First from India!

            HI everyone! I’m FINALLY here! It took about 53 hours to get here! My flights all went well. Everyone was super nice, I only had to put my carry on up once, every other time somebody did it for me (it was very heavy! Like 35 pounds). And I never got lost in the airport! Which is huge for me! I wasn’t able to sleep much on the first three flights but then on my last flight I slept most of the way. When I landed in Delhi I had been traveling for over 35 hours and I had no idea where to go. Frieda (the woman who started the school) had told me that I was going to spend the night at the airport but also that Arajesh (spelling I’m sure is wrong! He is one of the “big boys” at the home) would meet me there. So after all the flying and airports I waited in the airport for another 5ish hours. Kelly (another volunteer) got in about an hour and a half after me. Finally at 4 am Delhi time we (Kelly, Arajesh and I) left the airport for the train station. The ride was pretty crazy, I had almost forgotten what driving in Asia was like. It’s scary! They drive all over the road and cut around each other and pretty much every few seconds almost crash!

            Once we got to the train station we only had to wait for under two hours. Which is good because for probably 40 seconds out of each minute a very loud, very annoying voice is telling you about how long this train is running late, and which train is leaving. She repeats herself at least twice and then they play it in both English and Hindi. By the time the train was leaving I thought I was going to go crazy. We had so much stuff!!! The train was nice, air-conditioned and big seats (although not comfortable). I got to sit next to the window. India is so beautiful! So after 6 hours on the train we got to Derha Doon. Frieda met us there and took us to her house and fed us. It was SO YUMMY! Which I am really happy about. I still haven’t eaten at the school so I don’t know about the food here yet. Then we drove to the school. I got to meet the boys and then I unpacked, took a shower, a quick nap, emailed my parents and then went to sleep!

            The “apartment” where I am staying is nice. It’s a little dirty and bare. It is two stories and each floor is separate. Amanda lives down stairs alone and then Kelly, Ruth and I have the top. There is a little kitchen, a living room, and the two bedrooms. Each bedroom has its own SHOWER and AMERICAN TOILET!!! I was so excited! The showers only have cold water and the is not much pressure but I am still excited! Ruth and I are sharing one room and Kelly is in the other. I have two shelves for ALL of my stuff…one for clothes and one for my stuff. I was pretty much amazed when I got it to work!

           

            On the train ride we passed many slums and people living in just piles of trash. It was so poor looking, little kids playing in dirty streams and around the trash. But Derha Doon is not like that. I mean it’s dirty and many parts in America would seem like slum but it was not nearly as poor.

            It’s amazing how God made this all work out and that gives me so much confidence, this is so clearly exactly where he wants me. I’m just praying that I will be open to His prompting and do what He wants me to! I’m very excited.

            I found out that I will be an assistant teacher with the 3-4 year olds! I am very excited about that. I will start next week Monday.

            Today we will go back into Derha Doon and spend the weekend at Frieda’s. We are going to get all of my Indian clothes picked out and made! It will be fun. The clothes are so beautiful.

Thank you for all of your prayers! I could seriously feel them! Some answered prayers:

            ~ my bag was overweight but they didn’t make me pay

            ~my carry on fit! (just barely!)

            ~all of my flights were on time

            ~I never got lost

            ~My bags all got to India!

            ~ Arajesh found me easily.

            ~ I really like the other girls

            ~ AMERICAN TOILET!!! (I had been praying since God told me to go to India for one!)

            ~It’s very beautiful

            ~ My plug adaptor was broken but God fixed it (super cool)

           

Some things I would LOVE prayer for:

            ~continued protection

            ~that I would get close to the boys quickly

            ~that I would have extra love and patience with the class

            ~that I would like the food/my stomach (all the food has been wonderful so far!)

            ~Homesickness

            ~For the boys, I haven’t spent much time with them yet, but I know I will love them!

Support Letter

Hi everyone!

I thought I would put my support letter up here for anyone who hasn't seen it yet!

Well I’m going again! This time God has called me to India! I felt him call me earlier this year, in February and that I was to go for about 9 months, from August to May…It was a long, slow and difficult journey to find where God wanted me. It taught me a lot about trust having to wait till the last minute to know where God was sending me! But he’s shown me now! I am going to go and help with a school in Northern India! It’s a school for about 550 Indian children. There are about 50 boys who live on campus that I will be living and working with.

Basically what I will be doing is teaching/assisting in the classrooms (probably with the 3-4 year olds, but I’ll find out for sure when I get there and meet with the principle), then tutoring the boys that live on campus, doing devotionals, and then watching/playing/working with them till night. The campus is amazing, not only is there a school but also a farm where they grow much of their own food, a dairy, a swimming pool and then homes for the volunteers and the boys.

When God first called me I was sure that he was going to send me to an orphanage and my ministry would be to just hold the babies, and while this is still something dear to my heart, God had other plans. I’m very excited, it will be an amazing experience. And as I want to be a teacher this is perfect! The home and school is up in Northern India, which means it will be freezing, snowing in the winter, really hot in summer, and have heavy monsoon season! I’m a little nervous about that!

I will be leaving very soon! I will be leaving here the 24^th of August!!! God has also answered my prayer that there will be another English speaking girl (there will actually be three of them!) so now I am praying that we all get along well!

Cost wise this mission isn’t too bad, my ticket out is about a $1000 (I’m doing a one way ticket because it’s much cheaper! This is with my visa and baggage fees!) and the room and board is about $300 a semester (so $600 total) and other than my flights and room&board my costs should be pretty small. Once there I’ll need to get culturally acceptable clothes (like their kurta (a long top), all tops need to cover your hips!) and then in December I will need to fly out of India and come back in because of how the visa works, but that flight should be pretty cheap! If you feel led to give I would greatly appreciate it! (The best way to give would be to send my mom a check and she will put it into my account, I’ll be able to access my bank account from India).

I would appreciate your prayers, especially for:

~ a safe flight

~ my overall safety

~ my HEALTH (please keep this one especially!)

~ That God would use me, and that I would really be able to touch these children’s lives!

~ That I would be able to handle the drastic seasons!

~ That I will pick up on the language

Thank you all for you love and support! Also if you would like to know more about the school and the other ministries their website is http://shishyasociety.org.

Love you!

Kalana Mei

Kalana's going to INDIA!

Hi everyone! I'm setting up this blog to make it easy for people to see what I'm doing and how I'm doing! I'm going to try to be good about this and post updates frequently and not forget about it! Well I don't have much else to say....I leave in four days...I'm packed (for the most part) and it feels so weird to be leaving. So strange! I've never been away from Hawaii for more than two months and that was with family! I've never been away from family for more than 3 weeks. I'm going to miss home, family, friends and the Island so much! Love you all!