Going Somewhere

I'm sure many have heard the phrase, "I found my soul mate." Who is your soul mate? Have you found him or her yet? Typical definitions of this word revolve around having an affinity towards someone or a person who's perfectly suited to another in temperament/ideology. I used to think I hadn't yet found my "soul mate." But I recently heard a message preached, and with it came this revelation: Jesus is my soul mate. It is Christ who can reach into my very soul and pick out the broken pieces. It is Christ alone who can mend what was torn, glue what has been shattered. When the ultimate soul mate has been with you, you will be ready for your earthly soul mate. And when the relationship is centered around the Lord, that relationship will be that much stronger. Why? Because, just like Moses' brother held his arms up when he was protecting the Israelites, God will hold you and your mates up when you hit that patch. I don't know. It just spoke ...

So, I know it's been a while since I've posted anything here. This post won't be anything deep or profound-not that any of the posts have been. I have a wonderful friend here at home who decided for my birthday she would take me to a place that wold bring back fond memories. I was treated to a wonderful Indian dinner, at Mojo. The memories it evoked were wonderful; the smell of curry, eating with my digits (I boycotted the use of silverware for the most part), the atmosphere (& music), and the service. I felt I should have been dressed in my sari and was tempted several times to use the few Telegu words I knew. My one tribute to those few weeks in India were my bangles. The one thing that evoked the most memories was a very common dish. RICE! I've never had rice with such flavor as I did in India, and at this restaurant I finally found it again!

Please check these out. The first link is my fundraising page for the April 25th, Break the Silence event. The second link is a video the Invisible Children founders/boss-men sent out to those of us signed up. http://ic.stayclassy.org/member/ic-fundraising?fcid=38455 http://vimeo.com/21419843

So, tonight was F.A.T. Don't ask me what it stands for, because I don't remember. Basically what it is an extra night of worship. It occurs on Thursday's from 9:30pm-approx. 11:30pm. Tonight was "Invisible Children: Tony". We had Roadies and David, a Ugandan LRA escapee. After the premiere of the Tony movie, David's talk, and the regional manager of his teams speech, we had an amazing worship session. During the video and David's speech, my heart kept breaking. But then I found out that Invisible Children is starting up a new program in the D.R. Congo (which is now where Joseph Kony is attacking, as well as the Sudan), and they are doing 3 things with that: the protection plan, early warning radio station, and rehabilitation. I have, in I'd say the past 2 months, strongly been considering my role in the grand scheme of things. As noted in my last post, I have felt lost, unsettled, unsure, you name it, as to what my future will hold and the purpose ...

So, I just finished watching a PBS documentary DVD thing called "Ghosts of Rwanda." Between tsunami's, earthquake's, and this film, I feel like a tiny, helpless, and unimportant homo-sapient. How often do we see suffering in the world, or at our very doorstep, and do nothing about it? I am praying (and hoping) that the Church will rise up in this time and lend a hand to our brothers and sisters in Japan. I pray that we would not let differences such as race, language, or distance get in the way of washing the feet of the country Japan. I pray that the Church would be so quick to respond that the governments can take a step back and say, "These people have got it." (at least figuratively) And I pray that those affected by this tsunami/quake directly would get the care and help needed. For those who were injured, I pray that they be healed; for those lost, I pray they be found-even if it's only a body, at least the family can have peace of mind; for those...

So, it's been a while since I've posted anything here. What's up? How's it going? Anything new in your life? My answer, off the cuff would be, "Nope. Not much new here." If you want a deeper, non-surfacey (yes I just created that word) response, I would say: "You have no idea." I am technically a sophomore in college, but due to my class load I'm a junior. At this point, one would imagine that I have everything figured out, or at least some sort of plan. As a matter of fact, I don't! Ever since my return from India, I've felt like my world has gone a tad Topsy-turvey. I was so sure that the path I'd chosen was the one God had chosen for me. Now I'm questioning my purpose, or rather the purpose of "the plan". "What is "the plan"?" you might ask? Well....the short of it is this: I was supposed to go to school get my BA in Music (History), then at the end of my Sophomore year apply for the dual-...

