Can you see what’s next?

What’s at the end?

Where is the beginning?

I find markers along the way

are they roadblocks

or Ebeneezers?

They look painful either way.

The path does not look straight from here

Yet I am never turning, ever turning

Oh let the light come in.

What do I prefer?
A berry flavored gum drop reminds me of a sweet succulent raspberry,
it melts away effortlessly on my tongue.
I may choose to eat it fast, by chomping it between my teeth,
Or savor the flavor slowly on the roof of my mouth.
Either way I am not bothered by the seeds that get stuck between my teeth
which painfully remind me of the red fragile fruit.
Or the hairs that make me wonder If a caterpillar has found its way into my mouth.
But if I make my choice
I will not feel heavens mystery released in sweet, tart juice bursting in my mouth
And the glory that my senses feel when I enjoy a friend grown by the sun
and enriched by the earth.
Who has seen the sun rise and set
And felt the fill of a cold rain.
It tells my tongue its story
And then is swallowed for my body to absorb.

On a steamy August day, the harvesters gather early in the morning. The thick heat is tangible, even at first light.
Threshing. Gathering, tying, spilling. Gathering, tying. Threshing.
A mother comes early and works late.
Children still sleeping when the fresh baked bread is left on the table and the door closes.
All the other harvesters break for their mid-day meal of cold porridge and day old bread.
They sit and talk with heavy voices, tired and weathered.
But there is still a familiarity that years bring. A glue of time lived together. Seasons pass, some for working, some for celebrating. But the mother does not know this gooey glue: the time aged voices.
She knows their sound, she has listened to them for years. But they do not know her sound.
The melodic flutter of her foreign accent.
She keeps her song in her heart and sings it to the wheat and to her babies in the dark.
Her song of life, of the stories she’s collected.
She drinks in the world and churns it into a sweet cream butter.

we had a wonderful time in mumbai. our friend bill leep left us at the airport, and we had phillip and alfred, the pastor from dhaka, with us for half of our time there. we spent two days with an inspiring man named devaraj, who is an indian native. he was born into one of the highest castes but was disowned by his family when he became a christian. he’s since devoted his life to helping the least in mumbai through his organization, bombay teen challenge. their ministry is very broad. they have a campus-like safe home 2 hours outside of the city called ashagram. there are women rescued from the sex trade there, as well as men going through drug and alcohol rehabilitation, and street boys, most of whom have mothers who were or are in the trade. in a nearby town there are three separate buildings, called jubilee 1,2 and 4. two of them have girls whose mothers are in the trade or were street kids, and one of them is for small children who are infected with or affected by HIV. In the city, bombay teen challenge also has a dentist office and HIV clinic in the red light district, an ambulance, a feeding program, a church, a drug rehab center, and a daycare/nightcare center for kids whose mothers are in the trade. its truly unbelievable.

we spent about a day and a half in ashagram. kathryn was there for a week this past summer so many of the girls freaked out to see her again. phillip and i hung out mostly with the boys. these boys’ stories are unbelievable. one of the kids i connected with the most was taken to ashagram 10 years ago when he was living on the streets. he and his mom are both still at ashagram, and he’s 15 years old now. story after story from these boys were incredible. they were mostly all streets kids whose moms were working in the redlight district, so they were forced to fend for themselves. begging, stealing, sleeping on railway platforms and getting beaten by policemen, razor blade fights, gangs, watching their friends die in train accidents. but the beauty of where these guys are now is the exciting part. most of them speak good english, they’ve gone to school, they’ve learned music, they’re worship leaders, they are truly passionate about their faith. i was so blown away and so inspired.

the night we were there we ended up putting together a spontaneous worship event. phillip led worship, while the kids all set up a sound system, they played in the band and sang backup. all the women, boys, and men were there (probably about 125 people), and it was seriously an inspired night. phillip did an incredible job leading the group, and the chorus from the song “how he loves” was sang over and over for probably 45 minutes to an hour. it was one of the most emotional worship experiences of my life, singing that song with all these boys who had just shared their heartbreaking stories, but had experienced such profound redemption. kathryn was on the other side of the room with the women, and watching these women sing that song so passionately pretty much broke me. it was a highlight of the trip.

