::life in the clouds::

in a matter of hours, i went from sweating uncontrollably in calcutta to being 7,000 feet up breathing in cold, crisp air. we made it to darjeeling, india, up in the himalayas. we are, quite literally, above the clouds.
this little town is very european-looking. the people are beautiful and friendly, many of them know english and, in their laid-back culture, love to sit and talk to friends and strangers, alike. there are several markets and shops but, unlike calcutta, the shop owners aren't yelling and grabbing at us to buy things. it's very relaxed and peaceful here. darjeeling is famous for their tea production - and there is definitely no shortage of it. the area seems to be centered around tea....making it, selling it, drinking it.

darjeeling is an awesome place to go as an outreach location because so many people do speak english, making both planned and unplanned faith-centered conversations so much easier and prevalent. darjeeling is one of the few places in the world where all 4 major religions are represented...and live peacefully. years ago, soldiers would come up to darjeeling to heal from wounds or illness in the fresh, peaceful air. this is exactly what darjeeling did for our team, as well. we're finding rejuvenation and breaths of fresh air, in every sense.
there is a huge presence of westerners in darj, most of which are backpackers that are in the area for trekking. for the first time in six weeks, we didn't stick out as the only white people in the area. we weren't being stared at or closely followed, which may be why i immediately felt at home in darjeeling. i absolutely love this place.

we stayed at a large house, belonging to ywam darjeeling, which sat atop a hill looking out onto the mountains. the house was large but bare - no showers or hot water and frequent blackouts. each morning, i would wake up and swing the second-floor window open to see clouds below me and mountains before me. i felt at peace and was very aware of the presence of the Lord which was so clearly all around me. our first day was spent exploring the city with some local youth. they took us to the botanical gardens, markets and on scenic walks. throughout the day, we had countless cups of tea - there are stands set up along the streets selling tea, as well as at every restaurant and in the marketplaces. you literally cannot escape the tea!
people get around the city by foot here. you'll hardly ever see a car, but will see many jeeps which drive up and down the mountain, bringing people to and from the train station at the bottom of the mountain (about four hours away.)

on the second day, we traveled to a war memorial and interceded for darjeeling at this memorial which overlooked much of the city. loss of identity is a huge stronghold in darjeeling. most of the residents here are nepali immigrants, so they are easily faced with an identity crisis, of sorts, being nepali living in india, along with the confusion of so many different religions colliding in this one place adds to a heavy feeling in the city. my heart was absolutely breaking for the people of this city within 24 hours of being here. i feel so honored to have the chance to intercede for the beautiful people of this beautiful place.

our ministry focus was very broad here. the ywam base we worked with is fairly new, composed of a group from brisbane, australia, that are trying to get things up and running here. we were excited to be able to bless and encourage them in their work, while also serving out in the community.

one ministry we were involved in was at a local school. we led after-school programs and performed skits, songs and games during their chapel time. there were over 200 kids attending this school, so the room was generally rowdy, but the kids were attentive as we performed and shared testimonies & stories.

throughout our two weeks in darjeeling, we were able to take two trips to two different villages outside of darjeeling.
in order to avoid showing up to these remote villages with an abundance of "stuff" that our culture is so accustomed to, we were limited to one small bag each for the trip. we piled into the jeep for our four and a half hour drive to the first village. our bags went on top of the jeep, along with a local nepali man that would lay on top of the jeep for the bumpy ride and alert the driver via knocks on the roof if there were any vehicles or dangers ahead on the road that the driver may be unaware of. we also found, a few hours into the trip, that a drunk man had climbed up onto our jeep during our lunch stop and, while trying to get into our luggage, passed out on the jeep. he woke up 2 hours later and just hopped off the jeep...

the village was beautiful. it was a bit of a tiring 25 minute hike up the mountain to the village, but we hiked through waterfalls, trees and clouds. we stayed with a Christian family - the two younger sons spoke english and served as our translators. this family has faced much persecution for their faith and are finally able to reside in this vilage without death threats or imprisonment, which is a huge feat.

