A little more India

Hey everyone sorry for the lack of blog posts since I have gotten home. I know many of you may still want to hear more stories from India I promise you those will come in time, but for now I thought I would post some pictures of my time there for you all to enjoy. I hope your summers went well.

This is the street that the team house was on and I lived in another house that is just around the corner from here.

This is a picture of one the team participants (Megan) taking a nap with one of the little girls (Regina) from the orphanage. 

This is a picture of the leper colony I was lucky to be able to visit. The lepers where incredibly interesting people to visit. They were mostly friendly and happy people to be around. We did struggle some with a language barrier but thankfully that was overcome with laughter, smiles and Delicious food.

While I was in India I got the awesome and often times difficult opportunity to tutor these two children in this picture. It was a experience I will never forget because sadly I am terrible teacher and I kind of doubt they learned anything but I'm still glad I got to do it.

Well that is just a few of my pictures for you to look at and I will work on a new blog with more pictures and stories for the near future. 

Bye :)

The worst part of the job

Okay guys i will update soon about what's been going on here but for tonight i need to put a important and urgent prayer request up here. Okay well many of you know that i came here on faith, which meant that i didn't have all the money i needed to be here but i came anyways. The people here have been amazing and they have helped me out so much and cut a lot of costs, but there have been a lot of expenses this month and they really need money. This means that i need money so that i can give them some, so please be praying about donating or about talking to someone who might be interested in helping me out. Thank you so much for your prayers, i know God is faithful and he will provide. 

Love 

Leper Colony!!

Hey!!!

I'm sorry for not posting in a week but life has gotten crazy in the last week!!! The AIM (Adventures in Missions) team got here on Friday and since then i have been spending a lot of time with the participants and the leaders, just hanging out, going over rules, helping them adjust, etc. It's been great to just have new people here that i can meet and just talk to, i have loved the time i have spent with them. 

Now for the even more exciting news i finally visited my first leper colony!!! It was crazy because i was picturing it to be a slum but with lepers, this isn't what it's like at all. They have very small houses but they are nice, clean and some even have TVs. The one i was at is not open to evangelizing but the people are still very welcoming, they LOVE pictures and they are obsessed with my old leader Caleb from my swazi trip. The first thing they did when they found out i knew him was go and get all their pictures of him to show us. It was really cute. All in all it was a fabulous day.

Some prayer requests would be the team isn't allowed out of their house very much for safety  reasons so they are all getting cabin fever, so if you could just pray that God does something with their hearts to help them understand why this rule is in place. 

Pray for the leaders they must have cabin fever as well plus they have to deal with everyone else, so just that God would sustain them and use them in whatever way he wants. 

These are my two big prayer requests at the moment. I will try to post again soon, and i hope everyone is having a fabulous June!!!

Love

Church at Asha

On Sundays we go to Asha House (orphanage) it's great we sit in this little room with all the kids sitting up front and the adults in the back. We sing songs in both English and Hindi, so there is a little something for everyone, after worship they do this thing were anyone can get up and praise God for something that happened that week, then they read a psalm and talk about what it says. After this is communion and then the message, there is more that happens in the service also but it's just so full and much of it is done in Hindi, but it's amazing I wish that church were done more like this at home. It's full of prayer and praise and wisdom, it's just so simple and pure I love going to church on Sunday's.

SO this last Sunday was one of the best Sunday's of my life and I'll tell you why. There is this little girl at Asha her name is Tabitha and she is 13 months or so, she's a little trouble maker and incredibly adorable. During church you can find her constantly getting in trouble by banging on the drum/guitar, climbing on various people, just being cute. Anyways this last Sunday they were taking the offering which was done by another little boy who isn't much bigger then she is and Tabitha decided she wanted the cup and he wouldn't give it to her so she just sort of tackled him and tried to wrestle the cup from his hands. The little boy looked so shocked, i don't think he knew what to do it was adorable, of course because all the adults couldn't do anything to help because we were trying so hard not to laugh. It was just one of those memories that i think i will always look back at and giggle.

