more on my travels!

I’ve been in Bangalore and Tamil Nadu for the last two weeks nearly. It’s been an adventure to say the least! I’m getting stretched and pushed in so many different directions. I’d like to give you one example: We were on our way to a house meeting last Friday. As we were climbing into the vehicle, the brother taking us commented: “Ok, so one of you will be teaching and the other will be singing a song.” We looked at him slightly confused. ”Just kidding!” he laughed. ‘One of you will be teaching, the other will be sharing a testimony.” Still assuming he was joking with us we start laughing. Well, he was serious. So I taught with 20 minutes notice. Its actually kinda cool. It’s always a challenge to keep us on our toes. You have to always be learning and spending time in God’s word because so many times you’ll be called to share what you’re learning—so it’s usually a good idea to be learning stuff from his word. And if you zone out during a prayer meeting, guaranteed you’ll be asked to pray outloud for the requests you just zoned out for. I Peter 3:15 has been made real to us in these last few weeks.



I had the privilege of doing some health and hygiene public health presentations since I’ve been here. I really love public health. Some of it has been common sense stuff, and other stuff has been stuff I’ve researched. I actually got to give a presentation to a group of 75 pastors. It was really strange talking to grown men about how germs are spread and boiling water and nutrition and AIDS. I definitely got nervous beforehand, but once I was up there, I really enjoyed it! There are things here that I would NEVER have had the nerve to try at home, but by being given a gentle push into these situations, I’m learning more about myself and my strengths and having confidence enough to at least try. Well, Elise and I did a swing dance in front of 100+ people. Yeah, I’ve been swing dancing like 2 or 3 times and am not good. Plus the fact that we are in India, so girls don’t dance with guys. This means that Elise had to lead. She is better at swing dancing than me, but—well we’re both girls and neither of us know how to lead. Anyways, it was the only “American” dance that we know. So we put together a swing dance. It was helpful that there were no Americans there, so no one knew what it was supposed to look like. We’ve had so many opportunities in the last two weeks. I mean, I’m just so thankful that we’re getting such a diverse experience in India. I am grateful for the opportunities that I’ve been blessed with here. We’re seen as ‘children’ so they don’t expect us to be great at everything, but still give us the opportunities to try things we’ve never done before. Its led to a lot of growth!

I would like to also share with you some of the amazing things we’ve seen in our travels. Last week we traveled to Tamil Nadu for a few days. We had the opportunity of hanging out with some amazing brothers and sisters who had spent a month in intensive outreach. We had the opportunity to hear reports of what God is doing in this country and spend time building relationships and hanging out with these girls! One of the places we got to see was in the mountains. Well, it was in a valley between mountains where rivers meet in waterfalls. We had a picnic day here. It was beyond gorgeous! I keep thinking that there is nothing that will be more beautiful in the world. Then we would turn the corner and God would reveal another facet of his majestic creation. Its days like these when I wonder at how blessed I am to be in this place.

I would like to share one more thought with you before I finish this update. I was getting ready to speak on Sunday and was growing nervous. Here we were, two twenty year old American girls getting ready to speak His word in front of a group of people who live out God’s commands daily and are passionately in love with him. Not to mention about 6-7 pastors were in the crowd. Anyways, I was sitting there feeling very small and wondering what on earth I had to say, when I turned to Jeremiah 1.

Jeremiah 1:6-7 says: “Ah, Sovereign Lord, I said, I do not know how to speak; I am only a child. But the Lord Said to me, ‘Do not say “I am only a child.” You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you.’ “

Thank you for your prayers—Elise and I are experiencing so many new things and traveling. Please pray for this organization as it is a busy month everywhere and there is a lot that needs done.


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Your sister in Him,
Susan