we were quickly thrown into "village life," living without electricity, drinking milk straight from the udders of the cow and boiling water over a fire so we could brush our teeth. the sun set around 6:30pm and, without electricity, we found that there was little to do in the dark besides sleep! we often had candlelit team prayer times, which were extremely powerful. on the first night, my flashlight took a spill down the hole in the outhouse, and i don't value light enough to retrieve it, so our team shared 2 flashlights throughout our time in the village. we would hike about fifteen minutes to shower in the waterfalls - which is one of my favorite memories.

i loved eating meals here with the team because the kitchen was in a one-room, cabin style house that had a single window which swung open right next to the table. we would sit at the table and look out onto the mountains with low clouds all around us. it's was picturesque, very much like a postcard. at night, we would lay down in the grassy field outside of our room and see more stars than you could ever even imagine! it was always an overwhelming sight. i loved seeing shooting stars and often picture being back there in that village, laying under a blanket of stars.

although our team was plagued with some illness during our village trip, we had a great experience, overall. we spent several hours in the village's school, telling stories, performing skits and singing songs for the children. the majority of our plans for them included outdoor activities and, of course, it started pouring rain when we began. but, we made the best of it and were able to have a great experience with the precious children of this village.

during our third day in the village, we hiked for FIVE...FIVE hours to a village on the other side of the mountain, leading us to hike down the mountain, up a mountain, down the mountain and then back up. i, of course, wasn't wearing appropriate hiking shoes and it began raining during the hike. regardless, it was really beautiful. there was a huge creek in the valley that we walked across and the peacefulness of the mountains was well worth the rigorous hiking. our translators later told us that the hike we did that day was once their DAILY walk to and from school! my high school is literally in my backyard and i drove there! how embarrassing for me!

our final day in the village was spent preaching and speaking at two different churches and doing house visits, talking with and praying for the families in the village. when we left at 6am the next day, we hiked back to our jeep and ended up driving back to darjeeling with 17 people in and on top of one jeep!

while back in darjeeling, we visited a drug rehab center and played games with the addicts that were living there. there were about 20 of them, all male in this facility, and they were precious. they welcomed the chance to laugh and have fun, and we enjoyed being with them. our team spent a lot of time making house visits in darjeeling, as well, to pray for the families. we also put on a birthday party for the homeless children in the area - giving them a time to celebrate, play games and eat cake. most of them don't get to have a birthday party each year, so we were ab le to throw one for all of them and have an awesome time celebrating their lives!

we spent one day visiting the hospital in darjeeling and praying for several patients there. our team, split into three groups, had the opportunity to hand out Bibles and pray for both healing and salvation with the patients. we saw a healing and salvation within a morning spent at the hospital!

a few days later, we had a "Holy Spirit" day. each of us prayed for God to lead us somewhere in the city, to grant us with divine appointments and opportunities to bless people in the area. we went out in twos for the day, returning in the early evening to have dinner together and share the stories of what God did in and through us during the day.
this was one of the most powerful days for our team. i knew that God had changed lives when some of the team came back in tears, some were jumping up and down, some could hardly contain their excitement and just talked nonstop!

there are so many stories to share, but i'll stick to just a couple:)

amy is a quiet, sweet-hearted canadian girl on our team that i connected with right away. she has a sweet spirit and a great sense of humor. although having struggled with doubt quite a bit, she remained faithful in her walk with the Lord. on this day, she went out into the city of darjeeling simply asking for God to reveal Himself to her. she prayed without ceasing as she walked through the streets and up to a local temple to intercede. on her walk, she passed a crippled man on the road begging for money. her heart felt drawn to him, but she continued on to the temple. on her way back, she saw the man sitting in the same spot. she decided to approach him - his legs were visibly crippled and she sat next to him and began praying for healing. our quiet, soft-spoken amy was overcome by the presence of the Holy Spirit. she prayed for healing and began believing, wholeheartedly, that this man was being healed. she kept telling him that Jesus was healing him and asked him to try walking because she felt so strongly that he had been healed. she took his hands and helped him to stand as she said through her tears that Jesus Christ had healed him! she prayed in good faith and believed in God's healing power and, sure enough, he touched this crippled man through amy and her faithful prayers. for me, it was so deeply touching to see amy's face as she re-told this story...her face lit up and tears soaked her cheeks as she relayed the story to us. even as i heard her tell the story a week or two later, i couldn't hold back my tears as i saw how God had revealed Himself to Amy in such a new and beautiful way.