Since I'm talking about Asha i will mention that sixty1 is raising money for the orphanage but even more importantly is that about 10 kids don't have their vaccinations. These vaccinations are important because they protect them from an array of different medical problems like, Hepatitis, Polio, Chicken Pox, etc. So if you would like to give to this please send me an email and i can send you more information on how you can help. Just in case you don't have my email it's camp_princess@hotmail.com. Thank you and please be praying that the kids stay healthy and that the money will come in quickly so we can get them vaccinated. 

Thank you all!!!

Love 

Camels and Peacocks...

Namaste

            Well Blog readers if your anything like me, your all currently super annoyed that I haven’t updated in a couple of days so here I go.

            This week again hasn’t been too eventful because sadly I was feeling a little under the weather, but good news I feel lots better now. Now I think that I will start this blog off with the things I have now seen during my travel’s around Delhi. The most exciting (probably because I saw it today) was a Peacock, everyone has been telling me they are everywhere around our neighborhood but I had never seen one before and was greatly annoyed, but God is good and I finally saw one!!! YAY!!! The next exciting animal was a Camel, he was just sort of chilling outside a store…I know it was a little bit weird. I also saw a horse that was actually a pony that looked like a donkey but had small ears; this was all very exciting because it was so confusing to look at. That is it for now, but stay tuned I’m sure I will have more to add to this list before I leave.

            So this week we have had one of Sixt1 missionaries staying here at the house she is leaving tomorrow so because she’s leaving she wanted a shopping buddy and seeing as how I love shopping and I’m the only one around to go I went. Shopping here is amazing and a dream come true. Seriously you just wander around this big area outside and you can get everything from groceries to regular western clothes to Indian wear to shoes and everything you can imagine AND it’s full of color!!! It’s a lot of work but so worth it just to experience it.

            Also I know many of you would be curious that I have now taken both a auto rickshaw and a bicycle rickshaw, you would think they would be more exciting but I’m glad we have a scooty to drive now, but I guess it’s still better then walking.

            Anyways that’s all I can think to write at the moment but I will write again soon, and I hope you all are enjoying the nice weather that I hear that you’re having,

Love 

When it rains it pours

So that last couple of days have been challenging. I wish I could say that it's because of my frustration of the poverty all around me or something equally as worthy but sadly it's not. Not that those things don't still make me want to cry and get angry, cause they do but they haven't been what's consuming my thoughts lately. 

My problems have come because i do not know a good positive and healthy way to go about confrontation, so i let things build up until they explode. Don't worry i haven't exploded yet but I've wanted to and it's only the grace of God that i haven't. Things here in India are good, but everyday i wake up and feel like God is calling me to do something, and the missionary i am working with here has another idea of how things are going to happen and i don't know how to tell him that i disagree or have another opinion. So because i haven't been listening to God He is constantly plaguing my thoughts, and i feel guilty and annoyed with those around me because i feel like they should be hearing what I'm hearing. As you can see it's a fine mess i have made for myself and i know how to get out of it, but every time i go to broach the subject my pride gets in the way and i don't. Know you may be wondering what my pride has to do with anything but see i don't want them to tell me I'm wrong, or that I'm not hearing God correctly, so i haven't. 

Okay so this is sounding a little bit whinny and i will stop now, but pray that God would stomp on my pride and that i would humble myself so that God's will is done and not mine. 

On perhaps a lighter note what i have been doing in the day to day hasn't been very exciting. we haven't been able to go to the orphanage for the last two days because it is extremely expensive to go everyday, but in the long run that has been a blessing in disguise because we have been able to do an extensive cleaning of the house and we have had time for several repair men to come to the house and try to fix our power which always seems to be breaking. 

This does not mean that we have stayed in totally though we have gone to the local market on both days, to buy groceries and stop at this amazing little coffee shop. The market is always a interesting place to go because it's just all so different, you have this amazing coffee shop that is nicer then many of the ones in Calgary and then you walk out and there are beggar children asking you for money. It's an experience to say that least.

