Hi everyone!

We made it! Thank you for all your prayers for safe travels; we made it to Kalavai without a hitch. The flights were long but good friends (we have a great team!) and a long list of movies to choose from made it fly by (pun intended). One of the movies I watched was “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”. What a perfect movie for a trip to India. It is about a group of (for lack of a better word) old people, who take a trip to India, each for their own reasons. Besides some hilarious scenes and moving storylines, I found that this movie effectively captured all the sights and sounds of India as it appears to a newcomer. It also provided several examples of how different people respond to this incredible place. One of the characters described it well when she said “there is no other place that can put quite an assault on all of your senses.” Truer words were never spoken. But I can say that, as this is my second time around, I am finding it much easier to adapt. This character also said that being in India is like a wave – if you try to resist it, it will knock you down. So the only way to survive is to ride the wave. 

                So skipping ahead… Our arrival in the village was met with a very similar greeting as last time, except this time was 10 times better because I knew everyone! We were able to greet each other by name, grinning ear to ear, and give happy hugs because we are able to see each other once more. There were so many people whom I had developed friendships with and were eager to see but there were two little guys that I had my eye out for. Sakthivel and Vignesh are brothers who became my buds last trip and are the ones pictured on my facebook homepage. I was thrilled when they not only remembered me, but called me by name. It made me feel like I really was important to them, just as they are to me.

                It’s the smiling faces of my boys and all the rest of the village that have given me the courage to “ride the wave” this week and see what God has in store for us. Please continue to pray for the team! Especially for me and the mosquitoes!! One day in and lots of bugspray and still two bugs have managed to make an attack. I pray those are the first and last ones I get on this trip!! Haha

                                                                                                                With lots of love,

                                                                                                                                Victoria