after that we played with the kids at jubilee 4, these are the kids who are infected. hand slapping games and simon says were both huge hits and these kids captured our hearts.

we spent the night at ashagram and got to hang out the next morning with everyone. ashagram is unlike anything i’ve seen. its a beautiful, peaceful place, i can’t wait to go back. once we left ashagram devaraj took us to one of the redlight districts in mumbai. we saw the centers that they’ve started, as well as walked the streets. we went into several rooms where women work, just off the street. it was heartbreaking because several of these women have actually become christians through bombay teen challenge (one of them was reading a joyce meyers book), but for whatever reason have not made the decision to leave the trade yet. devaraj is constantly loving on them and makes it clear that whenever they want to leave he will help them get out. we also saw many eunichs. these are men who operate in a cult and are dressed in womens’ saris, its one of the strangest things i’ve seen or heard about. the filth is very similar to that of calcutta. the piles and piles of trash everywhere is hard to explain. the human and animal waste everywhere. in mumbai there were goats and cows everywhere in the city, even stray sheep, feeding on the trash heaps. the whole thing was very hard to see. devaraj is an amazing man, and he took really good care of us. we all left inspired and so thankful for what he’s doing! phillip left that night.

kathryn and i ended up having an unexpected day off after that because the schedule had been shifted around a bit. so we rented a car ($30 for the whole day) and got to take a tour of the city. our driver barely spoke english, so i’m really looking forward to doing some interweb research on what we actually saw! there was a giant outdoor handwashing laundry area, apparently the largest in the world. we saw the gateway to india, the taj hotel, we ate at cafe leopold (a famous cafe here). we went into a muslim mosque which is in the ocean, but there is a walkway from the mainland. we went to a beautiful, green park in the middle of the crazy city. we had such a great day. even though we were going all day it was nice to actually take it slow for we hadn’t stopped for a week and a half. that night we had dinner with my new friend james pond (founder of transitions global). james is from portland, and has opened several safehouses for rescued girls in cambodia. he’s in the middle of starting 4 of them in mumbai. such a great dude, we really connected with him.

yesterday was our last day in the city. we met with another great organization focused on rescue and rehabilitation (i can’t say the name of who it was on this blog). they met with us, took excellent care of us, and took us to one of their safe homes. we met many girls who are all minors that have been rescued from the trade. again, so heartbreaking to know their stories, but so much life and joy in this place. there’s also an adjoining house with all young girls who were born with HIV. beautiful girls who have an average life expectancy of 15 years. but this place takes care of them, gives them the medicine they need, has a school for the girls to go to. its a beautiful place.

we then had a couple hours to wander through some of the markets, which was really fun. then we had dinner on the rooftop of a building at a restaurant called sheesha. i think it was the best food we had on the trip so it was a great way to end. we met up with about 6 people that we’d met that day and had a great time eating and connecting. and that’s about it. we went back to the hotel, packed our bags, had one last drink on the roof of our hotel, and left for the airport. we shared a car with a man whose son is getting married this week. its an arranged marriage that this man and the bride’s father set up. very interesting to hear about it.

ok, this is long and crammed in but i just wanted to share the highlights of where we’ve been the past 5 days or so. thank you so much for even keeping up with this blog and caring. thank you for praying for us. the trip could not have gone any better. it was unbelievable and truly life changing. i know there is lots of processing to do, but i’m just humbled and honored to have gotten to take this trip. i’m so proud of kathryn, she put together a stellar itinerary for us, and there were literally no problems at all through our travels. we board our flight in an hour then we’re on our way home. love you love you love you all!

chris

Last day…..

alfred then took us around the neighborhood and we went into three different familys’ houses, all familes of kids from the school. it seems like the neighborhood is lower income, but not the slums. each family gave us drinks and snacks, and we played with their kids.