So today there was a 10am New Year's Day service. We sang 3 or 4 songs and the last 2 were one's with motions. The kids favorite was "Yes Lord (I'm Trading...)". We wore our punjabi's to it. Apparently if you're wearing the same color as someone else you pinch them. After the service we went back and ate lunch (sweet rice and lentil's-only served on New Year's Day-and papaya) which was followed by a game of Nerds (it was my 1st time playing it, it's kind of like Dutch Blitz). Allison and I were then going to go hang with the youngers, but instead the older girls did henna/painted our nails in the compound courtyard. Pretty soon each of us girls had about 25-30 girls aroudn us, and out of that group there were 4-6 girls who "attached" themselves to us. I quickly forgot the first 10 times the names, but I go better as it went along. Tiripathuma's name I still butcher. These girls are so sweet and shy (at least most of them are...)...

Today is New Year's Eve and I almost forgot. We have finally arrived at the compound. The 7 hr. train ride turned out to only be a 5 hour train ride (Praise God!) and the 2 hour car ride felt more like 1 1/2 hours. It's so weird without having a clock everywhere because now my sense of time is so off! I didn't sleep well last night; I was up every hour. The train ride, to say the least, was very interesting. There were all types of Indians, ranging from poor to pretty well off. There were several beggars that went around-a pregnant woman and her son, a boy with a stub of an arm, an elderly woman, and others like it. I couldn't give them anything. The fields were never completely empty. There was either water buffalo, people, birds, etc. It was humid but the fans and open windows made things bearable. The coolest part was when (while the train was moving) we got to stand in the open doorway and catch a wonderful "breeze." There were food, drink, dessert/snack...

So our morning was supposed to have started off at 7:45am so we could meet for prayer at 8:15am and eat breakfast together. Instead, we wake up to someone knocking on our door at 9am. It was Dee. In a matter of 5 min. (I'm not even joking) we were dressed, semi-make-uped, and downstairs. I was so embarrassed! Then after a quick breacky (we did have to take our malaria pills) we went in the van to go to the beach, St. Thomas' shrine/church, the Snake Museum/Zoo (there were other reptiles present as well), and the place where St. Thomas last preached. The beach was a wonderful and short experience. There was at least a mile of sand to the beach and then it was a mild drop-off to the water. People live on the beach here. It was so humid and many of them were laying under these plank "beds" that were on stilts. There are 4 pictures that I will take away from that experience. There was a wall type thing on stilts  |----| and a man with his toddler were just sitting in the ...

Here's the beginning of the journal entries that I promised: Well, we've officially been in India for almost 3 hours now. I feel disgusting and look disgusting, but boy does it feel good to be here. We will be in Chennai until tomorrow morning. Then it's a 7 hour train ride and about a 2 hour car ride to our destination (IREF). It still hasn't hit me yet; it all feels so surreal. So the flight to Frankfurt I watched several movies and wrote out my "testimony." During our 3 hour layover (I still don't know where I got 6 from...) I spent $7 (4.50 euros) on a bottle of water! I'm so tired of sitting! The flight to India I slept 5+ hours and watched another movie. We got to spend half a day touring around Chennai. I hope to find some little gifts for the people back home, but we'll see. Tonight (and tomorrow night) we're staying at the YWCA. [Now that I think about it, it was only 1.5 days we were at the YWCA.] The decorations outside are so ...

So Sat. morning my body decided that 7am was a good time wo wake up :) This afforded me time to go deep with the processing. The Friday night thing didn't work so well, because I kept falling asleep (from 7:30pm-9:30pm) while attempting to journal. So I gave up. The Saturday morning "session" ended up working out much better. GOd definitely showed me where I've grown, where I need to grow, etc. It's not something I can put into words yet, but know this: I am so grateful and blessed that I went on the India missions trip. I am still waiting to get the update on the financial outcome of the trip/who gave support ($ and prayer). As soon as I get that, a thank you letter w/a picture will be sent out. Blessings, Kylie

So I've been back in the States since Tuesday, January 11, 2011, 3pm. The day after (Jan. 12th) I started classes back up. I have yet to process the trip/what I'm feeling. As promised, I will put my journal entries on here as well, but there will be some parts that are left out... Also, I have my memory card back (we were supposed to give them to Johnny-a teammate-so he could download them to make a picture CD) today! This means that I will be downloading pics to facebook and here. With this, I will try to match pictures to journal entries (if I have the pics). My body for the most part is readjusting; as long as I get 10 hrs of sleep i'm good ;) . I think my mind is taking a little longer to follow. I tend to mull on things and really try to analyze my feelings, but it mostly happens once I seperate myself (physically and/or emotionally) from a situation. Hence the fact that I have yet to process everything. I plan on closeting myself away for a few hours tonight (my r...