on the same day, maria, our tender-hearted norwegian team member, felt that God told her to go back to the hospital we had visited a few days earlier. we were all so happy that she was obedient in this, because when she returned to the hospital, she saw empty beds which once held patients we had prayed for just days earlier! one man, in particular, she had personally prayed for during our first visit to the hospital because he had been crippled. right when she walked in, this man recognized her and his face lit up as he began shouting to her. when translated, maria learned that he kept screaming, "i've been healed! Jesus healed me!" so often, we never know the outcome of our prayers, but believe, in faith, that God hears them and answers them in His perfect way and perfect timing. it was so encouraging to know that although some of those patients weren't healed on the day we were there - God DID heal many of them, even just days later! who knows how many have been healed since through our prayers and the prayers of others that have visited! that was a valuable lesson to us, knowing that we don't have to be there to see our prayers answered, but we believe they WILL be because God hears and answers prayer!!!!!

shortly after our Holy Spirit day, we took another trip to a local village. at this village, we stayed in a one room home that was totally and completely infested with flies. the children of the village would stand outside the house and look in our windows until we would wake up and play with them! we were only in this village for a couple of days, and on our final night we put on a huge program for everyone in the village. it was in a big "town hall," and we spent a whole day just going house to house to invite people. our program included music, testimonies, skits, dramas, a "Jesus video" and an altar call.

it was so awesome AND hilarious to have our team up on a big stage, with a sound system and microphones, giving a concert to a packed room full of people. you have no idea how hideous our team sounded at the beginning of our trip when it was time to have team worship times! there was never a time when we could ALL stay in the room for our team worship because someone always busted out laughing and had to leave the room! but God works, even in the little things, and by the end of our outreach we, somehow, had an awesome sounding band of singers and guitar players - some even writing and performing their own songs! never underestimate the power of our God...even in the little stuff, because He pays attention to that, too!

the night was AWESOME. we had a packed house and many came up for the altar call, asking for prayer for healing, for strengthened faith and for salvation. i remember being at the front and just having floods of men and women come to the front for prayer. i looked around and everyone on my team was praying for, crying with, and holding the men and women in this village. some of the women would just come and lay their head on our shoulder and cry and cry and cry. they needed so much prayer and encouragement and it blessed us beyond measure to be able to share that with them.

this village trip also brought our first non-vomit incident of the trip. all of our "incidents" included stomach illness. but our joey took a spill and hit his head, giving him a deep gash on top of his head. although i changed the bandages, it really reaffirmed for me that i do not belong in any sort of healthcare field. nausea. blood brings me lots of nausea.
praise God he was okay and didn't need stitches!

because i led the 31-student DTS in australia, i was also in charge of the debrief week for the 31 students once everyone returned from the outreach trip. because of that, i decided to leave india a few days early so i could get back to australia and prepare for the debrief week. our team had an incredible final night together in darjeeling - sharing stories and having a great dinner together. this was also the time for me to say goodbye to my amazing co-leader, jay, as he decided to stay in india for two additional months to teach at YWAM bases throughout the country. so, we sent our team off to take a white water rafting trip together as i began the long trip back to australia, which included a 4 hour jeep trip, 10 hour train ride, flight from calcutta to bangladesh, 17 hour layover in bangladesh, flight to kuala lumpur, 6 hour layover in kuala lumpur and a flight to brisbane. whew!

i was sad to leave the beauty of darjeeling. the beauty of the people, the area, the fabrics, the food(YUM!!!), the tea, the peacefulness - all of it. i pray God brings me back there someday, even if for a short time. i think of darjeeling quite often and wish i could be back there. india, as a whole, really stole my heart. it's such a special place, quite indescribable, actually. i truly miss it.

there was one week left of the 5 month long discipleship training school. as i finally arrived back in australia, i had three days before the 5 outreach teams returned and debrief week would begin!