Enthree (as in the third entry).

Enthree, the third entry to this blog, could also be called "Entree" because tomorrow is वन महोत्सव, or the “forest festival” in India.  This is an annual, week long festival, in which every Indian citizen is required to plant a tree at some point during the week.  Tomorrow I will be planting a sapling with other students here at IITB.  I think this is a great initiative, and that Canada would be wise to adopt a similar practice!

Nava Karār, New Agreement, or New Testament, in Marathi.

They had bibles in over 10 different languages at St. Thomas's!

Last weekend I explored some historical sites within Mumbai with my two friends, अनकित और शुभाम. We visited two churches; St. Thomas’s Cathedral and the Afghan Church.  The first of these was especially interesting; just as we were about to leave, one of my friends asked a security guard if he knew what denomination the church belonged to because it was not clearly denoted anywhere.  The guard did not know but he led us to the church’s priest, who informed us that the church is Anglican, and then proceeded to give us a quick tour.  He said it would only take five minutes but he ended up going into great detail and we stayed for an extra half hour or so.  But the tour was definitely worthwhile, and we all came out fascinated with the amount of history present within only 300 years of the church's operation.  I won’t bore you with details, but the coolest thing that I discovered here was that it is widely accepted that Jesus’s apostle Thomas came to the state of केरल in 52 AD to preach the gospels to the people of India.  There is plenty of evidence supporting this, including a great number of churches still congregating today.  Seems like somebody was paying attention in Matthew 28:19, The biblical passage where Jesus tells Timothy and the other apostles to go and make disciples of all nations!

This weekend I am going with 5 friends to औरंगाबाद, a city 7 hours from Mumbai by train.  From here we will explore 2 Buddhist caves called अजंत और एल्लोरा.  These are supposedly very nice during this time of year due to the monsoon rains.  I am very excited to see these, and will certainly post some pictures when I return.
शुभ रात्रि (Good Night)  

Monsoon has Arrived!

June 20th --- Anyone familiar with Game of Thrones will have heard or read the phrase "Winter is coming" countless times. For India, I like to think that the equivalent is "Monsoon is coming"; and since my arrival people keep warning me that the rains are approaching. But in Game of Thrones, it seems like winter never actually arrives, and up until this week I was beginning to question if this "Monsoon Season" was just a myth. But when the winds of winter begin to stir, they are mighty enough to move mountains! Last night was a torrential downpour, and I was awoken at around 3AM by violent thunderclaps! I actually really enjoy the rain, but my opinion might diminish as the weather persists for the remainder of my stay.

As for now, it’s another busy week at work collecting data. My weekend was fantastic, and I really enjoyed the Indian folk-rock band I went to – the Raghu Dixit Project. The frontman Raghu has a very humbling origin story, having quit his successful career in microbiology in order to pursue his greater interest in music. My experience at church was also quite good, but at the same time very different from what I am used to, being a Catholic church. I still gained value from the message spoken, but I definitely miss my Pentecostal services back home!

June 23 --- I've made several friends now, many of which are open to talking about faith, relationships, family stuff, etc; मुझे यह बहुत पसंद है! (I like this a lot).  Likewise I've started playing sports and going to the gym a few times a week which is another way I've met more people.  I'm not too sure what will be on the agenda for this upcoming weekend, but I am meeting some friends tonight after work to discuss a potential overnight trip to somewhere in northern Maharashtra.  Regardless, I'm sure I will find something enjoyable to do!  Yesterday I got a lesson in Sanskrit, but I had no idea what to expect going in.  It turns out that it was oriented towards people who already spoke an Indian language, preferably Hindi so I didn't end up learning very much!  But I did learn that there will be some free Hindi courses for international students sometime mid-July, and for this I am very excited!  

Easy to say, I'm loving life here in Mumbai.  The culture, the food, and the people are all fantastic.  Going forward I am going to try and move into a more intentional mindset to care and appreciate people here at a deeper level.  I think that I am at a point in my familiarity with my surroundings where I can spend less attention trying to adjust to the culture shock, and really love and bless those around me.  Prayer request for now: That people would see that I am both not ignorant to their culture, yet also live my life with an attractive mindset and purpose that they would be curious about my faith and beliefs.  Also that my remaining time here would be productive in terms of developing friendships and bringing people closer to Christ.

As the rain and the snow come down from heaven,

and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it flourish,

so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,

so is my word that goes out from my mouth; It will not return to me empty,

but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

ISAIAH 55:10-11

Inception

The highlight of my journey thus far is certainly an epic trip to the संधान (Sandhan) Valley which lies approximately 180 km north-east of my place of stay in Mumbai.  The trip involved some intense trekking, as well as delving deep into the heart of Marathi culture.  Marathi is both a language and also refers to the people group residing in the state I am in (Maharashtra). 

Being touristy from the top of the Valley.

Today is Friday June 17^th and I’m currently planning another action packed weekend!  Tomorrow evening will consist of a folk-music concert – Raghu Dixit – who sings in multiple languages.  The tickets are about $7 each!

On Sunday I will go to church with one of my coworkers.  I found out that she is Christian-Catholic, and she invited me to go to an english service.  This is awesome, but I definitely want to experience a non-english service sometime before I leave India! 

Speaking of which, my abilities in Hindi have vastly improved.  I can now count to ten, and have super basic conversations with people.  Even this tiny ability impresses the locals I meet, typical reactions ranging from “Oh my God!” and “How did you learn that?”  It brings me great joy to see how glad Indians are that a foreigner is so interested in learning about their language and culture.