Summer in Southall

It's been a whirlwind of a summer, and I've lovely time the past weeks wrapping up ministries and celebrating school being out.

 Here's a few snapshots.

Parent & Toddler: lots of mums and kids enjoying our sing-a-long time, and munching on some snacks. Gotta squeeze in a few more rounds of 'Wind the Bobbin Up' before Summer Holidays!!

Dostana: Our young adults gathered for a evening of food, fun and competitive curry eating! Here are the options, with some pizza thrown in there, because why not?

Kids Club: Our final week we 'made ice cream' by tossing a bag of ice, cream and sugar around. Sometimes, Pinterest doesn't pay off. But I bought Plan B ice cream so we enjoyed some anyway. And the kids had fun tossing bags of ice at each other, so I say it was a win.

LEAP: We visited the Hindu temple in Wembley, beautiful sandstone structure.

Lindsay, Elle and I at Les Mis, enjoying the perks of living in London before our intense week of Kids Camp/VBS! 

At church we celebrated the marriage of one of our church members, and welcomed his wife into our church family! We had a big meal and dancing. No party is complete without two kinds of curry and Bhangra music...

Our Intern Elle ready with the pakora, samosas and poppodoms. Yummmm.

Good friends, good fun, and dancing with some pot thing on your head!

I call that a good night.

Easter Term Break!

I don't really understand the school schedule in England, with a week off in February, two weeks in April, and one in May, then school until the end of June? But whatever, I'm rolling with it because two weeks off in April in a country that has an actual spring is pretty sweet.

England Spring

vs.

NEW England Spring

The past two weeks were Easter Half term, so the church ran a two day 'Kids Club' in the morning, where we told the story of the death and resurrection of Christ, did crafts and played some games. Most of the kids who came heard the stories for the first time!

As a part of craft time, we made cut outs of our hands and put them on the cross, to symbolize Jesus dying for our sins.

Then on Thursday, Lindsay Sareeta and I took the ten teens from our youth club on a photo scavenger hunt with a Central London twist! 

"Take a photo of the entire team in a London Phone booth" 

Praise God we were all safe and everyone had a great time.

Prayer Trip Lessonsx

In January I went on a prayer trip with my MAP group! We traveled to each church that supports apprentices, and prayed for each church. Going into the weekend I was uncertain what to expect. I had never gone on a trip focused on prayer before. At first, during prayer times, I had a lot of trouble paying attention. My mind wandered and I wasn't sure what to say. I didn't think my prayers sounded very good.

Waiting to get on a train, to do more praying!!

So I admitted that I was trying to 'pray right' and it was cool to see how the Lord me and began to let me see the bigger picture. Here we were, a bunch of sinners, who claim the cross as our hope in this life. Admitting we couldn't fix the problems in our lives, and talking to our Heavenly Father. Asking Him for what we need, and then expectantly for an answer. That's what prayer has got to be about--declaring dependance and asking our loving Father for help. Because He cares for us, and wants to be in relationship with us.

The MAP group

We had a lot of fun being together, eating together and worshipping together! 

I live with a Bollywood STAR!

My roommate, Lindsay recently lent her voice to a Bollywood song! Our friend Nikhil, who plays in our worship band, also happens to be a Bollywood producer. You can hear her on backup vocals and mouth trumpet. Yep--anytime you hear a 'trumpet' sound in this clip, it's actually Lindsay making a sound with her mouth! She's pretty talented...You can decide if it's strange or beautiful, I think it's both! Enjoy!

Parents Visit!

My parents came to visit! 

We ate a lot of delicious food, some of it spicy...

and some not! 

 

but basically: lots of delicious food.

We visited Hampton Court Palace, and it was super pretty and historical. 

Look at all that sun! Go England! 

And we saw trees! My parents had forgotten what trees looked like. Right now they're all hidden under snow in Boston... (disclaimer: not all trees in London are this cool)

It was a great trip and I was sad to see them leave. 

BACKLOG: Marching through Southall

Happy New Year!!

It's hard to believe it's 2014, and that I've been in Southall four full months! It seems like November and December whizzed by me, and now I'm here in January trying to catch my breath. In the spirit of slowing down, taking stock, and heading into a new year on a clean slate: I'd like to share here some interesting parts of my last two months.

First: Marching.

So it's a thing in Southall to 'march' or parade down the broadway. Every religious group here in Southall has their own march. In November I saw thousands of Sikh believers march down the broadway with their holy book, celebrating their great Guru's birthday. Not only did they march, but they handed out TONS of free food--samosas and pakora, fruit, water, and sodas. I stood on the side of the road and watched the procession pass, amazed at the color and sheer amount of people.

Then came my turn: the Jesus March in mid-December brought out all the Christians in Southall and the surrounding areas. We followed the three wise men on a large truck covered in christmas lights, and sang christmas carols. Celebrating Christmas on Southall Broadway meant feeling a part of a greater community of believers in Jesus. That night on the broadway, a street I usually as a foreigner feel self conscious walking down--I was one of the crowd. Together with my family of believers, we sang and praised our heavenly Father together. It's a moment I still hold onto.

More soon, blogger friends! Thanks for reading!

"Wait, What?"

 My grocery store wishes me a Happy Diwali.

 Lunch with a friend in my neighborhood involves eight different types of curry.

 A two hour trip via train takes me here, to Cambridge,

where I can see this...

 and this.

Living in a new culture is hard. Anyone who has tried, or who as even thought about it a second could probably tell you that. But what I didn’t expect was the slow-burning sensation of getting used to living life in a radically new culture. At first, things were shocking, and also kind of exciting. And some days I still have ‘honeymoon’ moments of living in Southall. For instance, recently my college friend came to visit, and we had a delicious South Indian lunch (pictured above). Yay Little India!

But then there are other days when the little differences stick like sand to wet skin. Think about getting sand off your feet with a dry towel: you could sit there, rubbing until your feet get red, but there would always be just one more grain of sand hiding between your toes. Some days it’s conversations in Hindi that go straight over my head. Some days it’s sounds of Bhangra music from passing cars, the smell of curry that hangs in my neighborhood, or all of the women I see on the street wearing headscarves. These are all beautiful pieces of living in Southall. But in my human brokenness, sometimes I can only see them as unfamiliar, representing a culture I don’t yet understand.

So after about two months of living in Southall, it was nice to get away and spend a few days touring Cambridge. My friends and I rambled around the banks of the ‘Cam’ drinking in all the colorful trees, statuesque buildings and trying not to get hit by students on bikes. We ended the day at Evensong at Kings College Chapel, an experience so beautiful it was a real gift. Thanks, Father!

This is my life now!