then we are at them till 9! I can’t help it my head is definitely nodding during the sermons. It’s cute to see some of the pretty old people knocking out, they just can’t help it either! They really want to be there though, even if they’re tired. There’s one woman who has to be in her 90s and she’s sat next to me the past few nights and is so into the singing. Whenever we sing hymns she always lifts her hand vigorously up and down with the beat of the drum (it looks pretty similar to the FSU war chant hand movements).
Tomorrow I’ll be working a long day at an eye clinic that is being set up by one of our volunteers. We have over 200 prescription eye glasses to give away so hopefully it goes well!
I can say I’m definitely here for the kids. They are what makes it worthwhile.
Bible thought:
I tried to make it through the day without complaining once, pretty sure I failed. Ha change that to: I’m positive I failed. I want to try again tomorrow and I’m realizing that our words, especially the words we simply think, definitely play into our attitudes. Negativity begets negativity. Gonna try to ride the positivity train tomorrow. Join me?
Proverbs 16:21
Words kill, words give life; they’re either poison or fruit—you choose.
Much love and stay irie, Bri ❤
Brifreee is in India 