then we went to the orphanage and spent several hours there. these kids have so much life. one of the boys recently came here when his father, who worked at world vision, killed his mother after he discovered she was having an affair. truly heartbreaking, but we’re so grateful alfred has given him and these other children a place to be. phillip and i organized an intense game of soccer with the boys, which was a blast. everyone got so worked up and the boys were loving it. kathryn was playing hopscotch type games with the girls. i actually jammed my toe during soccer, so i’ll have a bit of a limp for the rest of my trip, oh well. we had the best meal of our trip so far, bangladeshi food which we ate with our hands. rice and meat in sauce type dishes, and my favorite was the dahl. phillip, kathryn, and i brought all the kids in groups of 2 or 3 into a room and prayed for them, with alfred translating. it was a very genuine and beautiful time. phillip sang some songs with the kids and even led a successful game of phillip says (not simon says). i think we were able to show some real love to these kids and it seemed like it meant a lot to them.

we then spent a couple hours at alfred’s office. i met an 80 year old man who fought as a freedom fighter in a war between east pakistan (now bangladesh) and west pakistan (now pakistan). he did intelligence gathering, and was actually caught and beat mercilessly. somehow by the grace of god he was let go even though he saw many of his friends killed. he is a wise, intelligent man.

john and susan osborne met us for dinner with alfred and his wife. john and susan have lived in bangladesh for 35 years, and oversee many of the new zealand groups we have met (freeset and love calcutta arts). they are incredible people, and know so much about the culture. john challenged us on what it really means to be born again, righteous (not ethical) business, and letting the lord change our worldviews. very inspiring night.

had a wonderful time decompressing with our small rag tag team here at the guest house, and now we’re off to bed. tomorrow we have tea and alfred’s house, then we fly to mumbai. bill will be leaving us there, which makes me very sad. he’s become a great friend, and this trip would not be nearly what it is without him.

we love you all, and know that we are having a truly epic trip!

chris

Chris really did an incredible job describing the streets of the redlight district. At this point it is still hard for me to wrap my mind and heart around what we saw. As Chris mentioned, it was a Monday night, before 9:00PM and it was packed. Annie (the co-founder and director of Freeset) mentioned that they estimate 20,000 purchases a night. That means, on average, that each woman works two men a night. First I think a little context of Kolkata must be laid down. The streets are madness. Driving is “survival of the fittest” the road is only marked by a median and then there is just honking and shoving in every inch of the oncoming lane. The road is shared by walkers, bikers, buses, taxis, little “autos” (a rickshaw type motor vehicle), motorcycles where men drive with their wives riding sidesaddle, with a 3 year old sitting on the handlebars. On the sidewalks people are walking, begging, working, crossing, eating, sleeping, buying food from street vendors, washing, relieving themselves… I think you get the picture. So amplify this normal street times ten as we walk through the district.

The district was surprisingly well lit by overhead streams of lights, or lamps. I can’t even describe to you the feeling that came over me when Annie mentioned that we are about to turn down the largest entrance to Sonagacchi (the largest most infamous red light district in Kolkata.) My stomach dropped. I took a deep breath in and grabbed Chris’ hand (which is not acceptable in the Hindi culture) and walked in. I can not even begin to describe the sight. Women literally stand in line waiting to be purchased. We all thought it was unusual that some of the girls were wearing western clothes (we found out later that those were the younger ones). It was unreal. The level of poverty was overwhelming. I wish I could say that I looked every woman in the eyes and smiled with the love of Christ, but it was difficult. Not that I didn’t love, but that it was so much to take in. Looking into their eyes felt so intimate that I had to look away. Then other times I just looked deep and smiled. Annie was incredible. She walked through the district like it was her back yard. (which it is, if you have not heard their story you MUST www.freesetglobal.com) She waved and said hello to women by name. The women that work at Freeset still live in the area. They now no longer sell their bodies, they can provide for their families another way (along with health insurance, savings account, and daycare services). she would sit down, grab their faces and tell them how beautiful they were. A couple of the women invited us into their homes. It was incredible to walk down those streets and see the difference between the workers, and the freeset women. The women working in the trade look void. Like they are not really there. But when you see a freeset woman she grabs you, invites you into her home, asks you to pray for her and insists on making us dinner. I can not describe the feeling of walking into a low ceiling building that is falling apart, stepping up dark stairs to the upper level of a brothel. Once we reached the second floor, we were greeted by a bright shining face. She invited us into her room that was the size of a small bathroom. She had it brightly decorated by fabric and posters. outside the door of her room she had one small burner where she was boiling rice and making Dahl. She asked us to pray for her because she was not feeling well, and then begged us to stay so she could feed us. She was so happy to have us in her home, she wanted to cook us dinner.

