Our North India Trip

We get to go on a trip to see a some of the coolest places in India in one week and two days. We leave the Tuesday October 7th and will travel to New Delhi (the capital of India.) The very next day we will spend a full day traveling to and seeing the incredible Taj Mahal. I am sooo excited to see it!! I mean I get to see one of the 7 wonders of the world! The third day we will spend shopping like crazy in Delhi. We have heard that they have some of the best shopping in India! I am hoping to buy a cute scarf and maybe some jewelry. From Delhi we head to a wonderful place called Manali. It is in the Himalayan mountains and looks so beautiful. I posted one of the pics we looked up online. Brittan and I have been thinking of what all we need to pack for this trip (keep in mind that it does involve a 12 hour drive.) Post a comment if you have any fun vacation packing ideas!!

A small little friend

Last night I was talking with my mom on skype for about an hour. She was making fun of me because I was swatting at mosquitos the entire time. We have not had too many problems with mosquitos until now. This morning I woke up and one had attacked my ankle. I seriously hate them but they love me. If there is one mosquito in our house it is guaranteed that it will find me. Do you think that there is something scientific behind this or that it is just something that is in my mind? Even Stephen will admit that if we are outside for the same amount of time, sitting in the same spot, I will end up with all of the mosquito bites. Isn't that strange?

It was so good to talk to my mom. We got to see each other and talk for a long time. I can not believe that if I would of come just a few years ago it would of been a huge deal for us to talk on the phone every once and awhile. I am so thankful for skype and almost free long distance communication.

Cute New Sunglasses!

Yesterday I was in my room cleaning up when the girls told me to come upstairs right away because we got a care package!! Meredith and Kristyn had sent us a care package with 5 pairs of cute sunglasses to sport while we are in India. It is amazing how excited we were about sunglasses!! They also sent SweetTarts, Twizzlers and Rice Krispy cakes!! We drew numbers to see who got to pick their sunglasses first and I got to pick first. I chose the cute pink glasses and am so excited to wear them!!

Also, I'm including a picture of my first bicycle rickshaw from our weekend in Delhi. We only had about one block to travel but decided to ride in style!!

Visiting Ballgame!!

Friday afternoon we flew to Delhi to visit Ballgame at the hospital. Traveling up there we were excited to see him but also nervous about telling him about Justin. We wanted to make sure he was completely awake and aware when we told him but also did not want to lie to him about why Justin wasn't with us. Friday night he was on some pain medicine so only Stephen and I were able to go in to see him. We were still so encouraged to see all the progress that he has made in the past two weeks. Saturday morning we went back up to the hospital as soon as we were allowed in. Stephen and I, along with Mr. and Mrs. Miller, broke the news to him about Justin early that morning. He was extremely sad but said that he still wanted to see everyone. Ballgame gathered all of us around his bed for a little speech where he told each of us what he loved about us and encouraged us to keep laboring in India. He told us that he is going to come back as soon as he is healthy. We had anticipated the trip to be focused on comforting him but that afternoon he encouraged each of us so much.
Saturday night we all went to eat at Bennigans!! In the states, my family has only had dinner at Bennigans once and we always make fun of it. But in India it was such a treat...funny how life works. Brittan and I ordered a Monte Criso and a Crispy Chicken Salad. They were sooo good!!
Sunday we all spent a lot of time talking about Justin. Ballgame began processing the loss of a best friend. He told us that even though he was in more pain than he has ever faced that he is glad that he was on that bike with Justin so that he did not have to go through the wreck by himself. I was so touched by those words.

Skype Date!

Today we got to skype face to face with Ballgame!! It was so encouraging to talk to him. We had been nervous about how far along his memory was but were pleasantly surprised.
He remembered "Ganesh" this guy who cuts all of the guys hair and give a killer head massage.
He remembered Brittan's hilarious dance moves from our cruise.
He remembered that Matt loves to drink coffee and decided to drink his first cup with him tomorrow.
He remembered the cute girl from Vish and asked if we had been hanging out with her.

He told us with a huge smile on his face, "I've made a goal, I'm walking out of this hospital in one week."

One hard part of the conversation was when he asked us "Where is Justin" We were not able to tell him because his parents are worried about his health. We just said "He isn't here."

We were able to tell him that we are visiting him this weekend! He was so excited!! We will probably be telling him about Justin this weekend. It will be difficult to tell him but we also think that he is well enough to be told.

What an amazing miracle that Ballgame is alive and well. We are still praying for a full and total recovery.

Believing God

I have just recently started reading thru a devotional book called "Believing God" by Beth Moore. I have been wanting to do this study for some time now but am just now finishing my last book. The first week talks about five motivations for believing God.
1. Incomparable Power (Eph 1:19_
2. The pleasure of God (Heb 11:6)
3. Reward (Heb 11:6b)
4. God will often act according to our faith (Matt 9:29)
5. Believing God is credited to us as righteousness (Rom 4:22-24)

It has been so cool to read thru these passages about faith and believing in God's power in light of what we have seen Him do in the past month. We have truly seen God work a miracle in John's life. I have never been a part of so many answered prayers. I have always believed that God has the power to do anything but seeing Him specifically answer prayers to heal specific parts of John's body has been amazing. Because my faith is small, it feels like I am surprised when God moves in big ways. Does that make sense?
We are going to get to see John this weekend. I can not wait! I know that if I am ever tempted to doubt the power of God that He will point me back to what I have seen him do in John's life. Not that He will always answer every prayer but that He is good, He loves us and we can trust Him.

My 25th Birthday!!

I had very low expectations of my birthday this year. Like I said in my previous posts we have been going through a tough time, so I figured my birthday would be pretty sad but my husband, sister and team made my day very special. I woke up to a french toast breakfast in bed from Brittan. What a sweetheart! Then we did a few sessions of grief counseling, which was pretty hard but very good for us all. After that they let me pick where went to lunch...guess what I choose...KFC!! Pretty funny, right? After lunch all of us girls went to get pedicures at Bubbles!! It felt so good and my french pedicure looks great! Blake and Matt showed up at Bubbles and told me that they needed to take me somewhere for a surprise. They had me close my eyes and when I opened them I saw Stephen and Rob standing there with a camel for us to ride around our favorite park in India. This was such a thoughtful gift because three years ago, when Stephen and I came on a summer team, we had the chance to ride a camel together. It is a fun memory that we always look back on. We had a blast together again. The evening consisted of queso, funfetti cake, diet coke and presents! They also put up 25 things they loved about me as wall decorations...I can't think of a better choice of decor!! At some point during the day, Rob taught the street kids who I talk to every single day how to sing Happy Birthday. They kept yelling "Happy birthday to you LICEY" My team is amazing. Yea for birthdays!

Justin's India Memorial Service

Although we got to see Justin's amazing memorial on the internet, we wanted to have a memorial here for his Indian friends. We think Justin would of really loved it. It is amazing the impact he had here in only two months. Kevin (the India director) led it and opened by sharing about Justin and how he had trusted Jesus as his only God, then we sang some worship in Hindi, then Matt and Rob shared stories about Justin's character and then Kevin shared the gospel by telling how we know that Justin is in heaven with the Lord.

Three Weeks

The past three weeks have been the toughest either of have ever experienced. Our great friends and teammates, Justin Magers and John Miller, were in a motorcycle accident on August 17th at 10:15 p.m. Justin did not make it and John is in critical condition. I may write more about this at some point but I don't want to quit writing just to avoid writing about this.
There is an amazing tribute on line for Justin that I would encourage you to watch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVaRuxyEH6E