Happy Day Everyone it rained yesterday and even though when it storms it causes major problems because it just reeks havoc with our power it was great!! It like down pours for the 20 min intervals and then stops, but it also cools everything down. It was like a comfortable 30 during the day yesterday!! OH how i love the rain. 

Anyways that's all for now, i hope that all of you who are or were at YC this weekend had a amazing time and those of you who aren't i hope you also had a good weekend. 

Love!!

Normal

Namaste, well I finished my first full week in India and I am happy to say that it feels like home. I no longer feel totally out of place and kind of lost, everything just seems normal now.

Normal for India is that you just have to accept that everything is loud all the time, there is nothing you can do about it, so I have accepted it (it sounds hard but it wasn’t). Next it always going to be hot there is nothing you can do about, so again I just accepted it. Food is spicy, but once you get passed that it’s amazing. There is an amazing amount of garbage and dirty water everywhere you look and go. Driving in the beginning was a little stressful since I only remember stopping at one red light and even then it was only for a second, now it’s just an enjoyable ride with air conditioning. The people are all so wonderfully different, their clothes are all different colors, styles, and everything about them is different from the person they are standing next too.

As you can read the new country appeal hasn’t worn off, but I’m glad it hasn’t. Right now everything is just wonderful and different.

I know that’s not really an update, and it probably doesn’t make sense to anyone but me, but I will write a better one tomorrow so relax.

Love

In a sauna with all my clothes on

Have you ever been in a sauna? Now if you have please remember how hot it is...not imagine if you were wearing all your clothes in it, that is how India feels like all the time, it never cools down. But that's okay cause it's amazing here, seriously i love it here already. It seems stupid now that i doubted that God wanted me here in the first place, I just have such a complete sense of peace that i can't even explain. 

My flight was very good, the only real rough times where when i was first leaving and seriously wanted to cry cause i was so unsure about coming, but that passed and God gave me peace. The other rough moment was when i was 5 hours into a 14 hour flight and was already bored, but that too passed and the flight went extremely well. 

My first two days here have been really great, the house i am staying in is really nice and we have air conditioning in one room, so i do have some place to retreat from the heat too. The first day was really chill, we just went to the market and hung out. The second day we went to the orphanage, and it's so amazing the kids are so adorable and so well behaved, i think i need to take notes for when i someday have children. 

I know this leaves a lot to be desired but i seriosuly don't know what else to say, but i thanks to all those who are supporting me financially and prayerfully, both are appreciated. Also i am still significantly short of what i need to be here so if you have a little extra or feel the lord leading you to give please email me and i will send you more information. Thanks everyone!!

I will update you again soon

Love

Satan will not triumph

So the countdown is on, i leave in like 30 hours!!! It's crazy so much has been going on in the last couple of weeks.

Just to give you a brief overview, i have almost been in a panick over not having enough money to survive on in India- let alone enough money to cover my flights (i am still short of money to live off while i am there, but more about that to follow). The stress of this alone has been enough to keep me up all night again, i know i should have just followed my own advice and not worried about it. Because if it is God's will he will provide, and He has and will, but i stressed about this anyways. So this on its own was enough to cause me great worry but sadly satan has decided that he doesn't want me in india and he attacked me in new ways that greatly hurt me. He used the people closest to me, like my mom and my friends. These people told me lies that could have only come from the evil one, but instead of being a smart daughter of the king, i listened to too much of what they were saying, i started to doubt the calling i heard from God. I was doubting everything; my life, my relationship with Christ, and i was examining everything. I seriously debated this week just giving in and canceling my flight and not going, thankfully God sent me someone wonderful and the filled me up and reminded me to stop being so selfish and realize it is not for me that i'm going. This is God's trip and i should remember that.
So i know this is all a little random and you may not have wanted to read it, but it was my life and i felt i necessary to be honest. Anyways, for good news, i'm working on my selfish attitude and i pray that God will break me and my will be taken so that God can use me there. Thank you all for reading and i will keep you updated.
Love

P.S. I still need to raise approx. $1000 so if you know anyone who would like to donate then give them my email and i will send them the necessary info on how to accomplish this. Thank you to those who have already given both in money and in prayers, both are highly valued and i appreciate them both more then you can know. 