We then walked down dark alleys and dirty streets where rats scattered and street dogs all laid as if dead. Children would burst from doorways and start running hands held into the street laughing. women were in bright colored saris and wore read lipstick while they stood in doorways.

My heart stopped when one of the girls reached for a man in our group’s arm. We walked down an alley where we were told the women share rooms. It’s near the big pub in the area and the men pick up girls and they go to the back. I looked through a window and saw a woman in a bright purple and blue sari laying on her back on her bed. She was frozen, and alone. But I knew she was either waiting, or had just finished a job. I felt like I would vomit right there in the street. Who knows what was really going on but in that second I saw the reality of what the streets of Sonagacchi hold.

———-

It has been really overwhelming and difficult to process. At the same time it has been such joy. Incredible HOPE and light! I cannot even begin to describe what an honor it was to walk with Annie that night and the days to follow. She is one of the most inspiring women I have ever met. I am challenged by her love. Her life challenged the way I see faith, people, the poor, the lonely, the weary and the strong. I have seen love, peace, longsuffering, and many other parts of God. I am humbled to be on this incredible journey.

today we said goodbye to our beautiful friends at freeset, then flew away from Calcutta, India to Dhaka, Bangladesh. it was immediately a different vibe and feeling from india from the moment we got off the plane. the lines to go through customs were very long, but because we are americans we went through a very short line with a red carpet. some of the bangladeshi people were not happy about this and it actually got a little hostile in one of the lines with people shouting when phillip went right in front of them after they had been waiting for so long. he was only doing as he was told, we were all ushered to different lines. men were shouting and yelling and pushing, it was a little bit tense, but the guard was very stern and got furious at them. what a welcome to the country. it was typical confusion at every turn the whole time at the airport, with customs, baggage claim, finding restrooms, changing currency, finding our ride, etc. but we got through it and found alfred, our host while we’re in this country.

we drove an hour to the host home we are in. its very similar to the place we stayed at in calcutta. kind of a mix between a hotel and bed and breakfast. its very nice, and unexpectedly we do have internet access. we just finished dinner with some incredible people from the sbc and were able to talk for quite a long time about southeast asia. in particular there was a man named tim who is very knowledgeable and inspiring, he and his wife have been in this region of the world for a long time. the people we have met on this trip have been unbelievable, truly incredible people!

i feel like just when were getting used to calcutta we left. it was a completely different experience driving from the airport in the beginning than it was driving back to the airport at the end. I guess the culture shock was just so severe at the beginning and i think we got into a bit of a rhythm after a few days – figured out how to use the metro system, knew our way around a bit, made some friends, etc. its strange though when you get used to seeing poverty all around you. there is just so much poverty everywhere, and its so compacted, that you actually start to walk by people sleeping on the literal streets while cars whiz by them, naked filthy kids running around, beggers at every corner, etc and it all seems normal. its hard to explain. you almost have to shake yourself for a second and realize the reality. its is a way of life in that city. we’ve learned so much more that we will share when we have time…

tomorrow we hang with alfred and see an orphanage that he has been running for a long time. honestly i don’t know much more than that. you kind of just roll with things as they come over here.

everyone is healthy, we’re getting along great, things couldn’t be going better. thank you all so much for your prayers. we’ll keep the updates coming…

Yesterday was a beautiful day visiting inspiring projects and seeing incredible organizations work so beautifully in the same city. Some know each other and some unaware, but ultimately working towards the same end… The End of the trade. we had an incredible dinner with new friends. We must hurry to the airport but I wanted to let you all know that we will probably not have internet access until late Sunday night. I will twitter when I can. We love you all. Please be praying for our time in Bangladesh….

-Kathryn