Also sadly my digital camera is broken and i do not have the money to get it fixed at the moment so if anyone would like to loan me theirs till June 22 i would be very grateful because i would love to take pictures so that i can show everyone what they are supporting and all the amazing things India has to offer.  That's all for now, thanks again everyone :)

Blessed

HEY TEAM!!!!

Well i am officially finished classes for my first year!!! It's exciting I know! So now what... well this weekend has and will be spent in much studying to prepare for my exams and on Sunday night i will be speaking briefly at Westside Kings Church, just explaining what i will be doing in India and seeing if i will be able to raise some money so that i will be able to leave in May. 

Also good news, the Lord has truly blessed me with some amazing friends, these last couple of days i have had a few amazing people who have decided that God has called them to give. This is obviously a huge blessing and i can't even express how blessed i feel about them deciding to give, to give you an idea i actually cried. But if those people are reading this then i want them to know i am so thankful towards them and that i will be praying that God blesses them. 

So that's just a really quick update. Thank you all for your prayers

Love Ashley

Deadline for Fundraising

Okay so I suck at updating this blog about stuff. I always complain about how people never update their blogs, and i always said I would never do this but sadly i have made myself a hypocrite. 

Anyways update on fundraising, well its going terribly but i am trusting God to know what I am supposed to be doing. This means that sadly if i don't raise the money i will accept that I heard God wrong and I am not supposed to go to India. I'm not going to lie it's going to be really hard accepting the fact that i am not supposed to go, this whole trip seemed like a dream. I was going to be able to just hang out with beautiful children, and hang out with an amazing friend who  i met in Africa, i was going to be able to go to a new place that i had never been before. That means i would have been able to try to learn another new language, and a new way of life. These are things that i love doing, but seriously i am going to work very hard at accepting this with joy in my heart. I know that if i am called to stay home God has a plan for this, I don't have any idea what it will be but i do know it will be good, because God is good. 

Sorry if this seems like I am ranting or complaining, that was not my intention i was just trying to express how i am feeling.  I know that God has good things planned for me, I just hate being in the in between times. So thank you for all your prayers and if you would still like to donate to my mission to India my deadline is not until Sunday night. This means that if i raise enough by then i will still be able to go. I know that God is a big God and he is totally capable of bringing in all my funds in such a short amount of time, so again if you feel like he is urging you to give, please give. 

Anyways my prayers are with you.

Love Ashley

Well i thought that i hadn't updated this in a while, i would right about my support raising. So...well it is not going as well as i would have hoped. I know that these are tough times for people financially, but i also know that God will provide in his own time. 

Prayer requests for the week...

I am finishing up my first year of college and things are pretty crazy at the moment, so i would appreciate if you could pray that i would continue in good health, and that i would be able to finish up all of my assignments for the end of the semester.

Pray that i would continue to have faith that God will provide the funding i need in to order to serve in India in May. 

Thank you for your prayers and support. 

Hello Everyone

As many of you know I am currently fundraising for my trip to India, so i am trying to think of ways in which I might be able to raise money in a hurry. If any of you have any idea's I would really appreciate it if you pass them on. Until I find some better way to raise money i will be collecting bottles to raise money for the trip so if you have any that you would like me to take off your hands please email me and i will come pick them up from you. Thank you all :)

Hi Everyone i just wanted to welcome you to my new blog. On here i will keep you updated on my status of fundraising and again of my activities once i get to india. Thank you for reading and i will do my best to be committed to keeping you all updated on what's going on.